I haven't blogged in awhile, but not for lack of anything to say. Last weekend, Grayson and I flew to Lakeland last Thursday to meet our wonderful mother who was already there. We got a chance to see what's going on there, and I was quite amazed.

Some would say that I'm a born skeptic. I'm normally the last on the prophetic bandwagon to believe something new, which is challenging a lot of times when the Lord is really doing something because I'm not quite sure what's happening. Even having grown up going to Brownsville with my parents and remembering the last few years of it all, for whatever reason I found it incredibly difficult to believe what people were saying about Lakeland. So the Lord had to take me there.

The first night we were there, the lady sitting beside us got up out of her wheelchair and stood for the first time in who knows how long, and there were endless stories of healing all weekend, happening right in front of us.

The longer we were there, the more I was convicted about how far off my grid all of this was. As I had to watch my heart from becoming offended at what the Holy Spirit was doing, it was all so foreign to me that I can't help but marvel at what it's going to look like when that level of anointing comes to IHOP. It's exciting stuff, and that's about all I can say.

In the "once again, my younger siblings are cuter than yours" department...

With a few hours to spare before the Daniel Academy assembly at IHOP, I asked my dad to drop me off at the prayer room, where I get the last half of the 6-8 and the first half-hour of the 8-10. I've been in 1 and 2 Samuel lately, mostly because I hold a huge value for stories. Where would the world be without stories? Family reunions would be even more awkward, Barnes and Noble would go out of business, and parents would put their kids to bed with an excerpt from something parentesque, like an encyclopedia or a physiology journal.

My earliest memories are staying up late and listening to old episodes of Adventures in Odyssey on cassette, fastforwarding through the "What have we learned today?" section just to get to the next story. When our family was living in Cincinnati, I remember regularly skipping kids' church and going with my parents to the adults' service at the Vineyard, mostly because this guy has great stories. That's why I love the chunk of the Bible between the books of Judges and Nehemiah - it's chocked full of stories, and I'm always finding something I've never read before that brings me closer to the heart of God.

This morning I find myself in 2 Samuel 18. Ah, the story of Absolom. This story reminds me of the old cartoon Robin Hood movie. You know, the one that predates the Disney Channel. The slapstick irony that the Lord uses to illustrate justice needs to be made into a movie. What I wouldn’t do for some camera equipment right about now...

If you’re not familiar with the story, I highly suggest you read it here, but I’ll give you a little summary: David’s the king. Absolom’s the long-haired and smooth-talking studmuffin everyone loves. David is also Absolom’s father. Absolom doesn’t get quality father-son time; soon grows jealous for the throne. Rather than leading a straight-out revolution, Absolom starts to talk trash about his dad and gets the people at the outer gates to agree with him. Absolom proposes a series of “what-if” scenarios... “If I was king, you would get a tax refund every year! If I was king, your fifteen-year-old could qualify for Social Security. If I was king, I would eliminate the IRS.” (think Ron Paul in the Old Testament.)

As things heat up in Israel, Absolom realizes that there isn’t going to be an election, so his only hopes at ever becoming king are a revolution. As his father the king hears of this, he send an army out to get his delusional son, instructing them not to harm him, though. As the army comes to “deal gently” with the crazy prince, the crazy prince rides off into the woods on his royal mule. When the mule runs through a patch of thick woods, Absolom hits his head on a branch and is left hanging by his hair as the mule runs off into the wilderness.

What can we learn from this story, little Bobby? Well, don’t grow your hair too long, and don’t open an umbrella in a convertible. Wait a second, that was the Brady Bunch. No, the lesson is this... as everyone loved Absolom’s hair, the very thing on which he based his pride ended up crippling him. He wasn’t turned into a brick of salt, and God didn’t call down a pillar of fire, but in the end it was his dignity that killed him. This story begs the question... what the heck are we holding onto our dignity for?

I went with my dad early this morning to drop my mom off at the airport with Mercy and Laura, where they will embark on yet another prophetic journey to DC. Mom and Mercy will be back in 2 weeks, but Laura's there until August, during which time she'll be the House Manager at the IHOPian Embassy right outside the District. Oh, how I wish I could be with them right now...

Taken on my Canon 20D with a 50mm f1.8 lens.

This is for all the junior highers who complained when the DVD player fritzed during my presentation at the Daniel Academy...


Beattitudes from Jackson Bohlender on Vimeo.

We all have burdens that we can't seem to let go. Mine just happens to be how the heck I'm going to get a car. My parents can testify - I've spent many a late night watching '89 Celicas and '93 Civics on eBay, fearing that my first car will be a beater, or worse - a moped.

Since I was twelve, I've been saving for an automobile. I was a smart tyke, and I figured out pretty early on that my parents weren't going to be able to get me a car, but given my own limited financial situation, I might be able to afford an engine. But at this rate, I won't be able to to get a car before I turn 40.

This is where I was yesterday evening. Having just raked the leaves, I had more foilage stuck to my clothes than a Kansan duck hunter when friends of ours pull up.

Said friends come in, talk to Mom and Dad in a hushed tone, I sit at the kitchen table to as not to cause disruption when I hear my name whispered under someone's breath and, "Jackson, can you come in here? We want to talk to you about something..."

That was it. That's when I was certain. I was being sent to "Get-in-shape" camp.

On the contrary, young Jackson! You're being given a car! What? Yeah! That's it! You heard right the first time... if you can put some maintenance into it, the white 2000 Mazda 626 in the driveway belongs to you.

God's blessed me majorly. All of my anxiety has been lifted because I followed my parents' (and the prophet Isaiah's) advice, trusting the Lord rather than choosing to figure it out by myself and getting frustrated in the process. Do you have a burden? Whatever your burden is, bring it before the Lord... because He cares.

I can almost taste my Canon 20D! Except, that'd be weird... because I wouldn't eat it or anything.

Watching the webcast from theCall Alabama and wishing I could be there more ever second... if you aren't there, grab the webcast here.

My grandma came home a few days ago with these great little iPod-docking alarm clocks that were on sale somewhere. They can't quite pack the bass and boomchugga that our Altec-Lansing can, but they're a heck of a lot purtier, so I put one on my nightstand.

Sometime over the course of the night, my iPod had been playing Solitude 2 on repeat, but someone set an alarm to play POD at an ungodlly-loud volume... at 3 in the morning. Smells like a little brother... someone should have told him that April Fools' was the day before.