Itsara

Last week, our church had a week of prayer and fasting. We met at the cross on top of Mt. Soledad every morning and night, and also at the snakehead at UCSD at noon, during the week to pray. Not for anything specifically, though obviously the topic of San Diego and our country’s leaders (and potential leaders) came up. A lot of the meetings ended up praying against complacency as well (and there were different people at each meeting, so maybe God’s trying to tell us something…).

Also, different people at the church fasted from different things and in different ways. I didn’t do food this year, though I did fast from this weblog (hence the lack of posts). I didn’t even check the statistics. I know this sounds like a stupid thing to fast from, but it turns out it was exactly the right thing for me.

Anyway, one night a friend told us she had an image for us. I don’t remember the details, but she said she pictured what we were doing (the orphanage) like Noah’s ark, with the kids (and animals, I guess) all having fun and loving God. I’m not sure how far God intended that analogy to extend, though I think it’s safe to extend it as far as us saving the kids and bringing them into the kingdom (out of their kingdom, I suppose). But what was really interesting about the image was that the main room of Im Jai has a painting of Noah’s ark. So when Dawn was explaining that image, this is the picture I saw in my head:

Cindy took this picture when she visited Im Jai five years ago. The wall still looks like it did back then (though the kids are bigger). When I told Cindy about Dawn’s vision, this was the first thing she thought of too.

I don’t have anything more to say about it. I suppose God will reveal more of what He meant as we go on, but for now it’s an image I will keep. And at the very least, it is confirmation for me that we are moving in the right direction and that Im Jai is where we’ll start. And if any of you think you have ideas about what it might mean for us (by that, I mean ideas you believe may be interpretations from God), we’d be happy to hear them. Don’t be afraid to be wrong either, it’s part of growing in the gifts.

On an entirely unrelated note, here is a picture of Cindy that I can’t keep to myself:

I have the most beautiful wife in the world.