Update #167 - Complacency

“The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Rancho San Antonio Reserve, Cupertino, CA

In the daydream Jesus and I were standing on a bluff overlooking acres and acres and acres of vineyards. Rolling hills dotted with vine posts stretched for miles to my left and right. It was an exquisite Californian day; sun shining, mid 70’s, light breeze, nothing marring the beautiful blue canopy. It was absolutely picturesque - except for the ugly black and brown, it looked to be, stone edifice / building on my right.

It was monstrous, bulky, and out of place. It was a blot on the landscape, huge and horrid contrasted with verdant vines and golden hills. I stared at it trying to figure out what the designing architect had in mind.

Then it moved.

Well, shifted actually; what appeared to be the buildings upper portions transferred from the right side to the left. I blinked to clear my vision. I blinked again.

“Jesus, um, Jesus” I pulled on his sleeve. “Am I losing it? The building moved.” I mouthed almost speechlessly and pointed to the huge object.

In response, he touched my shoulder and pointed with his other hand to the vine suspension wires. Leaning into my ear he said “Look Dena, really, really look.”

I blinked again and saw the entire landscape differently. It wasn’t gorgeous, it wasn’t attractive, it wasn’t even moderately pretty. It was a scene from a nightmare.

The vine posts were actually cradles, hundreds of millions of occupied rocking cradles; back and forth, back and forth, slowly oscillating their occupants into a contented stillness.

The cribs were all connected along never-ending rows of vine wire. The cable fed from one crib to another to the end of each row. Then it continued to a merging point in front of the unsightly edifice. A single mammoth-sized lead fed forward into the building itself.

The vine wires were controlled via the building!

I blinked again. The building wasn’t actually a building but a huge monster. A huge very bored monster tasked with gently pulling a cable. The shift I saw was it transferring its weight from one leg to another as it crouched above the ground.

“This is freaky.” I commented. “What are you showing me?”

Jesus didn’t open his mouth but his eyes locked mine and I immediately understood what I was viewing. The cradles were full of people asleep to what true life is, asleep to what abundant life in Christ can be, asleep in contentedness brought on by busyness, friends, family and obligation. And Satan was behind it all.

He kept their lives littered with the meetings, the coffees, the friends, the Bible Studies, the church activities. He kept them involved in “good things” so they would miss the greatest thing, Jesus. Satan kept them pacified enough so they were appeased, they wouldn’t seek more, the greater, the best. He kept them busy enough so they didn’t feel they had the time to discover, unearth, really come to know and understand what they were missing.

“This is SO WRONG!” I screamed with tears in my voice.

As happens in daydreams, I was now down in the valley at the apex of the vine wires; wire cutters in hand. I cut the cords and one by one the cradles slowed and came to stillness.

Then the screaming started. Shrieks, wails, keening rose from the millions of cradles. It was unbearable and deafening.

I covered my ears and looked to Jesus my cheeks wet with tears.

“We just disrupted their lives. They are upset and don’t understand the real plan behind what we did.” As he said this he walked to the nearest cradle, lifted the infant/adult from it and stood them on their feet. He gently straightened their clothes, looked them straight in the eye and told them what they were really called to, what they were really meant to live for, what they were missing. He gave simple instructions, hugged the man and went to the next cradle.

The man, indignant at first, softened while Jesus talked to him, nodded in agreement and moved to help the occupant in the cradle to his right. I watched the progress spread across the plain - now three awake, six, twelve, twenty-four. Some took longer to get upright, but they heard the screaming and wanted it to end. As the new little army spread across the cradleyard the screams grew more and more distant to my ears.

This gave me pause. Am I in a cradle? Or am I rescuing people from them? Even better, am I empowering people to rescue others? Am I rocked by complacency in any area of my life? Or am I instilling change? Am I silencing the screams in others souls by sharing the real truth?

Where are you? What actions can you take to still the screams, instill change, and share truth? Can you hear the screams of those around you are you rocked in complacency and content; unable to hear, respond, and act?

Updates:

Travel – Invites are solidifying and others are cropping up!

Personal – Enjoyed my day off (Tuesday) with a walk (and my new camera) at a local land reserve. So nice!

Work – Training KICK OFF went very well and we have ~27 trainees this cycle! We have a lot on the remote call so please pray for our distance learning facilitators, tech guys, and trainee coaches.

Marketplace Impact – Older story – Victor works at a remotely placed car dealership in South Africa, sales are down, inventory up. He sends his sales staff to a nearby car show on a Saturday morning leaving his accountant to cover the dealerships sales floor. Earlier in the week two of our rep consultants visited the business and asked where he (the owner) needed a miracle. That Saturday the accountant produced 60% of month’s sales. Need a miracle? Ask!

Requests:

Travel – Please pray for invites to solidify, dates to be determined and for us to have the discernment to know which we are to accept and deny (and for me to know which ones have my name on them).

Personal – I am facing a lot of travel in the first half of the year. I sat down and counted - I have seven possible trips (4 international)! This is a big change from last year! What is on God’s heart for me to do vs. on my own is my big question.

Work – Honestly, I am a bit overwhelmed. I am trying not to work insane hours to keep up with everything, but I am not winning. I need a new strategy! Can you pray God will give me one?