Monday Morning Blog: “Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice ~ Don’t Forget The Elephant In The Room” ~ To subscribe call 415-333-1970

By Richard Gazowsky

Caroline walked up to the pleasant, attractive ticket agent to book her plane flight back to San Francisco. Suddenly she smelled the pleasant aroma of cherry blossom flowers coming from the direction of the agent. Immediately a flash crashed through the mentally dark, depressing walls of the poor way of thinking that had been snaking through her mind. The voice said simply, “Compliment her.” Caroline knew it was the Lord speaking to her, and the little girl inside of her giggled because she smelled cherry blossoms so strongly. 

“Wow!” Caroline exclaimed, “I love cherry blossoms! And they are smelling so refreshing at this time of year.” The agent smiled, took Caroline’s identification and began processing her ticket. It was then that Caroline noticed the agent had fresh cherry blossoms pinned right above her nametag. Caroline and the busy agent glanced at each other, giggled and smiled, then turned away with girlish embarrassment ~ for they both knew that they both might sound silly if others heard them laughing at such an innocent observation.

While the agent continued her work Caroline turned around and looked at the dark cloud still lingering in the seat at the center of the airport lobby. It was Joe, and he had followed her. Joe was like the tar baby in the early American Uncle Remus’ story. The tar baby just sat there and said nothing. But just its presence annoyed Br’er Rabbit so much (because Br’er Rabbit was such an outgoing friendly sort) that before Br’er Rabbit knew it, the tar baby had stuck him all up. Caroline knew that Joe was a real tar baby in her life. He was going to sit around and annoy anyone who tried to be her suitor until she ended up being “stuck” with him. It is just what Joe had done to Sebastian.

Caroline knew what was going on in Joe’s mind as he sat there in the airport lobby. If he simply kept on bugging her, she would finally give up and become his companion for his boring life. After all, he had caused an emotional nuclear explosion in her life. Every dream of hers had come crashing helplessly down to the ground in ashes just hours earlier. She felt there was absolutely no way the rest of her life would ever be safe. She knew the kind of controlling spirit he had was destined to be permanent.

It was almost as though some advanced spirit in the angelic and spiritual realm orchestrated Joe’s movements because his timing and cleverness was beyond human comprehension. There is no way Joe could have known that she was in a blooming love relationship with Sebastian, the son of the President of the United States. There was no earthly reason why her parents were attacked by serious health conditions at the exact time she was about to take her final exam. The coincidences were too extreme. They had to be plotted and planned by a very sinister spirit. There was no way that Joe could have orchestrated them. The source had to be from the much more evil and advanced world of satanic angelic warfare.

Caroline remembered that this kind of thing had happened many times in biblical history. The most well-known story that applied to her circumstance was when Job was praying in the morning to the Lord. Satan also showed up and declared to God that he wanted to bring calamity into Job’s life so he would lose his way and break his intimate relationship with God. But the calamities that came upon Job did not turn him away from the Lord, even when they became so distressingly intimate and personal that Job developed huge sores upon his body. He was in such pain and misery that he sat in sackcloth and ashes.

And to make matters worse, Job’s friends showed up and talked to him for a long time about how miserable he was and looked, and what they knew he had done wrong. But Job had not done anything wrong. Job’s calamity became the reason for God to bless him extraordinarily ~ not only with great wealth, but with extended life and the most beautiful children in all the land. “Wow! That about says it all”, Caroline had thought as the preacher was explaining the sermon. “But now,” she wondered, “is it really going to be worth it? Is this my Job experience?”

Caroline still felt the pain of Joe’s verbal abuse after he destroyed her relationship with Sebastian, the President’s oldest son. So devastating were his cutting words that they still rang like clashing knife blades in her ears. And to think Joe called himself a Christian. Yet he lied and said that he was “supposed” to marry Caroline. How absurd and ridiculous this was to any person who knew them over the years. But what really troubled her was the look on Sebastian’s face ~ when he embarrassedly pulled away from her ~ while she was yet unable to speak because she was still coming out of unconsciousness. Caroline knew that such a respectable young man of Sebastian’s sensitivity would not take lightly to such harassment at such an inopportune time ~ especially when it was in the presence of his fellow students.

Caroline’s hand reached down and touched the Bible that was in her purse. She smiled to herself because she had remembered something about Sebastian’s name that made him so special. It was why his mother chose to give him that name. She first heard his story one night while the two of them were sitting together on the dormitory porch. What he told her was quite incredible. His mother named him after St. Sebastian, one of the early Christian military martyrs for Christ.

St. Sebastian had converted to Christianity at a time when it was illegal for praetorian guards to renounce their Roman gods. And it was a crime punishable by death. But St. Sebastian’s conversion was so real that he converted many of the prisoners of the Roman government to Christianity before they were executed. At one point seventy-two prisoners gave their lives to Jesus before their deaths.

Once, when St. Sebastian was visiting the home of a wealthy Roman, the man’s daughter (who was blind) was miraculously healed and her eyes were suddenly opened. Another famous Roman, who had lost his hearing, had it completely restored when St. Sebastian happened to visit him. When the Roman emperor found out about all of St. Sebastian’s converts, he immediately ordered his praetorian genius be put to death, in military fashion, on the open field. The praetorian guards tied Sebastian to a post in the center of a field, then had an array of archers fill his body with arrows. But when a young Christian lady came to remove his body to bury him, she discovered that miraculously St. Sebastian was still alive. She secretly took him to her own house and nursed him back to complete health.

Throughout the years the story of St. Sebastian surviving the fiery arrows of death caused many Christians in the Dark Ages to also believe, and God saved them from the bubonic plague that raged throughout Europe. But the story of St. Sebastian is even more memorable because years later the same emperor saw St. Sebastian in the streets alive and well ~ and had him martyred a second time. That was the reason the First Lady of the United States named her first-born son Sebastian. She felt that name represented trusting God without borders, because even death had not been a barrier to the Roman soldier’s life.

Caroline had felt such a warm glow when Sebastian relayed the personal facts about his life to her, because she so wanted to trust Jesus without any borders ~ be they financial, social, relational, or even the laws of nature that appeared to be physically set in stone. She wanted to be like a little child and believe that anything could happen. Joe interrupted her thoughts as he tapped her on the shoulder. “Here, I have your ticket. Let’s go get on the plane, Caroline.”

“There he goes again,” Caroline thought, “assuming he is something he’s not. No wonder God hates the sin of presumption.”

Caroline continued to think, as she walked next to him towards the plane, how Joe was such a perfect example of trust “with” borders. Everything about him spoke of confinement, restrictions, hindrances, and control. Joe wanted to dominate her life and put borders everywhere ~ to let every hope of hers to remain only a dream ~ not a reality. Oh, how much Caroline wanted her life to be like the 747 that she was just about to enter. She desperately desired to be free to fly away to her heaven-high aspirations. Yes, she wanted all of her dreams to come to pass.

Caroline knew that her hopes of going to West Point had been shattered because she did not take the final exam within the allotted time period. She had met with her counselor, before she left for the airport, and he informed her that there was no chance of her entering West Point. There was no recourse for those who did not take and pass the exam. Her desire of ever going to West Point had vaporized into smoke. To Caroline it looked like every dream that she had been blessed with for years had vanished before her eyes. And this man Joe was right there as a witness to declare that everything was over.

Caroline and Joe arrived at the airline gate together and the agent proceeded to take Joe’s ticket and direct him to the door of the plane. But when the agent looked at Caroline’s ticket he said, with a surprised look on his face, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you are in the wrong line. You are in first class.”

Taken aback, Caroline replied, “But how can that be?”

“Honey, it looks like you’ve been upgraded.” The agent then smiled and pointed Caroline to the first-class entrance.

Joe instantly froze at the doorway to the economy class. He had heard the words of the agent and they’d stuck like icicles into his back. Caroline briefly looked at him and smiled, careful not to say a word as she hurried towards the first-class gate, knowing that this must be the beginning of God taking her calamity and doing something wonderful with it.

It was Caroline’s first time to step into a first-class cabin, and she was unexpectedly pleased when the agent at the gate greeted her by her last name. “Miss O’Reilly, we have your seat prepared for you. Would you like something to drink as you wait for the plane to embark?”

Just the sound of those personal words caressed Caroline’s thoughts like an invigorating massage. There was something about this proper greeting and accompanying offer that seemed to be a sign that she was going to move up in society ~ and in life. As she lowered herself into the luxurious first-class lounge-seat, she was impressed by all the roominess. She felt like she was in her parent’s living room. And the leather was so soft and smooth. She took several moments to enjoy the refined details. While she sat there contentedly, a Scripture suddenly came to her mind:

“If you are having trouble with the footmen, how shall you fare when you encounter the horsemen?” The Scripture, which was referring to a soldier’s advancement from battling footmen to fighting against those on horses, was really trying to prepare people for promotion in life. As one gains more responsibility that comes with wealth and power, one also has an increase in tension, trouble, and calamity. More blessings mean more devils there are to try to steal them away.

Caroline suddenly understood that she was going to have to stop fighting her battles alone. She realized that the trouble that she was in right now was too great for her to figure out, plot, or plan for. She was going to have to trust Jesus every step of the way. This way was different from her cultural upbringing. There everyone talked about being a self-made person. But now she was thinking about becoming a Jesus-made person. Yes, she was aware that wealthy people had servants, secretaries, and managers to take care of everything.

But to be a Jesus-led person she would need to develop a different process in her own heart and mind. She was going to have to let God be her daily manager and planner, and literally “serve everything” to her heart, mind, and soul. Though it was an old phrase, it now was taking on new meaning to her, because she was really going to make Jesus “Lord of her life.” It was something that she had done in church when she was a little girl, but she never before realized its full meaning.

Caroline’s thoughts were cut short by the stewardess. “My dear Miss O’Reilly, we have the Earl Grey tea you requested, with some cream and sugar. I also brought you a travel satchel, where you will find all the necessary conveniences you may need for the journey.”

Caroline, out of reflex, responded, “Does it cost anything?”

“No ma’am, everything here is complimentary. And from our gourmet menu you can select what item you would desire our chef to personally prepare for you during your flight.”

“I am a bit overwhelmed,” Caroline said softly. “Oh…thank you.”

“Don’t worry, my dear,” the stewardess said codially, “you will get used to it.” The stewardess then smiled warmly and continued on with her duties.

Caroline silently sipped her cup of English tea as she felt the peace of God flood her mind and soul. She glanced around her special first class seating and then opened up the satchel the stewardess had given her. What thoughtful amenities! Inside was a beautiful robe for her to put on if she needed to awake from her sleep to use the bathroom. There was also a pair of warm socks and slippers; a toothbrush and toothpaste to refresh her mouth after sleeping.

Inside the satchel there were also two sets of cream ~ a night balm for her face, and a day application for after she awoke. She remembered a cosmetic lady once telling her about the necessity of having good clear skin by cleansing it properly. She never imagined that by flying first class she would receive these items as a matter of course. It was at that point that the Lord spoke to her very clearly:

“This is what I am about to do with your life, Caroline. You are going to be promoted. This means you are going to have to accept My perfect will for your life and not have control over everything you do. But remember what I have told you ever since you were a little girl. My plans for you are only to bring you good and to an expected end. Didn’t I tell the disciples if you asked Me for fish I would not give you a serpent? The reason I have had to say this to so many of My disciples is because the enemy wants you to assume that I, the Lord, have some ulterior motive when I ask you to do something. Evil spirits have tried to convince you that I want you to heal the world or change mankind by making some horrible sacrifice so others will experience happiness ~ but you will be left very unhappy. All of this has been a massive lie. I, the Lord, have only one desire for you; that you, above all are prosperous, are in good health, and live a long life. This has always been My plan for you.

“I am not using you to accomplish some greater good, I am not using you for any other person, but only to bless you individually, I mean you. It sounds selfish on your part to accept such a gracious gift from your Father in heaven. But because the blessings come from Me, their only basis is righteousness, and My righteousness is as high as the heavens are above the earth from man’s righteousness. Let your Father bless you, and this happens by you following My word every day. The next few weeks in your life are going to be confusing whirlwinds of activity so it is necessary, Caroline, that you do not make any plans or calculations for your future. Only listen to My voice for you ~ fresh and new every morning. Sit back in this first-class seat and relax. Just as the stewardess provided you a satchel with amenities for your every need, so I, the Lord, have a spiritual satchel that will provide for you every day what you need for just that day. Yes, you will go to West Point; yes, you will marry the President’s son; yes, your father and mother will live long lives. The only question is, are you willing to listen to My voice one day at a time?”

Caroline’s thoughts were interrupted by an announcement by the captain that there would be a slight delay to their departure from the gate and to please remain seated. Caroline looked around at the double-decker airplane. It appeared to be one of the brand-new planes of Singapore Airlines. Her first-class area was actually called a suite, which meant that her and only one other passenger were seated in the private compartment together. Suddenly a man opened the door to the suite and stepped into the compartment. Caroline, who was naturally shy, had quickly bowed her head and was asking the Lord to help her through the process of traveling with this unknown male companion. Immediately the Lord reminded her of something that was said in a sermon that a prophet had given: “Be comfortable with the uncomfortable.”

In other words, the prophet was saying that when God promotes you to a higher level of learning, you are going to meet new friends and relationships, and have interactions with total strangers that you are not accustomed to. He explained that many times people (who are used to things being done a certain way) when they face new situations they claim it is the devil’s doing because they have not learned to be “comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Every one of God’s promotions is going to cause a change in your life. As Caroline’s eyes were still closed, she suddenly felt a man’s hand rest on her back and she felt the living daylights being scared out of her! Instantly she sat up erect in her seat, ready to cry out with alarm when she saw the face of Sebastian. So he was the new passenger that was going to travel with her.

He smiled. “Did I startle you?”

She immediately broke into tears and hugged him with uncontrollable waves of emotion, “No,” she sobbed joyfully. “You thrilled me, and caused my emotions to leap out of my spirit.”

The next words Sebastian spoke answered and confirmed so many of Caroline’s reasoning and questions. “Caroline,” he said sincerely, “I understand that you had to leave to see your mother and father. But I am also aware there are many forces that are fighting against us coming together in our lives. I had to make sure that you were upgraded to first class so I could be alone with you for your flight home. I know what that young man said is not true. But more than that, the calamity which has befallen you has confirmed to me that you are the woman that God has chosen for me to be with for the rest of my life.” He then reached into his pocket, pulled out a red velvet box, and opened it. There, was a shining 5-carat engagement ring! “This was the ring that my father gave to my mother,” Sebastian said softly, “and it is the one I desire to give you to keep always. Will you be my wife, Caroline? “

Seeing the wondrous look on her face, he passionately embraced Caroline as she whispered in his ear, “Yes, yes, yes!” At that exact moment the huge jumbo jet left the ground and sailed into the skies towards their bright and exciting future.

That message from God changed Caroline’s life forever. Her children became American royalty, her daily life included visits to all of the royal families on planet earth ~ and her husband loved her charismatic church in San Francisco. They even joined in a crazy dance with her new friends at the front of the sanctuary. Joe found another woman, who was comfortable with living a life of modest expectations. But Caroline and Sebastian lived their borderless lives of faith. Sebastian gave Bible studies to kings, and also established prayer rooms in faraway military hospitals. Caroline touched millions of wealthy women around the world as she shared with them, through many versions of her story, her “first-class” experience. She truly reached the pinnacle of all of her dreams ~ and found that every day she experienced the joy of trusting without borders.

This is a weekly email written by Richard Gazowsky, Pastor of A Place To Meet Jesus church in San Francisco. If you would like to opt-out from this weekly email, simply click on the SafeUnsubscribe link below.

“A Modern Day Parable”

By Richard Gazowsky

  Her name was Caroline, and she was blessed with shocking red hair that flowed in the wind like a parade of children’s flags. But the parade field she was marching across was America’s most prestigious military prep school.  She had been chosen to be enrolled there despite her low-class Irish beginnings. Today it was all coming to a head for they were marching across the parade field to take the final exam, which would decide whether she would be accepted in West Point or not.

 Caroline giggled to herself as she remembered what a shock it was to her father and mother that she was even going to a prep school. Her father had emigrated from Ireland and had experienced the rough life of an Irish immigrant.  But eventually, through hard knocks and obeying the law, he elevated himself up to the stature of a San Francisco police officer. Her mother was another story.  She was raised in the streets of the city and became a drug addict at an early age.  But then she fell in love with the officer who had arrested her.

 One hot night in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco that love had given them Caroline.  Their love remained and grew and eventually they married. The redeeming factor in the life of Caroline’s mother was Jesus Christ. Her mother went to a charismatic church where she received the Holy Spirit and she subsequently taught Caroline the benefits of living with Jesus. Yes, Caroline believed it was because of her mother introducing her to Jesus Christ that sent her on her current journey that led to this nationally famous school.

 Ever since Caroline was a little girl she would sit with her mother in church and dream about becoming a princess who would marry a prince and live forever after in a beautiful castle. And now her childhood dream was actually coming to pass through the reality she was living!  There were so many miracles that brought her to where she was today. She was thankful for her father’s strong discipline and Catholic Irish background, and her mother’s belief in miracles that the impossible could always occur through God. But she also knew that her parents did not know about the biggest miracle that was happening, even now in the prep school, which was bigger than anyone in her family could have imagined.

 She met him the second week after she enrolled in school.  She did not know whom he was (though she would soon find out) and that he was the answer to every girl’s dream in America.  But she could not stop her initial impression that he was from the upper class of society.  He seemed so untouchable, even though he wore the standard uniform of the school.  As Caroline sat alone in her private times she would often dream of one day meeting someone like him.  But the thought was only for a brief wishful moment and it would pass away like a wistful idea in the wind.  The thing that sat like a magnet to the thoughts of her mind was that first chance meeting ~ just like her dreams ~ followed by a brief moment of talking in the hallway.  She could still sense his manly smell as he casually made remarks about her inquisitive questions.

 He was tall, handsome, had a warm inviting face (highlighted by hazel green eyes), and welcoming words from inviting lips.  Caroline remembered that in their first conversation, casually held in the school hallway, he had used the word “blessed” instead of “luck”, like so many other boys did.  But the statement that really put a strong foundation in her thinking about him was when he closed their conversation with, “God bless you.”  Caroline felt that whoever he was, he was way out of her social class.  Yet if he loved Jesus like she did, at least on this one point they would be perfectly equal.  Her mother and father had often told her that the Bible teaches that she must be “equally yoked” with the person she married.

 Weeks later Caroline discovered who the young man was.  He was Sebastian, the first son of the president of the United States.  As might be expected this revelation changed everything in her mind, and she was having a hard time with the feelings that were still in her heart from that first meeting.  But these already deep-felt emotions changed the night of the prep school swimming party.  Because of her conservative religious upbringing she had never been in a public swimming pool, let alone wear a bathing suit.

 The swimming party was going to be a very different experience for her because she believed she was not supposed to turn down the invitation.  She had taken an extra amount of time for private prayer on the question if she should attend.  To her amazement Jesus not only told her to go to the party, but to wear a really nice bikini He had her purchase earlier.  What played out that night was similar to what happened to the ancient Biblical Queen Esther and her meeting with King Ahaserxus ~ Esther’s “One night with the king.”

 Caroline entered the hall that housed the swimming pool, in the middle of a group of girls who were laughing joyously.  But even through the din she noticed Sebastian’s attention was in her direction.  The young men at the party then bemusedly asked the girls to do a fashion show before they dove into the warm water of the pool.  The girls were embarrassed, but being caught up in the revelry of the moment tossed away their towels and in single file ran and dove into the pool.  Caroline was the second to the last in line and was red with embarrassment, yet she knew she was being required to do the same as the other girls.

 But just before her time came something wonderful happened.  In the flash of a moment she caught Sebastian’s eyes and there was such warmth, compassion, and understanding in his look, that she suddenly felt strangely comfortable.  It was like, for that brief moment, a true friend was watching her.  She dove into the pool and when she surfaced, Sebastian was in the water right beside her with a dry towel, and he gently helped her out of the pool.  He was so careful to make sure that she was appropriately covered.  They then sat together, she with her feet in the water, and talked like old friends.

 The evening went by quickly and nightfall found his arm around her shoulder, bringing warmth to her chilled body.  As they walked along and then parted at the door of the girl’s dressing room, something occurred in Caroline’s heart that exploded into a mushroom cloud of emotion throughout her entire body.  She knew that he was her dream.  No matter what the rest of the world was thinking, she felt that at that moment they were equally yoked.  For everything they talked about, dreamed about, and wished about, was in the same hunger, rhythm and spirit.  Caroline knew that her every dream was coming to pass, but she also saw how impossible it would seem to everyone who knew her…

 He had been her best friend through her middle school years.  His name was Joe and he had known Caroline since the sixth grade.  Yes, Joe was a fellow schoolmate and a good friend ~ but that was all that he was ever going to be.  He would constantly and playfully remind her about the Scripture of being equally yoked.  Joe felt that he was equal to Caroline.  But he was equal to her poverty life of the past ~ and not the dream life of her hopeful future.

 Even though Joe was barely out of high school, he was already settled in his ways.  He did not want to go anywhere different or do anything new.  He just wanted everything to be the same ~ every day, every year.  To Joe the purpose of the Christian life was to have better sameness, and to make sure he never caused anybody any trouble or difficulty.  Yes, this sounded peaceful, but Caroline was dreaming about adventure and wanted something to catch her life on fire.

 Caroline reminisced these thoughts through her mind as her school class finished crossing the elegant parade grounds, then marched up to the advanced testing center where Caroline was to be tested.  The class was dismissed and Caroline prepared to enter into the testing area.  As she checked her outfit, making sure all was proper, she glanced up and was stunned to see Joe, dressed in a suit and tie, with a serious somber look upon his face as he searched through the cloud of students for Caroline.

 Her first impulse was to turn and flee, for only a horrible event would motivate him to come all this way to her school.  He probably was bringing a message that would shatter all of her dreams upon the ground.  But she stopped herself from running away, for she knew that she would eventually have to face whatever he was going to say.  She might as well get it over with as quickly as possible.  And she still had to face the ominous test that was waiting for her in the building just behind the spot where Joe was standing…

 Caroline, knowing that she must look different after her months of training went up and introduced herself to Joe.  Joe stepped back amazed, because she looked so professional and official.  He then caught himself, grabbed her in a big bear hug and said, “Don’t worry, my little teddy bear, I’ve got you now.”  Immediately Caroline pushed him away.  His words rattled her like the coil of a poisonous snake and instantly flashed back hundreds of memories of her past ~ daunting issues that were trying to hold her back from success.  Even the sound of Joe’s voice felt like acid burning upon her skin.  It caused her to snap back at him in a reflex of emotion.  ”What are you doing here?  I am just getting ready to take a test and the last thing I need right now is for you to bring a distraction.”

 ”I’m not here to distract you.  I am here to save you, save you from hurting yourself.”

 ”What are you talking about, Joe?”  Caroline replied with disgust.

 Realizing that he had said the wrong thing, Joe knew he needed to quickly change his tactic before he became an embarrassment in front of all of her classmates.  ”Caroline, I need to talk to you privately…  It’s about your mother and father.”  His words hit with a heart-tremoring crunch in her spirit and she suddenly became weak in her legs.  She was well aware that her father and mother had been having progressive problems with health issues.  Joe quickly got her to step aside.  The other classmates, sensing it was a serious moment, ushered them into a vacant classroom.  A male student then tapped Caroline gently on the shoulder and said, “Should I get Sebastian?”

 Caroline looked at him and held up her hand, but before she could say “No” the young man was gone.  Joe, seeing that Caroline was being distracted, grabbed both of her arms to demand her full attention.  ”Caroline, listen to me!  Your father has been taken to the hospital and the doctors feel that he has a blood clot in his heart.  At any moment it could dislodge, cause an aneurism in his brain, and he would be dead.  And that’s not all.  Your mother has cellulitis in her legs and they have wrapped them in heavy bandages.  She is in such pain that she can’t even visit your father in the hospital.   Your family cannot live another moment without you.  This is the voice of God calling you back to your home!”

 Caroline suddenly collapsed in a dead faint on the steps of the school.  It was Joe’s method of blaming God that had exasperated Caroline to the point of going passing out. She had heard that kind of thing for most of her life.  It was always “the reaction that came after a storm” that would steal everything that she had dreamed of from her.  Could this be another episode of the reoccurring failures in her life?  These thoughts raced through her mind as she began to come out of the fog that was surrounding her while she lay upon the ground in the arms of Joe.

 Caroline suddenly blinked her eyes open.  But the first face she focused upon was not Joe but Sebastian.  Though she was still too weak to speak she could faintly hear Joe’s voice say, “I don’t know who you are, Mister, but my name is Joe and I’m going to marry Caroline.  She has been my girlfriend since the sixth grade and I would appreciate it if you would leave and let Caroline and I to work out our future together.  You have no right to talk with Caroline.”

 Caroline tried to speak, but for some reason the energy was not yet given to her.  She watched as Sebastian backed away, embarrassed and unsure of himself.  She wanted to scream and punch Joe’s face but she still could not even move her lips.  ”What is this calamity that has come to me?” she cried inwardly.  ”Why is it happening now?”

 To be continued…….

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This is a weekly email written by Richard Gazowsky, Pastor of A Place To Meet Jesus church in San Francisco. If you would like to opt-out from this weekly email, simply click on the SafeUnsubscribe link below.

When God Plans Your Day, Your Life Turns Into An Adventure.

By:  Richard Gazowsky

Think about this Scripture for a moment: ”In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  And God said, ‘Let there be light’:  And there was light.”  And yet, the One who accomplished all of what you just read about ~ is actually willing to organize your daily schedule!  How fantastic that the Person who created the heavens and the earth, by just speaking, is desiring to use the same creative force to create your schedule tomorrow.  Wow!  That is enough to totally blow your mind!  The Mastermind of the whole universe is willing to help you plan your daily schedule ~ and He’ll do it free of charge!  Wow!  Wow!  Wow!

Jesus said it works this way:  ”Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son of man can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”  In other words, Jesus frankly admitted that He could do nothing without first seeing the Father do it.  In simple English, He was having the God of the universe literally plan His daily schedule.  The real shocking point is that the entire meaning of this verse is that God is also willing to plan your personal daily schedule.  I mean literally give you a list of things to do every day.  One of the things we must realize is that this is not some obscure point that we find in the Bible.  Rather, it is a major theme that recurs throughout the entire Bible.  As a matter of fact, the whole Bible is about trusting in God to plan everything.  

Just take a minute and look at the big picture.  The entire Bible is a collection of adventure stories that are giving the moral advice to trust God to plan our daily schedules ~ just as Moses trusted God to plan his daily activities, King David trusted God to lay out his royal duties ~ and the list goes on.  So the question is, what about you?  Are you believing God to plan your daily schedule?

At the beginning of this chapter you read the title, “Anything Could Happen.”  But it is more than just a statement.  It’s actually how you need to approach the voice of God when He speaks to you.  But many of us have preconceived ideas of what we think God wants to say to us.  Unless the word that we are hearing falls into one of the predetermined categories that we are willing to approve of, we reject the word and think it is not God’s voice.   Some might even call it a derogatory name.  Don’t worry, Jesus dealt with this problem in His day.  None of the religious leaders would listen to God’s word when Jesus spoke it, because it didn’t fit into any of their preapproved categories.

I am simply trying to help you, so that you do not fall into the same trap and pigeon-hole mindset that the intellectuals of Jesus’s day fell into.  We have got to open our minds and be willing to accept whatever He says.  But Jesus explained how simple it was to get past these mental roadblocks when He said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”  You must stop thinking like an adult, begin thinking like a little child, and believe that “anything could happen”.

Princess Kate’s Dream:  ”Anything Could Happen”

Kate Middleton was a young commoner in England, and normally would not have had any hopes of advancement in the British royal class system.  Yet this simple, elegant, beautiful young girl believed that God could open any of her options.  So, when her father suggested that she enroll in Scotland’s oldest university, Saint Andrews (established in 1414), she said, “Yes, daddy” ~ not knowing that the old hewn baroque stone halls held an adventure for her that would catch the hearts and minds of billions of people throughout planet earth.  

One day, in 2001, she was walking out of the university library, and saw, to her amazement, a young man by the name of Prince William, who had also that year enrolled in the same college.  William was really having difficulty with boredom in the courses that he had been assigned and was considering changing schools.  What seemed to be at the time merely a coincidence, he began a casual conversation with the young Kate Middleton about this subject.  They ended up talking and laughing for about twenty minutes, after which they were ushered off to their next assignments.  But William could not get Kate’s advice out of his mind.  She told him she thought he should continue on at the college and just change his courses to more interesting subjects ~ from art history to geography.  

Come spring of 2002, William saw an ad in the local school paper that announced a student fashion show for charity, and he decided to plop down two hundred pounds for a front row seat at the event.  Spring was in the air, flowers were blooming, and the fruit trees around the campus were wafting their luscious aroma into the breeze.  William, entering with his royal friends, found his reserved seat at the fashion show.  The first few students came out, showing off their latest designs, while William and his friends watched respectfully.  Suddenly the earth seemed to stand still, for out on the runway was Kate Middleton ~ attired in a black swimsuit covered with a sheer black lace see-through dress!

The young prince’s heart skipped a beat as he watched, in slow motion, Kate walking directly down the aisle in front of him ~ so close that he could catch a whiff of her subtle perfume.  Young William may have been destined to become king of all 19 British provinces, but at that moment all England skipped a beat.  For this young woman “Kate” had caught the future heart of an entire nation at that exact second ~ because the way the heart of the king goes, so goes the nation.  Kate, undoubtedly, did not realize the monumental happenings that were occurring just a few feet away as she glided elegantly past the face of the future monarch.  But history will forever remember the moment when this young woman caught a nation’s eye.

And so it is that history will record the moment that you caught God’s eye.  It is that point in time when you finally attracted Him by your hunger and vulnerability, when the Father saw you are willing to admit that, “Anything Could Happen” ~ the response to your hunger for God to schedule the rest of the events of your life.  Yes, Kate and William went through eight years of private romance without the gazing eyes of the British paparazzi.  And during that time their relationship could have broken apart.  But it didn’t because Kate held onto the belief that “anything could happen.”  

Finally, in April 2008, it became public knowledge that Kate and William were officially together ~ after William received his Royal Air Force wings from his father, Prince Charles.  Then, on November 23, 2010, Buckingham Palace issued an official announcement ~ which included the approval of Britain’s 19 national territories ~ that William and Kate Middleton would be married in Westminster Abbey.  To some of you this might have seemed overly formal and unnecessary, but I believe it was extremely necessary to show how far down the chain of authority they were willing to go.  If those 19 nations approved of William’s engagement (and his marriage to Kate) it also meant that all of them would one day subject themselves to the rulership of the baby that would be born in the Prince of Wales’ household.

This is a perfect example of what happens to you the day you catch the eye of God.  There is a beautiful quote from the Song of Solomon that says, “You have ravished me with just one look of your eye.”  And so it is with God’s love for us.  It is incomparable to any human love that we may know or reflect upon.  When the God of the universe looks at you and offers to plan your daily schedule, it is actually the beginning of a supernatural romance and love affair.  God loves you so much that He was willing to die at Calvary just to win your affection.  And now He is offering to plan your daily schedule.  The amazing thing about the planning of your schedule is that He does not do it for His benefit, but for yours!  This is why you must allow God to destroy any mental, religious, political, familial, or cultural strongholds that are in your mind.  You must become like a little child and be willing to do anything that God asks you to do.  

Doug Lanza, one of the pastors in our church, recently confessed in front of the congregation that inwardly he had been afraid of what God would make him do.  He laughed as he told us this, because he saw how ridiculous it was to think that God would plan anything that would be derogatory to Doug’s personal benefit.  Didn’t Jesus say that earthly fathers, being evil, know how to give good gifts to their children?  How much more does our heavenly Father know how to give good gifts to you, His children?  Doug went on to say that God had asked him if he was willing to put his family’s vacation on hold because there was something different God wanted them to do.  Wow!  Do you know how incredible it is to have, instead, the God of the universe offer to plan your family’s vacation?  

And so it is with everything in our lives.  God is making this offer to each one of you to schedule an adventurous life for you.  But the question comes down to one simple phrase: Are you willing to live under the excitement of, “Anything could happen?”  That phrase, by the way, was the title of a song that was Kate and William’s favorite composition, and was sung at their wedding reception.  The song truly expressed the feel and excitement that Kate and William felt when they faced the possibility of a commoner marrying a true prince, for it seemed like such a huge divide of history that stood between them.  Yet with the help of Queen Elizabeth and 19 nations, they were able to cross the cultural chasm and experience the true reality that, “Anything Could Happen.”  

Last year, on the television show X Factor, one of the singing groups that were in the running to win the event, chose the song as the one that they would sing in the final rounds of voting.  We have included the link of this video and encourage you also to believe that, “Anything Could Happen.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52HEPNnSIqg&feature=player_embedded

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By:  Richard Gazowsky

The car that I am now driving is a Ford Fusion.  It is a hybrid car that operates by using two different power sources ~ one with electricity and the other gasoline.  The most unique part of this system is that the electrical engine has the ability to generate electricity and store power in the batteries (which the gasoline engine is unable to do), while once you use up the gas it cannot be resupplied unless you go to a gas station.  This hybrid technology has caused me to do some thinking about my own spirit.

There are certain things in your life that once they are used up the power is gone.  But then there are things in your spirit that can be constantly renewed and regenerated, and so guarantee you emotional and physical power that you can use in your daily life.  One of these things is joy.  ”The joy of the Lord is your strength,” the Bible says.  In another reference Peter declared that it is “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

These Scriptures show us that joy is something that can be stored up for use at a later time.  For example, you can think of your upcoming vacation and the things that you are planning on doing, and just mentally rehearsing them will bring joy to your spirit.  This especially works well if you recall a moment where you and God experienced a great victory, and then you can believe for a similar kind of victory in the future.  This literally sets your spirit up to be rejuvenated during a potential low or discouraging moment.

Brother Timothy prophesied to us that throughout the prophecies that had been given to us this year we were to constantly focus on the joy of the Lord.  As a matter of fact, he told us that having fun was the primary word for this year!  I believe that the reason he gave this word is because joy is a reusable asset that we must fill our spiritual tanks with so it can give us power to go through any trial and tribulation that we face.

For example, over the last few weeks God has increased my exercise schedule.  But I also have had a sharp pain going up the nerve center of one of my legs.  Anytime that pain strikes me I immediately plug into the asset of joy that is in my spirit, I recall one of the many projects that the Lord has put in front of me, and I think of the joy that is going to come when I complete each one.  Wow!  It really turns things around!  Now mind you, the pain in my leg is still there, but my response has become completely different.  I giggle and rejoice because I know the pain will soon be gone and the joy will live on forever.

Each one of us can learn to use joy as an asset that can be stored up.  In quiet times of contemplation I have found myself mentally rehearsing the list of exuberant joyful assets that God has given me in my life.  Take my wife for instance.  I dwell on her beauty, her encouraging pleasant-sounding voice, and the multiple things she does daily to make my life experiences more pleasant.  Next I go to the assets of my children.

I marvel at how my son and two daughters provide me with intricate levels of encouragement through our daily interactions with each other.  And then, of course, my thoughts go to my mother (who is 90 years old and is still living with us) and the wonderful joyous communications we have with each other each day ~ from our good morning conversations, our walk through the nearby mall, and ending with her fellowshipping with the family as she prepares to go to bed.

As I rehearse each of these heartwarming experiences in my mind, I find joy flowing out from the fond remembrances.  These mental exercises actually flood my daily thoughts with the joy of the Lord.  And to top it all off, God has set me on unique projects that are so overwhelming in their scope for my own ability to accomplish, that they bring me to Olympic champion-level joy.  In fact, the challenge is so great that when engaging in each one of the tasks, I experience the chill bumps of adventures similar to sailing out into an unbridled ocean toward an unstoppable future.  Wow, what a way to live!

If you can just get the picture.  What I am trying to do is to mentally rehearse every string of thoughts that go through my mind, and make sure that every jot, tittle, sentence, and paragraph is covered with the sugarcoated joy of the Lord.  I believe this is the secret to true success.  The zeal of the Lord has consumed me!

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 Monday Morning Blog: “Angel Technography ~ The Power Of The Daily Download”  ~ To learn how to subscribe click here

By:  Richard Gazowsky

The closer that I have been getting to God, the more I am realizing how His every command is to get me to enjoy life even more.  The testing and trials that I have been through have been designed very carefully to destroy taboos and hindrances that keep me from enjoying life to its fullness.  Boy, if you get this revelation you are going to find out that the funnest life a person can ever live is one completely given over to God’s perfect will.  There may be some of you, who have been fraught a long time in religion, tradition, that might naturally think (and satan’s propaganda has tried to sell you on) that God only wants you to obey religious rules, hindrances, and so become boring and completely non-creative.  But nothing can be further from the truth. 

Let me explain.  God is the Creator of the universe, so everything He does is creative.  Nothing God touches is boring or predictable.  There is a vision in the Bible, by the great prophet Ezekiel, in which he saw a wheel in the middle of a wheel.  I believe this vision describes the massive search engine of the Holy Spirit that is constantly going through the earth “looking for people that God can be strong on their behalf.”  So it is that God has found you today reading this blog, and the Holy Spirit is knocking on your heart’s door and asking you to come and dance.

Some of you may think, “Why would God want me to dance?”  The best way I can put this is Jesus said if the inside of the cup is clean then the outside will be clean of itself.  For God to transform you He needs to start in your inner core.  Your inner core, Jesus said, is in your belly, “For out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water.  This spake He of the Holy Ghost.”  God wants the Holy Spirit to flow out of your inner core.  This happens when you speak in tongues.  But God today is asking you to submit your entire body to the Holy Spirit.  He wants you to dance with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues while you are dancing.  I found that when I do this my whole body becomes in sync with the Holy Spirit.  I am telling you that this is the best exercise you are ever going to experience.  And this is just the beginning of the inner transformation that God has in store for you.  I think I have told you about all that you can handle right now.  Next week we will go a little further (and if you are really risky you can subscribe to the Monday Morning Blog.)

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“One New Phrase, ‘Angel Technography’

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 Monday Morning Blog: “Detailed Guidance Through The Study Of ‘How’ in Angel Technology” ~ To subscribe just click here.

By: Richard Gazowsky

It might sound weird to you, but every single day I am caught in the grip of wonder at God’s inspiring miracles and out-of-the-blue surprises. When Sandy and I got married 39 years ago, we believed God to supply a home for us to live in as newlyweds. Two days before our wedding a small apartment was provided for us, this was our first miracle, but God was setting us up for a real surprise.

 When the wedding was in full swing I was shocked to see my father sitting on the front row.  I had been told that he would be unable to attend the wedding because of his work schedule.  What a pleasant surprise it was to see him there.  Later, at the wedding reception, my father shook my hand with congratulations.  When I pulled my hand away I found I was holding a thousand dollars!  My father simply said, “Go on a beautiful honeymoon.”  This really amazed Sandy and I because we had limited money and had not even planned on going on a honeymoon.  Now we could do something that was far beyond our expectations.  

 Sandy’s parents had spent their early married life in Palm Springs so we had decided to make Palm Springs our unexpected honeymoon destination.  For the first time in either of our lives we embarked on an airplane.  I will never forget the incredible wonder we felt when we flew.  We could actually feel the plane floating on the wind and it seemed so unreal and magical!  We had definitely entered into a new dimension of travel.  

 That first flight raced through my mind like a magical journey.  I was so awe-inspired by the concept that man could actually fly!  I felt like new worlds of possibilities were opening in front of me as we winged our way to Palm Springs.  I must have talked Sandy’s ear off because my young mind was filled with so many ideas as a result of the awesome surprise provided by my earthly father (but really by my heavenly Father.)

 This is one of thousands of examples that I could share with you about the surprises that God gives you as bonuses for obeying Him and doing His perfect (and I emphasize perfect) will.  Remember, there are two other wills of God.  There is His “good” will, which is you pretty much doing what you want to do as long as it is in obedience with the principles set down in the Bible.  Then there is the “acceptable” will of God, and usually this involves someone who starts out following God’s perfect will but gets anxious and can’t wait for it to be fulfilled.  They end up with the “acceptable will of God”, which of course is not as good as the perfect but it is still alright.  

 What I am really emphasizing in this blog is the “perfect will of God.”  You see, it is this last and best option that is loaded with God-sized surprises that create nuclear explosions of joy and excitement.  If somehow I can explain to you how wonderful His perfect will is, because in it you are constantly loaded with bonuses and accumulated benefits that constantly keep on giving and giving to you.  No wonder the Bible says, “The Lord maketh rich and addeth no sorrow with it.”  

 The Bible is chock full of people that have obeyed God’s perfect will and found their lives loaded with benefits for doing so.  Job experienced this kind of bountiful supply.  King David is honored throughout history because he sought God’s perfect will and reaped the rewards from it ~ and even saw his son become the wealthiest man on earth.  Wow!  Do you realize what God has in store for you? The amazing thing about this simple truth is all you have to do is start obeying His will today.  Remember, it is always the little things, the tiniest obedience, that is exactly what God wants you to do.  He said if you are faithful in little He will make you ruler over much.  

 Today the Lord told me to exercise with my daughter, wash the dishes, and do some other menial tasks around the house.  As I completed each one the surprises followed ~ yes, and I mean even big surprises ~ the kind that can make your whole month happy.  And wow!  That is for just obeying God for one day.  I cannot wait to see what tomorrow has for me.  What about you?

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The subject of this week’s Monday morning blog is:

“Angel Technology and the Principle of Learning”

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By Richard Gazowsky

Last Sunday I was invited to go over to Sister Clara’s home after church.  (It is important that I tell this story in the following manner because to visit Sister Clara in her private quarters was always an honor for me.)  She was one of the first people to be saved at the church that I now pastor, the Voice of Pentecost in San Francisco, under my mother’s ministry back in the late 60′s when I was just eleven years old.  Of course at that time Sis. Clara was taller than I and I was taught at an early age to respect her much like I did my grandmother, Nana, who was Sister Clara’s mentor. As I grew up, both of these stately women watched over my crazy childhood.  As a matter of fact, just weeks ago, Sister Clara shared stories about seeing me playing radical imaginary games with my imaginary playmates.  One time she caught me sword-fighting in the church with a thousand enemy troops, and when a busybody saint tried to tell her I was crazy, she just laughed and said, “No, Richard has got a healthy imagination that the Lord is developing and will use one day.”  

A few years ago my mother and I visited Sis. Clara in the hospital and she asked me with a disgusted look on her face, “Why are you here?”  You have to know Sister Clara to understand her disgust, because she felt that the man of God shouldn’t be wasting his time dealing with her situation at that moment, but of course mother and I knew that it was important that we were there, and expressed to her that the Lord had told us to come.

This experience and other fond memories are examples of our interactions through the years.   I was now invited to Sister Clara’s home as her pastor because she was seriously ill.  When I had last visited her she was extremely well spirited and looked fantastic; you could not tell that her heart was fatigued and had run its course.  Knowing this to be the situation that Sister Clara was in, I knew that it was extremely vital that I visit her.

To visit Sister Clara’s home is, as mentioned, an extreme honor and privilege.  As her condition worsened she realized that it would be necessary for others to visit and for some to even take care of her. It was like watching an old retired general who had been used to the battlefield and serving his troops during the war, and who, now in his retirement, has discovered the necessity of letting others serve him (sometimes in the most menial of tasks.)

So it was with Sister Clara, this great warrior who had served others and blazed through the battles of life but was now finding it necessary in her waning days to become the recipient of that same servanthood.  When I finally arrived at her door Sister Rutha and Lynette met me and brought me to view the body of Sister Clara who had already passed from this life into the next.  When I walked through the bedroom door and saw the still-warm body of my elder sister, stately, beautiful and resting pleasantly, I realized that she was gone.  Instantly I wept.

The tears began flowing from my eyes like a river.  I can’t ever remember weeping like this.  It was just as if an uncontrollable wave had overwhelmed me.  I could not explain it; I had no definition, no interpretation, just pure emotion.  This emotional flow caused me, after days of contemplation, to read this scripture in John 11:35, where it says, “Jesus wept.”

The Greek word that is used for “wept” is the word “dakryo”, which means to shed tears.  I realized that at that moment Jesus was expressing emotions through His fleshly body.  He was also preparing for one of the greatest miracles that would happen in his ministry; the raising of his friend, Lazarus, from the dead.   Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days. John the Apostle scripturally describes the details behind this profound miracle in Jesus’ ministry.  I believe the details are there to show us the extreme emotions you will be required to go through to see the glory of God manifested in your own personal life.

Don’t be afraid of emotional explosions and mitigating experiences that seem to put pressure upon you at what may appear to be the wrong place at the wrong time.  Remember that the Apostle James spoke about this dynamic as he wrote,

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.  So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father.  He loves to help.  You’ll get His help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it.  Ask boldly, believing, without a second thought.  People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves.  Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.”

I could not say it any better.

If you would like to get the teaching from the first week of classes on Angel Technology it costs $111.00.  Teaching from the first week of classes on Angel Technology now available! For details, email SMF2013@mail.com.

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The subject of this week’s Monday morning blog is:

“Angel Technology: How God Downloads Innovations To You, Circumventing Laws”

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The subject of this week’s Monday morning blog is:

“The Incremental and Detailed Adjustments In Angel Technology”

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