I've taken a long enough hiatus from 'conferences', and since I only get church every second week I thought some extra worship and teaching would quite nicely fill in the gaps I've been experiencing.
Before leaving I had a visit and chat with my doctor about "my hands" (sorry - this issue just keeps coming up with ridiculous frequency in these posts, but it's kind of a big deal in my little world right now.) We discussed possible physio intervention, renewed my drug prescriptions, talked about the "no heroics approach' if I am to have a near death episode and so forth. After which my friend and I zoomed off into the mountains on our little adventure! She had to drive because I had taken a migraine pill to drive away the ugly feeling that was creeping up my neck and over my head.
The mountains were glorious, the golden trees of fall lit up brightly amongst the evergreens.
Chilliwack greeted us with rain followed by the sad discovery of a not very accessible bathroom at our hotel. Just one bar behind the toilet and none beside it to keep me from keeling over in either direction if I lose my balance. Ahhhh, this is an affliction in my life that I will be very glad to leave behind one day. Unable to find another place to stay, we decided that just one night in Chilliwack would be plenty. And then we lay on the large comfy bed and started praising God for everything that was still so awesomely good in our lives. And we prayed for the dear refugees suffering under the tyranny of the IS. It brought some great perspective into the situation. There is always so incredibly much to be thankful for, at any given moment. Even when bathrooms in the lobby must be accessed.
And then we shared communion. Right there in the hotel room. Jesus' precious body and blood became our sustenance. Glimmers of glory...
We drove in all sorts of directions trying to find where we were going in that little town, and somehow we always ended up where we needed to be. The "Lead On" conference was an absolute delight. We arrived just in time to witness the local first nations people singing and drumming their welcome to us. Somehow, after all these years of making ourselves at "home" here in Canada, we (the collective "we")
have begun to realize the importance of honouring those who were here long before we arrived and asking for their permission, on some level, to do what we do here. It felt so right and good. Their drumming and singing in the dimly light room, the stories told of the villages and tribes that were there before the residential schools started causing all the grief and their settlements were slowly diminished. There was sorrow and pride and joy all intermingled. God will make all things new... more glimmers.
Once again God's glory fell during worship and the weight of His presence in that barely lit room swam around us. His precious body, all of us older and somewhat wiser, kind of broken we limp along, straining towards heaven, lifting our faces until He comes and kisses us.
Heaven touches earth and the joy reverberates. That palpable presence, that sense of destiny and appointment and yes, the glory of the seen and of the unseen.
A dear woman named Eleanor Mumford shared her story of walking with Jesus all of these years and daring to step out to believe that He is still calling us to do the works that He did while He was here. How sometimes we see the glory and the answers and we get the miracles, and sometimes we don't. But in spite of the "already here" and the "not yet" phenomenon that accompanies this journey of faith, we press on. We keep praying for people, and loving and serving and blessing. God is in charge of the rest. So let us not grow weary with doing good.
Pretty soon these glimmers of glory will lead us on to the full on, mind blowing visual glory of the Great I AM.
It really won't be long anymore.
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