KINGDOM “THE REST OF THE STORY”
Several times throughout the Gospels, Jesus Christ pulls the disciples aside and gives them “the rest of the story,” explaining parables, giving further insight into instruction, etc. In Matthew 13, Jesus speaks to the multitudes in parables. Afterwards, the disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, and He answered:
“Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says; ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets, and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matt 13:10-16)
Today, I’d like to do the same with respect to the events surrounding our trip to Lebanon, KS,
in March 2021. You can refer to posts I made beginning in Feb 2021 through March for greater detail.
You can also go to my message of Jan 12, 2022, here: https://cccf.sermon.net/embed/main/21919744 .
For now, here’s a quick summary. Through a Super Bowl commercial in Feb 2021, God sent us to the Center Chapel in Lebanon, KS, to pray for the healing of our land. As the commercial about a small chapel in Lebanon, KS< played, I felt this sudden sensation that I was to go to that chapel and pray for the healing of our nation. At that time, my wife and I had been praying 2 Chronicles 7:14 twice a day (7:14 am and 7:14 pm, to coincide with the verse number.) We had joined a group, Unite 714, at the outbreak of the pandemic, who advocated praying this verse twice a day. We travelled to Lebanon and on Mar 13, 2021, we prayed twice, once at 7:14 am and later that day at 7:14 pm, starting with 2 Chronicles 7:14. After the morning prayer, I asked God to give me a sign that He had heard our prayer. He answered that evening after the second prayer by causing 6 buds to sprout on a dormant tree which appeared dead from a deep freeze that had passed through the area the month before our visit. I explored the meaning of 2 Chronicles 7:14 in the first part of my message, “Revival – A call to Action” (mentioned above,) and end with the testimony of the 6 buds, buds that should not have been on that tree in mid-March (sub-40-degree temperatures) in the middle of Kansas.
But that was not the only thing that happened on this trip. There was too much to say in the short 30-minute time I had been given. Now is the time for the rest of the story. There were several other events that occurred on our trip to highlight God’s hand everywhere. I am forever grateful that He had allowed me to be aware of all these things.
1. I wondered, “Why Kansas?” in the middle of winter, 1000 miles north of us, when we could have just as easily prayed for the healing of our land in Corpus Christi, TX. That question was answered when I saw the buds. Such an occurrence would not have been unusual here in Corpus Christi, even in March.
2. The morning of March 13 dawned cold, wet and dreary. There was a huge storm over Colorado, and it was heading our way. The front edge of it was already pushing through. Pat’s car is controlled by a keyless fob. She had placed her keys on a pew in the tiny chapel as we prayed that morning and she accidentally left them there. After praying, taking pictures, etc., we returned to the car and fortunately Pat reached for the handle first. When the doors didn’t unlock, she realized her keys were in the chapel. Had I reached the handle first, the doors would have unlocked, and her keys would have been left behind. I would have reached the doors first, but something caused me to pause and look back towards the chapel and the tree that would later bud. God didn’t want us to leave those keys behind.
3. We had 12 hours to wait before returning for the evening prayer at the chapel. I had done some research the night before and noticed there was a Walmart in a nearby town, some coffee shops, and several interesting places to see. So, after leaving, we headed to the first spot, the town where I thought the Walmart was. As we approached our destination, Belleville, KS, I realized two things. First, Walmart was in another town, not Belleville, where we were heading. The other thing I realized is I was heading towards my grassroots, so to speak. One of the themes I had been talking about through my Revival series was the need to get back to the basics, the grass roots. Kansas is filled with town names from other places: Lebanon, Long Island, Orleans, Cuba, Jamestown, Belleville. My grassroots? I was born in Belleville, IL (Scott AFB). God was confirming my conviction of returning to our grassroots.
4. We had initially intended on leaving very early Sunday morning, but the weather had turned for the worse. It was raining hard where we were, and weather maps showed a wide band of severe thunderstorms all along IH 35 from north of Wichita to San Antonio and it wasn’t moving any time soon. We decided to take a nap, wake up at midnight and evaluate the situation. I found that the band of storms had moved west of IH 35 and narrowed some. So, we left, drove through about 45 minutes of blinding rain on unlit country roads, but soon after reaching the highway, the rain slowed considerably.
5. After passing Wichita and Oklahoma, approaching the Texas border, I learned there had been several earthquakes around the north side of Wichita and one south of Wichita along IH 35. Checking the timelines, I realized that had we been delayed by an hour, we would have been in the middle of those quakes at the time they hit. I remember thinking that Satan’s tried to mess with us, but his timing was off.
6. We had many opportunities to witness to others during our time in Kansas. People we met would ask where we were from and what brought us to the area. They acknowledged many had come to the tiny Chapel as a tourist attraction, especially after the Super Bowl commercial, but none had said they came to pray for the healing of the Nation.
God was everywhere we looked. We were encouraged to see hope in the people and the land we encountered, an experience repeated in a subsequent trip to Tennessee just two months later.
HOPE!
There’s a hope that can only be felt if we are alive, and in a position to observe it. We cannot see if our eyes are closed to what’s around us, or if we are isolated in our own lives and homes. We must be in our “learning positions” at all times. We must intentionally seek God’s presence in everything going on around us. The positive in everything, not the negative. It’s in the attitude. That’s what Jesus was teaching his disciples through the parables. Look deeper, go beyond the surface, seek the rest of the story, which would become clear as one observes and absorbs through the lens of faith and hope.
And that’s the reason we share our testimonies: to give hope to all. These testimonies are not about me. They are about the glory of God, what He is doing in All of our lives, because we are One Body.
Be Blessed!