Healing Prayer - Oahu Churches

For those looking for physical, spiritual, and/or emotional healing through Christian prayer while on Oahu, here are a couple of churches to look into to:

Laulima Ministries International (Salt Lake)
Recommended by churches on the mainland, LMI has an international reputation for having one of the most powerful healing ministries in Hawaii. If I didn't see it before my eyes, I wouldn't believe it--I've seen people who can't walk...walk and run again. People with illnesses cured, people who can't move their arm have full motion range, and those with cancer scream in pain as if their internal organs were being fully repaired. When you see the look of astonishment, amazement and moved emotion (tears of joy and gratitude) on the people's faces, you know that what they are experiencing is real. It is faith building to see.

Meets on Monday nights at the Moanalua Gardens Missionary Church. The "service" starts at 6pm, but I recommend arriving around 8-8:30pm for prayer. (Another smaller "practice" prayer time is held on Wednesdays at 11am in Kaimuki at 11am). www.laulimaministries.com

Bluewater Mission (Palama)
Very friendly church with gifted congregants and pastor in the areas of prophecy and physical healing. I had church members who I had never met before, come up to me and offer some prophetic words and visions in the middle of the worship service--the words were timely, pertinent, and encouraging. Prayer is offered at the end of each service. Pastor Jordan has shared prophetic words and visions over my near future, and we'll see how it all comes to pass.

One of my favorite churches on Oahu. Contemporary music, casual vibe, and a warm and welcoming congregational culture. Jordan is smart, sharp, funny and insightful--he has a way of taking familiar bible passages and interpreting them from a fresh perspective, often infusing values of humility, healing, social justice and community as central themes in his sermons. (right on!)

First Presbyterian Church (Kaneohe)
The 8 and 9:30am Sunday church services here are laced with sense of serenity and simplicity. I appreciate the sense of tradition and formal liturgy that has been maintained here over the years, while most other churches try to mimic megachurch strategies or emergent models of ministry. Recently ridding the priestly robes worn by the choir and preachers, this church has one of the best Christmas Eve services on the island, mixing Broadway operatic singers, hand held silver bell ensembles, and hula for an overall enchanted evening.

Prayer after Sunday services are from congregants (mostly all women) who will pray with you --but not in regards to prophecy and healing. These are simply kindhearted folks who will spend a few minutes chatting and praying with you over your concerns. However, the church has begun to host occasional evening healing ministry nights over the past year (with congregants who are in-training for prayer), and will offer a mini-healing conference mid-August 2009 featuring speakers/workshop leaders such as Judith McNutt and Christy Pierce from the mainland.

Dedicating this post to two friends soon headed to Hawaii > may you find healing and rest while here.

Super Story - Super Bowl Sunday

Kurt Warner, the Cardinals' star quarterback, is playing in today's Super Bowl game. His life is an example of the story most Americans like to hear. It's a story of an underdog who reaches his dreams, of a boy who loved football though was never expected to succeed.

When you hear about his humble beginnings, his life let downs, and his heart to marry an already pregnant woman with a young special needs child, you wouldn't have guessed that today he'd be starring in today's big game. Who would ever would have thought that the Arizona Cardinals would be in today's Bowl? And who would have ever thought that Warner, who was labeled as "washed up," would lead his team to the top?

The young the USC Heisman trophy quarterback Matt Leinart was expected to be the Cardinals' lead quarterback this year. Yet Leinart has been accused of being too young and engaging in "too much partying." Though unfortunate for Leinart, this public let down fortunately allowed Warner the chance to shine and earn public recognition. With all the struggles and perserverence Warner endured over the years, he has likely been mentoring Leinart, reminding the pro newbie of the talent and fortunate opportunities he's has. There's been an attitude shift in Lienart and I believe much of it has to do with "sharing life" with his teammate Kurt Warner.

To hear more about Kurt Warner's story:
Click on the Jan 25th sermon (audio or notes) entitled:
"The Sermon on the Mount for Slumdog Millionaires" by Pastor Dan Chun http://www.fpchawaii.org/?page_id=27

Stripped Canoe

The Hawaii Kai ocean warmly greets me every evening with its burnt orange sunset just tucked away behind the Diamond Head sillohette. On reflective evenings where I catch my breath with the pause of the day, I love to watch paddlers and canoe-teams finish their day's end.

When Jesus Draws Near

A morning ponderance…

When we are able to embrace Jesus in His humanity we allow ourselves to reclaim an intimacy with God. This humanity helps us to remember that Jesus’ coming to earth not only restores a broken relationship between humankind and God the Father at the theological level, but that this brings a restored closeness with a God who loves us so much that He continually draws near to us in our everyday moments. Intimacy with God is restored when we see Christ with us ‘as’ we pray, not as a God in the distant heavens who died for us thousands of years ago and who awaits our future coming. Jesus isn’t sitting on a lofty cloud apart from us, rather He walks loving and graciously with us, sits next to us, and puts His arm around us when we pray. Embracing the humanity and deity of Christ together allows us to remain emotionally and spiritually connected to and comforted by God as friend, healer, counselor, and as the One who not only stands with us, but advocates for us, hurts with us, and roots for us in our everyday.

This post is dedicated to Dr. Ray Anderson in congratulations of his retirement from Fuller Theological seminary. I’m grateful to have taken the last course that he taught.

Let Your Life Speak - Vocational Call

My old copy of Let Your Life Speak sits in a box in Los Angeles. Using my Border's bookstore 20% off coupon, I decided to purchase another copy here in Hawaii. Not that I have the extra cash, but it's a timely book worth reading at this juncture. An excerpt by Parker Palmer that I identify with:

"Vocation, the way I was seeking it, becomes an act of will, a grim determination that one's life will go this way or that whether it wants to or not. If the self is sin-ridden and will bow to truth and goodness only under duress, that approach to vocation makes sense. But if the self seeks not pathology but wholeness, as I believe it does, then the willful pursuit of vocation is an act of violence toward ourselves--violence in the name of a vision that, however lofty, is forced on the self from without rather than grown from within. True self, when violated, will always resist us, sometimes at great cost, holding out lives in check until we honor its truth."

"Vocation does not come from willfulness. It comes from listening. I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about--quite apart from what I would like it to be about--or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions."

Excerpt from: Parker Palmer, "Let Your Life Speak" (1999): 4

Meditation - "Finding Peace"

I found this little 4x4" Hallmark gift book called "Finding Peace." Artful watercolor marks fill each page as short inscriptions guides this meditative thought. Below, I use works from artist Jon Schueler:

"The Lord was not heard in the earthquake or the fire, but in the still small voice." --1 Kings 19:11-12


Go to that place today.
You know,
that one place
where everything else
just doesn't matter anymore--


the traffic, the deadlines,
the streets, the demands,
all the hassles of doing life.
in a world like ours.


Go to that quiet place.
It doesn't have to be for long--
Just long enough
to breathe,
to be.


Give yourself the gift
of time,
of space,
of freedom from distractions.


Go there.
Remember.
Listen.
Look.
Listen some more.


And in that still, small whisper,
Hear the Lord...
and know that you are loved.

The art pieces are by Jon Schueler, whose ability to create mood through the paint brush was a source of inspiration for my own work last fall. His book is titled, "To The North."

Peek-a-Boo

With blue-ish brown eyes, the little hapa girl sits perched in the green supermarket wagon swinging her legs, laughing. I conclude that she thinks we're playing a game of “peek a boo.” And so she laughs some more. The truth of the matter is that I’m actually trying to sleep, or at least get some rest from the night before. When I open my eyes to check if she’s still watching me, she smiles and squeals with a giggle. From her perspective we’re playing a fun game.

I’m trying to rest my eyes and still my shaky body. It’s shaky from the adrenaline rush from the late night before, exhausted from the lack of sleep. I finished writing my chapter draft at 4am and woke up at 7:30am to head out for the morning’s plans. I can feel the age in my body. I’m too old to do this.

As the little girl pretends to hand over her cookie to me, I smile and pause to philosophically wonder why bodies must age. Why must we grow old? And why does time always have to move forward?

The notion of time—of stopping time, of going back in time, of time travel into the future—has been a fascination of writers, poets, scientists and film directors. It’s as if the human soul, in the midst of life’s busyness and in the midst of life’s joys and pain, secretly yearns to stop…to pause long enough to be still. And perhaps it is not so much that we desire to recapture our youth, or that we want to know the future, or that we want to be someplace else but here. Perhaps it’s just the paradox of knowing that even in our most still moments, time still moves forward. And that we cannot stop it. We can only pass through it. And in knowing and recognizing this, we must come face to face that this thing called life is so much bigger than us.

We can’t control time. Nor can we control life. We can only surrender to it. And acknowledge that there is a bigger force, a greater universe, and more powerful God who cares for us more than we can ever imagine.

Peek a boo.

What our eyes see and what our minds know is so limited in comparison to the unknown of that which is not yet seen.

The little girl waves her open palms at me and lets out another squeal. I open my eyes and catch her watching. She laughs uncontrollably. And I smile.

08.08.08

today is a special day

| 08.08.08 |

by numerical standards alone.

according to chinese numerology
the number 8 is a lucky number
today is an auspicious day they say.

yet today is a special day
because each day, no matter the number
is truly a gift from God.

this i know for sure
this moment is all we're given

may yours be filled with hope, peace, abundance and deep joy.