Jesus is gone!

Asher wanted a band aid for his hurt hand (not a cut), but I told him no. So I prayed for his hand and when I was finished he looked at me.
A few moments later he said, "Jesus is gone papa!"
"He is?"
"Yes!"
"Where did he go?"
"He went to someones house, with mama?"

"So he's not here with us?"
"Nope, He is with mama!"

So if you happen to be looking for Jesus on this beautiful Sunday morning, He is with Emie.

20 sec. conversations w/ Jesus

What I love most about my heavenly Father is the ability to talk with Him at any time, anywhere and for any length of time. A conversation could be 20 seconds; 20 minutes or all day. He is always available and never short on good solid advice. I had a 20 second conversation with Him today and wow it is amazing what He can cover in a small amount of time.
It went like this.

“I feel lost at sea, floating with nowhere to go.” I said.
“Hmmm” was his reply.
“Do I just need to trust you?”
“No”
“Hmmm” was my reply.
So I asked another question, “Do I need to hang on?" (for a good ride)
“Yes”, was his reply.
“but I feel like I don’t know you!”
“No, you just don’t know this part of me” thus the conversation ended but not the teaching lesson.

I knew what he was getting at, I walked out of the bathroom (yes, where the best conversations happen, #1) and recapped my conversation to Emie.
She said, “Read this.”

“Whenever we move into a new spiritual dimension of our calling and our ministry, we must take the time to upgrade our relationship with God. Our calling comes at different levels at different times; it is a progressive journey of discovery. When God takes us into the next phase of our calling, our relationship with Him must also change.
Throughout our lives, we will enter into many different phases and experiences. It might be a marriage or the birth of a child, a significant work promotion, a new responsibility, a new ministry, or any other type of change. In seasons like that, we must take the time to upgrade our peace and rest in the Lord. If we enter a new situation without fully immersing ourselves in the stillness of God, we will live on our adrenaline and not out of our spirit. This power boost may seem sufficient at the moment, but for every adrenaline high, there is also an adrenaline low. We cannot sustain that needed adrenaline rush over the long term. Eventually, our energy will wither away and the new season will overwhelm us. We must learn to live in a place of rest in the spirit.
Every experience of God, even resting in Him, should enable us to see Him in a different light. Therefore, we need to constantly re-evaluate our relationship with Him and take a deeper look at our walk with Him. We must critically examine our current picture of God and determine whether it is strong enough for the next stage of our life and call. If it’s not, the stress that we will experience will put pressure on us to quit or scale down our involvement in the new seasons of our lives. That same battle fatigue causes us to shrink back from the challenges facing us. Exhausted, we will talk ourselves out of taking the risks necessary to advance the Kingdom of God. God has given us the ability to live under His wing – we must recognize that we exist within the safety of His love and grace, and not on our own.
I cannot emphasize this enough – every time we are led into a new phase of our journey, we must take time to upgrade our image of God. We can travel confidently into any new experience, no matter how challenging or difficult, in our relationship with Him. God wants to build up your confidence right now, taking it to a whole new dimension.
When we enter a new season it is important to ask ourselves relevant questions regarding its likely impact on all of our relationships and current responsibilities. Present levels of stress will need to be adjusted in the light of deeper peace and rest that will be required on the next leg of the journey.
Change is much better if it is gradual rather than a large overwhelming transformation requiring immediate extensive attention. The two questions required of us in a consistent basis are found in Acts 2, verses 12 and 37:
What does this mean?
What must we do?
How will these adjustments affect our relationship with God and one another? How will this new season deepen my love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit?
We need to gain a fresh and more powerful image of the nature of God. We need to practice our peace and our patience so that we can break through, in harmony with others, into a new dimension of the Spirit.”
(Graham Cooke The Nature Of God: Upgrading Your Image of God and Who He wants to be for You. Pages 11-13)


Jesus loves to move us into deeper realities of our destiny and himself just outside our spectrum of sight. When these two events happen let’s run off rest and peace and not adrenaline. If he truly is upgrading our relationship then we are not lost, we need to hang on. We hang on because he is taking us into uncharted territory and it will be a wild ride (for the good). The rest and peace comes because He knows the rapids, he has taken many others down them before, just not you or I, yet!

If you are feeling lost at sea, hang on and get ready to see a whole new perspective of Jesus. Also, never underestimate a 20 second conversation with a Word who became flesh.

Blessings
He@th

Cabela's w/ grandpa's

Offspring 401

Control your Debt!

To be a Ninja!

How to raise the dead! Click here.

Release4Life Sample

Here's a sample of what we are doing with release4life.com (just audio NO video).

Why Tents?

I have been pondering this question the last few days.

Why did Paul make tents?


Was it because he thought God wouldn't provide for him?
Maybe it was to be among the people?
Maybe he was bored one day?
Or maybe it was because he needed some money?
Or maybe he knew God gave him an ability to make quality tents? I'm sure they were the first MSR tents in production.
Maybe it was because brothers and sisters he knew needed money to carry out their destiny?
I am sure it was because he needed a tent! Then once you get a tent you have time to ponder deeper questions in life.

What do you think?

Heath's Business (or is it Gods?)

Dear Friends and Family and everyone in between.
Please note that this email could never include all the details I would love to share, you would get far to bored anyways.

For months now I have been on a quest of sorts. It has NOT been one to find myself or the meaning of life or why grapes are purple. Rather, why has God given me such a desire to do business?

My whole life I have loved business but was NEVER willing to "give up ministry" to work behind a desk. Nor did I ever see the connection between ministry and jobs. (Side note: if you have the time or desire reread previous updates that unpack my thoughts on this).
Being that I no longer see ministry as a profession but gifted people given to the body of Christ to "edify" or more aptly put, mend/fit God's people together to do his work and build up the body of Christ I am free. This is why YOU are so crucial to the Body. Everyone is clergy and everyone is laity, there is no difference in scripture just tradition.
Sorry going on. . . Business seems to work now in my brain.

The problem the last few years has still been the idea of sitting behind a desk. I love the ability to go to Africa for a year, stay at home with the kids, meet with people when they need it, sleep in late (genetics, I'm telling you!), time and mobility freedom and staying away from the 9-5 curse (sorry for those who feel cursed).

I have lived these last few years contending for the provision of the Lord, I never want to give that up. Yet I feel as if He is asking me to contend for larger things now. I want to believe God for nations, houses for the poor, schools for the uneducated and so much more. I must believe for bigger things to grow.
Do I stop "living by faith" if I have a job? Well, do you? I feel as if I am moving from Kindergarten into 1st grade in the area of "living by faith". Are we still with Isaiah's Stump? Yes! Does this mean we are not doing ministry, no, because this compliments our "ministry".
I now feel the freedom from the Lord (after 10 years of waiting) to take the 20 business plans He has given me and put them into action. I am starting small and not despising small beginnings. I am also realizing that these plans are no guarantee for success. But here we go none-the-less.

Running away from the 9-5 trap the Lord has led me to develop an internet based business; little overhead, no employees and able to be ran from Uganda or Antarctica (which is another story of how the Lord is leading me to free up missionaries financially).

The average American spends 120% of their income. Does that make sense? 1.3 million will potentially foreclose on their house this year.
So here comes the first arm of Release4Life: Consumer Debt and Foreclosure Solutions. I am selling our personal story of how we went from $50,000 in debt (consumer, credit card, taxes, student loans and medical bills) and one day away from foreclosing on our house to being TOTALLY DEBT FREE today.

I give the practical (logical) steps we took, why it's so important to be out of debt, and share a vision to what debt freedom can bring. I am selling an audio downloadable file and worksheets to help lead people up the ladder and out of the despair of debt.


I will send you another email containing more information and a link to the website. This is no way a sales pitch or a way to get you as a customer, rather informational.
I will not send you any other emails concerning the business unless you specifically ask. Just want to keep you in the loop every step of the way.

Thanks for walking this journey with our family and believing God with us for all He offers.
We love you and are so thankful for everything.

www.release4life.com


Blessings
He@th

Sacred Covers

It’s hard to believe but I have one flaw. I tell Emie she is lucky to be with a man who has but one small flaw. With all the issues I could wrestle with, I have refined it down to one. I love to sleep in.

For me lying in bed a few more hours after my kids wake pre-dawn is great. I enjoy it, I love it and though I can rise early, I really see no need in it (don’t ask Emie what she thinks please). I relish in meditating with my eyes sealed shut. Pondering the great mysteries of God and asking for more revelation sooths me. Emie doesn’t believe I actually pray during this time but I do. As I doze in and out of consciousness my spirit connects with my Lord.

The reality is I am not a morning person by nature (neither is Emie but someone has to get up with the kids) and would rather stay awake late into the evening in peace. I see sleeping in as my personal alone time (much like I view my bathroom time), my secret place, where no one can bother me. Just me, my pillow and Jesus snoozing away, talk about intimacy. When this secret place is intruded, be afraid be very afraid.

The conflict comes in around 6am (that late if I’m lucky) when the Locke Tribe awakes from their re-freshing, re-energizing, re-lets-wear-our-parents-out night of sleep. They come bounding into the bedroom to wake up papa.
“Wake up papa! Come on get out of bed.” What dreadful words.
“No, leave me alone, I’m praying!”

They never give up, those little rascals. They try harder for a few minutes and resort to making loud noises, which being a professional sleeper by trade doesn’t deter me at all. I stay my course. For hours they will do this, boldly bouncing on my bed proclaiming their intentions of the day. Wanting me to join them in simple games, coloring, watching a video (pagan I know) keeps them focused on their objective.
If none of these tactics work they resort to the ultimate blow for a professional sleeper, his covers. The Sacred Covers are that which separates him from exposure, from relationship, from intimacy, from being well, naked.

I must have a heavy blanket on me to sleep, call it security or insecurity I don’t mind, but if I am to get 8-10 hours of precious sleep, the covers must be in place. They start small to test my attitude. A pull with a giggle begins the descent of comfort. I notice as my shoulders are exposed to the elements and I fight back. I grab and tug with a little grunt to show my resolve to win.

The amazing beauty of kids is they learn fast. They adapt to their surroundings quickly. So they give it some time, waiting until I am asleep again. Watching every move to see me loosen my grip on the veil that separates me from their reality, their life and their games.

Then in one great swoosh the covers are ripped off the bed flung through the air and uselessly lying on the floor. Laughter breaks all silence and I have been exposed (no I don’t sleep naked)! There is nothing to hide and the kids pile on wrestling their papa to life again.

Remember though, once you have awakened the papa and violated that secret place his power is unleashed. Only his kids would ever dare to come so boldly into this space and only his kids would ever dare to experience his power!

“We can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred “COVER”, by means of his death for us. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s people, let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil CONSCIENCES have been cleansed with Christ’s blood” (Heb. 10:22).

“I no longer count on my own goodness or ability to obey God’s law, But I TRUST Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with him DEPENDS ON FAITH! As a result, I can really KNOW Christ and EXPERIENCE the mighty POWER that raised him from the dead” (Phil. 3:9-10).

The sacred covers have been ripped off, happy wrestling!


Step one: Watch the video (Our year in Picture & Song).
Step two: Reread the update
Step Three: Play video again with eyes closed and hear how Jesus has ripped off the covers.

He@th Locke

Images create image (or something like that)

Heroes come in all shapes, sizes and talents!

CasterBridge: A place with no bridge.

A day outside the house, praise the Lord.

downwardspiraling.blogspot.com

Good Buddies are hard to come by.
My friend Andy is an amazing man of God. I'm sure he would say otherwise, but any man who loves Jesus more than "father or mother, son or daughter, house or job, reputation or 'responsibilities'" is a MAN of GOD in my book and Gods.

Read his Blog & see for yourself.

He@th