Echo

I run through the woods exploring, looking at the squirrel that just scampered down the tree to greet me, and then just as quickly scurries off. I chase him a bit until it disappears into some leaves. Funny how fast they are for being so little. I’m a lot bigger and I think I can run very fast but they always leave me behind.

As I look around some more I see a rabbit hopping to another one. They must be pals although each one is clearly looking out for its own food to eat. Must be nice to have another friend that is the same. 

Just then I hear my friend call my name, Echo. I think he called me that because when he first got me at the dog pound I barked every time he said something.  Now I hear him yelling my name loudly but not meanly. Echo! He is the kindest man in the world I think. He takes me on long walks in the woods like today where I run off and explore and he wanders and thinks on his own. He’s a good friend. 

Sometimes I think he thinks he is taking me on a walk but I know that I’m the one who is taking him on a walk. If it weren’t for me nuzzling at the door to go out he would stay in most of the day and tap tap tap on that machine with a screen. 

But eventually, he does hear me, he sees me, and he opens the door and we go out back through the yard and into the woods. I hear him sigh loudly as we enter the forest. It’s as if he is really breathing now, taking in big gulps of fresh air instead of the conditioned air inside. He needed this and I knew it, plus I needed it too. We’re a good pair.

I keep looking around as I run back towards him. I see him wandering aimlessly calling my name but never worrying. He is confident that I would never leave him, never keep running and not come back to him. I feel the same way about him. He will always look for me and walk home with me. 

He doesn’t really take me home, we walk there together. There is no taking, there is just enjoying the adventure out and then walking home for the life we have there together.

All of a sudden we both see an eagle flying high in the sky. We stop and listen quietly and just watch. He has a look of awe on his face but I’m not jealous. It’s the look he gives me multiple times a day when I run to him and sit by his feet as he works. Or the times I jump on the couch beside him as we watch television. 

Today after seeing the eagle for a moment he takes out his phone to take pictures, zooming in and out, getting some video as well. Then he turns from pointing the phone camera at the sky and starts taking pictures and videos of me. He knows I love to perform and I run around in circles and jump up and bark and he laughs and smiles as I do all of this. Later as we sit together on the porch tonight he will show me the pictures and videos of the eagle and of me. He will talk about how we saw the eagle and how we took the pictures. He will smile and tell me that these are some of the best pictures we have ever taken, especially the ones of me.

He will laugh as I bark saying yes and he will rub my head and tell me he loves me. I will bark in response and nod my head and he will hug me and then get a treat for me and one for himself. 

Sometimes he almost seems to know what I am thinking. Almost. It’s as if he hears me and gets me. Just like he’s in my head, maybe I’m in his head too. Echo.

One Day

One day.

One day you cannot believe that things will ever change, that things will ever get better, that life will ever be better than it is today, and that the situation you are in won’t just go on forever. One day. 

One day you realize that what you thought was impossible to overcome actually is behind you. Things are better. The one you thought would be lost to you or that you couldn’t live with somehow all of that you got through. Today. One day. You realize that without knowing it that bad time came and went. Stand in that one day. Live for that one day. Don’t give up. Remember. One day!

Healing

It is said that healing is too often the missing element in the Church today. As Christ lived he healed, he taught, and he preached.

Now there is often a lot of preaching at people and then if they respond there is much teaching to endure. Healing is too often missing because we have dismissed the Holy Spirit with a nod and thought we could continue on ourselves.

Without an acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit we just “do” church without “being” what only the Church can be. A healing place.

Many places today preach at people. Many places deliver teaching. Those places sometimes are in churches.

The real healing place is the church following the instructions and example of Jesus to do so with the power of the Holy Spirit who he promised would come to us as the Father showed him all things.

We’ve relegated “healing” to the medical “professionals.” Don’t quit on them. They are learning and have many skills and we should be grateful to them for helping us. I am very grateful to the many doctors and nurses and so many others that have and are helping me and others around the world.

They are doing their job. It’s time for the church to do ours.

Healing comes from God and we need to believe that God heals. To do that we need to invite the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do. Pray fervently and press in to God, fast, whatever that is for you, and don’t give up.

This will take us closer to God than ever before. Notice the word “us.” That is me, that is you, that is the many praying to God for God to break through our diseases, our minds, and our hearts. Sometimes individuals hesitate to let their hearts and minds be changed because they don’t see the church trusting the Holy Spirit. Perhaps they wouldn’t describe it that way but that is what is often happening.

When people think that the church has no power they may be right…if we have told the Holy Spirit that we can handle this on our own.

But if we will humbly invite the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and our churches with fresh power and the Fresh Wind that only God can provide then healing inevitably comes. The Holy Spirit didn’t walk away from us, it was us who shut the Spirit of God out.

Healing is a beautiful thing when you’ve experienced it for yourself or for one you love. God loves the whole world and when we join in that love then healing flows naturally, supernaturally, and the Church experiences healing power and the world is never the same. I am never the same. You are never the same.