Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire - "FLOW"

Awhile back, I read a book by Jim Cymbala (Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire) that really inspired me to start an intercessory prayer time at our church. I wasn't sure when God would have me start, but I knew that the Lord will tell me when that right time would be.

Today Wednesday, October 1st was the first meeting. I had the sanctuary all to myself and I had a wonderful time with God. The first 15 minutes I was fidgeting and wondering if anyone was going to come out and it was a little hard for me to pray and get into it. The next 15 minutes the Lord started showing me who to pray for in our church body and my family. The last 30 minutes was the best time I've had with the Lord in quite awhile. I was in His presence and He was sharing with me some wonderful pictures and telling me about what this meeting is all about. It's about intimacy with the Lord, being in His presence and enjoying Him. It was really a refreshing time for me and the Lord is now leading me to change the meeting from being just intercessory to more of a free flowing experience with God.

About a year ago I felt like God wanted me to start a meeting called "FLOW". I had some ideas of what this meeting would look like and what would take place in it. But as I kept seeking the Lord about the start date for this prayer meeting there was no answer or response from Him. So I waited and waited and nothing really came of it. Today the Lord answered my prayer this morning. He wants me to call this mid week prayer time as "F.L.O.W." As I was praying, the Lord showed me a picture of the disciples in the boat and suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water. Jesus called out and Peter got out of the boat and started walking toward Jesus. When Peter looked at his surroundings, he took his eyes off of the Lord and started sinking. Then I saw a picture of Jesus with his arms wrapped around a person (Peter? You or me?) both standing on the water outside the boat. There was a sense of security and safety in the arms of Jesus, both standing on the water. These pictures represented what I think this prayer meeting is about, F.L.O.W. meaning "Following Lord On Water."

The last few minutes of the prayer time a verse came to mind. Matthew 11 - "Come unto me all who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest". I want to encourage all of you to come out on Wednesday mornings if you can from 9:00 to 10:00 to meet with the Lord and for Him to restore your souls. I would like to "FLOW" with whatever God wants for that Wednesday morning and for all of us to meet with Him with His arms wrapped around us.

May the Lord bless each of you the rest of the week!

Blessings,
Ray

taking the next step

Tomorrow I take the next major step in my healing journey. This journey has been long and exhausting for me. I have been seeking relief from extreme back pain for years. Last summer, I was close to making a decision to undergo spinal surgery. But, after hearing about the extent of the operation and rehabilitation, I decided to try alternative non-invasive treatment. Regrettably, these alternatives brought only short term relief.

I am now ready to face my fate, back surgery. However, I am a bit nervous. I am entering into the unknown. With surgery there are no guarantees that I will get better, in fact I could get worse. Also, it is scary when I think about my short term future. After surgery, I will be very dependent on others to provide and care for me. As an independent, single person this will be a big challenge for me.

Like most of you, I have an HMO insurance plan. I know the specialist that I want to perform my surgery. Unfortunately, this neurosurgeon is not in the network of my current primary care physician. So, I requested my insurance company to change my primary care physician to one who is in the same network as this specialist. This request for a new primary was approved last week with an effective date of October 1. I consider this a miracle and an answer to prayer.

I have an appointment with my new primary tomorrow. I know from friends that he is a good Christian doctor. I hope that I will have favor with him and that he will be sympathetic to my circumstances. I will meet with him and request a referral to the spine specialist. This referral will need to be approved by the insurance company; typically this approval process takes about 5 to 10 business days. Once approved, I will schedule an appointment with the specialist and then schedule surgery. If all goes according to plan, I could have surgery within six to eight weeks.

If you have it in you, please pray for me. Ask God to bless me, physically, emotionally and financially. Ask Him to lead me through this season. Ask God to bless me with His peace, favor, protection and provision.

Humbly,
Rick

Faith of a Child

Everyone knows Bob. "Big Kid" Bob. "Jumping up and down with joy during worship" Bob. "Crazy VBS teacher" Bob . Cafe Fuego 's passionate about prayer Bob. Bob is so out there. He not only wears his heart on his sleeve...but his shirt, pants, shoes and socks too! Bob is pretty transparent about how he feels about God. It's obvious he loves and worships God. But I"m just learning how much Bob trusts and hopes in God's faithfulness.

Two weekends ago, I got concentrated doses of Bob at various Christian events. As always at spiritual gatherings, people kindly inquire about Lessa's health (my special needs daughter with very complicated GI issues) and prayers are often offered for her (which I always appreciate). That weekend, Bob was intercessing for Lessa over and over and over again. He & wife, Nancy, with Mark & Cyndy Lum huddled around me the evening of a worship conference to pray for Lessa and our family. The huddle scenario was repeated again the next day at church , except with Lessa in the middle surrounded by Bob and a number of prayer warriors. Then after second service, a few of us attended the Holy Discontent Workshop, where we all shared what we were passionate about. Bob shared from his heart how he wanted to see healing in our church and others to pray with the power of the Holy Spirit.

I was not surprised when he prayed for Lessa again at the workshop. However, what surprised me was that he asked Lessa to pray for him! Now, if you know Lessa, you know she doesn't speak verbally, she is developmentally delayed , and she is a child in the simplest sense of the word ... she totally trusts the adults in her life and she knows they will be there for her and take care of her needs. But she immediately nodded yes to pray for Bob and he knelt down at her wheelchair, and she put her hand on his head. Her daddy actually said the words , but I believe God heard the words in her heart for Bob. Bob wept.

What were her words? I have no idea. But I think that because of Lessa's simplicity, she is not surrounded by the doubts that "normal", world-savvy, logical, "let's consider the odds" adults often layer their prayers with. She believes what is prayed and she expects God to answer in some way in His time. In her child-like faith, she totally trusts in God to be there for her and to take care of her needs. I know He heard her prayers.

This weekend, Bob prayed for her again, and even asked Lessa to be one of his prayer warriors. I can look at this two ways. I can think "Oh , that's so nice of Bob to include Lessa." Or maybe I can expand my faith in God and actually expect some sort of answer to her prayer. Perhaps I can believe that God will answer a prayer from Lessa because she trusts in Him so simply and honestly. Perhaps I need to learn a thing or two about prayer from these kids...the big ones and the little ones!

anime radio

Sometimes I like to listen to music on the internet. Right now, I’m listening to a station playing anime music, songs from Japanese cartoons. Some of my favorite anime are Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Inuyasha. Even though I can’t speak or understand Japanese there is something about the music that speaks to me.

Maybe it’s my way of getting in touch with my inner child or my cultural roots. I tend to be a kid at heart, so maybe this is another way that I can be a kid. God often teaches, touches, and moves me through music and videos.

I tend to like love songs, romance movies and fairy tales. During this season of my life, I would like to think and believe that God will rescue me from my present circumstances. In a recent prayer that I received, there was a theme of God on a white horse. I would like to believe that He is on His way to rescue me and will arrive in time to save me from my dire situation. At least this is my wish.

I hope you are enjoying your time in prayer for CBC. I also hope that during part of your time in prayer, you would remember to pray for me. If you are praying for me, I want you to know that your prayers are making a big difference in my life, heart, and soul. Thank you for your support.

meet my new fashion guru

I've had some good conversations with Rick lately. One of the most surprising revelations out of that is that Rick likes my new clothes. Some of you women give me fashion feedback :) but he's the first guy! I kinda think male preachers don't wrestle with this, but I am very aware that people are looking at me for 30-40 minutes and they're most likely going to notice what I wear. That was never a problem when I was in front of 2nd graders!

I like to wear browns and blacks and muted colors. Rick also noticed that I use muted (i.e., drab, boring) colors for my flyers. So making bright and colorful clothing choices makes me a little uncomfortable. I stand in front of the mirror and wonder, "Is this too loud for me?" "Are these pants too blindingly white?" "Is this going to distract from what I'm saying?" And also, "Are they going to judge me for going shopping and having too many new clothes?"

This morning at Cafe Fuego (Saturday morning prayer) God told me that it's okay. (Maybe God likes my new clothes too?) He's made me new on the inside, and it's okay to be new on the outside too. It's new for me to have a voice, to be heard, to have something to say, to have confidence in God's leading. And the newness inside is reflected in the newness on the outside, the new willingness to be seen, to appear confident and even bold.

Anyway, I told Rick he can be my new fashion guru. And now . . . I'm going shopping :) Which of these do you think I should wear on Sunday?

getting to the light of life

On some days I read a Psalm to get me started in spending time with God. I'm in Psalm 56 now, and I'm struck by how dismal this section of the Psalms are. Page after page of evildoers, and near-death, and slander, and insults, and attacks. Why is there all this despair and complaining? It tells me that God is okay with hearing all my complaints, discouragement, all my whining, all my junk. It's okay to bring all that to God.

But Psalm 56 ends with this ray of hope: ". . . that I may walk before God in the light of life." Even in all his darkness, the Psalmist has this vision, this hope of light in God's presence. Of coming out on the other side, to where there is light, to know his pleasure, to live in light. I hope you find that as you seek God.

from the valley of doubt and despair

For the past few months, my mantra has been one of pain, sorrow and suffering. I have been on quite an up and mostly down ride. I have tried to stay positive, but recent events have taken me down into a deep, dark valley.

I am trying to emerge from this valley of darkness and despair. I am not alone, but it sure feels like it. It has been hard to be positive when in constant pain.

Financial reality has also set in. I just received my first pay check of the new fiscal year, its half of what it used to be. So, now on top of my not feeling well physically, my finances are taking a big hit.

My request is for you to pray for me. Ask God to open the heavens above me. Ask Him to bless me financially and to heal my body, soul, mind and spirit. Ask Him to lift me up and carry me out of the pit. Ask the Lord to bless me with more hope. Pray that I would know more of His grace and mercy.

Pray that God would deliver me from my present circumstances. Ask Him to bless me with His favor and open new doors of career opportunities. Pray that God would cover and protect my home, that I would not lose it during his season of financial turmoil.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

Rick

The Sweet Spot

Bob talks about the sweet spot, that place where God's presence comes. For him its Saturday morning prayer in the sanctuary. For me, it's been the Arboretum. But now that it's too far, I've looked for a substitute, a new sweet spot. As an Arboretum member I get free access to a number of member gardens, and the closest member garden is the Earl Miller garden at Cal State Long Beach. But then, when I looked it up, I found out entry is free for everyone!!! So what's the use of free access if it's already free!!

Now, though, I'm planting a garden. It's part of God's provision of the perfect home that I have a 9 foot square plot of dirt. It used to look like this. With the help of friends and family, I am planting a garden. It's the perfect size, just big enough to plant a beautiful garden, not too big to overwhelm my amateur gardening skills.

Here's what it looked like yesterday. This morning I added mulch, and then I'm going to add groundcover plants. I'm so content working in the garden. It's something about nature and green and growth and beauty - my friend says it's cultural, it's in my blood, but whatever it is, God is there in my garden. I'll post a picture when I'm done so you can see my new sweet spot.

Where's your sweet spot?

Pray 4 CBC . . . What can I pray for?

Pray for wisdom, direction, and courage for our leaders . . .

Pray for the ministries you have an involvement, interest in, or a burden for: childrens, youth, Sunday School, small groups, hospitality, missions, outreach, compassion, listening prayer, worship, all-church retreat - and pray for the leaders and volunteers who serve in those ministries . . .

Pray for the people in our church family that God places on your heart or in your thoughts: friends, visitors, families, seniors, missionaries, those who are sick, struggling, in need, under stress . . .

Pray for God to lead us, use us in our community, empower us to step out in faith, pour out His power, bring healing and hope, grow us in love for one another . . .

. . . And ask God how He wants to use you

Welcome to The Great Adventure of Prayer

"Prayer is often considered a weakness, a support system, which is used when we can no longer help ourselves. But this is only true when the God of our prayers is created in our own image and adapted to our own needs and concerns.

"When, however, prayer makes us reach out to God, not on our own but on his terms, then prayer pulls us away from self-preoccupations, encourages us to leave familiar ground, and challenges us to enter into a new world which cannot be contained within the narrow boundaries of our mind or heart. Prayer, therefore, is a great adventure because the God with whom we enter into a new relationship is greater than we are and defies all our calculations and predictions." (Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out)

Imagine what God might do if we all pray for our church for 100 days . . .

pray 4 cbc for 100 days

begins September 21st