Five major cities in three weeks, most of it with the whole family, has been no easy task. Blessed and favored? Yes. Full of Kingdom storming and personal growth? Absolutely! But not easy.
Of course, nothing worthwhile ever is. Life is full of easy paths and comfortable choices, but God has seldom, if ever, asked easy things of us. He is not in the business of \”easy.\” (Post script – About ten minutes after typing this part in the car on the way home, we had a tire blow out and were stuck on the side of the interstate in the middle of the night for about three hours. God is good and helped us in many ways that night, but it certainly was not \”easy.\”)
Jason began the month by heading to Los Angeles for Azusa Now. He and many others participated in a forty day fast leading up to April 9. The gathering itself was an epic fifteen hour time of worship, prayer, declaration, and commissioning. Some 70,000 people showed up to spend most of that time on their feet and in the steady rain. Millions more watched from live stream. Jason was able to attend several meetings and connect with leaders from around the nation. Our hearts are certainly stirred from this gathering, and we believe it to be a turning point for revival.
Less than a week later, the five of us packed up the trusty Envoy, loaded up enough fruit snacks and peanut butter to survive a ten hour road trip, and hit the road for Washington, D.C. The first stop was David\’s Tent in its new location at the head of Constitution Gardens. The tent has had its fair share of obstacles this year (a papal visit, winter storms, and upcoming location changes in addition to the recent move), but the team is ever faithful. The leadership and volunteer staff of the tent are among the most faithful and joyfully resilient bunch we have ever known. Perhaps it is the effect of spending hours a day in the presence of God, engaged in true worship. Perhaps it is simply the faith that results from witnessing God\’s faithfulness time and time again. We are constantly inspired to greater faith by them (I just used the word \”faith\” a whole bunch!).
The next day we boarded a train for Manhattan. This was an incredible experience! We were immediately met with the swells of humanity – people everywhere, languages and colors of every imaginable sort, the smells, the constant noise – the city teemed with life. To be honest, we loved it! We walked the city\’s busiest areas to observe and pray. Later that night, Jason hit Times Square again on his own to pray and minister. The next day, we visited the September 11th Memorial before Jason took the train into Boston to attend the Glory Train launch event at Fanueil Hall. There, Cindy Jacobs spoke about being bold enough to pray big prayers in faith.
On Wednesday, back in New York, we went to Federal Hall to pray and let Judah get a history lesson. That evening, we all went to the Times Square House of Prayer (TSHOP) for powerful worship and prayer in a basement studio just a couple of blocks from where the ball drops on New Years\’ Eve. What an awesome thing to have an active House of Prayer in such a busy and significant place.
Thursday had us back on the train, this time to Philadelphia. We attended the Glory Train event at In the Light Ministries. I was pleased to see such a large gathering of believers join in worship, with dancing and flag-waving. The night was punctuated with celebratory and declarative worship.
We spent Friday in Philadelphia\’s historic and renowned sites, covering some more homeschool territory and getting a prayer-mapping perspective. As intercessors, we are always on the hunt for God\’s heart for an area through the history, cultural climate, and spiritual atmosphere. Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, and we sensed the shift immediately once we stepped off the train. We pray God amplifies this name for His name!
Finally, we arrived back in D.C. for a last night on the Glory Train with Dutch Sheets and several David\’s Tent and JHOP folks. Dutch spent time laying hands and blessing the Hamills, Locketts, and Hersheys, three couples who have invested so much for the Kingdom in Washington. It was a powerful moment to witness.
Perhaps my most significant take-away was not from a worship service or moment of prayer; it came from train terminals and bus benches. These big cities are amazing, yet so fast-paced that humanity is often lost on the streets – we disconnect with earbuds and keep our eyes on our destinations, cut off drivers in the belief that our need is greater. The truth is, Nashville is no different. But when we stop to talk to the person next to us, we rediscover humanity, and thereby, the image of God. The grandmother at the Amtrak station in D.C. who misses her family, the working woman on the subway in New York who played peek-a-boo with Anna just to make her smile, the man on a bus in Philadelphia who just fulfilled his dream of opening a barber shop, the young man in the Greyhound station who has lived a troubled life and finds relief in music. Our mission field doesn\’t always look like the bush or desert or tent city; sometimes it looks like the seat next to you. Let me encourage you to look there, look people in the eye, look for their stories, look for God in them.
Grace and peace,
Amy