Building His Kingdom

Please don’t get this wrong; there is no boasting or whining here. I am blessed beyond words to have this rich opportunity to be associated with some of the finest folks on earth who visit this blog. I sometimes wonder how God imagines I am up to the task. You should know that I want to do biblical ministry more than anything on this earth, and have begged God for just such an opportunity since my teenage years.

But what He had in mind is rather like blazing a path in the wilderness. Rediscovering the ancient truth of His dealings with mankind has put me at odds with every part of the mainstream church system that I’ve touched so far. They don’t know what they are missing.

Today I had the chance to chat by phone with one of our regular readers here. Chances are we shall never meet face-to-face, but ministry still must happen. So I’m learning a lot about long-distance pastoring, and I’m closer in heart to several folks I’ll never see than I’ve been to most that I have seen. I’m not complaining. This is sweeter than words can tell. My online ministry has been more fruitful than all the work I’ve done in conventional churches in some forty years of trying. (Yes, I make myself available by phone if you need it.)

It saddens me that there are so many struggling because they are so blinded by our culture. Every time I walk in the woods and commune with all the living things, hearing them praise the Father and Creator of us all, I wonder how the rest of humanity can exist without that. It’s just too easy to find it, but they aren’t even looking. Indeed, I am the fortunate one.

My wife and I have known for some years that somehow, somewhere, some time, God would begin to use us this way locally — wherever “locally” is at that moment. We have sensed a promise that our struggle in the Spirit Realm would eventually bear the fruit of changed lives here in meat space. Perhaps it has already begun and we just don’t know it. Still, it remains so far seemingly unfulfilled. Yet it also seems right upon us.

Regular readers know I’m not building any kind of little kingdom. I’m still struggling to understand it myself, but the wide open door we keep on this blog will be part of how we operate in the real world. Nobody has to prove that they buy into everything I say. All that’s necessary is to invest enough time to be around us and share in the richness of a Kingdom already standing. If they can tolerate me and my blather, they are members. Indeed, all the world is potential members, and just showing up one time means claiming all the services I can offer.

While we do hope we can provide a place to meet out of the weather, there will be no heavy investment in facilities, membership rolls, budgets or bragging rights. I’ll do house-calls as much as possible, of course. But the true riches will be the people themselves, not any of the physical objects we use. This is part of what’s behind our effort to fix this mobile home, so that we can feel right about giving it to someone else.

Pray with us, because the lien holder is balky; they have always been a bureaucratic nightmare and we pray God have mercy on them. We can’t wait to be free of their bit and bridle. We didn’t choose them — they bought the mortgage out from under the original lender. They are not nice people. We are well aware that there is no escaping their sort in this world. But we also know that, in the end, God has His own way of dealing with things that are bigger than us. We leave this in His hands.

Meanwhile, the contractor has made a firm commitment to fix the roof and floors for the price of the insurance payout. God bless Him for such kindness, because the man won’t be making much money on this deal. We just have to wade through the bureaucracy of getting that multi-party check endorsed by all parties. I will eventually have to do the sub-floor insulation (waiting on warmer weather) and the wall repair myself, but that’s not beyond my limited talents. Pray with me that I can deal with the exposure to mold, because the insulation is loaded with it. Every time we go in that room where the floor is open to the insulation chamber, I get allergy symptoms again.

While the symptoms include weepy eyes, I’m not crying about it, so to speak. This is just an honest report of how things are going. I’m just glad we’ve gotten this far. God is good and His blessings are worth any price we pay.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by and see me.