God Loves Dudes on Bikes

     Here's another wild story of how God wants to interact with us in our everyday lives.  On August 19th I met with some pastors in the area for our weekly prayer time in the morning.  As I was driving home, I noticed on one of the busier street corners in Harrisonville a guy on a bike messing with his cell phone.  It was obvious that he had spent a lot of time on this bike.  He had all of his personal travel belongings attached to the front and rear-end of it.  I felt like I should go and talk to him, but kind of battled the idea in my head.  Finally I decided to park on a side street and approach him.  I had to cross the intersection twice to get to where he was sitting.  I was wondering if he would see me approach and try to take off, but he didn't really get a chance.  As I stepped up the traffic cleared and I had a straight shot to him. 
     I walked up to him and said, "Hey man how's it going?  I saw you sitting here and I thought to myself, 'this guy looks way too interesting to pass by.'" 
     I learned that his name was John, and that he had been riding that bike for four months straight.  He had been to every state west of Missouri during that time.  He was riding back to his home state of Ohio and needed to cover another 100 + miles before nightfall to get to his next stop.  I was extremely impressed.  The furthest I had ever ridden on a bike was from my folk's house to Dairy Queen and back (about 2 blocks).
     I asked way too many questions about his money:  how much cash he had on him, what his credit card limits were, etc...He started to get really uncomfortable, so I decided it was a great time to start talking to him about the Lord.
     I asked him, "What do you think about all day while you're on your bike?"
     He kind of chuckled and said that he thinks about a lot of stuff.  He said that he had been really interested in Buddhism recently, and that he spent much of his time pondering it.
     I replied, "That's cool man.  Buddhism is starting to get more and more popular in this country these days.  Do you know much about Jesus?"
     He said that he was framiliar with Jesus and that he had kind of grown up in Christianity.  We talked about some other interesting things after that, and at one point I said, "Yeah man.  A good life boils down to just two things:  loving God, and loving people."
     He immediately responded, "Why loving God?  Isn't it enough just to love people?"
     Right then one of the yellow Harrisonville street worker trucks pulled up to us, and a gal with long blonde hair hopped out.  She walked right up to John and held out her hand.  She said to him, "I felt like the Lord wanted me to give this to you."  In her hand was a wad of a few dollar bills.  (Can you believe it! God knows how to do some amazing things doesn't He?!)
     John refused the money saying, "I feel like the Lord wants me to give it back to you."  It was a pretty funny scene to watch.  The poor gal got back into her truck with kind of a rejected look on her face.  As she was leaving I put my hand on John's shoulder and said to him, "That's why you love the Lord man, because He loves you and He created you."  I continued, "Do you think it was just a coincidence that God sent two different people to come and talk to you at the same time?"
     He said, "Well I just think it's because of where I am.  I'm in Missouri now."  I guess he thought that everyone in Missouri is a Christian, and that all of us are bold enough to walk up and talk to a stranger.
     I quickly responded, "No way man...I've lived in this town since I was 2 years old and I've never seen anything like that happen before."
     I blessed him on his journey because I knew he was eager to get back on the road.  I got his information before he left.  He actually has a blog about his journey: www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/westcyclestory if you want to check it out.  It's really interesting.  That's where I got the picture at the top of the post from. 
     This was an amazing encounter--of course with a very interesting person, but also with an amazing God.  I love to see how God works.  He says, "If you seek Me, you will find Me."  He's not hiding in some ditch somewhere along the road.  If you look for Him, he promises you'll find Him.  I think it's amazing how I so obviously recognized God in that interaction, but John considered it more of a coincidence.  I guess the opposite is somewhat true of that above verse too.  If you refuse to seek Him, you'll never find Him.
     The great news for John is that God is relentlessly pursuing him.  I read in his blog that another couple in Yellowstone National Park talked to him about Jesus just 2 months ago. 
     I praise you Lord.  I thank you for making such a beautiful man like John.  Surround him with Your people.  Surround him with Your Spirit.  Set him apart for Your glory, and I pray that he spends every day of the rest of his life passionately loving You, Mighty King.  Amen.
    
    

Satan is Defeated!!!

     A couple of weeks ago I woke up at about 2:20 in the morning from a bad dream.  I felt like I should get out of bed and just passionately dance and sing before the Lord.  I praised and danced in the dark for about an hour.  I was having a BLAST!  I heard some really heavy music in my head about casting down Satan.  I think maybe the angels like worshipping to heavy metal music too. 
     At some point during my worship time, I saw in my mind's eye the "prince" over Harrisonville being violently bound up by dozens of angels.  The angel in Daniel 10 spoke of the "spirit prince of the Kingdom of Persia," and the "spirit prince of the Kingdom of Greece," referring to the demonic force opressing people in Daniel's region.  Well God showed me the demonic force over our region being violently man-handled by some ferocious angels! 
     I don't know if this has already taken place, or if it's about to take place as God's people stand up and start intentionally advancing His kingdom.  In Luke 10:18 Jesus talks about seeing Satan "fall from heaven like lightning" after He sent out the 72 disciples.  So there were the 72, the 12, Jesus, and the dude by himself casting demons out of people in the name of Jesus in Luke 9:49-50.  Only 86 people that we know of in the WHOLE WORLD advancing the Kingdom of God!  And what did Jesus say the results were?  He saw Satan fall like lightning!!! 
     There are 3000 people that say they follow Christ in Harrisonville alone.  What would happen if all of us unified and went out advancing the Kingdom of God here on earth in Harrisonville?  It would be like an A bomb going off.  It would definitely bring a few tears to old Satan's eyes!  What's it going to take for us to stand up with the power and authority that God gave us?  Lord give us Your strength, and Your boldness, and Your love for the people in bondage in our own neighborhoods.  By the power and in the name of Jesus.

Baked Chicken

     I have an amazing friend named Bob.  He's lived a crazy life away from the Lord, but now He deeply loves God and seeks God everyday.  I met Bob because he lives in a small RV on the property that our church owns.  He manages the property on a daily basis.  A couple of weeks ago I was reading Matthew 25 in the bible where Jesus says:  "I was hungry and you fed me.  I was thirsty and you gave me a drink...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." 
     As soon as I read it, Bob popped into my mind, and I turned to Jessica and said, "Hey, when do you think was the last time old Bob had a nice fresh baked loaf of bread?  I bet he doesn't get a lot of good home cooking out there in that RV all by himself."  We decided that we would make him some bread within the next couple of days.
     Later that day Jessica whipped together the greatest feast my stomach has ever encountered.  She made baked chicken, and mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh baked rolls--I tore into that sucker like a Weight Watchers participant at Dairy Queen.  Just moments after I had taken my first few bites, Jessica suggested the unthinkable.
     "Hey honey," she said excitedly while she was fixing her plate, "why don't we make a plate for Bob and take it out there for him?"
     I quickly responded with the most intelligible rebuttal I could muster:  "Heck no!  That's my chicken!"
     She turned and said, "You wouldn't give that man two pieces of chicken?"
     As gravy slowly dribbled down my chin I said again, "Heck no!  That's my chicken!"  To prove my point I gorged myself on chicken and rolls.  After I ate the fifth piece of chicken I kind of quietly said to myself, "See...only enough for me." 
     After all of my efforts there was still one golden brown chicken thigh mocking me from the pan, but I quickly rationalized away the possibility of taking the lonely piece of chicken to Bob.  I honestly felt pretty ashamed of myself later that night, but soon forgot all about it.
     The next day the pastor of our church, Darren, called me and asked if I would like to help work out at the construction site of our new church building.  I happily accepted and strolled onto the site the next morning.  I got the opportunity to work with Bob that whole day and realized how much wisdom he had.  I enjoyed hearing his stories of how God had saved his life time after time through drug overdoses and motorcycle wrecks.  About midday we went to the secretary to get some checks for some of the work we had done earlier that week.  While we were there Bob turned to me and asked, "Hey Mike, would you be willing to take me into town to cash my check?"
     I said, "Sure Bob, I can do that for you."
     Bob told some more wild stories while we drove into town and cashed our checks.  Right after we had finished counting our newly acquired wealth, Bob turned to me and said, "Hey Mike, do you like chicken?  I want to buy you a nice chicken dinner." 
     That's right.  RV Bob wanted to buy me a "nice chicken dinner."  He didn't want to buy me some $2.00 nachos, or a greasy dollar menu burger.  He wanted to buy me a "nice chicken dinner."  It was the most humbling meal I have ever eaten.  We went to KFC, and he purchased a buffet for me, along with the largest drink they sold.  It was an excellent meal with some excellent company.  I wondered if God was trying to teach me something.
     One of the most beautiful things about this whole experience was how merciful and gentle God was with me.  I never once felt any condemnation from God like He was trying to give me a spanking for being so shamefully selfish.  It was more like He was gently taking me to the side like a father and saying, "You see son?  You've got to live a passionately generous life.  This is how I created you to be.  I want you to be just like me!"  I can't begin to express how deeply this moment touched my life.  God showed me how sweet His mercy can be to us.  I've fallen in love with my God in a new way, and you'd better believe Bob is gonna be a pretty blessed man because of it.
  

Who is Greater than God?!

     I have to write about the things I've seen and experienced.  What better way to share my stories with all of my family and friends than writing them down.  The Lord is amazing, and this life is amazing!  If you're bored with life, start chasing after God whole-heartedly and I promise you'll be amazed by Him!  He loves doing this stuff.
     I'll share several different stories from the last couple of weeks right up front, and we'll see what God does in the next few days.  I'll post my stories in the order that I wrote them in my personal journal.  I love all of you guys.  Blessings on all of you from our Creator God.