Since Sunday morning, I've been out here in Morton County, Kansas preaching a revival in the community of Elkhart, meeting the people, seeing the sights, and taking it all in. And, believe me, out here in Morton County, there is a lot to see, and what you see, goes on forever and ever.
Yesterday I stood and prayed at an interesting point here in the State of Kansas. It's a place called "Three Point" or "Eight-Mile Corner." "Three Point" is literally in the very corner of Kansas, and is where the State lines of Kansas, Oklahoma & Colorado all come together. There is a Survey Plate in the middle of a dusty, nondescript, country road that marks the precise location, and on the Kansas side there is an old windmill tower (the "Three State Windmill") with what looks like a "wrought-iron" weathervane with a buffalo on top of it and the words "KANS, COLO and OKLA" all pointing in their respective directions.
As I stood there in that place and looked back over my State, a State that had been home to me all of my life, and that had been home to my family ever since my Great, Great Grandfather headed west and homesteaded in Dickinson, County, back in the 1860's, in that moment I just stood there and felt the weight and significance of that place. What swept over me at the very moment I stood there, was the realization that there were in that very instant, so many simultaneous things going on in my State. There were "business-as-usual" or "everyday-Kansas-things" to be sure, unpredictable weather, work, chores, taxes, traffic, deadlines, road maintenance, school, life, the family hustle and bustle, the daily grind, but in this moment there was also more... there were other things going on, heavier things happening, unsettling things taking place in that very instant... tragic things, difficult things, life threatening things, families struggling, people trying to figure out where to turn and what to do, there were property losses, community evacuations and... fires... spreading...
A sense of what I can only best call a "passionate, tragic, immediacy" hit me as I was standing there. It was almost as if I could "see" or "feel" all of Kansas in that instant, and all spread out before me. Though I can't fully describe what I saw, or felt, or experienced, I think it was the closest thing to what the Old Testament refers to as "The Burden of the LORD..." that I have ever experienced in my life. And, as I felt it, I knew that God desired a Statewide Spiritual Awakening. It was crystal clear to me. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind. So, right there, my good friend, Pastor Keith Davis of the Elkhart Church of the Nazarene, and I prayed for that very thing, and as we did the image that came to my mind was an image of people, Kansas people, running to a fire, a fast moving, all consuming, uncontrollable fire, a fire that was not life threatening, or property damaging, but one that was instead, Life... Giving...
There is a sign as you enter Elkhart, Kansas, that welcomes you and also reminds you of Elkhart's nickname, or moniker, if you will. Elkhart, here in Morton, County, is known as "The Cornerstone of Kansas." Think about that for just a second.
There was a time in the early history of Kansas when this territory and our fledgling State "to-be" was known as "Bleeding Kansas." But, what if... Kansas, in our day, could be known as "Burning Kansas?" Not because of destructive, out of control wildfires, but because of an outpouring of the Spirit of God as an answer to our prayers, drawing us to Him and into a future He has prepared for us. And, (now this sounds really crazy...) what if the Spiritual fires of God's Grace, Mercy, Love, Forgiveness, Power, Passion, Holiness and Holy Spirit, ignited through our prayers lifted up here in Kansas, could lead to an all Consuming Fire of Spiritual Awakening that then swept our Nation? Is it possible?
I think it is. I want it to be. I prayed for it yesterday as I prayed for our State and for a cessation of the fires that were burning, endangering and negatively impacting so much of our State and so many in so many ways. I prayed for a New Fire, a New Great Awakening, from here at the Cornerstone of Kansas, all across our State, and... "Oh Lord let it be possible, all across our Nation. Bring us back to you Lord. Bring us back to You! Whatever it takes, bring us back to You! Bring us back to You as One Nation Under God, and let Kansas, let us, let me, play a Key Role in Your Perfect Will for Revival! In Jesus Name, Amen!"
