We ‘moved’ into the Battery Point Lighthouse, Crescent City, CA, on Feb. 29th
and stayed through April 1st.
We didn’t do as many tours as we did the last time we were there (Mar.
’13) due to tide levels and extreme storms (at least 100 mph winds a couple of
times!) the first half of the month. To
give an idea of how awesome this place is, I’ve included excerpts from my
journal:
Feb. 29 – Wow and
Wow! I’m blown away! 4pm or so, I’m sitting in the bedroom at the
lighthouse, wrapped in a blanket on a wonderful lounge chair, looking outside
at the waves! I just experienced the
most wonderful spa experience! The
bathroom here has a deep, claw-foot tub.
I filled it with hot water and had a wonderful soak. LOVED IT!
Then I got out and opened the window, wrapped in a towel, sat there at
the window looking out at the surf.
There was a light mist, bit waves crashing on the rocks below (about 57
degrees), sea gulls flying by. So
awesome! I then got back in the tub
after adding more hot water. I had to
have been in there an hour! We totally
didn’t expect to be in the lighthouse today.
I thought for sure it was the 1st we changed hands. We spent last night on the beach, such an
awesome view.
It still amazes me how God provides reading materials at
specific times – God directs every step of my path: Karen Kingsbury’s book “The
Family of Jesus, p. 206 “…take care of the gift that has been entrusted to
[us]. When we receive a gift, a child, a
career, a dream come true, how do we hold it?
Some of us hold tightly to whatever has been given to us. As a result, over time we often forget the
blessing’s origin. Stewardship is always
about holding something loosely.
Remember the last time you were at the beach and you tried to hold sand
in your hand? You gripped it, and what
happened? It pushes out between your
fingers and falls to earth. But when you hold it loosely, it stayed in the palm
of your hand. The same is true with our
blessings. We stay diligent when we
believe, ‘every good and perfect gift is from above’ James 1:17.
I look at this time in the lighthouse as a gift. I look at the time we spent ministering to
Brian, or Methias, or Justin, as a gift.
I see our lifestyle (traveling and the tools we need) as a gift. It’s amazing that the more I thank Him, the
more He gives us gifts! (Luke
1:57-80) “In the asking, you gain a
knowing. As you ask things of God, you
begin to know what God is concerned about, what He is like. God is always just and perfect and good. He gives provision. He knows what is best for us and what’s
required for His love story to move forward.
His answers and directions come to us not according to our timetable,
but according to His. At just the right
moment. And when that moment occurs, we
should have an overwhelming and immediate response – the same as that of
Zechariah. Our mouth should form words
of gratitude and praise.” P. 220
“Believe in God’s faithfulness. Zechariah believed in God’s
faithfulness. Faith implies
movement. Faith exposes us. We are creatures of comfort. By our nature we take the path of least
resistance. Every time we believe in
God, we choose not to place our faith in some false sense of security. Belief in God makes us give up any sense of
control. Zechariah understood this. He
willingly gave up control of his own dreams when every day he returned to God
in prayer, believing. This is an important
principal to understand when it comes to the tension of understanding God’s
will and our desires: if God has initiated the desire, He will answer the
prayer. Just be prepared.” P. 221
John [the Baptist] understood that God’s work required
ambition. [His] approach was confident
and aggressive. … [some] might have accused him of being overly zealous or
ambitious. … But John seemed to understand that his was a job given by God
alone. God had called John to warn the
people, to prepare the way, and John led it with every bit of his energy,
emotion, and effort. … [he] was born to prepare the way for the savior. … Some
define ‘leadership’ as ‘influence’.
Worldly leaders during John’s day had wealth, prestige, titles, and
earthly power. Yet they did nothing to
redeem the world. They lived for a
different agenda. Their names do not
give us hope. We don’t remember them. Rather, history remembers John the Baptist
and his calling, his preaching. Pp.
236-37.
This is reaffirming – God called us, especially William, to
preach in these last days. As he is
preparing himself to ‘die’ even more to self and give 100% to the calling, he
is willing but finds it harder to really forsake all and live 100% devoted to
his calling – to get people prepared for Christ’s soon coming. People label us as over-zealous and ‘out
there’, but we know we are on a mission from God and we aren’t the crazy
ones! James 1:27 – perfect religion is
to take care of orphans and widows.
Orphans: the people who are not
blood-related to us. Those who are
orphaned out there in the world – their Father in Heaven wants to be their
father. Widows – those stripped of life
support (family, friends, the world) – Jesus is their husband! That is why we are called the Bride of
Christ!
March 6 – Wow,
what a glorious day in the Lord today was.
We spent a bit of time in the Lord today, but mostly listening to and
singing praises and worship songs. So
awesome! Not only that, but an
incredible storm hit today. Huge waves,
50-70 mph winds and ice crystals even!
We were supposed to give tours today, but no surprising, no one
came! What was even fun, was that we
went out and ‘played’ in the storm. We
went outside and the wind was so strong, it actually pushed us! Ice pelted our face and the rain came down
sideways – we were dancing around, singing, and acting like kids! So fun!
Then, we went up into the tower and got out on the catwalk; however, the
weather was lifting at that point, with a glorious sunset, winds calmed way
down and rain quit. Totally awesome day!
March 9 – I can’t
get over how awesome this place is!
Today is another stormy day – the wind is probably 50+ mph, but
warm. We went outside and around the
building and it about knocked us over. I
love storms. The waves are so high, breaking
over the tops of the rocks and sending spray all over. Love it!
Laura called this morning and was concerned I was in a dangerous spot –
there are storms all up and down the coast, more intense in Oregon going
inland, lots of flooding. I told her I
was in a 160-year-old building and it’s safer than anything else around!
When we first got to Crescent City, we went by “Our Daily
Bread” Mission and connected with our friends there. The last time we were here (Mar. ’13) we
really hit it off with a few people and we wanted to make sure we cultivated
those friendships and offered our help at the mission. We met
many new people this month and such awesome experiences. I ended up starting prayer meetings at the
lighthouse and William preached a couple times at the mission. We joined (on some days) the daily bible
study being held at a local restaurant by the owner, I spoke at a couple
women’s meetings during the month, and we took a group out to the park to do
ministry one day. That ended up being awesome. Several
of us gathered at the park, we prayed together, then I read the above
verses. What was cool was that at the
mission in discipleship training class the day before, they had just gone over
some of these verses and talked about this stuff. That was confirmation for me that we were on
the right track. We commenced to singing
out loud in acappella, then broke up into teams of 2 and went out to meet
people.
There is a big-time despair over this area, lots of
unemployment, homelessness, and drugs.
There is no unity among the churches in the area, everyone keeps to
themselves. So we focused our prayers on
the salvation of this area, unity among the pastors/churches, revival. During our prayer meetings and bible studies,
we shared the paper we had on the Hebrides Islands by Duncan Campbell about
revival. – we wanted to spark revival in the hearts of everyone we touch, we
need to have intense prayer to see revival in the land. Also, how we need to encourage the whole body
to unity. I also shared how multitudes
of prophecies have been said over the Northwest about revival starting here and
spreading East. We encouraged them,
saying that we believe that something big will happen this year. Others said they’ve had a vision of the poor,
the outcast, the destitute rising up in a great army of God. We see
the same thing! Like in the wedding
feast (Matt. 22:9) that the leaders, the rich were invited but did not come,
but those who were outcast, etc. did. It
is like what Mal. 3 says (we believe that God gave us that chapter over
Crescent City for this time) that God has come to refine His Bride, that we are
the gold and silver (not the tithes of money that churches preach) that we are
being purified through our trials and tribulations. It is a message to the church today – so many
preach wealth and prosperity, that it’s all about us being comfortable and
rich. All the verses in the bible
dealing with such are not about money, it’s about the souls of men, about our
souls/spirits being rich in the Lord. Unfortunately
for the organized church, God has finally turned them over to their own desires
and they are now starving themselves AND the people – God is displeased about
that! Mal. 3:10 – by bringing in the
souls of men (tithes and offerings) we will have food (spiritual manna) and God
has already proven to us how he opens the windows of heaven to pour down on us
more! We see the distinction more and
more now (v18) of those who truly seek God and those who are self-seekers.
We’ve spent a great deal in prayer during the month and in
the word (minor prophets are really applicable today):
Mal. 3 and Isaiah 51:1-8 are proclaimed for
this area Mark 1 and ch. 8 (about the generations), Matt. 11:20, Luke 7:34-35,
and Ez. 33 & 34, Zech 3 & 4 (esp. 4:6-7).
Such awesome stuff!
God talks so clearly to us if we would just
listen!
I wish people would just get
this stuff – Jesus is coming so soon, like in the next couple years!
These are His words to His people for NOW.
We saw a video online that really made some
things clear for me about prayer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFkB1z_p29g It was awesome.
During one of our prayer meetings, we read Is. 41:17-20 and
the other lady agreed and spoke with power saying the poor shall arise into a
great army of evangelists in these last days.
The poor had been seeking their spiritual ‘food’ and ‘water’ in today’s
‘churches’ where there is no meat or Living Water. They go away parched and cast aside. Jesus is their teacher, God will raise them
up (just like William) out of their impoverished lives and speak forth with
power and knowledge, having experienced the Living God, the Holy Spirit as
their teacher – Who more perfect is that?!
Then when I got to vs. 19, the lady said she saw all types of people:
lawyers, homeless, bankers, ex- prostitutes, standing together, doing the work
of the Kingdom together, and the only explanation for such groupings is that
God made it happen.
We spent some time hanging out at the mission this month. We met this one couple who are homeless from
Washington. They had just arrived in
Crescent City that day looking for his sister who lives here. He hadn’t seen her in 16 years, but was sure
she still lived here. The night before,
they were in Grants Pass, and slept in some brush/trees for the night. Half-way through the night, they were rained
out of that area and went to find an underpass, got themselves situated and
realized that the spot they chose was in the run-off area for the rain and got
even more soaked. They had a miserable
night; but what I found so awesome about them, was that they praised God for
everything! She was obviously very
thankful to God for taking care of them every step of the way, always providing
for them. She especially was a strong
believer. They hitched a ride from GP to
CS from a trucker and had gotten dropped off at Walmart, where a cashier
pointed them to the mission. The mission
was open for all night because of the weather.
I’m glad Mike does this – there are upwards of 20 who usually stay the
night when bad weather hits.
Another person we met, Donna (a self-proclaimed circuit
rider) had a wonderful afternoon with her
- invited her up to the lighthouse and had a great talk. She took us out to lunch first. We were heading to the Redwoods, but God changed our plans! Arrow and Jasper are both Native Americans. We met them both at the mission and have
talked with them several times. Arrow
came to the prayer meeting on Fri. and Jasper came to the Easter service – both
were greatly affected by William’s sermons.
During the week prior to Easter, William was interviewed on
KPOD radio and there was an article in the Triplicate about the Easter
service. That weekend ended up being very good, nothing
says it better than my journal entries:
March 25 –It is
Good Friday – William walked the cross through Crescent City this morning
starting at 8 am from the Daily Bread mission to the lighthouse. One lady was dressed as Mary and walked
behind him. His route took him down Hwy.
101, then turned to go through the main downtown (where the grocery store,
banks, Triplicate are), then down to Front St. ending at the lighthouse. There were a lot of reactions from people,
from the honking of horns, to people stopping and watching them. I heard later about a lady who was driving,
was so overcome by what she saw, she started crying and stopped her car to
recover. We got back to the lighthouse
about 8:30 and William walked the cross up the hill. I heard people talking on the beach about how
spectacular that was. He planted it in
the hole where the flag pole used to be.
We set up our sound system out there and played praised and worship
music all day. Then around 9:30 we
started our all day prayer meeting, we sang a bit then William preached a
bit. Those who weren’t staying on the
isthmus all day left around 11 when the tide came in. Only 2 ladies stayed for the day, we had a
great day of praise and prayer.
March 27 –
Easter! Wow, what an awesome day –
cloudy at sunrise, but as the morning progressed the sun came out, very little
wind, and it turned out to be a beautiful day!
We started about 8 am, at least a dozen or so people were here at the
start, others arrived throughout the morning.
We had borrowed a large coffee maker and a table from Daily Bread
ministries, so we had coffee, cinnamon rolls, and cookies out for everyone. We sang for a bit then William gave an
awesome message. Everyone was in
complete agreement that it was a wonderful service. We kept the coffee and cookies out for the
rest of the day to give out to those who visited the isthmus, as well as kept
the music playing – we kept it playing and several people stood out there by
the cross and got their pictures taken, many came up to us (we wandered around
throughout the day talking to people) and said how much they appreciated the
music and treats.
Later in the day, one of the ladies who hangs at the mission
came out –we ended up sitting there talking with her a bit, quietly binding up
the spirits that were on her (since she was very agitated), and tried to speak
about Jesus and His saving blood – as we continued to speak, she calmed down a
bit and became more coherent. While
dealing with her, another lady (and her friend) came up, whom I had met at the
Aglow meeting. This lady was supporting
her friend as she walked slowly, because it was obvious she was very weak and
very sickly. She had told me she brought
her friend up specifically for me to pray for and with! Wow!
It was obvious it taxed her a great deal to walk up to the lighthouse,
so I invited them in (the wind had picked up by then and had a cold bite to it)
the chartroom to warm up and talk. I
came to find out her friend had stage 4 cancer and that she just finished
another bout of chemo and was very weak.
She obviously believes in healing, because she was very sincere when she
asked me to pray healing over her. I
first talked to her about Jesus and His healing ministry (we always preach the
Word before praying healing over someone).
I got the 3x5 cards out William and I had recently made on all the
healing scriptures – done in red from the Philip’s translation. I read several of them to her, telling her
that Jesus first off, had compassion (love) for the people and wanted them all
healed – when He did exactly that – went around casting out demons (of
sickness) and healed everyone. I told
her that these cards (I gave them to her) were her ‘prescription’ and that she
was to ‘take’ it (read them out loud) 20 times a day. Every time she felt bad or felt like
complaining, she was to sing praise songs.
I told her how I too believe in complete healing, and that God healed me
of several things back on 2008. When she
had first came in to pray, she was very down, depressed looking, weak, etc. but
when we were done talking/reading/praying, she had a smile on her face and went
away much stronger looking. Her friend
that brought her here was singing and praising God the whole time.
A few days after Easter, we met Shawn at Denny’s – he
remembered us from 3 years ago. We sat
down at a booth and the guy in the next booth points to William and says, “I
remember you. I walked behind you when
you walked the cross through town.” We
both looked at each other and thought, only Reba walked behind him. We looked back at him and he said, “I met you
3 years ago!” We had a great chat, he
told us that he still helped out at Daily Bread.
