She Said Yes!

In the course of the last year, I have walked through an amazing season. As you would know, the loss of Veronica was the greatest shock of my life and one that has shaken me to the very core of my being. It has been a year of soul searching and seeking the heart and the purposes of the Father for my life and my family. I have worked very hard in this last year at maintaining a proper balance between my personal sense of recovery, healing for my family and of course, the ministry of the district. Some days have been filled with delight and some have been tough to even get up in the morning and move forward. While I still can't find the answers that I would desire in my own heart, I have come to a place of peace, knowing that my Father desperately loves me and my children, and He has a hope, a promise and a future for our lives.

The purpose of this blog is to share some really exciting news. I will get to that, but I have to ask you to walk with me briefly on part of my journey in the last few months, to lay a foundation...here we go!

After Veronica went home to be with the Lord, the word of the Lord came to me that “you will remarry, but don't look around your life...your wife is in California.” What a relief that was knowing that I wouldn't have to pursue a natural course of seeking after relationships. I assumed that one day I would move to California, and God would bring somebody into my life. I relaxed and began focusing on my life, returning to my job and giving needed attention to my family. I was very much at peace, not having to worry or focus on anything in my life except what was required of me.

At the end of May, we were delighted to host the Foursquare Connection in the great city of Atlanta (had to throw that in) and I was honored to serve as the convention host. As you might could guess, that is a huge responsibility and an enormous task. I was busy from the first day to the very last! At the beginning of the week, I had left my suite and was headed to the elevator for an early morning meeting when the Lord spoke to me again...this time it was only two words...”She's Here.” I knew immediately what God was referring to. Now, I'm on full alert...I didn't know exactly when, where or how but I felt like there would be a significant connection that would eventually materialize into a relationship in the future...or at least that's what I thought. I went the entire week and nothing! It was literally the last session and the very last song and I chocked it all up to having not accurately heard the voice of the Lord...I've made that mistake before I thought I had made it again. At the end of the song, while ministry was taking place, I ventured over to the right side of the auditorium to speak to one of our pastors, when I saw her!

I looked up and saw a young lady walking from the altar back to her seat and every sense and every thing in me went on full alert! I had no idea who she was, I didn't know if she was married, I didn't know how old she was...and I didn't know where she was from. None of that deterred me however. I was determined to say hello and introduce myself. I stationed myself at the front of her section and waited for her to come around as she was leaving...as she got closer my heart began to pound, my knees began to grow weak and I started to sweat...I felt like a young kid all over again!! She was getting closer and closer and the moment was upon me...I reached out my hand and all I could think to say was...”have we met”? Seriously? The great articulate man of faith and power...the convention host and all I could say was “have we met”? She was gracious and we introduced ourselves...guess where she was from? California! Well, that was a start!

Afterwards, I found her on Facebook and asked her to be my friend, she accepted and we began a friendly exchange of letters during the course of the next few months. Obviously, she was curious as to what I was up to and I was curious as to what God was up to. I find myself in the midst of recovering from the greatest loss of my life and at the same time, I have a unique sense that God is bringing this woman into my life. As we continued to dialogue through FB, I discovered more about her and all that God was doing in her heart and life, and I can tell you that this is no ordinary woman.

I found out that she was a graduate from Life Pacific and Azusa Pacific and had been an elementary school teacher for eight years. Eventually, her father who is a Foursquare pastor, asked her to come on staff as the youth pastor at their church and she has now served in that role for 7 years. She serves on the Foursquare Cabinet representing the Greater LA district, and obviously is an ordained Foursquare minister. I am delighted to introduce to you through this letter, Michelle Long. Michelle's parents, John and Angela Long serve as the senior pastors of Praise Alive Worship Center Foursquare Church in Monterey Park, Ca. Pastor John also serves on the Foursquare Board of Directors.

There is so much that I can tell you about Michelle, but you will be meeting her for yourself in the near future and will discover the amazing woman that she is. I do want to share this part of her life with you, however...Michelle is younger than I am, but I am the first relationship that she has had. She made a decision as a young girl, that she would guard her heart and her life and would not surrender her heart to a man unless she knew that it was God's choice for her life. She carries an amazing anointing on her life and besides serving as the youth pastor of their church, she is also a very gifted and anointed musician who not only leads worship, but also plays the piano and has a deep passion for worship.

I have to make a long story shorter...but I am writing to you today to let you know that I have asked Michelle to marry me, and she said yes! From the very beginning of this relationship, I have submitted this entire process to not only Tammy Dunahoo, the General Supervisor of The Foursquare Church, but also to Glenn Burris, the President of The Foursquare Church and have carefully abided by the guidelines and mandates that they saw to be wise. I have submitted this to Michelle's parents as well as to Chuck Shoemake, the national counselor of The Foursquare Church and have found their blessing on this decision and can come to you with absolute certainty that God has brought us together, has led us throughout the past few months and has brought us to this place of decision. I am so excited to share this with you and I know that you will rejoice with myself and Michelle! I can hardly wait for you to meet her. My family is very excited...my kids love Michelle and have developed their own relationships with her as well. In fact, both of my girls were with me in California when I proposed to her. You'll love this...I took her back to a little Bistro in Santa Monica where we had our first date, and my girls went over early to deliver roses, engraved glasses for a toast, and make sure everything was set up perfect...I love those girls! It was awesome!

We have set May 21^st as our wedding date. Because our wedding will be in California, we will do several receptions around our district, so that you will have a chance to meet her personally. Whew! There it is! I know that some of you might have some questions for me and I would love to speak with you personally if you desire. This has not been an overnight process, but I haven't had the liberty to share it publically until this time. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers and can hardly wait until you are able to meet her in person!

I spent almost 24 years of my life with an amazing woman of God! Years of great joy, ministry and family. I miss Veronica deeply and to think that I had those years with somebody of her caliber and now God is bringing Michelle into my life, blows me away! I told somebody that it has to be the divine favor of God, because I'm just not that good. He has smiled upon me and I am so thankful to share the rest of my life with a woman who loves God, is called according to His purposes and wants to share her life with me. I love each of you and thank you for being a vital part of this journey with me that we call life...

Canaan is Closer than you Think!

Don't you love the start of a brand new year? There is something wonderful about a new start, a fresh change and a new season. I know that in the wisdom of God, seasons emerged as a blessing to those of us who would walk through life, and would be ready for a new season. I like what Israel Houghton says about new seasons..."they are not relative to a calender of months and days, but revelation and insight." My prayer for you is that even as we enter into a new season chronologically, that you would also have a fresh sense of revelation, purpose and insight relative to your life and ministry! Recently, I was reading about the call of God upon Abraham's life to leave his father's country, to take his family and to fully follow the Lord in a new season of life and adventure.

Abraham was literally asked of the Lord to leave everything that he had known, the people that he had grown up with and the life that he was comfortable with. He was under a mandate to follow the Lord into a new land, full of unknowns with nothing but the promise of God upon his life.

If I may, please allow me to make a couple of observations that I think are particularly applicable to many situations that we encounter in today's world. It's interesting to me that In Genesis, chapter 11, we find Abraham's father (Terah) setting out with his family to head to Canaan. In verse 31, he made it to Haran and stopped there. In fact, it's where Terah would end up dying. After the death of his father, Abraham enters into a brand new season of opportunity, revelation and challenge. Haran literally means "to be scorched, charred, burnt, angry and dry." How many times have we ended up in places just like that? Obviously, Terah had a vision to get to Canaan, but he never made it. He ended up about 400 miles from his destination. In today's travel, he was only about 5 hours away! The trick of the enemy is to get us stuck in a place that is charred and scorched and to end up dry and angry. That was the possibility that Abraham faced, except for the word of the Lord over him and his willingness to obey God and follow Him into the unknown.

With the promise of blessing upon his life (by the way, you have that same promise of blessing upon you! Gal. 3:14), Abraham set out to finish the job that his father started. He was headed to Canaan! The root word for Canaan is "Kana", which means to submit and to be humble. Wow! God has already released a blessing of promise upon Abraham, but in order for him to experience the fullness of the promise, he is going to have to walk humbly before God and submit to Him even when He doesn't understand all that is being asked of him. Abraham would discover a life of faith that would lead him into unexpected blessings and opportunities to bless multitudes. In fact, they were still talking about it way over in the New Testament and even in today's circles, we talk about the life of Abraham!

You might be in a place that you would define as Haran! Maybe you have begun this new season and it doesn't feel like a new season at all...it just feels like you're beating the same old drum, with just another chronological date attached to it. I'm here to tell you that God is calling you out of Haran! He may not be calling you to a different locale, but He is calling you out of a dry and angry season. He is calling you to a life of humbly submitting to His word over you, even if you don't fully understand it. You are a person of promise and a person of blessing and God has an amazing future for you. It may mean that you have to walk away from the things that you are comfortable with. Many times, my own comfort zone is what causes me the greatest amount of hindrance in my life. I must be open to new and fresh ways of doing things and to allowing God to bring new people into my life. My prayer for you in this new season is that you would come into a new revelation and a new insight into the calling and purposes of God for you and the ministry to which He has called you. There are multitudes of families that are waiting for you to walk into the realization of the blessing that is upon you. It's closer than you think and you are the anointed of God for this season and His favor surrounds you on every side even as a shield! God is for you, NOT against you!