That's a Lotta Wattah

Yep, 20,000 bottles of it - actually just a little less, because we drank a bunch as we unloaded it from the truck. Part of the gig when our Spiritual Dream Interpretation Cafe team arrives at Burning Man is to unload the big ol' rental truck full of water. It was all hands on deck and you could tell that this was going to be a special group of people to work with. No one complained. No one did less than their fair share. No one slipped out of the activity for even fraction of time.

We all worked hard and together, in unity. A great sign of a great time to come. I have the honor of being in fellowship with a bunch of awesome people at the Three Rivers Bridge and close friends at the Desert Rock Bridge. In both places there are many, many like-minded people who easily put away selfishness and work for a common good. But in all my 48 years, I've never met such a unified team of strangers as I did at Burning Man 2007.

This Wednesday, as our creative worship night (which my wife facilitates) was getting started Ratatouille and I shared a bit more about our experience there. I was struck again by this thought. We went there at least partially to bring back a knowing of how much can be done by a few people who are willing to lay down their personal agendas and work in complete unity and submission to their leadership. We took some time to ask Creator to download and impart to each of our brothers and sisters there, the sense of unity we experienced at Burning Man so we could fully participate in the promise of this coming season in our fellowship.

I am profoundly and forever marked by the experience of working alongside such a phenomenal group of people. Even more amazing is that most of us met for the first time just two days before Burning Man opened it 'gates' for the 2007 Burn and already we had begun forming friendships - true, for real friendships.

Encounter after encounter with Burners who were looking for 'something more' and having the honor to listen and participate directly with Fuego (fire in Spanish), Fire Rose, Johnny B Good, Rocket, Spotted Eagle, Rhonda, Altered, Randy and MVP through the week was - amazing. Insight, discernment, revelation, wisdom, kindness, gentleness, mercy and tons of love were poured out on hungry people and they absolutely were changed by it. That doesn't even count the many others on the team with whom I didn't work with on a team, but got to know during meal times and breaks.

If I can bring anything back to my town, my friends, and my fellowship, I hope it is the humility to work together in complete unity to help lost and hurting people of this world find their true destiny. Just think - a bunch of pagans worked in unity to build a tower to reach the heavens. They were succeeding at such a rate that even Creator spoke and said that if they worked together there was NOTHING they could not do. Nothing.

Surely we who share a common faith and love for Him can unite to share His love with a hurting world. Surely it must be His heartbeat that drives the rhythm of our love for each other and the lost. Can we make it our aim to lay down our personal agendas for that goal? I KNOW we can - I've just seen 48 talented, gifted, diverse people do it - and do it with excellence!

What's on Your Menu?

Some of you have let me know, through comments on my wife's blog, that you're anxiously awaiting to hear my take on the trip to Burning Man 2007.

It's getting late (for me) so this will be a brief posting - an appetizer - for more to come.

My heart is so full after a week on the Playa. I have been processing with my wife and friends and I feel as if part of me is still there. It is a surreal feeling. In reality we were only gone 10 days, but it sometimes feels like that 10 days represents the 'real' world and my workaday world here is the one that is temporary. Strange, I know, but I am not sure how else to describe the sensations I am working through.

I wanted to start my posts about our trip with the key to our stay there -the Spiritual Menu from which we served our guests of honor, the Burners. Inspired by the Seven Spirits, we offered a full menu from which our guests could choose. As I talked with folks who served in different groups over the week, it seemed that each group had predominant themes unique to them. My current theory on that is that Creator led the hosts to lead people to groups where the particular gift mix of the team was best suited for that particular menu item. All of the teams I served on, for instance, were dominated by requests for spiritual cleansing (three different leaders and team mates).

More than any other experience I've had, the encounters we had were longer in duration and deeper in impact. Our guests came to the 'table' hungry for a spiritual encounter and were, more often than not, changed dramatically by their encounter with the Spirit of Light.

I'm ruined for anything less. I fell in love with the Burners. I am humbled to accepted and loved by them, and for the opportunity to love on them. For most of the encounters I participated in, our new friends received deeper spiritual touches than many who consider themselves spiritual. They came in open and expectant to have something happen. I loved the comment reported by one of our leaders, that after a particularly deep and healing encounter a guest said, "My eyes have the same light in them as all of you have in yours! How did you do that?"

Well...WE didn't. The Spirit of Light simply answered their invitation to live inside them.