SEPTEMBER, 2005
REFLECTION
T he Prayer Gathering on September 13 was
a wonderful evening! Many thanks to
Pastors Howard Boyd and Chris Williams for
facilitating and for the 27 people who entered
into the prayer time with such enthusiasm and
willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit. The
number of people there was small; but I know
other members of the UP Team were there in
spirit, and I thank you for your prayers.
Actually, the number was just about a “tithe” ( a
little over) of the number of hours of weekly
prayer. This is highly significant, based on
something that happened toward the end of our
time together. John McCastle, a new UP Team
member who works with Pregnancy Life Line
Centers around the State, prayed for
the unborn. He noted that this
touches all sectors of the UP Team
focus and prayed that people within
all sectors value life as God does. Dr.
Jim Lukavski (Doctor Luke) then
prayed for John, saying “Lord, you
have entrusted him with precious
cargo.” Well, later John Baltes shared with me
that the symbolism of this struck him: We, too,
are “precious cargo.” We – the people there and
all the UP Team – are in a “spiritual womb”,
yearning to be brought to new life. We are, by
God’s grace, members of His “remnant”, people
fervently seeking His perfect will to be done.
Portions of Psalm 139 were also shared during
the prayer time for life, and the words apply to
both the unborn and to us: “For you created my
inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s
womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I
know that full well. My frame was not hidden
from you when I was made in the
secret place. When I was
woven together in the
depths of the earth, your
eyes saw my unformed
body. All the days
ordained for me were
written in your book
before one of them
came to be. How
precious to me are
your thoughts, O
God! How vast is the
sum of them! Were I to count them, they would
outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I
am still with you.” This was just one wonderful
thing that happened. Following is a summary of
the entire evening: Howard asked us to be open
to the Holy Spirit and share prayer, song,
Scripture as He lead; Chris opened us in prayer.
We prayed for the hurricane victims and
thanked God that the number of victims is far
less than what was feared. We then very
prayerfully sang the hymn, “How excellent is
Your Name…O Lord; how worthy is Your
Name…How righteous is Your Name.” The
facilitators then asked for “bite-size prayers”
from the heart. Here are some of them: “I was
in hypocrisy and You showed me truth.”… “I
thought You abandoned me, but You didn’t.”…
“When I was on the battlefield in Vietnam, You
protected me.”… ‘Out of confusion and
uncertainty You bring assurance.”… “When I
lost my daughter, You were with me.”… “When
I had open heart surgery, You were there.”…
“When I felt hopeless and worthless, You
showed me people who value me.”… “When I
was lost and I cried out, You saved me.”…
“When I was Your enemy, You reached down
and rescued me.”… “When I was off track with
You, You weren’t off track with me.”… “You
showed me my son as You see my son and told
me to just love him.” Someone then led us in
“Shout to the Lord”. Howard then urged us not
to underestimate the power of both private
prayer and corporate prayer; the
emphasis is not on the person
praying but on the Persons
prayed to. He encouraged us to
reflect on Ephesians 1: Paul’s
prayer was that our eyes be
enlightened so that we can see
spiritual reality. The reality is
that every person praying in and
for every sector is very
powerful. Give us,
Lord, eyes of faith and
hope. Our hope is that
through prayer in all sectors
people will experience Christ – in restaurants,
hotels, offices, theaters, agencies, hospitals and
clinics, schools, churches, etc. Two other
Scriptures were also shared: “Without faith it is
impossible to please God;” “All things work
together for good for those who love God.”
Someone then shared that people who have come
here from the hurricane areas are truly
experiencing God’s touch on this area, through
the love they are receiving. Someone prayed:
“Help us, Lord, to reach out to the multitudes of
the lost in our area; give us a hunger for the
lost.” Another person shared that the Spirit is
truly moving, here this evening,
and in our area, that churches are
coming together to serve people
in need, that people are
continuing to pray and remain
faithful even in the midst of
struggles (a message for the entire
UP Team). The facilitators then
asked us to pray for specific
visions within sectors; following are
some of the prayers:
“For all the churches
in our area, so many
of which are already uniquely loving one
another; Lord, help us decrease so that You
might increase;”… “That we who believe might
be one, as Jesus prayed on the night before He
died;”… “For the education sector, that there be
people on fire with love for Jesus Christ, that
there be a powerful manifestation of Jesus
Christ, for a climate in which people will want to
know more about Jesus;”… “Thanksgiving and
protections for all government leaders – State,
local, national; for our military, for our first
responders, that as 2 Timothy tells us, we should
be in prayer for leaders; that God’s will be done
with regard to Supreme Court nominees;”…
“For theaters, attractions and all businesses, that
the love of Christ permeate them, that all be
saved, that visitors experience the presence of
Jesus, that all people within the sectors have
servants' hearts and be servant leaders;”… “For
wisdom and insight for all within the medical
sector;”… “For the insight to see how
intertwined all sectors are, including with regard
to services provided by the social and civic
services sector; that our dependency not be
ultimately on agencies but on our Lord who
works through them and through other
resources, including churches and ministries;
that we identify and fix by God’s grace the root
causes of all social ills.” Dr. Marian Stewart
asked for prayer because of an upcoming legal
difficulty facing her. Some laid hands on her;
Dr. Luke thanked God for her healing services
that she conducts weekly at Our Lady of the
Lake Catholic Church and for the miraculous
healings that have occurred. He then prayed
again for all the medical community, sharing
that the Lord knocked Paul down and he saw
Christ and through his chains changed the world
– so, too, God is taking down pride in the
medical community. Howard ended the evening
by painting the picture of
Simeon in the Temple,
waiting for the
Messiah. There
were without doubt
many people
coming and going,
yet when Mary and
Joseph came in
carrying the babe, Simeon’s eyes lit up. Out of
all the people, he recognized the Messiah. So,
Howard asked us to end with silence and ask
God to help us see around us what others cannot
see. We then sang “How Great Thou Art.”…
For those of you who were not at the Gathering,
I hope and pray that this summary enables you
to share in the spirit of the evening. We are all
in this together, seeking to serve the Lord
through prayer. Remember, prayer is not
something passive; prayer puts us right on the
front lines and is the most important service we
can give to our communities.
PLANS/IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE
1) We will definitely plan on having an
extended Gathering – as a Marketplace
Prayer Summit – once again in January. We
will not be at Stonecroft, as it is changing
hands. I will let you know time and place;
but tentatively plan on the end of January.
2) After the Gathering on the 13th, Gloria
Cariker, the prayer leader for the Social and
Civic Services sector, shared an idea based
on an Isaiah Scripture focusing on “laying
siege.” She suggested that we pray about
“laying siege” to the area in yet another
way: Identify UP members who live in the
northern, the southern, the northeastern, the
southeastern, the northwestern, and the
southwestern parts of our two-county area
and have simultaneous prayer gatherings in
their homes – some of us at each place. This
is similar to the idea of identifying “high
points” in the area and pray over the
counties. Both ideas emphasize the
importance of combining prayer with
geographic areas. This is a form of “prayer-
walking”, even though we would not be
walking; it is dividing our area and praying
accordingly. This would not take the place
of individual prayer where we normally do
our hours; it is another strategic way to
pray. If any of you would like to take this on
as a project and help coordinate something,
would you please call me at 338-8036 or on
my cell phone at 331-1028? Thanks.
PRAYER NEEDS
T here are so many, many hurting people all
around us – we rightfully pray for
hurricane victims and victims of war, etc., but
we absolutely must not forget those close to
home. Here are just a few that I am aware of
(please let me know prayer needs, so that I can
pass them on):
A former addict, single Mom, who is trying to
start life anew and has severe financial issues; a
lady who has her daughter and grandaughter
living with her – a plumbing problem that has
standing water in the basement and is a health
hazard and utility bills and mortgage payments
that are behind; a lady who had to use the
money she has been saving for new roof to pay
for a new transmission; a lady who has four
relatives living with her and is about to have her
electricity shut off; a husband who has been
working three jobs and is struggling to make
ends meet for his wife and himself; a man on
medical leave who is behind on rent and utilities;
a lady with a hearing and speaking disability
who is struggling to find a place to live; for open
leadership positions at The Caring People; for
Don Gabriel, who is undergoing a
new type of chemotherapy
while working to get his
business off and running; for
friends and relatives of
Katherine, who are
suffering various illnesses;
for Mac, who is doing rehab in
Columbia; for Torchbearers, who
will have just had a fundraising banquet
when you receive this – for their work in
Cameroon and for the spiritual transformation
of all of Africa; and all the unspoken and
unwritten needs. Also, thank you for your
prayers for me! The surgery went well, the pain
is gone, and I am back at work. Please keep
praying for my dear wife, Barbara, who lives in
constant pain and is pretty much home-bound,
but who has a true intercessor’s heart and
praises the Lord.
FROM THE BOOK “8,789 WORDS OF
WISDOM”
“T rust your hopes, not your fears.”…”This
is a good time if we know what to do
with it.”…”Vulnerability is often the price of
growth.”…”The less we know, the more we
suspect.”…”A person’s greatest emotional need
is to feel appreciated.”…”If two ride on a horse,
one must ride behind.”…”Nobody roots for
Goliath.”…”Never try out a new recipe on
guests.”…”Give more in life than you
take.”…”Life isn’t all beer and skittles” (Charles
Dickens – what are skittles??)…”We are all
citizens of the world.”…”Find a job from which
you never want to retire.”…”If you don’t want
things to change, then don’t change what you are
doing.”…”Live your life so that even the
undertaker will be sorry when you
die.”…”Listen with your eyes and your heart.”
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
I t is not really charitable to
call people idiots; so even
though the e-mail I got this
from called the people idiots,
I will not – just draw your
own conclusions about
these true stories: A new
neighbor called the
township office to request
the removal of the
“Deer Crossing” sign
on his road – because
too many deer were being hit by cars
and he did not want them crossing there any
more…A lady went to a local Taco Bell and
ordered a taco. She asked for “minimal lettuce,”
but she was told that they only had iceberg… A
man was at an airport, checking in at the gate,
and an employee asked, “Has anyone put
anything in your baggage without your
knowledge?” The man replied, “If it was without
my knowledge, how would I know?” The
employee smiled knowingly and nodded.
“That’s why we ask.”…On a corner in Wichita,
the stoplight buzzes when it’s safe to cross the
street. A lady was crossing with a co-worker
who asked if she knew what the buzzer was for.
She explained that it signals blind people when
the light is green. Appalled, she responded,
“What on earth are blind people doing
driving?”… A man works with an individual
who plugged her power strip back into itself and
for the life of her couldn’t understand why her
system would not turn on…A couple arrived at
an automobile dealership to pick
up their car, but they were told
that the keys had been locked into
it. They went to the service
department and found a mechanic
feverishly working to unlock the
driver’s side door. As they
watched from the passenger side,
they instinctively tried the door
handle and discovered that it was
unlocked. They told the technician, “Hey, it’s
open!” He replied, “I know; I already got that
side.”
I haven’t shared blonde jokes for awhile.
Remember my disclaimer: I
am not being cruel to
blondes; when I was
young, I was a
dishwater blonde, and
it is definitely in my
genes as the world’s
worst klutz: Why does
it take longer to build a
blonde snowman as
opposed to a regular one? You
have to hollow out the head. (Note that it is a
snow man.)…Why won’t they hire blondes as
pharmacists? They keep breaking the
prescription bottles in the typewriters…Did you
hear about the blonde who bought an AM radio?
It took her a month to realize that she could play
it in the afternoon…What happened to the
blonde ice hockey team? They drowned during
spring training….Why did the blonde scale the
chain link fence? To see what was on the other
side…How did the blondes die drinking milk?
The cows stepped on them…How did the
blondes burn their noses? Bobbing for french
fries…Why do blondes have more fun? They
are easier to amuse…Why can’t blondes put in
light bulbs? They keep breaking them with
their hammers…Did you hear
about the blonde who shot an
arrow into the air? She missed…
Why did the blonde ask his friends to save their
burned-out light bulbs? He needed them for the
darkroom he was building…Why are Asians so
smart? No blondes…What is the biggest
advantage to marrying a blonde? You get to
park in the Handicapped Zone. (Boo!)
SIMPLE FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I heard Larry Wilhite, the prayer leader for
the Entertainment sector, say the following at
a service at Mansion America: If the only time I
spent with my spouse and children was equal to
the time I spend in prayer, how good would the
relationship be? (Larry hosts a service every
Sunday at 10 a.m. in Mansion America. It is
intended for tourists and he uses different guest
speakers from the area each Sunday, and area
singers volunteer their time. Let visitors to the
area know about the service.)
JOEY DAVIS AND CWA
I had the privilege of attending
a farewell reception for Joey
Davis on 9/17. If you know Joey,
you know that she is a role model
for passionate commitment to
major issues in our nation –
abortion, same sex marriage,
euthanasia, cloning – just to name a few. She is
retiring as State Director for Concerned Women
for America after about 15 years of service for
CWA and the people of our State and our
nation. Joey began the chapter in Branson years
ago and has been tireless in her efforts to
preserve the sanctity of life and the principles
our nation was founded on. There were
numerous testimonies given, but the words of
Joey herself stick most firmly in my mind and
heart. To paraphrase her: “When I began years
ago, I asked, ‘Why me?’, for I knew that many
other people had more skills and abilities than I
did. But then God told me that it was not about
me. He said, “I Am Who Am, and it is all about
Me working in and through You.”
Thank you, Joey! And thanks,
too, to her husband,
Roger and her family,
who have so strongly
supported her in good
times and difficult times.
Joey is a member of the
UP Team, by the way.
Pray for Haven Howard
and the other folks who
will be carrying on the battle. These are people
of great courage. By the way, men and women
are welcome to join. Contact
cwaofmo@hotmail.com.
PRAYER
“D ear Lord, I thank You for this day. I
thank You for being such a forgiving
and understanding God. You have done so
much for me and You keep on blessing me.
Forgive me this day for everything I have done,
said or thought that was not pleasing to
You. Help me to start this day
with a new attitude and
plenty of gratitude.
Let me make the best
of each and every day
to clear my mind so that I
can hear from You. Help me to accept the
things I cannot change and to change the things
that I can, through Your Holy Spirit. Let me not
whine and whimper over things I have no
control over. Let me continue to see sin through
Your eyes and acknowledge it as evil. And when
I sin, give me the grace to repent and to confess
my wrongdoing and to receive Your forgiveness.
And when this world closes in on me, let me
remember Jesus’ example – to slip away and
find a quiet place to pray. Help me to see that it
is the best response when I am pushed beyond
my limits. I know that when I cannot pray, You
listen to my heart. Please continue to use me to
do Your will. Please continue to bless me so that
I may be a blessing to others. Keep me strong so
that I may help the weak while showing me that
in and of myself I am the
weakest of all. Keep me
uplifted so that I may
have words of
encouragement for others.
I pray for those who are
lost and cannot find their
way. I pray for those who
are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for
those who do not know You intimately. I pray
for those who do not believe, and I thank You
that I believe. I believe that You can change
people and that you change circumstances or
work through them. I pray for my family and
friends, and for any whom I have hurt. I pray
that every eye that reads this knows there is no
problem, circumstance or situation greater than
You, that every battle is in Your hands. In
Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
TRUE STORY
T he following will hopefully serve as an
encouragement to never give up, to never
lose hope, to never forget that our prayers and
our love are bearing fruit and will bear fruit:
Like any good mother, when
Karen found out that another
baby was on the way, she did
what she could to help her 3-
year old son, Michael, prepare
for a new sibling. They found
out that the new baby was
going to be a girl, and day
after day Michael sang to his
sister in Mommy’s tummy. He was building a
bond of love with his little sister before he even
met her. The pregnancy progressed normally
for Karen, an active member of a church in
Morristown, Tennessee. In time, the labor pains
came. Soon it was every five minutes, every
three, every minute. But serious complications
arose during delivery and Karen
found herself in hours of labor.
The staff thought
that a C-section
might be
necessary, but
finally Michael’s
little sister was
born. However, she
was in serious condition. With a siren howling in
the night, an ambulance rushed the infant to the
neonatal intensive care unit at a hospital in
Knoxville. The days dragged by, and the little
girl got steadily worse. The doctor told the
parents that there was very little hope and to be
prepared for the worst. Karen and her husband
even contacted a local cemetery about a burial
plot. They had earlier fixed up a special room in
their house for their new baby, but now they
found themselves having to plan for a funeral.
Michael, however, kept begging his parents to let
him see his sister. “I want to sing to her,” he
kept saying. Week two in intensive care brought
the family to a fear that a funeral was coming
very close. Michael kept nagging about singing
to his sister, but children are not allowed in
intensive care. Finally Karen decided to take
Michael whether they liked it or not. If he did
not see his sister right then, he might never see
her alive. She dressed him in an oversized scrub
suit and marched him into ICU. He looked like
a walking laundry basket. The head nurse
recognized him as a child and bellowed, “Get
that kid out of here, now; no children are
allowed.” The mother instinct
rose up strongly in Karen, and
the usually mild-mannered
woman glared steely-eyed
right into the head nurse’s
face, her lips a firm line. “
He is not leaving until he
sings to his sister,” she stated.
Then Karen towed Michael to
his sister’s bedside. He gazed
at the tiny infant losing the
battle to live. After a moment,
he began to sing the song he had frequently sung
to her before she was born. In the pure-hearted
voice of a 3-year old, Michael sang: “You are
my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me
happy when skies are gray.” Instantly the baby
girl seemed to respond. Her pulse rate began to
calm down and it became steady. “Keep on
singing, Michael,” encouraged Karen, with tears
in her eyes. So Michael continued: “You never
know, dear, how much I love you, please don’t
take my sunshine away.” The baby’s ragged,
strained breathing became as smooth as a
kitten’s purr. “Keep on singing, sweetheart.”
“The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I
dreamed I held you in my arms…” Michael’s
little sister began to relax as rest, healing rest,
seemed to sweep over her. “Keep on singing,
Michael.” Tears had now conquered the face of
the bossy head nurse as she asked Michael to
keep singing. Karen glowed. ‘You are my
sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don’t take
my sunshine away.” The next day – the very
next
day – the little girl was well enough to go home.
Woman’s Day Magazine called it “The Miracle
of a Brother’s Song.” The medical staff just
called it a miracle.
Karen called it a
miracle of God’s
love.
This issue began with
a sharing at the
Gathering about
“precious cargo.” It seems fitting
to end, therefore the same way. Both are
symbolic of the precious cargo that is the
remnant of the Church. Our prayer, our
faithfulness to prayer, are highly pleasing to God
and will bear fruit – we may see it, it may come
later, but God is always faithful to His people.
God bless you, and peace to you and yours.
Bob Burton