This past weekend at Camp Patmos in Kelley’s Island, OH I was reminded again how God comes out of nowhere to blow you away with His nearness! Dan & I left early Friday morning to drive 715 miles to the island in Lake Erie where Camp Patmos is located. I was scheduled to speak four times to Middle & High School students about what it meant to be Fully Alive. As I prepare for events like this, I normally expect God to use me to impact lives for the Kingdom. That may have happened for some there, but I believe God brought me to Camp Patmos so He could gently remind me of something… He is present with me at all times. He spoke that to me over and over for 48 straight hours. Let me share a few ways He communicated…

Dan & I sat on the porch of the dining hall overlooking Lake Erie for about two hours on Friday evening as we waited for the students to arrive. The sky was somewhat cloudy off in the distance but directly over us it was clear. You could see countless number of stars. The lake was simply gorgeous. Dan & I talked with God for a while. As the time approached for the students to arrive, we saw a shooting star. This was the largest shooting star I have ever seen. Seriously, it was huge. God was present!

Saturday afternoon I went for a little run (too much junk from the pop house!). I sensed God was directing me to speak on something different Sunday morning from what I initially prepared. I was running and thinking to myself, “God is this you directing me or does this have something to do with Coldplay prodding me along on my run via Little Jimmy (the affectionate name for my Ipod Shuffler)?” As this conversation took place I sensed God simply asking me to look left. I turned and about ten feet into the woods off of the road stood a deer. Our eyes met and he watched me run by. I knew it was God directing me to change my initial plans. God was present!

Saturday evening the camp staff and those from churches in northern OH put a remarkable interactive visible description of ancient Jerusalem in the early first century. The students were able to experience a street in Jerusalem. They purchased bread, drinks, and fish, while looking at live donkeys, camels, and sheep. Following their “market place” experience, they were led off through the city gates down a some-what lit path to the foot of a 20-25 foot stonewall in a quarry. On top of the quarry they witnessed a re-enactment of the crucifixion scene. I can’t describe in my frail words the impact of this event. I will simply say it was powerful. Since I spoke for about five minutes after each of the three groups of students came back into the quarry, I witnessed this scene multiple times. Each time I took this scene in, God communicated stronger and stronger in my heart – “I love you. You are forgiven! You are clean! You are perfect because of my son’s perfect sacrifice!” God was present.

Last night as Dan & I drove home we hit some rain in Illinois and Eastern Wisconsin. We battled the rain for about 75-100 miles when it stopped. Just shy of Wisconsin Dells heading west we were stunned by one of the most amazing evening skies I have ever scene. The mixture of clouds with several shades of orange, red, pink, & blue was overwhelming. Right there, 500 miles into the trip in our rental car…God was present.

I won’t go into the way He spoke by allowing me to have an hour ½ conversation with my brother-in-law, having dinner on a picnic table overlooking the lake with my mom & dad, interacting with students from my home church in Columbus, OH, meeting many new brothers & sisters in Christ that worked at the camp, singing songs of praise with the body of Christ, finding a place to watch the OSU game, seeing a husband wrap his arms around his wife and one-year old daughter as they sang praises to the King, and hearing incredibly wonderful news from a friend when I returned home at 11:00 last night. God was indeed present!

I was overwhelmed with God’s presence not because He hasn’t been around lately and He finally showed up on a little island in OH. I was overwhelmed because He reminded me He is always present with me. I just haven’t recognized this wonderful truth lately.

So this morning in Bloomington, MN I sensed God’s nearness in a chilling wind while holding my daughter’s hand as she waited for the bus stop. I was reminded of His goodness when I kissed Gretchen goodbye when I left to come to this coffee shop. And I just saw God as two close friends that are willing to lay down their lives in a second for Him walked in here for a little get-together. God is present!

Normally I do not request prayer on our blog but circumstances force me to do this at the present time. Our normal intercessory prayer process is that I send Eric an E-mail and he handles our intercessory E-mail prayer team. He forwards on my requests, you prayer, the Kingdom comes, etc. It is beautiful! But this week Eric is enjoying his honeymoon in Mexico. So I am putting my hope in the fact that anyone who reads this blog will kindly E-mail it on to those that normally would be on the intercessory prayer team. Wow! That was a long explanation. Anyway, here is the request…

Very early tomorrow (more like middle of the night early), Dan and I are driving to Camp Patmos in Kelley’s Island, OH. We will be involved with a Middle/High School retreat. The theme of the weekend is the cross. I will be speaking four times about the ramifications of the cross for our lives here on earth (based on Hebrews 10). Saturday night the students will see a reenactment of the crucifixion. I will speak to three different sets of students with the imagery of three crosses behind me. It should be very powerful. I have no idea where these kids are at spiritually. I want the Kingdom to come to that little island though. I want them to fully understand they can draw near to God because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. I want them to understand they have an amazing hope they can grab hold of and claim. I want them to understand that because of the cross, they can spur each other on towards love & good deeds.

My desire is the same as Paul’s in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. I want to rely on the power of God and simply preach Christ & Him crucified. I do not wish to see transformational change due to my “eloquence or crafty words.” Would you pray for that? Dan & I hopefully will have many conversations outside of the organized chapel with the students. We desire to listen, discuss, and pray with them. Pray for us to seize every opportunity. Pray also for us as we travel. We will be in the car for around 1500 miles in three days. Finally, please pray for Gretchen & our unborn baby. She is not due until October 19 but the doctor informed her yesterday that the baby’s head is very low. She told Gretchen it is highly, highly unlikely she would have the baby this weekend. But she also said I shouldn’t travel after this weekend. This obviously doesn’t encourage me greatly. Would you pray that our little baby stays inside of Gretchen until I come home? I do not want to miss this! I think Gretchen would want me here too.

Thanks for your prayers. We stand on them.

Jamie

Thank you to the great Chuck Mannie for these pictures.






If you would like to see more pictures, you can find them at our Consumed Peterson Community Group Site (you can find that under “links” on this page — Consumed-BBC).

I’m not talking about the animals, but rather the new married couple. The wedding took place a few days ago — Saturday, September 9. The newlyweds are presently celebrating their honeymoon in Mexico. The wedding festivities were wonderful…Including the ceremony. I’m not sure Eric & Lisa could pack anymore adjectives in their vows to each other. It was a wonderful picture of our love for God…words just can’t it express it. We wish them all the best and many years together. They will be returning to MN this Saturday. Leave them your wishes if you so desire.

Should have more pictures up soon.

Unless you are a fan of the television show Friends, you might not understand the quote from the subject line. It’s from basically my favorite episode of friends – Episode 1002, The One Where Ross If Fine. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you go to your local Sam Goody or Sun Coast or whatever and pick it up – it’s definitely a solid 45 minutes of laughter. (Tara? Can you concur?) Anyways, my main reason for this outburst of words is just to express how in love I am with Lisa, and how excited I am that in 3 days I get to publicly promise my life and love to her. We are both currently sitting in Northern Light Espresso Bar in Scranton, PA – we just finished picking up our marriage license and are now enjoying the best caramel latte ever! Seriously, Northern Light has the best caramel latte – as many know I’m a huge fan of Starbucks…but they have absolutely nothing compared to this! (sorry Abs!) While talking to the lady who gave us our marriage license stuff, we found out that when Cliff (mr. officiator of our wedding) pronounces us man and wife….he has to say, “by the power invested in me by the state of Minnesota”. How cool is that! Standing in PA, we’ll be married through the power of MN. Kind of unique. Anyways, I’m very much in ramble mode today. Lisa is wrapping ribbons around some bubble stuff for the wedding, and I’m supposed to be writing my vows…but I’m not having focused thoughts at the moment. I’m just still kind of floored that in 3 days I’ll have a gold ring on my finger and I’ll be referred to as someone’s husband. Don’t get me wrong – i’m floored in a great way! I’m excited! And i’m ready for all the planning to be over and I’m ready for the part where I get to just enjoy the time with friends. So, the sum total of this blog was just to say 1. I’m getting married in 3 days! and 2. Episode 1002 of Friends – watch it and laugh!