This is unique in that, as the prophetic ministry began, it de-emphasized the vessels carrying it--there was almost an anonymity--a donkey could have said those words. And still that is true. But God is now also emphasizing the nature and style of the donkey--one from Turkey or Belgium; from Paris or Africa, America etc. My generation has a unique gift of identity over it--something that is self aware but also able to name the identity of other generations. This is unique and part of God's pattern in the stream of the generations of His Purposes. It is just one part, but the one we are given to carry.

How prophecy plays out in our generation is unique, and goes something like this:

It has moved from, "thus sayeth" to each person's style of sayething it--what I call a prophetic orientation--not just a prophetic word; but more holistic, involving the whole person delivering the message, and the whole identity of that to which one is delivering God's mind, heart and body. Where the whole prophetic person stands in the orientation of God towards that person, place or thing that they are prophecying into. I give an example, of a girl I was prophecying to outside a café. I got a word for her about her grandfather, but God told me just to go up and touch her boot. So I did, and she started weeping deeply--and talking about her grandfather's recent death. I only had to listen--that was His orientation for her that day. It is like that with us.

Each generation carries a unique part of His Story, and is given a unique commission. I believe mine has been given the Joshua commission--to help the levites, and then the rest of the church to get over and possess their land; but also to go in ourselves and occupy and possess our land--in our case, this land is in the art world, for others it will be differently contoured.

The fact that the spirit of Christ's testimony (the spirit of prophecy) would have unique expressions or emphasis in each generation is a given in His Way. You see this in the Old Testament prophets. Each was called uniquely to a specific situation; which, if looked at from above, formed a metanarrative, or story through which the generations of His Purposes can be discerned!

For Jeremiah there was an emphasis on his autobiographical details-not unlike our generation. His own story was part of what God used to carry His message. It was the same with Paul. Their autobiography was something God used to carry the message to that generation. Their personal story became a vessel of God's larger story. In our own generation, He is emphasizing His own identity, and that He is One, but also diverse. That His oneness is not homogeneous, but a unity in diversity! He is choosing to say, identity matters to Him! That each person, city, nation is not the same, but works together as a mosaic in His Expression of Himself! Globalism, then is not "flat"! But a dynamic conversation between unique reflections of The Great Creator

I think our father's generation had a foundational role, more like Moses. There have been many books written on this--there was a downloading the law and basic ways of salvation etc--a Billy Graham style way of carrying it. Then there was the diversification of the container or styles of church that was carried by the boomer generation--opening up diverse ways of expressing or being the church, and also evangelizing through lifestyle.

Then came our generation, smaller and unique--a clarification generation. One in which people could name what they were doing as they were doing it--a sort of self aware teacher type of prophet, or an autobiographical prophet, where one's story is part of the message--a generation of signs, and perhaps, at our most stellar, of wonders! David asked to be a portent--that is a way, or symbol for others to see how God is moving on the earth in this moment. This is part of our calling. We were meant to interpret the times from a spiritual context, and to do so authentically! You should be able to "read" our generation as one reads art--as a symbol of where things are at--that is our gift to offer His Body and the world.

We offer a type of transparency through which to view the purposes of God. God wants to be readable in a time of great confusion globally! We are meant to be not just ironic, but aware of ourselves in a way which can model to the world and the church what it is like to be truly ourselves IN HIM! Thats our goal, if we reach it, and we should! We are also meant to be interpreters, which is one of the reasons He has given us such hyper-awareness of the other generations. We should be helping them name themselves to themselves, so they can grasp God's big picture. We were not just meant to be exhaustingly clever! But to be prophetically great namers of the whole sweep of His purposes over the generations.

Each generation is given a specific way to carry Jesus, a specific emphasis in His Personality, a unique nuance of His Personal Story of restoration. I think, in a very general way, my generation is prophetic. But it also plays but one part--one emphasizing the uniqueness of identity and diversity of expression. It needs to know this part and do it, or become it, and then it also needs to know what came before it, and what will come after it, in order to keep our focus on--"until WE all come to the fullness of Christ"--and this will take all the generations! This is why the saints are leaning in!

For the fullness to come, we must see the whole stream of His generational purposes across time--His whole body of work--in order to know what He is saying about Himself.

You see this in the Joshua story, which is preceded by slavery in Egypt. There was a liberation generation ( emphasizing salvational aspects of God-the deliverer); then they were trained by Moses on the mountain (teaching, emphasizing knowledge, rabbi aspects of God). There is the knowledge coming in the wilderness, so that once they got to the land, they would be solid. They struggled, as each generation does, to fulfill their call. Then Joshua takes their kids over--the death of the Jordan comes, the levitical rituals (artist go in first!), and then the mustering to go in and occupy and possess their lands (which is where I think we are at!) Then the move towards getting the whole land not just possessed or captured, but occupied (cultivated, bearing fruit!) and eventually with David, unification culminating in Solomon's reign which emphasized wisdom. There is a mighty prophetic picture in this pattern. And a generational map as well for the Church.

Of course, the generations are meant to work together! This is in order to make the whole picture, the entire film, or the whole novel, visible, readable, knowable--ie to complete the whole expression of God! There are commas in between sentences--and in many ways, I personally have felt like a comma, and want to become a better one! So that the previous chapters of His book can connect into this present chapter and then the next! So that the whole novel can be downloaded! I am like a transitional paragraph. Or like in the TV shows we watch, an episode which forwards the plot!!! I am meant to help get us from one chapter to the next and then enjoy the book! And in this way, I am still a joint in the Body of His Story, connecting one generation of His Purposes to the next. This is a prophetic role, and I believe it is one of the roles of my generation!

Where were you night owl koo, and sulphur steamed mossy rocks, who rising on this hill's voices remember like dark cliffs, just there-
daring the ocean to come
and chip off something sacred over time
and follow it to the fathomless depths?
Where were you white-mooned rooftops of Jerusalem, San Francisco, or
the moon itself?

I lost you in the glare of travel (too many cities on my skin by now)
which once was glisten
And will be gold--already I glow!
whether boy or man--now clearly
man, and father at that, but not without
this texture buried in my bones, and its recall.

It is not youth only, which says yes!
Repetition, attrition of yes over seasons is key to
the procession of generations of those who pronounce "Thou"
over and again in different shapes and cadences, this Yes-
this emboldening, thread-ripping throat call in mid air, across the bay even now
coming as screeching gulls, almost blinded by such sheer California light;
and me on top of good view mount, me:

i. shaved off crystallized marble fleck of gem on God's robe
2flashing micah star in fall leaves
3magenta translucence itself
4pure azure with circus fringes
5subaquadic firework in the throat of every lover, yes
Me, my white stone is being carved!

And all this night, here on this franciscan hill
In some neighborhood which is barely
My own,
my bones awake in sensuous melody
to all I ever was
and ever more shall be, and
it has been so long since I just lived.

I am the son of noone
And we are marching to Zion
(a mountain, not unlike this)
The place where He is-any place where He is-
The celts call sacred.
But we have come to know that only He
Is Holy-that Pure is where He is.
And we worship after
the placement of His Foot-we remember that
Where He is moving we are

And I was named before my birth, called
Like this cool passing Irish hillside
Where once a man like Gideon stood
And believed.

The fleece went wet then dry
He wanted to be sure it was God
chasing off the marauders
Of His promised spaces.

So He asked, and blew his trumpet
And unified his people, and broke jars
With the stones of this hillside.
A great man not mentioned in faith's list of fame
A thresher from the start
Who couldn't believe
God had forgotten
What He said.
Nearby
Was it Patrick who, placing on his bejeweled belt
Leaned out over this valley as if
Over the mouth of a great dragon, saying
"I felt His Presence in these stones."

And so we trace each twig back to Him
Each face becomes a friend
Each hillside a recollection
Each conversation turns towards Him
As each stone inherits a name
Which waits like this hillside to be
Spoken

This day, I will not stop tracing each thing
To its core, until I hear it-until the enemy scatters
And we know
Who is faithful to sustain.
Jesus, already the rocks tremble
And this hillside remembers
Whose it is.

It is a spiritual law not a principle that if we draw close to God, He will draw close to us. This means that it is a way that Reality is set up, that when people draw close to God, He perforce or by His Nature draws near to us.

There are ways of ascending into heaven. These are practical and taught in scripture. The most obvious maps are in David's writings. We need to know practical ways of entering God's Realm. Many people are entering heaven more often than before through worship and in dream and visions in our day, but few have been shown the basic maps of how to ascend and enter.

Here are practical tools for ascending. They are found in scripture and follow this pattern. First, we confess all our sins, for, "who may ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart." (Ps.24:3) Jesus did this for us at the cross. So we start there--with the cross. Because when we confess our sins He is faithful to forgive and cleanse, this is the way we begin our ascent--through confession. This is because sin blocks us from being able to be fully in God's Presence. So we confess.

When we do this, we realize what He has done and then enter thanks. We find ourself thanking Him for cleansing us--for the cross--and for the present application of the cross. Once we are thanking Him, we enter the courts--ie the outer parts of heaven. For thankfulness creates a space in us which allows God to flow and move us.

Once we are thanking, we enter, and once we enter His Courts, we will then find ourselves praising Him. That is the order of ascension: confession, thanks, praise. You see this pattern also in Daniel's prayer life, and in the Lord's prayer.

Once we are praising, God can take us anywhere in heaven and show us whatever He wishes us to see. He may show us our heavenly homes, or the parts of heaven that we are meant to, and will eventually completely, dwell within. Or, He may show us His Feet. He may show us something He is doing in a friend's life, or for a group or nation of people. But He will show us things! This may be a space where He shows us how He is praying for someone or a place, and so may bring intercession. Or it may be a place of gazing on some aspect of Himself. Whatever he leads us to we will go there and enter!

This is a simple pattern of entry, but it is practical. In our hour, many are being drawn up into heaven on a more regular basis, and this is for His Purposes. But we need to know these basic patterns or laws of The Spirit, so we will not become confused.

Many for instance, go worship once a week, and as they leave find themselves passing back into a spiritual valley of shadow. This is to be expected. For as we pass back through the gates of heaven, the enemy's hordes are outside of these gates, and they attempt to get us to focus on them, and leave the streams or ways of God pouring out from heaven. Know that on the outside of the gates, the enemy gathers--both to keep people out, and to keep people from returning, and to try to steal the things which one has gathered from heaven.

Once we know that this is the case, we are less immediately drawn away from the streams or ways or righteousness (the still waters) that keep us in the ways of God. The enemy is always trying to draw us out away from those streams. But to stay by them is a matter of staying close to the good shepherd as we descend into the valleys. We are to do whatever we do to stay close to Jesus. For me, it is spontaneous worship, or reading scripture out loud, or prophesying to strangers, or making music. Different people stay close to Him in different ways, but the thing is to cling to Him as we descend and not focus on the enemy, because that is the first thing you will see as you leave the heavens. This is especially true as the third heaven is beginning to press down into the second and onto the earth.

Too much of our heaven talk has gotten esoteric or mystical. But it is a practical matter to get into and out of heaven daily. And God has revealed spiritual laws of entry and exit in His Word. We need to know daily how to ascend and descend the mountain of our Lord! For from where does our strengh come from? Look to the hills, for our strength comes from The Lord!

This morning as I was confessing, thanking and then finally praising, God began to take me to a house in his Spirit. I saw a friend of mine getting annointed and freed to go into a new phase in his own life. I watched as He was lifted and then lowered and prayed over in a most exciting way. I got to see what God was giving Him right now in his life.
When we get up there, we never know what God is going to show us, or how He might use it. In another part of my experience, I was at God's feet just praising Him, and I felt that verse about blessed are the feet of those who bring good tidings, and I realized that those feet in that verse are always His, but that He lets us be His Feet at times! So this is part of a good tiding from The Lord. May it bless you wherever you are at on His Journey.

Getting people on their true paths, (eph2:10) will put them in their proper orbital patterns with others. When we are on our paths, we will see those we are meant to journey with.
When we are properly linked with those He has set with us, we are strengthened to flourish along our way.

In this season, being in proper orbital relationships to those around you locally is a key symbol of His building unity in His Way. Just as specific families were given sections of the wall to mend in Nehemiah's time, so we are to know which section of the wall of unity we are meant to be mending. To symbolize what God is doing in His Larger Body, and the world at large, is to be close to those He has given us now to orbit with-at the right distance, rhythm and depth.

Stars in open clusters get thrown out of orbit if they come into the wrong relationships with the other stars with which they share the gravitational pull. Gravity continues to work, but we are slung out from our proper cluster of stars, and no longer make the readable constellation God is trying to write in the sky for the world to read.

This occurs between the nations and in cities as well. It is imperative in our times, to be rightly knit with those He has given us-to be in the particular constellation of relationships He is forming through our lives. Christ is forming Himself both in us and through our relationships. This is part of His method of incarnation. He forms Himself through relationships.

The bread of His Presence, the wine of His communion, and the sword of His Word are all vital components coming out from being in right relationships with the people He has given us-seasonally and across seasons. These three elements are ministered to us through His Body. All three are needed to be whole expressions of His True Church.

Helping others, cities and even nations, get on their paths, and into their orbit with those He has given them each season is part of the great commission.

"Until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 2:13)

You see that each part of the body supplies something unique. And there are times to visit other parts, but we must also be on our unique paths set beforehand to be our way, so that He can make His true expression of Himself. Many do not come into their own callings, or get on their own path and instead remain on other's paths or in other's callings. It is essential to find that unique path which is yours, and to step out on it into your calling, so that you also can supply the parts you are meant to offer to the body and to the world.

There are many stones or obstacles in the way to walking into your calling--but the One who called you is also able to cause you to stand (Rom 14:4). So allow Him to cause you to stand, and walk out on that path which is uniquely your own, and is ultimately His path for you.

Here are five stones I see set against coming into our callings: world system esp financial areas; lack of desire for maturation; anger at the larger body keeping us from growing intimacy with Christ; never having seen someone else walking in their calling; getting stuck in one church's vision or gifting.

But He who called us is also able to cause us to walk on the path given to us as our life!

"..but instead speaking the truth in love. MAY GROW UP IN ALL THINGS INTO HIM WHO IS THE HEAD--CHRIST--from whom the whole body, joined and knit together BY WHAT EVERY JOINT SUPPLIES, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, cases growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."

We are commanded to grow up! As we grow and come onto our path, we will be placed in the proper relationships we need to flourish spiritually and in every other area of our lives. So let's!

Feeling the gaps in the Body this week, but also seeing the eventual links deepening, becoming more secure--His ungapless Being choosing to experience our lack of proper linkage internally, externally, laboring for our unity, our wholeness. He, who we are growing into, is growing into us, by His own choice!

We must be on our own sections of the wall, mending-being mended. I feel that unity can't be forced now, but that there is a unifying spirit among us, locally and internationally. At the same time, really sensing the need to be diligent on our section of the wall, which for me is arting, and providing a space for artists to become whole as people--to taste the Kingdom context for their creativity. And to celebrate identity as an expression of God on earth!

My knee joint is strained on my left side--the relational side. Feeling those strains, but looking up the mountain, north towards Benjamin, I look to and down from the hills from which cometh my strength--it is in Him, as is Vision! What we see is God's desire to incarnate on a new level in the global expression of His Mystical Body, and the local. Linking with those He has given you--those living stones put in patterns in your life--your living church. Those in Jesus, but also those He has given you to journey with, to commune with.

But we also see and feel the gaps in this wall of unified incarnation--as we go further INTO Him, so that, perforce, His headship will be lifted up. When His Body is properly aligned, His Head will be clearly visible.

Personally, our part of Nehemiah's wall is going well--the beauty is starting to shine, and the sturdiness is more than I thought. Relationally, there is love and good spiritual exchange, and a quickening between households--lighthouses in patterns across the hills of Austin. Still there are gaps, and the lament of the not yet.

To go deeper into Him in your season in Christ--what part of Him He is trying to incarnate in this particular season of your journey into Him. There are seasonal missions for each of us--seasonal aspects His revealing of Himself--and afterwards one can see the patterns of His revelations. One can rise up above several seasons and see why God was emphasizing each aspect. For us there is the creative, the becoming co-heirs, the beginnings of restorational labor, occupying; for others now there is the crossing into their own lands, and beginning to take possession of inheritance. Regardless, we must be in our own seasons and working on our part of this grand wall.

The rebuilding the wall of unity. The symbolic restoration--of His symbolic dimension in cities, people, nations. He will symbolize Himself uninterruptedly one day, and we are engaged in becoming His symbols or signs Of His ability to link, to be the joints between us, both locally and internationally. My heart is that the whole symbolize Him locally and internationally. We are trying to become signs of what this will look like!

And yet..
The difficulty in experiencing unity existentially or experientially--the labor in the gaps; while still needing to work on one's own part of the wall in each person's unique style, can feel overwhelming. But He is not overwhelmed while working to pronounce His poem, and our breath to do so is in HIM!

Gaps can't be man-filled or soul powered into joining; there is an order to building, and at times it is good to fly up, balloon above to see how far we all have come; but there is first the responsibility to move in order on the aspect of the wall which is ours to mend. In ourelves this unity or integration must be moving forward--He wants to be incarnating into more and more of who we are. As He does, the shining will get brighter, and many will be able to work more efficiently and with His passion and joy and hope!

I also like that in our generation it needs to be planetary and it needs to be seen from the outside in order to notice the patterns correctly. Bono asked the clown the right question: how do we look from out there? "Vulnerable," was the clown's answer.

I also think it is significant that this man is a clown who has started the most amazing circus in our time--Cirque du Soliel. A humourist is the first real artist in space--and then what he did with it!! Wow! What a time for the artists on earth. So much to symbolize globally!

I have been on many highways, interstates and smaller roads in many nations. But in Poland there is unique way. It is more a route for wagons and carts than automobiles. Alongside the roads, women sell jars of blueberries from old car trunks or wooden stands. Perhaps you have seen them. If you pull off at a service area, there are also sausages being grilled by hefty stout men, and various canned things in small wooden carts or stands. There are aspects of old europe still visible in Poland, which have long passed from some more westerly nations. In this way, she preserves things for all of europe. However, she is not always soft in her preservational processes.

She is not always polite, her road at times seems to lack hospitality. There are large wagon-sized pot holes in certain areas of poland, and strange things are often just sitting in the middle or to the side of her thin two laned highways. Still, somehow, after hours, it is somehow rewarding that the required pacing, somehow allows you to notice more. More of the small villages, more of people's faces, more strangely spired churches and odd cockeyed jewish cemeteries. I like the pacing that polish roads require, it teaches me things about life.

Some would want europe to be one singular expression, to have a single cultural currency. But I like that her roads are unlike Germany's. I also like German roads--their sleek vast smoothness, which calls forth the forward in us. In Germany, one is always driving towards a goal, and it is reachable, efficient, knowable. It is comforting that everything works in Germany. That the toilets flush and the meters keep accurate time. I appreciate the strength of efficiency. It has wisdom.

But tonight, i am in Poland, driving down a bumpy road, appreciating the unique reflections of God shining up from the pavement in this old nation. I appreciate the pivo and the roasted chicken, the wild flowers poking out from an old jar, the old bent over ladies gardening their small plots into blooming. I appreciate, the old creased faces of the men, and the warrior glances of the young men. The overcomingness of the youth here. I also for some reason appreciate the lack of order here. How lines form organically and there seems to be no way to tell who will go next. How church bells are ringing everywhere nearly constantly, and they seem to still mean something.

A sense of place is what Poland is teaching me as i travel. That particular places matter and are distinct from one another. The nuances of specific locations matter. Identity is not blurred into one hodgpodge of collectivity. No ideology has yet destroyed this sense of unique identity of place here. Not even in places where some of the fiercest ideals have played themselves out. I like that Poland has kept its polishness intact despite all it has been through. She is an overcomer in this way, just for holding onto her identity, for preserving her own soul.

A sense of place is a hard thing to conjure up quickly. It requires time, memory-a long story. And it requires one to keep singing their songs. Poland continues to sing, in accordion train whistles and church bells, in sounds of old carts being pulled and cars churning their engines or being pushed. But also as one drives along her roads, one starts to hear oneself--perhaps one's older self sort of humming an old klezmer melody. I appreciate being reminded of this song in myself as I go along.

But mainly, i appreciate the roads and that they force me to pay attention, to not miss this, to not just be pressing on and trying to reach the mark, but to also take note of the journey itself. To stop and just live. We are always rushing, it is nice to simply notice things. Poland's roads taught me this. I think I'll stop here and have a sausage and some pivo.

Poland sings in accordion rhythm like a rusty opera of bumpy roads and wild chickens. We love Poland--it's song is uninterrupted. At night, at this festival, accordion sounds mix with techno music echoing throughout the monastery grounds in a song of old and new europe. It is refreshing to feel the two in dialogue.

We participated in Slot Fest this year which is held in an amazing abandoned monastery in the south of poland about two hours from Krakow. Nice to be with the Poles and also to taste many other nations through a gathering within the festival called Kaliediscope. This group was hosted by Debbie and Andrew Jones and brought together many leaders globally to name some of what they see God doing in their nations.

The Brazilians were so alive, passionate and inspiring as were the Portugese. It was interesting to see what each nation was focused on spiritually as well. In brazil, the couple who came minister into the gay and transvestite communities as well as have an arts education program. The church is very alive in brazil and it was fun hearing a younger nation speaking into europe and thanking her for all she had given in history. We made many new friends at this festival.

On our last night we hosted a huge banquet in a fully restored baroque ballroom. We had everyone wear a costume and did "last supper" photos, twelve at a time of course, with the entire group. We were about seventy in the end. Despite the fact that it was difficult to imagine how the monks afforded such a lavish banquet hall, it was truly remarkable to eat with seventy amazing people in a very heightened and lavish environment.

Also had deep talks with Denny Hurst who, with his wife Maureen and kids live now near Lisbon, after serving with YWAM in italy for the past twenty years. They work with musicians and throw festivals, and are just great solid grounded people of life. A real honor and joy to get to camp with Denny and glean his insights into sheparing artists.

After Slot, we went to Prague and got to attend our friend's Sasa and Katka's twentieth wedding anniversary. Moravian wine, fire and deep talks of marriage and family in their orcharded house. Also that night got to meet the guys from "The Violet Burning"--nice exchange with these guys who were playing festivals in europe and had just played Slot.
We then went camping with our dear friends the Jones and got to cap it off with a shared few days in Karlovy Vary.

Often, we forget, or at least i do--all that we do, and the places we go. So i wanted to write up the sequence on this summer's journeys. Three months ago, i was in Prague attending and performing in the Bible21 launch, then to be back last week at our friends anniversary in the city were we were married was a special bookend for us. Our friends are so spread out that when we do actually get to share the same geography for moment it is dear to us, and rich.
So we are thankful.

In a few weeks, i return to switzerland to shoot a video with our friends Bryce and Sam Wagner who work with Mercy Ships. I was over last month to prep the shoot, and am looking forward to the actual filming. They are a very creative family and their music is bringing life into some heavy spaces. We are glad to be collaborating with so many alive and kingdom forward people in our lives. People living out their callings and passions keep us inspired to live out ours! Thanks everyone for sharing your lives with us, we hope we also left a lingering smooth taste and a pleasant fragrance in yours!

We continue to enjoy being artists and linking them with communities globally, and getting to know leaders who are working in creative frontiers. It is a joy to taste what new things are birthing around the world and to be co-inspired by others who are living out their dreams and callings.

We like being part of facilitating a local, creative and authentic expression of the Kingdom coming from who we are; but also need to continuously behold the multifaceted jewel of His uniquely shaped expressions around the world. God has allowed us to do this through a very organic and real network of global relationships.

For us the joy of just visiting our friends and sharing in their lives is the deepest motivation for travel. We have tried to live in and out this pilgrimage of becoming God's global family, for His Own pleasure. To be the joints and sinews between so many parts of His Body and the art world is always a cultural challenge, but also a great pleasure in getting to know and love more and more of Him through our journeys. Peace and life to you wherever you are, and may your road in Him rise up to meet ya!