The most beautiful Crucifixion, IHOP Prayer Room.

Well, I’ve been back from KC for a few days now, but as April and May are busy ones for us, I’m catching up on my promised IHOP entries from a Panera Bread in Perrysburg, Ohio. I think I may blog about the ARC conference that begins today in Toledo, so stay tuned for that.

But to tie it all up with regards to my IHOP trip, I wanted to share perhaps the coolest encounter I had. It was on the airplane coming home.

While waiting in the terminal to board our plane, and trying so hard not to eavesdrop on a man verbally assaulting his wife, I noticed The Pretty Girl. Now, ladies, we all know about The Pretty Girl. We are either terrified of her, or we hate her. Like that Jordache commercial from the 80’s, where the Molly Ringwald lookalike is sitting in a stairwell with her friends and says, “I hate my mom. She’s SO much prettier than me.” (And ohmygosh I found it:)<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Vk1JYs7LN1w&hl=en&fs=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Vk1JYs7LN1w&hl=en&fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

And this Pretty Girl was wearing a one-sleeve top. I mean, over the top cool. I instantly hated and feared her. And guess who sat next to me on the plane? Ah, God’s sense of humor. Well, she slept pretty much the whole flight (oh, and of course *didn’t* eat her fattening airplane snack). So I felt safe. But there was something that bugged me…a restlessness of wanting to talk to her about Jesus. It wasn’t strong, but it was there. Well, it was during the final descent, about 10 minutes before landing, and the lights of the greater NYC area were pretty close, when I distinctly heard the Lord say, “Ask her about her dad.” And just as if He and I had been talking about it all along, I said, “Oh, it’s her *dad*. OK.” But surely He couldn’t want me to initiate some deep conversation with The Pretty Girl (OK, I’m 2 seconds away from calling her PYT–Pretty Young Thing, a la Michael Jackson. Someone get me out of the 80s vortex.) when it couldn’t possibly go anywhere–it’s not like I had time to lead her to the Lord in 10 minutes! So I wrestled a bit, but on came that kind of nauseous feeling I get when I know it’s the Holy Spirit speaking. And all of a sudden I remembered what someone said the night before: “None of these people are cool. They’re all trying, but no one is cool.” And I instantly saw PYT as a little girl, scared and helpless, and questioning her place in the world just like the rest of us. Sooo…

“Excuse me, this may sound weird, but I’m a Christian, and sometimes God gives me things to ask other people. Do you mind if I ask you a question?” “Sure, OK.” “Is there something going on with your dad? How’s your dad?” Silence. Oh no, I thought. Strike out. Total miss.

“How did you KNOW that?”

And thus began a conversation that had her totally disarmed. It turned out she had been visiting her father in KC, and he was very sick. I asked if there was anything wrong with their relationship. At first she said no, but then…”Well, he’s an alcoholic. And my mother, too.” After she told  me a bit, I said, “You know, what I feel that God wants to communicate to you is that He loves you, and that everything is going to be OK; that He is orchestrating this whole situation because He wants you to be with Him. He really burns with love for us.” And the more I spoke what I believed was on the Lord’s heart, the more I saw with HIS eyes–not anger, not indignation, but burning love. But not excuse, either; and I did share with her the message of repentance–but always in the context of God’s burning love for her. In fact, the instant I began speaking, I felt such authority in the Holy Spirit, that this was exactly what He wanted to say, and any former fear or intimidation I felt was instantly gone.

Cory was still completely amazed, and completely not resistant to what I was telling her. We even had time for a little small talk. But I asked her to please remember what I said, and the importance of it. I believe she will, and I am praying for her to accept Christ as her Savior. As for me, I felt complete confidence that I had preached the WHOLE gospel–and it felt SO right. I felt God’s pleasure and favor as I got off that plane, and I believe that she felt seen and valued by God.

I’ll exposit this in the next post. I have some thoughts about the five-fold ministries that I want to share. But be encouraged; Aslan is on the move.

I recently was talking with a sister (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) who commented that she did not know how to make a pie crust. I remembered a conversation with a friend years ago about how one of her goals in life was to learn to make a pie crust by the age of 30–(she achieved it). And I began thinking about how many of us have things we’d like to learn, but don’t know how to go about doing easily. These goals don’t tend to be major things, but yearnings we have to master some skill or overcome some obstacle. It occurred to me that we could be the answer for each other’s unfulfilled wishes in this regard. I know how to make bread. I sew. I could help someone learn how to read a pattern, for example. I have taught many people how to make bread and would be willing to show more. I’ve never learned to crochet or read a knitting pattern.

Any thoughts, sisters?