There has been something rumbling around in me for a while now and I can't seem to put my finger on it. I don't know why yet so I just keep giving it up to God and waiting on Him to show me what it is.
As I was contemplating this rumbling inside me this morning in between chats with two Ugandan brothers (who have lived there all their lives) that I know, I found myself thinking about a time in our lives back in Hawaii about 25 years ago.
Under circumstances that were not entirely under our control, we ended up buying (on payments) an acre of light forested land and living in a tent - a very large military tent. Before that I had heard about an older widow from one of the christian gatherings whose house in town was falling apart so badly that it was deemed by the county to be unsafe and they informed her that it needed to be torn down. She was very poor and couldn't afford to do that. I felt led to help her and I carefully dismantled the house. It was very dangerous work.
Almost all of the material from the house was useless but I did manage to glean from it enough to build a floor for that 16 x 32 foot tent to sit on and later, an out building later that we called the "sitting room" where we would gather. The other 1/2 of it we called the "bath house"... Later we had a "temporary" power hookup installed when I started to build the first "module" of a "permanent" house (kitchen/dining) on the property. We had been stripped down to nothing before all this and slowly things were looking up for us.
I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it was an easy life but we were alive and together. I guess you could say we were "poor"... If I left it at that, I'd have to say you were right but there was also something wonderful about that year in the tent. No, actually I'd have to say, awesome because it was an "Our God is an Awesome God and He reigns from Heaven above" kind of time. We had almost no distractions that the world normally puts on us. Recreation was singing sometimes spontaneous praise and worship songs. Late night foraging in the scriptures. The presence of the Lord would descend in our midst quite often. and sometimes visitors would get unusually touched by God.
I met an older brother in the Lord who visited us back then and years later I was telling some brothers that this 14 bedroom house we lived in once, was the most amazing house we ever lived in. He interrupted me and said, "No it wasn't. That tent was the most amazing house you have ever lived in." I asked why and he said, "Because of the anointing that rested on the property..." (we went out back of the property to pray one day and neither of us was exactly sure where we really were in spirit during that prayer time.) If I had stated that we were "poor" at that time, I'm sure he would have argued vehemently against that as well. And I would have to agree with him on that.
Just as an example, one day some cars pulled up front of the property and out piled about 10 or so "Jehovah's Witnesses" with their bibles and all. I found myself walking quickly up our long driveway to meet them just a little ways into the driveway. One of them said, "We are Jehovah's Witnesses." and out of my mouth came the words, in no small measure of authority, "I... am one of Jehovah's Witnesses"... As soon as that came out of my mouth the Spirit of God descended upon us all and I began to tell them the testimony of how I had been drowning in a car, started to experience my own judgement (revealing of the truth) before God (whom I didn't even believe in at the time) and then by the power of God when I should have died was translated right out of the car I was trapped in.
Then I told them how a year after that accident, not knowing how one could ever survive the judgement of God, Jesus manifested Himself in Spirit when I was out in a garden and how His presence filled that garden and how overwhelmingly beautiful that was. I told them about how He spoke to me while I was standing there in awe and adoration and said, "Come into my Kingdom." and how the back injury I had suffered with for a year since that accident was instantly healed. When I said that the Spirit of God descended on us all even more so. So much so that one of the ladies whom I could discern wasn't as tied in with that group spoke up and prophesied in agreement with that testimony. One thing I might mention is that the walls that normally would accompany that kind of a "meeting" were melted away for those ten minutes or so by the presence of the Spirit of God.
There were many other times that year that the Presence of God would manifest during times of worship, prayer and bible study.
There is something about us as human beings in that in this life we crave stability and longevity. And having been around for 61 years, I can totally understand that need. In a sense, during that time in the tent, we had a measure of stability. Something to hang onto. Things were starting to look up for us. I got more work and at one point was wondering if I could get better prices on lumber if I could arrange container shipments on my own. I arranged a two week trip to Portland, Oregon to check out direct lumber prices there. To my surprise all of my business appointments were done by the end of the first week so I found myself one day walking around in some fresh fallen snow and then I suddenly realized something. I looked up at the Father and said, "You want us to move here don't you!?"
Now I've got to tell you that up until that moment, you would have had to use a five foot long steel crowbar to pry me away from the islands for any length of time much less to move to the mainland USA. But all those reservations melted off of me at that moment. When I returned to Hawaii and our tent, I told my wife about what had come to my mind and we were in agreement. Long story short but the Lord graciously confirmed all that in short order after that and provided for the tickets for us to go there. Every detail just seemed to fall in place.
Finally, the day was coming for us to leave.We took down the tent, folded it up and sold it and the dismantled floor to another family who needed it and off it went in their truck. It was that simple. Just took it down, folded it up and off it went. Just like that... No muss, no fuss, our "house" was off to it's new purpose. The purpose for the tent in our lives was over and we watched it moved on... And, we moved on as well to follow the Lord in an entirely different direction and location. Just like that! (Can you hear my finger snapping?)
Now if we had built a house and had to move it to it's new location and purpose, that might have been an entirely different story. The truth be known, we very likely would not have responded to God in His direction had that been the case. We would have been too attached to the stability and looking forward to longevity in that place.
Now I'm obviously not advocating anyone live in a tent but I wanted to establish that I have had a certain level of experience living in a tent.
There is aspect to "living in a tent" that needs to be applied to how "christians" relate to "church." It applies individually and it applies organizationally.
I do have to express one thing at this juncture:
That those that follow Jesus the Messiah as a whole would be much better at responding to God's directions and moving with Him if we were to, in the organizational sense and our still imperfect perceptions of the Truth, consider "living in tents" in the Spirit. Instead, there is the constant building of what inevitably becomes permanent organizational monuments to something God may have in fact done or partially revealed years before but has subsequently moved further on in His plan for our perfection.
It is a sad testimony to the world and to angels that we are not able to fully follow Jesus as He leads us onward towards the promised land simply because we have been tricked into thinking we have already arrived. In the process, we have left a seemingly endless string of walled cities all claiming to be "the promised land."
