Heaven's Gates / Hell's Flames

 

We'll be doing Heaven's Gates / Hell's Flames at Pearson this weekend. This will be the first time we have done in it in several years.

 

I'm cautiously excited about it. I love having the opportunity to be part of this outreach again. The message is simple; One Day you will die and you will either go to heaven or hell. You choose now which it will be. The dramas force the audience to acknowledge that their time on earth is finite and that the possibility of spending eternity in Heaven or Hell is something that they must address. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

 

So, why am I cautiously excited? The whole HG/HF experience is an emotional roller coaster for the cast and support staff. We will spend 3 days preparing for the drama and 3 nights delivering the message. For many, it is the first time they will see God moving in a tangible way. For many it will be the first time they will experience Satan's openly blatant attack. For some, it is the first time they have been in an environment where they are totally dependent on God. Most have not had to memorize an entire dramatic scene, much less memorize it in 24 hours. Between the lack of sleep and the nerves of being on stage, we will all be very much dependent on God to deliver His message of redemption through us.

 

The last time we did this, we had a lot of divisiveness in our congregation afterward. Granted, it was several years ago and the "Contemporary" movement was in full swing. There was much made over the shift from a somber worship service to the lifting of hands and "rock and roll" music. I'm not sure if the arguments amongst our congregation were a result of the drama itself, or the passionate response from the cast of the drama. The weekend preparing for the drama gave the cast the courage and desire to worship in a more open manner. We were excited - very excited - about what God had done in our lives that weekend. We were very much on a spiritual "high".  This was new to most all of us and a very welcome change. One of our senior citizen ladies, then in her 70's accepted Christ that weekend. She said "I never knew that I was supposed to have a 'relationship' with Jesus'". This was a paradigm shift for most of us at the time....which seems odd now because this is the normal way of thinking now.

 

Anyway, we were very excited and did not take into account that there was an entire section of our congregation who was not involved in the drama, did not experience the awakening we did, and did not understand the sudden changes in our worship style. Looking back, I see that we were insensitive to their needs and feelings and, while I do believe that the changes that began then were ultimately best for our congregation, we could have been more gentle in the movement.

 

So, I am cautiously excited about this weekend. I have wonderful friends who will be participating in the drama for the first time and I expect their lives and their relationship with Christ to be radically changed. I know that God will deliver many in the audience from the bondage of sin and guilt with the promise of Salvation.  These things fill me with excitement to the point of giddiness! I am praying that the excitement and renewal born out of this revival will unite our congregation this time rather than divide it. I believe this will be the case. Our congregation is in a different place than we were before. I believe they are ready for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 

 I'll let ya know how it goes! I covet your prayers!

  

 

Not much time to write, but must say SOMETHING because I am SO excited!
I saw Doc S last week and got the "all clear" from him...that makes me 19 months cancer free! Still a bit anxious about the 2 year mark, since that is when the cancer returned last time, but, for now I am excited to have made it this far with no recurrence.
JA, my voice therapist suggested Physical Therapy for my neck a few months ago. We've been making small improvements, but last week, we discovered that the scar tissue in my "skin" versus issues with my neck muscles is the "problem". Today, we worked on the scar tissue again...well, Angela worked, I thought I was going to meet Jesus. I felt like the BIGGEST baby, but OH_MY_GOODNESS that hurt!!!!!
However, now that she has loosened up some of that scar tissue, my voice is SO much better! I still may never sing a solo and I still battle with dry-throat and those sorts of things, but my voice sounds SO much better...I cannot even describe the improvement!!!!!
I can honestly say that, if this is as good as my voice gets, I'm okay with that and I have not been able to say that in a VERY LONG time!!
I can sing in the shower and in the car and THAT is a VAST improvement!!!!!!

It has become increasingly harder for me to find time to write. Now that I am not "sick", radiation is over, and my Dr. visits are spread out more, I am able to focus on getting back to "normal". Also, I am not at home in the bed with nothing to do these days!

However, "normal" is nothing like what it was 5 years ago when this all started. All in all, it is a good thing, in most areas it is a great thing. Cancer taught me, my family, and my closest friends that God can do amazingly great things in the middle to terrible circumstances, if we follow Him through the valley. God grew me through those years of being sick. He matured me spiritually and emotionally.

There were some other things that went on during that time that forced me to "grow up" as well, things that I won't go into here because it would only reflect poorly on the people involved. I learned a lot about forgiveness and about how HARD it can be to forgive someone. I learned that the best way to deal with gossip is to confront it head on, get everyone in a room and talk it out. I learned that people will make assumptions about a person based on THEIR history and THEIR feelings and beliefs and emotions more so than on those of the person they are making assumptions about. I learned that God can use ALL "bad" circumstances for His Glory....if we turn to Him and follow Him and do things HIS way. I learned that you are responsible for your actions and your words...no matter how you FEEL.

Galatians 2 talks about dying to self and letting Christ live in me. This is a wonderful feel-good concept, unless you really look at what it says and really commit to live this way.

Galatians 2: 19-20 says:
¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

It  is easy for me to claim "I no longer am bound by the law!!" It is, however, just as easy for me to place that yoke of bondage on others (you need to be in Sunday School, you need to be in church, you need to read your Bible every day, you dont need to wear skirts that short, you need to stop using foul language, you need  to....). God did not call me to be the legalism police. How often we act as "fruit inspectors" and pass judgement on people and their spiritual condition without even CONSIDERING what FRUIT is!!! Galatians 5:22-23 says "²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
When we "inspect" people's spiritual life, what do we look for? The ONLY things we can use to determine whether a person os TRULY growing as a Christian is to inspect their fruit...
Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control. THESE are the things we are given by the Holy Spirit. A person who never misses a Sunday morning church service, but is not kind, gentle, peacful, joyful, faithful, patient, loving, and self controlled is just another body inthe pew on Sunday Morning. Being there every Sunday does not make a person a mature Christian. Yet, we are often more concerned with someone's church attendence than we are their God given Fruit.

It is easy to claim grace for myself and trust God to forgive me. IT is harder for me to extend that same level of grace to others.

It is easy to say "I am not the person I was before I knew Christ", but much harder to "die" to what I want for MY life every day so that I can be who GOD wants me to be.

It is easy to trust that Jesus died for my sins so that I can go to heaven when I die, but harder to live each day as a new creation in Jesus Christ.

It is hard to live and speak and act and love in such a way that those who see me do not see me, but see CHRIST in me.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
So simple, yet so complex.

So, not that I am "well", my posts will naturally move on to other things...like marriage, kids, work...all the stuff we all deal with every day.

BUT before we go there, I am 6 months cancer free (the 2nd time) and my voice IS improving. I am doing physical therapy to correct a lot of the damage done by all the surgeries and radiation...and to correct bad posture habits I have developed along the way.

I'll see Doc S on Friday for my bi-monthly check up. I am taking the rest of the day off to spend with the kiddos.

I'll let ya know how the Dr visit goes.

Hugs!
K