Hallelujah!

We were in a very dry place, the Pastor Roberto and I.  Pastor Roberto is my Pastor from Costa Rica and he holds a strategic position in my spiritual life.

In this dream we were climbing a mountainous road in a bus. In fact we were driving an otherwise empty bus. The land was desolate. There was no life to speak of whatsoever –  not a blade of grass nor any color. We were on a task.

The bus represented the ministry and climbing up represented moving higher in the spirit.

We were taking instructions to distribute seeds everywhere… randomly the seeds were actually flying off  from the top of the bus. I remember thinking there were tons of seeds. We knew the seeds were coming from Jesus and that they were His.

Our instructions were clear, we were to “Continue until the seeds run out.”

We were climbing this parched land on a dirt road following instructions.

By the time the seeds ran out we hadn’t reached the top of the mountain but we were very far up. We got out of the bus and started looking around.

There were huge trees up-rooted all around. It certainly appeared like most had been that way for some time since they were decomposed and falling apart. There was no life what so ever anywhere to be seen. Nothing green. No color at all. We were high on a mountain of total desolation.

The distant mountains were barren as well. I started taking surreal photographs for my “Smyrna Tree” blog of a fallen tree on the side of the road. Its roots were exposed and rotted.  As I was trying to get the perfect picture, I noticed there was a young man coming from the top of the mountain. He was very well dressed in a suit and wore a big smile. He walked with a bounce of joy.

The pastor and I stopped and waited to see what was going to happen next.

Who on earth could this be? The young man walked right up to us. It was as though he knew who we were. To our amazement he said,  “I have a word from the Lord for you.” That was like the farthest thing from my mind. It came as a shock.  You can imagine our excitement and curiosity. My thought was,

   ”How does he even know we are Christians?”

With our eyes wide opened, our ears perked to hear the word.

 “Nothing is impossible with God” he said.

I am telling you a dream I had but I have to admit, it was not an ordinary dream.

Can you imagine the joy? This was the word spoken to us from the LORD? To think this dry and thirsty land was going to bloom again one day?  To think we walk by faith in an awesome Savior and not by the sight of the dying day.

And at that moment we started praising the living God lifting our heart and hands in worship and adoration singing, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”

 

Who is so low that I am not his brother?

Who is so high that I’ve no path to him?

Who is so poor I may not feel his hunger?

Who is so rich I may not pity him?

Who is so hurt I may not know his heartache?

Who sings for joy my heart may never share?

Who in God’s heaven has passed beyond my vision?

Who to hell’s depths where I may never fare?

May none, then, call on me for understanding,

May none, then, turn to me for help in pain,

And drain alone their bitter cup of sorrow,

Or find they knock upon my heart in vain.

By S. Ralph Harlow

Aslan Travels is my post about living in Turkey today. It is about traveling and being with Aslan.

This picture above is my card. On this page I will explain its symbolism.

On the upper left there is a painting of a lion.

The sky line silhouette both the Blue Mosque and to the right the Hagia Sophia.

The Menorah is the candle stick on the far right of the card.

There are 7 stars above the Menorah.

The fishing boat drifts in the dawn under the bridge or circle of time.

Why the lion?

This lion is also on the cover of the book, “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S.Lewis and  illustrated  by my beloved friend Debbie Maze.  Aslan means Lion in Turkish.  C. S. Lewis wrote about the Kingdom of God and used the lion named Aslan to represent Christ. Aslan travels to me means that the Lord is on the move and where the Spirit of the Lord is,  there is liberty!

The Blue Mosque is a large Muslim place of worship. It was built in the early 1600’s almost 200 years into the Ottoman Empire whose headquarters were in Constantinople, or present day Istanbul.

The Hagia Sophia’s full name in Greek is Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, “The place of the Holy Wisdom of God.”  It was construction in 537 and was a Church all away up until 1453 when it became a mosque with the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Now it is a museum.

It is a spectacular experience to visit the Hagia Sophia and I will share more in proceeding posts so you will all want to come and soak in its majesty. If you can’t make it here physically  maybe I can fulfil a dream or two by taking you on a written journey. ( with pictures )Continue reading

by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; Birge, John Kingsley, 1888-1952

 

Note the name Birge at the top, this booklet may have belonged to my name sake, Anna Birge. She was my grandfather’s sister.  She came to join him in Smyrna, Turkey in 1914.

Click Here