BIG
STICK - a vision
Richard
Barnes - April 30, 2001
My
husband and I are both prophetic although the Lord talks to each of us
in different ways. Last night the Lord told me He had given
a word to my husband and to ask him what it was when he came home (he
gets home at 3:30 in the morning). The Lord added that it was very
important. When my husband got home, I asked him what the Lord had
revealed to him. This is what he told me. Neither one of us
were given the full interpretation of what it might mean. Perhaps
one of you has some input...
"It was around 10:25 P.M. and I had just finished eating when I
decided to close my eyes for a few minutes. I had a vision in
which I saw the earth as if I were looking at it from space. The
earth was green everywhere and the sea was blue. I looked at the
earth and could see North America, Canada, and South America. My
attention was then drawn to the area of America from the midwest to the
Atlantic Ocean, the outline of each state being visible. I then
saw what looked like a long stick with two half rings on either side
(kind of like a sword's handle). On the top end of the stick
inside the handle was a child-like figure, the hand of God was holding
this stick. Then I became the child and was looking at everything
from a different angle. The stick then appeared to be moving
towards Florida, but went into the water adjacent to Florida some
distance out. The Lord then starting stirring the waters up.
That was the end of the vision."
Richard
Barnes
Posted
to the AP List on May 8, 2001
Tsunami
by David Davenport
[email protected]
Good Morning Meri,
Thank
you for soliciting additional input from myself and Ron Anderson, relative to Rick and Tina Barnes' vision.
I
spent a full day surfing the Folly Beach "washout" (outskirts
of Charleston, SC) on Sunday (May 6th). The waves were perfect:
glassy, often head-high, and peeling left and right, making way for the
oft allusive "tube ride".
As
I may have mentioned previous, I receive much renewal and revelation while sitting on my board between wave sets. The Lord visits me
there like nowhere else. This brand of meeting between He and I
began back in my Navy days, twenty years ago, wherein I often manned the helm
(steering wheel, on the bridge of the ship), four hours on and four hours
off, 'round the clock, while underway. It was a grueling
schedule.
Deep
in the night, when all I could hear was the low drone of the engines below, as well as the glassy wake peeling from the hull of the ship, the
Lord would visit me and beckon me to Him.
Over
the years since then, and largely through roughly twenty years of
surfing activity, He continues to flood my senses with prophetic
analogies while in and on the water.
Just
last week, I received the most vivid wave-dream of my life. I have
actually been receiving such dreams and visions for many years.
But last week the dream was so vivid and gripping that I was still responding to
the dream when I awakened.
In
the dream, I had been surfing six to eight foot waves. Just as I
had paddled back to the beach for some rest, I looked back to see the most
beautiful and majestic set of eighteen foot waves heading rapidly toward
shore.
What
shocked me about these waves was not only their perfect symmetry and beauty, but that they were going to break onshore and wipe out about one
hundred surfers who were standing about in amazement and shock as the waves approached.
The
word I received right when I woke up was: "It's coming."
In
1985 some fierce storms pummeled the California coastline. The
storms ripped apart many beautiful fishing piers which had wonderful and
colorful histories to them. I personally surfed below, next to and even
through many of them, spanning about a two hundred mile stretch of
coastline.
During
one such storm, my beloved Huntington Beach pier was hammered, and an enormous section of the pier was destroyed. To have seen
Huntington Beach pier prior to the storm, one could not imagine the pier
sustaining such damage, as it was of the most formidable structures among
piers.
One
evening, perhaps a matter of 24 hours prior to the pier sustaining
critical damage, I paddled out into the line up. It was about
01:00 a.m., under a full moon. The light cast by the full moon, as well as the
many large dome lights on the pier illuminated the water just enough to
enable me to negotiate the waves. I was among not more then five
others at the time. And I believe we wound up surfing 'till about
04:00 a.m. in the morning.
On
this night, I recall sitting on my board, looking out into the deep,
and seeing massive dark walls approaching. And the only way
we could negotiate the height of the waves was to notice the phosphorus
glow of the crests, illuminated by the moonlight. It was an awesome,
majestic, yet terrifying sight. And with my heart in my throat and the
rapid approach of a wave that towered near 20 feet in height, I would
repeatedly charge down the face in a near vertical descent with
such speed that I could hardly see. Once reaching the bottom of
the face, I would have so much momentum and force that I would rocket
completely horizontal ("bottom-turn"), and shoot back up the face
and do a "kamikaze flyaway," wherein me and the board would launch off the top
of the wave--flying through the air and over it's backside, to avoid getting
pounded to bits by the ultimate close-out of the wave.
During
this session in particular, I began to sense something in the prophetic,
which was actually long before I began to gain a relative handle on matters
prophetic.
Fast-forward
to present day, and we find that men (and several women) are charging down the faces of waves in excess of 60 feet in height.
In fact just a month ago a fellow surfer by the name of Mike Parsons was awarded
$60,000 for riding the largest wave of the 2000/2001 winter
season. A wave which measured an estimated 66 feet in height. The
location of which was Cortez Bank, a submerged mountain range located
approximately 100 miles west of the Baja California peninsula. At one
point in this area, it is said a mountain top is but 3 feet below the
surface of the water. As massive ocean swells then approach this peak,
they jack-up and into the 60 foot-plus faces which are now being surfed as of
just a few months ago.
Prior
to this record breaking ride, a surfer by the name of Taylor Knox rode a 52-footer at a spot named "Todos Santos," very
near the shore of Baja California, directly west of Ensenada.
Not
long after Knox's ride, Peter Mel and Daryl "Flea" Virotsko
rode 58-footers at a spot named "Maverick's," located roughly 20
minuets south of San Francisco.
Shortly
following the 58-footers ridden by Mel and Virotsko, Ross Clarke Jones descended the face of a wave on the North Shore of Hawaii which
measured an estimated 60 to 62 feet.
We
then arrive at the current 66-foot record. And I suspect this will
soon be broken.
What
is occurring is that in several spots around the globe wave height continues to subtly and steadily mount. This is largely unknown to
the world at large, with the exception of the surf culture.
And
what is more mind boggling than the increasing size of these waves, is the rarity of serious injury and/or fatalities.
This
may be a stretch for some; but recently I asked the Lord very pointedly: "Lord, how is it that so many of these unsaved
surfers can charge into the very jaws of death, in surfing conditions that are
potentially fatal in more ways than one, day in and day out, year
'round, and I rarely hear of fatalities."
The
Lord then replied to me in this way: "Because they're My wave
riders."
When
I heard this, I began to weep, as He enabled me to experience a micro dose of his love, mercy and compassion upon these lost souls. The
impression I received was that He is actually so amused,
entertained and delighted by watching these people so appreciate and enjoy His
creation, that He showers His grace over them, granting them systematic
revelation of His nature, solely through their experiences in these mountains
of water.
Equally
mind boggling is the rate at which these "wave riders" are
meeting the Lord. And this often through no evangelism. Rather, through
the raw presence of God manifested in the majesty of these waves.
Consider
this: "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within
them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of
the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so
that they are without excuse." (Romans 1:18-20, NASB).
"His
power and...nature have been clearly seen...through what has been made."
Within
the past few weeks awards were given on a cable channel, for champions within "extreme sports." The overall
champion was a surfer by the name of Laird Hamilton, who recently surfed the most dangerous
ride/wave in surfing history.
What
made this wave so dangerous (in Tahiti) was that in addition to an estimated 20 foot face, the wave itself was nearly 15 feet thick, and
tubed several feet below the surface of the water, making a
wipeout almost surly fatal. And not more than 6 feet below the
surface lay deadly lava formations.
When
handed the trophy, Laird stated the following: "I believe
that the sole reason that I have been granted this microphone, is so that I
could say to millions of extreme sports fans, that Jesus Christ is my
Lord and savior, and He enabled me to pull-off that ride, so that I could
stand before you and attest to His saving grace and
goodness."
With
that, Laird stepped down from the podium.
And
so with all of this said, the strongest impression I receive from the
current wave action as well as the very real threats of Tsunami's along the East and West coasts, is that of God's holy visitation in
terms of the Final Harvest.
To
know the surf culture is to know some of the most mean-spirited and vile beings on the planet. And to see such vice showered
with such grace and love in these times, is to attest to God's goodness in
"willing that none should perish."
We
"see in part," and we "look as through a glass,
darkly." And so my perspective in matters Tsunami is but a small part of what I believe to
be transpiring globally, relative to potential nature disasters.
There
lays the very real potential for Tsunami's on both East and West coasts. In the natural, I believe these potentials for disaster
can be averted if not substantially lessened through nationwide intercession.
However in the spirit, there are waves coming that will sweep the
unsaved off their feet, for the ride of their lives. And for the
saved, therein lay the potential to be completely submerged in the wave of
brokenness, cleansing, purity and renewal, for the sole purpose of working the
Final Harvest.
Every
Believer I've talked to in the last three months has shared of an "inner cleansing" taking place--a call to purity, holiness and
right-standing before the Lord. We're being consumed in a
wave of cleansing--a baptism like none other. And it's for the sole
purpose of moving into places of darkness in order to rescue the
lost.
Lighthouses
illuminate the dark, gloomy, formidable and cold storms. And so we must be like those lighthouses, full of light and standing
as beacons, pointing the way to the One. Thank
you for lifting us in prayer Meri, as Gigi and I make our way to Charleston South Carolina to plant a new work on the coast (James
Island). Among initial directives is that of piercing the surf culture,
ministering to street people, and serving the Latino and African American
cultures within the inner city.
Our
love and blessings to you.
Sincerely,
David & Gigi
Stay
tuned for more input on "Big Stick"...
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