I'm Back (sort of)

Last night I got scolded by a friend for not blogging in a long time. I ask you...how many people do you know MY AGE who are successful bloggers? For all we know, I may be doing very well compared to my peers.

I have been resisting the urge to write about me...or more accurately, my wife. It is a fact that about 70% of people who start out in the ministry do not finish well. Along with that, it is VERY common for people in ministry to wreck their families by paying attention to their flock and putting their spouses and children on the back burner. I'll bet this happens most often because pastors feel a deep responsibility to the call of God on their lives. I have NEVER felt pressure from the people of PF to do more work. I'm often asked "how are you?" or" Are you and Maryanne doing well?" No one has ever commented that I should be spending more of my time working.

It's all inside our heads...those of us who work for our beloved family called PF. There's this little voice inside when we take a break...when we need a rest and just want to do NOTHING. The voice says "You're not working. You're cheating them. Don't you have things to do?" I know it's a lie, but it's a struggle anyway. Has been for all the years I've been doing this.

So...about my wife. Maryanne officially retired this past Wednesday after 20 years of working as a teacher in a men's Federal Prison. They let you leave after 20 years because they know you're worn out and not effective as a law enforcement officer any more. At 53, my wife isn't really retiring; she just doesn't have to work at the prison any more. She's looking for the next big thing God has for her life. So am I. I care more for her than I do for myself, and she really needs that from me in this season of her life. These past few days that she's been off we have done more than the usual amount of cocooning, and I can see the life flowing back into her.

So if you will allow me, I am pulling back just a little from my normal amount of "attention-giving" at PF so I can pay some more attention to Maryanne for a while.

In the meantime, as I consider how we spent a blessed, peaceful Christmas together, I have a prayerful heart for the Larson Family who spent their holidays scrambling to figure out cancer treatment for Steve. They are our dear friends...exactly our age...and they have a lot more weight on their shoulders than I do. I can't stop for one minute holding up before our Heavenly Father the loved ones in my midst who are struggling. And I can't stop being what the Body of Christ is meant to be...by pouring my life into my Brothers and Sisters in tangible ways that cost me time, money and inconvenience. Let's all spend this next year doing more of that stuff!

Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship

Here we are again. Maryanne & I have been coming here since '95. This is Ground Zero for us. It has defined who we are way more than any influence God has put in our lives. If you aren't familiar with this place, it's the first link on the PF link page.

Alberto & Kimberly Rivera are leading worship (guitarist Mark Baldwin sitting in with them...that is a real bonus for me!). We came up with AJ & Tammy Maze, and some more folks from PF are here, also. Holy Spirit is ministering to each one of us, and the atmosphere is thick with His presence. There is a grace here to lay things down, and as I/we lay them down the Father is giving us great things to pick up and take with us.

Woody Woodson

I'm here on Sunday night at PF, and it's ministry time with Woody. I know individuals are being touched by God in very specific ways. As for me...here's where I'm at: I love this church. I love these people. For me, it doesn't get any better than watching God give sweet things to the people I love. I love you, Lord, for loving my friends : )

Signs of a healthy fellowship

Maryanne & I pulled into the PF parking lot around 8PM tonight. It was really cool to pull into our church parking lot on a Friday night and view a bunch of cars...cars belonging to PRAYERS! I love Jesus, and I get to hang with people who are in love with him, too. I have my share of discouragements during the day just like everyone else, but that's not the end of the story. Father takes really good care of His kids here at PF!

Post-Alaska Post

Can you imagine that I haven't had enough time to sit down and write here since we've been back?!? Two weeks away is a long time away, and it really put me behind the 8ball in lots of areas. I know...some of you think I've been napping!

It has taken Maryanne & I a while to sort out our feelings about our trip to Alaska. In the end there were two seperate questions: What did God do?...and how was your vacation? (though God is in the vacation, too). As people have asked us "how was Alaska?", the answer hasn't been easy to articulate. I'll put the vacation aspect aside and concentrate on the God stuff.

The first week we were among 540 people who took part in a Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship Conference on board a cruise ship traveling up the coast of Alaska. There were great times of worship and ministry on board, as well as outreach ministry in the ports we stopped at. Each mealtime we sat at tables with folks from all over the globe and shared what God was up to in our given corner of the world. Maryanne and I served breakfast in a soup kitchen in Juneau (the tourists don't see this stuff!). We joined 500 believers in surrounding the government building in Ketchikan to pray for the leaders there. While there we also were taken on a "christian" tour of Ketchikan and the surrounding area. The Native people who met us in these ports are spirit-filled believers who gave us a God-perspective on history and current life in these areas. We met a 70-something Master Carver who makes totem poles ($3,500-5,000 per FOOT!!!). We stood in awe as we listened to this brother in the Lord talk about his work.

As we left the ship and entered into our 2nd week, we rented a car in Anchorage and proceeded on our journey around "the loop"...900 miles of 2 lane road in the middle of the state. We spent the next 4 days visiting 3 PF families and travelling 1,000 miles.

We begin in Anchorage with the Bailey family. Barry, (Klondike)Carol, and their 2 adorable girls had spent 2 troubled years in Warren and at PF several years back. Maryanne and I hooked up with them and watched God put their lives back together! Now we got to spend time with them in THEIR home in Alaska. We had glorious meals together and went hiking with them in those breathtaking mountains!

Next day...on to visit Al & Lori Reynolds. We had just seen them back here in Pa. the week before, so it was funny visiting them almost immediately in their new home 5,000 miles away. We got a thorough overview of their life in Glenallin(sp), touring the areas where the Native people live and traveling to the Reynolds' "fishing spot". Lori works at the medical clinic right next to their log cabin where they pray for people who arrive in need of care...even praying for the dead to be raised! It was hard to drive away from Al&Lori and their warm hospitality.

Next day, however...down the road to our next stop at Doug and Nancy Jewell's in Delta Junction.

The Jewells are pastoring a church up there in "Delta", and man have they been WORKING! It's been some time since there's been a regular pastor and both the church and the parsonage have needed renovation/ rehab. Doug and Nancy are also been busy "building bridges" within their congregation and to the community. We got to spend a very precious evening with some of the brothers and sisters from the church. We held their mid-week gathering in Doug's living room and spent lots of time praying and ministering to each other. We deeply cherish the time spent with everybody there. It was painful to have to leave Doug the next morning (Nancy was actually in Warren during our visit, so we didn't get to see her). We really wanted to stay longer, and I think it did Doug a lot of good to see familiar faces from "back home"; after all, they've lived in Warren all their lives up to this time. That was the hard thing for Maryanne and I...having to keep moving down the road and leave loved ones behind.

Arriving back in Anchorage to fly home, we got to spend more time with the Baileys. More delicious meals together! The promise of another visit in the not-too-distant future. We have spent the last 2 weeks being a small part of God re-establishing ties between Praise Fellowship and all our loved ones in Alaska. It is a wild, breathtaking, unforgiving, unimaginably HUGE place. It's a place that no one in the lower 48 understands. It is like another country altogether. And it is where The Lord makes His home just as comfortably as He does everywhere else. He made it, and He is in love with it.

Maryanne & I are sitting in Starbucks in Vancouver. We will be boarding the Princess Sapphire in a few hours and head for Alaska. In the week we're on the ship it will cover around 2,000 miles. Then we'll visit Barry and Carol Bailey and their girls in Anchorage, the Reynolds, and finally the Jewells. That will be our second week here.

Numerous PF friends ordered me sternly to go away and enjoy our time together and not be thinking about PF. When I assured them I would do just that, they didn't believe me and told me AGAIN! They know me : ) .

I must admit I'm having a hard time letting some things go, but I know God has something huge for us in this trip. He's been saving it up for 22 years (today is our 22nd anniversary!) and I know He wants us to soak it all in.

So I love you all, and I'll bring back pics and videos of anything I see God doing up here. I'll update this if I have any internet access along the way. See you in 2 weeks!

John <>{

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