San Diego Jesus Gathering

Night one of The Jesus Gathering was sweet. It's always good reconnect with brothers and sisters and hear where their journey has led since we last had a chance to hang out!

God is funny. We had a moment a year ago with some friends the Lord used me as part of a word He was giving them about going to Hawaii at one of these events. Well, it happened again! 🤣. I guess if someone wants to go to Hawaii just hang around me for a bit lol. A young man kept coming to my mind all day but I didn't have anything to share with him so I decided to lay it down. Finally towards the end of the evening I asked Amber if she felt like we needed to do anything and she described the same guy that had been coming to my mind earlier!

So without anything to say, I just walked up to him and asked "ok, what's going on?" He was stressing a bit over a move he was making to Hawaii. He felt called by the Lord to go there and has his ticket booked, but was feeling a little shame because of the beauty of the island and maybe the appearance of someone saying they were being called there. So I got to be His confirmation 🤣. His name is Justin, and I'm confident he'll be a powerful impact for the kingdom there. Please pray for him, it's a big move to leave everything behind!

The second day started off very powerfully. I have been speaking about mount Sinai and entering God's rest over the past month. How God calls His people into rest and to trust His word. Moses believed that word and joined the Lord on the mountain and was able to see the glory of the Lord as he was tucked in the Rock. So it was very fitting that we broke out in groups and my group went up on the side of a mountain to meet next to a cross. I was able to share the with the group and had a powerful time there.

Then came the evening session 🫠. Our friend John who is a wild one from the 70s was sharing about forgiveness when a lady on the outskirts of the tent interrupted and I could tell was offended by the sound of her voice. So I left my seat to go talk to her and saw our friend Mary bee lining her way as well. The lady had already made a dash toward her car and when she saw us coming after her she turned to us and immediately began cursing us and threatening us. We tried to console her but she was beyond drunk and full of demons. She wasn't willing to even hear a word we had to say and told us to leave.

I felt the environment wasn't safe but wasn't about to be told by these demons to leave this lady the Lord loves without an olive branch for help (plus I wasn't going to leave Mary there alone). She swung her Stanley mug at me and I was able to deflect it with my arm, but she kept swinging and landed a punch or two(she was tiny so it didn't hurt, thank you Jesus 🤣). I just stood there and told her we were just there to help and that I knew she was hurting.

She continued to rant as another lady walked up seeing this gal in full manifestation mode and began to pray, but she wasn't so lucky avoiding the Stanley mug😬. I didn't care that she had hit me, but felt I needed to shut her down at that point as she was putting others in danger and not in her right mind. So I pinned her down for a few seconds and had a few words with the demons before turning her loose since she had no desire to be freed at that point. After turning her loose, her sweet husband who I had the chance earlier apologized, took her away, and left

It was good we had our friends around and were able to encourage one another and continue the night. Even though it ended ugly we believed God would have the final victory in the matter and rejoiced in our tiny taste of suffering for the gospel.

Last night I rolled around in bed a bit thinking all the ways I could have maybe done it better or been more helpful. In the past Mr. Defeat would have tried to tell me I messed something up and now left the girl in a worse state than if I would have just stayed out of it, but I was able to just thank Jesus that His grace was sufficient to cover all those shortcomings and I believed he would be victorious!

Well we gathered for the final time this morning, on Father's Day and I couldn't help but keep thinking of the gal and how she really needed a good father today. My eyes kept looking for her to show up and believed she would, but the session grew to a close and we started to tear down. Just as we started the long goodbye process, Mary signaled that the couple had walked up! Mary and her husband Matt were able to pray with her and speak life to her. As she came up I gave her a hug and she apologized to me as I was able to tell her of the Fathers love for her and the freedom He has for her as she goes on this journey with Him. We may have both cried a bit😭🤣. I think there was some real healing for her there.❤️

We celebrated this evening with some milkshakes and tomorrow we head for home. 🛫. Thank you, as always, for standing with us in prayer as we go on these kingdom adventures!