dave & janet horsman ::: keepin’ it real since 1998

by John Baillie

We must not think that all the things that threaten the spiritual life are evil in themselves.  So often it is the good that is the enemy of the best.  That is why the culture of the spiritual life demands a strict discipline.  You and I must be ruthless with ourselves, if the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is to survive within us.  Jesus sad that though “the eye is the light of the body,” yet “if your right eye causes you to sin, then pluck it out and cast it away from you.”  My own experiance has been that there are some enjoyments, some distractions, some ways of spending my time, from which I must firmly turn aside, if I am going to keep the Spirit alive within me.  I can say nothing against them in the abstract; they may even be all right for other people; but I know myself well enough to be sure that I cannot afford to indulge in them wihout danger of losing the Pearl of Great Price. 

This is so where I’m at right now.

We arrived home last weekend.  It’s lovely to be home!  I love summer evenings in Minnesota.  Blogging has been on the back-burner though, and will continue to be for the next month or so. 

Among the things that impacted me most at IHOP was our study of the book of Daniel.  Daniel has quite a bit to say about the end times, but we also dug into what the book tells us about what it takes to cultivate a prophetic spirit as Daniel had (it was awesome!!!).  One thing that we talked about just briefly, but really went deep into my heart was the question, “Who were Daniel’s parents?”  What was instilled in this young man that after (most likely) witnessing his parents being murdered, being shackled and marched across the desert to Babylon and then being sat down in front of the King’s yummy food and choosing not to defile himself with it?  He was trained up in the ways of Babylon, but returned to his God day after day in prayer…even when his life was threatened!  (The song “Dare to be a Daniel” has a whole new meaning to me.)  He had a Living Truth inside of him!  Oh that my children would have that same Truth inside of them! 

Anyway, all this to say that our family has taken a huge step back from media/entertainment/internet in order to persue cultivating a spirit of prayer and prophecy.  In my own personal life I can say for sure and for certain, that nothing has distracted me from knowing God like the TV and the internet.  I believe our North American culture is addiced to entertainment…Christians included…myself included!  And if you think, “Nope, not me,” then try shutting everything media related down for a while like I have, and see how it effects you.  My friends, at the end of the day, when the kidlets are all in bed, I absolutely long to turn on the TV or cumputer!  And please believe me when I say that this is not meant to be an indictment against anyone.  Really and truly it isn’t.  I’m writing this from a place a brokeness and humility…and with a sadness that I don’t know the voice of the Lord…and most of the time I don’t even care that I don’t know His voice.  I’ve been asking the Lord to give me spiritual hunger, but how can I feel spiritually hungry if I am constantly satiating myself with media and enterainment?

Sheesh!  You certainly got an earful (or, I guess it would be an eyeful?) today didn’t you?!  Many have asked since we’ve been back what impacted me most during our time in Kansas City, and well…you just read it. 

I want to end with this (since I must end somewhere):  Part of what makes IHOP IHOP is their teaching on how to God we are “dark yet lovely.” (Song of Solomon 1:5)  Even in our weak and feeble human state He is absolutely in love with us!  Also from the Song of Solomon:  “You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes.” (4:9)  God’s heart melts at every attempt we make at persuing Him, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem.   Friends, I don’t know what I’m doing…I kind of feel like everything I thought I knew and believed about raising my children as Christians in today’s word has been pulled out from under me.  But I do know that I have a sincere desire to know God in a much deeper way; a sincere desire for my children to know God.  And that steals His heart.  :-)  How empowering! 

Ahhh…a brief internet connected moment. Here’s some proof that we’re still alive…

Our home for ten days…

Mmmmm…

How cute is this?

Elijah’s our little fish. He totally taught himself how to swim in the pool at our camp ground.

Bathtime at the camp ground…

Such handsome boys. (But I’m a little biased)

Silly Noah.

The perpetually askew hairclip…

“Baby Steps”

…Oh man…so much to say! But…how? I struggle to put into words all that God is doing in my heart and in our family. I feel somehow that I shouldn’t. Not yet. Like Mary the mother of Jesus, I feel I am to “”treasure up all these things”, and “ponder them in my heart.” (Luke 2:19)

One thing I will share though… As you can see in that last photo Phoebe is learning to walk! There are few things quite as precious and just downright cute as a toddler learning to walk, wouldn’t you agree? She’s taken many of her first, wobbly steps right in the prayer room here in Kansas City. A prophetic sign to our family, I believe, that as we step out into this prayer movement on wobbly legs, as a toddler does, that the Lord is smiling down on us. We’re not sure how it’s all going play out with our four rowdy children in tow (:-)), there will be many days that will be discouraging, we’ll lose focus, and fall down… But just as walking will soon be “old hat” to Phoebe, so raising our kids right in the midst of the prayer movement will be. Although, I assume the former will happen much before the latter.

I want to share some more thoughts, but I’m running out of time. It’s just about time to go pick up all the kids. They are at the Children’s Equipping Center here (which is so awesome!) three hours a day while Dave and I are in classes. (This is a class-free day though) Imagine…I’ve been without my kids for three hours a day for the past two and a half weeks! It’s been such a refreshing time for me. I’ve not been able to sit and soak up teaching since… well, I think since before Elijah was born!

let me start off by saying how very much I dislike textmessaging…and have no idea how it has become such a popular form of communication in the past few years. argh! Or maybe I just have extra clumsy thumbs?

So we made it to the east coast of Canada and back. Super fun. It was so awesome to see family and friends. And now we find ourselves in Kansas city. God provided us with a free place to stay for most of our time here (a whole three bedroom house!!!) minus this week, so we went with the cheapest option and decided tent at a campground. It’s been really fun…so far

Well…that’ll be all for now folks. Even this little note has taken me almost a half hour to write. Hope you’re all having a fun summer!