Musings from Vacation, Part 1

After a long day in the air and in four airports (Baltimore, Detroit, Salt Lake City and Oakland), we finally arrived in California, complete with luggage. We had tight connections and delayed flights - in Salt Lake City we had 15 minutes from the time we deplaned at one end of the airport until our connection was scheduled to depart from the other end - and due to overbooking our carry-on luggage wouldn't fit in the cabin and had to be checked through, and we had not time to buy meals in the airports and no meals were served on the planes, but we made it. I will never again wonder about Paula bringing "just-in-case" food in her purse.

On the shuttle to the airport we met a very friendly Southwest Airlines pilot who was staying in the same motel. He warned us not to try to walk to a restaurant, so we ordered a pizza and shared it and conversation with him. He seemed very interested when we told him of the healings that we saw in the revival services last week, and said he would love to see something like that - he has had very little experience with church. We will be praying for him.

Due to the three hour time difference, Paula and I went to bed around 7:30pm and awoke at 4:30am. The RV folks won't pick us up until around 10:00am, so we have had several hours to just sit in the room. That could sound very dull, but in fact it's very nice. Between reading, napping, and surfing the net, we are finding it very relaxing already, and we aren't even out of the motel! There really is something to be said for getting away from everyday responsibilities - I guess that's the main "musing" for today. I tried a "stay-cation" for two weeks in June, taking vacation time but staying at home, and while it was nice, it really wasn't what we needed. This two weeks in the mountains and along the Pacific coast, away from all normal responsibilities, promise to be wonderful. I guess God really knew what he was doing when he commanded us to take a rest day every week, and set up all those mandatory annual feasts in the Old Testament. They were basically big community barbeques when nobody worked and everybody ate. Some of them even required people to go to other cities or camp in tents for several days. A great idea from our loving God!

More the next time we have internet access. Blessings from vacation!

People Were Being Healed All Over the Place

You had to be there to believe it. People were being instantly, miraculously healed all over the church.

During special services last Friday and Saturday nights, and after the two regular Sunday morning services, at least twenty people I can identify personally received what John Wimber used to cautiously call “significant symptomatic abatement” immediately after receiving healing prayer. Many more from other churches reported being healed as well.

I haven’t contacted anyone for permission to use their names, but anyone familiar with Trinity Church can identify most of these folks.

One woman had not been able to kneel for ten years. After prayer, she was kneeling at the altar and rejoicing.

Another woman well into retirement age suffered from stress fractures and compression in her back. After prayer she was not only pain free, but touched her toes! – something she had not been able to do, in her words, “for a long time.”

At least three people came into the meeting with one leg shorter than the other. We watched as the legs grew out to the same length in front of our eyes. One reported the next day that it was the first time in years that she had been able to finish a worship service in normal shoes without her feet hurting.

A woman was healed of a deviated septum – she kept going around sniffing to demonstrate!

A woman had broken her wrist some time before and it had healed into a “frozen” position, unable to pivot back and forth. After prayer it had the same range of motion as before it was broken.

A woman I have known very well for a long time wore hearing aids in both ears, and had been almost completely deaf in one ear. After prayer she regained her hearing in both ears without hearing aids.

These are just some of the amazing things God did for us.

For me, perhaps the most exciting thing about it was that Dan Mohler, the Pennsylvania Bible teacher who led the meetings (www.neckministries.org), did not personally pray for most of them. Instead, he led the ordinary members of the church to pray for each other. It was their prayers that resulted in these healings.

In fact, one man was part of a group praying for a woman’s back and neck pain. She received healing. Then the man noticed that his own back no longer hurt. When he told me about it I asked how long he had suffered from the back pain. He said, “Ever since childhood” – which would mean about fifty years!

Jesus said, “Those who believe in me will do the same things that I do, and even greater things” (John 14:12), and, “These signs shall follow those who believe . . . they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover” (Mark 16:17-18). This weekend proved that those promises are still good. True, not everyone received immediate healing, but that does not invalidate what did happen.

Our task now is not to let this become something we look back on as an exciting event that happened once, but as the beginning of a new exciting ongoing ministry. I am open to ideas for how we as a church can encourage each other in stepping out in this ministry, not only in church services, but everywhere we meet people in need. I also urge you not to wait for the church to come up with some program. Go pray for someone!

God is good, God is faithful, God doesn’t change. There are people in need all around us. Let’s go out and demonstrate God’s love and power.