No New News
I feel like I have crystal clear water running through me and around me, and am experiencing unprecedented rest and peace and joy.~ Client’s response following deliverance
This is a no news newsletter. As a general rule, a newsletter should be full of “new” stuff (which is really why they call it news). But, I don’t really have any new news. Normally, I would be telling you about our travels around the country, like past newsletters, but really, I haven’t gone anywhere for a year now. Neither Carol (my wife of almost 49 years) have traveled anywhere.
Because I am approaching maturity and have some preexisting conditions, I try to be careful about the virus with mask-wearing, social distancing, etc. We haven’t seen half of our kids and their families, other than by Zoom, for more than a year now. The other half we’ve seen, but not up close, and then only briefly. No dinners. No celebrations. No barbeques. Carol and I are taking all this seriously and are simply waiting for our chance to get the vaccine so we can get somewhat back to normal. I am sure that many of you are feeling the same way.
Most of my interaction now is with my deliverance teams or with neighbors when we happen to be walking our dogs up the street and back at the same time. I know that some of you have made other choices. Go for it. Just don’t go for it too close to me.
The good no news is that nobody in my immediate family has fallen sick (though I have had multiple friends become very ill). We are careful.
More no news. I don’t even get to go to the church where we used to do deliverance regularly. No face-to-face deliverance, though I’ve had many requests. After years of avoiding doing deliverance virtually, I was pretty much forced into it. It was either do deliverance or don’t do deliverance. Help set God’s people free, or don’t help set God’s people free. No choice there. I chose to do deliverance by whatever means were available. Weren’t we surprised when it worked just as well as the face-to-face sessions? God was bigger than my aversion to too much technology. I needed to be reminded that God can heal and deliverance at a distance. Jesus didn’t need to be present for the healing/deliverance to happen.
An additional positive is that I can now train people. Before the pandemic, I was struggling to find enough people here in the Lynchburg, VA area who were both interested in learning about deliverance and were ready to faithfully commit a significant chunk of their time to this work each week. Sometimes I was pressed to find one or two people who were available to join me.
Now, after I asked my email list if anyone was interested in learning to do deliverance in an earlier newsletter, I have a group of amazing people from all around the country and Canada who join me every week. I have folks from Illinois, from Ohio, from Michigan, from Pennsylvania, from Maryland, from Florida, and even a few from here in Virginia. We even have some who are Canadian join us. These are amazing, gifted, dedicated people who joyfully surrender their Monday nights and/or Tuesday afternoons to see God’s people set free. This work is a priority in their lives. They are way past learning the basics. Sometimes I just get to be decorative; sitting there overseeing their work. Most of the time they are absolutely capable of operating on their own. Some have even started doing deliverances where they live, as the Lord provides them opportunities. That was the plan. What a blessing?
Some more no news is that people are still coming for ministry. Some come because they’ve read It’s Only a Demon. Others were referred by their friends and family members after they had gone through deliverance. Even in these difficult times, my calendar is full for about a month out. God keeps showing up and setting his children free just as he has ever since I’ve been doing this. No new news there.
Some additional no news is that I am reworking a previously published book. Transformative Encounters: The Intervention of God in Christian Counseling and Pastoral Care went out-of-print in 2020. Because it has some good stuff in it that I believe is valuable to those God has called to counsel and minister to others, I am working toward self-publishing it. Those of you who have done this know how much work this is, especially if you don’t hire someone to do the editing and formatting, etc. The problem is that my buddy and co-editor, George Ohlschlager, died in 2018. I had the vision for the first edition of the book, George had the brains. So, the no news is that I am slowly doing some rewriting. I hope to finish this up and get it published this year sometime. After that, who knows?
So, the no news is that nothing is really happening. Like you, I continue to do what I can do in the midst of the pandemic, in the midst of political uncertainty, in the midst of this time of explosive change. We continue to try to hear and obey the voice of our Lord and Savior and to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. We continue to get up every morning, thankful that we have another morning to serve. Nothing new. Be blessed and safe.
I would appreciate your prayers for our safety, for our rest, and for our clients. No news there.
