Joy Tunnel in the Skate Park!
I have had an AMAZING day!!! So much good stuff has happened! First of all, let me start with outreach.
I was already overflowing from some incredible time in worship I had earlier in the day, and when I got to Shasta Lake City to meet the team, John Touya began telling us about their trip to Ecuador and how Holy Spirit just was released in such a powerful way. They even did a fire tunnel on the plane, and the flight attendants went through it! As John was sharing, I was getting drunk in the Holy Ghost and filled with tangible love for every person. We did a fire tunnel for the whole outreach team right there in the park, and it was wonderful.
Then Andrew Earle had the idea of going and doing a fire tunnel (joy tunnel) at the skate park nearby. I thought that was a great idea! So we went over there, and I hollered out to the skaters and bikers inviting them to come through our joy tunnel if they wanted to feel happy! I told them that it's like getting drunk with beer, except there's no hangover and it's way better. One of the guys said in a sarcastic way, "We're too young to be drinking!" I laughed. So the bikers and skaters started skating and biking through our joy tunnel, and as they would roll through, they would hit the jumps afterwards, then ride up the ramp and roll through again and again. One guy, Charlie, said he started feeling all happy inside, and I asked him what it felt like? He said it felt like ecstasy going all through his body! I asked him if he wanted some more? He said yes! So I asked him to hold out his hands, and I just released more Holy Spirit on him. He felt God's presence!
I don't remember all the details because I was drunk in the Spirit and it all runs together sometimes. Next, I felt tingling on my right achilles part of my foot, and I asked if anybody had pain in that area. A girl name Rona who was hanging out at the park said no but that she has pain in her right knee, and that it was so painful that she couldn't hardly walk on it. So I prayed over her knee, and it got healed! All her pain left! Then we found out that her left eye was completely blind. John asked Jennifer Clyde to pray for Rona's eye. She hasn't been healed YET.
We hung out with the kids for a good while. I had such a good time because I felt God's love deeply in side for them. I went over and sat down with some of the kids, and I asked Charlie again how he's feeling. He said he couldn't feel the upper part of his arms as if something was sitting on him. I told him that it's probably an angel. Candace began prophesying over him, and so did Jennifer. Candace asked him if he dreams a lot? Yes, he said. This prompted him to share a dream he had last night where he saw his friend turn into a lion, and then a mermaid. He didn't know what it meant. Jennifer had some insight about it, and she shared it with Charlie. I could feel the deep love for them, and what's amazing is there was a connection that was built as we hung out with these kids. They could tell we cared about them with genuine love, not religiousness.
There were numerous other people who felt joy and the presence of God, one of whom was Terry. I asked him if he's ever felt God before. He said yes...I asked him if he wanted to feel him again. He said yes, and so Jonathan and I prayed over him. I had Terry hold his hands out, and we put our hands near his, and invited Holy Spirit to come. He did! Terry said he felt heat on his hands!
One of my highlights of the whole time was as we were walking by the skate park to go to another neighborhood in Shasta Lake City, but as we walked by, a group of the kids in the skate park yelled out to us, "One more joy tunnel! One more joy tunnel!" I was so happy because that meant they genuinely felt safe around us and that they really did experience the presence of God. So we went and did another joy tunnel! They rode through. One of the guys, Joe, felt God and was happy because of going through. He had really bright eyes, and I told him that there is light coming out of his eyes. Joe had a car accident recently and his shoulder was messed up, as well as his jaw. We prayed for him, and his shoulder got better!
Kekoa and I got to talking to some of the guys, and the idea came up about doing a Biker/Skater competition in the park. They were so thrilled about it, because they get a lot of flack from the community just because they skate and bike. They're not causing trouble though. It reminds me of how Kris Vallotton spent years meeting with kids who were troubled and eventually the court would require the kids who were arrested to go to Kris' youth gatherings as their sentence. God established amazing connections this week. Man things work out so much better when you're drunk in the Holy Spirit and you don't care what other people think, and you just let go of religiousness and lies. I love freedom to love others. It feels so good to me.
I learned a lot about how to steward drunkenness today in a leadership capacity. Because I myself was already prepared to receive the breakthrough and presence that John Touya was carrying from the Ecuador trip, I was able to experience it myself, and then draw the rest of the outreach team into it, and create a fire tunnel to get everybody filled up, and then go take a risk and give it away to the skaters and bikers. It was so awesome. Man freedom is so good when you are just free to be yourself and you just get all happy inside with the presence of Jesus. I love it. It's interesting too because there were certain students who shied away from the fire tunnel stuff, and I know some of it is due to hindrances. But I didn't let up just because of that...I kept staying drunk and getting others drunk. I really know that what happened today happened because I carried it and led others into it, and broke it open.