Surfing a tidal bore in China...this is insane

The Kingdom is coming, The Kingdom is coming...

In the gospels the word kingdom is mentioned over 100 times while the word church is only mentioned 3. Jesus was all about the Kingdom and lately that is all that I can think about. With the help of Rebecca, lately we have been saying that "The Kingdom came", whenever God or the Holy Spirit showed up somewhere. 

With that in mind last night we (Rebecca and I) had dinner with Gavin. He is a late twenties/early thirties young man born and raised in South Africa living in the UK (due to affirmative action laws in SA) who works for the GSMA which is the overseeing agency that keeps all of the world wide mobile phone companies in line. He is brilliant and he has his work cut out for him. His heart has been pricked by God and is came out in a meeting a few months back. He was speaking to a large room full of very important people, when all of the sudden he felt something rise up in him that he could not explain and with a passion that was relentless started speaking about what needed to be done and now it wasnt being done correctly at the current time. Specifically, he was calling out these other big wigs that poverty needed to be ended and with the use of mobile phones and mobile banking they could help stimulate economies and the third world at large. 

At our dinner last night we discussed in full detail how God moves, talks and beckons us to do His work here on earth. Essentially, the Kingdom came. We talked about everything from physical healing, demonic deliverance, politics, atheists, CS Lewis, Africa, USA, UK, father wounds, children and love. I felt anointed last night because after I left he told Rebecca that he could find now fault in me. Now if you know me, you know there is fault, so that is why I felt anointed. God was up to something last night. Positioning right people for right times and impacting people to listen to God and move accordingly. The Kingdom came....and is still coming.

This is what love looks like.

I have waited, impatiently, for 25 years for the right girl to come into my life. Over the last few months I have been learning what love looks like and physically it looks like a 5'7" beautiful woman with dirty blonde hair and green eyes and a smile that could knock over buildings. This picture is wonderful because Rebecca gets so excited to see me that quite frequently she skips, runs and jumps into my arms and wraps her arms, and sometimes her legs, around me and kisses my face with a passion that only love knows. There is so much else to what love looks like but this is what was needed for today.

A Grandfather's Thoughts at 80

BIG JOHN TURNS 80 FEBRUARY 11, 2006

February 11, 1926 I was bon in Wichita, Kansas (and yes in a hospital). That makes me 80 years old on February 11, 2006. I wanted to celebrate this occasion with everyone, but I know this is almost impossible. I will be seeing some of you in 2006, but not all, so I wrote this epistle to convey my sentiments and love to all of you. Friendship is a wonderful thing. God sets it up, but the parties involved must nurture and expand it. It doesn't just happen. You are the persons who have made my life and me what I am today. I cherish your friendship and want to keep it forever.

As for my immediate family, you are all so precious to me that I have a hard time conveying it. I have made mistakes but I am  trying to be the man God wants me to be who shows his love without fear of rejection. I can't list everyone, but total count including all marriages and remarriages comes to about 21 including Alice and me, and I love you all. Jeannie, I want to thank you for my dear cat Angel, She has made such a difference in my life.

Alice and I have been married for 57 years and she is my life. We struggled in the middle years, but never gave up. Our sons suffered from our lack of experience and faith in God, and I am sorry Sons. For the rest of the family relatives what I have just said applies equally to you. My sister Gail is dying of Parkinson disease. She is such a fighter. Without her caregiver Gloria she wouldn't be able to live at home. Thanks Gloria. I have a sister Aleda, but I don't know where she is. All of us, let's close ranks, forgive and come together.

To the widows whose husbands were my best friends, I love you and respect you. Some of their names include Al, Roger, Bruce, John Van Campen, Bud, Ernie Hillman, Cyd, Warren, Ken, Elmer, Mickey, Ed and his dear wife Jean, too. I can't explain how their passing has affected me. "Why not me too" I ask. I had inoperable prostate cancer twenty-one years ago, yet I am still here. Thank you God and Dr. Wolin. I had a class 3 melanoma removed from my left check this year. It hadn't spread to my lymph nodes and the got it all. Praise the Lord! Thank you too Dr. Change and City of Hope. Since God has seen fit to extend my life, what does He want from me? I want to continue being a good husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather. I want to rekindle the fire in our friendships and make them more meaningful. I want to come closer to God. To paraphrase Micah 6:8 "God has shown me what is good and what He requires of me, but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God." That is my goal.

I found Jesus in the 70's and never looked back. I owe my existence to John and Margie McClure who slowly but surely lead us to Jesus. Some of you knew me in the old days and many of you in the more recent years. I am the same person, but have acquired some degree of wisdom, knowledge, joy and forgiveness that could not have happened without God in my life.

There are many men and woman who have helped me in my spiritual walk - John and Margie McClure, Bryan (Sr. Pastor Calvary Chapel La Mirada) and Lisa Parish, Robert and Monica Ferrington, Don and Linda Steward, Doug Sunshine, Vince Ray, the Promise Keepers, Toni and Richard Schork, Bob and Renee Nole (deceased), Ed and Jean Griffith (deceased), Bob and Tammy Felix, the Singles group and Alice. If I let anyone out it's because my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

This verse from Ecclesiastes by Solomon at the end of his life kind of haunts me, yet gives me hope and I want to share it with you. "What has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be, there is nothing new under the sun."

My favorite bible verse is "A friend loves at all times" Proverbs 17:17a and recently from Billy Graham, "You can have a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Jesus can make life joyful, satisfying and glorious for you."

Lovingly in Christ,

John C. Loevenguth

The Last Lecture

Color Change

I try and try to write things on this blog or post pictures but I just can't seem to ever do it. I think it is a lack of confidence, or a what is the point of it mentality but I have decided to change the colors to green and blue because I like those colors better and they are more friendly to me. I am going to be diligent this time and post things: random thoughts, pictures, videos, revelation, etc. I think it is really more for me than it is for anyone who looks at it, but hey I appreciate you looking and reading along. The Great Assignment v2.0...

My Sister Jennifer and My Nephew Cash

Pablo Neruda - Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms

but carries in itself the light of the hidden flowers;

thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

so I love you because I know no other way than this;

where I does not exist, nor you, 

so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

so close that when your eyes close I fall asleep.

Gettin' Stuft.

Great Assignment = Sport Climb this 5.10a in Clear Creek Canyon.

Forget Not the Benefits of God!

You ARE here for my reasons and it is even now being evident to you. I am nudging you even now. Follow the nudge and step out again. I have opened the door; the river you cross as you go through the door is over your head and that is to place your spirit over your mind. The path on the other side will be very easy to follow!

Psalm 103

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 2 Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: 8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children - 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. 19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. 21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. 22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.

The Shack.

Hey You! Yes You. You need to read this book....Pronto! It's that good.

Throwing Rocks.

Awaken

Climbing Frozen Things.

Will Surf For Free.