Day 65 (2013.04.02) A Day with Thomas’s
I have to brag about the family with whom Abby and I are staying with. It was Young and Hannah Kim who connected me to the Thomas’s. Gary and Lori are retired and moved up to Redding CA about a year ago. Since then they volunteered to be mom & pop for a revival group in BSSM (Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry). They have a wonderful beautiful home and Abby & I get to stay in their guest room. Today, we got to spend time with this wonderful couple. One of the greatest gifts God give in our lives is the people He allows us to meet and connect with.
I was up at 2:45 AM for a strange reason. I went to bed early last night and after about 5 hours of sleep I was wide awake. I was up checking my internet stuffs and Gary walked out and asked whether I will join him for a coffee in the morning and I said yes. We went out to “Holiday,” a local supermarket chain for a coffee and I got to meet some of his buddies he meet in the mornings. I met three wonderful Korean War vets who were in their 80’s.
Then, Abby and I joined them for the Diamond Fellowship, which is the gathering for a group of seniors at the Bethel Church. There was a time of praise led by a beautiful lady who sang some of the classic hymns. So good. The meeting was led by Gene, Beni Johnson’s dad. The meeting was filled with times of prayer with the prayer requests of those who were at the meeting as well as other prayer topics. These were men and women who walked with God for many years faithfully and joyfully. They are the pillars upon which God is building what He is building in Bethel Church. Dann Farrelly shared this morning on the book of Job and what an amazing insight & teaching this was. I wish I recorded the session. There were over 100 of these amazing men and women who were gathered this morning.
Gene (Nicolet) is the father of Beni Johnson
Then, we were off to lunch with a recommendation to go to the Gorilla Bites. Gorilla Bites is an organic food restaurant. It was located in an old shopping mall site. Apparently it was one of the first shopping malls in the area, but it got really hot. So, they tore down the roofs and now a remnant of restaurants and shops exist, a cozy area. It was such a nice day and there were places to eat outside.
amazing salad bar with fresh and large variety of greens
Abby at the front door
nice atmosphere
with Lori and Gary Thomas
my salad. YUM!
Ortega Chili Burger – Served with grilled ortega chili peppers, jack cheese, spinach, tomato, grilled red onions, mayo, mustard and ketchup
Abby had Wild Salmon Burger – A wild Alaskan salmon patty topped with grilled red onions, tomato, spinach and dill aioli
Gary had Pastrami on Rye, Sliced lean pastrami topped with sauerkraut, tomato, Swiss cheese, mayo and 1000 island or mustard on fresh-made marbled rye
It was a gorgeous day in Redding
After saying goodbye to Thomas’, Abby wanted to have dessert and she had a place in mind. Sweetspot was the place. It was a cozy and cute place, and when you walk in you feel the sweetness all over. Abby smiled when she saw the gelato’s and the cupcakes. We order one of every mini-cupcakes they had. We got six mini-cupcakes for 95 cents each. And a small cup of gelato. They were all for Abby. But I did take a tiny-winy bites of few cupcakes. Another success in finding good eats in Redding. This is a good day!
We spent few minutes at the Hebrews Cafe waiting for Chad (Dedmon), and joined his ministry group. He told me that his group is like the “Navy Seals” if the BSSM students are like soldiers. As we walked in to the class, everyone took time to pray for us and whacked us good in His presence and Spirit. They took turns praying and prophesying over us. Abby was just shaking with joy. It was a good time.
The group was waiting for Paul Manwaring. Apparently they had Danny Silk speak over them in their last meeting and Kirs Valloton will be for their next meeting. Paul was simply amazing as he talked with the group for an hour and a half. He answered in a thoughtful and a powerful way to some of the insightful questions the people were asking. He spoke of Luke 15 to speak of new paradigm and structure of leadership. “Heaven’s government is the family.” The main need he saw in churches and ministries was the gift of administration. He spoke of the Garden of Eden in Gen. 3 from God’s perspective. We always saw that event in light of what we human beings lost and how it was a place of judgment. But, for God, it was the place where He lost the relationship with His created children and it was a place of love and protection. The purpose of government is not mainly “Control of evil,” but build families. At the heart of structure and government is the Sonship. Sonship is the main event that transforms and changes all things. I hope my recording came out good enough for me to review. When he was done, we were all spinning with new thoughts, revelations & inspirations.
Chad led a time of prayer and sealing after Paul’s teachings. We needed this time to set our hearts to seek after His kingdom more with passion and wisdom.
The day wasn’t over yet because Thomas’ wanted to take us to the Shasta Dam and to feed the deers there. The Dam was huge and impressive. We walk on the dam and took pictures. At first we did not see any deers nearby, but Lori had her bag of cut up apples. By the time we got back near the gate, there were number of them. They were not as fearful of human beings as I supposed. I could tell that they were used to people feeding them. There were five or six of them, but only one was brave enough to close and ate apples out of our hands. That one was the biggest and fattest. No wonder, it ended up eating more than all the other deers put together. Hungry and bold eat more! I am hungry, my Father and I will draw near to your loving generous hand!
this is the overflow place…
can you see the Shasta Mountain peaking through the cloud?
This one was the bravest of them all. She came near and ate apples out of our hands and got to eat many times more than the other deers
Bold will eat and eat plenty. Fearful of heart miss out blessings and the apples. There was a little one that came so close but couldn’t take the last step. And moved away in fear.
these were the fearful ones
This one ate out of my hand – pic. by Lori Thomas
Abby was not scared to feed the deer – pic by Lori Thomas
When we got back, Gary had cooked for us turkey tacos for the dinner. They were yummy. It was a good day and a full day.
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