A Eulogy for Gary

Look! Dad has moved into our neighborhood, making his home with us!  We are his children and He is Dad! He'll wipe every tear from our eyes!  Death is gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, PAIN GONE—all the first order of things gone!.....Revelation 21:3-4

Tribute Video

A homeless brother of ours named Gary recently passed away.  A sister of ours named Patricia recently had breakfast with him at Hometown Buffet cause, “you can eat all day there!”  Our brother lived in the woods for years, broken and hurt.  He tried to assimilate into society but because of the pain inside of him, he just couldn’t.  Did he jump into the river or fall?.....Either way, our hearts are hurting and we will miss him. 

If you are reading this, we ask that you pray for the loved ones left behind including all of us, his brothers and sisters.  We also ask that you pray for his wife Jesse who is developmentally delayed and in potential danger of her family selling her for drugs.  Yes, this is a real danger and as Patricia prayed last evening when we found out, we ask Dad to have mercy on us regarding any inaction on our parts we could have taken to prevent tragedies as such that occur in multiple fashion, all over the world, every day, right in front of our eyes. 

A while back, I had someone close to me depart this world in similar fashion.  Dad has since confirmed to me that her pain is gone as she is safely in His arms now.  This personal experience I had combined with the promises captured in the above Scripture and tribute video convince me that is where Gary is also.  And even though only Dad and he know for sure, I would rather error on the side of mercy rather than evil (Matthew 9:1-8) and would ask that in praying for this situation that you would allow Dad to lead you to do the same. 

This concludes the eulogy Dad inspired me to write for Gary, please continue to pray for this situation as He prompts you to, and may He continue to bless you all richly!

Communion at the Blue House

Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory."  He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.".....Luke 22:19-20

When partaking of communion with other brothers and sisters, the elements used aren’t as important as taking it in the spirit of remembering big brother Jesus and what He did for us all on the cross. 

And it is in this spirit that my son Christian, Jaime’s son Cole, our sister Jennifer, brother Danny and I took of it together at the blue house the evening of 6-23-11.  In that spirit, by Dad’s Holy Spirit, we gave thanks, broke a loaf of Italian bread, passed around a batch of grapes, and then prayed together in commemorating big brother Jesus, by the power of Sarayu (the Holy Spirit via the Shack), for Dad’s glory…..and it was awesome!

If this sounds appealing to you, come join us on Thursday evenings to see how we roll, don’t feel like you have to come out every time if you can only do it sometimes, continued prayer is appreciated, and may Dad continue to bless you all richly!



Getting High at the Blue House



This is exactly what four of us did on the evening of June 16, 2011.  It involved my sister Jaime and I and our brother Danny and sister Jennifer.  We discussed, amongst other things, Matthew 17:24-27 and how we wanted big brother Jesus to give us direction for provision concerning current matters in our lives.  We then commenced in family prayer concerning this.

During this family time, Dad gave me a vision of a pile of His spiritual cocaine in the middle of our prayer circle and told me to blow on it.  When I did, particles of the pile dispersed to all of us in the room.  At that moment, Jennifer thanked Dad for the in-filling she just received, Danny uttered an eloquently fluid prayer over a matter in his life, and Jaime both prayed and wept over us all.  It was beautiful for at that moment, we had all experienced a Holy Spirit high, and it was awesome!

If this experience sounds amazing to you, come join us this upcoming Thursday evening when we are going to enjoy communion together, don’t feel like you have to come out all the time if you can only do it sometimes, thanks for continued prayer, and may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

A Little Slice of Heaven

I was caught up in Heaven. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only Dad knows.....2 Corinthians 12:2



A nice Sunday afternoon nap was the occasion for the vision/dream I am about to share.  Within the vision, I woke up from the nap with tunnel vision, got up, and began frantically searching for something of which I had no idea what it was, and in the end all I found was exhaustion. 

Standing there exhausted, Dad asked me what I was looking for, to which I had to admit I had no idea.  At that moment of confession, the tunnel vision disappeared and our current home where I was instantly transformed to the house I grew up in.  From the middle of the living room, I glanced over my left shoulder to the front screen door and suddenly had a desire to leap through it, a thought I believed was only known to me.   However, Dad invited me to go for it, to which I responded.  The door served as a portal for I leaped through it from one dimension to another as I went from leaping to floating to the awaiting ground outside.

Once outside, the place I was now in had a sense of peace all about it and I felt the most peaceful I had ever personally felt.  I was then surrounded by a host of friendly individuals and the encounter can best be described as something out of the Wizard of Oz.  Everyone warmly greeted me and I simultaneously couldn’t visually identify them and yet felt safe around them as if I’d known them all my life.  I am convinced they were loved ones who have passed on and that my earthly vision couldn’t capture what they look like in Heaven now.  They accompanied me down the path, carrying on friendly chatter with me all the way, until we arrived at a building that looked very similar to the one pictured above. 

When we arrived at the building, I glanced in one of the doors and saw an individual inside.  When I asked who it was, they told me this was a church and the man inside was the assistant pastor.  I then asked about the main pastor, to which they told me he had to run an errand, would be back shortly, and his name was Herschel Holley, my father-in-law who passed away in January 2008. 

Needless to say, I was elated to finally soon be encountering someone I finally both knew and, as I sensed, would be able to identify.  As I anticipated him coming around a bend to the building though, Dad calmly told me it was time to go.  He didn’t force me to depart though, but simply suggested it, and even though it was extremely tempting to stay in what was no doubt to me, Heaven, I knew I couldn’t stay.  I then turned to face Dad, and that is when I awoke. 

As the apostle Paul declared similarly in the Scripture above, I don’t know if this was a dream, reality, or a combination of both.  My own personal relationship with Dad has me steering towards the latter explanation and that there isn’t much of a difference.  In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I’ll leave interpretation between Sarayu (aka the Holy Spirit in the book The Shack) and you.  In sharing this story with my wife, she told me not to be leaving her anytime soon.  I take this as an indicator she and I both believe I experienced in some shape, form, or fashion, a little slice of Heaven. 

This encounter happened a while back, but the picture above prompted me to share it now.  As I previously mentioned, it is a similar depiction of the church building in my vision.  It is also a church my wife took a picture of while on her last mission trip to Ethiopia.  With that, hope you enjoy reading this, share as led to, thanks, and may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

Sheep or Goat?

Matthew 25:31-46

Was looking through some of my wife’s pics from Ethiopia when I came across this particular one that Dad spoke to me about.  My wife described images as such as “Hell on Earth” and another of the Ethiopian crew who overheard this and thinks we overuse the term Hell to often depict “sufferings” in our own lives, nonetheless agreed, and I agree with them both. 

This IS an image of Hell on Earth!  There are roughly 75,000 of our brothers and sisters, adult and children, who eek their survival out of this Hell every day, and it’s only fitting that goats are portrayed at the top of the pile with, ironically, a black one located at what appears to be the top center of this Hell heap, looking directly at the camera at the time of this pic, almost as if he knows what’s at stake. 

Why is it fitting you might ask?  Because of whom big brother Jesus said the goats are in the Scripture above.  The goats are the ones who extend only themselves and others like them (ie: American, willing to work, white, etc.) food to eat, something to drink, hospitality, clothing, medicine, etc.  In other words, they only extend Dad’s love to those who are like them. 

If you are reading this and feel this implies you may be a goat, I didn’t imply it, you did, I didn’t say it directly to you, Dad did, and in the end, it is Him you need to hash this out with, for these were His words, not mine.  As His son, I just happen to agree. 

Dad didn’t prompt me to share this to condemn you though, but to save you, so please take the time to discuss this further with Him to see what changes He may be prompting you to make, and then make them.  Ask Him to help you make them not out of guilt, but love for Him, yourself, and the rest of our family currently at the mercy of the goats of the world.  With that, we love you and so does He, and may He continue to bless you, and through you the rest of the world, richly! 

Messy Spirituality

Relationships are a whole lot messier than rules, but rules will never give you answers to the deep questions of your heart.....and they will never love you.....Sarayu from the Shack

The depth of truth contained within the above quote is why I am Dad’s son, Liz’s husband, and why we and others of our sisters and brothers such as Jaime Glandon and Lee Bower continue to GO!.....to the blue house…..and beyond!

May Dad continue to bless you all richly!

Hope Delivered!

Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of Dad and big brother Jesus. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.....Revelation 22:1-2

The Ethiopian crew is all back safe and sound.....thanks for all your prayers which were the asphault that paved the way.....and praise Dad and may He continue to bless you all richly:-)

With that, if you are reading this and either aren’t in a relationship with Dad or aren’t sure of the status of your relationship, please click here, read, reflect, and respond as led to.  If you have any questions, comments, or need more info concerning anything here or on the site, please respond either here, via email, or on face book privately or publicly.  If you make any decisions in response to anything in this article or the site, please feel free to share as led to.  With that, may Dad continue to bless you all richly!

 

All Excuses are Off!

Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate.  I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.  Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’…..Matthew 25:24-30

These are Dad’s words, not ours, but we will keep singing this song Until The Whole World Hears…..and reacts!

The following is an email I recently received from my wife in Ethiopia:

Just wanted to update you all on the Korah Dump Trip. Korah is a Hebrew word for Cursed. There are currently 75,000 people living in this community - most are descendants of lepers that were forced out by family and society due to their disease. There is such a horrible odor from the dump that when the Korah people go into Addis to look for work they are rejected b/c of their smell. The children try to go to school but are called bad words by the teachers because of their odor - so the children just don't go back. We have met two young men while we are here that were two of nine children randomly picked from the dump and sent to boarding school. Yemamu has bachelor's degree in business and is now going back to Korah to start an organization. He has all of the government licenses and is required to do monthly, quarterly, and annual reports for accountability. He is only 25 years old - but has a glowing testimony of how Jesus changed his life. We watched a documentary that was produced about life in Korah - it is difficult to watch children eat food right off the top of the garbage heap - but it is necessary to understand what their lives are about - Drew is working with Yemamu, hopefully, to produce the film in English - Unfortunately, many "Christian" organizations are raising money for Korah - but the money never gets to the dump. There is more corruption than I could imagine. We have a lot of confidence in these young men - their families still live in the community around the dump. I will share more when I get home - but wanted my family to start praying. My life will never be the same - and I know that I am to respond in some way - please pray that God will be clear in what ways that will be. We met a man that lost his fingers to leprosy (sp?) yesterday - he weaves door mats at the hospital to earn money - these folks do NOT ask for handouts - they ask for a chance to earn money - their dignity blows me away. So please begin to pray with me. Love you all - can't wait to get home.

Circumstances as such are completely unacceptable and fall squarely on the shoulders of us as the professing body of Christ as Dad declared in the enclosed blog I shared a while back.  And because He has fully equipped us to address the problem as presented in this other enclosed blog, we will be without excuse and in the words of Lucy’s husband, “have some explaining to do”, if this situation is still the same when big brother Jesus returns.   Finally, Dad equipping us to address the issue of poverty all over the world exposes both our greed wrapped up in extreme capitalism and the fact that emails suggesting that we only take care of people in our own back yard are ignorant.  Dad has equipped us to address it all and the entire world is our backyard!   

With that, please and absorb the enclosed info, pass on as led to, pray and listen to Dad, and then do what He lays on your heart to do in response.  With that, may He continue to bless us all, His whole world, richly!