Storms!

Storms often scare. A child looking at a thunderstorm is unsettled and looks for its parent. Many nations on the earth have faced massive storms in the past couple years. Storms like Katrina have wrecked havoc on countless 1000's of lives.

How many other individuals have been battling personal storms? High velocity winds gusting through their lives blowing apart all that was once held dear? Torrential rains drowning out everything that was built up as a facade to the world around them? Perhaps heavy snows fell on their lives, cold and wet suffocating the life and vitality of their meager existence on earth.

But let's look at this another way. What if the storms were actually something beautiful? What if when the winds were blowing, the rains were pounding, or the snow was flying, that in reality the unnecessary parts of our life were being eradicated? How many times is it said of people that had near death experiences that afterwards they were going to live their lives differently? Now they would pay less attention to the mundane and trivial and more attention to the smell of the roses and the taste of the air standing beside the sea.

Rachel and I are seeing our fair share of storms. Right now, my beautiful bride is in Alaska helping a family member with 3 disabled children. One is in ICU with pneumonia and Rachel is at home caring for the other two. This is only the latest of a series of storms. None have been life threatening, but all have been god attempts at knocking the Good Ship Pleasants off course.

But then there is that familiar refrain in our heads and hearts. PRAISE GOD! Our ship might be thrown around on the seas of life and change, but we know God is up to something good. We see relationships blooming. We see battles being undertaken in our friends personal lives. We see a lot of people praying. Seriously praying. Praying like their life depends on it. It does.

The cliche', "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" comes to mind. When the storms and the attacks come, it is more than a signal to pray. It is a signal of the good to come afterwards. God does not let us go through struggles without a reason. He does so to get our attention and to call us into the next phase of our life. This is why when we look at the horizon and we see the ominous clouds approaching in our lives, we should not tremble out of fear, but of anticipation, trusting in God for what is going to come after the rains.

I encourage both of you readers to take this to heart. Pray about it. Ask God to help the attitudes of your heart to be trusting in Him and to quiet the fear. If the worse thing that happens is we pass away on this journey, we still win in the end. And if you read this and you don't believe that, read the Bible and pray!

Introduction to IHOP -Day 1

Today was the beginning of the Intro to IHOP program that the entire Family is attending. It is the basics of the International House of Prayer all rolled up into one 3 1/2 month internship. The session tracks along with the first semester of the Forerunner School of Ministry as well as a host of other tid bits and loads of time in the Prayer Room.

To Rachel and I, day 1 was a lot of information that we already know. We were watching the faces of those around us, many of whom just arrived in the past few days, and we could see on their faces they were in overload mode. The fact of the matter is though it will not let up until it is over. In reality, it will only get more intense, more powerful and more special day by day.

The group of interns going through the Intro program is the largest yet. We number right at 140 adults. Counting the children and family members that aren't actually attending, it is close to 200 fresh faces. I commented to someone that 140 people is larger than most churches and we are only a sliver of al that is going on here at IHOP-KC.

As we set out on this journey called Intro, we are anticipating a lot happening in the lives of these 140 including ours. There is no question that there is something bigger going on, and only One knows what it is.

A Week To Remeber

This past week my family and I were treated to a 2 night 3 day stay at Big Cedar Wilderness Club. Friends of our here in KC called us up and asked if we could go and they were treating. All we had to do was pack our bags, bring some food (or eat out) and show up. The resort is about 3 1/2 hours south of KC very near Branson, MO.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The first night we took a sunset catamaran cruise. The second night we left our kids in the room late at night for a couple hours while we went and hung out with our friends and had some desert. There was also a ton of swimming to be had. The lodge pictured above is actually the indoor swim house. It is encircled by a lazy river that is for floating inner tubes around. There is also another outdoor pool, miniature golf, horseback riding, a full blown marina with paddle boats and canoes for free, and boat rentals.

The grounds were beautiful. This waterfall you have to drive thru on your way into the lodge. It has several steps from the top of the hill all the way down to Table Rock Lake below. There are also many different types of trees and flowers. There is hardly a place that your eyes can land that doesnt have a beautiful touch of fauna. It seemed like every color of the rainbow was represented.

This resort was the first place we have been that as soon as we entered the rooms, we instantly felt relaxed and at home. The rooms are equipped with a full blown kitchen to include a dishwasher and all the dishes. pots and pans and cutlery a person could ever need. It was amazing. Here are two more pictures to show the room, and the sunset.

Praise God Through it All!

When Rachel and I were working our way out of Alaska, we came up against struggle after struggle. Things like a furnace cracking the heat exchanger, having to repaint the entire interior of our house AFTER we had already signed with a realtor to sell it, having my arm in a sling after tearing the rotator cuff and hyper extending the elbow and wrist, not being able to help pack the uhaul and do anything in the house before we left. The key to all of this was that through it all we were practically giddy saying, "Praise God". We knew that we must be on to something good in our lives if we were encountering so much interference.

This past week the cycle began again. On Wednesday, as Rachel and the kids were going to the post office, they managed to lock themselves out of the Durango. It was 100 degrees outside and they were about 4 miles from home. They walked about 1/2 mile before someone saw that one of the kids was having a meltdown emotionally and offered to help. In the end, everything worked out OK. Thursday, we pulled a most delicious lasagne that we had prepped out of the freezer so that we could eat off it during the conference here at IHOP. Problem was that when my boy pulled the pan out of the freezer, no one knew that he didn't get the door closed. The week prior, my dad had dropped off a lot of moose, halibut and salmon from Alaska. Luckily, the freezer wasn't unplugged so everything was at least 'cool', but it had thawed completely. But the story doesn't end here. Friday morning, Rachel went to wash clothes, problem was, the washing machine broke. It wouldn't do anything other than pump water IN. NO spin cycle, no churn mode, nada. This made us purchase a new washing machine because we literally had no clean clothes. Off I went to the bank, withdrew the funds necessary to reopen my account in Sam's Club, and buy the machine. (side note- SAMS NEEDS TO ACCEPT VISA). I get home, drop off the machine, go to the conference that night, we wake up and go to church Sunday morning, and practically pass out Sunday night. We wake up Monday morning and discover that we are missing $100. Oh happy day! But through it all, we were saying praise God! None of these things were life threatening or really even all that bad. Granted it was a good chunk of cash that is missing, and all the other stuff sucked to varying degrees, but in the end, no big deal.

We knew that we knew God was up to something good. Then the phone rang. A friend of ours here in KC left a message for us. Upon returning the call they ask us what we are doing Wednesday-Friday of this week. I tell them that really other than work, nothing. They ask if would like 3 free nights at BIG CEDAR. I could not believe my ears, and then I looked at the web page and could not believe my eyes. What a gift. Our hearts are longing so much for a real piece of nature.

The last night of the conference. Lenny asked me to be talking to the department heads of the CEC at our meeting today about small groups and the lack here of community. How together we can make a difference but if we are not a true team we will accomplish nothing. It is funny to me how when I asked my pastor in Fairbanks for a good scripture to share with them regarding cell groups/small groups he gave me Acts 2:42-47. This is the same scripture that I got to bring us here in the first place.

God is moving not only in our life, but in the life of so many people that we know. Through it all we praise God. Thanks to Lyle G. in Alaska for giving us a great example to follow and an infectious smile to remember to this day.

New Baseball Fan Born!

Last night my son and I were able to go see the Kansas City Royals play the Boston Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium here in KC. The picture above is of him yelling CHARGE!

When we first entered the stadium, as Kenny first saw the field he exhaled "WHOA!". I dont think he realized just how big the place was. The game had almost 27,000 people attending. Kenny was able to see his first Home Runs. One was hit by David "Big Papi" Ortiz. THe game was won by KC 6-4.

We ate a great hot dog, and you can see in the picture above the hat that he got as a treat. I was thrilled to be able to take him to the game and a HUGE thanks to Lenny and Tracy. These memories will last a lifetime. 

A Great Alaskan Dies

Susan Butcher passed away yesterday. She was the first woman to win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race 4 times, three of which were in a row. She embodied everything that is Alaska.

I remember watching her compete in races when I was a child and the presence she had. She looked like she could kill a grizzly bear with her bare hands. It wasn't that she was big, it was the look in her eye, her tenacity. She was tough and unrelenting.

The past couple years my kids went to a Montessori school that Susan's kids went to as well. To know Susan's family is to know truly what Alaska is all about. Hard work, long play and lots of love. Eery time I ever spoke with Susan, she exuded strength, wisdom and tenacity. She would always stand her gorund and never give up.

When the leukemia returned a few weeks ago after a bone marrow transplant, the doctors told her she had two options, go home and spend time with friends, or start all over. Those who knew Susan also knew she would take the challenge, not the easy way.

As you sit around, enjoying your coffee and your Sunday afternoon BBQ's, say a prayer for the butcher family and all their friends. Say a special prayer for Tekla and Chisana and thier father Dave. An icon of Alaska has passed away and with her, a very large piece of what Alaska is to many residents no longer remains.

Mountain of Myrrh

I have been pondering over the past few days what to post on here. In some senses I feel like I have a ton to say, in others I feel I should just keep quiet. There is a lot going on around the Pleasants family. We have a guest with us from Alaska for another 2 weeks, my dad and stepmom should arrive this weekend after spending the summer in Alaska (yes it is over up there), and work for Rachel and I grows more intense by the day.

All of this together makes for long days and little to no weekend. Is that bad? Not really. We like to be busy. If we weren't working so hard, we would be missing Alaska all the more. I spoke yesterday with a great friend here and he told me about when his family first landed in KC how they mourned for their previous home and all the connections. It really hit home with me to hear him say this. I told another friend last night, that I think what is especially getting to me is almost every calendar I look at now, shows the first week or two of September, which for this Alaskan, is the start of hunting season.

Hunting season, is significant in many ways. While it is a chance for God to provide my family with an abundant supply of meat, it is also a very spiritual time. It is a time where I would sit in the woods or walk along trails and reflect over the past year and spend some great time talking to God about what was coming ahead. Last year alone I calculated that I walked over 50 miles looking for a moose to harvest. It was on the 2nd to last day of the season that God gave me the moose. Funny thing was, we barely ate any of it before we left Alaska to come here to KC. The rest of the meat went to a couple families that needed it. I couldnt be happier about that.

This past weekend in the Children's Equipping Center, the kids heard a message out of Hosea 2 and Song of Songs 4. Talking about going up the Mountain of Myrrh and how we are all on a journey. Myrrh, in this sense is actually referring to death, and the journey we are on is one of dying to ourselves and our desires and living out what God would have us do. Letting go of all the things we chase after and following God's will in our life. This is where I am at personally. Dying to all the things I know and are and have become, and living toward all that God would make of me. What a journey!