Update from Duke

Greetings from the promised land of Springfield, Ohio. This is D-love Duke reporting. You heroic child bearing women, I salute you! Transition! Transition! Transition! Oh the pain! Oh the joy! Breathe--hee, hee, hee. Yes, yes! No! No! Give me an epidural! Beam me up Scotty! Well you get the idea. Major change and transition at hand, as the Lord is transforming us both in heart and thinking. Like the cicada or the butterfly the shedding of the old skin of yesterdays light is wrenching. Yet our God of all grace is faithful to His work in us and through us to make us like Himself. I'll get back to this change stuff in a moment...

A couple months ago, Maureen and I were awakened to a 1 or 2 a.m. semi-automatic gun fire, approximately 12 rounds, followed by sirens. Last week 2 blocks away an armed robber gunned down by police. We certainly aren't in Chimacum Dorothy!Yet the Kingdom of God is Here! And this place will never be the same.

The last two months of 2010 were so frustrating. What the heck are we doing? Why are we here? Feeling so lonely, isolated and disconnected. Frustrated with the church system; frustrated with people etc. We found ourselves in the familiar territory of desperation and need."Lord, I give up--clue us in that your plans and purposes would prevail." Maureen and I found ourselves coming together in agreement with simple prayers.. The answers are coming and as Micah wrote in a recent song, "hope is dancing on the horizon!" and we are rising to dance with it.



Back to the change stuff; It cuts into the depths of who I am--mind sets of thinking--old security blankets and giving up my special binky, a comforting and familiar friend. Can you you teach an old dog new tricks Lord? Only You know.
Well here it is:

I was walking the trails in the woods near Crabill Homestead, and I heard the Holy Spirit say, "There is no place for pride in My Kingdom". I responded with, "yes, Lord get em; deal with em etc," Hello, Mcfly are you in there? Knock, knock! "I'm talking to you Duke!" I am against you in your pride, but I give grace to the humble. I have been caught! I have been found out! the problem is in me. Oh the wretchedness, oh the highmindedness ; the blindness of it all. I have realized the main source of this frustration is simply an expression of pride and crossing a line into criticism and mental judgement. I have such a prophet/justice perspective that left unchecked, gets me in a whole lot of trouble. What is the source of this pride? How did I get it? Knowledge puffs up--and the knowledge, I'm talking about is not just information, but as divine originals we all have a history, a unique path of experience and revelation in relationship with the Lord. These God ordained valid and vital experiences are the tools and ways He shapes and conforms us to the image of Jesus. And only the Master Potter knows the perfect process and path for each of us. In my own life this path and process has developed mind sets and a world view that is limited in light to the divine original I am. Yet the problem arrises when I superimpose through the filters of thinking my path and process on others--the way I have walked is really the more spiritual way. What ignorance, arrogance and small limited thinking on my part.



We all have different gifts, callings and unique expressions in and from the Lord. My calling is the most important; my gifts and expressions are the most vital. The eye! No, the ear! No, the hand! No, I say, no, the feet! I am guilty of thinking that my gifts and calling are the most important. How desperately I need grace to think with sober judgement, be me without trying to control you. There is one calling that none of us can escape--the call to love. We are commanded to live a life of love. Be imitators of God as dearly beloved children and live a life of love. The goal of this instruction is love... Above all else put on love and love one another. God is love and His love fulfills all the Law and Prophets. Love, His love is the very expression of His kingdom... for God so loved..that He gave... His love to us, in us and through us is other worldly, supernatural and humanly impossible apart from His life in us. In light of the love list in I cor. 13 my own lack and wretchedness has been exposed. Love is patient; love is kind,...... Love keeps no record of wrongs... etc. Yet I have blindly walked in spiritual McCarthyism with my little black book filled with suspicion and speculation, an I'm right your wrong mentality. I forget that mercy triumphs over judgement and love covers a multitude of sin. Love is forbearing--it puts up with one another.



Thanks for putting up with me. I'll share more later.

Thanks to all who are partnering with us on this great adventure.

Love Bro Duke