With arms wide open

Sometimes you just have a good weekend. When things build upon each other and you know you are supposed to be right here, right now. That is the way last weekend unfolded for me and for others in our area.

It started with an assembly at Lake Roosevelt. I was assigned to help the guest speakers and artists set up and get anything they needed. James Pakootas, Miah Bearcub, Lew Era, Darrin Cawston and TS the Solution all showed up, excited and ready to perform for the students of Lake Roosevelt.

It was a laid-back time for me because they pretty much had things in hand and were just ready to go on when James made a statement to me. “I heard a rumor,” is how he started it and followed it with this: “I asked someone, ‘who gets you pumped up at Lake Roosevelt?’ and the answer was ‘Mr. Utz.’” James then looked at me with those questioning eyes, with a hint of mystery hidden in a plan. I humbly answered, “Sometimes.”

I became the emcee for the event at that moment, and it was a blast. My job, plain and simple, was to get the crowd pumped and primed for everyone that came out on stage, and I did my best. It went well, I think, because they all asked me to join them for the rest of the tour. But the key part for me was that I got a chance at the end to speak some real truth to the students as I wrapped things up. It was a powerful time. With arms wide open.

The next day, Karrie and I went to Spokane to work the Healing Rooms. It, too, was a powerful time. The messages from the speakers the day before became a foundation for the way I prayed for the hurting and searching who came through the doors. Messages of leaving the past behind and grasping the future, ignoring the rattle of chains behind you and hearing the voice of God in front of you, taking it one step at a time through open doors and pressing on to freedom from addictions, sins and scarring. Healing occurred that day and continues today. With arms wide open.

The rest of the day we were surrounded by friends or sharpening iron. We were built up as we built others up. Prayers of love, encouragement and power flowed from anointed tongues, and warriors rose up ready for whatever was next. With arms wide open.

Then Sunday arrived. Church built further upon the messages of the previous few days. It was as if a big godly bow was being tied on the weekend. A hurting community revealed and being healed from the mouths of his people. Worldly wisdom dissolving and spiritual warfare taking center stage, with love as the true weapon of destruction. It continued that night as prayer warriors united and engaged in the building up of the saints and the tearing down of strongholds. With arms wide open.

Sometimes we must embrace what God is doing with arms wide open. Taking it all in and letting him guide you, just like Christ did so long ago. He embraced what the plan was, with arms wide open, and we must do the same today. I’m Jess saying.