jonathan’s blog

As a kid, I remember how fun it was, playing in the snow at Big Bear Lake or Lake Arrowhead.  But now as a parent, playing in the snow is a HUGE pain!  It’s not just bundling up the kids for the cold…it’s bundling them up for the snow.  Each one has boots, snow clothes, gloves, hats, jackets…let’s just say it’s quite the commitment when you tell the kids they can play in the snow.  But, Emily and I made it a point to let the kids play in the snow for a bit today.  I guess the Yap’s had the same thought…so we met them (and some neighbors) in the middle.  Well…more the Yap’s backyard…anyway, here are the pics.

We’ll start backwards, with the finished product.  A snowman!  A huge one!  In spite of the group pose and the satisfied looks of completion on their faces, it was Mitch that did most of the work!  Rolling and lifting these snowman body parts is not easy work!  Actually, I think this snowman probably weighed more than any of these kids!  If you look carefully, in between Bekah’s head and the snowman’s head, you can see Noah.  He had fun playing in the snow.  But when Lillian brought out the raisens to make the snowman’s face, Noah grabbed a box, walked over to the house, plopped down on the steps, and just stuffed his face with raisens for the rest of the play time.  Thanks Lillian for the raisens…and thanks for taking some of these pics, I can’t believe my battery died!

Division of labor.  Bekah making snowballs.  Juli and Kay making a snow fort.  Luke and Jesse rolling up the Snowman’s body.

Kay and Bekah were super sealed for the snow.  Snow boots, cool overallish outfits, down jackets, hat and gloves.  A long checklist, but after they were suited up, it was great!  I didn’t have to worry about them at all, just let them loose in the snow!  Noah was a differnet story.  He had no gloves and had the tendency to stick his fingers in the snow until the cold became painful!  I had to keep an extra eye the little guy.

It looks like they are incubating HUGE eggs!

Whenever this dog comes running out, 2 things always happen at the same time.  Kay and Bekah run screaming away, as if its some kind of dangerous pitbull.  But Noah, runs right towards it.  He’s never actually caught up to it…I wonder what he’d do if he got his hands on it.

What’s Juli got in her hand?

A snowball!

Bekah rolling, rolling, and rolling…

…up a seat!

Here’s Mitch doing the heavy rolling…

…and the heavy lifting.

At home, in the warm living room, by the fire, drinking a hot bowl of soup.  Perfect way to end playtime in the snow.

admin JERK'N Family

Em and Noah chilling…or I should say ‘warming’ by the fireplace.  We actually use our fireplace ALL the time out here.  It’s warm!  It actually heats up the room so that it’s nice and toasty.  It’s one of those gas fireplaces, that gets turned on and off with the flip of a switch.  Even our kids know how to run in from the freezing cold, flip the switch, and huddle in front of the heat.

Noah has become quite fond of “Uncle John”.  It must be a little strange for Noah.  He sees Uncle John at home.  He sees Uncle John at the prayer room.  Then he sees Uncle John at the Awakening meetings.  Uncle John is everywhere!  John’s M3 has a very distinct sound…and the other day, as John pulled into the garage, Noah came yelling, “Uncle John coming!  Uncle John coming!”

Noah, knocking down a set of ‘decline push-ups’…getting some definition into those pecs.

So far, this post has been featuring Noah…but the sisters.  Wow.  I found them doing the STRANGEST thing in the bath tup today.  For some reason, they’ve been so enamored with the Baptisms going on at the Student Awakening services.  Kay keeps telling me her favorite parts are the testimonies and the baptisms.  Bekah keeps asking when she can get baptized.  Well…they went ahead and held their own little service tonight.  I was in the other room just letting them play in the water, when I heard this, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”  Lo and behold, I came in to find Kay, holding Bekah as they do the awakening services, getting ready to do full immersion baptism…with Bekah holding her nose, preparring for the dunk!  Great practice girls!  -  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

admin JERK'N Family

The International House of Prayer University (IHOPU) Student Awakening. On 11/11 of last year, the Holy Spirit moved in a morning class of first-year students. They saw physical healing, deliverance, and students filled with a spirit of joy. I got 2 texts from different people around dinner time, saying that the Holy Spirit broke out among the students…and that they had been going straight for 9 hours. Word spread quickly, and over 2,000 people found their way to the Forerunner School of Ministry (FSM) auditorium that evening. The meeting continued well past midnight, running for more than 15 hours straight. All classes for the next few days were cancelled, students gathered to just receive all that the Spirit was pouring out.

We got there that first night…and the Presence of God was so strong. You could just sense his glory. We went last night, and they just baptized their 1,000th person! One Thousand baptisms since 11/11/09! People are getting delivered, set free from addictions, shame, depression. Physical healings are happening, eyes and ears being healed. Really amazing stuff. God moving, in just as much power, if not more, each night.

Emily and I have been bringing the kids as often as we can. Worship at these meetings are insane. When you hear/see the testimonies of people that are being ministered to by God, when you see life after life, dying to sin and raising in Christ through baptism…worship just FLOWS! Really…the celebration that goes on here…wow!

There are many that feel this is the beginning of the 3rd Great Awakening for this country. Those are big words! The first and second Great Awakenings shook the entire country; full blown revival can change the very heart of a nation. Oh how we need you to come!

God, how gracious of you…to allow us to experience this special outpouring!

admin Jehovah Jireh

This morning, ALL 3 kids found there way into our bed.  All three!  Yes…it’s nice to wake up next to your whole family.  BUT…it’s so hard to get really good sleep/rest with so many kids in your bed!  I woke up, brushed my teeth, and came back to find Noah and Bekah no longer in our bed.  Where did they go?  I found them in Noah’s bed, under the covers, with Bekah reading to him the Finding Nemo story…good job big sis!

Today was Sarah’s Birthday…but yesterday was her birthday party.  And wow!…was it a party!  Happy 1st Birthday, Sarah!  Thanks for letting us celebrate with you!

The next 2 pics I’m borrowing from Lillian’s Blog.  Of all the lame things, I didn’t have any good pics of the bday girl herself!  Here she is with her family.

Here she is…’enjoying’ her first bite of cake!

We went to an indoor play ground for the party and had a BLAST.  The kids had a blast.  I had a blast!…and I’m paying for it with a horribly sore body!  Here are the troopers, ranging all ages, shapes and sizes.

Noah was a bit nervous in the beginning.  But got over it really fast…and was soon climbing and sliding down by himself.  It’s hard to capture how high this slide is…but it’s quite the climb!

I got so tired, so fast…but Noah was constantly wanting to go back up, “More, more…pleeeaaase!”  I was all too glad when Luke came to the rescue (my rescue) and offerred to take Noah up.  Phew, a chance to catch my breath…thanks Luke!

Rebekah and Jesse.

Rebekah and Noah.

A very cool zip line!  I wanted to try this so bad…I mean, how fun is that!  I asked the guy at the front desk what weight it’s rated to hold.  150 lbs.  Not even close…I’ll just have to watch.  For some reason, Kay really liked this thing.  She kept zipping back and forth.  She came to me today, saying her stomach was really sore.  I think this is why!

Jesse on the zip.  Check out the slides in the back, maybe that can give an idea of how HUGE these things are.

Luke…who needs the zip line?  Let’s just jump!

Jesse following his big bro.

So sad that it has to end like this.  Noah…in one of his typical tantrums.  He REALLY did not want to go home.  I think he was having way too much fun.  So…after getting his shoes on, he just lay face down on the floor.  He’s been doing this more, to show his displeasure over things…the good thing though, he’s completely silent!  No screaming, crying, shouting, kicking, wailing.  He just sadly and quietly lays down, awaiting the inevitable.

Finishing up a haircut!

admin JERK'N Family

Warning:  The following pictures are not for the faint of heart!  Seriously.  This poor dude, came home today and went running into the living room.  No one is sure what really happened, but Noah must have slipped and fallen on the coffee table, hitting his head on the edge.  It swelled up immediately…and kept swellng and swelling!  He cried, we iced it, he cried so more.  And then he was fine.  He didn’t look fine, but he was laughing, showing us where he fell, how he hit his head.  He didn’t appear dazed, dizzy, no throwing up…so we think he’s okay.  Some of the swelling went down, but it just looks BAD!

admin JERK'N Family

“So what brings you guys to Kansas City?”

We get that a lot, which is understandable. But wow is that a loaded question…that is really hard to answer! Why did we move out here? How do we even start to answer that? God told us to? To be a part of the house of prayer? To go deep with God? To get ready and equipped for Jesus’ second return? Haha…no easy answers…especially when it’s not 100% clear even to us!

The International House of Prayer is a HUGE part of why we are here. Couldn’t we have just prayed in Los Angeles? Doesn’t God hear prayers no matter where you are? Of course! But these guys have been running hard with 24 hour night and day prayer for more than 10 years straight. Not one time in those 10 years have they left the alter unattended. Out of this constant worship and prayer, God has released amazing revelation, amazing teaching, amazing insight into God and what he is doing in the land. This community has learned to entertain the presence of God, to seek him with all that they have…seriously, just being here it seems like heaven is somehow ‘closer’. Prayer and worship, intimacy with Jesus, it drives everything they do here…the ministry school, the music academy, the children’s equipping center…everything!

The day I quit the weather company in Kansas…no, the HOUR I quit, I drove straight to the prayer room. For some reason, quitting was more emotionally stressful than interviewing. And there, after the fact, I just felt this emotional burden totally lift. I felt free in ways I can’t even begin to express. My boss didn’t take the news of my quitting very well, and it was actually a very uncomfortable experience. I quit, awkwardly walked out the door by myself, smiled to God, and said to myself, “Good riddance!”

I made it to the prayer room and found a seat in the back. As I tried to engage, I saw all around me…treasure. Not ‘real’ treasure…I must have been seeing something in my spirit, because when I saw the treasure I had a rush of memories. Memories from my days in college, when I used to close myself in a closet and seek his face for hours on end. I saw all these faces of God, and was reminded of how God showed himself to me, disclosed different aspects of who he was, took me deep into his presence to show me his wonderful beauty. I was reminded of the Exodus…and the insane revelations God has given over the years. A new way of doing church, which is actually a really old way, the first way! Cutting out Sunday service to become a house of prayer. The Kingdom of God. The Gospel. The Primacy of Loving God.

In that blur of memories, I was made suddenly aware of how much treasure God has given me. And in that same instance, I was made suddenly aware of the poverty of my spirit…and how much I needed God’s treasures again. In light of the treasures in the room, and the memories in my head, I began to ask aloud, “God, give me treasures. Make me rich again. Make me wealthy again.” I wept and prayed that, over and over again. A totally ironic prayer, considering I just QUIT my job, and here I am asking God to make me rich! Obviously, a different kind of wealth.

The treasure of the knowledge of God…intimacy born only out of time and seeking his face. We all know that we need to spend time seeking God’s face…but we also know that that is exactly the first thing to go when we get busy. As a working adult, active in the church, raising three kids, trying to do God’s will, with only 24 hours in a day…intimacy with God is one of the first things we let slip. Spend time with God? Read the word? Pray, worship, interceded…wait on God? It’s the first thing to get rationalized away.

Most of us are guilty of it, and suddenly we are very poor in spirit. And though we can make it, for weeks, months, even years, on the bare minimum, sometimes more, often less…we are cheating ourselves from the intimacy and depth for which we were really created. By not carving out and defending the necessary time and space, we sacrifice really going deep with God. Our revelation becomes old. Our insights are not our own. Our authority dwindles. And it is the mercy, the compassion, the grace of God to show us our poverty and how desperate we really are for more of him.

“God, make me rich. Make me wealthy again.” This chance, to go deep and find treasure; IHOP, Lee’s Summit Missouri…rural Missouri! This is God’s mercy, compassion, and grace to me…in this hour, spiritual hunger for more, is his greatest provision.

admin Jehovah Jireh

Noah, chasing EVERYONE with an orange plastic duster.  It was so LOUD, 5 kids running and screaming from him.  For some reason, he really delights in his role as the ‘younger brother that chases people.” 

Here they are eating Papa Murphy’s Pizza.  Since coming out here, I’ve really come to like Papa Murphy’s.  It’s a cross between a pizza joint and a subway sandwhich.  You get there, decide your toppings, order your pizza…and they make it fresh, right there in front of you.  But they don’t cook it!  You take the uncooked pizza home, to your oven, and bake it there.  I’m not sure why it works…but for some reason, it really does.  It’s this weird niche of more homemade than dlivery or frozen pizza, but less messy than real homemade.  Anyway, it’s GOOD! 

What in the world is that snow looking volcano?  I’m sure that question gets asked a lot in our neighborhood, because it really is a very unnatural phenomenon.  When the snow was abundant, the Exodus built a “ramp” of sorts, to use the sled to surf down from.  I guess normal sledding down the hill was not thrilling enough.  Anyway, the snow has been melting away.  It’s been “warm” here, with temperatures in the 40’s.  This is what’s left.

admin JERK'N Family, Life in the Midwest

I worked at a weather technology company in Kanasa for almost 2 months. It was one of the worst, most desolate seasons of my 34 years of living. No exaggeration. MediaDefender decided to end my contract at the end of September. Our home would be ready for us to move in by November…but we wouldn’t be able to close on escrow without a source of income. This company in Kansas offered me a job and I started the second week of October. God’s provision is amazing, giving us the job so that we can get the mortgage at just the right time…incredible! But oh so difficult. I died many deaths in that short season…not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely a hard thing. God offended my mind, to reveal my heart.

I was at the top of MediaDefender, providing cutting edge digital anti-piracy services for some of the world’s most important and impactful content producers. I was invited to speak at conferences regularly, and acknowledged as being an expert in our field. I was featured and quoted by a number of online and printed publications and even did a radio interview! I hired people, fired people, and helped make strategic decisions for the direction of the company. I was integral in establishing three additional products slated to become their own wholly owned subsidiaries, a viral alternative advertising platform, a peer-assisted video distribution technology, and a self publishing video library product…all cool stuff!

Fast forward, and I’m selling weather detection systems to archaic television stations that barely understand their own websites. I work for someone younger than me, who has zero experience, and is giving me “pointers” on how to make a successful Power Point Presentation. He keeps track of my hours, when I arrive and when I leave the office. My closest confidant is Chloe, a super fat dog that likes me because I give her French Fries and scratch her ears, she frequents my office to sleep, snore, and pass gas. They promise me 3 things during our interview: 1.) flexible hours, 2.) little or no travel, and 3.) I can volunteer at Kay’s school every Friday morning. Within one month, they pull back on all three, insisting on inflexible hours, insane amounts of travel, and displeasure over my volunteer hours. Amazing. I would leave to work early in the morning, before Noah even woke up. I would leave work after dark, making it home just barely for dinner…to eat and watch the kids go down. Almost every night, I would leave the office, look to the night sky and shout to God, “What am I doing here?!”

God didn’t just humble me…he flat out humiliated me. There are too many specific stories to go into, but never have I been so embarrassed and humiliated. I think it was God’s shortcut way of smashing my pride and arrogance that had been steadily developing over the years. But in that madness, in my despair, God came to me one morning…like the dawn breaking forth from a dark night, he visited me and spoke words to me that have marked my soul.

The night before, I had been watching this new TV series called Trauma. In it, there is this ‘tough as nails’ rescue paramedic that is part of the airlift crew. He is coaching his pilot who refuses to do anything other than just piloting the chopper. There is a heated discussion as to why she won’t help out with injured patients. In the end, he finally understands her fears and says to her, “I get it. Flesh is fallible. Humans are weak.” The point being that the pilot couldn’t deal with anything beyond her immediate and absolute control. Machines she could ‘control’, but human error she could not.

So I’m driving to work, just dreading the upcoming work day, bothered that it’s so early and that for another day, I’ll be away from Emily and the kids, wondering if we did the right thing in moving to Kansas City, and thinking about this TV show. I’m hearing this guy say, “Flesh is fallible. Humans are weak.” Then the ray of light hits and I hear God speak to me…clear as day, right there in the car on the way to work. And I just lose it. I’m weeping, bawling, trying to drive, but almost unable to see where I’m going! And in my heart, I know that God is perfect, that he is sovereign, in control, and sitting on his throne. This is what I heard:

I’m thinking to myself, “Flesh is fallible. Humans are weak.”

And like thunder, God speaks into my spirit, “I am not fallible. I am not weak. I am perfect. You spend all day, trying your best to NOT make mistakes. Jonathan, you need to understand this. I can spend all day, TRYING to make a mistake…but I won’t be able to. I CANNOT make a mistake. I am infallible.”

And though I don’t understand the details, I know in my heart and soul that God is in control, on his throne, and wholly sovereign. That even in this desperate place, God has made no mistakes, not a single one. He’s not worried, or antsy, or nervously trying to figure out how to redeem this situation. No, he is utterly in control. I wish I could say that from that day forward everything was better…nah, there were still plenty of horrible times at the weather company. But God did grace me with the assurance that this was all not a mistake. That he has a plan, a good plan…and that he is way strong enough to make it happen. His plans won’t disappoint, his plans are to prosper us, to give us a future and a hope. There are no mistakes with him, it’s against his very nature to make mistakes…and therefore wholly impossible. God, infallible and always on his throne.

admin Jehovah Jireh

Rebekah once looked at me really intently, and then commented, “Daddy, you look like Hello Kitty.”  Definitely not the most flattering of comments.  But seriously…what in the world is she talking about?

Haha!  Do you see it?…the resemblance?

Aaarrrggghh!!!  I have a Hello Kitty hairline!

admin JERK'N Family

Emily’s crochet project number 2, a loop scarf for Kay…another outstanding success.  Well, actually 3 outstanding successes, at least!  The perfectionist part of my wife is catching up to her.  She’s made this loop scarf in 1/3 the time it took to make Bekah’s.  However, she made it at least 3 times!  Each time, it was either too wide, or just didn’t look right to her, so she unraveled and started over!  Can you get Carpal Tunnel from too much crochet? 

admin JERK'N Family