Am I Daniel? Yes. I Am Daniel

To the Friend I've Never Met,

I recently made the acquaintance of a new friend who has challenged me to dig deeper into understanding who I am...what is the articulation of my identity, the person God has created me to be.

Back Story:  Several years ago, I was working as business development manager at an auto dealer in the Portland area.  The general sales manager came to my office and asked if I could come to the showroom to assist a guest who was asking for directions to a Christian book store.

As I approached the man, who appeared to be in his 70's or so, his back was to me.  He was wearing a long, nearly to the floor, black leather overcoat and a black hat, his long gray hair a stark contrast to the black coat.  When I asked how I could help, he turned and pointed his finger at me and, with eyes wide, declared, "You have the Spirit of God all over you!"

"Yes I do," I responded, "Not everybody sees that.  I'm honored that you do."

He took a step towards me and looked intently into my eyes.  "Who are you?" He demanded.

Normally, I would respond something like, "Hi, I'm Dan.  And your name is...?"  So I was surprised to hear myself say, "I am Daniel."

Upon hearing that, he dropped to his knees in the middle of the showroom floor facing me, hat off, head bowed, arms stretched wide.  "I bow before you not because I'm worshiping you, but because you are royalty and you needed to be reminded!", he said quite loudly.

As you can imagine, this was quite the spectacle as dealership staff looked on, but it was about to get even more bizarre.  "Time for the anointing!" he announced, quite loudly.

He reached into his right pocket and, sure enough, there was the anointing oil.  With that, he quite liberally moistened my forehead with oil and, with his right hand on my head and his left hand pointed skyward, he powerfully commissioned me, praying and pronouncing God's blessing on me.

And with that, he leaned in and shouted, 'We're done here!'.  And he walked out the door.

Was he an angel?  A prophet?  A crazy person?  Does it matter?

But he asked the question...Who Are You?  I was made aware that I have been largely illiterate in the language of identity.  And so, I have pondered the matter for these past 6 years, reading books, studying the Bible, praying, discussing the matter with respected friends and journaling my thoughts.

My new friend suggested I write a page answering the question, 'Who am I', without referring to any ability, accomplishment, skill or talent.  It...took awhile to complete.

This, is the first draft of that effort. 

I am Daniel.

I am created and loved by God. All of who I flows from this Truth.

I am a unique expression God's nature and character. My kind has never before existed on earth and will never again be seen. God's image is imprinted on my being and is being restored, redeemed, renewed and revealed as I submit to the loving hand of the Master who created me.

I am a man of honor who builds up others.
I am a man of integrity who keeps my commitments.
I am a patient man who cannot be offended.
I am a peaceful man who calms storms.

I am an expression of God's joy and mirth, sorrow and pain, tenderness and grief, mercy and love, hope and delight, gentleness and forgiveness, faithfulness and restraint, and kindness and generosity.

I was created by Him to live in Him and be inhabited by Him. 

I am the treasure buried in a field, the pearl of great price for which he was willing to sacrifice everything. I am treasured by God and He counts me as wealth in His kingdom.

I am the song that he sings over those He is loving through me. I am the object of His affections, the twinkle in his eye.  As the son in whom God delights, even at my worst, I am more highly favored than the most esteemed servant is at his best.

I am a warrior, armed and strong, called to make way for, and protect the dancers who are securing newly-taken territory.  I am guided moment-by-moment by God's Holy Spirit. 

I am powerful and share in His authority to transform the world around me. I am His companion and His friend, a prince in His Kingdom and His ambassador to my world. I am His light shining in dark places. 

I am His invitation to the orphans to come home, to the lonely to find family, to the hurting to be healed, to the weary to find rest, to the thirsty and hungry to be filled and to the depressed to find hope.

I am blessed, and I am a blessing. God himself is blessing me and is blessed by me. Those around me are blessed because of who he created me to be and because He himself is serving them through me. And He himself is serving me through those around me.

I am...becoming. I am...being saved. I am...being transformed. I am...the son of the Great I Am.

I am Daniel.

Jesus is here.  All is well.

I am Daniel

Always Striving, Never Arriving

To The Friend I've Never Met.

The good things of God are often twisted by either the great pervert and prevaricator or by broken human spirits.  The virtuous life, which results from relationship with God, is twisted to be a means to that relationship, resulting in painful, empty striving while never arriving.  God’s freely given grace, which enables us to live a holy life, is distorted into an excuse for lack of maturity or discipline.  A ‘culture of honor’, which is the result of a community living life together in The Presence, can tend to attract angry people who see it as a place where they can finally get the respect and affirmation they demand. 

Fun Fact:  A culture of honor is not about me being honored, but about me honoring others, irrespective of how they treat me.  It is about me partnering with God in calling out the treasures in those around me, not about posturing so they notice me and my value.  Jesus did not insist that others honor him.  Instead, he insisted on serving others.

In fact, much of what I strive to do, would likely happen as a net result of simply resting in The Presence.  The FRUIT of the spirit is the RESULT of life lived in The Presence, not a means to attaining The Presence.   In myself, I lack the means to be fully loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, faithful, gentle, meek, humble or self-controlled.  But…in The Presence…I will become all that and more, not from my efforts, but from His.

Jesus is here.  All is well. . .

I Am Daniel

New Wine, New Song

To The Friend I've Never Met,

Like new wine poured into an ancient wineskin that could not contain it, Jesus, God's New Song for lost humanity, was poured into hell and the grave...and they could not contain him. He ruptured the fabric of the grave and life burst forth, redeeming and restoring all that death has taken. 

On the cross, he said, "It is finished", not "I am finished,"...He was just getting started. 

Today, may life overwhelm death...may your soul be re - freshed, re - stored, re - set, and may dreams long dead be brought to life in His Presence.

Jesus is here. All is well.

I am Daniel

Giants of the Deep, or Minnows In A Pool?

The the Friend I've Never Met.

A Christian longing for a move of the Spirit is a bit like a fish longing for a move of the ocean.  

I saw my first tidal pool on the beach near La Push, Washington.  There had been a storm a few days earlier with a very high tide, creating dozens of amazing tidal pools.  One was as big as a backyard swimming pool and probably six or seven feet deep.  It was teeming with life…starfish, crabs, sea anemones, schools of fish, snails, mussels… and it was dying.  Not today, not tomorrow or even next week or month, but dying nonetheless. Without another move of the ocean, another wave, the water would become toxic and life would cease.

I think perhaps the church has existed like this for decades…centuries even.  Crafted by a great wave of the spirit, the early days are heady, exhilarating and brimming with wonder and amazement at the good things of God.  But over time, things settle down, the structure containing the life becomes a source of security and identity, and those living in the structure transition from longing for a wave to resisting anyone who makes waves.  And when the Next Wave comes, the beach-bound denounce it as heresy, hoping and praying it doesn’t reach their little tidal pool.

What if…when the next wave comes in, we go out into the deep with it?  What if...we experience life out there, in the deep, with room to grow enormous and fellowship with other giants of the deep?  Out there...what will 'church' look like?  

As a recovering politician, I have encountered in my campaigns, angry Christians.  Christians who are angry at the moral state of the culture, the lack of reverence for that which they consider sacred… Abortion!… Homosexuality!... Addiction! ... Divorce!... Promiscuity!  Naturally, some of them assume that God shares their anger and some were angry at me for not being angry like them.  It’s as if they are fighting to regain, by their own anger and efforts, the fruit of the last Wave of the Spirit…widespread virtue and morality…more than they are fighting to restore the RELATIONSHIP with The One who produces virtue and morality in people and culture.

What if...we lovingly fought as hard for relationship as we now angrily fight for the desired results of relationship?

Jesus is here.  All is well.

I am Daniel

Don't Wait

To The Friend I've Never Met,







Waiting for courage before facing my fears is like waiting to learn to swim before getting in the water.










Jesus is Here.  All is well.

I am Daniel

Stuff I'm Starting

To The Friend I've Never Met...

The Idea first came to me when I heard you speak some months ago. I was traveling and happened to be in your town that evening. I always enjoy hearing musicians speak because of the artistry with which they view their world and God's beauty.

Though I've met many of your associates, I've never personally spoken with or met you and that is one reason The Idea seemed to resonate with me. As I listened to you that evening, I discerned that, more than being merely a worship leader, you are a worshiping leader ...someone who will worship before, during, after, or in the absence of The Music. This is, sadly, somewhat rare, especially among those we know of as Worship Leaders.

Go to most churches in North America and ask to meet the Worship Leader, and you'll almost always be introduced to a musician. You will not always be introduced to a worshipper. Sometimes, those we call 'the worship team', are merely musicians. Rare is the gifted musician who will worship in the desert when stripped of The Music, but I suspect that you are such a leader.

The Idea came to me as you spoke that evening.    I was recently at a church where the speaker had everyone stand...and roar. A sustained, hell-trembling shout of warriors declaring victory. At first, I joined in, but then I listened. It was... beautiful... musical...
ever-filling and overflowing. I heard in the shout, tones, harmonies, intervals (fourths and fifths mostly) and, just beyond discernability, The Voice. I've listened to that moment online several times since then and each time, I hear the music and the voice...speaking, challenging, comforting...inhabiting. God lives in that roar.

As a recovering musician and worship leader, I have gone through the desert (5 years where God utterly stripped me of The Music) and now, as I sometimes serve as armor bearer for young worship leaders, I often encourage them to lead in worship...congregational, community worship...without using music at all. For me, the discovery was that The Music is a multi-splendored gateway into unspeakable wonders of God's very nature and presence. So beautiful is the gateway, that I had spent years in awe of the gate and never fully walking through into The Presence. 

One of the beautiful distinctives of your particular house is that you have a core community who, rather than gathering regularly to worship and be fed, instead feast in The Presence and worship continually...gathering as well-fed worshipers to celebrate rather than confining worship to a music box and expecting a pastor to feed them once or twice a week.

 (Although...it would be interesting to see the dynamic if they were to gather and discover that there will be no music this week...or, even better...just banjo and tuba background with scripture verses projected on the screen. If I can't worship with bad music or no music, how do I expect to be a worshipping warrior in the heat of battle? But I digress.)

Anyway...As I stood there listening to The Voice, singing and speaking in the roar of His saints, I had The Idea.

As a creative, artisitic type, I sometimes struggle with important disciplines. I've only been walking with Jesus for 40 years, so I'm still new at this. Very often, God speaks...communicating with me across the spectrum of understanding, from emotion to intellect to inspiration to laughter to comfort and kick-in-the-butt motivation. But I've not always exercised the proper discipline of stewarding his communication in my life.

So, The Idea was for me to begin writing down what I'm hearing and then make myself accountable in some way for refining what He is saying to me. The Idea...is that I will, from time to time, send you in written form, the stuff I'm learning in The Presence.

That's it. Sort of my way of being accountable...knowing that someone, somewhere is expecting something from me. I don't expect you to respond or, frankly, even to read what I send. I may post some of it online, blog it, etc., but I will not reveal to anyone that it is you to whom I am being accountable.

And now...May your Father, who continually desires to inhabit the deepest details of your life, bless you, inspire you, fill you without ceasing, show you, tell you, sing to you, paint for you, reason with you, adore you and empower you to be more like you than you've ever been before.

Jesus is here.  All is well.


I Am Daniel