Chip Night

Chip Night - it's a beautiful thing. You get to hear everyone's anniversay - from the 24 hour ones to the 24 year ones - that would be Cynthia - woot woot!

Don got his 20 year chip - coin - in September. You are truly my hero. Mine is coming up - because of you, my love! Jesus kept me on the course but you gave me the inspiration to get on the road!

We will start having our Court of Awards for the Troops on those nights beginning in November as well.

It's so good having Tess back - and the exciting thing is that she will be getting her oldest daughter back - God truly restores what the locusts took away.

Back in the swing of things . . .

Well, I guess there really is a summer lull. It didn't seem like it to me because we had camps and PSYC and all . . .but the last few weeks, Celebrate Recovery has been packed with people! We've had about 100 each week and it's been fun and exciting and whew!

Our latest development has been the children's programs - we were basically just trying to get by each week but the number of children has grown so much that we are going to start the infamous SAY programs - Salvation Army Youth - Sunbeams, Girl Guards, Adventure Corps.

At first, we were thinking of doing a Bible Study but we realized that these programs are perfect - they are character building, they teach life skills, group relationships, achievements, etc. We are excited! we have a schedule for rotational parents for nursery and preschool and the coffeeshop time will even have a focus for kids, as well!

We started another series of Step Studies groups on Thursday nights and it seems to be going well. The one on Wednesday nights have bonded closely and are working their way diligently through the books.

Keep coming back - it works!

Happy Birthday, Pendleton CR!

Hard to believe it's been so long since I posted - lots of stuff has happened!

We celebrated our one year birthday at Celebrate Recovery in Pendleton, Oregon. It was great fun - John from Boise was the guest - it was testimony night and wow - well, let's just say it was a great testimony.

In kids programs, we had fun as well . . .considering that 15 kids were gone to camp, we still had about 15! About 8 were in the nursery and it was funny to look in the door and see Annie with two kids being bounced on her lap!

We had to start two different coffeeshops - one for families, one for adults. The kids are crazy - is that common with kids who come from families in recovery?

Prisoners of War - or Fighting Blind Enemies

There is a little known story of Elisha blinding the enemy in 2 Kings 6:8-22. In the Bible, we read about how he knows of the enemies location and each time the enemy wants to attack, the men of Israel are ready for the King of Aram. Then the King of Aram seeks out Elisha and surrounds his town with chariots and a great army. The servant of Elisha is afraid until his eyes are opened to see the surrounding Armies of the Lord and they have chariots of FIRE! However, they aren't even needed because Elisha prays for blindness in the enemy army and then leads them (for 13 miles) deep into Israeli territory (into the city of Samaria).

He then prays for their sight to be restored and instead of surrounding the enemy army and killing them, they prepared a great feast for them - with food and drink - and then sent them back to their king. It worked. God got the glory and the fighting from that enemy ceased.

What a great illustration and picture of The Salvation Army. We are aware of the strongholds of the enemy - for example - alcohol - yes, the Bible says drink a little wine and is not exclusively against the consumption of it. Many cultures take a little beer with their meal. Is this a sin? The Bible does not say it is. But it certainly can be - and often is - a stronghold for the enemy. In the Army, we become aware of many of the pitfalls and strongholds that can capture us and make us "prisoners of war." We teach our people to be aware of the location of the enemy - his wily ways . . .

When we become surrounded by seemingly insurmountable odds, we need to remember the flag that encircles us - the Blood and the Fire.

I love the next part, too - the enemy is brought into the city - and then treated with kindness and love. Are they converted? Sadly, no. Did they stay? No, they returned home. But were they enemies any longer? The Bible says no. It's the people who were treated kindly but they took reports back home to the king.

I see The Salvation Army here so clearly. The world sees us how they want to see us - a social services organization, a good rehab organizatin, people who do lots of good. When they are brought inside the city, they realize we are a church - a religious group of fanatics who are doing nice things for people for an ulterior motive - to convert them. They begin to see us as we really are - people of God (which can sometimes be very offensive in a tolerant world that is not tolerant of Christianity). And yet, just about the time, they reach for their weapons to throw at us (cries of discrimination, threats of funding losses, etc.), we do the same thing to them that we do to everyone else (hopefully) - we treat them with love and kindness and respect (I hope!).

Now the enemy KING in our world is not going to be happy if we are nice to people who are in his kingdom and he is not willing to call a cease-fire just because we feed drug addicts and alcoholics. But we can expect less direct fire - because after all, people are people - and when you treat an enemy (who is within your power) kindly, they often respond with embarassed retreat.

And lest you want the argue the idea, remember who is encamped outside the city - the Army of God - ready to fight at the command of the Lord - for us.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Pastor Darren

Pastor Darren went to Detox yesterday. He's not really a pastor but he wants to be. . .unfortunately he struggles with his other friend, the bottle. He loves the Word of God and he loves Jesus but when addiction grips you, it is hard to escape. . .

Here's a miracle God did for him. As we grew closer to Detox, he became more and more nervous . . .I finally caught on and asked, "Darren, is there any reason they WON'T let you in?" He finally admitted that four years earlier, he had been 86'd out of detox and told he couldn't ever come back. Great! I immediately started praying while we continue to drive. When we got there, we prayed about God providing the healing and Darren providing the surrender . . .and went in.

The woman at the desk looked hard and stern - "he'll never make it in," I thought. She looked up his name and, sure enough, she came out carrying a card. I could feel Darren tense up next to me - and I felt sorry for him - this had been his last hope. The camp by the river was not providing him with any means to change his ways . . and he had let all his friends down with this return to the bottle. The people that he had spoken to Jesus about didn't see the truth in his testimony.

She finally spoke. "Well, it looks like you haven't been here since 2002 - so you're good to go. Come on. Get a move on. I haven't got all day." Just like that. No record of his past -no mention of the event in 2004.

God does that for us - wipes the slate clean. He is good - and he loves Darren.

Families are in Recovery together

When a parent starts the journey to wholeness, he or she takes his whole family with them. Sometimes the kids are in foster care, sometimes they are still in their life of chaos - but always they are taken down the road with the parent.

As the parent heals, they are left with the children that they have raised (or not raised, as is often the case) and, more often than not, the child is not comfortable leaving the life that they have come to know. Many times, the child has been in control of their own life and when the parents start taking back the reigns, there is a time of rebellion and stubbornness.

We have about 30 kids in our church whose families have been reunited because the parents have started making better choices. These families come to church and experience peace and hope. they go home and - there to meet them at the door - is strife and arguing.

We want to find people who are called to work with these families and help bring them to wholeness, wholeness in Christ, wholeness as a family, wholeness within themselves.

We have 3 NA groups who meet at our church each week and the children come and play with one of the older ones being appointed as "babysitter." We have such a wonderful opportunity for ministry - and we are doing some already - but we could do so much more.

Sonday's Cool is providing a good basis for Friday nights but the other nights are waiting . . .the time is not here yet . . .or is it?

Who will go, says the Lord?

Caryn has a year

Caryn's mother has been praying for her family since she herself started a new life with Jesus. A few years ago, she started working at The Salvation Army because she was on TANF and you have to work someplace. The officers loved her and she began coming to the church - gradually beginning to understanding the forgiveness and grace of God.

Her family has been coming to Jesus one by one - and he keeps meeting them where they are . . .as they are.

That's how revolutions really work - they begin at the bottom level - grass roots - right where we are.

One year - way to go, Caryn!