What surprised me as I prepared to give this message is how opposed Christians were to the idea of being able to have ‘fun’. One parishioner within my church actually sent me a long email about how ‘they’ were offended that I would actually speak about ‘fun’ in church. The email’er told me that told me that church was a very ‘serious’ thing to them. They mentioned how they attend church regularly and fellowship with other believers regularly but that wasn’t fun for them. I wonder what it is then. This email embodied the very thing I was trying to speak against and because of this person’s misconceived notions about what church was supposed to be, and possibly what fun was supposed to be, they missed the message altogether (i.e. didn’t show up).

As I stood in front of the congregation, the Spirit of God moved on me with every word I spoke. He was speaking freedom and joy to His people to find release from the bondage of legalism, religion, and death. I spoke of Ezekiel Chapter 37 where the Spirit of God calls on Ezekiel to prophecy to the ‘dry bones’ to come back together and receive the breath of life to live once again.

What was interesting though was the spiritual battle that I felt I was going through as I spoke this message from the Word of God. I mean this was good stuff I was speaking, but there was SO much tension and resistance hovering in the church’s auditorium. As I called the church to see itself as the valley of dry bones, they only confirmed this metaphor with the look of complacency and death on their faces.

I knew, though, that God was really attempting to break through to this group of people so that they could experience freedom once again. So I pressed through and called on people to come forward to receive a fresh breath of the Holy Spirit on their dry bones in order to live a new and exciting life of fun for the God who takes pleasure in them and for the sake of the advancement of His Kingdom into a world that rightfully perceives the Church as a dying and boring organism. At first, one or two people trickled to the front to receive prayer. The work was not done. Another call was made for people to come forth. A few more people trickled down the aisle as the remaining crowd looked ahead trying to hide their illicit relationship with religion and pride. I called out again, this time because of a prophetic word given to me by a woman who had previously came forward for prayer, saying that God was hurting because people were avoiding His blessings due to their own pride. And then more people came forward- a girl who had experienced an oppressing fog over her life for the past 6 months that caused her to question the love of God in her life- a girl who a day before was a runaway half-way across the country standing on a bridge to kill herself came forward with tears streaming down her face desperate for the love of God. It was beautiful! But there were still more who God was dealing with who blatantly refused His offer of freedom and joy; and that breaks my heart. More than that, though, I am thrilled for those who pressed forward into the blessings of God to receive the breath of fresh air that they so desperately needed.

Something is happening in the world. Something is happening in our nation. And something is happening in my church. Those who are freely accepting what God is causing to happen are those who the Church historically has rejected. Those who may miss the boat of what God’s doing are those who are more concerned with religion than they are about freedom in Christ. It will be a sad day when they see that they have missed something…the very thing that offered them new life.

-Anthony Trask

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRPHvz6qZ-U

On the 6th day of our Disneyworld vacation, we went to Blizzard Beach! This was the best day of the trip for me! I had the greatest day with my family, particularly with my son Zion.

Blizzard Beach is a beautifully awesome water park with some of the most fascinating water slides on earth including one of the world’s tallest and steepest, a super long one that you can ride down with up to eight people on an inner tube, a toboggan style racing slide, a huge wave pool, and an incredibly long lazy river. The whole park has a ski resort feel complete with fake snow, glaciers, and even a ski lift that takes you up to three of the slides. They play great relaxing beach music to make the wonderful irony complete.

My son went on some impressive slides for being a 4 year-old and DID NOT want to leave. I think all of us would have been happy to go to Blizzard Beach every day of our trip. That’s how great and relaxing it was!

One highlight of the day was getting some new black Oakley Monster Dog Polarized sunglasses. Because of the current economy, Disney was giving away $200 gift cards for every room booked. So we got $400 worth and I bought my new sunglasses with them.

That evening we wednt back to EPCOT Center for dinner. We went to Maracesh- a Morrocan restaurant in- of course- the Morrocan area of the park. What a great time! The students loved this place! There was great live Morrocan band playing traditional music along with a very classy- very beautiful belly dancer: much more interesting than the fat old hippies who belly dance in the US!

At one point the belly dancer invited people from the audience to come join her in dancing and a teenage boy from another table came up and did a breakdance to the Morrocan music with the belly dancer- it was freak’n hillarious and awesome!!

To eat I had the Morrocan Feast. It had Leg of Lamb, a half baked chicken, kuskus, a strange soup for an appetizer, and an assortment of nut-like pastries for dessert? Everything was good! THis place had the best service and the most relaxing atmosphere of all the places we had been.

This truly was a great day!

Over the past 5 days, I have seen more vomit and diarrhea than I ever want to see again in my life. My poor family all came down with a horrible stomach flu- the worst that I have ever had.

As I mentioned previously, it was horrible to watch Zion suffer with this illness. But Kylie also came down with it on Friday night and has still not completely recovered. I feel horrible because earlier in the day on Friday, she got 3 shots. Then she had to contend with vomiting, diarrhea, stomach aches, lack of appetite- AND teething!

After many prayers for God to give me the illness instead of my family, I came down with a crazy-bad stomach ache and serious diarrhea late Friday night. But thank God, Zion was completely better by Saturday.

Kylie is almost better now, but still is suffering from a lack of appetite. Thank God I’m about 80% better, but last night Susan’s turn with this thing started around midnight with frequent vomiting and extreme nasea. She is way tougher than the rest of us, though, and is already on the rebound.

Pray with us that Kylie will be completely healed from this illness as soon as possible. Pray that Susan will continue to get better. And please pray that Zion and I will remain healthy and that all of us will get back the energy that was lost from our body’s fight with this nasty stomach flu.

It’s my prayer that God will keep those around us, our friends and family, and those who read this happy, healthy, and safe.

I’ve been very neglectant of my blog as of late, but my New Year’s Resolution is to change that. I’m going to be changing my personal schedule up a bit to be more accountable to things in life that are important to me.

So what have I been up to?

Well it’s been an exciting couple of months. I’ve gotten to meet some wonderful students from all over the globe. I saw the ‘last boy on campus that I expected to become a Christian’ become one! I’ve had my fill of cafeteria food. I’ve learned the joys and difficulties of being around your wife and kids basically 24 hours a day. I’ve had the opportunity to speak the Word of God to young people who know nothing of it- and have found it challenging. I’ve figured out what some of my passions are, and what they are not. I’ve rediscovered some of my strengths, and have had my weaknesses redefined. I’ve learned to trust more in an Almighty-Everliving-God. I’ve driven to Eugene, Medford, and Portland a few more times than I would have liked to drop kids off at the airport. I’ve had to say goodbye to some students who made horrible choices in life. I’ve found the most respectful-delightful-polite-loving teenage boy that I have ever met- and he is a Muslim. I’ve learned to rely on the hospitallity and generosity of others. I have grown to love my close friends and family more than ever before. Etc….Etc….Etc…

One thing that has surprised me more than anything is my love of the Church. Here at CCA I attend church every week on Sunday when I am working, but it’s not really attending church, it’s supervising young people who because of their non-existant relationship with Christ- can be quite disrespectful during church. I have learned how powerful it is to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with a group of Believers and how meaningful it is to absorb the Word of God with your brothers and sisters in Christ. I have learned how much it means to have fellow followers of Christ around you to constantly encourage you, hold you accountable, and study the Bible with you.

I came here over 4 months ago with my desire and focus on changing the lives of young people from every corner of the globe-and I think I have- but I belive now that God brought my family and I here for ‘us’. I know that sounds very selfish and it’s normally something that I would not say, but I honestly believe it with all my heart because here we are being tested, refined, and challenged in ways we never have been before. This is a spiritual and mental training ground for the next stage in our life….a transitioning place and time….and I’m excited, and scared to see what’s next.

Grace and Peace,

Anthony Trask