An Idea, A Story, A Treasure Hunt

Sometimes we parents get stuck and start looking for ideas. Something that makes life more fun- anything more than movies and video games (which we use, I just get a little jealous). Because of such a quest, an idea struck my mind. The roots of it are probably from the TV show Psych, where the dad plays all these games to sharpen his kid’s mind.

Anyway, I thought to make a treasure hunt-type thing, only it wasn’t treasure, the goal was a toy they already knew they had. But the toy had a story, maybe it lost something or it was in trouble. It needed help, and that’s where the adventure begins. By writing hints on rolled up pieces of paper that I would hide throughout the house, my kids would follow them to solve the mystery.

Here’s one I made for my kids today. It kind of rhymes, but kind of doesn’t. It started to take me too long so some of the hints got very short.

1. “Once upon a time there was a princess who lost her magical wand. (the treasure, which was an actual toy wand) So she asked 3 heroes to help her even though it was too big for her hand. (see, kind of rhymes- wand, hand)
When they asked her which place to look first would be best, she said, “Maybe in Batman’s treasure chest!”

2. When they opened it what did they find? A pink little bunny who said, “Do you mind?” When they asked her about a wand that was magical, she said she might have seen it by a wookie and a pink whistle. (magical, whistle eh whatever. Its your game, make your own rules)

3. They found the wookie whose cape was blue, (this was a picture of a wookie my son made) and when they asked him what next they should do. He said he knew of a wise old butterfly who lives on a shelf, “I’ll bet she’ll know” he said, “Or I’m a fuzzy elf!”

4. At last they found her, that wise old butterfly. And when they asked her, they said, “Please don’t lie.” She said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be true. I know where you’ll find your next clue. Look first in what your Dad puts on his feet. And there a friend you will meet.”

5. They found their next clue in their daddy’s shoe. And very close by sat a laughing blue fuzzy guy. They said, “Laugh it up fuzz ball.” (my kids watched Star Wars this weekend, and they loved that line) “Oh, but that’s not all!” it said, “He knows, he knows! Who is he you say? He lives in the water down by the bay. He’s the one to whom you say, ‘See you later…'” (Ya I know, rhyming say with say, o well, time was short)

6. The alligator was tricky, and also quite picky with one thing he said, “Look in the cave, but you better be brave or else you’ll end up dead!” (its a bit dark I know, but it was an easy rhyme and if you use a silly voice it makes it ok…)

7. Deep in the cave a clue it gave to look on the princess’s bed. 8 legs it has or arms it has and is the color red. (a toy red octopus)

8. The octopus sang a song about the princess’s magical wand. And how 4 turtles knew what next they should do. If only they could find them, then he sang, “Look up, the 4 turtles can be found on a cup.” (TMNT cups my kids use)

9. Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo knew where they should go. “Go ask the fox, who’s by your dad’s socks, if you really want to know.”

10. The fox sure did tell them where they should go. He said a panda has it who’s name is Po. Now why did he take it? He didn’t know. Maybe he thought the princess was purdy and he wanted her to come to his party! (yep, purdy/party was the big finish) I had the wand hidden under the Kung Fu Panda DVD. I stuck some other DVDs by it to make it a party. It worked.

The only problem with it is, I’ve been doing this with my kids for over 4 years and they are too quick. What takes me hours to think up they figure out in minutes. But listening to them get excited and watching them figure it out is totally worth it. Hopefully this is an idea you can use.

-Brian Carter

Spirit Fire Ch. I

As a parent, I can’t think of anything more important than the privilege and responsibility of training my children in the way of God. The way my wife and I have chosen to do this is by having what we call Spirit Fire.

3x’s a week we gather together before bed time, turn everything off, and seek God. We invite Him to be with us and to surround us with His presence. We pray over our eyes, to see as He sees. We pray over our ears, to eagerly listen to His voice and to lead us to obedience. We pray over our mouths that they would speak His words. And we pray that the Spirit would surround our minds with His fire. All thoughts have to pass through the flame, if they are from Him they grow and bless us. If they are not, they burn up, turn to ash, and the wind blows them away. No trace of them is left behind.

Then we step into His presence with a request of some sort- asking for a word, or a vision. Sometimes we just spend time with Him giving thanks. Other times we give Him praise by celebrating highlights of the day. Whatever we choose to do, we do it to spend time with Him.

All this sounds very formal, and for a lot of people it may be, but I’ve tried to do what I can to engage my kids into desiring His presence. I usually wear a fancy robe that I got in Hong Kong, and I bought us all crowns to wear. And with antique keys that my wife got me years ago, I gave us all necklaces too.

Along with that time with Him, for the last couple years we have been going through the book of Proverbs. It was written to train kings and queens, hence the crowns. And to fill our treasuries with the blessings of wisdom, worth more than all the gold in the world, hence the keys. The robe? Just fun, kingly fun.

Back in February we started to add the book of Acts, the book of power. We switch between the two because I want my kids to know what we have been given in His kingdom. Wisdom and power. I then read a passage from either book, and then we talk about it.

After the talking, and trying to answer what questions I and my wife can, I close in prayer and then we get ready for bed. This is not an exhaustive description of what we do, but its a short quick sample. All together it takes us about 1/2 an hour. Just to add, the other nights we have a night show time which is usually whatever the kids want to see like Gummy Bears, Tom and Jerry, or Donald Duck.

I want to encourage parents to engage their family’s story with His in a fun way. Make it your own, make it awesome. The seeds cast from such a time will bring a harvest not just for your kids, but also for future generations.

-Brian Carter

A Tool for Power

I didn’t grow up in this. No school or church I’ve ever gone to even touches on this, save the one I’m currently attending. I’ve been called mentally ill, I’ve been told I worship a false god, demons even. All these loving titles, again given to me by faithful Christians who would rather the Bible not talk about this. I wonder why. Even the great Paul the apostle said he did this more than any of the disciples in the Corinthian church. I am not interested in some biblical debate, I am interested in the power given to us by the Holy Spirit. This post is for those who want more power in their lives, more control over their thoughts, more peace during times when they are alone, more focus in their prayers.

Glossolalia- the gift of speaking in tongues

How do you get this gift? Pray for it. What do you do then? For me, I just did it. Do I know if I have the “real” ancient biblical gift Paul spoke of? No. But what I do know is I used to have thoughts that came to my mind unbidden. Destructive thoughts, thoughts that brought no blessing with them. Thoughts that in no way brought me closer to Jesus. I’ve prayed them away but they’d always come back. Once I began to use the gift of tongues, it was like a jamming signal to my brain. All thoughts were gone, even the darkest ones had no place. My focus returned and my mind was cleansed, every time. So you see, even if I’m doing it wrong somehow, it still kicks the stuffing out of every thought I don’t want to have, seriously every time.

I began to pray over my street everyday I’d drive on it. I prayed for peace and safety, but then I wanted more. It developed to praying for freedom for every household, every family. Drugs, regret, sickness, it didn’t matter, I prayed over all of it. Then I began to visualize people coming out of their houses giving praise to God for His great love. I wanted more, more for my neighbors than just their houses not getting robbed. I began to pray for revival. Then in the midst of praying for more of an outbreak of heaven, I began to use this so powerful tool to utter mysteries over each of us. What did I say? I don’t know, but what I do know is it stepped things up within me.

In all my posts, I try to enlarge the experience of the Kingdom. I try to be vulnerable in hopes to meet someone there as they are reading, as they are looking. For those who want more power, I would invite you to be open to the Spirit’s leading in the use of this tool of power. For those who already have enough, peace be with you.

I’ve got a feeling there’s a reason this is such a complicated subject for so many. If I was Satan, I wouldn’t want people getting a hold of this. I would want them to believe it is evil. But I’ll tell you, I have never had an evil destructive thought when I use this gift. They all leave, every time. May it be so for you.

If you think I’m crazy, that’s ok. I’ve been called worse.

-Brian Carter

What’s in a Name?

I have been called many names throughout my life. As a kid, I grew up being called “Stupid Moron”, or “Stupid Idiot”. “Pharisee”, “Hypocrite”, “False Prophet”, along with ones I won’t mention here were given to me during my time working at a religious college, they always find a way to bring your faith into their insults.

Oddly enough, among the non-religious, I received names and titles like Faithful, Encourager, Christian. A recovering alcoholic once called me his Guardian Angel.

Now I attend a church that says stuff like, “you are anointed”, “you are a child of God” and “God is proud of you”. Looking back on things I wish I knew these people a lot sooner. They are so kind, their words don’t burden me with the weight of their own bitterness because they are actually filled with joy and peace.

I have found that what is in a name is the essence of what the name caller has within them. The worst names I’ve been called have been from the mouths of “faithful” people. These names are meant with a purpose (such a mix), to hurt, to destroy, to disable you because they, the name callers, want to matter. They strive for power and influence and the easiest way to do that is to insult. I’ve heard something like: one needs to say 10 positive things about someone to equal the impact of one negative thing.

It’s pretty amazing that no matter how strong we think we are, words actually do hurt us. What’s even more amazing to me is I’ve found that we are collectively either making or unmaking those around us with our words. With the names we call others we are chiseling, trimming, shaping who they are becoming.

Now it’s true, at least for me, that the people I let have a greater influence on me have a greater shaping power with their words and the ones with opinions I don’t value have little to no power to shape me. It is this fact that makes the ones with little to no power especially vicious. But the wise recognize that their words also have a power over them. The book of James, chapter 3 verse 4 says our words actually have the power to steer us in whatever direction we want to go. Follow that with Proverbs chapter 18 verse 21 and you can see the roadmap, “The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

When we worship the LORD, as a friend of mine once said, “We are putting the right words in the right place.” We are as John the Baptist declared in the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1 verse 3, preparing “the way for the Lord” and making “straight paths for Him”. And when we do this, we travel with Him in His direction to His location.

So what’s truly in a name? It could very well be your destiny.

For there is a Name that is above every name, and by His Name, the dead are raised, the lame is healed, the oppressed are delivered, and the sinner is sanctified. By the Name of Jesus Christ, the power of heaven touches the earth.

No matter what name you have been called by a family member, a religious authority, a friend, or an enemy, if you are in Christ, God calls you His child, Galatians chapter 3 verse 26. And it is there that I wish to stay, grow, and be shaped.

-Brian Carter

Fear is the Ocean

My wife and I were traveling late one moonless night. We were far away from any lights or civilization. The road we were on was totally empty of any other traffic. It was dark. The kind of dark that almost devours light making a car’s headlights seem dim. We were traveling slowly because of the low visibility when suddenly a shape and a face flashed before us.

A friend of mine was in the hospital facing a grim diagnosis. Though it was something she could have fought, her mind was so clouded with conspiracies she didn’t have any ground to stand on. I visited her on one of her dark days. She was striking out against the doctors and even against her husband for she thought they were all trying to kill her. With eyes wide, she was pleading for anyone to take her side.

In the mountains of Tennessee, I climbed down into a dark crevice that opened up in the side of a 300 foot drop off. There were no guard rails, no stairs, and the bottom of the crevice angled toward the drop. A woman came down behind me and within moments froze. Her arms and legs locked which lifted her off of the safe seating she had. Her breathing became panicked with short gasps and unintelligible words came from her mouth.

We pulled off the road to figure out what just happened. I knew I didn’t hit anything but with the form and face came a cry. I stepped out of the car telling my wife to lock the doors and get into the driver’s seat. I walked back to find that the shape turned out to be an African lady who had been trapped on that road with a flat tire for who knows how long. She was beyond reasoning so I told her I was going to get my wife to help her.

I tried to reason with my friend, telling her that God is with her. And we have confidence in His goodwill toward us. That her disease was nothing compared to His power. I tried to slowly give her ground that was more solid than the shadowy conspiracies filling her mind.

I pulled myself back up to the woman behind me and stood in front of her face blocking any view of the opening and the drop and told her to breathe.

My wife gave her a hug while I put on the spare. She told her what I was doing and what the plan was which slowly calmed her down. My wife gained a little bit of her trust, but not enough to exchange phone numbers. As soon as the spare was on, she was off without even a goodbye.

I saw a break in the wave of hysteria when I began to talk to her about Jesus. I didn’t ask any questions, I didn’t want to hear her speak. I saw in her eyes a glimmer of determination. It was enough.

The woman began to breathe more normally and she sat back down for a moment before I guided her to turn around and head back out.

Each of these moments revealed to me the truth of how love drives out fear. Love got the lady with the flat moving again. Love dispelled the shadows attacking my friend. Love turned the woman around who was facing the drop. We are loved in the most perfect way through Jesus. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love.” And we are always in His love.

These days, our society seems saturated with fear. Laws are written because of it, airports have to sift through it, even our cars are being made with the technology to fight against it. It is in these days that Christians stand out, and it’s not because of hate that they do. It is because of love and the lack of fear that dominates everyone else’s lives.

Walk in the power that is yours followers of Jesus. Fear is the ocean. Let us show this world who is the Lord as we follow Him on top of the waves.

-Brian Carter

Do Not Hinder Them

The school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary changed my prayer life. Back then, the road I drove to and from work was loaded with schools. I prayed for each one of them and thought of all the children, what kind of homes they come from, if they’ve ever been shown kindness let alone love. If they knew Jesus. What kind of futures the Lord has in store for them.

My prayers changed focus daily, sometimes I’d pray for the innocent ones, other times I’d pray for the ones considering murder and suicide. But then, as I got into it more on a daily routine, I began to feel the Spirit direct me to pray solely for the Christians that attend the schools. Their presence carrying His, their witness dispelling darkness. Then I began to pray that the schools would be blessed and would have the best year in their history because of the Christians. That it would be seen how the Lord blesses those places because His followers are there. That even those who target Christianity and try to shut the school doors on Jesus would find that they would rather He be in the schools than locked out.

Honestly, I’d get rather passionate in my prayers and every time I thought of those kids taken so cruelly and so tragically early, my prayers got fierce. I began to envision the plans of the Lord overwhelming those of the enemy. Light flooding the schools so much that all forms of evil had to leave.

Then by the next year, I had moved. The schools may or may not have had their best year, but I knew a new door had been opened in my
heart. “Do not hinder them,” Jesus said.

When I would pick up my kids from preschool, I made it a point to know as many names as I could, give high 5’s, and ask how each were doing. That was not me before.

Love is too important to keep quiet. Love is too vital to life, our kids need to know it. It is THE way to not hinder them. The enemy wants to take their lives no matter how he can whether before they’re born or after, and I wanted to do what I could to show that Love wins.

If the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, then they are royalty, all of them.

God bless our children.

-Brian Carter

What Shadows Do

On top of my hill where I grew up, huge houses were being built. The land I hiked through was being sold off piece by piece. Today, it’s pretty much all gone with the only remnants of the forest I grew up in are tucked away in plush backyards. But back then, when the builders were just getting started, there were finished roads that lead to dead ends with lamps that lit everything up at night. It was eerie and beautiful in a classy ghost town sort of way. I claimed the main entrance as my meeting place with God. I would go up there and pray and play. I was a kid and everything was an adventure especially with God. Every car that came by was some kind of sentry bent on capturing me, so I would hide in the nearby pine trees until they passed. Every night was so exciting, I loved it.

One night when I was talking with God I noticed the cracks in the pavement. I told Him that I knew that there are many paths in this life like the many cracks with branches that lead in all directions. I followed them as I prayed confessing in my spirit and by my mouth that I didn’t want to stray from His paths. I knew that only He was the Way the Truth and the Life. I would do my best to hold true as I followed the crack that lead to the nearest lamppost. It was then that I heard His response.

Light and Darkness has always held a lot of wonder for me. I liked to think about them because it was easy to slip into the mysteries. I would dive into seeing them as the manifestations of good and evil, recognizing their character in their properties, and then stepping to the side and seeing them as mere companions in this life both holding true to their functions as tools for our experience. But this night, He wanted to show me something more that has forever changed my eyes.

When following the cracks to the Light, I noticed darkness following me. In my heart that night with my desire to be true to what He has shown me, I saw the darkness as a remnant of the Fall. My face to the lamppost, I knew the darkness to be my shadow, my fallen nature. My shadow, always following me, reminding me of my inability to rid myself of my sinfulness.

It was then that He stopped me, I turned around and saw that when I was distant from the light, it was hard to see the details of my shadow. It blended into the surrounding darkness, the world, and its ways. In that distance, my shadow was barely noticeable. I didn’t stand out. It was almost comforting, but for the burning within my chest to turn around and run to the lamp. Mystery 1 revealed.

When I did, and I came closer to that revealing light, the Spirit whispered to me again to turn and look. I did and saw that my shadow was much more distinct, my shame that much more visible. O how I felt the fear-filled desire to turn back to the darkness and hide. I almost did, but then He drew me closer. I’d be lying if I denied the pain that every step brought to my heart. My shadow became blacker and blacker, thick, almost tangible. Then finally I stood at the base of the lamppost. Mystery 2 revealed.

This was it, the closest I could come to the light of His presence. Forever excluded because of the shadow that I couldn’t escape from. I was left with this black hole at my feet, the light just above me, and out of reach. It was useless, hopelessness began to creep in. I pleaded with God that it wasn’t my fault, science says that my physical mass is blocking the light’s rays, that my shadow is only there because of my existence. So really it was a good thing… He wouldn’t let me step to the side just yet. He began to remind me of the Scriptures that say we who believe in Christ are called Children of Light (Ephesians 5). Because of our faith, we are the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). I then began to see that the only way to be rid of my shadow is to lose my physical body, my old self (Ephesians 4) and become the Light by clothing myself with Him. Mystery 3 revealed.

With this revelation in my mind, I began to leap around with joy. I began to talk to my shadow, telling it that its grip on my life was gone. Though I may still have a shadow to this day, in the mysteries, Jesus made a way for me to be free and draw near to God in a way impossible to man. Free of darkness, free of the taint of the Fall, free from that which so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1).

Oddly enough, after that night, the cracks no longer mattered. My previous world of following as best I could didn’t hold me anymore; that was what shadows do. It became only about being in the Light, being the Light and helping others who are lost. Because frankly, no matter what people say, no one can see out there, out there in the darkness.

-Brian Carter

El Ro’i

I’d never been here before. I had only ever seen healers portrayed on TV and the movies as charlatans using Jesus to get to your money. So when some friends suggested I go to a healing service hosted by Pastor Billy Burke, I was a little hesitant.

When I got there I was introduced to so many new things, the Gospel Hymns in all their glory, names I’ve never heard like Kathryn Kuhlman, Billy Burke himself in his white suit and glowing blond hair. It was a bit much for me honestly. There were so many people in the sanctuary all waiting, all expecting something to happen.

I didn’t know what was going on, all I knew was my body was shutting down and I needed healed. I didn’t know how it was to happen, what I was supposed to do or say. I don’t even remember some of the stuff I witnessed which was pretty wild. But I do remember hope.

Billy Burke shared his own story of being a child with only weeks to live because of the final stages of brain cancer. Kathryn Kuhlman called him down to the platform and after asking him if he wanted to be healed, she touched him. Power went out and the cancer was gone, instantly.

After he told that story and a few more of healings he had been a part of, he began to call out diseases people were being healed of.

If I was to go into detail on any point of this story, it would be a novel so I’m condensing it for the purpose of this site. Suffice it to say, something was going on that I had never seen or heard of before. People walked up, got healed, jumped up and down and praised God, and then sat back down, believe it or not. Well, I wanted in. I was told only come forward if Pastor Billy called out what you were suffering from. He had mentioned the disease my body has been fighting toward the beginning of the service and that was good enough for me. So after I summoned up the courage I walked down to the front.

One of the guards stopped me and asked why I had come. I told him of my condition, he radioed the other guards to see if Pastor Billy had called it out. The guard shook his head at me and told me to sit. I took a seat at the front. I don’t know how this stuff works, but I wasn’t about to let this pass without giving it a shot. I wasn’t going to leave, so I sat and waited.

After numerous other healings, some of which he didn’t call out, but people got through, he finally said to lower the ropes and let people come forward. It all felt really weird. Some people were saying that they were healed just by being in the service, they didn’t need Billy to lay his hands on them. Others said that if you stand next to him, the glory and power of the presence of God will overwhelm you. So I tried both.

At first, I started to feel excited, then as people gathered around and got closer and closer, and as Billy started walking around grabbing the closest to him shouting praises to God, I started to feel panicked. At the rate things were going there was no way he would reach me. There were too many people. I started to make my way to the front, but it was getting beyond being civil. If I wanted to get up front I was going to have to start pushing people out of my way. I wasn’t walking very well so I did my best.

Just then, a lady pushed up next to me and reached out her hand toward Billy who was actually really close. I reached out mine too and he passed by. I lowered mine just as he turned back and grabbed the lady’s hands. She fell back, slain by the Spirit, they call it. When I looked up, Billy had moved on down the row. I was having too much difficulty in my body and mind trying to reconcile this mad stampede feeling with why God would enjoy watching me throttle people so I could get my healing. Finally I headed back out to my seat. I resolved to be one who gets healed by being at the service not needing to be touched.

The service went on for probably another hour and a half. Pastor Billy walked back and forth touching as many people as he could calling out healings, people were falling back on the floor frozen. Some would shake as the power flowed through them. After the service, I sat praying and hoping that tonight was my night. As I prayed, the lady came up that stood next to me in the crowd.

“Did you get what you came for?” she asked excitedly.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.

“The Lord told me to go stand next to you so I would get touched,” her words hit me hard.

After she said this, she said some words of blessing and left. My thoughts went 4 different directions at once and I felt like I was being drawn and quartered. But before any of them had a chance to run off with a limb, one thought came forward that held me together. If the Lord told her to stand next to me so she could get her healing/touch, amen I’m glad I could help, then that means the Lord, Creator of the universe knew right where I was and He knew what I was there for. He wasn’t ignoring me or forgetting me, He was watching me and still using me. It blew my mind, and even though almost 3 years later I’m still expecting my healing, that experience gives me peace to know as Hagar knew in Genesis 16:13, El Ro’i watches over me.

If you feel forgotten, on the outside watching all those who receive God’s blessings, know that God knows right where you are. He always has plans for His children. Don’t forget Joseph who suffered so much. I’m sure he felt forgotten, especially after the Cupbearer left him. Then at the appropriate time, Joseph was raised up to 2nd in charge of all Egypt. Rapid acceleration, healing, and equipping happen when we rest in the hands of our Father.

El Ro’i watches over us all.

-Brian Carter