Reflective Metaphor

I'm going to let my friend Ryan Holly share this testimony, that I would never forget, happened just a month ago. I have tears in my eyes. Joyful tears from the Lord. By the way, I met Ryan at Love Tent and he's right now studying at a film school in LA. I sent him a email to say hi and here's what he wrote me back. It's powerful and beautiful. Lord I love Your timing and Your love.
******Here's his story******
here is a humble testimony for you: my dad died on February third and below is the testimony the Holy Spirit wrote through me about my dad...before this letter my dad was not a professing Christian...

January 28, 2008
hey i hope and pray that you are having a revolutionary evening!

i just wanted to thank you for praying for my dad...Through God's abundant provision of grace (Romans 5:17) i was able to return to oklahoma last weekend. my dad slept through most of the weekend so i shifted from running errands for my mom to praying at my dad's feet, earnestly hoping that God would reveal himself to my dad in a dream.

my flight was scheduled to depart at 6:30 on monday night. my mom was away for most of the day, visiting family that had flown in from Pennsylvania. my brother was at school. i set up camp in the living room to make sure i was near my dad in case he needed anything. while he was sleeping i wrote the "reflective metaphor" below. in our "Theology in Hollywood" course our professor assigned this so that we could explore our current state in life through utilization of the metaphor. i chose to relate myself to a flame first only to a three legged donkey with cataracts and no teeth due to my pathetic and clumsy nature. i share this humble work with you because of the supernatural hand of God in it. it has nothing to do with me. if you scan through it, you will notice my dream through melted wax of my dad seeing the light of our Lord. immediately after scribbling these words through my flawed hands, my dad awoke and sat up on his bed. my dad woke up thirty minutes before i needed to depart for the airport.

my dad's bed briefly became my own as i planted my wretched flesh on it. we were sitting side by side; we were both seeking life amidst the plaguing death of cancer. i asked my dad if he needed anything and then he weakly pointed to the water and succinctly replied "i have water." my next question: "what have you been thinking about lately?" he miserably shook his head and responded with a broken voice: "i, i, i don't know." i paused and resorted to prayer in search for the words to say to illuminate the healing truths of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into my dad's heart. so then a nearly two minute monologue flowed through my mouth that i didn't have much control over - i shared with my dad how much i love him, how much God loves him and how his memory will always exist in our hearts. i mentioned the fact that he was baptized in his twenties but now we all need to achieve the peace and confidence of knowing for sure that he will unite with us in heaven. i asked him to pray with me. and he did! this is the prayer that he repeated after me:

Dear Father God, Thank you for this life. Thank you for the peace of eternal life. i have sinned but am justified by your grace. i believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and i confess that you raised Him from the dead.
Amen.

Instantly after the prayer, my dad's eyes welled up with tears of joy, peace and hope. we hugged and then i exited his bedroom to share this extraordinary rebirth with my mom and brother. my mom and dad have been married for 26 years and throughout these years they have had a spiritual division between them because of my dad's avoidance of spirituality. tears of relief, peace and joy also flooded from my mom's eyes when she heard of God's amazing grace being iridescently manifest in my dad's heart.

The dream evolved into reality, i took off monday night for LA and my soul was finally vindicated from the chains of my dad's spiritual uncertainty.

sorry this is so long. i just passionately hope that you are inspired by God's amazing grace. we sing the hymn but rarely search for it in our fallen world. He is the match that lights each candle and despite the suffocating darkness there is always an illuminating fire beyond the shadow of death. thanks again for your prayers. Let us sincerely come together in the name of our Lord so that through our humble peititions His presence may pierce through the dark and crippling oppression of this world. (Matthew 18:19-20)...

i love you and hope that you continue to seek the light regardless of how dark this world gets...let us humble ourselves as we become "joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer." (Romans 12:12) it may take 2 years for God to definitively answer our prayers or it may take 26 - the time in between answered prayers is not important. what is important is our faith during these periods so that others may be encouraged by witnessing us living by faith instead of by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)...

may God's grace and peace overflow through you...
in Love & Sincerity,
ryan s. holly
John 3:21

*****And here's Ryan's essay*****
Ryan S. Holly
January 28, 2008
Theology in Hollywood

Reflective Metaphor

A restless flame flickers atop a candlestick. The flame is extraordinary not because of itself but because of the One who inspired its ignition. The flame dances incessantly in the jungle of darkness. This jungle of darkness is a “shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) that encompasses the flame in an oppressive onslaught of oblivion.

The radiant flame reflects the incandescent luminosity of its Creator because of its passion to honor its divine role of being “the light of this world.” (Matthew 5:14) The flame continues to journey along the narrow wick of the candlestick as a tight-rope walker vigilantly creeps from chasm to chasm. “Narrow is the road that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14) and the flame travels along the wick not only for the sake of its own life but more importantly for the sake of others who may be vindicated from the darkness of death. The flame does not fear death because the “Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25) has already conquered the darkness of this world. (John 16:33) Just as the Resurrection and the Life tore down the dividing wall of hostility that separated humankind from God, the humble flame fervently yearns to burn through the cold door that divides humans from the illuminating Holy Spirit.

The flame cannot coerce others to knock on the cold door. This door is always unlocked and is always accessible by way of a knob. People fear to turn the knob or even to knock on the door because they cannot see past the door. The flame continues to burn in hope that more people will be able to see light flood through the cracks of the door.

The flame dreams in melted wax. A vision appears through the melted wax: it is of a man entering through the cold door. He is glowingly followed by the permeation of light. His spirit is healed by the warmth that was sparked by the Resurrection and the life and is flowing freely through the flame. The man falls in blissful silence only to ascend in the form of an iridescent phoenix.

Burnt ashes are all that the flame can see now. The flame has persevered to the end of the wick and the destination of life supersedes the journey through death. The flame is home – in eternal light.An incandescent flame,Burning to glorify God’s name.

Darkness surrounds me,
The shadow of death is what I see.

The knob turns, the dividing wall cracks, light permeates.
A healed spirit my Lord creates.

I travel the narrow wick to meet my architect,
From melted wax and burnt ashes I shall resurrect

The flame is my soul
The candlestick is my flesh
The One who inspired the flame is the Lord God
The wick is the will of God: the narrow road
The darkness is the satanic influences
of selfishness, pride and greed on this world
The man is my dad

may God's grace and peace overflow through you...
in Love & Sincerity,
ryan s holly
John 3:21
******************

Lord I pray for Ryan right now that you would use him and his faith as huge as a mustard seed to bring positive, life-changing impact to his film school! Send your army forth! Open up the gates and let Your glory cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!

And I love the Lord's timing!
Jesus, how You love each one of us!

Johnny

ps. Some awesome verses:
Let no debt remain outstanding,
except the continuing debt to love one another,
for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
-Roman 13:8-
You can't get simpler than that even though it's the hardest and the only law from the Lord! We can definitely love with the Love of God when we ask for His heart not our own!

If we live, we live to the Lord;
and if we die, we die to the Lord.
So, whether we live or die,
we belong to the Lord.
For this very reason,
Christ died and returned to life
so that He might be the Lord of
both dead and the living.
-Romans 14:8~9-
Isn't that true, interesting, and awesome?

...everything that does not come from faith is sin.
-Romans 14:23-
A heavy one and keeps me thinking how many times my faith has been shaken and tested and how I reacted to the tests. When were the times when I did not walk in faith? Lord I do not remember that clearly but please forgive my disbelief in You. I want to trust in You at all times! Thank You Lord.