The Revival Hymn

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This is Revival!

22 August 2013

Yesterday I hitchhiked from Idaho Falls, Idaho through West Yellowstone and Big Sky to Belgrade, Montana.  I got a ride from Four Corners to Belgrade with a guy named Nate.  He was going to a Bible study.  We had a good talk about the things of God, he bought me a Quarter Pounder Meal at McDonald’s and he dropped me off at the library.

After the library, I walked to Mike’s place.  I hadn’t seen Mike since around 2009.  I guess I caught him at the right time because he was going to North Dakota and Kansas in a couple of days to see some relatives.  Mike has a lot of books in his house and I noticed a few books by Watchman Nee that I wanted to take a look at, but I was too tired.  I slept on the couch last night and got a good night’s sleep.

This morning I went back to the library in Belgrade, got on the Internet and checked my two blogs and email.  Just before I left the library, I looked up my book High Plains Drifter on the card catalog.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Belgrade library had purchased a copy of my book.  Two or three years ago, I had mentioned my book to somebody at the Belgrade library, but I didn’t know that they had bought a copy.

After I left the library, I walked to the supermarket and bought a loaf of bread.  I walked to I-90 and began walking west down the interstate.

I had walked around three miles when someone pulled over to give me a ride.  His name was Daniel and he gave me a ride to Butte.

Daniel was a Christian and he told me that he had heard about me and my book High Plains Drifter.  He said that about a week ago, he was at someone’s house at Hebgen Lake and they were talking about this guy who hitchhiked and had written a book called High Plains Drifter.  I was a bit surprised to hear that because High Plains Drifter has not sold many copies, but the book has been at the West Yellowstone library for at least a few years now.  Hebgen Lake is between West Yellowstone and Big Sky.

Daniel and I had a good talk about the things of God and he also gave me some of his lunch.  I told Daniel that my book High Plains Drifter was now in four libraries in Montana (Forsyth, Columbus, West Yellowstone and Belgrade).  If the Lord has seen fit to find a home for my book in four libraries in Montana, maybe the Lord will give me a home in Montana someday.

Daniel dropped me off in Butte, gave me some money for the road and I headed west on I-90.  I was very grateful for what had transpired that day in Belgrade, Montana.

Author

By Tom Vander Well

Exalt the Lord our God,

    and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem,

    for the Lord our God is holy! Psalm 99:9 (NLT)

I have a bit of a rebellious streak in me. I quickly get irritated by senseless rules and misplaced religious orthodoxy. We as humans tend to want to wrap rules around principles and attach sacred  meaning to silly things. I remember a crotchety old fart who got mad at me for letting children run and play in the church sanctuary instead of getting mad and giving them a stern rebuke. In his mind the kids were desecrating the holiness of the room. I told him that the sanctuary was nothing more than a gathering place (adding that I’d be happy to prove the point scripturally) and the sound of children laughing, running and playing where we met to worship was music to my ears. If there are a lot of kids having fun in the place the church just might have a future.

He didn’t like me very much.

In the ancient days when the psalms were written, there was central place where God was to be worshipped in Jerusalem at the temple. One of the things I love most about Jesus  is that he blew away old rules and established radical new paradigms. When a woman asked Jesus about worshipping in Jerusalem, Jesus said, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem….But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

In the new paradigm that Jesus ushered in, those who believe are indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit and we ourselves become God’s temple. We don’t go to some church building that is somehow special, holy and sacred – we ourselves – our bodies – are the temple. We are made special, holy and sacred by God.  We don’t go to church. We are the church. It’s not bricks and mortar. It’s flesh and blood. Every time I hear a pastor telling me to invite my friends to church I shake my head and groan. Jesus’ intention was never for believers to bring friends to a central location to worship Him. His intention was that believers would worship Him by spreading out into every neighborhood and loving people.

Related articles

• “There are No Wrong Notes.” (tomvanderwell.wordpress.com)
• Life and Woship (andreswashere.wordpress.com)
• True Worship (rexandreginaenkristo.wordpress.com)
• We were made to worship (davidcampbelljr.wordpress.com)
• A Unique City in All the World (tomvanderwell.wordpress.com)

Wayfarer

Tetonia, Idaho

A few days ago, I hitchhiked from Riverton through Dubois to Jackson, Wyoming.  I then got a couple of rides over Teton Pass to Driggs, Idaho.

I was standing on the side of the road in Driggs when this pickup pulled over.  I got in and a guy named Steve drove me to Tetonia.  Steve said that I could stay for supper.  I met his girlfriend, Lynette.  I was able to shower and wash my clothes.  They also gave me a big supper; I was very grateful.

Steve, Lynette and myself had some intense fellowship.  Steve told me that he never picks up hitchhikers, but that when he saw me, he had to pull over and give me a ride.  Lynette told me that she took a lot of drugs in her younger days and the memory of those days sometimes haunted her.  Recently, the Lord kept showing her the numbers “747”.  Finally, she came across Luke 7: 47 in the Bible:

“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”

I told Lynette that if she abides in Christ, those past sins are gone because she is washed in the Blood of Jesus.

Steve and Lynette let me stay at their place that night.  The next day I got a ride from Tetonia to Bozeman, Montana.  From Bozeman, I got two rides to Big Timber on I-90.  From Big Timber, I walked around four miles east and then got a ride to Columbus with a guy who was going back to work in the oil patch in North Dakota.  I slept near the Yellowstone River in some pasture south of Columbus that night; the dew was very heavy.

The next day I hitchhiked through Absarokee and Roscoe to Red Lodge.  There were a lot of people on motorcycles that day–maybe they were going to the biker rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

From Red Lodge I got a couple of rides to Cody, Wyoming.  My last ride that day was with an older lady from Cody to Thermopolis.  I slept outside someplace on the south side of town; even though it had been very warm that day, it cooled down very well that night.

This morning I walked two miles and got a ride with a pastor from Thermopolis; his name was David.  We had some good fellowship all the way to Shoshoni.  He was going to visit some friends in a hospital in Greeley, Colorado.  Before David dropped me off in Shoshoni, we had a short time of prayer and then I hit the road.

Sometimes the Lord foreshadows something that He is going to do.  When I got dropped off in Thermop, I went to fill up my water bottle.  These two guys at the gas station walked up to me and kicked me down a couple of bucks.  They wished me the best in my travels.  The one guy had done some hitchhiking a few years ago.  I then walked a few blocks and these two guys in a car pulled over and talked with me for a few minutes–they asked me about my hitchhiking.  It was very positive.

The Presence of God was very strong while I slept under the stars last night.  I knew that the Lord was up to something.  This morning, David and I had a good talk about certain scriptures and the things of God.  It was very edifying.  I am very grateful how the Lord puts people in my path.

Luke 10: 16:  “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.”

A Week in the Life of a Hitchhiker

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“Don’t be overwise; fling yourself straight into life, without deliberation; don’t be afraid – the flood will bear you to the bank and set you safe on your feet again.”

–Fyodor Dostoyevsky