The Power of Prayer

Our prayer journey from Southern California to South Carolina

These are an accumulated series of posts detailing our prayer journey from Southern California to South Carolina. They are being reposted as a single article after being removed when my Substack newsletter when I changed it to Gospel Bold. Unfortunately, some of the original posting dates were deleted. The articles chronicled our journey from August 18, 2022, when we left SoCal to October 27, 2022, when we moved into our new home in South Carolina.

August 25, 2022 - Anxiety

Abba Father tests our faith not to reward us for success or punish us for failure. That is an immature, naïve transactional faith that harms the believer. We are tested to know whether we believe in him no matter what. Our move to South Carolina was my test beginning in October 2021 when my wife contacted a property investor to buy our house as-is for cash. We went for it and before the end of October, we had agreed to sell our home in California and purchase a new home in South Carolina. We put our trust in a property investor we had never met to sell our home in a process we were wholly unfamiliar with. We put our trust in a sales agent we had never met. We put our trust in a builder we had never met. Everything has been done by phone, email, and the internet and we have put out gobs of money. However, it was Abba Father we were ultimately trusting in all these matters.

We have wanted to buy a new home for some time and during the summer of 2019, we started looking. The prices were reasonable; however, we would have had to take out a short-term loan and did not want a mortgage payment. We were unsure how long it would take for our home to sell to pay off the mortgage. Moreover, newly built homes were too expensive, and decent, older homes in our price range were unsatisfactory. We looked all over California – Northern, Southern, and Central. Nothing felt like a home to us. We were just not at peace with buying and moving at that time and we stopped looking. Instead, we buckled down on saving money, paying off debt, and swelling the 401(k). Then COVID-19 happened.

COVID revealed the difference between blue state governors (Democrats) and red state governors (Republicans) and how they dealt with the pandemic. Blue states became Russian gulags and red states remained true to American constitutional freedoms and liberties after realizing Sars-CoV-2 was not as deadly as reported. Red state politicians began to realize the lockdowns and quarantines caused more harm than good. California became a gulag and motivated us to take flight. We were ready. We mapped out the red states from east to west until we were at peace for our new home relocation in Lexington, SC. How much further could we get away from California? The East Coast is as far as it gets.

From this point forward it was all faith in Abba Father who knows the end from the beginning. Things fell into place one after the other, but the biggest challenges were still ahead when the anxiety or rather panic attacks kicked in. I had resigned from a rewarding career two weeks prior. We packed the moving trailer with all our material possessions and shipped them ahead. We did not know if we would have any money to buy a new home because our California wasn’t sold before we left.

We inherited our home and are unfamiliar with the home buying/selling process, so my wife put a call to our broker. He apologized profusely not realizing he did not tell us they had been moving forward with buying the home. Escrow was open and a title search was in process with promises from our broker everything was going as planned. We should have money wired to us in South Carolina in a matter of days after our arrival.

Whew!  Before this, I took my fears out on my adult son. I will not go into detail, but it was awful. I projected the full brunt of my doubts and insecurities on him.  It was shamefully ugly. This was when I discovered I was having either panic or anxiety attacks.  These attacks are unfamiliar to me, but my wife and son are quite familiar with these flummox emotions and knew what it was when I told them what I was feeling.  It was a panic attack. There were tears and apologies. My faith faltered because I focused on the unknown circumstances instead of trusting Abba Father.

Wait on Abba Father; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on Abba Father [Ps. 27.14].

Fast forward to arriving in South Carolina where we were camping at a Good Sam’s RV park called the Barnyard RV Park adjacent to the Barnyard Flea Market. Our new house was 99.95% complete. We did a walk-through with the builder to ensure everything we designed was in order.  It was truly our dream house. However, there was an issue with the title of our CA home that could be easily resolved if circumstances were amicable with my wife’s family.

As I mentioned, we inherited our home from my wife’s dad. It was an early inheritance that originally was held jointly with my wife’s brother and his wife. Several years after moving in, her dad bought out his son’s part of the home and signed over the title solely to us. However, since escrow was not used for the transfer of ownership an affidavit must be signed and notarized by all parties involved in the transfer of ownership. The challenge was my wife’s dad passed away six years ago and her brother recently died several weeks ago unbeknownst to us. That left her brother’s wife to sign the affidavit except we are not on good terms with my wife’s family.  Without going into much detail my wife is practically dead to them. We prayed the escrow lawyers could persuade her sister-in-law to cooperate. It could not be at a worse time. She lost her spouse and was grieving that loss and now we needed her to sign and notarize an affidavit so that we could close on our new home.

Here we were on the edge. Our faith was being called out to believe in Abba Father our provider. We were taking it day by day and letting Scripture be our guide and comfort.

Take no thought, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we be clothed?” for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.  Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself.  Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof [Mt. 6.31-34].

I would add in the spirit of the Scripture, “Where shall we live?” Then it was a twenty-nine-foot 1998 Winnebago Minnie.

One note about prayer. There are many things I have learned about myself during this journey and one of those things is about the things people pray for. My arrogant attitude about prayer questioned why people prayed for trivial things like a parking spot.  Honestly, I thought trivial prayers were ridiculous until we decided to move to South Carolina. I will never criticize another person’s prayer, no matter its triviality. I now understand prayers come from a place in people’s hearts that is sometimes motivated by circumstances that cause anxiety. I have prayed about many trivial things because the unknown caused anxiety in my soul that drove me to my knees and toward Scripture. Sometimes late into the night. Sometimes early in the morning before dawn. Sometimes during the long drives between states.

September 04, 2022 - Providence

California is a cesspool where politicians and celebrities are the turds swirling around in the muck. Families cannot flourish in the Sunshine State because it is too expensive, too violent, too liberal, too whatever, and it is all the politicians’ fault. The thing SARS-CoV-2 did, is expose the malevolency in California politics and politicians. Governor Gavin Newsom, like all politicians, cared only about himself and his legacy. My family, and thousands of other families, did not matter to him. We matter less to Newsome because we did not support him. Yes, I am lumping all politicians into the same pool.  They are all self-serving cucarachas, and the so-called pandemic revealed the character of many politicians. The pandemic also revealed much about my character, but that is for another story. 

Politics is a corrupt institution. I can accept financial corruption in government as long the corruption stays within the government and does not impede Americans’ constitutional rights. Allow the oligarchs to reign and earn as much tax-free money as they want by whatever means they want to get it. So long as they create well-paying jobs with sustainable benefits that allow families to build retirement portfolios, buy their dream homes and dream cars, and keep prices down on everything so they can go on memorable vacations and have a wonderful quality of life. I don’t care about their financial corruption. However, when politicians’ financial corruption becomes moral corruption that overflows into people’s lives affecting their constitutional rights and moral absolutes that is another thing altogether. The Californian governorship has become a totalitarian evil whose moral corruption is infiltrating and infecting people’s lives for the worse. The state is a microcosmic lesson for Americans showing where our beloved country is heading if someone does not stop it.

All of this makes me sound like a self-righteous prude, but rest assured, I am not the self-righteous prude I wish I were. My opening rant expresses my motivation for my family’s choice to move. We had not planned on moving out of California. My wife wanted to move for years, but I was against it and told her there is no place like Southern California. You want for nothing in SoCal. Everything we like to do is within a two-hour radius. Mountains, beaches, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Diego, and more. The resources to make money and spend money are limitless.  It is a life of luxury even for the poorest Californians. Despite those wonderful features California politicians have tainted it all. Besides Providence had other plans for us since flourishing in California is now a pipe dream.

It all started when I got hired by one of the nation’s largest school employee credit unions in 2003. They paid well with an unmatched benefits package. I never had to pay a dime for healthcare. My tenure with the credit union (CU) changed my life financially and allowed my family to enjoy many years of peace, security, and fun. The CU took us through the housing crisis and COVID-19, and we survived and thrived. The CU provided us with the financial means to move somewhere else where we could flourish, but it was not just about money and benefits. The CU taught me life skills that can be adapted professionally and personally. I tell you the truth that it was a difficult decision to resign.

Providence knew in 2003 where my family would be financially and prepared us for it in 2022.  Wait! That is not right. Providence provided for us so we would be prepared for this moment. Miraculous. Now, I believe in miracles though I have never witnessed one as you hear about in those raucous evangelical big tent camp meetings where legs grow, people jump out of wheelchairs, and the dead come back to life so some have testified.  But 99.99% of it is pilfering poppycock!  My point is, that the miracle I believe in is the precise timing of events in my life. With the gift of hindsight, I could see how all the pieces fit together in perfect timing — that is the miracle. As Mordecai told Esther, “for a time such as this.¹”

Getting hired was only the first piece.  The next piece is that we wanted to buy a new home in California pre-pandemic in 2015. We pre-qualified for a mortgage loan and started looking for homes throughout the state. We could not find anything that brought us peace or a reasonable mortgage payment. The mortgage would have been temporary and a struggle to pay, and we did not know how long temporary was temporary. We did not want to have a mortgage payment and nixed that plan.  Instead, we paid off copious amounts of debt including two car loans, saved a substantial amount of money, and beefed up my 401(k) and other retirement investments. We were blessed to own our home free and clear. Then things changed.

October 2021 rolls around. The pandemic reached its peak, and the housing market had not yet been affected by the supply chain. Unbeknownst to me, my wife had reached out to a property investor and worked out a deal to sell our house. This was our first step in trusting strangers we would never see who lived in Kentucky and Arizona. We signed our home over to them in a home-buying process we were wholly unfamiliar with. Scary! However, she was guided by Providence. My dear wife worked out a deal that allowed us to purchase a new home for cash. No mortgage!  We began searching for homes in another state.

We only searched Red states. Starting with Arizona, Utah, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. The housing market in those states was rising quickly and we needed to purchase a brand-new home, sight unseen, and buy quickly.  It was the only way to ensure we were not inheriting problems from a previous owner. Also, none of those states gave us a sense of peace until Lexington, SC. We both had an overwhelming sense of relief and peace about South Carolina. Shortly after settling in South Carolina, I realized that is where my adult life started. Fort Jackson is the boot camp where I trained for the Army in September 1986. It’s funny that I was returning to where my adult life started. I think that it is both poetic and providential. No? Yes? Maybe?

September 11, 2022 - Relinquish

I went to a brick-and-mortar church this morning². So what, right? Millions of faithful followers go to church on Sunday. Allow me to explain what I mean. I developed a loathing attitude toward traditional brick-and-mortar churches during the pandemic and post-pandemic period. I was angry—no that is not a strong enough word for how I felt. I was pissed. That is better. I was pissed because they closed their doors and completely shut down after the initial two weeks to “flatten the curve.” When they were needed the most, the corporate church was not there. Before someone jumps on their hoity-toity high horse, the online church community does not meet the essential spiritual needs of people. Maybe in the short term, but not long term. The point is, I forgave them for their cowering to the state and got over myself. [Sidenote: I was not the most courageous either.]

Alright. What did the preacher man preach? He spoke from a verse found in Galatians 2.20. The Apostle Paul says,

I am crucified with Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This is Paul’s conclusion from longer a discourse, but the point is that Christ is all that matters which means he had to relinquish some things. And in Paul’s case, he relinquished everything for Christ. He believed and trusted Christ above anything else. The preacher man followed up with a broad statement that I knew he was going say. “Maybe you need to relinquish something, today,” he said and gave a short list of things folks might need to relinquish.

While I listened to him go down that list, I said to myself if he says home, then I have a decision to make. Guess what? At the bottom of his list, he said home. I wrestled with that decision. Eventually, I said, “Abba Father, I relinquish our dream.” Then I had to be sure it was not a knee-jerk emotional response or a bargaining chip tossed on the table in a futile effort to manipulate God’s will. It was not and I spiritually and metaphorically laid down my dream at Christ’s feet.

Without going into a bunch of details I will summarize. We own our home free-and-clear in California, and we packed up and left. We anticipated when we got to South Carolina everything was in order. We did not foresee any issues, but there were, and we had no idea until we were 2,400 miles away kicking back in an RV camp. If we cannot get over this final, insurmountable mountain, then it is over and we head back to California. But that was okay.

Now, how do I come to terms with the previous claims I wrote about Abba Father answering all our prayers that got us here? Did I imagine them? Was it all wishful thinking? Was I being omnipotent? I wrestled with that in my heart, mind, and soul. Jeanne-Marie and I reviewed all the circumstances that made it possible for us to get here. There was nothing that jumped out and shouted: “STOP!” We pressed on day by day. I chose to neither second guess the answered prayers that got us here nor second guess God. To some, this makes God look like a cosmic puppet master toying with his followers. I cannot do anything about that. I can confidently say that God is my Abba Father who met all my needs. He always has even when I was faithless, he remained faithful. He is a good, good Father, and I will believe him no matter what.

What happens next? I do not know, but whatever happens, it is in our best interest. God, my Abba Father, knows the end from the beginning and we have not reached the end of this.

Amen.

Helping God. LOL.

God helps those who help themselves [The Satanic Bible].

That’s a joke. It is unlikely the oft-quoted, misquoted, and misguided adage is found in the infamous Satanist, Anton Szandor LaVey’s depravedly inspired Satanic Bible. It might as well be. It is incorrectly associated with the Holy Bible and has led many astray, but it is not in the pages of Scripture. Nevertheless, I think it is satanically influenced.

There are soooooooooooooooo many biblical accounts of people who made impatient decisions to help God with a plan for their lives or a trying situation. It always resulted in disaster. The first incident begins in Genesis with Adam and Eve and…ahem…is the genesis for the aforementioned quote.

The first humans already knew good and evil. Eve said to the tempting angel in Eden, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Her response shows she knew. They were already like God as his image-bearers. What they were, was not patient to give this realization time to develop. Their impatience resulted in hell on earth instead of heaven. Thank you, Mom and Dad!

The tempter’s counter to Eve’s resistance set the pattern for believers to help God with his plans when he was not moving fast enough on their timeline. The angel said, “You shall not surely die for God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. God helps those who help themselves.” Okay, he did not say the last part but the spirit of it is there and in Scripture. That is my (weak) argument for the root of that stupid quote. Let us check out some other accounts of God helping those who help themselves. LOL.

Abraham is the apotheosis for righteousness and faith in God. Twice he lied about Sarah being his wife, fearing that Pharaoh, and later King Abimelech would kill him and take her to be their wife. In between the two lies, he impregnated Hagar at Sarah’s complicit request and Ishmael was born. If Ishmael is truly the father of the Middle East sans Israel, we all know how that worked out.

Abram’s first lie happened after God told him that he would be the father of a great nation. What did Abram do to help God protect his legacy? Let us go along on the journey. The account is familiar to most bible believers so it will be a brief journey.

The couple sojourned south toward Egypt after being called out of their homeland by God, but before crossing over they had a conversation. Abram said, “Babe, you’re a hottie and if they know you’re my honey, they will kill me and make you queen of Egypt. Please, pretty please tell them you’re my sister, then we’ll spend a few days on the beaches of the Nile. No harm. No foul.” Scripture puts it accurately this way.

And it came to pass when Abram had come near to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai, ‘Behold now, I know that you are a fair woman to look upon; therefore, it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see you, that they shall say, ‘This is his wife” and they will kill me, but they will save you alive.”

“Say, I pray you, you are my sister that it may be well with me for your sake and my soul shall live because of you.”

Abram almost got Pharoah killed with that lie. Again, God already promised Abram he would be the father of a great nation. He had nothing to worry about and God did not need his help to protect his promise and Abram’s legacy. But you know, God helps those who help themselves. LOL.

The second lie is the same as the first. If you can believe that. Try, try again, I guess. This time it was King Abimelech of Gerar and Abram almost got Abimelech killed, too, except God intervened to stop himself from killing the king. Abimelech was so freaked out, that he paid off Abraham as penance for Abraham’s lie. He was not taking any chances with God and probably wanted a cure for his impotence so he could fleece someone else’s wife.

Ridiculous, right? This second lie happened sometime after God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, meaning father of many nations. After the name change, God explained the details of his covenant to Abraham. The deal was sealed when God later made a blood covenant with Abraham including a huge swath of land for the new nation birthed from his loins. God mapped out the future promised land of the Exodus that the children of Abraham would inherit. Again, God did not need Abraham’s help to keep the covenant or protect Abraham’s legacy.

We cannot forget about Moses. Moses knew he was a Hebrew while growing up in Pharoah’s court. One day he saw an Egyptian whipping one of his Hebrew brethren and mightily intervened. What happened? He killed the Egyptian and buried him in a shallow grave under the sand. Pharoah found out and Moses, the once probable heir to Pharoah’s throne, became a fugitive in the desert herding goats. To be fair, God had not yet told Moses his role in freeing his people. But we can speculate that around Hebrew dinner tables, they prayed for the day God would free them. Moses knew his Hebrew family and thought he would help out God and speed things along instead of waiting. After all, God helps those who help themselves. LOL.

These are only three accounts in Scripture briefly noted here. There are many more when God said he will make something happen but the recipient of God’s promise thought he might move things along quicker and help God. It always ended in disaster until God intervened to clean up the mess.

So, LOL. It is not God helping those who help themselves. It is God cleaning up the messes of his children after he promised them what he would do after impatiently helping God to implement his promise. I know a few friends and family who did this and it ended in disaster. Some are still wallowing in that disaster. Some got back on track when God intervened to clean up their mess.

Admittedly, this is facetious commentary. Struggles can be overwhelming and there is the temptation to help God get us through them. This is especially trying when it looks like a good resolution will help, but I believe we must resist and wait. We cannot let fear of the unknown grip our hearts. We must trust Scripture is true and that the promises are real. I am going through this right now as I shared in earlier articles.

Two more things. First, unlike our biblical forefathers, we have the holy hindsight in the pages of Scripture to guide us even though God personally spoke to them and showed them things. We have the written word. They had the spoken word. Neither they nor we have any excuses. Second, I know what you are thinking. Aren’t you doing the same thing? This has weighed heavily on my heart, but I do not think I am. I am fairly confident I am not. But the temptation is strong. I really, really, really want to help God with some of the contingencies I have planned, but I am gonna wait it out.

Relinquish | Part 2

The Christian life is not a life of happenstance. It is a life of purpose and intimacy with Abba Father and Jesus Christ. When a believer goes through trying circumstances sometimes they need confirmation that they are doing the right thing.

We are friends with a wonderful family. My wife has known KM since the seventh grade, and I have known KM for twenty-seven years. She is more than a friend. KM and her husband are family to us. They are our wonderful sister and brother in Christ who God worked through to bless us.

KM read my article, Relinquish, and later visited Faith Community Church in Palmdale, CA. The preacher man was teaching about the same things I wrote about. A brief recap is I had relinquished my dream of owning a new home in South Carolina. We were peacefully, and joyfully content with making the RV our home and the Barnyard RV Park our new home address. The RV is not the home we anticipated, but it is the home Abba Father provided for us the day we bought it in CA. We were good with that.

The message’s title is A Reprimand for Reliance, and it confirmed and touched on everything I experienced in the past three weeks. I was already at peace with relinquishing my dream to Jesus. Moreover, I was blessed with unspeakable joy when I did. But the message was another answer to my prayers. about waiting and trusting God.

Rejoice in the Lord, always and again I say, ‘Rejoice.’ Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus [Phil. 4.6, 7].

Therefore, take no thought, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we be clothed?’ [or ‘Where shall we live?’]. Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for tomorrow. Tomorrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof [Mt. 6.33-34].

Wait on Abba Father. Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on Abba [Ps, 27.14].

Through KM came the confirmation that Scripture is true, Abba Father keeps his promises, hears our prayers, guides our steps, loves us, and confirms we are doing the right thing.

Abba Father is a good, good Father. Amen.

40 Days in a Tin Can

Painting by May Eason

I love me some gospel music. Elvis Presley turned me on to gospel music when I was a kid, especially the vintage, black spirituals: Bessie Jones, Sam Cooke, The Swan Silvertones, Boyd Rivers, The Soul Stirrers, Nina Simone, and many others. Many black spirituals are filled with unadulterated emotion and history, and during the American slave era, some of the songs were secret codes to guide escaping slaves to freedom. One of my favorites is the original version of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

I looked over Jordan and what did I see?
Comin' for to carry me home
There was a band of angels, a-comin’ after me
Comin' for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot
Comin' for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Comin' for to carry me home

Well,I'm sometimes up, and I'm sometimes down
Comin' for to carry me home
But I know my soul is heavenly bound
Comin' for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot
Comin' for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Comin' for to carry me home

Well now,if you get there before I do
Comin' for to carry me home
Tell all my friends that I'm a-comin' too
Comin' for to carry me home

Swing low, sweet chariot
Comin' for to carry me home
Swing low, sweet chariot
Comin' for to carry me home
Well now they're comin’ for to carry me home

The rhythm and blues contemporary entertaining version as sung by Elvis Presley in the movie The Trouble With Girls is exuberant. The motif for both versions is getting home and we wanted to get home.

Why don't you swing down sweet chariot
Stop and let me ride
Swing down chariot
Stop and let me ride
Rock me, lord, rock me, lord
Calm and easy
Well I've got a home on the other side

I have compared our flight from Southern California to South Carolina to the biblical Exodus. The Red Sea is an uncooperative, vindictive relative. The wilderness wandering is our Desert of Doubt representing moments of fear, uncertainty, occasionally deep despair, and days of depression as we waited day after day and week after week for word on the progress of our California home. We could see our home over the Jordan River representing unscrupulous property investors, obstinate buyers, and government red tape that would cost us $40,000 to resolve. But we had a real estate broker whose name in both Hebrew and Greek means who is like God. Much like Moses was God to Aaron, Michael was God to us in that God worked through him to get us through the desert, over the Jordan River, and into the Promised Land. He fought for us at a sacrifice of profit, time, and frustration. Michael took a financial loss in the fight and saved us $40,000. He did not have to but his strength of character motivated him to sell our home for our benefit. We are forever indebted to him. He was our pillar of fire by night and our pillar of cloud by day.

We were notified on September 16th that another buyer fell through because of government red tape. Meanwhile, our builder, Mungo Homes, was waiting to close. The original close date was August 27th but unknown issues began to arise, test our faith, and stall everything. Mungo Homes graciously allowed us more time to close without costing us more money, but they could not continue waiting. It was unfair to them to keep holding the property in uncertainty. There was a decision to make.

“Babe,” I said. “What is Allison’s number?” I unanimously made a decision and reached out to Allison. She was our liaison and facilitated the design and purchase of our South Carolina home.

“Allison? Hi, this is Jim Kendall, Jeanne’s husband. Thank you for everything you have done for us. I appreciate Mungo Homes’ patience but it is unfair to keep you waiting.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“Give us 40 days. If our California home is not sold by then so that we can buy the home here, we’re done. We relinquish our home to Mungo Homes and we will find another way. Please, give us 40 days from September 17th to work it out.”

“I will talk to the managers and let you know,” she said.

We ended our conversation. This was a patriarchal decision I made. I did not explain my plan to Jeanne and Andrew, nor did I provide the reasons for the time frame chosen until we were settled in our new home. But I purposely picked 40 days for its symbology. It rained 40 days and nights to flood the world. Jesus spent 40 days and nights in the desert. Moses and the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert. We waited 40 days and nights living in our tin-can RV and Micheal went to war with obstinate and unscrupulous buyers.

I got a job, found a church, and started establishing roots here. Until the 40-days ran their course there would be no talk about what-if scenarios. I stopped driving by the home. All plans to live elsewhere or buy another home were put out of my mind. I would wait, go to work, fellowship in a new church, and start making friends. Essentially, I washed my hands of the whole affair by faithfully putting it all on God’s shoulders. Nothing else was to be said or done until the 40 days came to a close, except continued prayer.

I say I because Jeanne and Andrew concerned themselves with the what-if scenarios and considered contingencies. That was fine because it gave them the peace of mind they needed. But I explained to them, that I wanted no part of it until we got the final word about our California home. For me to consider other options is an admission I neither trusted God nor the promises he made to us in Scripture to meet all our needs. There was nothing more to do except wait. Life moved on for us in South Carolina and I started getting into a familiar routine. I kept praying and asked many others to pray that God would make a way. And he did.

God made a way for us in the most symbolic way and let us know he heard our prayers and knew the desires of our hearts. On October 25th we received a wire transfer from the sale of our home into our account. On October 27th, the 40th day, we closed on our new home in about 15 minutes.

Afterward, we sat in our car absorbing the surreal feeling about what happened in the lawyer’s office. We prayed and praised God for our blessing, but I think Jeanne and I were shocked that it was over so quickly and we could begin our new lives in our new home. That’s how it goes sometimes, right? Many days of prayers, peaks of elation, valleys of despair, peace beyond all understanding, and then what our heart desired is handed over to us matter-of-factly. Like it was always meant to be. What seemed an impossibility for us was always possible for Abba Father.

That day we crossed the threshold of our new home, our Promised Land, and celebrated with a meal from Jersey Mike’s.

Ah, Abba Father! Behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you.

Jeremiah 32.17

Abba Father is good. His promises never fail. His word is true.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. I will be with you. I will not fail you nor forsake you. Have I not commanded you? Be of good courage, be not afraid, neither be you dismayed for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go [John 14.6; Josh. 1.6; 9].

It was a 10-week exodus from having no home to living in a tin can home on wheels and moving into a brand new home but it was the last 40 days where we were all in. We placed all our faith in God and the people working for us to get us into our new home. Everyone who prayed for us and endured can now rejoice and praise Abba Father for answering your prayers.

November 10, 2022 - Prevailing Prayers

This post is about how I imagined everyone’s prayers during the most trying times of our Exodus from Southern California to South Carolina. The imagery is from Exodus 17.8-13.

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim…Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hands, that Israel prevailed and when he let down his hands down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy and they took a stone and put it under him and he sat thereon; Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua weakened Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

It was the prayers of our family, friends, and new home church holding up our arms in the most trying and exhausting moments of our journey. It is the reason we prevailed.

We have been through a lot with our home in California where all we could do was pray and ask others to pray. To some, this may be insignificant, and others may have thought we could have planned better or done things to help our situation. Some might think we’re fools for leaving too soon for South Carolina in our eagerness to get out of California. Honestly, there were times when I felt foolish and wanted to step in to help God fix the situation. We had the means to fix things, but it meant calling an uncooperative, vindictive relative or giving up $40,000. We wanted to do neither. Instead, we waited.

Wait on [Abba Father], be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on [Abba ] [Ps.27.14].

Metaphorically, I compared our escape from the Gulag California to the biblical Exodus for the flight to our Promised Land. It is the appropriate analogy. The Bible explains in 1 Corinthians 10.11 that the things that happened to Israel were for our examples to learn from.

Now all these things happened to [the children of Israel] for examples, and they are written for our admonition.

There was a lot of praying. Three times I prayed throughout the night and fasted for weeks during the most challenging situations. Some of you reading this, prayed through the night with me and sent me text messages that brought timely comfort.

Vivid images came to mind for our Exodus. During the most harrowing, hopeless moments, the overwhelming circumstances felt like the Egyptian army was behind us and the Red Sea was before us. We could neither return to California nor move forward to our new home. The Red Sea was an uncooperative, vindictive relative who refused to sign an affidavit acknowledging they signed off on the property deed when Jeanne inherited her dad’s home. The unscrupulous buyers were the Egyptian army who sought to destroy us. We were trapped. We prayed and the Red Sea opened up by the power and grace of a loving Father.

We crossed our Red Sea joyously, only to enter the Desert of Doubt, symbolizing fear, deep despair, and depression. Jeanne and Andrew expressed their fears, often in tears and anger. The anger was neither directed at me nor God but at the situation. As a husband and father, their heartbreak weighed especially heavy on me with the added feelings of failure. I had to make a decision and that decision was to relinquish our dream home and trust Abba Father to meet this need. After relinquishing our dream to God I was at peace during our 40-day desert wandering.

The last image was the lawyer’s office where we signed closing documents. It was the Jordan River where we crossed into our Promised Land to take possession of our new home.

There are still giants to fight in this Promised Land but we go boldly toward them and remember the words of Abba Father³.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.

Amen.

1. Esther 4.14

2. Radius Church Lexington is the church I attended.

3. Joshua 1.9