Returning to the issue of politics, I want to take a moment and express appreciation and agreement with Lou Engle’s statement about abortion in America at the Call-Kansas City a few weeks back. His contention was that this is not a political issue - it transcends politics and is an issue of America’s moral failure whose logical outworking is the self-centered and callous manner in which men and women deal with their choices while claiming “personal rights”. It astonishes me how easy it is for wicked, ungodly, self-interested and self-centered men and women to frame the national debate on this topic. That we have so exalted individual freedoms and liberties in such a manner that they outweigh the corporate good is a clear indicator that greater atrocities lie in wait in the days to come. The madness that has gripped this nation - subjective morality and the elevation of individual choice - can only end in great bloodshed and tragedy.
Why would Tom Brokaw, as well as many actual sociologists that have objective data to study in drawing their conclusions, peg the World War II generation as “The Greatest Generation”? The Apostle Paul understood why this would be the case: athletes, soldiers, and farmers tend to have a different mindset drilled into them about teamwork, dependance on others, playing your part in a collective whole, service, honor, hard work, sacrifice, and other values that are instilled when working towards a common goal. While I’m not a fan of patriotism per se, it is far better than the alternative in which some tout and exploit their freedom to strike against the very mechanisms and persons in government that contribute to an opulent life of wealth that many ancient kings could never imagine.
We have come to a crossroads in our nation where individualism and the needs of the one far outweigh the corporate good and the needs of all. We have come to the days in which few are interested in self-restraint and self-discipline that serves the greater good. I think that part of the problem lies in the current state of morality and truth in our nation, by which few can even define what constitutes as “good” anymore. Thus “good” becomes what is “good for you”, with many of the popular preachers of the day willingly join the chorus of advertisers, politicians, and corporations happy to serve that subjective definition.
Thus, when talking about politics, I don’t necessarily want to discuss “who to vote for”. As we have seen in the comments section, angst about the quality of the candidates being offered up for public scrutiny can reach historic levels. We are in an age in which more information is so quickly and readily available than any other time in all of history. All of us can now be amateur researchers and reporters, breaking the news on blogs and web discussions about the impropriety and sheer humanity of the poor slobs that step up to volunteer for the thankless job of “leader of the free world.” I don’t say that to pity the corrupt and the ambitious, eager to shape the world according to their arrogant, unbiblical vision of how the world should be. I say that simply to point out that Lincoln would never have been elected to presidential office if they had the internet in 1860.
So we have come to this. Politicians are skilled at winning elections, but incapable of governing. They win because they are the best at tapping into the sinful, self-interested fears of a nation most interested in individual self-preservation. It will hurt us down the road if we exit Iraq prematurely. No one cares. It will hurt us badly down the road if we do not end abortion. No one is concerned. The general malaise that has gripped our nation leaves us more concerned about our personal security, our ability to buy prescription drugs, our buying power, and our interest rates than the life of an unborn child. While the majority of Americans believe that abortion is wrong, few believe it enough to actually take a stand and declare it to be wrong. Because making a definitive judgment on “wrong” then alienates and hurts the feelings of those with no conscience, making a dreadful profit on the shame of America. These are dreadful days, with worse to come.
And yet, the best days of the church are yet to come as well. For God’s eye is on something grander and greater than the next election. He is after a spotless, pure Bride - and will have the desire of His heart expressed on the earth. The manner in which He will bring this about is both great and very terrible. With all of the above - trouble and sin and murder and judgment - all of that in mind, why do I care about politics?
Because there is still time for America to repent - a season of restraint in which this nation can learn to fear God again. When I look at the candidates, I can’t look with an eye towards natural things. I have to look with a different lens, asking the Father to show me which man (or woman) is poised for a life-changing encounter that could serve as the “great equalizer”: a moment in time in which all of their humanity and weakness encounters a fearsome God…and everything is different for the rest of their lives. Who can be “turned”, not by interest groups or power, but by the hand of God Himself?
This is why Paul reframed the political debate in his day. It was not about Nero’s worth or skill in governance. Paul commanded the Roman church to pray for the man that would someday execute him. It is God that sets kings in place and tears them down - He is the great Humbler of Men. He also personifies our only hope for this nation.
So I don’t want to tout anyone just yet - I will wait until the primary season is over. Then, I will pick between the “lesser of two evils” - hoping beyond hope and racing against time that God loves mercy, and desires to establish a season of refreshing and restraint before the judgments come.
David
January 16th, 2008
Following up this weekend’s post on that strange feeling of inevitability, I thought it would be fun to tell a few stories before I get back to politics and the end of the age.
I.
I vividly remember in the mid-eighties watching a young boxer named Mike Tyson emerge from the streets of New York. His rough background and terrifying anger seemed at the time to make him more than a fighter, but a force of nature that would storm into the ring and tear apart his unfortunate victims. He wasn’t a boxer - but the masses never really watched the heavyweight division of boxing for technique and skill.
Side note: I took a missions trip to Mexico early on after starting full-time in ministry and our translator also happened to be an amateur boxer. So I spent long nights with some of the other guys on the trip learning boxing technique and trying hard to actually hit the guy. He would ask us to hit him as fast and as hard as we could - and we couldn’t lay a finger on him. It was fantastic - and I was hooked on the science of boxing.
No one, however, would ever imagine that Mike Tyson was a technical marvel. He was trained early on by one of the best trainers in the business, a man named Cus D’Amato, had had in earlier days trained heavyweight champions like Floyd Patterson. Patterson, to this day, is considered one of the greatest champions in boxing history and was the youngest heavyweight boxer in history - until Tyson became world champion at the age of 20. Though trained by the best, Tyson’s “skill” was intimidation and terrifying ferocity. He was a head-to-toe slab of muscle and impossibly fast. Of his first 22 professional fights, 19 ended in a knockout. 13 of those came in the first round!
As a young man in high school at the time, I had mostly heard about the fights. I remember, vaguely, watching him destroy Trevor Berbick and a guy named “Bonecrusher” Smith to unify the heavyweight title (if you’re still with me at this point, you really don’t want me to explain what that means, because it would mean explaining why no one watches boxing anymore). The fight I remember vividly is the one where I first felt that feeling of inevitability: when Mike Tyson got into the ring with a boxer named Michael Spinks, I turned to my friends and said simply, “Spinks is going to get destroyed in a minute”. I think I was actually scared for the guy.
I’ve described the feeling of inevitability related to sports in terms of it being about something more than a dominating team (or individual) on a roll where it seems like they can’t be beaten. It’s watching a team playing a different game, to the point where you know that they won’t lose, regardless of how well the other team plays. Here, watching the two men get into the ring, it was like Tyson was a different kind of human being. If this were Roman times, Spinks was, of course, the Christian. The announcers at the time were hyping the fight, telling us about Spinks’ superior “reach” and how his arm length could possibly keep this terrifying granite fighting machine away to get some punches in. I didn’t buy it. Those Spinks arms were twigs, relative bowling pins; Tyson was the human bowling ball.
Some of you who were paying attention to these kinds of things back then may remember how it turned out. 91 seconds after the opening bell sounded to begin the fight, it was over. It was a mauling. Pay per view audiences around the nation were horrified. Everyone knew that Spinks would lose - but not like that. Things for Tyson fell apart not long after this fight, for reasons that no one cares about any more. But I remember. That feeling tends to stay with you over the years.
II.
On my honeymoon, my incredible new bride suggested that we relax on the couch, open the doors to let the warm Caribbean air blow in, and watch Game 5 of the NBA Finals. I love that woman. For those that remember, Game 5 that year was the famous “flu game”. A dehydrated and exhausted Michael Jordan scored an amazing 38 points to shift the momentum of the series, which the Chicago Bulls would win the very next game. For a sports fan, it felt historic. It’s why you would watch sports: to maybe, hopefully, see a game like that. You felt like you were watching something impossible, and you were sure that anyone who watched the game would talk about it for years.
The next time I felt the feeling of inevitability was during a game far more routine and mundane than that one. The very next year a few of us grabbed some cheap tickets and hotel rooms in Toronto to watch the Chicago Bulls, and Michael Jordan in his final year, roll into town and destroy the floundering Toronto Raptors. Though it was unofficial, everyone knew it was Jordan’s last year. That game in particular made headlines because of the crushing demand for tickets. The arena at the time was the Skydome, where the Toronto Blue Jays played baseball during the summer. They would block of half the dome and set up a makeshift basketball arena with the other half; the full stadium could seat 60,000 for baseball games while the basketball arena had a seating capacity of about 18,000. For this game, they opened up the “really bad seats” (obstructed views from the seats near the partition that divided the arena in half) and squeezed about ten thousand more for the main event.
I, of course, snatched up as many of the “really bad seats” as I could get my hands on. From where we were sitting, a few in our group could see fairly well on one end of the row; those on the other side of me couldn’t see at all. We put the girls down at that end. I blocked out all conversations and just watched one of the best basketball teams in history play one of the 82 games they would play that year. There, in Toronto, it was remarkable how many of the fans early on were there to actually root for the Bulls.
I noticed a few things that surprised me. Jordan was clearly coasting, it seemed as if he was hardly trying. He would score if the game came to him, but he wasn’t trying to make anything happen. It was strange to watch one of the greatest reducing himself to role player status. But that’s what he was - the spotlight was clearly on Scottie Pippin that night, who was destroying any Raptors defender foolish enough to try to stop him from scoring. Most of the night, it was a young man named John Wallace, who had led the Syracuse Orangemen to the NCAA Finals a few years earlier (only to lose to a far superior Kentucky Wildcats team with six future pros).
The other thing I was impressed by was how good their troubled forward, Dennis Rodman, looked in person. Rodman, on the court, had a reputation as a stunning rebounder and defender; but in person he was more than that. I have never seen a player give 100% effort for entire game without dialing down - Rodman went full speed with maximum energy for the entire game; nearly impossible for even the most well-conditioned athletes. But it was clear that Rodman possessed a stamina that was abnormal. I found myself watching him more than the established offensive stars of either team - he was giving an almost inhuman effort against the last-place team in the league.
While their defense was terrible, Wallace and another young veteran named Doug Christie were playing the game of their lives on the other end of the court. A young Marcus Camby blocked a few surprising shots and provided energy by the basket - he would finish with 23 points. Two rookies showed flashes of potential that occasionally wowed the crowd - a point guard named Chauncey Billups and a forward named Tracy McGrady. It seemed as if the Bulls were going to put this last-place team away often throughout the night; yet the Raptors had a scrappy resolve that helped them close the gap early in the game - at halftime the Bulls were only winning by two. About midway through the third quarter most of the tourists who came for the event began to file out. Chicago had widened the gap in the score and the Raptors were seemingly well on their way to another of what would become 66 losses that year. The third quarter ended with the Bulls winning 78-69.
Yet, the most surprising thing happened: the Raptors began to make things happen. Turnovers by the Bulls, unbelievable off-balance jump shots by Christie, baskets from surprising no-name guys who would soon be out of the league, and a burst of energy on defense propelled the improbable comeback. The Bulls (save Jordan) turned up their energy level a bit, wanting to put the Raptors away before they really began to believe they had a shot at winning. But it was too late - now the Raptors and the crowd believed that this last-place team could really beat one of the most powerful basketball teams to ever play the game. Every seemingly fatal “dagger” inserted by Pippen at his finest was answered with authority on the other end of the floor by Christie and Wallace.
I had moved seats by then, occupying a row long abandoned by tourists who had left after getting what they had come for - the ability to say, “I saw Michael Jordan”. As for me, I joined the rest of the crowd in cheering and hollering wildly as the Raptors went on to outscore the Bulls 31-22 in the fourth quarter. Improbably, the final seconds were ticking away and the Raptors had tied the score at 100. With twenty seconds left and the ball, after a Raptors mistake, the Bulls called a timeout. The scattered crowd that remained was breathless and alive.
After the timeout, the Bulls inbounded the ball directly to Jordan, who calmly dribbled the ball down the full length of the court. Suddenly, that feeling gripped me again. I think it grabbed the entire crowd, simultaneously - a hush fell over the newly converted Toronto Raptors fans. As the clock counted down to ten seconds, I knew - everyone in the building knew - that this game was over. The Raptors had, collectively, played the game of their lives - but they couldn’t win. Not tonight, and not against these Chicago Bulls. The basketball gods could add five, ten, fifteen more minutes to the clock and it wouldn’t help them. They were still young novices at this game and the master was about to show them what championship basketball involved.
As calmly as you or I drink a glass of tap water, or brush our teeth, or read the newspaper, Jordan dribbled to a spot on the floor and casually launched a twenty-foot jump shot. Time expired as it spun perfectly in the air. It swished beautifully through the net to give Jordan his 33rd point of the night. The crowd gaped in unison, cheered for a moment, and then it was over. Without so much as a fist-pump or a smile, Jordan calmly trotted off the court as if it were the end of the half. He simply turned, ran off the court to scattered, stunned applause, and disappeared.
III.
That feeling came over me again as I watched the Patriots put away the Jaguars coolly on Saturday night. It was much more akin to the coolness of Jordan rather than the earlier ferocity of Tyson. Brady completed all but two of his passes (two “shoulda had it”-type drops by his receivers) with the same calm that comes over you or I when we relax on a couch or eat a burger. It didn’t matter what the Jaguars did, the Patriots simply went about their business with an other-worldly efficiency. I saw about four or five mistakes by the offense all night - one sack allowed, two dropped passes, and two missed blocks. It was easy perfection.
That’s why, for all of the speculation that followed my last post, I am sure (as sure as I have been of anything) that the next few weeks are all but done. It doesn’t matter what the other teams do, or how well they play. Their highest level would have been championship-caliber football on any other occasion. But not this year - this year, we are seeing something that you see maybe once or twice in a lifetime.
Three times if you’re lucky.
David
January 14th, 2008
I’ll hit the political arena more at the turn of the week - feel free to jump in on the discussion if you are so inclined. Nothing like politics to get things a little stirred up! Well, politics and global warming. These subjects tend to get the ol’ blood pumping.
For me, there’s one subject in particular that strikes the annoyance button in a special, unique way - but I haven’t written about it because no one outside of the 64137 zip code would care in the slightest. I’m getting so annoyed, however, that I am growing motivated to make more of you out there care about the trivialities of life in South Kansas City. To write about that little, rickety, awful, unsafe, and spectacular disaster waiting to happen Red Bridge down the road, and the story of the deluded, illogical attempt to stave off improvements to it by the small but vocal “Friends of Red Bridge Road”, would be a fun one to tell sometime. I personally find it highly entertaining. Writing about it here would, even more than my post on politics, break new ground for this site. So, I’ll save that one for another time.
Nope, I want to break more new ground here. I want to write about sports. It’s not a subject I write about here - this hasn’t been the space or the place to explore my thoughts on football, for many reasons. I want this space to primarily contain the thoughts that flow from the prayer room. So while I enjoy football, basketball, and baseball (yes, there are a few of us out there), I rarely feel compelled to share my thoughts on those subjects. Tonight, though, is a little different. I wanted to make sure I wrote this before the Patriots - Jaguars game was finished, mostly because my weird little analytical maind is intrigued with how I feel watching it.
I’m not a Patriots fan, but I do appreciate what is at stake for them this year. I’m not rooting for the Jaguars to win this game, and end the march to an undefeated season (for the uninitiated, the Patriots just finished the first 16-0 season in the history of the NFL; if this is news to you, you probably need to get out more). I do appreciate the degree of difficulty related to what the Patriots are trying to accomplish. Yet, all things considered, I’m kind of watching this game with the same level of emotion I would have if I were watching, say, a policeman write a traffic ticket.
In other words, while there might be some slight chance that the recipient of the ticket could suddenly hit the gas and peel away scot-free, anyone passing by would know that once the police lights went on it was all but done. It’s the same with this game - my wife is watching football with me. Mary Anderson is watching football with me. I’ve never watched a game with Mary Anderson in my life. Yet here we are, all watching the Patriots do what they do better than anybody has ever done it. The Jaguars are putting up a real fight, playing solid, mistake-free, possibly championship caliber football on a professional level. They are clearly not stumbling under the pressure of the playoffs, as many more talented teams have over the years. Jacksonville came right at the Patriots from the first series of the game, moving the football crisply down the field for the game’s first touchdown.
The game has been relatively close ever since.
What was remarkable to me is this: not one time during this game, no matter how well Jacksonville has played, have I thought, “Ooooh, this is tense! The underdog (Jacksonville) could really take this game!” On every play, no matter the outcome, I’ve only felt one thing: this game is all but over. The feeling of inevitability, that the Jaguars could score as many touchdowns as they wanted to yet never come close to winning this game - I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this sure of one team’s certainty of victory in a game that wasn’t a blowout. Meaning, I realized before writing this that I have been watching this whole game, from the start, like I was watching a Super Bowl blowout.
Even now, the Jaguars are, late in the game, moving down the field trying to score and stay with the Patriots. They may actually score. It doesn’t matter. The score of this game might as well be 70-3. I’ve been watching football long enough that I’ve seen the great Steelers teams of the 70’s, the powerful 49′ers of the 80’s, and the team that shall go unnamed in the 90’s beat my team 52-17. I’ve just never felt this way watching a football team. The Patriots aren’t dominating in the way that those teams (and others, like the ‘85 Bears and the ‘86 Giants) did, but they seem far superior to me, watching them tonight. It’s almost certain that someone will make a play and finish off the pretenders that everyone touted this week and end this game.
And, of course, someone just did. The Patriots just intercepted a pass to end the threat and bring this game to an end. There are a few minutes left, but no one watching this would think that the Jaguars will come back. It’s done - the announcers (who want us to keep watching) just told us so. They’ve moved on to urging us to watch the post-game show. Interestingly enough, listening to these guys tonight was like listening to a couple of golf announcers. For them, this game would be like doing play-by-play for a supermarket cashier.
I’ve never seen a more boring close game. No drama. No doubts. No worries.
It will be interesting to see if I feel the same way next week. I mean, the Colts (and the Colts will win tomorrow - I don’t want to explain why) are the defending Super Bowl champions and one of the best teams in football over the past seven years; it just seems like New England is playing a different game right now.
And, wouldn’t you know it? As the game ends, the play-by-play announcer just signified the win by saying: “Ho hum.” I couldn’t agree more. My wife fell asleep in the middle of this post. Mary took to knitting at about the same time. As for me, wake me up when this team wins the Super Bowl.
David
January 12th, 2008
I promised a while ago to do something on this space I’m not prone to do - talk politics. I’ll say one thing about myself to set the context for what I will say next - I consider myself to be a fairly nuanced thinker when it comes to public policy. I understand the current dilemma facing every politician from the local to the national level: the issues are clearly complex and have no easy solutions. Many of the issues that require real solutions, and soon, are of the kind that have great importance to the infrastructure of our nation; yet there is not one solution or “wave of the wand” that will right the course of our nation and restore normalcy and utopian glory to our land.
The immigration problem is one of those issues: no easy answers. It is both impossibly hard and shockingly easy to get in and out of our nation. As a senior leader at an international ministry, I understand the frustration that comes from the former reality and the danger that is posed by the latter. I do not believe that there is one simple course of action that will solve both tensions. In fact, the whole dynamic of skilled leadership requires the ability to navigate nuance, grey areas with no clear or easy solutions, and choosing the best of ten bad options. Quality leadership is able to operate within a values-based context that can hold two seemingly opposing values in tension to reach the best possible outcome. To imagine that there is one sparkling answer that will solve the challenges facing our nation is partly naive, partly simplistic, and mostly ignorant of the complexities of the human heart.
The problem, however, is this: most of America does not care to grasp anything that I just wrote in the previous paragraph. You don’t get elected to solve our nation’s problems by articulating the realities of the political scene. Nope, you have to roll up your sleeves, speak in simple sound-bytes that anyone can remember, and prove that you can work outside of the system to make a corrupt system work for the people. It’s all a sham - every word. Choosing a “party”, taking the general party line without appearing to be bound to the whole ideological slant, and making it seem as if there are five easy steps to solve the mounting problems threatening our nation are all the playground of a skilled politician. Getting elected and actually engaging in sound governance, unfortunately, are often two distinctly different things. The guys that are experts at winning an election often find that those skills (relating to the masses) don’t translate into winning the policy battles (relating to strong, self-interested leaders).
Many career politicians who are skilled at working the system (thus truly shaping public policy) often find themselves unelectable because of it. This is the vicious cycle known as “our modern democratic system”. Why am I laying all of this out? Because I want to vociferously justify why I am an unapologetic single-issue voter. Understanding the complexities and the issues, I look at the political landscape and can truly and honestly say that it is time for a change. The change that I am longing for night and day in prayer has little to do with Democrat vs. Republican ideologies or liberal vs. conservative mindsets. I long for speedy justice to be established on the earth. I hold out little hope for sweeping changes through the leadership of ungodly politicians who labor within a self-interested, self-serving system of governance currently built upon the most successful public relations machinery on earth. I will render unto Caesar what is his. I will pray for those in leadership and contend in prayer for God to establish righteous leadership in the highest seats of governmental authority. I will watch and pay attention when ungodly men go too far.
Most importantly, I will unapologetically, unequivacably, and joyfully vote pro-life. As such, I desire to take my stand with the righteous of every age of human history against what I believe to be the greatest giant of our time. I desire to oppose the practice of abortion until my last breath. What current issue is more critical to the future of our nation? I would not be a single issue voter if we were discussing lesser issues, as I have discussed. If abortion were a non-issue in our time, it would be difficult for me to vote at all, to be honest.
I appreciate how un-American that last sentence sounded. Forgive while I retire for a moment to vote with my knees.
David
January 11th, 2008
…or, our monthly “Global Bridegroom Fast” for the uninitiated. On the first Monday - Wednesday of every month the IHOP-KC family gathers twice a day to pray and fast together for revival and the issues that are on the heart of the Lord. So, I’m in the prayer room but trying not to write - but to actually pray for three days.
I’ll have a regular post on Thursday.
David
January 8th, 2008
Later today we are making available a few more study resources if you are interested. You can find them here. What are they? They’re notes on these subjects:
1. Cities of Refuge - from the Joseph Company summit by the same name that I shared at in the fall. Is this concept a biblical one? Why would God establish this in the book of Exodus, and what purpose would a divine “pocket of mercy” serve in the days to come? I know that, for me, I get a little (just a little) bugged when this concept becomes a means of avoidance or escape for a believer that desires to be removed from coming trouble. In other words, this theological concept can sometimes be just as misapplied and erroneous as the “pre-trib rapture”; except that it’s a means for the post-trib believer that knows that the idea of a rapture before the coming trouble is unbiblical yet one can still be on the earth during the judgments of God and live in relative comfort and ease. The “point” in the days to come is to be unshakable, not comfortable, in the midst of great trouble.
2. The Pathway to a Burning Heart - or an introduction to Psalm 119 and the invitation of God to young men and women to be “cleansed in their way” in their pursuit of wholeheartedness in love for God. We’ll be posting the MP3 of this message at some point soon when we roll out our new IHOP-KC Student Ministries website. Side note: this new website will have a ton of content for students and leaders involved in Junior and Senior High School ministry - we’ll be announcing it soon.
3. Necessary Theological Components of the Prayer Movement - what are the components that serve our pursuit of night and day, unceasing prayer? How can we pray and not lose heart? The biblical components to a life of unhindered, empowered, continual prayer are found in Romans 14:17 - and I break it down a little bit for those who desire to lead others into a life of night and day prayer.
Hopefully we’ll get these posted for you by the end of the day! Enjoy!
David
January 4th, 2008
I’ll share a big bummer that will expose the real reason why this site was tragically sparse during the month of December: I wasn’t in the prayer room much! That’s the dirty little secret behind the volume of verbiage on this little online journal - if I’m taking time to pray, things within me stir and need expression, thus this site becomes the outlet for the ideas that strike my heart. Between vacation, Christmas, and the Onething conference, life was moving a bit fast in the Sliker household (hence the “pace of the treadmill” post a few weeks back). If I’m not writing, it’s probably because I’m not connecting or praying as I should. Sometimes, though, I’m not writing because I really want to only pray - so don’t hold me to this later…
I am thankful to the Lord, however, because I feel like He gave me some magnificently tender gifts to set my heart for 2008. I led a few prayer meetings on Christmas just after my vacation, and then, during the conference, Matt Candler and I helped lead the prayer room there (…and yes, there are stories. Many, many stories.). While I spoke on holiness and purity to the teenagers at our High School track, the topic I had to speak on for the general conference was “the Anna Calling.” Then, my week was topped off by the Call - 12 mostly uninterrupted hours of sitting by myself and praying in the spirit. Oh glory! Then, the next day, I led two more prayer meetings.
So why are these five things such fantastic gifts from the Lord to me? Well, for me they constitute a convergence of opportunities that all bring me gently but forcefully back into the only stream that matters for my life - connecting with streams of living water that stir and awaken quiet whispers up to a God that hears and answers prayer. The two prayer meetings on Christmas set me back into place after being on vacation for a while - they reoriented me and reawakened me from the slight dullness that can accompany time away. Leading the prayer room at the conference kept me in the place of prayer with a figurative “firewall” around portions of my schedule during the busiest most time-consuming time of the year. I am convinced that the hardest time to pray is at a prayer conference.
Most importantly, however, I had the privilege of talking about Anna, one of my heroes from Luke 2:36-38. In that passage, Luke makes the hallmark statement of her life: she did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayer night and day. Her service to God mattered. Nothing needed to be added to her name, her title, or her job description. If she did nothing else, there would be no apology necessary. In our day, an unnoticed widow that became a fixture in the house of prayer for 60 years would be at best a curiosity, and at worst an object of pity or even scorn. Yet to Luke, she is a hero. Her voice, her words, her prayers, her fastings, they mattered to God. He made sure the Holy Spirit reminded Luke about her. Yes, she prophesied, and yes, she evangelized…how could she not? She touched God! And yet, neither of those things qualifies, justifies, or excuses her lifetime offering before the Lord.
Again, today, we say those things to help people understand that prayer is a valuable ministry that leads to expressions of service that we value and honor. The Lord has no concern or need of those kinds of justifications. For Him, it was enough that she prayed and fasted. Thus He positioned her to enter in to the fruit of her labors; that in the key moment of history, at the arrival of the Messiah, she was commissioned to go a proclaim His coming to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Of course, what is implied is this: the only possible way that there were any with a hunger and a thirst for redemption in that time in Jerusalem’s history (when few sought Him out in Bethlehem, despite the unusual number of compelling signs and prophecies) was due in large part to the prayers of an unnoticed, hidden little saint who would not leave the house of the Lord. How much of a role did her prayers play in preparing hearts to hear a message of redemption?
I have crossed a line, and the honor of preaching about Anna reminded me again of this fact. Regardless of my roles or function or gifting, my greatest impact comes daily in the house of God, whispering weak words to a tender God. How can preaching to thousands compare to prayers that could impact billions? How can a few books and a few teaching tapes even be mentioned in the same context as my time before the King of the universe? My prayers, my heart, my requests - they matter to Him. He hears my voice, and it serves Him. It doesn’t just touch His heart, and it is more than “enjoyable” to Him - though He does enjoy our weak prayers. Luke says it clearly. It serves the Lord to do this. How glorious!
From there, I found myself in a little corner chair on the side of the stage at the Call, my eyes closed, with real grace to pray. I felt the activity of the Holy Spirit on my heart. I felt like I could pray all day and beyond, if I wanted to. It was easy to pray. So I kept my eyes closed, got really quiet, and gently prayed in the spirit. For hours. I didn’t even want to go on the platform to pray. I didn’t want to lead anything. I didn’t want to be helpful to the event - smarter people than I had it all figured out. What blessed the Lord…but more than that, what served the Lord, was that I stayed in that little chair and really prayed. How glorious!
So, by the time I walked into the prayer room at IHOP-KC the next day to lead a few little prayer meetings, I was refreshed. Alive. Physically strengthened and emotionally encouraged. More than that, I was set again. This is who I am - and who I am proud to be. What else could be added to my title? What else could I be “promoted” to? Why would I care if more people heard the sound of my voice when He hears it - God and all the angels? Oh, how I love my job. I serve Him with prayers and fastings. It’s my primary calling.
And I could do it all day. In fact, I think I will. Maybe I’ll do it forever.
It’s good to be back.
David
January 3rd, 2008
When I look at my posting history and see that little solo post on the 17th, I get a bit sad (only a bit). I get about 10-12 ideas a day of things I’d love to write about, little tidbits and shreds of thoughts that would be fun to expand and expound on, but on vacation you don’t really get a minute to think things through. I’m sure none of you mind - and would rather I be enjoying my family right now over taking a quick minute and throwing some thoughts down to ease the blank “December” calendar staring at me every time I check in here. Don’t worry - all are resting as I prepare to preach and teach tonight at a missions base in Orlando. (Of course, now some of you are thinking, “He’s preaching and teaching during his vacation?!” We like it this way, trust me.)
I love vacation and I love resting and enjoying my family - don’t get me wrong. But it is a bit funny to think about the way December works for an “ihopper” - in many ways it’s a four-week sprint to get ready for the Onething conference as well as all of the end of the year planning for 2008 initiatives and events. Then you used to kind of hit that “January lull” when a certain missions base director heads out on his yearly vacation and things kind of…slow down. January tends to be the month where a ton of the key folks head out of town to rest and recover. January doesn’t work great for the FSM / FMA instructors, however, because of the early start date for the semester now with our new-ish modular system.
So what used to be a down (ish) time for IHOP-KC is slowly picking up steam with returning students, classes, and new programs beginning. Life at IHOP used to have swells and lulls based on people traffic ebbing and flowing during different times and seasons. The funny thing about 24/7 is that, beyond the fact that it never stops (people still don’t quite grasp that we go full blast on Christmas and Thanksgiving), as it grows, the activity and pace is beginning to become constant in nature. That’s something to think about - we’re losing our lulls as a larger community and coming into a season of constant traffic and activity - and we have so little anointing or manifest power from God…all we do right now is “not stop” - and “not stopping” is speeding life up significantly.
Because we are arriving at an interesting juncture as an organization and community, it increases the importance on us as individuals to fight for our own “down times” rather than learning to depend on the larger community to “provide” them. It means saying no to things, slowing down, bypassing “open doors” of opportunity and “more”, and fighting to simplify. It’s easy to live the fasted lifestyle of simple devotion in a little trailer with a few options. This is the season where we as a community get to find out if the lifestyle “took” in the roots of our soul as the options increase.
So if you’ll excuse me, the kids are stirring and my bride is calling. Time to get back to resting.
David
December 17th, 2007
We’re on vacation, and end of the year breath of air for my wife and I providing a necessary reprieve for my wife from the madness of marketing and all the work that goes into that funny little Onething Communicator ™ for the Onething Conference and for me from the madness of launching a student ministries (High School / Junior High) department at IHOP-KC in the midst of writing a book and running a prayer room. *Whew!*
Where are we exactly? Well, a few discerning readers will know where we were, as we are on the move again to other parts unknown. There are a few things you should know about me and some of my latent skills that blossom while vacationing:
1. I have a knack for finding the best and coolest places to eat. It continually astonishes my wife. It doesn’t matter if it’s a brand new city or town to the Sliker family - I will accidentally stumble onto sweet little non-chain local places that have the kind of food you can’t get anywhere else and want to go back to again and again. It’s my way.
2. I have a knack for finding odd situations to observe. In this case, the fried chicken joint we stumbled onto (”Lindy’s Chicken”) happened to also be the place that a couple of Florida State Seminole coaches had to meet with the number one high school linebacker (and one of the top 25 players) in the nation…and his mom. It was truly fascinating for me, being a fly on the wall as this senior in high school mumbled and stared, looking like he was eager to get the visit over with as the coach and recruiting assistant sold the mom on the facilities and safety of Florida State dorm life.
Of the two, the recruiter talked the most while the coach watched silently. Only the truly sports-mad would appreciate who the linebackers coach of Florida State is (and who was in Lindy’s Chicken a few nights ago), so I won’t go into those dynamics - but I do love watching moderately successful people navigate strange and uncomfortable situations.
So, for the discerning reader:
1. Point for you if you can figure out what town I was in…
2. Point for you if you can figure out the name of the recruit or the High School he is from…
3. And finally, point (X2) for you if you can tell me the name of the coach that strolled into Lindy’s and what he was doing a few years ago…
Have fun!
David
December 13th, 2007
There is no better governor for the heart than vision. Vision constrains us, directs us, disciplines us, and motivates us like few other catalysts can or do. For once vision is caught, faith follows, and then self-discipline will grow in time, as the vision begins to connect heart and mind. No external government or accountability can match the internal fire that moves the heart of one who has a vision.
David
November 30th, 2007
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