What?.. it could happen again and you can have a part in it. Here’re 7 questions for ya.

“Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Psalm 85:6

Perhaps you’ve noticed many big changes in America during the last few years and few months ie, So many young people in college today are being indoctrinated in Marxism.   

Let’s worship, sing His praises, and earnestly pray for a 5th awakening. And.. if there’s enough time here.. a 6th, a 7th, and 8th authentic spiritual awakening with a nation-altering biblical revival. 

God let it start with us. Jesus, we so look forward to seeing You face to face in the Rapture of the Church, but so many of our dear friends and fam too are lost. So many cities and people of other great nations here.. still need to know You and hear Your Gospel! Holy Spirit, I don't want to fret ..I, we all ..need you much! Do it again. Let it rain so to speak (a gully washer). Yes, pour out all that you desire to pour here. Can we be close and a part? What can we know and go do? Thanks Jesus. 

Remember when the Cancel Culture tried to silence and cancel God? Recall when they put Jesus on a cross cuz he shared the truth in love. Christ and His plan can't ever be canceled. Sure, we are all sinners, Lord -- lead us to truth by Your Spirit. Bring us to life in You.. or to life again.  

Go tell, believer! It's no time to be silenced! So many are tired of hearing all the fake news and seein' the violence in our cities. God, we want Your Gospel for all. 

Socialism doesn't work anywhere. We do want equality of opportunity for all, but not equality of pay or of outcome here cuz that would wreck businesses and people. Please intervene here. 

There is a big difference between sound biblical justice and the now popular "social justice" which is from Marxism. The Radical Left today don't believe that our Western nation can ever be fixed, but falsely believe that it needs to be torn down (including the family, capitalism, our US history and monuments) and then totally rebuilt upon a Marxist foundation. The Marxist BLM group and Antifa emphasize US sins (all Lands have had evil people and bad things happen), and they want us all under their Socialist utopia. Christ is our Solution. Karl Marx taught oppression. Today Marxists also falsely teach this.. that whites are oppressors. Lutzer says, they don't see there are now 40+ million slaves in the world (and so many not from whites like in Africa). The USA really needs the Gospel instead.

Your Land and mine need real revival, not religion or Socialism. We need Christ most! With multiple thousands of other people in the 70s, I remember and was privileged to first hand experience the 4th while attending Dana Hills High and up the So Cal Coast Highway in Laguna and some 20 minutes in Costa Mesa. The whole coast, the towns and cities, were changed! The bait so often used for fishing for peeps? The music style of the day with great lyrics from young surfers, sorta cowboys and other hippies was used to draw the nets in. 

Some local churches across the Land opened their doors of welcome to all this, and some did not.

In the late 60s and early 70s, in the midst of cultural hippy chaos, God brought a spiritual awakening that many people have called “the Jesus Movement.” I saw it happening -- it was exciting, nation-changing as individuals changed.. and was so spiritually healthy. Understatement!  

It’s time we ask for another spiritual awakening.. for another sound fiery revival. I mean with a good zeal, passion and fire. 

“Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.” Isaiah 52:1

The Bible commands, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14 esv

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Romans 13:11

I don’t perhaps know about your Land so much, but God is allowing so many changes to take place in our Land here. He is giving each one in the United States of America an opportunity to repent and believe in His Son Jesus Christ right now. Yep, come to Him...come back to Him even now. 

Back in the day there was this man named Jonah and God used him to bring about revival. It was because he experienced personal revival himself. Revival started with Jonah back then. And God can use you -- so be awakened and revived. You see, nothing can happen through you until it has first happened to you. Turn from all sin and by faith accept Christ, and then grow in the grace and word of God. Help others to do that too. You can’t take someone any further than you yourself have gone.

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.” Jonah 2:1

To reach our generation and the next one, we need to preach the gospel. We need to preach and teach the word. The Bible says... 

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” ~ Paul, Romans 10:14 nkjv

Knowing the most beautiful Person ever is so wonderful. He’s a wonderful counselor! The first-love relationship ain’t religious, but so intimate! We all need Him... yeah, daily! Moment by moment. None of us can really live the Christian life without Jesus living on the inside, or apart from the power of His Holy Spirit. Today as we see the ongoing breakdown of the family and so many other horrible things happening in our nation, I think only a biblical revival in the church and a spiritual awakening ...can turn the United States of America around.

We all need to simply.. earnestly..fervently pray for a 5th awakening with biblcial revival. God can do it, He delights to answer prayer. He’s done it before in a big way, and He can do it again.

1. What is a spiritual awakening? How can I experience a true spiritual awakening?

2. What is spiritual direction? What is a spiritual director? Is spiritual direction something a Christian should pursue?

3. What is a spiritual breakthrough? How can I experience a true spiritual breakthrough (breakthru)?

4. What is a spiritual journey? How can the Christian spiritual life be compared to a journey?

5. What really is spiritual sickness -- is there such a thing? What does it mean to be spiritually sick? What is the cause of spiritual sickness according to the Bible?

6. Who was Jonathan Edwards and how does he relate to this topic? What impact did Jonathan Edwards have on early American Christianity?

7. What does it mean to be spiritually dead? Does the Bible teach that we are all spiritually dead if we are without Christ?

A Genuine Spiritual Awakening Is So Missed Here -- So Overdue! 

Join me in prayer for a 5th one. My Land, the United States, is way overdue for another spiritual awakening. Is your’s too? My city needs another one now! How ‘bout yours?

Prayerfully meditate upon 30 powerful Bible verses on revival (and see the contexts).

Psalm 85:6 amp - Will You not revive us and bring us to life again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

Psalm 80:19 - Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Isaiah 57:15 - For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 - If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

James 4:8 - Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 Kings 18:21 - And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 - For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 - Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Acts 1:8 - “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Ephesians 5:14 - For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Habakkuk 3:2 - O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

Hosea 6:2 - After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

Isaiah 6:5 - And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

James 4:6 - But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Jeremiah 30:17 - “For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal,” declares the Lord, “because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’”

Jeremiah 33:3 - “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

Jeremiah 6:16 - Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 24:14 - “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Matthew 6:33 - “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Psalm 119:107 - I am severely afflicted; give me life, O Lord, according to your word!

Psalm 119:154 - Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!

Psalm 119:25 - My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!

Psalm 19:7 - The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Psalm 22:27 - All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 80:18 - Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!

Revelation 3:20 - “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Photos by Jessica Delp, Garrett Patz and Sarah Dokowicz. Thank y'all. 

“Take no part in the worthless pleasures of evil and darkness, but instead, rebuke and expose them.” Ephesians 5:11 

“They hated the heavenly Light because they wanted to sin in the darkness. They stayed away from that Light for fear their sins would be exposed and they would be punished. But those doing right come gladly to the Light..” John 3:20, 21

“God is my helper. He is a friend of mine! He will cause the evil deeds of my enemies to boomerang upon them. Do as you promised and put an end to these wicked men, O God.” Psalm 54:4, 5

Those wanting to get right and do right.. know it's far better to have the sin addressed early rather than later so they judge themselves and that's the wrong doin's before they are judged by God. Then we want to share the good news of Jesus!

Have ya got a story for me to hear? I've got one for you. Not exotic or impressive at all, but a story just the same.

When I heard the bad news that all have sinned and the wages of sin was death leading to a real place called hell, I easily agreed cuz I knew how selfish I had lived as an over the top party animal. 



It actually made me appreciate the Good News that this Four A Surfer, Randy Ziglar, earlier in '77 shared with me at Doheny Beach California.  He had been my coach at Dana Hills High School. I turned, trusted Jesus in a simple prayer. Man, what a relief to find Jesus and have this meaningful Friendship! 

It's SO dif now, for sure. Abundant life end eternal life..JOY..that doesn't merely start up later on up there. Wanna tell all my surfer buds and family members. 

You know how all believers are called to go tactfully tell and respectfully point people to the Lord (the Ultimate Solution for anyone, whosoever will come). We are not recruiters, pushers or sales-personnel. Nope, the Gospel is still totally free in this age of grace. And none on earth can earn full righteousness or entrance into heaven one day. Forgiveness here, including a right standing and victorious walk with God was paid for by Jesus on the cross at Calvary. 

We are witnesses of the living Christ, yes of this saving grace! Over 500 people saw Him after He came out of that borrowed tomb. And He can still save humans here ..on every level.. from the uttermost to the guttermost. Might sound kinda religious, but He ain't like that at all. Never has been. 

You know what I mean, what it's about--regeneration into sanctification for growth and maturity. Born again Christian witnesses aren't called upon to be the Judge, a prosecutor or to prove stuff, they are to clearly represent the truth and their Lord daily. Yep, to accurately explain what they've seen and experienced. The Holy Spirit makes it easy for us. No lie (zero fake news), no spin, and no jive. ~ @kurtwVs 

Summers at the Harris House In Laguna Beach

Gotta question for ya if you don't mind.. what have your summer’s been like over the years? Am interested. What's your story? 

I bet it all comes back to you pretty quickly, especially as things warm up and we all are about to kiss Spring good bye. But are there any memories that really stand out in your mind?

Were summers typically good times for your family or.. were there some moments filled with pain, strife or awkward communication among you. I hope they were great times. Perhaps you can describe some of the memories that you’ve had a little bit ..wherever your summers and all took place?

Yup, summer seems like it is fully here now in North Texas with all this warm weather that we’ve been experiencing. I don’t know about you, but I get missing the cool balmy evenings this time of year, with the comfortable salty air, the palm trees, the eucalyptus smell, and the pleasant breezes off of the Pacific. I get missing the sounds of the waves on the rocks as well.

I feel so grateful to have been privileged to grow up enjoying the best summers ever. We had lots of beach bonfires and weenie roasts on the sand with friends and relatives.

Day after day, after day, after day.. was always filled with adventures too. There was always something interesting and novel popping up in the O.C. New music styles, new surfing flicks at surfing theaters, plaid shorts, different flip flops etc. Some of those pop culture nuances and trappings were all around the country at the same time, but unlike the fairly stable society and culture we see here in Texas, there was a vast uniqueness to the West Coast trends and happenings that seemed to change more radically and often ..about every three months or so where I grew up.

It was amazing—O the beautiness (new word) and creativity with a lot of it! Even some of the churches were very creative. I knew of one that met for years on Sundays at a lifeguard tower on the beach. Yes, and the awesomeness of God’s creation especially at sunset time, was overwhelming for a kid that loved nature, the wilderness, surfing, sailing and general rowdiness with ma buds ..along with other mountain and water sports! 

Me and my friends were pretty bad at times and we would just constantly challenge each other to go farther in some of our adventures, but not all of it went bad on us or others.

You know, I just didn’t deserve all the good of it.. or any of it. Cuz me at my best wasn't all that well behaved.

I think I told you before how my family during my early years were committed in a very traditional church. Yup, on Sundays we would say our prayers, but in reality we didn’t know how to pray. What could we do well? Well, we knew how to play!

My mom’s parents, the Becks, lived up in Newport Beach some thirty minutes up the Coast Highway from us (later on my grandfather, John Beck, moved much closer to us from there to San Clemente).

And then there was my sweet little English aunt on my dad’s side, Ida Harris (a noted journalist with the LA Times), who lived about fifteen to twenty minutes north of us in Laguna Beach only one block away from Wood’s Cove. We spent gobs of time in both towns. My dad's mom; my grandmother from England was Stella but we called her "Amie" and her sister was Ida Harris. They were both smaller people, proper, and petite ladies.

Man, between all the body surfin’ trips to Main Beach and Wood’s Cove in that European-looking town of the artists where Ida lived.. the place of notable volleyball players of the area.. between the motorboat trips from the Newport Harbor to Catalina Island and those sailing and ferry-boat rides out on the Newport bay, my brothers Kevin, Kyle, and my ’lil sister Kathy ..and I (Kurt. Yup, four of us kids with K-names.. can you believe that?) never ever felt bored or bummed-out while kids. We all loved our family, relatives and just visiting them. We've got some good history in those parts of the state. 

Religion hadn't done it for us in our upbringing. Later on, we liked to go out and party a whole lot. I was living for pleasure and if you do that you tend to wait a lot like those in super long lines at Disneyland who paid a huge price to get in. 

"But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. And these things command, that they may be blameless." 1 Timothy 5:6-7 nkjv

Did I ever tell you about the history of Tom Sawyer Camp that was established by my born again Christian grandfather, Bill, back in 1926? Pretty interesting stuff! He and my dad, Kim, worked real hard for decades running it and they just loved all the families involved (both got right with the Lord later in life). Anyways, the camp benefited literally hundreds of kids from all over the place all year long ..including my brothers and I. We served as "junior counselors" for a couple years and got away with all kinds of pranks. You can read about some of that stuff later on! But this camp biz was first established in that very same town, Laguna Beach, and I can't describe how radically fun it was to go to! It has since moved but is still functioning better than ever today under the great leadership of a businessman named Mike Horner (with his capable son, Tom)--super nice, creative guys. Perhaps in the future you'll run into some families that have been looking for just such a top notch children/young adult camp like Tom Saywer? They've got multiple locations ..even on Catalina Island now. Check it out!

Anyways, with the Harris House in Laguna only a stone's throw from the water's edge, we as kids always had a loving place to hang our hats and stay in the summer time. I always enjoyed grilling in the back and hearing the gulls. I also loved hearing about my family's history there and I could hardly imagine how this place looked when they first settled next to the PCH dirt road back in the day. Yup, this was one of the first homes in the entire town! What started out as a one room beach cottage for the Harris clan in 1925 soon expanded into a two bedroom, two bath, very pleasant eclectic Tudor style home. My brothers and I had the custom of being lifted up by an adult to the rafters just to turn on the old lantern lights when it grew dark.

Who did the labor and actually built this place?

Good question! My grandfather Beck was always an accomplished builder who learned how to do this.. up in the city of Angels and built his first home in Indo with full date groves, but this particular house was originally erected slowly by my dad's enate grandfather, William Harris. You see Mr. Harris was an interior decorator at the time, British by birth, and he commuted from the Los Angeles area to get it done. By 1926, when the bulk of his expansion on the small abode was complete, Mr. WH went and installed a weather vane on top of the pointed turret and then this quaint little shack became known by locals as that “weather vane house.”

The Harris clan was pretty excited about it too. Yes, after it was totally completed, the entire Harris family packed up all their modest belongings and they permanently relocated down there to Laguna Beach to become locals themselves. Daughter Ida Harris later joined her parents in Laguna in 1929 when she was only 23 years old. But it was before Ida returned to Laguna to begin her life-long residence in this home.. that she landed job and went full time as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

Her time at the paper also gave her some other interesting stories to tell. One day her boss, the paper's editor, sent her off to capture a story in a small fledgling town down south located some eight minutes inland from Dana Point (where my own father later on moved our family to).

The place the editor sent her to was called, San Juan Capistrano, and it was her duty to interview and produce a short story on the poor struggling church monks at the ole adobe mission. So shortly after arriving and talking with them, she started pointing to one of the near by trees and aunt Ida asked the men "What kind of bird is that?"

And one of the priests replied, "Oh that's a swallow. They're migratory birds, you know, and the interesting thing about our swallows is that they always come back here, every year, on St. Joseph's Day on the dot, like clockwork."

Hummm... Interesting fact! And fascinated by this bit of info, my aunt Ida basically jotted down a simple but creative side bar to her main article and was now fully intending on thinking all this through to figure out what would be best and which story was really worth polishing up to run in her big city paper.

Apparently, upon Ida's return there was an exchange of ideas with her boss and as the story goes.. it was because of my aunt Ida's little LAT piece about these quick little birds that darted about yearly and made their mud homes on the sides of buildings—the swallows—and how they would annually return to the ole mission in San Juan Capistrano (which maintained on its campus literally the second oldest building in the entire golden state..), that the famous song about the swallows was written and sung. And subsequent to the song, the Swallows Day Festival was then started, (as well as all of the other swallows-related fiesta activities)!

Now my wife, Liney, and I were just out there in San Juan a couple months ago visiting and we were really amazed at how large this city-wide event has grown. We laughed to hear about some of the past trouble with it too. But I remember when it didn't even exist and now my own fun-loving mom has set up her beautiful art gallery right there downtown next to the old mission itself. And she often makes beautiful paintings of the mission complex along with all he plant life and birds.

We all had a fun time meeting lots of people in the Swallow's Day Parade decked out in costumes. There were people dressed as pirates, southern bells, cowboys, and even as Halloween characters (they and no one else really seem to give much of a flip about the look ’cause it was simply time to celebrate the day the birds returned). I don’t know how many people really know that the swallows actually return to the entire area for about an entire month. I specifically remember how they used to build nets on our Dana Point home during that month each year as well.

I don't know about all that's involved with the mission and the drinking that goes on, but there is indeed a time for us to celebrate life and rejoice in in the Lord. Listen, if your town has some good history, why not?

Jesus who never got drunk, wants us to be joy-filled all of the time not just one day a year.. being filled with His Spirit. Sure, in Him we can be that way daily! He once said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10). Do you have overflowing joy in your life? Is your life abundant, free and blessed? It can be! Can you find reasons around your hometown to celebrate life?

People seem to get tired of the dry ole dog-eat-dog, cut throat mundane routine of life—they have always typically looked for any reason to party, but in the end the wrong kind of partying will just leave people feeling more empty, lonely and guilty. Hey, I can relate. I used to party like that every chance I could get.

Do you ever get feeling afraid to die, or just afraid, empty, lonely and guilty? Jesus is the ultimate Solution, no matter the problem, challenge or feeling people have. 

I hear that some of the revelry coupled with saloon brawls in San Juan Capistrano used to get way out of hand. Several people would sadly end up in jail, but now the local police department who ride horses around town, have got a much better handle on things there and the folk music and country styled bands now make the town kind of an interesting and lively place to visit ..when the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano. All those towns.. Laguna, San Juan, Newport, Dana Point in the summer time. Ya oughta go visit! Fish4Souls.org