jan 7 Your Rest Day

Well, it's high time we took some x off with the holidays and what-not. The post says that you'll finish up yest. Jan 6 what you planned to start three weeks prior.

Or something to that effect.

And now I've got to figure out what other chapters are left to post.

I think I didn't write much further past the trip to the hospital. Well, it's in various notes somewhere.

So I got to go to Google Docs and see what I can find....you know, God tellin' me--it's not your day. For the umpteenth x.

No, let's partake of harald...

Harald - A Eulogy
Who is adequate to describe this unique man? Certainly not I. But I shall endeavor to describe the impact that he had on my own life and that of my family, for which I shall be forever grateful.
How came he and his family to Victoria?
He came alone at first. About the middle of December, 1970, he was brought to Victoria by Pastor Curtis Mitchell to share in a Friday evening service at the Vic West Church which later became known simply as “Trinity.” Harald was actually on his way to an appointment in Switzerland; he had asked Curtis to be “let off the hook” from his undertaking to come to Victoria for a one night stand. Curtis had replied, “I will not! God told me to book you for this night in Victoria!” And so Curtis and Harald both came to our church that Friday evening. Now during the service Curtis brought a prophecy the gist of which was, “I have seen your tears and heard your groans, and within three days, I will do something which will fill your hearts with joy to overflowing.” Little did Harald know that he was to be the focus of that prophecy.
At the conclusion of the service, the pastor of the church, Charles Kingsfield spoke with Harald. Pastor Kingsfield explained that he wasn’t well, and that he was only hanging onto the church until God’s man should arrive on the scene to take it over. Suddenly he turned to Harald, and said, “I believe you are God’s man! Will you take it?” Harald looked at him with astonishment and told him, in effect, “I wouldn’t dream of giving up my world-wide ministry (for such it was) and taking over this little old church.” But, as you all well know, “that was not the end of the story.”
It came about that Harald was booked to stay at our home overnight after the service. So we took him home and he and I shared together in front of the fire in our living room from about 10 pm until 2 am the next morning, which was Saturday. During that time it seemed as if the Lord knit our hearts together in a strange and remarkable way. Here, on the one hand, was Harald, this middle-aged, much-travelled, charismatic, outgoing Lutheran minister with a silver tongue and an incredible Christ-like love for all with whom he came in contact, coupled with an amazing ability to bring God’s people of every description and in every denomination into the experience known as the baptism with the Holy Spirit; and on the other hand, this youngish, rather introspective, ex-Anglican lawyer, now an elder in a small, new congregation, whose only qualification for partnership with Harald seems to have been a spiritual hunger for God and the things of the Spirit. We were, so to speak, an unlikely combination, to say the least! ( Some would say “weird”!) And yet it seemed the Lord’s good pleasure to knit us together in a fellowship of Christian love which has continued without intermission for some 37 years until Harald went to be with the Lord last December.
Very late that first evening in our home, as Harald would tell it, the Lord spoke to him to this effect, “For twelve years you looked at that dead hand of tradition at the tiller of First Reformed Church (of Mount Vernon, New York), and you said, ‘Remove, or be removed,’ and instead, Harald, I removed you. Now I am giving you a whole new chance to build a church without that dead hand at the tiller. Will you take it? It would please Me if you would.” Ever one to be willing to please the Lord at whatever cost, after much soul-searching Harald determined that his answer was to be, “Yes, Lord!” And in the morning, he promptly called Pastor Kingsfield and reversed his earlier response. The upshot of all this was that within three days of the prophecy given by Curtis Mitchell, Harald was presented to the congregation as the new pastor of the Vic West church. As Curtis prophesied three days earlier, there was indeed much joy in the camp!
And so began a new chapter, not just in Harald’s life and those of his family, but in Eva’s and my lives, and those of our family and our church family. After fulfilling his commitments in Switzerland and elsewhere, Harald arrived in Victoria about the middle of January, 1970 to serve as pastor of what soon became known as “Trinity Christian Centre.” Pending the arrival of Gen and their children from California, he took up residence in our home for about a month. Even in our home, Harald’s modus operandi was, to say the least, a marvel to behold, thanks to his incredible energy, spontaneity, and his total commitment to being led by the Spirit. There came the numerous phone calls for Harald from it seemed all over the world. And then there were the guests that Harald would bring home with him. There was never a dull moment! But Eva and I both came very soon to love this man, this brilliant, humble, loving, Spirit-led, eloquent, inclined-on-occasion-to-be-forgetful man of God, who indeed “made a difference for good,” it seemed, in virtually everyone with whom he came in contact.
Best of all, Harald soon made a huge and unmistakable difference in the lives of the young men and women who now began to flock to our church, leaving in many cases the “hippy” lifestyles of the early seventies, to find reality and transformation in Christ and the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
To sum up my eulogy: After only some six years among us, Harald left a deposit so rich that the thirty or so years since he left us have scarcely dimmed or dented our memory of him. Some people we might easily forget; but Harald? Not easily; not ever. But why is that? Was it his Churchillian eloquence? His ability to charm us with fascinating stories of his Spirit-led adventures? His exuberance? His willingness to reach out to all, rich or poor, to walk with kings and yet not lose the common touch? The child-like quality of his walk with His Lord? Yes, it was all of the above.
But most of all I remember him for the love with which he truly loved us, with which he truly loved virtually all with whom he came in contact. This was a man who majored in loving relationships, and whose example challenges us to do the same. This was a man who walked in love, who lived in love.
I find I cannot put into words the gratitude I feel as we take time to remember Harald, but I do thank God for him, I thank God for having sent him to live among us. I thank God for what he taught us, and for a life so well lived to the full in the service of His Master.
Amen
Dear friends,
It was Christmas Eve, 1985. My friend wanted to tell his two young children about Christmas in a way that would help them understand its importance. He began, “Because of Christmas, we don’t have to fear death.”Before he could explain further, tears sprang to the eyes of his youngest. At age four, she had already been thinking about death — her own and that of those she loved.Do you remember when you first came to fear death? In our mind’s eye we see the Grim Reaper, his scythe in his hands, waiting at the end of the road. A recent headline proclaimed the “death rate” in New York down dramatically. But in our hearts we know, despite the breakthroughs of modern medicine, until Jesus returns the death rate will remain 100%.We celebrate a long ago birth in a far off land, but it is not remote. It’s as close and strong, as intimate and relevant as each human being’s desire for life, joy, and love. The manger in Bethlehem held the most precious package ever delivered into time and space — precious, not just in a huge, cosmic sense, but personally. He fills us with love and relieves our fears. Instead of a grim reaper, we who have accepted His salvation, find at the end of the road, our dear Friend, Jesus, full of joy and love, waiting to personally escort each one of us to the other side.“In My Father’s house,” He said, “are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.” Do you trust the character and integrity of Jesus? Then you can trust in the certainty of heaven. If it were not so, I would have told you.We’ve had no premonition of a soon demise, so you, dear loved ones, are stuck with Gen and me for a while longer. We mention death in our Christmas letter only as a reminder of what the season is about — life. Want a marvelous reason to sing, give gifts, and be merry this Christmas? In John 11, Jesus said:
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
only way Yes, Lord would have the life-changing power that he wanted it to have, was if he was absolutely transparent and let all of his foibles show. That way, even as they were chuckling, they would be compelled to examine their own, and invite God to help them change. "It worked. Harald received numerous letters congratulating him and thanking him for his honesty. But when I'd gone to another Logos author for the Foreword, after he'd read the manuscript, Pat Robertson said, 'Great job, Harald, but you ought to sue yourself for libel.'"
— David Manuel, Author
“I believe he’s like the prophet Elisha, just an ordinary guy, but willing to say, ‘Yes, Lord,’ whenever God calls on him,no matter what it is.”
— Entertainer Pat Boone
“I think he is one of the great saints of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”
— David Aikman, author, Charisma Magazine columnist, and former Time Magazine Bureau Chief
Quotes about Harald from his 85th birthdayparty in August of 2003.
By Michael KinsmanUNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 13, 2007
Everywhere he went, Harald Bredesen made good friends, from evangelist Pat Robertson to Christian entertainer Pat Boone to ordinary people he had just met.
“I've never seen anyone that had a hundred people who thought he was their best friend,” said Tom Gilbreath, a 22-year associate of Mr. Bredesen's in Charisma, the Escondido-based ministry that Mr. Bredesen founded. “For each one of those people, Harald played a pivotal role in their lives. And, when he was with them, each of them felt that they were his favorite friend in the world.”
Mr. Bredesen, 88, died Dec. 29 at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido after complications from a fall at his San Marcos home three days earlier.
Mr. Bredesen spent more than four decades promoting the religious practice known as “speaking in tongues,” which led to him being called the father of the Charismatic Movement, which grew in popularity in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Harald had had an encounter with the Holy Spirit,” said John Ruttkay, chairman of Charisma. “For someone like him – coming from a conservative Lutheran background – this was like going into the backwoods where they had snake handlers.
“He was Pentecostal in the real sense of the world. He managed to take the experience of his encounter and repackage it in a way that other Christians would accept.”
The belief in speaking in tongues and the “baptism with the Holy Spirit” can be traced to the earliest days of Christianity. The practice of speaking in tongues is believed to be mentioned in the New Testament as “tongues of fire,” but has been variously interpreted by different faiths. Modern Pentecostal and Charismatic believers view the ability to speak in tongues as a supernatural gift from God. Since its revival in the 1960s, it has been a subject of controversy in religious circles.
Some believers also claim that speaking in tongues is part of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and is evidence that individuals have assumed power from the spirit.
In the late 1950s, Mr. Bredesen shared his experience with Robertson, inviting him to join him as assistant pastor at the First Reformed Church of Mount Vernon, N.Y. It was during after-hours meetings at the church that they decided to go public with the experience.
Later, when Robertson started the Christian Broadcasting Network, Mr. Bredesen became a founding director. He served in that capacity until a year ago when he became director emeritus, Gilbreath said.
Mr. Bredesen also was the host of “Charisma,” a long-running program on Robertson's network.
“He served the Lord in a global ministry leading many into the fullness of the Holy Spirit and set an example for us all in his boldness and perpetual joy,” Robertson said in a statement. “He was a dear friend and beloved brother in Christ.”
In the late 1960s, Mr. Bredesen also shared his experiences with Boone, a Christian who was a popular singer in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
“Pat Boone was in turmoil and at a turning point when he met Harald,” Gilbreath said. “Pat often would recount that and thank Harald for his guidance.”
In an introduction to Mr. Bredesen's book “Yes, Lord,” Boone wrote: “Abraham . . . Moses . . . Gideon . . . Elijah . . . I think I've known a man like these. His name is Harald Bredesen. Miracles trail him where he goes.”
Mr. Bredesen also wrote the book “Need a Miracle?” in the 1970s.
Mr. Bredesen's influence extended beyond religion. Concerned that Christian support of Israel in the Mideast conflict of the 1970s would send a message of estrangement to the Arab world, Mr. Bredesen established the Prince of Peace Prize after the 1978 Camp David Accord. He wanted to show that although Christians thought the Arab nations were wrong in their conflict with Israel that they still were welcomed as part of the spiritual community.
Mr. Bredesen awarded the first Prince of Peace Prize to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1980.
“Harald said that he didn't want to put our hand out to Israel and turn our backs to the Arab world,” Ruttkay said. “He wanted to build a bridge between Christians and Arabs. He was always looking to build bridges between as many people as possible. He was hoping that the Prince of Peace Prize would become known as the Nobel Prize on a spiritual level.”
The award also has been given to Mother Teresa in 1989, posthumously to King Hussein of Jordan in 1999 and evangelist Billy Graham in 2004.
Mr. Bredesen is survived by his wife of 52 years, Genevieve; children Dagni, Margaret, David and Christopher; and five grandchildren.
Services are being planned for Feb. 3 at Church of the Way in Van Nuys.
Michael Kinsman: (619) 293-1370; michael.kinsman@uniontrib.com


that is a nice interlude