Jesus is not only the road, He is also our destination! Hello, this is Duke reporting from Redding, Ca. We spent a week in Poulsbo with my mom; then we spent a couple days with Maureen's mom in Toppennish. We stopped in Ellensburg for a couple days and stayed with our treasured friends John and Mary. We then went back to Port Townsend and stayed a couple days with Darvin and Ginger; While in Port Townsend we said our final good byes; hooked up our 7x14 cargo trailer; and started off on our caravan adventure: All 8 of us, 2 dogs and 1 cat; Leah driving the minivan and me driving the large van hauling the cargo trailer.
First stop: A return back to Ellensburg where we stayed for about 1 week. We left Ellensburg 2 days ago and we are currently in Redding Ca. We plan to leave thursday morning-heading east.
Adrenaline rushes: Faulty washing machine flooding and causing water damage at my mom's house. Mocha and Fenway (our dogs) getting into the chicken coup at John and Mary's in Ellensburg; after all the feathers settled the chicken population was decreased by 2. It was a wonderful opportunity to grow in love for one another. Jesus causes all things to work together for good. Engine light in the large van blinking off and on especially while climbing like a big slug over Snoqualmie Pass. I am thankful for His protection--to find out that something with the air/fuel mixture was messed up; causing misfires and there were dangerous levels of fuel mixed in with the engine oil. John directed us to an excellent shop where they solved the problem for about a 100 bucks. Running great now!
Some interesting things happened to me while in Ellensburg. While at the water tower area that offers a great view of the city and Central Washington campus, I found a small hidden film roll bottle. It was a geocache (a global positioning satellite "gps" game) people with gps hide these bottles all over the planet. They put notes and little tresures in them. You can get coordinates on line and then search for these treasures using a gps device. If you find one you are asked to leave it in place, record your siting and leave something in the bottle. What blows me away is that I found it without using gps and not only that a few days later within a couple hundred yards, i found another one--this one was in a gallon jug. MMM? I think Jesus is telling me something. What do you think?
In Ellensburg we shared the gospel and prayed with Alyssa (a 17 year old treasure who is living with John and Mary). Mary baptized her in Peoples pond the next day. Pray for her that she would grow in the grace of our Lord; and that John and Mary would have much wisdom in assisting her.
We walked on the Central campus and spent time in the student union building sitting and listening to Holy Spirit for direction. A side note: Man I am old--in a sea of young people that all look younger than Leah, Jesse and Micah; the contrast was scary; I'm still handsome though. By the way for those of you who don't know Maureen and I graduated from Central.
While listening, the Holy Spirit reminded me of a name He gave me a few weeks earlier--Stephen. I didn't know that Mary had invited a man named Stephen to dinner that very night. He was my assignment. We had an awesome time of sharing and prayer with him. He has a Phd in physical ed and is an instructor on campus. He is in his mid to late thirties and He is an awesome man of God. We deposited into the geocache what we were to deposit. Stephen is a leader who loves Jesus and is in a unique influential place on campus. Lord let your glory be expressed through your son Stephen and may many (thousands) of young peoples lives be touched with your message of love and grace.
John and Mary are a planting of the Lord in Ellensburg and much fruit is coming forth. They have unique and special connections with people throughout the community. They are friends with Matt and Susie--campus ministers for over 30 years. We spent 4 to 5 hours sharing and praying for Matt and Susie--an awesome time in the Lord. They in turn encouraged their friends to come and receive prayer. So for about a week our friend Mary scheduled appointments for people to come to her house to receive ministry. Jesus made it easy for us; we sat on our butts and they came to us. Reports are coming back--lives were touched!
The message of the gospel, the message of grace, is so powerful! Where are you? In Christ! Who are you? Sons of God! How? By His doing! What do you have? all things! Why? His love!! etc
We said our heartfelt goodbyes and directed by Holy Spirit came to Redding. As we crossed the border from Washington into Oregon a sense of great release and anticipation came over me. We will never be the same! And I don't know when we will be back. Thank you for your prayers and support. We have been refreshed in Redding and it didn't happen at Bethel. It came through a treasured prophetic sister who we call Dr. Giggles. Her real name Sarah: She is so full of His joy: She prayed and ministered to our family and gave timely individual words to each of us. Thank you Sarah for being you! We also spent some special time with Anthony, Zach and Zach's mom Betsy. Love em!
Jesus is setting me free ! I never realized the depth of rejection in my life. My old slogan for the last 10 years was, "Jesus, despised, rejected and forsaken of men; welcome to the ministry" But through others speaking and praying into my life, I am no longer under the tutor of rejection. Thank you Mary for praying. Thank you Maureen for speaking into my life and thank you Stephen and Jenny for your timely encouragement and prayer.
There is so much Jesus is showing me, but I can't write it down. So Selah for a moment.. And I will grunt in the Spirit. Lord all that you are showing me I release to my brothers and sisters.
Headed East. Appreciate your prayers. Lord, hear clearly, see clearly and keep in step with the Holy Spirit.
Love D-love Duke
No comments:
Post a Comment