You’re the best story – the “Re” Network FB page

You’re the best story that I’ve ever read

What could you say that has never been said?

I wouldn’t be the same without the  color of your thread

You’re the best story that I’ve ever read

I started a face book page that is designed for you to share your heart and tell your story. Many of us are shaking off the dust and actually connecting with the glory of God that wants to burn through our uniqueness. Hope you go to the “Re” Network page and decide to “like” it so that you can share your heart.

There are people reading your life like a book. We are experiencing life in a fresh way through the story you are living.

Dedicated to sharing our hearts and stories as we restore God’s creativity in our lives and communities. There are many “re” words that reflect God’s glory like a prism… renew, restore, renovate, rebuild, rework, rethink, etc. Let’s connect and share our stories as we roll up our sleeves and discover the future together.

God is showing His creativity through you. He is calling all of us to love Him with all we are so that we can light up the world with Him in our generation.

Your story needs to be told because God is writing it and He has called you to partner with Him for the good of us all.

My story #2

My dad, John Lamos was a pastor in a city church in Springfield, Ma. The church wasn’t located in the suburbs but in a multi racial inner city neighbourhood. He was raised in an Adirondack Mountain town in New York State called “Long Lake”. So, he brought his hard working blue collar attitude and his “fight to the death” loyalty to family and friends attitude to our city life.

It is hard to imagine today, but he was a full-time Junior High School teacher in a town about a 20 minute drive from our house and he served as a pastor in his “free time”. Oh and he was a husband and a father to five children… Darlene, Darrell, Dawn, Danny (or Dana depending on whether we were at a school event or not) and Doreen.

For my dad, mom and our family, God was in charge of it all. And like most Christians living in New England in those times, we understood God through our religion. Ah Religion… that Goliath of a giant is another story that we will get to another day.

From my earliest memories, I have believed that God exists and loves all of His creation. I have known that He created humans as the only creatures that could choose whether or not we would live the way He does and choose not to violate any of the house rules of the universe. Pretty heavy stuff for a little kid, right?

I also have known that Adam & Eve and all of the rest of us can’t seem to help ourselves and we break the house rules pretty much every day.

Here’s where it got freaky and scary for me. This might take me some time to sort through, so please be patient…

Remember this is a story and not a text book on Theology.

As a young boy I believed in heaven and in Jesus, God’s Son. I knew that He was “standing at the door of my heart” knocking in hopes of being invited in. That didn’t seem right to me to leave him out in the dark and cold night. So, as a young boy I invited Him in. That was awesome! The bible promised me that He would come right in, hang out with me and even eat with me. I always hoped that he would bring something amazing to eat, like popcorn and Chocolate Almond Chip Ice Cream or something like that.

But, I also knew His Father. Together they were kind of confusing to me. His Father would never stand at the door and knock. He would probably blow the door in or just walk in whenever He wanted. What He said was the rule and I was required to ask “How high?” whenever He said “Jump”! Somehow I felt that Jesus understood this and would be there as my older brother and buddy to help me deal with His dad and the rest of life.

I didn’t really get what heaven was going to be like. But, I pretty much figured my family would be there and they would work it out and I would be fine as long as I stayed with them and of course, my dad and Jesus would take care of us.

I also wasn’t convinced I was going to like heaven with an eternity long church worship service. After 10,000 years we would still be singing Amazing Grace… Wow! I was afraid that was going to be a little much for me!

And then there was hell…

to be continued

My story #1

I have always felt it would be a good thing to share my story. So, I think it’s about time for me to do that. I don’t know how long it will take. But, I need to share it. And if you are reading this, I also know that for the good of all of us and to bring a smile to God’s face you need to share yours as well. By the way I am the little boy on the right in the picture 🙂

So here goes… I will start today and take as many days or weeks as I need to tell the tale.

I have always believed and known God. From my first memories He has been my companion. I say “Him” because God was always introduced to me as a male and the Bible I read refers to “Him” and the full expression of God was in the person of Jesus Christ, a man from a little “good for nothing” town called Nazareth. So, God as a Him makes sense to me, but honestly I don’t know if it matters. It may.. but the women I have depended on and others that I respect and even some that I am struggling with reflect what God is like…. so you’ll have to work that out for yourself. And, for the sake of my tale I invite you to translate “He” into “She” or “it doesn’t really matter to you” if it helps you stay on the journey with me.

So, with God as my companion and Shepherd I started making my way. The name I was given by my mom and dad was Dana Charles Lamos. My grandfather’s name was Charles. So, I was granted that name in His honor. I love that man!! Love that I have his name to carry. However, there are two other names I sort of wish my parents had given me.

One of those names is John. That’s my dad’s name and my oldest son’s name. John True Lamos to be precise. My older brother carries my dad’s name Darrell John Lamos. That’s cool to me because he stepped in and fathered me when John couldn’t be around to get me through many of the the fun times and the crappy times of growing up.

The other name I would have liked to have is “Daniel”. I wish my legal name was Daniel. There is a confession! I am not sure my family really dug me as “Dana”. In fact they always called me “Dan” or “Danny” from the first day I can remember. But, the name on my record of birth is Dana.

Thus started a strange dynamic to my story. I had always been Dan or Danny until I entered the public school system in Springfield, Massachusetts at 4 years old. At that time I became Dana Lamos to my all of my teachers and my school friends and enemies I might add. I remained Danny at home. This was always comical to my siblings and school friends when they called the house looking for me… lots of wrong numbers…  The two identities grew throughout my school career. It was convenient for me since I found that the Jesus I knew at home and with my church family knew me as Dan and the Jesus that was an undercover spy with me whenever I mingled with my teachers and the rest of the school crowd and school programs knew me as Dana.

The undercover detective Jesus was the one that I most trusted with my life in those school years. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Never really discussed it with anyone. But, I worked hard at developing the character and I pulled it off for the most part.

Since I really didn’t feel I could share my strategy with my mom & dad or my brother and because of my immaturity, I never realized that I was building a prison for myself. My friends were aware that I was doing this. But, I guess we all sort of had each others back and we couldn’t afford to blow each other’s cover.

In those years I did find that my older sister, Dawn was someone that I could let into my world. She seemed to be aware of both Danny and Dana and she unconditionally loved us both. She probably had no idea or maybe to this day will never really understand how the Holy Spirit was using her to keep me “sane” and to show me what God was really all about. He was absolutely never going to leave me or forsake me! She never ever told me that with words. But, through our friendship, family bond and many stumblings and attempts to get up, brush ourselves off and start again she sent the message loud and clear.

As I think about that, I am really thankful for my family who has always affirmed me “as I am” as someone God loves and that He and they would never forsake me. I am richer because of them!

to be continued…

Birthday wish

There is a huge statement recorded in the Bible:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms

with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” 

… every spiritual blessing?

Today is my birthday. I am sure considering the population of the world, there are thousands of us who share this date set aside as our DOB.

What do I wish for on my birthday? 

Well, I woke up very early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was thinking about my life and honestly worrying about some things. Then I began to connect with my heart, the things that matter most… and I thought about what I wish for. So, here on my birthday I thought I would post this as a prayer:

Father God,

Thank you for blessing me and all of creation in and through Jesus Christ. The indescribable gift of the kingdom You ushered in through him is everything we will ever need. Today is the day on the calendar when me and my friends and family will celebrate the fact that I was born and get to have a life. I am so grateful for them. Thank you for them and thank you for life. I don’t know if “wishing” is okay with you or not, but in this prayer I want to express my wish to you. I do wish that we would experience an era of time when all of creation would love you and the dwelling place and the family you have welcomed us back to and blessed us with more than we love ourselves. I wish that the prayer Jesus prayed for all of his followers would be our pilgrimage and chosen destiny:

 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

It would be so amazing to live in a time where that prayer became the heart cry of enough of us on the planet that we reached the tipping point and your glory would be clearly seen and known in all the earth. When I pause to think deeply about all of this I know a day  like that is coming and it motivates me to pray and live for a world like that. So, as I give and receive love today with my friends and family, I just want you to know, God that I thank you for it all and for welcoming me back home in and through Jesus.

Amen

A “breakthrough” in your mind

As I sat and listened to the sermon in our worship gathering yesterday, a light really came on for me on the inside. This was the latest message in the sermon series called “Hidden Treasure”. The focus of the truth being delivered was that we all have walls of limitation that we run into when it comes to fulfilling life goals and/or running after the dreams we believe in for ourselves. Our pastor was challenging the powerful mantra of our culture which says; “If you can dream it then you can do it!”. He was provoking us to face reality. It’s just not true… we can’t accomplish everything we set our mind to and our dreams don’t all come true. We run into walls of limitation.

Somewhere in the middle of his talk a bolt of spiritual wisdom from the Lord nailed me. He was talking about our need not only to believe in Jesus and be baptized with water but to also to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and power. My heart was already stirred up when he got me right in his sites and said: “You need a breakthrough in your mind to change your life”!

That was a good 24 hours ago and yet the Holy Spirit is continuing to work away on me. It dawned on me that many years ago I came to the end of myself in what I was able to conceive of and piece together philosophically about my beliefs, my life, my worldview. I am so grateful for that season in my life when I surrendered (even daily for a few years) to the Lord in prayer turning away from my self sufficiency and asking the Holy Spirit to come fill me with His love, power and gifts so that I could flow with what He is doing in the world. I can testify that over the years He has empowered me over and over again  to break through and tear down stubborn walls of limitation in my mind based on human thinking that is completely preoccupied  with the earthly realm. He has changed my life by renewing my mind with the realm of his kingdom which by the way has come and is all around us. I am convinced that His will for your life and mine is to be a place where the realm of heaven and earth meet and He is allowed to shine freely through our ordinary lives that Jesus truly is Lord. He wants His kingdom to come and His will to be done in and around us in our sometimes nasty earthly challenges as it is in heaven.

In one of Paul’s letters to his friends who were learning to follow Jesus in their very earthly lives, he coached them this way: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:1-2

It matters that you ask the Holy Spirit to bring a breakthrough in your mind so that the walls of limitation that keep you imprisoned can be demolished! He is faithful and if we will surrender our mind to him, meditate on His word as greater than our thoughts and emotions, He will set us free and we will experience His glory in increasingly practical and tangible ways. Baptize us Lord!!

 

Jesus prays for us…

In John 17:20 Jesus says, “I am praying… for all who will ever believe in me through their message.” If you are believing in Jesus today, it is a result of the message that has been passed down to you through many generations from the original apostles. Therefore, this prayer request is for you.

Jesus prayer for you didn’t end that day in the Garden of Gethsemane. The early church taught that Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, was given the name that is above every name & that he poured out the Spirit on all people.  Anyone who will receive Jesus and believe in Him has the right to declare that they are a son or daughter of God. The living presence of Jesus comes to live with us and in us.

He isn’t confined to the past, to a set of beliefs or doctrines. We benefit greatly from studying the historical Jesus and we are nurtured and anchored through our beliefs and doctrines. But, Jesus is more than that! He is alive. To this very day, Jesus is fulfilling His plan in building His Church.

When we talk about “knowing” Jesus, we are talking about having a living relationship with the ascended Jesus. His Spirit is with us and even in us as we are united with Him and each other through Jesus life.

What about Jesus prayers for you? Does he still remember you to the Father? A vital teaching from the New Testament is that Jesus is continually interceding for us. Romans 8 is stuffed full of powerful affirmations of the reality that the Spirit of Jesus himself has entered our lives and dwells in us as children of God through faith in Him. In v. 34 we are taught that Jesus pleads our case to the Father and in vv. 26-27 Paul writes about the Holy Spirit helping us by interceding for us.

As we grow as friends of Jesus & co-workers with him, it is crucial that we remember that His agenda and the desires of His heart are what shape and form us into the Church. It is true that our response is required in order to “flesh out” the church on the earth. But, it is still at His initiative!

Have you surrendered your will, your heart and your daily agenda to Jesus? Have you had the eyes of your heart opened to understand that He is praying for you continually? In order to have our lives shaped and conformed to his prayer in John 17:20-26, there is no other way we can begin other than surrendering each day to His active will and mission in our world and in our lives.

John 17:20-26 Living Jesus prayer

I love this prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17. There is life giving power in knowing that who we are as God’s children and the Body of Christ… the Church is a result of the desires of His heart.

I have decided to write a series of blogs based on this scripture. I am excited about it because there is so much contained in Jesus prayer. Here it is:

John 17:20-26

New Living Translation (NLT)

20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!

25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.”

Jesus’ heart for us as his people is that we would be one. That unity comes together in our experience of his glory and his love.

It should be the longing of our hearts to live as a resounding “yes” to Jesus prayer!

Let me suggest this prayer that we could pray together in light of this scripture: “Father, I ask you to do a work of the Holy Spirit in my heart that I would love Jesus with the same passionate love you have for him. I also ask you to help me to see & embrace the unifying glory of your presence joining me with all of my brothers & sisters in Christ.” Amen 

Are you from around here?

If you have embraced faith in Jesus Christ, you are becoming a brand new “you” 2 Cor 5:17  That is awesome & beautiful! But, there are times when it feels complicated and even threatening as you engage every day in your “same old same old” life.

The powerful work that God is accomplishing in and around us through the living presence of the risen Jesus is a beautiful mixture of heaven and the everyday life we have always known.

In Philippians 3:18-21, Paul writes about how people (most people) “think only about life here on this earth” (v.19). But as Jesus’ family, we are “citizens of heaven where… Jesus… lives” (v.20).  That is powerful! We belong to an unseen but present reality called “heaven” and yet we live here in the seen world.

18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes,that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. 20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. Philippians 3:18-21

The great news is that “heaven” is taking over in Jesus name and for His glory. You and I and all of your friends get to be part of this awesome restoring creative work of God by allowing Jesus to be God of our lives!

So, don’t lose heart if it gets rough.. you are from the right place!

Update: Getting activated as KV Family Pastor

The past few weeks have been on fire with excitement and energy as we have welcomed our new youth pastor, Del Heiney to  the Kings Valley pastor team! He is such a great fit and God has already been blessing all of us as Pastor Del has engaged with the students and families of KV Church.

The biggest blessing for me is that I am able to fully embrace my ministry assignment as Family Pastor. Pastor Brent Ingersoll and the LBA created this position in the Fall of 2012 and I am honored and excited  that Brent asked me to serve in this capacity! I gladly accepted the temporary role of leading KV Youth Middle & High School ministries from Nov 2012 – present during the youth pastor search process. During that time period it was necessary for me to put my Family Pastor responsibilities on hold.  With Del arriving as youth pastor I was able to immediately reconnect with my role.

I love pastoring and there is absolutely no doubt in me that God has called me to partner with Pastor Brent and the pastor team to serve our KV Church family in this way.

As Family Pastor, here is a general description of my core responsibilities: Pastoral Care (hospital visits, counselling, home visits), Prayer Ministry (FUEL, prayer teams), Family Ministry (equipping parents & families as disciple makers) as well as helping families by conducting milestone events (child dedications, weddings, funerals).  In the spirit of building a disciple making community, I will be intentionally seeking out and building teams to serve in each of these areas. I would love to hear from you if you are curious and/or have a burn in your heart to get involved!

We are in an amazing season in the life of Kings Valley! There are very fulfilling days of life and expansion for the kingdom ahead of us. We have all witnessed the grace of God on Pastor Brent and every member of the pastor team. It is our desire to help every person associated with Kings Valley to get activated in worship, loving others, making disciples and living together in kingdom community. By God’s grace I am hitting the ground running in helping you get activated as a child of God serving His kingdom in your everyday life!

I am blessed beyond words and stoked to have this opportunity to serve you as Family Pastor! Feel free to contact me: email: dan.lamos@kingsvalley.ca, text or phone: 506-650-2600.

Grace & Peace,

Dan

Re:FUEL May 8 recap

Every Wednesday night we gather on site @ Kings Valley Church for “FUEL”. Our focus for FUEL is always worship & prayer in the presence of Jesus Christ.

As we gathered in last night, Pastor Kelly called us to remember 2 Cor 10:3-5:

 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

As we worshipped and listened for what was on the heart of God, it became clear that we should agree together for a clearer revelation of Jesus in the midst of us and in our region.

Many received personal prayer ministry in their prayer group and there was a profound sense of speaking the word of the Lord into each others lives!

It was so refreshing and such great food for our souls to hear a great testimony of a mom who has recently come to Jesus for a fresh start!

Everybody needs a time and a place to worship with a group of good friends in the presence of Jesus! That’s what FUEL is all about and we would love for you to be part of it… every Wednesday night in the KV worship center @ 7 pm.