Even So Come, Join the Journey

Journey by Janice VanCronkhite
www.jvcartworks.com

Jn 16:31-33

“You believe at last!” Jesus answered. “But a time is coming and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Papa Jack Taylor says that what Jesus was saying was: “Cheer up, I have already overcome everything that is about to come upon you!”

He was encouraging Blood N Fire to get on the right side of bad news. When you get on the right side of where you are going it gets good. In 2 Corinthians Paul writes of his vision and his Thorn. Cheer up, Jesus has overcome all that not only is about to come upon you, but everything you are going through. I found the good side of that news in verse 7: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore will I boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

'We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection. This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in any use of authority- the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Finally brothers- Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.”

Alfie Fabe has concluded that the sign of an apostle is fatherhood; not a title on your business card or the position you have achieved.

The apostle John wrote in his first letter: “I write to you fathers because you have known God; I write to you young men because you have the word of God in you and you have overcome the evil one!

Who are the fathers? A father is someone who brought forth birth, looks after you, provides for you. In the natural we have the opportunity to be fathers, good fathers. Do we have a spiritual basis to be good fathers? Have we been fathered ourselves? Don’t get caught up with titles and position- the church today is crying out for fathers!!!! Fathers who will be real! Who are willing to walk alongside sons and daughters, committed, devoted to teaching, training and parenting them along the way! We are the foundational cheerleaders for the next generation; the Elijahs for the Elishas! Today the Elishas are desperately seeking the Elijahs but the Elijahs are so distracted! Distracted by self, self pity, self addictions, self seeking, self serving; and many have become worn down, neglected, rejected, disrespected, uncared for, under-valued. The fathers of today are not the ones you seek with great titles and position, driving the finest cars and receiving the biggest offerings boasting the huge congregations and their pictures on the largest signs in the country! These are false signs, the counterfeit! Paul tells us the truth: We have many teachers but not many fathers! Not many are willing to die to their own careers and self promotion to leave a legacy for the new fathers emerging as sons presently.

Look at Elijah and Elisha! Elijah had something very powerful to offer! I don’t think Elisha had gone to a lot of conferences and heard a lot about Elijah, but perhaps that one encounter orchestrated by God was the moment, that carpe diem moment that Elisha knew would come!

The world sings that song, “Some day my prince will come.” They want you to think it’s a fairy tale. God’s word is alive, it’s true! Look what happens when we believe!

Elisha left everything behind to follow Elijah. Even when Elijah tried to get him to stay behind and wait, Elisha knew he was to follow him everywhere he went! He knew there would come a day and that God was still going to call it today! He followed Elijah everywhere so that when that time came, he would be ready! He wasn’t distracted by titles, self promotion or lifestyle. He didn’t look to the right or to the left, and when the moment came: ‘Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. When they had crossed Elijah said to Elisha: “Tell me, what I can do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours –otherwise not.” As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elijah saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart. (Separating from the past & self to reveal his true self, God’s identity in him?) He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak and struck the water with it. “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

Elisha didn’t join Elijah with his own personal agenda, but because of God’s purpose. I don’t think he knew God's purpose at the time, but obediently left all behind to follow Elijah. Along the journey I wonder if he considered the cost and cried out to God. We know now that it was worth it. I doubt he knew it then, though. He laid down who he’d become and all that he had stood to inherit to follow Elijah around until God said otherwise. We translate this as our ‘journey’, our mission, our purpose and when we are found faithful in it, when God is revealed and glorified through it, I believe God grants us favor for more.

That is, when we don't attempt to apply our own vision or agenda, or even our own understanding/expectation of how we think it should be. When we are willing to surrender that vision, expectation, hope, dream for a true relationship with God the way He has intended for it to be the journey begins. His revelation, His vision, His purpose become ours. Can we see? Or are we afraid to look beyond our circumstances until He solves them? When we take off the grave clothes, those clothes in which we began our journey, then He can clothes us with His robe of righteousness.

As a child I discovered mirrors in the department stores while shopping with my mother. I would look into every mirror to find myself. When Mom couldn’t find me all she had to do was look for the nearest mirror, I’d be there. As a teen I was obsessed with my looks, my clothes, my appearance and how I conveyed myself to others. After high school I took a good, hard look at myself.

For most of my teenage years I’d felt alone, unloved, unnoticed except for whenever the house needed to be cleaned or the family washing needed to be done. I had gifts, talents that my parents didn’t seem to care about at all. Young girls surely have little concept of the responsibility of parenthood, how could I have any clue? I gained great respect for them when I became a parent.

Elijah and Elisha taught me a lot about fatherhood. It started because a friend, David VanCronkhite, received a prophecy that taught the leaders of Blood N Fire a great deal about fatherhood: “Malachi 4:5: “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

No curse for me, thank you! Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, got rid of it!
God used that scripture powerfully in my life several years later when we moved to Cape Town. I’d never seen David as a father. In the natural I didn't think much of his fathering skills. I certainly wasn’t interested in him becoming a spiritual father for me, but my husband Ned, had always seen him in this way.

We hadn’t known God’s power in that prophecy that day. Paul wrote to the Hebrews about a day God still calls today. Although our forefathers were stiff necked, stubborn and disobedient children, we still have the opportunity to hear His word fresh Today. Will we? Will we allow Him to do the transforming He really has in mind? Or are we only interested in what we see and desire?

My father died of a sudden heart attack when I was seventeen. I was devastated! He was all I had in the world, at least that’s what I thought at seventeen. My mom and I hadn’t gotten along for ages. Losing my dad was like losing my compass. I had no idea how to go on. God comforted me at the time, but I made a decision there would never be a substitute or replacement for Dad, no one could take his place. For quite a long while that decision prevented me from enjoying many a good relationship. Thankfully God helped me through a very beautiful song by Kevin Prosch:

Even So Come

You have taken the precious
From the worthless and given us
Beauty for ashes, love for hate
You have chosen the weak things of the world
To shame that which is strong, and the foolish things
To shame the wise
You are help to the helpless
Strength to the stranger
And a father to the child who's left alone
And the thirsty you've invited
To come to the water
And those who have no money come and buy

So come, So come
So come, So come

Oh, the days are coming
For the Lord has promise
When the plowman will over take the reaper
And their hearts will be the threshing floor
And the move of God we've cried out for, will come
You will shake the heavens, and fill your house will glory
Turn the shame of the outcast into praise
All creation groans and waits
For the Spirit and the Bride to say
The words your heart has longed to hear
So come, So come
So come, So come

God had been a father to me because he loved me, because he knew the plans he had for me. Yes, there were plans to prosper me, not to harm me; to give me a future and a hope. I had been wounded dearly through the loss of my dad. God had also blessed me with His compassion for the fatherless, for the widow and the child who’s left alone. He transformed me, making me an advocate for the homeless, relation-less and poor.

Kevin visited the warehouse, Blood N Fire’s Atlanta home, years later. We were on a little tour of the warehouse, standing in the makeshift kitchen where we cooked meals for our former homeless guests who were temporarily making their home in our church. I gave Kevin my Blood N Fire jacket in the kitchen that day, embraced him as a member of family, my brother for whom I'd always pray. My heart broke for God's sons and daughters that day. Not with pity, but His love, camaraderie, if you will. That love began to expand my heart, making room even for people I didn’t want to love.

We first met Ryan’s father, Charles. He’d been part of the founding of Kansas City Metro Church in the prophetic days. He stopped in for dinner with our friends David and Val Kula, where we first met. He came to the warehouse again later when he shared about his older sons’ struggle with drugs, leaving home rather young, trading in his Christian lifestyle for the world. Charles brought his family to visit Blood N Fire the next year for a conference. All his sons were present. Ryan said to his dad, if there was ever a church I’d want to be part of, this is it. He stayed a few days longer after his parents left. Our son, Evan invited him to stay with us! Yikes, the last thing I wanted was for our son to get to know this kid. He had stayed because our lifestyle, our way of walking with God daily, living in community with him and one another had an impact on him. I couldn’t get past all my motherly fears of him showing Evan all the wrong things about life. It never dawned on me that we could show him God did have a place for him, too. Thankfully, even when we aren’t aware, God is always on the job! Ryan stayed about ten days with us. After he returned home he called to say he’d really been moved by our way of life and serving God, he really hoped he could come back and be part of the church. Don’t get me wrong, I just knew that kids can be one way with us adults and totally different when they are alone. I had no doubt Ryan still had some healing to go through. Even Evan had some reservations about him coming back to Atlanta.

That August Ned and I went to Hong Kong with a team to serve Jackie Pullinger-To. Jackie’s husband John was battling for his life due to cancer. She needed some folks to come out and help her team, we went out for 21 amazing days of seeing God’s power. We were pretty sure we were headed for South Africa God once we returned and God brought confirmation through Jim Goll. We hadn’t told anyone about God’s revelation to us or that we’d begun to suspect the time was upon us. Jim put it right out on the table in front of all the family to confirm it. In no time our townhouse was sold and we moved into the warehouse to prepare for our family’s relocation to South Africa.

Ned and I took a spying out the land tour of South Africa in February to see what God would reveal about where we would live, what we would do, etc. I thought it was meant to be our second honeymoon, I’d seen it in dreams and revelations. But another young woman who had a heart for Africa was determined to go with us. Laura Rives knew she was to be part of our family, knew she was destined for Africa and left everything behind to go with us. She, too, moved out of her apartment, lived for a year with us in the warehouse, driving one hour back and forth to work every day. Little did we know these two would become some of our first spiritual children, the children of promise? So off we went to South Africa with Laura for two weeks.

Upon our return Ryan and Charles had come for another visit to the warehouse and with nowhere else to stay wanted to stay in our one little family studio room. A young woman who’d served the poor during our summer internship program bequeathed her sofa, found a table big enough to use for meals for all of us, secured a few mattresses for beds and set up house among the homeless and poor of Atlanta in the warehouse. Charles actually slept on the floor and Ryan got the couch for the next ten days. When Charles was ready to leave Ryan approached Ned about coming to South Africa with us. They “heard” it together, he was our son and would be coming along. Imagine, my greatest fears realized! There really wasn’t anything I could do, other than ask, “Are you sure?” Ryan’s family had a going away party for him in Kansas City. So we all drove the fifteen hours over for the gathering. Nancy Lynn, his mom, did a great job of preparing the food to a photo album for Ryan to take with him. It was during this party, as Ryan and his brother Eric were sharing and really getting restored to one another, that God gave me a supernatural love for Ryan. That love took me past the outer courts, past all the awful stuff I’d known about Ryan and my fears that he would show it all to Evan, transforming him and me, to a place where I began to love Ryan as much as I loved Evan. Ryan went back home to the U.S. after a year and almost lost his life. God saved him, gave him a beautiful wife and son, and to this day, my heart longs and prays for Ryan. He's a soldier in the U.S. Army’s Stryker Unit in Iraq. We pray for him every day and await his return, for the opportunity to rebuild family in community as God has called us to do here in Cape Town.

Paul said to the Corinthians, “I really don’t want your possessions, I want you!” God asked if we’d be willing to take an 8,000 mile journey where we would know no one to to rebuild family. This is our story, this is our journey and the journey for countless others we’ve discovered along the way.

As Kevin sings: He’s invited the thirsty, to come to the waters; and those who have no money come and buy. So come, join us on the Journey to our Promised Land. The land we aren’t able to physically see yet we are sure God is building, as we walk it out daily.

Janice VanCronkhite’s painting Journey was the beginning God used to speak to me about a book I'm writing. Several years ago Janice and I were watching the movie: How To Make An American Quilt I heard one word: Tapestry. God promised he would use Janice and I to weave something across the waters, that even if he told us about it we wouldn’t believe! I didn’t even know how to go about it! A few years later I yanked Ned into this store to see if he could figure out how to make the looms the women were using to make these amazing tapestries. God wouldn't let me steal this man's idea, but made me talk to Frank who then shared how he'd begun The Kraal Gallery. He told me there wasn't any picture the women couldn't weave as a tapestry. I pulled out Janice's painting above and he said, "For about $1,000 US we could do this for you." I didn't have that kind of money so I said, "Let me think about it." The next time I was in there the women talked me into it, literally admonishing me for not having more faith! I agreed as long as I could sit with Fundiswa, the woman who would make it and learn her story and how to weave. Well, Funi doesn't speak any English, so that was a bit of a tall order anyway! But she was able to tell her story to Xholani who wrote it down for me and I did sit with her while she weaved the tapestry on many occasions. Frank thought it would take her about seven weeks, by faith I believed the money would come. And so I prayed and prayed, told the women the story of how Janice came to paint the picture and what had happened to the people in the church that the picture had represented. They shared their stories with me and the tapestry called Journey to the Promised Land began to take shape beyond what we could ever imagine. A year later I took the tapestry to the church in Atlanta to speak about faith. While I was speaking my husband quietly informed me that God wanted us to give the tapestry to Ryan and his wife, Stephanie as a wedding present. Today it is in their home as testimony of faith to both of them and the life they are rebuilding together. God is the common thread interwoven through in us all. He quietly rebuilds us particularly as we are faithful to take the huge leaps of faith He's asking of us. To him they are mere stepping stones. Although they seem like huge chasms into the unknown like the journey God once asked Abraham to take. He took him outside his tent one night and told him to look up into the night sky and count the stars if in fact, he could. For that would be how many his descendants would be one day. I began writing this book as we leapt across the Atlantic on the journey God called us to make by faith. There were trials, there was trouble, but as Papa Jack said, and every story in the book reiterates:: “Cheer up, everything that is about to come upon you I have overcome!” You know, as little kids we used to say, 'my daddy can beat up your daddy'? Papa Jack gave us a great new one: "When the enemy says he's gonna fix you, you can say, So What!" Because you are on the right side, because Jesus has already overcome all of that! Looking forward to meeting you on the Journey!
Bon Voyage!

Susan Hill
Cape Town, South Africa
September 30, 2007

“For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken way. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 10-18.