Category Archives: 1 Christ is All

Jesus loves me, this I know. This category is about Jesus, the Living Word, my prayers to Him, my worship of Him, His relentless pursuit of my heart and His invitation to me to come to Him in Sabbath, my Savior, my Rest.

Maybe 25,000?

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, Stuff I Actually Think, , ,

Heaven Fest 2009

So, we may have doubled from last year.  The final count remains to be seen.

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There are so many things to recall from yesterday.  So many things almost made me burst into tears, in a good way. Things like… 

  • Like walking through the hip-hop stage auditorium and seeing hundreds of kids, wall-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder belting out, “Our God is an Awesome God.”  I was seriously catapulted into the Presence within seconds.
  • Or coming out of the finance office and looking out, from my high staircase vantage point, and seeing a 3-mile long line of cars to the west, another one to the north and crossing east as far as I could see, no end of them in sight.  Then, looking around the yard just below me and seeing small groups of people in circles praying for one another while just a few yards away, professional skateboarders were preaching the gospel to a lot of young men and they were responding to the invitation to follow Christ.
  • Then there was almost running out of parking (we only had space for 7000 cars or so) and having the farmer right next to the HF offer his land to us at the last possible second for a very low fee.  That is grace!  That is a miracle!  And for a couple of hours, Dave and Tara and Luke and Tredessa and Kyle-O got out in the dusty field (yes, the festival “big wigs”) and directed cars like any parking volunteer would.
  • Tireless volunteers (so many) who worked themselves sick to make the Name of Jesus glorious.  Leadership who had to “go with the flow” when things fell through the cracks and they did it with great humility and longsuffering.  I saw the “leaders” serving and sweeping floors and picking up trash and pounding fence posts and I saw them work around the clock (still there in the middle of the night, for goodness’ sake), going above and beyond what we could ever have asked because God called them to it.  If I mention names, I will miss some one, but will you know yourself when you read this?  I hope so…
  • The Sacred Assembly – hearing the crowd behind me chant “Jesus…Jesus…” with the sky being electrically lit up in the offing, watching low fog clouds roll in while a fresh breeze cooled us.  And seeing husbands and wives and youth groups serve each other communion and just stay and worship…long after Third Day and Skillet had rolled off the property.
  • The Kid’s area was a happening place! There was a mini-brob for the kids and jumpy castles-so much great stuff.
  • Kent Henry – my favorite worship leader of all time…got to hear him preach it up (very prophetic) and lead worship (Tristan played drums for him) and he prayed over my kids and spoke into their lives.  He was there as a spiritual father, a worshiper who has impacted the worshipers who are putting HF on.  We were so honored that he came. 

 

Oh, it was a good day.

But mainly?  I love that making the Name of Jesus glorious was what every. single. thing. was. all. about!  Yes, Lord!  Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

I am so loving and praising God for His faithfulness…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Thank all the people who made this happen – no matter how long that takes.  Watch for and tend to the fruit…

“The LORD has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118.23-24 NIV

www.heavenfest.com photos should be posted in a few days

The Heavens Declaring the Glory of God

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

40 Nights of Worship and Intercession at the HF grounds. 

Every night we pray to make the Name of Jesus glorious.  We declare His faithfulness.  Then the heavens start declaring His glory right back at us.  Then, we are in awe and praise Him even more.  And the colors get richer and deeper and more swirly and amazing and it just becomes a contest between man and the heavens to just try to tell God how wonderful, how amazing, how exalted He is.

These are untouched scenes from Tuesday night (4 days before), while the 88-Hour Tent was being raised*, taken from my spot on the veranda.  Beautiful musical worship and praise was being offered up led by Josh Holleran and a young adult small group from the Arvada Vineyard.  A youth group from Aurora joined us and a smattering of die-hard Jesus-lovers of all ages, as well.

The Tent-Heaven Fest goes up.  The skies are singing!

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‘Tis true, the sky I was seeing was actually brighter than these photos can depict (hey, it is a digital camera), but it was a showy, vibrant, colorful sky that went on and on and danced brightly forever!

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One of the most amazing parts of the whole experience is how we get to see not only the sunset itself, but the reflection it makes on the water: double blessing!

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BTW-I always HATE “scenery” pictures.  I loathe seeing photo albums filled with people’s scenic drives in the mountains.  But last night?  I could not help myself!  Ha!  Mea culpa!

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Whew.  It was beautiful.  Even now, I am thanking God for meeting us there, for receiving our praise, for opening up the heavens to us to show us His love.

 

*The Tent – Heaven Fest:  88-straight hours of worship, intercession and reading of the Word  Wednesday August 5 at 4pm through Sunday August 9 at 8am.

People help…we are in awe!

1 Christ is All, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, , ,

The Northern Hills Church building is a-buzz with full-swing prep for Heaven Fest 2009.  Our friends and ministry partners are working their heads off, relentlessly committed to Jesus and this festival.  We remind each other over and over that it is to make His Name glorious.

The pace is so hectic I forget to take pictures, but I want to remember, when it is all passed, with gratefulness.  Here are a few things I will remember from 4 days before:

Stef-with-an-“f” and her crew lining up a thousand volunteers; Rocky on-the-go 

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Lots and lots of materials being delivered  (including 10,000 mis-printed programs – yikes!)and Pam-the-intern making it all happen!

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25 or so of us gathered on the veranda for 40 Nights of Worship and Intercession, praying, singing, reading the Word

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O God, bless these people!  Show up again and show Your glory and may these who have sweat and cried and toiled be blessed with the fruit of their labors.  May they get to see that all of it has been worth it and that Your Name has indeed been made glorious!

cardboardcampout.com

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

The night of Heaven Fest, some radical, socially-conscious and caring individuals will gather to fast and pray for the homeless while they raise money by sleeping in cardboard tents. 

I have had the honor of working closely, worshiping and praying with a group of these people this summer, especially Patrick Kennedy, Tia Anderson, and Jerad McMinamen and wow!  They are such a blessing!  Their serving hearts flow from the overflow of their love for Jesus!

The first video just went online today.  The one below is an earlier piece they did.  Both of them make me glad for people with hearts like Jesus!

Is. 58.6-10

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
       to loose the chains of injustice
       and untie the cords of the yoke,
       to set the oppressed free
       and break every yoke?

 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
       and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
       when you see the naked, to clothe him,
       and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
       and your healing will quickly appear;
       then your righteousness will go before you,
       and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
       you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
       “If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
       with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
       and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
       then your light will rise in the darkness,
       and your night will become like the noonday.

www.cardboardcampout.com Seriously.

Glorious Morning

1 Christ is All, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , , , , ,

“Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy…”

From William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 33

Update on Life.

It is a Monday, a glorious, beautiful Monday morning.  Heaven Fest is 5 days away.  Robbin and Jake’s wedding on Saturday was a delightful and joyful event, going off without a hitch.  There will surely be facebook pics posted soon, somewhere?…

My friend Pearl’s dad died Friday.  He had been ill for some time, but it is still never easy.  I only met him once or twice, but I know him through the big, loving family he raised, through his daughter, who is a woman to be praised.  He is whole now, and with the Lord, he has gained life.

The Great Outdoors.

Last week’s late afternoon or nighttime thunder showers have saturated our yard to a new level of green, it being August in the arid-Rocky-Mountain-region, and all.  Dave mowed and trimmed yesterday and I have spent the morning enjoying the bird-song, the gentle breeze and my time with the Lover of my soul, pulling a weed or two, harvesting a few tomatoes (leftover quesadilla with thick, juicy slices of red goodness for breakfast) and an armful of beets (to be roasted for dinner…I will try to enjoy them).  The upside-down tomato, now in its’ place for about 5 1/2 weeks is boasting 5 little spheres of future deliciousness.

Dwight Schrute on The Office: “First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go “Wow, I need this beet right now.” Those are the money beets.”

I’m reading a provocative and poetic book.

From Eternity to Here – Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God by Frank Viola.  I started before family reunion and am just entering part two (about halfway through).  It is so good.  I have so little time, but I am enjoying it thoroughly everytime I open it.  Fresh revelation.  Resonating reminders.  Goooooooood stuff.  Join me?

O Happy Day!

Tim Hughes sings it this way:

“O what a glorious day

What a glorious way

That You have saved me!”

Turn it up, sing along.  Dance a little. 

It IS a glorious morning!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF:  Praise Him all day long!

La Verdure de la Vallee

1 Christ is All, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Stuff I Actually Think,

Lush, green, and verdant – that is what these afternoon or early evening thunder-showers are giving us.  Usually quite dry and yellow by this time of year, except for the places we must saturate regularly, Colorado is having one of the greenest summers.

And while the mountains stand tall and strong and speak to us of victory and grandeur as we long so very often for the exhileration of the mountaintop experience, a walk across the cool, wet grass this morning, breathing in the heavy, moist air reminded me that the ” valley experience” is so good for my soul.

Song of Solomon 6.11  “I went down to the garden…to see the verdure of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranites has bloomed…”

or

“Je suis descendue au jardin des noyers, Pour voir la verdure de la vallée, Pour voir si la vigne pousse, Si les grenadiers fleurissent.”  (Sometimes the Bible just sounds so good in a different language, thank-you www.biblegateway.com!)

I love the mountain top.  But I live in the valley, where “He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul” (Ps 23).

How green is my valley…J

BTW – several translations of the verse I referenced from the Song of Solomon actually say, “I went down to the garden of nuts…”  And that is where I live, too, among a bunch of nuts!

George-Bailey-esque Trouble

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

One of the best movie scenes of all times is the very beginning of It’s a Wonderful Life when you see the galaxy of stars and hear the chorus of prayers being offered to God on behalf of George Bailey who is facing such crisis, he is thinking of ending his own life.

“God help George Bailey,” you hear among a sea of voices.  Mr Gower prays, “I owe everything to George Bailey.  Help him, dear Father.”

The movie goes on to explore how important George Bailey was in the lives of everyone he knew.  He was truly a good person.  He truly helped people and sacrificed his own dreams for the good of others.  He was worthy of the prayers of the saints.

Not everyone lives such a valuable, selfless life.  But hopefully everyone knows people who will pray, people whose life have been touched by knowing them.  Wouldn’t you love to hear your name being offered to God like that?  Hearing everyone you know praying you up to the Father?

We know He hears us when we pray….Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF:  Lift up the people I know who may be in George-Bailey-esque trouble right now, whose skies may be arrow-blackened, who may be in a battle for their very souls…

Noose

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think,

“…the fear of man will prove to be a  snare…”  Proverbs 29.25

A snare is a dangerous trap, or as Mary Jean teaches, the equivalent of a noose around your neck – choking the life out of you.

The anecdote to fearing people and their opinions or expectations of you is not an assertive training class or joining Toastmasters, or puffing up your independance level.  That is a world system for sure.   The answer is to fear God alone, trust Him and then love.

“There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear…” (1 John 4.18 NIV)

The Message translates it this way: The fear of human opinion disables, but trusting in God protects you from that (Prov. 29.25).   There is no room in love for fear.  Well-formed love banishes fear.  Since fear is crippling, a fearful life – fear of death, fear of judgement – is one not yet fully formed in love (1 John 4.18)

Now in pursuit of that kind of Love…J

NOTE TO SELF:  Fear of opinion, of rejection, of not having approval not only cripples me, it stops others from being a recipient of the love of God through me.  I have handicapped people as I have held the noose in place grasping at what will take my life rather than save it.  Ridiculous.

These are the Days

1 Christ is All, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Stuff I Actually Think

These are the days.

You dream about them in February, get giddy with excitement in April, work long hours to make them happen in May and then all things come due.  And breakfast?  Is stir-fried carrots and peppers and baby green beans and sugar snap peas and red-red tomatoes sizzling in olive oil with garlic and just the right amount of Kosher salt with a side of cold, crisp cucumber chunks for dessert. This is when the garden pays off.

The hail aftermath.

I have waited to do much to try to see what will make it and what is just done.  Two cucumber plants that basically have no leaves left have decided, in one last-ditch effort to pro-create, to flower profusely.  The stem is badly damaged and the lacy, brown-edged confetti that was once the large green leaf flutters in the breeze.  I don’t think I could actually get a good cuke from a leafless plant, but shouldn’t I allow it to try?

The peppers stripped of their leaves put all of their effort into maturing the fruit and I got a nice harvest this morning.  Several pepper plants are going to bounce back nicely, I have a feeling.  I harvested some nice big poblanos this morning.  Chile rellenos, here I come!

The eggplant looked terrible on top, but below, protected, are several perfectly formed and hail-beating-free purple eggplants growing.

The cukes were damaged on the outside, but inside, protected and delish.  But the zucchini and squash, so tender and beat to a pulp have rotted.  Boo hoo.

Our neighbors to the north had no damage to speak of.  None.  How is this possible?  The same lilies I have that just got devastated stand healthy and proud in their yard.  Our front pot holding many of the same flowers as theirs got pummeled-the flowers strewn all over the driveway.  Theirs-literally 20 yards away did not seem to lose a single bloom.

Is this what is meant by “it rains on the just and on the unjust?”  That sometimes things just happen and they can happen to good people and lesser with no regard or distinction?  I hope we are the good people in that scenario.  I hope it “hailed fiercly on the just.”

Other garden news.

Picked the last of and pulled the sugar snnaps today.  They were doing OK, but don’t produce well in the heat.  I could sow another batch for fall, but probably won’t with these days being wedding and fest-driven.

Tomato sandwiches are a delight to the soul.

That’s about it…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Stop and smell the basil every day.

Just when you think you have it all together…

1 Christ is All, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

Over the weekend I looked around the yard at the wildly blooming lilies and pots full of colorful flowers.  I was happy to have harvested 5 more tomatoes along with lettuce, sugar snap peas and green beans.  The cukes were blooming their heads off and vining with big, full leaves; the zucchini and summer squash just birthing the first, small fruit.

I was thinking: nice.  Everything is in bloom and green and enjoyable with so little work from me right now.  All is well.  All is as it should be.

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Loud tornado warning sirens and unexpected gusts of wind last night night changed all of that.  Two storms blew through with hail and torrential rain from 11 pm until the early hours this morning.

Very suddenly, things have changed.  Without warning there has been loss.  I looked around at the wreckage early this morning and I see that some things are gone.  Flowers petals were beat from their stems and litter the ground with green leaves.  Shrubs are flattened, but given time will likely pull themselves back up by their bootstraps.  But there is loss.  Some damage is too severe.   Some things will never recover.

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Pictured above: the mowed-over hollyhocks, the battered elephant’s ear; I think the onions gave their lives for this volunteer marigold which is seemingly unscathed; and the pummeled lemon cucumbers.  Sad.

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Hab. 3.17, 18

 Some peppers plants are finished now, leafless.  But they provided protection to the plants to their right.  Dave’s mammoth grill gave some covering for some of the tomato plants and the herbs held up pretty well.  The things that will survive will be all the more treasured now, with greater gratefulness. 

Thank-You, LORD, for what remains.