Live Coal Has Touched My Lips

If I were to ever get a tattoo, it would be a strange one.  I envision it spiraling from the base of my neck to the lower part of my back, in a story format read from top to bottom.  It would tell the tale found in Isaiah 6, my absolute most favorite chapter and book of the Bible.  There is something mysterious and wonderful about Isaiah and it is brimming over with prophecy regarding the Israelites, God's chosen Ones.  Because we are all considered God's children and essentially His "chosen people", then we can interchange ourselves within the passages.  At least, that's what I do.  I'd like to think God were talking to me specifically through His written Word.

One of my many dreams is to one day defend the cause of the Israelites and fight for justice on their behalf.  I, of course, don't know how this will be done, but the writings of Joel Rosenberg have lit a fire in my heart.  He has a wonderful foundation that accepts donations to fund the cause of the Jews living in Israel should they find themselves in a plight in the days to come.  The website to his work is http://www.joelrosenberg.com/.

Anyway, blah blah.  BUT, back to the tattoo.  As I was saying, Isaiah 6:1-8.  Check it out.  It reads something like this depending on your version:

***AHH, by the way, this chapter should be set to some Coldplay or Celtic tune.  I can totally see it!!  :)

ISAIAH'S COMMISSION
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne,
high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him
were seraphs, each with six wings:  With two wings they covered their
faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty:  
the whole earth is full of his glory." 
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the
temple was filled with smoke. 
"Woe to me!" I cried.  "I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and
I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord Almighty."
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had

taken with tongs from the altar.  With it he touched my mouth and said,

"See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin

atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send:  And who

will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I.  Send me!"

_____________________________________________________________

This story just absolutely blows my mind.  This is the kind of God I want to know.
He is SO royal, SO powerful, SO magnificent, and demands such a fierce
company of beings.  The picture of coal is insane because it represents the
absolute purging away of filth.  And that's what is required because that's
what we are!! Filthy!! But He is white as snow and changes us entirely and completely.

Back to the tattoo.  I'm not sure about the progression of pictures, but I think I would like the base of the neck to be something like this:  the Lord sitting on His throne, His robe overfilling the temple with the seraphs flying about Him with their mouths open in praise.  Next, I would love to see the temple filled with smoke with the columns cracking from the fierce shaking that takes place.  Then, I would like a close up of a seraph holding a piece of coal (with a tong) that would be touching my lips.  Finally, the last scene (at the base of my back) would be me facing the Lord as He commissions me to be "sent out". 

Anyway, this is just a fantasy of sorts.  I'm probably too scared to have my entire back marked up, but if I ever were to do something completely crazy and irrational, this would be it.  Thoughts?

Prophetic Conference Jewels

I normally don't comment on sermons/conferences unless they impact me in a special way.  However, this conference I'm attending in Maui is brimming over with richness.  The quality of people here and their connections are hardly contested.  It is called the "Prophetic Conference" and it is held annually at this time in late summer.  I've had the privilege of attending several over the span of my life and I am thrilled at the prospect that there will be many more to come. 

There are several "prophets" who have flown from around the world to be here.  They are the regulars who attend every year and people from all over the world (literally) make the trip to Maui to hear what God is doing through their ministries and what He has to say to us today as a leading church in the U.S.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a skeptic of religiousness:  fronts, jargon, and titles.  However, after seeing the fruit and amazing transformations these people bring about year after year, I have learned to open my heart again to the mysterious ways in which God works.

The first speaker, Mr. Emmanuel Canastraci, who opened up the conference last night spoke from John 5:1-15 about the man at the Pool of Bethesda.  To sum things up quickly, he spoke of these things:

*The churches in America have become their own Pools of Bethesda, where people wait for years and years in vain by a pool hoping one day someone, somewhere will save them from their misery.  We have become slow, complacent, disheartened, weak, and yet God is telling us to rise up!
*We are plagued with an "impotency" which means we lack dynamic passion!
*We are to rise up, shake off the demonic and the shackles that try and bind us!
*We are to be the most joyful people on the planet with an infectious love for people, life, and most of all, God.

Tonight, we heard from a great man, Mr. Jim Goll.  The poor man just lost his wife two years ago and nearly died from a cancer that spread throughout his body, yet he stood before us tonight whole and absolutely beaming with radiance of knowing God.  His message tonight:  Signs of the 3rd Great Awakening

Here is a fantastic list:  7 Signs of a Prophetic People
1.  They are spiritually awake!
2.  They live a clean and holy life!
3.  They seek to engage in spiritual warfare.
4.  They are living an honest, open and transparent life!
5.  They avoid carnal living (strife, envy, etc.)
6.  They lean totally on Jesus their Beloved!
7.  They keep their priorities right before God.

How many of us can do this!??!!  It seems impossible, but God wouldn't give us expectations if He knew we couldn't meet them!  He can enable us to do this and to do it well! 

*An "Awakening" is a long term mindset.  It channels and empowers people to do extraordinary things and to break OUTSIDE the church with the power of God.
*We need the Spirit to come with power AND conviction!!
*"Yesterday's dream about your tomorrow is today's opportunity".
*Mr. Goll shared a dream that was simplistic yet powerful.  In the dream, there were two fists upside down in front of him.  He knew he had to choose one.  He picked the right hand, which slowly opened to reveal a white pill.  He took the white pill to his mouth and upon seeing it up close, he was able to read a single word:  "Awake".  And he awoke from his dream with a burning message in his heart that the 3rd Great Awakening was beginning.
*Mr. Goll prophesied that the original revival that began in the Korea's (before it became Communist North and South) would be returned to its place of origin.  The revival occurred in the early 1900's and nothing has been able to compare to that time since. This is crazy because it implies that God's presence and his power will penetrate even the most stringent forms of resistance (as is the Communist North).

That is it for now.  We still have 3 more speakers to go and my favorite one is tomorrow night!  My hope is that permanent hunger and change are a result of this conference.  I don't want to be swept up in moments of emotionalism but rather the genuine transforming power of God.

Disturbed R.E.M.

It is a fine evening here in Maui with trade winds reaching 20 mph.  Enough to rattle the pictures right off the walls and send the dogs into a barking frenzy at every unexpected whistle that escapes under the window sills.  I have little to do but share with you these few thoughts.

The Kolps and Adkissons were all gathered around the family dining table the other night sharing in fine wine, cheese, and the oddities of our memories.  Topic chosen for the evening discussion:  Sleepwalking.  Sleep talking.  Dreams.  Let's recall.

The state of mind we enter in the deep unknown of our minds can be a startling discovery of who we really are and what we really fear.  I can recall reoccurring dreams I had as a small child which visited me at least once a week for years.  They terrified me.  I remember waking up in the middle of the night only to find myself sitting on a water tower outside our farmhouse in the middle of a blizzard with no shoes on.  That kind of "powerful" freaks me out.  I recollect being woken up with a painful thud only to realize I had violently thrown myself off the top bunk bed due to an intense dream.  I have awoken in sobs and terror at having dreamt my mother died.  And most of all, I cannot forget the dreams that always led me to water.  The ocean, more specifically.  There were always waves involved.  Sometimes the water led me to a struggle and sometimes it was a joyful experience.  It always varied, but I was always led to the sea.  I suppose part of it stems from being fearful of the terrible power of the ocean, especially tidal waves.  How ironic that I find myself living on a plot of land surrounded by endless oceans. 

I suppose the mystery of the ocean has always drawn me.  When I look over the vast expanse of blue at any vantage point, I always wonder in fear and awe of what really lies before me.  What creatures lie leagues ahead and below?  Do they have the power to sweep us mere humans away?  Would I stand a fighting chance were I pitted against any of these creatures invariably?  How many undiscovered species are there yet?  How many decaying ships are hidden from our radars containing some of the world's greatest treasures?  Does the fierce force and raw power of the seas serve as a small picture of what our God can do?  I've always seen myself as a single grain of sand compared to the strength of the ocean.  And really, looking down on us 6 or 7 billion humans, that really is how small we are.  But God has mysteriously set a purpose ahead of each of us little, tiny, minute grains of sand.  We are all known to Him, we are all adored.  What a miracle to know that we are loved and cherished by the most massive force in the history of all the galaxies and all that has and will ever exist.  We are his beloved treasures.  And we have been given the tremendous gift of life.  What are we to do with the life that has freely been given to us?

Please feel free to leave thoughts or comments.  I would love to hear about some of your dreams!!