October 14th, 2022 – 6:04pm – Hostel In German Colony, Haifa, Israel:

Today has been uneventful… I took a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up God said, “Come up to Mt. Carmel and meet me.” And with these words He showed me a vision of where to meet Him. So later this evening I will go up. What a weird and wonderful thing… being called to go up the mountain.

——

I climbed the mountain… through the high buildings and winding staircases. I had heard that Haifa had wild pigs of enormous size… but I had yet to see one until tonight. I was walking along and suddenly I spotted the largest pig I’ve ever seen… wild boar that stood with his back as tall as my hips. At least four feet tall and the height of his back with mean-looking tusks. I tried to snap a photo before walking the opposite direction. The photo turned out blurry but the experience was quite real.

I am now sitting at the overlook above Haifa. There is a festival going on due to the holidays here in Israel… so I am surrounded by families all enjoying this beautiful night and the festivities.

I am thinking of all the pathways that lead me to this moment of my life. What has been… to bring me to what is now. Me… a relative no one… in the middle of a foreign city… alone. Far from home and friends and comforts afford me back in the USA. Culture shock has been edging closer and closer I can feel it. It’s almost upon me.

As I walked up the steps alone in this foreign city I felt Jesus walking beside me. He put His hand on my shoulder as we walked and I wondered if any other people in the world experienced Him as I did. He asked me this question as we walked upward, “Are you willing to give me your whole life for this land?” And I really had to think about it. He was asking for more than I’d ever given Him before… it wasn’t a natural question. It was a spiritual question. A deep question. Was I willing to lay down my life so that the people of this land could come to know Him as I did. That was the question. Was I willing to let go of any remaining ideas of what my life might look like moving forward and give Him complete Lordship over me. It was a transactional question. “Yes,” was my reply. I was ready to give Him everything. I thought about my car that I had given away and that pang of grieve struck me. I thought of my two bedroom apartment in California I had left. I thought of my friends on the farm. Their smiles… the games we played together… I thought of the new puppies that my friends had gotten shortly before I had left Texas. I thought of my spiritual parents and of all the moments we had sat in their living room talking about God. I thought of washing their feet before I left knowing that it might be the last time I would see them. I thought of the football game that I had attended at my brother’s house and the hugs I’d given there to them as I said goodbye. I thought of the hug my mom and I shared and the tears in her eyes as I felt the pang of knowing that that moment might be the last I would see her on this earth. “Yes,” I whispered into the night again to the One who had given His life for mine. “Whatever you want of me I will gladly give. If only others could know you as I do.”

What is the cost of discipleship? Everything. Take it from someone who has paid the price to follow Him. It will cost you everything. Your family, your friends, your land, your possessions, your comfort, and yes even your very life. He will ask of you everything you hold dear. As He said, “Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor and then follow after me.”

And so I sit here, feeling the presence of my God so strongly with me here on the top of Mt. Carmel. Alone in the natural… surrounded in the spiritual. God brought me here… for a purpose… a mysterious purpose I have yet to discover. And it’s worth it all because He is worth it all.

What do you live for my friend? What drives you through this life? Are you truly a follower of Jesus or just on the sidelines? Have you paid the price yet? Or are you terrified of giving your all to Him? Salvation is just the beginning of a journey… and I’d love to see you come to the place where you can say yourself that you’ve given Him your all… holding nothing back.

I’m flawed… broken… struggling with so many deep things… but I am saying Yes… yes… yes… again and again… yes.

For the one… for the One.

And I’ve seen in the faces of so many people already since I left Texas the love of God being poured into them from me. Moments… moments of looking across a table and just loving someone any way I can. This is the journey. This is what Jesus did every single day of His life and He set the example for us.

I only really have these words to offer you… and the testimony of my life lived for Him. Will you just watch or will it inspire you to give all? To Know Him and To Make Him Known! One day at a time and one moment… one moment to be kind and one moment to give something you have to someone who doesn’t have. That is love is it not. To give without thought to those who need. This is true religion.

I plan to find out the answer to the question, “What can God do with someone who is totally devoted to Him?” One day at a time… until He takes me home to be with Him.

So to my family and my friends I say, “Oh how I miss you all so deeply! How I wish for many more moments with you all! But we will have those eternally… for now I must be about my Father’s business here in Israel.”

Thank you all for your continued prayer and please consider giving financially to support what God is doing here in Haifa through my life.

The best way to give is through the GoFundMe which will transfer to me in a matter of days.

On to the next day I go…