Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Serious Joy! (Part 4)

The following is Part 4 of my trip report from "Party with the Gypsies 2009," which I'm posting on 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 & 6/29 while traveling to Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey with Global Celebrations again this year. For 12 days, we shared God's Love, food, clothing, music & prayers while reaching out to poor gypsy neighborhoods in 3 countries; Georgian & Winnie Banov also taught a "School of the Cross" missions internship as we traveled "In the Steps of Paul" to historic sites of New Testament Christianity including Philippi, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus & Smyrna... Thank you for remembering us all in your prayers!

June 2009 - "Party with the Gypsies" - Itinerary

jumping for joy :)
by the Black Sea
 We flew into Bucharest, Romania, for the sake of a small enclave of gypsies who live near a junkyard there; then drove across the Danube into Bulgaria, stopping at Shumen and Varna, where we stayed our 2nd night. Saturday was a much-needed day of rest (the jet lag was pretty rough at first!) in Nesebar, by the Black Sea - that night we had dinner in Burgas, and boarded the overnight train to Sophia... Sunday was a long drive up to the northwest corner of the country, where we ate Bulgarian pizza before heading into two new villages for outreach, staying overnight in Vidin. In Sophia, we stayed two nights in a row at the same hotel (yay!), visited the boxcar neighborhood near the city (Global Celebrations is looking to buy land to relocate this group), had a half day off for sightseeing, and participated in a festival at Brestnica, which has a growing gypsy church. We fortified ourselves with lunch at a lovely restaurant (no one starved on this trip!) before visiting the poorest gypsies in Stara Zagora who live at the top of a very steep hill! then stopped by
gypsy men dancing - Kazanlak, BG
 Kazanlak to see the last 2 or 3 sheep slaughtered before the worship festival (Korban, same as in Hebrew) the next day. Our team leaders were very encouraged to hear the local gypsy ministers speaking powerful public words about the Father's heart for this very special community as we left. Drove all day to Istanbul on Sunday (Father's Day). Flew to Ephesus and toured the ruins, visited a carpet factory, and met with great favor in the Turkish gypsy community of Urla which had been a lot less welcoming on a previous trip (Georgian was delighted). 
Invitation to tea - Urla, Turkey
Shopped at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul on our last day, ending with a farewell dinner, shared testimonies into the night, and flew home after only 2 hours of sleep (some stayed up all night since we had to leave so early). After two weeks of touching sick people and hugging all the dirty children we could find :) it took some of us another week to fully shake some kind of respiratory virus, but I tested negative for flu or TB, and in the end it seemed a pretty small price to pay, considering how many glorious experiences we shared :)

When I first got the itinerary via email, I thought it was a little odd that the last line said – before we’d even left yet - "Thanks for joining us! I hope you can come again next year!!”  haha… now I understand.  :)


June 2011 - "In the Steps of Paul" - Itinerary

Sunday, June 12:  Depart Washington DC. The fun begins! – Get ready to meet new friends and dive into the Glory!

Monday, June 13:  Arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria. Travel 2 hours to town of Bretsnica. Worship and feeding outreach to local Gypsies. Orientation Dinner and overnight at hotel in nearby city.

Tuesday, June 14:  Drive most of the morning to reach the city of Kazanlak. All day Jesus Celebration in Kazanlak ministering, blessing and feeding our crown jewel Gypsy community of over 5,000 people. Dinner and overnight in Kazanlak.

Wednesday, June 15:  School of the Cross - Travel Day – Drive over the border into Greece to the port city of Kavala. Overnight in Kavala.

Thursday, June 16:  School of the Cross - Travel to historical ruins of Philip and then on to Thessaloniki – Gypsy outreach in the evening.

Friday, June 17:   School of the Cross - Travel Day – Drive to Athens, Greece.

Saturday, June 18:   School of the Cross - See Athens and Mars Hill – afternoon off for sightseeing/shopping – Visit museums and/or The Acropolis.

Sunday, June 19:  School of the Cross - Visit Corinth ruins, site of the early church of the Corinthians. Take the overnight Ferry to Turkey.

Monday, June 20:  Outreach to local Turkish Gypsies in the town of Izmir. Overnight in Izmir.

Tuesday, June 21: Visit ancient ruins of Ephesus, walk the roads where Paul travelled and ministered. Receive powerful revelations from Georgian and Winnie as they preach from the historic site of Paul’s teachings. Afternoon flight to Istanbul, Turkey.

Wednesday, June 22:  Day off for shopping at the exotic Grand Bazaar. Farewell dinner at private restaurant. Overnight in Istanbul.

Thursday, June 23: Morning flight to Paris, France. Afternoon and evening off for sightseeing / shopping. Overnight at Airport Hotel.

Friday, June 24: Flight back to the U.S.   See you next year!

For more info re: Global Celebration mission trips & other events, see http://www.riverlution.net/


Note from Gina: Thanks & blessings to all who prayed & supported me on these trips. Greece is the new stamp on my passport this year :)  I've now seen 17 countries outside the U.S. in my life so far... short-term missions is lots of FUN !!! <3

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Serious Joy! (Part 3)

The following is Part 3 of my trip report from "Party with the Gypsies 2009," which I'm scheduling to post on 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 & 6/29 while I prepare to travel to Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey with Global Celebrations again this year.  For 12 days, we'll be sharing God's Love, food, clothing, music & prayers as we reach out to poor gypsy neighborhoods in 3 countries; Georgian & Winnie Banov will also teach a "School of the Cross" missions internship while we travel "In the Steps of Paul" to historic sites of New Testament Christianity including Philippi, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus & Smyrna... Thank you for remembering us all in your prayers!

When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
[I Corinthians 2:1-5]

I think there is something about knowing you have little or nothing to rely on in the natural realm that makes this kind of faith so simple - the reality of God is so near as we walk into village after village with nothing but love and joy and faith to be His hands extended to a sick, dirty, and impoverished world... this is the reality we forget when we have so many other things to rely on back home, but the truth is that God is just as real and miracles are just as possible, love and joy are just as desperately needed in North America or anywhere else in the world. I'm learning to take these little glimpses of God's heart and see with new eyes when I get back home - think less, drink more of His love and joy and truth, laugh often, enjoy His kind of life... be open to receive the miraculous things He wants to do in our lives every day... and I'm learning that just because we have nice clothes or a comfortable house doesn't mean we aren't desperately needy for God in lots of other ways! :)

One night in Varna, Bulgaria, I sense God wants me to just put away my camera and "dance with Me" - I know He means that dancing with the gypsy children is the same as dancing with Jesus Himself (“whatever you did for one of the least of these… you did for me.” Mt 25:40). That night, as the band plays gypsy worship music from a nearby rooftop and we all spin and jump and hug and smile, I realize that the JOY in this place is just as important as any material help - even healing! - we could possibly bring. as if to confirm that revelation, a local woman is weeping as we get on the bus to leave, gratefully telling one of the Bulgarian workers, "Thank you! Thank you!" - she lives in one of the ubiquitous concrete apartment buildings nearby, and she had been feeling heaviness and discouragement, like so many of those we have danced with this week. She says this has been like a "spiritual meal" to her - she had been so hungry for life and hope and joy until we came that day...

A few closing notes about photos and itinerary that follow - there is one photo from a restaurant in Burgas, with about half of our team in a tickling, laughing pile on the floor... all I can say about this is that I believe the overflow of laughter and joy that erupted during that dinner is also part of tapping into God's miraculous grace and love. It was a bit of shock for our servers, who knew full well we'd had nothing but bottled water to drink all evening! :) and joy like that affects people in different ways: one of our waitresses was so delighted to see such hilarity that she took pictures with her cell phone; the restaurant manager, on the other hand, whose focus was on keeping control of the atmosphere, looked intensely fearful. Georgian spoke about this on the bus the next day - what does it say about our world that abundant joy is so frightening? we'd been gracious and loving all evening - we weren't breaking anything, or dangerous to anyone - it's just so out of the ordinary to be so happy that you can't stop laughing!  I almost didn't include this photo, because I know it's hard to explain that kind of expression (which also happened at our farewell dinner in Turkey, to the amusement of some Muslim businessmen who were meeting on the terrace just outside our dining area)... I felt this photo needed to be included, because some people would like to have miraculous healings and spiritual results without being willing to give up "control" and fully yield to God's love and joy. I saw God do amazing things on this trip through people who aren't overly preoccupied with their reputation, and are really willing to enjoy Him :)

To be continued (on 6/29/11)...

This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. [I Corinthians 1:25-29]


"And as for the outsiders who now follow me,
working for me, loving my name,  
and wanting to be my servants—
All who keep Sabbath and don't defile it,
holding fast to my covenant—
I'll bring them to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
They'll be welcome to worship the same as the 'insiders,'
to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices to my altar.
Oh yes, my house of worship
will be known as a house of prayer for all people."
The Decree of the Master, God himself,
who gathers in the exiles of Israel:
"I will gather others also,
gather them in with those already gathered."
[Isaiah 56:6-8 MSG]



Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Serious Joy! (Part 2)

The following is Part 2 of my trip report from "Party with the Gypsies 2009," which I am scheduling to post on 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 & 6/29 while I prepare to travel to Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey with Global Celebrations again this year.  For 12 days, we'll be sharing God's Love, food, clothing, music & prayers as we reach out to poor gypsy neighborhoods in 3 countries; Georgian & Winnie Banov will also teach a "School of the Cross" missions internship while we travel "In the Steps of Paul" to historic sites of New Testament Christianity including Philippi, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus & Smyrna... Thank you for remembering us all in your prayers!

The Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, says to the one who is despised and rejected by the nations... "Kings will stand at attention when you pass by. Princes will also bow low because of the Lord, the faithful one, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
[Isaiah 49:7]

Why gypsies? you might wonder... a few generalizations (for the sake of not going on too long): gypsy people have a long history of being outcasts, even hated, in many nations of Europe (including Bulgaria) - not assimilated into the general population, with a separate language, a reputation as thieves (all they stole from us was our hearts!) – often without land ownership or regular employment or accepted status in the local culture, "living for the moment" rather than planning for the future... in many neighborhoods we visit, the gypsies are essentially squatters who can be evicted at any time from their makeshift housing. Scripture passages describing God’s heart for the rejected (like Isaiah 49:7, above) come to my mind as Georgian & Winnie & Zhoro explain their ministry to this "outcast" population while we criss-cross Bulgaria in our air-conditioned motor coach (which is actually a huge blessing, since we cover a lot of miles and pour out all we've got all day long while visiting some of the poorest places I’ve ever seen – a good meal, hot shower & clean hotel bed are refreshing, too, at the end of each busy day).

Global Celebrations and their partners in Bulgaria not only honor the gypsies as objects of God's Love, but are also training some of them as missionaries to reach across borders, and have begun to establish new believers & churches not only in Bulgaria but also in neighboring Greece and Turkey. I can't help but think there are distinct advantages to not being excessively bound by culture or materialism, since most of us (North American short-term missionaries) have to allow God to work in us to achieve this goal :) and we learn so much about the simplicity of love & joy as we see how quickly the hearts of the rejected poor respond to music and dancing, hugs and smiles and prayers... not just material things!

atmosphere-changer

Our strategy as Global Celebration "new wine missonaries" is to drink in as much as we possibly can of the joyous truth about what God has done for us in Christ, and then overflow with His Love as we spill out into whatever place or people group is next on the itinerary :) more specifically, we enter a village - sometimes Global Celebration or local pastors have been there before, sometimes it's a whole new village that has no idea we are coming - armed with toys & trinkets, face-painting & stickers for the children, musical instruments, colorful flags, streamers and noisemakers - a little bit like the circus coming to town :) but with much more personal attention to each individual... we hug children, practice our few phrases in Bulgarian ("you are very beautiful" for girls and women of all ages, "Jesus loves you" & "I love you" etc)... After a while, Georgian or one of the Bulgarians uses a megaphone to preach a short salvation message and asks those who are sick or in any kind of pain to raise their hands so we can pray for them.

In every single village we visit, there are healing miracles. What I mean is, although not every single answer to prayer manifests immediately (God does follow up - we hear some wonderful stories of things that happened after the team visited last year), still not one village doesn’t testify to multiple significant healings within a matter of minutes after we pray with them.

One night I tell my roommate that, while I've been around this kind of healing fairly often in the last 25 years, I have never personally prayed for anything more serious than a headache that left instantly; this bothers me a little, because I'm on my church altar team at home and when we pray for the sick, I know my faith is a lot stronger for gradual healing, to the point that I wonder if I really expect immediate results any more...

The day after this conversation, I am privileged to pray directly for a 3-year-old boy whose mother says he can't walk – we set him down on the ground (he cries at first) and I tell him in English (Winnie shared a few days earlier about spiritual impartation that goes beyond the limitations of language), "you can walk, in Jesus' name!" while positioning his mother a few feet in front of him so he will walk toward her. He takes a few steps - she is startled but encouraged, so I gesture "continue, keep going" and turn to pray for someone else next to me - when I turn back around a few minutes later, that little boy is PULLING his mother all over the yard!!! and she's beaming, amazed and obviously happy... my head starts to doubt, like maybe his problem wasn't that severe, but the look on her face tells me this is a truly wonderful change from his previous condition!

In the next village, almost exactly the same thing happens: a teenage girl is brought to us for prayer because she is mute - as we pray, I look at her and say with newfound confidence, "you can speak, in Jesus' name!" and in moments, she is speaking, a little rough at first, but as members of our team encourage her to say more and more words, she improves, as her relatives look on with delighted smiles...

Throughout the trip, gypsies tell Georgian (in Bulgarian, and he translates for us) that heart trouble, asthma, and kidney pain have disappeared; in one new village, a woman who had had a stroke and was paralyzed on one side is walking and praising God, her teenage daughter is weeping with amazement, joy and gratitude, saying, "my mother could not do this for 7 months!" (we have that one on video)...

The testimonies are endless, so I will close this paragraph with two observations: one is that we seemed to enter in to this kind of childlike faith in God's ability to do the miraculous as simply and easily as we hugged and danced with the children - one activity (loving) seemed to flow naturally into the other (healing)... and, as I've heard missionary Heidi Baker preach many times, stepping in to the supernatural is like stepping in to a swimming pool, you don’t push or fight your way in, you just step in... I think somehow the expectation that God really will do what He says He will do (heal the sick, answer prayer, love through us) is not unrelated to simple childlike trust and moving in His love and joy.

Winnie jokes on the bus as she preaches about entering by faith into the reality of what Jesus has already done on the Cross, saying we "need to press the easy button" - I order some from Staples as reminders and gifts for teammates when I get home, thinking it would be fun to have one on the bus next year, we could all press it as we climb back onboard after an outreach and hear the refrain (as each one gives it a tap), "that was easy!" "that was easy!" "that was easy!"

To be continued (on 6/22/11)...


“Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”
[Luke 7:22]



Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Serious Joy! (Part 1)

The following is my trip report from "Party with the Gypsies 2009," which I am scheduling to post in 4 parts on 6/8, 6/15, 6/22 & 6/29 as I prepare to travel to Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey w/ Global Celebration again this year.  For 12 days, we'll be sharing God's Love, food, clothing, music & prayers as we reach out to poor gypsy neighborhoods in 3 countries; Georgian & Winnie Banov will also teach a "School of the Cross" missions internship while we travel "In the Steps of Paul" to historic sites of New Testament Christianity including Philippi, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus & Smyrna... Thank you for remembering us all in your prayers!

“Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”
[Luke 7:22]

Party with the Gypsies 2009 was honestly one of the most wonderful experiences of my life so far... I've been on some pretty good mission trips (Gautemala 2004 & 2007, Mozambique 2008, Nicaragua last January), but this felt like stepping into the gospel with a team of fun-loving, "wild & crazy" Jesus-lovers and heavy drinkers of Holy Spirit new wine joy!

A few months before leaving on this trip, I had become a little weary and wanted to know more clearly why I was going - as I prayed, I sensed that God wanted to show me more of His heart. Yes, we brought "practical help" in the form of food, money, medical attention, about a ton of donated goods in our extra suitcases, etc - but I think I saw & participated this time in how powerful and effective and important it is to move in the atmosphere-changing grace of real Love and be globally contagious with God's outrageous joy!

The team met in JFK airport on Friday afternoon June 12 - I was sitting in the food court with a slice of pizza when the first person to greet me was Patty, whom I'd met on the Africa trip last year - I love it when you're stepping into new territory and the first person you meet knows your name! :) feels like family... (because, well, it is). We catch up for a few minutes on what we've been doing since Africa (she's been to the Philippines, I've been to Nicaragua - clearly we're both missions addicts :)) before Kevin & Nancy roll in and introduce themselves with buckets of boisterous Georgia laughter and immense warmth - the export version of "southern hospitality" in a big way...
.
I learn quickly that this gypsy trip has many repeat missionaries who've been annually anywhere from 2 to 9 times, which is a very good sign (& yes, i'm probably hooked now, too). I meet first-timers, amazing Jill - originally from Taiwan, born-again in Aleutian Alaska 5 years ago, now lives in Seattle - and 22 yr old Christina, whose life was radically changed at a Fresh Wind youth conference in Toronto when she was 17; also 14 yr old Courtney, our youngest team member, who radiates purity & maturity beyond her years, accompanied by another Nancy (we have 3 of them on our team this year) who attends the same church as Courtney & has been on this trip several times before.

At the gate, we meet up with other first-timers, including four ladies from Texas who have come with their pastor's wife Jalaine (a repeater), each with a lock of hair dyed hot pink and tee shirts that say "Gypsy Roadies". These ladies come prepared! with endless bags of toys & plastic bead bracelets & stickers for the gypsy children. A couple of sisters from east Texas, Melli and Bobbi, have made great strides of faith to come on this trip (and God meets them at every step!)... Will from Austin, Jason from Chico, Misty, Melissa, my roommate Rose - about 36 of us in all?

Of course, I figured that anyone who signs up for a mission trip
across the slums of eastern Europe with Georgian & Winnie Banov is probably up for anything, especially huge outpourings of love, joy & laughter :) and of course I am not disappointed by any means with this group! from the very beginning, the unique gifts and beauty of individual personalities flow together in a harmonious team that moves quickly from place to place with lots of joy and almost seamless execution of practical details... aided tremendously by the presence of fabulous team leaders and local missionaries like pastors Zhoro & Mariana, Sandy, Angel, our bus driver Kircho (sp?) who has driven the "purple bus" (actually blue on the outside, with royal purple curtains inside - reminds me at first of some crazy hippie bus from the 60's, except the substance being poured out on this bus is genuine Holy Spirit fun) for all 9 years of the Party with the Gypsies tour through Bulgaria.
Somehow we manage to stay "drunk" with love & laughter and consume huge quantities of scripture (Georgian & Winnie teach daily devotions with a microphone at the front of the bus while we travel) and accomplish several outreaches each day, checking in & out of hotels, rest stops, meals, border crossings, etc.  Amazing! :)

To be continued (on 6/15/11)...

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
[Luke 4:18-19; words of Jesus, quoting Isaiah 6:1-2]

"You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."
[Hebrews 1:9, quoting Psalm 45:7 in reference to Jesus]

spontaneous worship in Munich airport  :)


Thursday, June 2, 2011

"There's no other like You"

Note from Gina:  I transcribed the following exhortation & prayer from a July 4, 2010, GOD TV broadcast of "The Pursuit Conference" held in Alberta, Canada, Oct 2009... I just got around to watching it on my DVR, and these words by worship leader Jason Upton - an interlude between songs - made me stop and say, "Wow!"  I wrote down every word as it was spoken so I could think about it and share with others... May we learn to appreciate and recognize God's beautiful truth even as it tumbles imperfectly "out of the mouths of babes" and young worshippers who run after His heart.  Enjoy!

[singing:] "There's no other like You... You are holy... like no other..."

[speaking:] "A lot of times when we think about 'holy,' we also think about mercy.  We think about holy, we think, God's so unbelievably holy, so sinless, so pure, how could someone that's so pure and so sinless hang out with people, sinful, like us... and we say often, 'because of mercy,' and it's true, but it limits the real beauty of what 'holy' means, because 'holy' is not just the opposite of sin.

"Oftentimes when we think of 'holy,' we think, majestic and powerful, omnipotent - we think, how could Somebody so significant hang out with people in comparison that are so insignificant, and we say, 'because of mercy,' and that's true... the problem with it is that it often limits the beauty and the wonder and the awe of what it really means that God's holy...

"We even oftentimes worship Him the way that our little minds understand what authority figures look like in certain cultures all over the world, but He's way beyond kings and presidents and leaders... He's holy!  There's nobody like Him!  He's the God that gets down on His hands and knees and He coos in our little baby languages that we've made up all over the world, and He tries to understand - He tries to understand why we often distance ourselves from Him, and then blame Him for the distance.  He tries to understand why we often separate ourselves from Him for the sake of certitude, because He's just too much for us, He's too... holy.

"He's too uncertain, we can't get our minds around Him, we can't control Him, and He says, 'I'm so much more than your minds can understand... I'm way beyond you, Jason, I'm way beyond... I'm way beyond your mind's comprehension, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like you, I'm not like all the things that you've made authority to be...'

"There's a power in poverty that breaks principalities
and brings the authorities down to their knees,
and there's a brewing frustration at the same time in this world,
and an ageless temptation to fight for control by manipulation,
but the God of the kingdoms and God of creation
and God of the nations said this revelation
through the homeless and penniless Jesus the Son:
'The poor will inherit the kingdom to come.'

"And where will we turn when our world falls apart
and all of the treasures we've stored in our barns
can't buy the kingdom of God...

"And who will we praise when we've praised all our lives
men who build kingdoms and men who build fame
but heaven does not know their name...

"And what will we fear when all that remains
is God on the Throne with a child in His arms
and Love in His eyes, and the sound of His heart cry...

"And that's what I hear tonight in our pursuit of Him, is God saying, (one), Oh, Jason, guys, I've been pursuing you, and I've never distanced Myself from you, and My glory so fills the earth, if you'll just wait long enough, and be in stillness long enough, it will overwhelm you...

"So we ask that first, Lord, awaken our senses to Your reality, here and now, all the time - it never shifts, it never wavers, it never moves, it never lifts, His glory is constant - God, awaken us to that, awaken us to that, to Your reality here and now in our lives...

"And, second, awaken us to the reality of what it really means to be holy... to be daring enough to allow You, God, to finish our story... to be gutsy enough to drop the little map of somebody else's spiritual life and actually stretch our hands out to You and ask You to lead us in the way that we don't know where we're going, that we have to trust You...

"I asked the Lord on the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago, 'Lord, when I wrote that song, "Power of Poverty" - which is really not about money, it's about trust - there's a power in trusting You, Lord, and depending on You... who's the child in Your arms that You're crying over?' 

"And I felt like the Spirit of the Lord just said, 'the child is... it's everyone you're gonna sing in front of tonight, it's you, Jason, it's My sons and daughters, when they decided to sell out or buy in to the system of the age, even in religious, falsely religious circles that try to give them a plan... it's the child in My arms and love in My eyes and the sound of My heart crying over My children... when they got duped into not allowing Me to finish their story...'

"So, Holy God, we ask that You would take us on a journey - pursuing, Jesus, Your way - complete dependence on the Father... not certitude, not certainty, but trust.  Make us holy... make us who we really are... or maybe the better way to say it, Lord, is, awaken us to who we really are... help us to stop rebelling against who You've made us to be... that we might live holy..."

[singing:]  "There's no other like You... there's no other like You... there's no other like You... there's no other like You..."

-- Jason Upton, "Pursuit Conference" - Alberta, Canada, Oct 2009

Bonus Tracks:  "You are Holy" by Jason Upton (Isle of Wight version of the song above):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfSBi2N8KA8&feature=related

If you'd like to watch the video I transcribed, it starts at about 1:45 on the first link below & continues through the 2nd link - both are from GOD TV broadcast of The Pursuit Conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZsPj9bhT7E&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdEyK05k3h0&feature=related

& another truly precious revelation (same conference) "I Don't Help You"  :)  this one is really FUN!  :)    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ5NgIV3pcg&feature=related

Enjoy!  :)