Guest post from my Coach Man : {Processing}

{I am so very excited to have my sweet Coach Man writing a guest post as we finish off an incredible 2016...love him so and his calling as a coach....praying these power-filled words bless you and inspire you as you process your own 2016 and look ahead to the grand adventure of 2017! God Bless and GO SCOTS!}

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“What are you doing here, Elijah?”  God’s sentiments in 2 Kings 19 is the question he has been asking me and the question I honestly have been asking myself at the end of 2016.  I’m sitting at a 70-year-old table in a 65-year-old snowy cabin in Blue River, CO just trying to “process” what has culminated in this last month of the year. 

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My tribe went to bed on December 17th hours after winning the state championship and capping off a 22-week investment from all of us that ended in a brilliant 16-7 win over Temple for the State Champion Highland Park Scots reveling in the fact that within the last 12 days, our family had seen the realization of dream after dream realized.  My tribe gave absolutely everything we had to December. Cari led Becoming Ministries first Arrows Live event in Dallas, and saw hundreds impacted that night for the gospel.   She released her BECOMING App the same night with the new capability of reaching thousands more.  Then less than 48 hours later, we all embraced on the field of ATT Stadium after beating the previously undefeated Denton Ryan Raiders in the state semi-finals.  Then, one short week later, we won it all with family in tow and really couldn’t figure out how to “process” how the Lord intertwined years of prayer and sacrifice and faith into one season of life. And then, the next morning, we woke up…and went Christmas shopping.  Mind blow.I keep using that word “processing.”  I remember my Sunday school teacher in junior high always talked about his experience as a jungle fighter in Vietnam.  “In less than 72 hours’ time, I went from fighting back to back with a buddy in hand to hand combat in a swamp, to sitting at my mother’s table passing the mashed potatoes.”  Some experiences are so big and such a concentrated effort that you just can’t turn them off on a whim.  There are some seasons in life that you pray for and pray for and pray for, and then the fruition of all you’ve yielded for comes to full birth at a moment’s notice after having your head down pushing ahead in faith steps for years. It is the most alarmingly powerful revelation to have God collide His power with my little offering to accomplish all He has promised He would accomplish through your life in a certain season.  At the end of that moment of fruition, and at the beginning of new horizons of faith and ground taking, it takes a minute to settle in to all God has done, remember what just happened, and gain strength to make a fresh go of it with a whole new crop of dreams.Elijah is in the middle of nowhere.  Processing.  Elijah has seen a whole slew of miracles, and made some crazy steps with God. His faith adventure seemingly comes to a head on Mt. Carmel. Elijah boldly calls down fire from Heaven to consume an altar drenched in water. Whether you know it or not Elijah, this is the culmination of all those prayers and miracles and struggle and right now takes EVERYTHING you’ve got.  Elijah talks outside his mind, talks trash to a queen who wants his head, and assembles all his enemies in one place with nothing at his disposal except a bold prayer and audaciousness (some would say foolishness) that he’s just dumb enough to trust that God will come through.  And in that moment, his life, calling, and ministry, and all the people he didn’t think were affected with his obedience were taken to the next level of faith building when fire fell from heaven and all God’s enemies were crushed in a second of brilliant finalization.It didn’t stop there.  Immediately after, Elijah is called again to speak out of what he cannot see, and order other people and families who aren’t in on his revelation to blind faith themselves even when he’s not even sure God will come through.  Chapter 18 vs. 41 and 44 of 2 Kings both show Elijah as we would say “flying by the seat of his pants” as he so outwardly confidently states “Go eat, and drink, for there is the sound of heavy rain,” and “Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.”  In both instances its neither raining, nor is there a cloud in sight.  He even hits his knees to pray for the miracle of rain after he has already sent people out in the obedience of his own dream.  His bold faith pays off.  It pays off so much that God imbues him with the power to run a short 50 miles to finish the crazy faith day.  Whew.  Wow God.Maybe you’ve never been through such a concentrated time of extreme faith building acts.  Maybe you have. Maybe you know exactly how crazy it is when God decides to bring a downpour on about 100 things you’ve toiled over the idea of for 15 years, and it all comes with more faith, more crazy, more obedience and a 50 mile dead leg sprint at the end.  But when the culmination happens, and you lay your head on your pillow that night, “processing” and praising takes on a whole new meaning.Elijah’s audacious faith was just catching momentum so all those downpours were only the beginning. God was ushering him into new territory of faith building miracle living. It wouldn’t just be a season, it would be a lifestyle of miracle living. Elijah’s familiarity with God’s voice would have to become so very honed in, but the surrounding of God’s miracles would only continue to increase as Elijah became more and more willing to trust God, lean in, and move forward. Even when he was tempted to run from the fear of the unknown, God still faithfully showed up time and time again.“A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.”-1 Kings 19:12After not seeing God in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire, God simply challenges in a whisper.  God gives you the space to give a Victory shout. 2016 was a dream. You all know what your calling involves.  You all know what happens when dreams become a reality.  You take even deeper root.  You trust Him like you did all those miles before, and FYI you didn’t die.  You didn’t fall on your face.  God came through on the mountain, he came through in the wilderness, and he’ll come through again.  What does “processing” mean? It means God is kind enough to take you off the line to speak directly to you about the 10,000 times he has been faithful on the line, give you time to praise His Name, and then lean in to listen as He speaks to the 10,000 times he will be faithful when you go right back in the fray.  Here I am Lord.  Use me.  Go Scots!!