Rising Son

The apprehension of a man, "could it possibly be true?" I have waited three days and there is no sign. And then in a few moments the sun arose and the grave was empty. And the resurrection of our Lord was complete. And without it we would have nothing to stand on.

Some 15 years ago I was in the need for a miracle and to my sense of timing the hour was long past due. And then on the way to my daughter's spelling bee, Jesus Himself appeared to me in my car. What normally was a 20 minute trip became nearly an hour plus. (Some times the translation takes longer than we think!) The words spoken as I gazed upon His body, were "I did this for you." Brokenness, pottery shards, metal and glass were in the wounds. And miracles began to follow over that weekend.

And today as I arose I felt that once again the Son is rising over nations in power and strength. In New England with all the prayer we have still not seen the wave of His spirit that I believe we will see shortly. AS a matter of fact, many would say that this first few months has been a time of running the plow through their lives, breaking and snapping the roots that have been there for years. People are thinking about "what is it God wants?" And just as this opens the doors for the Lord to come in, so does it open the door to deception to those who do not take the time to test it. I am watching lots of

people in the crucibles of fire, looking, seeking that answer that will bring them to the next level.  Just as the flames purify, so are the flames dangerous. I am seeing some make those quick responses leaving the Lord's work unfinished in their lives. I felt this
desire in my own life to leave the fire behind.

And as i watched a program yesterday where a mother and daughter had switched places, I was reminded of the Lord's taking our place. Going before us for the freedom He so dearly wants us to walk in.

Today as members of our family show, I am struck by the number of unsaved ones the Lord is bringing me into contact with again. I have this one friend. His name is Dave. He is as Sicilian as he can get. He is coarse, chauvinistic and a vessel being filled with the Lord's love. A few months ago he and I spent 4 hours in a truck as he asked me about abortion and death and whatever else he could. He is well off and does not need money, but yesterday he just showed up to talk.

Others are starting to appear as the life they know is unsettled by His presence.

Today millions will cry out for Jesus and Him to move. I am telling you, that we are about to see something historical.  But more importantly there are the unsaved who may face something historical even today. AS my daughter Amy and I went for a motorcycle ride

we discussed at one point a friend of mine who had died without the Lord. As Amy put it, it is "surreal." I have a friend who died a few years ago. He was gone for 10 minutes or more. his return to the living was not something he could discuss other than it was not

quiet or peaceful getting there. He heard screams and shrieks and all the demonic stuff before seeing the peace.

I am feeling that the trip to Maine last month is nothing as I gather and work with more and more young ones. Something is shifting. And I am looking forward to it.

May God bless you and your household on this Easter Day.

Blessings,
lee

Family notes

Today, we will have a house full. Children, grandchildren and food. (40 days of fasting got me down to nearly 170 and food has lost a lot of appeal.)  But we will celebrate Easter with my daughters Alyssa(and her boyfriend) and Cass and Tyler will be here. Our two grandchildren will be here. We had Jordan all day and took him to the park and to

feed the donkeys and to Chinese food. Amy was here yesterday and will spend today with her mom and grandmom. Matt is bopping around Hungary.

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Lee & Tina Johndrow
Pillars Of Clouds & Fire Ministries
88 WCFR Drive
Springfield, VT 05156
802-885-2885

http://www.pocafministries.org

Building relationships to build our community for the glory of God.
Partnering with people for the glory of God!

Painful Truths

Everyone has painful truths about their lives. Most of us have worked
very hard to keep the memories from creeping into our lives, shutting
out the pain, the realities of failure and shame.

My own walk has been an uphill walk from a youthful place without God
to understanding the love and compassion of the Lord himself. I have
walked places I never thought I would walk, encountered situations I
never thought I would run into and seen things I never thought I
would witness.

As a Dad, my heart goes out to the children, not just mine, but all
of them. I spend a lot of time with young people, who by all
appearances have no direction, no encouragement and no real
expectation of it. In the last few days, I saw a "good" child explode
in a way that I am sure neither of his parents expected. Why? Parents
who are busy. Too busy.

Why do I spend so much time with young people? Probably because I
have more of the "ish" in childish than I do the "like" in child like
or or the mature in maturity. If I had my way, my time would be
wholly devoted to them outside of my family. Why? I used to say it
was because they have life, love and passion. After yesterday, I
realized why. It has little to do with that. It is because I saw
their pain.

Over the years, I have avoided certain situations, details and
environments. My own parents were workers. When I was young, my mom
left to return to teaching, meaning that our laundry and our house
were cleaned by others, and we were left at "baby sitters."
Neighborhood friends with issues of alcoholism, etc. Now at the time
we (the children) all thought it pretty normal, because our dad was
an alcoholic. Every night he would pretty much drink himself into
oblivion or just not even come home until long after we were asleep.
I learned to become an overachiever if I wanted to see any
encouragement or the like. My brothers and sister developed their own
set of coping skills. As I came into my teens I was already working
every spare minute I had and juggling school. When I was in a grade
school, I had teachers of encouragement and love, but that wore off
at some point. And because I was "smart" they were pretty hard on me.
I never thought about it til recently, but if we were given an
assignment I had to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. In
my home you never knew what could happen, though by my teens my dad
wasn't really paying much attention to me. He was the president of
Little League and packmaster for the 400 member Cub Scout pack, but
when I made major leagues 2 years early, he did not know until he
read it in the paper, because he never showed up.

And out of that I developed a coping skill to handle the fact that
details evaded me. A spelling error meant little to me, when it was
about handing it in. I could not concentrate on details, as life came
to me in big chunks. I do not see single sentences or words but whole
paragraphs and pages when I read. (Most of you probably know that!)
It is not even that i want to leave out details, it just happens.
When I devote myself to projects requiring lots of details, I begin
to "short" out. I aced my SAT's in high school, got accepted to a
college, but could not figure out the paperwork and would never ask.
One of my friends for years was a doctor who encouraged me to go into
medicine, but I could not cope with the reading or the details. I
would test fine, I read well, but when I got to the nitty gritty,
well, it was drop back and punt. And Dr. B would laugh, because i
would read all the medical books and understand all the stuff. My
wife would tell you for me to learn a software program-forget it! I
know what the finished package is to look like and can usually get
there, but if something breaks down between the beginning and the
end, I am technically challenged.

So why is all this coming out? Because I am currently in a business
situation that is brining out the "worst" in me. All the pain, the
rejections and the inability to bring about a completed project. I am
a dreamer, a visionary, and detail challenged. And yesterday I
received one of the most recent calls in a series of challenges. Each
one bringing me to a place of desperation and discouragement. It is
why I am not a line by line teacher, or a lover of details. I
recognize the need for them, but have so far been unable to get my
brain around it. If my sequence of though is interrupted when I am on
a project, I start to short" out.

And so I watch the children and I say "how can I help them?" They
need to be able to work through this stuff now, because 50 is too
late to encounter the pain of childhood. They need the love and the
compassion of moms and dads. Not so "parents" can live out dreams of
youth vicariously, but so children can become adults.

I am not sure how I deal with my situation. I am considering walking
away and not touching the pain anymore. I am not sure how to do that.
Pretty much every bad situation I have endured as a Christian was
because I " hang in there" until something bad happens. Jesus asked
me one day what I wanted to do. All I wanted to do was play worship
and be with hurting people and see them better for knowing Him
through me. And at 50 those times decrease at an alarming rate of
speed. The world is shifting.

Like others, everyone has things that are painful. The church must
become that place of compassion and loving kindness. It is on His
agenda. The last few months have brought a lot of feelings to the
surface and the Lord and me, we will make it through. But what of
those who do not know? Where are the people of god living out the
words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13? Those words must be embraced for
the glory of God. I am sure there are lots of "me's" out there.

A few years ago someone said it was my fault that they had suffered
because I had not remained in touch with them. I did not believe it
was all my fault, but I took them at their word and have embraced
their life afresh. There are many in my life I our our and onto. I
have heard all the reasons for not doing do it, but I think Jesus did
and I will continue to walk in that understanding.

Today, take one of the people in your life who causes you the most
pain or annoyance and ask God to show you their heart. You might be
surprised.
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