Taking It To The Streets (or at least to a doughnut shop)

After ministry time was over on Wednesday, several of us decided to go to Tim Hortons (a doughnut shop) for coffee and fellowship.

I arrived with Sigrid and Ron. Barbara and friends followed in a separate car. When we got there, I was pretty much normal -- just a little twitch every now and then. It turned out that there were already several people from TAV at Tim Hortons, including some of the regular TAV ministry team. One of those ministry team people was Ivan, who is sort of notorious for getting people very drunk and not getting drunk himself. I was standing in line, pondering how I desire to take this anointing to the streets. Lord, I really want to take this home with me...

I got my doughnut and was walking in the general direction of the exit. I was momentarily overcome with the Lord's goodness and I started jerking from the waste a little bit. The next thing I knew, someone from the ministry team was praying for me. I looked down at the very hard tile floor and thought, "not here!" I started trying to get away from the prayer team person by moving closer to the exit. But by now I was getting pretty drunk. I may be fuzzy on some of the details of the rest of the story, as I was awfully drunk in the spirit by now.

I remember that I started to loose my balanced as I moved away from the ministry team person. There was a man standing there with his back to me. I sort of grabbed his shoulders for support. He turned around to face me, looking very surprised and somewhat amused. I released my grip by kept staring at him as I tried to figure out whether or not he was part of the TAV group. He looked like he was in his early twenties. He directed his attention towards his friend. His friend had a cast on one foot and was balancing on the other leg. He had crutches in his hand, which he was extending towards me. He said, "Looks like you need these more than I do." I laughed, but did not take the crutches. I worked my way over to where he was standing and asked him if he thought I was drunk. He said that the thought did cross his mind. I explained that I was not drunk, but high on God. I was having trouble holding a coherent conversation at this point. In fact, I was having trouble just standing up at this point. So I grabbed the door handle for support -- it was the inside door of a set of double doors. Fortunately, Ron and Sigrid came over to hold a coherent conversation with these guys and to share what God was doing at TAV. I piped in with "I bet you didn't think think that Church could be this much fun." They agreed.

Then one of the ministry team people (Ivan) decided to show them what it looked like when someone got prayed for -- so he put his and on mine and started praying. It did not take long until I was a crumpled laughing ball on the floor. After a while I tried to grab his foot and pray back, but he dodged out of my reach. "Oh no you don't!" he teased. After a while I was half standing, half kneeling by the door, hanging on for dear life. One of the guys commented that I was sobering up. About then, one of the teens who'd given her testimony that evening (she was a missionary with YWAM) walked by. She gets drunk even easier than I do. Ivan reached over and started praying for her. The next thing she knew, she was laying on her back on the floor, kicking and screaming and laughing. She ended up rolling under an empty table and continued carrying on. She was also shaking a great deal. The guy I'd originally grabbed was getting an incredible kick out of this. I took the opportunity to invite him and his friend to TAV. They said that they'd probably come.

I remember silently praying "Thank you Lord, that it's not me down on the ground kicking and screaming."

"Well", the Lord replied,"You asked me if you could take my anointing to the streets. That's what I'm doing with you right now."

I explained to Him that this wasn't quite what I had in mind when I wanted to take His anointing to the streets.

About this time, someone pointed out the proprietors standing in the back far corner glaring at out group. They looked pretty unhappy with us and probably wondered what on earth was happening. I decided to try and behave better so as not to upset them. I wandered in and sat down near Barbara. We both sat there and laughed at each other for a while. We tried to have a conversation, but could not get any words out. Each time we'd look into each other's eyes, we'd burst out laughing again.

I started to wander back to the door where Sigrid and Ron and the two guys were. But Ivan intercepted me mid-route and started praying for me again. The next thing I knew I was on my back on the floor, laughing and shaking and kicking my legs. I looked just like the girl who I'd thanked God that it was her and not me. The only difference was that I was not under the table -- instead I was in the middle of the aisle. One of the guys in our group came to me and tried to interview me. He asked me, "Is it good?" I was laughing so hard that I could hardly answer. I finally squeaked out "Yes."

Eventually I was able to get up and was led over to another table where two young women were sitting. The guy who led me there was trying to convince them that I was not drunk and suggested they smell my breath to see that there was no alcohol on it. "I don't care what you say," they replied, "You're drunk." I mostly just stood there and observed the conversation. I suggested they come to Church and check it out for themselves. The said they'd think about it. About then Rod and Sigrid got to that table and started trying to explain what was going on. Sigrid said they were ministers and the women refused to believe them. So she pulled out her ministerial license and showed them. They took it and examined it, as though looking for a counterfeit, and then handed it back. "I don't care," one lady said, "You're still drunk." Then someone, I'm not sure who, started explaining that this type of drunk didn't come with a hangover the next morning. The women appeared to be interested. I sort of lost track of what was going on, except that Sigrid went to get Ron to leave. About that time, the police arrived. I realized that they'd called the police on me. I should have been horrified, but for some reason, it struck me as incredibly funny.

It was still funny when the proprietors pointed me out to the police. About then Sigrid was ushering me out the door. I'm not sure if the two events were related, because she'd been trying to leave for a while by then anyhow. I think it was somewhere around 2:00 AM.

One of the police followed us outside. Rod stopped to talk to someone else, so Sigrid and I were standing there waiting. I took that opportunity to explain to the officer that I was not drunk. I staggered over to him and said, "I bet you think I'm drunk. The truth is, I haven't touched a drop of liquor. I just got out of a really powerful Church service."

He looked at me funny and did not say a word. The Ron came up to him and asked him if anyone had explained to him what was happening. The policeman said, "Let me guess. You're from the Vineyard?"

I guess they're heard of us?

Anyhow, they eventually got me back to my hotel and I staggered up to my room. It turns out that the Lord really did bless me after all. I ended up with better prayer at the doughnut shop that I'd received during the ministry time...

I think God has a sense of humor.