Day of Refreshing

Saturday we had a Day of Refreshing at Emmaus Chapel. It was a blessing to all who came.  The Lord ministered to us.  His presence was heavy in the air as we worshiped and received communion together.
We had 45 people brave the weather to spend time with the Lord and the Lord honored their sacrifice by touching them with His Spirit.  I want to thank Maggie Yoches and her worship team for leading us in this day of refreshing.  Blessing upon them and the Emmaus team for all the work that was done behind the scenes.  We are looking forward to our next seminar with Dr. Roger Sapp which is January 22-24, 2010.  I know that the Lord has much more in store for us here, so come and be a part of what God is doing at Emmaus Retreat Center.

Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord

Last Friday night we had a wonderful night of intimate worship before the Lord.  Twelve of us participated in this time of soaking in God’s presence and peace.  We spent 3 hours just experiencing the Love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  What a blessing it was to all those who came to give and receive from the Lord!  I want to thank David Dixon for lending us his voice and skillful guitar playing. It truly was a blessing to us all!   If you are interested in joining us in our next night of worship, please just send an email to us at info@emmausretreat.net and we will get back to you with information on our next worship night.

Fellow Sojourner in Christ,

Joseph

Joy in the Journey

Luke 24:13-31  I was reflecting on the road to Emmaus and how the disciples felt as they journeyed along the road leaving Jerusalem.  Jerusalem, in their minds was a place of failure, a place of hopelessness and a place of discouragement.   All their hopes and dreams seemed lost in the death of their Rabbi and friend, Jesus.  There was no new kingdom, no change, they were back to the way it was before Jesus.
We all struggle just like they did.  We are no different.   Have you experienced lost dreams, shattered hopes, missed opportunities, or no purpose?   Life’s circumstances can do this to us.  Things happen in life that we just don’t understand or have control over.   Why we go through these circumstances- I don’t always understand.  Can life come out of death?
How about your life?  Have you seen life come from death?  I have.  It doesn’t mean it hasn’t been full of trials or pains.  It doesn’t mean it won’t take time before you see it.  Just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus who weren’t aware of the miracle who was walking with them,  we don’t always recognize Jesus when we see Him either.
Before we look at what Jesus did for the disciples, let’s deal with one illusion we all have- “we are in control”.  We all have it, we all want control. We desire control over ourselves, over others, over nature, over circumstances and even over God.  Christians must surrender this illusion and allow God to be in control.   Why?  Because He loves us and He is good and has our best interest at heart.  He proved it didn’t He?  Jesus did die for you and me so we could have this eternal life and we can take part in His Kingdom with Him.
We have a great Father who loves us dearly.  If you have a hard time believing this, I would like to recommend two books to you.  The first is “Experiencing the Father’s Embracing” by Jack Frost and the second is “He Loves Me” by Wayne Jacobsen.  They are both very good books on our Father’s love.
Let me ask you a question.  Do you always recognize and see Jesus’ kingdom at work in your life?  I would venture to say you don’t.  But guess what? - it is.  He is always before us, always with us, always speaking to us.  We just don’t see, hear or feel Him at the time.
So what did Jesus do for the disciples and what does he do for us?  If you look at Luke 24:15 Jesus came along side of them, He was with them even when life seemed darkest and most out of control.  He was there, but they did not see Him until He was ready to reveal Himself to them.
Jesus poured the scriptures into them giving them revelation on what the scripture meant and showed them who He was and what was fulfilled in His death.  We also need to ask Jesus to show us.  How is He revealing Himself to us in Word and deed?   Take the time to be honest with Him about your life, hopes and dreams.  Allow Him to comfort you, speak to you, and  show you His love.  He will guide you through times of sorrow and disappointment.  I know, I’ve had my share of them too.
He can take the grief in your life and exchange it with resurrection life giving us hope, joy, peace, and love.  Look at the disciples in Luke 24, they said “didn’t our hearts burn within us?”  Passion was reignited in their hearts.  What was dead had come to life again.  He does the same for us, why? Because he loves us and we are his sons and daughters.  Ask for the passion, ask for hope, joy, peace and love.  He will give it to you.
Place all the disappointments, fears, grief, and broken dreams on the cross.   Let them die and let Jesus deal with all the pain and let Him resurrect what He desires in your life.  I know this is not a one shot deal for most of us, but the more we let go, the more He can change us and heal us, and life will come out of death.  We need to trust Him and surrender.
Jesus walked with two hopeless disciples and gave them hope again.  He was present to them, encouraged them, spoke wisdom to them, gave them revelation, created passion in them, had communion with them and restored them as His disciples.  They returned to Jerusalem the very place they had left.  These two disciples weren’t special but they were His disciples and so are we.  And He will do the same for us.  He wants to breathe life into us, to give us new hope, revelation, wisdom, passion and fellowship with Him.   We will be able to dream His dreams, to live the Kingdom life, the eternal life in and through Him.  Yes, life can come out of death, but will we allow Him to take control of our lives or will we insist on doing things our way.  The choice is ours to make.  I pray we all make the right choice to surrender to Him.

A Bird Falling to the Ground:

Last Tuesday morning, Brandon and I were praying in the chapel together when all of a sudden we heard this large thud. A red-bellied woodpecker had flown right smack into our large chapel windows.  The impact was so hard that he left feathers stuck to the window before he fell to the ground.
We stopped praying and looked over the edge of the window and saw the woodpecker laying on the ground in front of the window.  His wings were outstretched and he wasn’t moving at all (except I could see his eyes blinking every now and then.)  Brandon and I decided to pray for this bird -one of God’s little creatures. We didn’t want to see him die this way.
We called out to our Lord to bring healing to this little woodpecker in his moment of need.  We prayed for 15 minutes or so.  You may be saying to yourself, “Why pray for a simple bird?  There are so much more important things to pray for.”  Yes, you are right there are more important things to lift up to our Father but we felt called to lift this little bird up to the Lord.

He did move slightly a couple of times, but as we watched life seemed to drain from the bird until there was no more blinking and I could only see shallow breathing.  It was now time for us to leave the chapel and go pray with a dear friend that was having surgery that morning.
As we left we walked to where the woodpecker was laying and spoke to him softly.  He tried to pick up his head only to have it flop over his body and then he closed his eyes.

Wednesday morning Brandon sited our red-bellied woodpecker in a tree near his house.  Thursday morning I spotted him perched in the pecan tree next to the Chapel.  Sunday before services I saw him again.  This little woodpecker has lifted my faith in our Father.  Our Lord does care about a little bird enough to heal him and He cares so much more about you and I.  Every time I see this woodpecker it’s a reminder of the love of God and how God still does heal and how His kingdom can and will invade ours lives to heal us and draw us closer to Him each and every day.
Next time you see a bird thank the Lord for his faithfulness to you and those you love.

A fellow sojourner in Jesus,

Joseph

SEASONS OF OUR LIFE:

Winter is slowly subsiding and suggestions of spring are in the air.
As I look around I’ve noticed the daffodils blooming, and the cherry
blossoms are timidly putting out a blossom here and there as if
testing the air to see if spring is truly around the corner.   How do
we measure our lives?  - mostly by years and seasons.
No matter what season you are in, Christ’s presence goes with you.  We
are never alone in this journey of life.  The dead of winter is
subsiding and spring is awakening from its long slumber.  We are
called to awaken too, we are called to life, and life more abundantly.
A new life in Christ Jesus, this is our promise, this is our
proclamation to a world that needs life, light and love.
Are you still in the dead of winter, physically, emotionally and/ or
spiritually?  As the first blossom of spring tests the air knowing
that spring is coming, we can test the air too.  Christ has come and
His light can shine on and in us.  We can have hope in this future of
uncertainty.  I have once heard “I don’t know what the future holds,
but I know who holds the future”.  It holds hope, no matter what
season of life you may be in.
Jesus Christ has come so we can be a part of His Kingdom, a Kingdom
that is eternal, a Kingdom that begins now.  Nothing is wasted in
God’s economy.  He can redeem us, give us life so we blossom like the
wild flowers.  So next time you look at a flower know that you too
were created for this season, for this time.  Seasons come and go but
those who live in Christ are forever.  Enjoy the spring season!

Joseph

Joy in the Journey:

This is the story of my journey to Emmaus that has taken 22 years from the Lord’s vision to the fulfillment of a dream.  The Lord doesn’t work in our timing or according to our schedule but he is faithful and patient with us as we endeavor to follow his lead.
Twenty-two years ago I was in St. Paul, Minnesota living in covenant community praying about my future and what the Lord might have in store for me.  The Lord placed on my heart a desire to be involved in formation and making disciples and the Lord told me I would be involved in a retreat center in Mississippi.  I was somewhat excited and fearful but this vision continued to grow in me until I knew I had to act on this vision.
So January 7th, 1989, I left St. Paul, MN, and moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi with two suitcases and eleven hundred dollars to my name.  God provided me with a new family and new friends as I continued the journey of a lifetime.  Now, like many of life’s journeys, we never know where it will end up or how long this journey may take.
In my mind I thought maybe five to ten years, but God had other ideas.  God established me in Vicksburg with a career in law enforcement and a marriage to my wife, Kristy.   I continued to pray and ask God if he was ever going to fulfill this vision he had given me years earlier.  The Lord seemed silent on the subject and I started to wonder if it was really ever going to happen.  It all seemed so impossible at the time but God is a fulfiller of the impossible.
I continued to journey along life’s sometime rugged road seeking God in various ways as I continued to grow in maturity and responsibility in God’s Kingdom.   Until four years ago, the Lord put Brandon Spain and myself together through the Vineyard.  After a short time Brandon and I would come together in prayer asking God what he wanted and seeking His guidance.  For a year, Brandon and I prayed together in the mornings meanwhile, Brandon and Sandy and Kristy and I would get together and talk about what we felt the Lord was doing in our lives.
The main focus was a retreat center, but where, when and how?  It still looked like this may be ten years out but God again had other plans.  God started laying it on our hearts that NOW was the time.  We were all excited and somewhat afraid all at the same time.  This was a big leap of faith for us all.  It’s a time when you have to trust God and believe you heard him and follow with all your heart.
The Lord was gracious to us by giving us confirmations from friends like Gary Garner, who had a vision of “No Mistake Plantation” describing it to me and telling me what to look for as we searched for a physical place.  God even gave our babysitter a dream about the place, and she described it to my wife, Kristy.  God led Sandy on the Internet to find our retreat center one day, and we all traveled to “No Mistake Plantation” that following Saturday.

As soon as we entered the gates, we knew that this was the place and I rejoiced in God’s faithfulness.  We were in the honeymoon period of this venture.  Now this is not the end of the story.  Really this is only the beginning because as you know we have God’s Kingdom but we have an enemy also and he seems to work overtime.
A time of adversity, Things were moving along quite fast as we purchased the property and started working on the physical building and planning to build others.  I won’t bore you with all the details other than to say that with any vision you need support and prayer because the enemy will attack.  You learn to press into the Lord or you will fall.  I think we all had days we didn’t know which end was up and where to go.
The Lord gave us a scripture “Unless the Lord build the house those who labor, labor in vain”.  Yes, at times we allowed him to build the house but I have to admit there were times we did labor in vain.  But we have learned much from this and we have the scars to prove it.
So now it’s been two years since we started this venture with the Lord with its joys and sorrows, which is all a part of life, isn’t it?  I would like to say we are done struggling but that would be a lie, but I do know that God has led us here, that he is faithful to fulfill what he has begun in each of us.  The joy is in the journey not just getting somewhere.  It’s with the people we travel with.  It’s sharing our lives together and sharing what God has done in us and through us.  We are the ones that are important to Him, not just a vision or a building. Its putting our lives in his hand and saying to Him I want to journey with you.  That is where we find real joy in Christ and being like him to each other.
So whatever vision, dream, God has given you, hang on to it and trust that God will fulfill what he has spoken.  But most of all continue to hang on to Him in whom we have an eternal journey.   My friends, be blessed and I pray that God’s life and will for you will be fulfilled

A fellow traveler:  Joseph