Thanksgiving | 2:45pm.
Driving to Kansas City was fairly uneventful. There�s not a whole lot between here and Indianapolis. It took about 11 hours to get to the hotel. I ended up taking the wrong exit and happened upon this really cool fireworks display over a lake. I had this Christmas radio station on and they were talking about this fireworks thing, and It happened to be exactly where I was. There were hundreds of cars parked on the sides of the road, and then they fireworks started. The cool thing was that they were playing the music in time to the display on this station, so everyone had their radios tuned to it. They even played one of my favorite Christmas songs � Michael W. Smith�s rockin� version of Angels We Have Heard on High.
After that, and finally figuring out that I was really close to where I wanted to be, I got on the correct road and found the Holiday Inn. It�s not a bad hotel. It has a lounge called Joshua�s. That kinda cracked me up. They had a local Party-mix station here last night. I could hear it as I left. The International House of Prayer is about half a mile down the road. So after I unloaded the car. I headed over there for a few hours. It was not at all what I was expected. It�s kind of a dumpy little building (right now) in a dumpy little neighborhood. But inside is really what matters. There�s a big prayer room, with lots of chairs, a big station and enclosed drum room (like ours at Voice!), a communion table, and also a lot of offices, healing rooms, and a coffee room. It was just so cool to go in and have a place open 24/7 to pray and worship. I needed that in a huge way. I left around midnight and came back here and went to bed.
I got up this morning to a beautiful warm and sunny day. I decided to drive around a little bit and check out Kansas City. What a cool town! I found my way to the art museum that Young told me I had to go to, and plan to go back tomorrow when it is open. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of some really cool sculpture (Oldenburg, Moore, etc) and then just walking around. There�s a really nice downtown plaza area � it�s like a huge outdoor mall. Of course, being Thanksgiving, nothing was open except Starbucks, so I bought a caramel hot chocolate and took a walk along the river. I was accosted by a security guard as I was taking pictures of the outdoor sculpture at the museum. I guess professional photographers have to get permission. Fortunately, I am not, so I only had to stay six feet away from the sculptures. We ended up having a nice little chat about the museum. It�s a cool building � a huge neoclassic structure with big columns, surrounded by the school of art, big old brick apartment houses, and tree lined streets with lots of mini-mansions behind iron fences and gates� a beautiful little community. Across the river from the museum is the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I might try and hook up to the internet there and post this tomorrow. For now, I am going to head back to IHOP for awhile. I want to do some reading.
10:03pm
I just got back from IHOP. I have been there pretty much all afternoon with the exception of a brief stint to this huge Wal-mart nearby to find some hot soup. I was unable to find any there, but did find some good stuff at a Texaco� go figure!
Wow� I don�t even know how to begin to write about this little place in Kansas City. All I can say is that surely the presence of the Lord is in this place. It�s hard to describe what it is like. Worship going all day and all night. The bands change every two hours or so, and it�s cool how they transition � one person will drop out and another person from the new band will come in and take up their spot so that in the end, the new band is playing and the old band can leave. The worship is very quiet and earnest. There are a lot of spontaneous songs that are all based on scripture. I watched one girl just sing straight out of various passages of the Bible. It�s just awesome. There is so much freedom to just do whatever God leads you because everyone is there seeking him. Just to have a place to sit and pray and get in the presence of God is just � wow � it�s something I have needed for so long. I have needed to get away from the familiar and go to a place where I can�t be distracted by work, or friends, or anything that normally pulls me away.
It�s funny, because Tuesday night at the Meeting Place, Bob spoke about intimacy. And that is what I am rediscovering here. God is speaking so much to his church � He tells me that He loves me despite my sin and my struggles. He desires me. Even in my weakness He has found me lovely.
A lot of times our trust in God is limited to our understanding of what He is doing. He hasn�t called us to something that is reasonable or something that makes sense. He�s called us to do the impossible! I do believe that. It is so easy for me to sit in my comfort zone and do the usual. I see these people out here who have given up everything � their jobs, their homes � and are out here living on barely anything. And they are living in the presence of God � praying, worshipping, sharing Him with others� and it is something that I desire. Isn�t that crazy?
Thoughts this afternoon that just struck me throughout the time of worship and prayer.
He is my rock
The One I cling to
During these storms
All through the storm
Your love endures
My hope my anchor
There�s a grace I can�t resist
Your love has captured me
And I am consumed with you
I say yes to You
No matter the cost
I say yes to You
You are worth it all
My life is not my own
Thousands of angels
Surround Your Throne
Sing worthy is the Lamb
Who was slain
Day and night, night and day
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship � intimate
I find I�m moving
To the rhythms of Your grace
The fragrance is intoxicating
In the secret place
You�ve captured my heart again
Your love is better than Life
I know it well
I�ll find more than I need in You
I don�t want to go back to my comfort
I don�t want to go back to my compromise
In this room, I am surrounded by passionate people who desire intimacy with Jesus and His heart. It is evident. It is obvious. I find myself longing to stay here� to never leave. It�s probably like Peter when he was up on the mountain and said, Lord, lets just stay up here� it is so awesome� let�s build shelters and live up here for a time. And I do know that God is moving me to get ready for the day when he will call me to leave everything for Him. Whether it is to move to Osceola with the House of Prayer there, or something entirely different, I know that He has been working in me to begin shedding the weights of the encumbrances that so often tie most of us down. More than anything though, I just need to get closer to Him. I need to dig into His word like never before. I need to start really spending time in prayer with Him. And it needs to be sacrificial and significant, because I have come to realize that I don�t do it nearly enough.
I am tired, but it is a good tired. It is 10:30 here, but I am still on Indiana time so I am probably more tired than I usually would be at this hour. I am going to go back for the late night. I talked to Kirk Bennett (who is coming up to The Camp next week) and he told me to go tonight. It usually runs from about midnight until 2am, so we will see how long I will last.