Freeing My Mind

I just picked up The White Album, from the newly remastered Beatles collection. I was inspired through the recent release of The Beatles: Rock Band. Due to the lofty price tag, I decided not to pick up the game just yet and instead to give Ringo and the crew another shot at winning me over. I have to admit, to the chagrin of most music aficionados, that I have never been much of a Beatles fan. When I was 12 years old my brother, Chris, introduced me to band after picking up Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band through one of those 12 CDs for a penny “deals”. As a 12 year old, I can’t say that I had the best ear for music, but I definitely made a go of it. During this time I also learned to play my first and only song on the guitar, “Yellow Submarine”. On another note, the Beatles song “With a Little Help From My Friends” (which, as sung by Joe Cocker, filled my childhood on a weekly basis before each airing of The Wonder Years) was also the class song of my 2000 high school senior class, although probably more for the phrase “I get high with a little help from my friends” than on its musical merit alone. During my college years, I picked up a couple of albums and gave it another shot. No go. I should also mention that what has come to be our ministry’s quasi catch-phrase, “all you need is love”, was also inspired by a Beatles song of the same name. Not because I was personally inspired by the group, but rather due to a message that I preached concerning the Jesus movement of the 1960′s.  Although not as entrenched in Beatles culture as previous generations, I can’t say that I’m new to the iconic foursome. Still, I don’t get it. I get that it’s good music, but I don’t get the hysteria that surrounds them to this day. Before you say that I just had to be there, I’ll cite my love for Frank Sinatra and the popular phrase that Beatles music is tagged with, “timeless”.  Oh well, I guess Beatles or no Beatles, ob la di ob la da.

During my vacation I had an interesting dream. I was driving in a car, with a friend as a passenger. I never noticed who this friend was, but I knew he was close to me. I was looking for the right place. What that place was or why I was looking for it, I didn’t know. Finally I stopped on the edge of a field that was parallel to a busy highway. I got out of the car and walked across the field in order to cross the highway. I took a large white erase-board and began writing some of my favorite words of reformation on the board: “All You Need is Love”, “Jesus Didn’t Come to Start a Religion”, “Love Them Out of Sin”, etc. I stood on the edge of the busy highway as cars flashed by me like shooting stars. I quickly became frustrated that no one was noticing the messages. Deciding that my sign was not large enough, I crossed to the opposite side of the highway. Suddenly I saw a large road sign and began painting on the back of it. The message I painted was, “Become Change” in large letters. About this time I noticed voices in the distance. I had an understanding that these were people doing exactly what I was doing, only I was unable to see them, only their sounds.Although, still aware that the cars were passing without much notice of the signs, I was comforted at the thought of others being out there.

While the dream has extraordinary personal meaning to me, I noticed a larger message contained within the allegory. We are living in interesting times. One one hand, we have a state of society and government that is alarming. Between economic perils, poverty, terrorism, disease and even rampant mistrust of Christian ministers and Christianity as a whole, there is reason to be alarmed. On the other hand, I also know with all of my heart, that we are in a time in which God is willing to transform us into the people that we were always meant to be. During times of uncertainty in the world, God will always raise up a people to be the answer to that uncertainty. Myself, as well as other prophetic leaders in America, have recently been sensing even more calamity hanging over our nation. I believe that we have not seen the end of the economic crisis and various other crises. The problem arises, as it is now, when we begin to let fear and worry settle over our lives. Fear suddenly begins to be the underlying affect on our decisions. We begin to act in a frantic manner, without slowing down and taking the time to think through our actions and decisions. Anytime fear shows up, whether it be on a large scale or concerning our personal lives, the root of that fear is never God. The purpose of God revealing incoming disaster, is not for us to simply batten down the hatches and wait it out. It is so that we, the heavenly answers sent into the earth, can be the agents of change that are needed. Obviously when we realize that our current state and our current modus operandi isn’t working, the needed response is not fear, but rather faith in the fact that God has designed us and given us the power to affect the world around. Through heavenly wisdom and supernatural love, we can bring about the needed cultural shift.

I just hope we’re not driving too fast, simply clicking the cruise control and letting the car take us wherever it desires. God’s speaking, but it might not be what we thought it would be. Put on the breaks and look around.

much love to you all

be inspired with a little nostalgia