Only 12 Seconds

As I fell asleep last night, the pictures of when I first met Erica on my first day in Bible School + her last video surveillance sighting from the day she disappeared somehow came together as one:

Only 12 seconds is all that it took
For you to walk into my life.
You entered stage right
An uncertain reflection in my side-view mirror; 
I focused, you drew me closer:
The unknown became visibly real.
A strong young woman with presence in her eyes and purpose in her step,
There was no turning in you.
Your spirit strode confident, Bible in hand,
one step ahead of another
And never lost a beat.
I saw you then, you drew alongside, passed me by
And continued down the street.
There’s one who knows where she’s going, I said to myself
And watched you cross my path and disappear.
I got up, followed and again there you were,
The first one I met...
Up the steps
I pulled the handle, you pushed from within,
And the door flung open to our future:
You welcomed me in
And we shared a lifetime’s embrace.

34 years later
And your scene again takes only 12 seconds:
Again you enter from my right hand side:
Your manner is similar
The purse even yours
The walk more measured
And my heart leaps, ‘It’s you!’
I reach out to touch you, to draw you
Out of that grey video, close to my heart again
But the image won’t release your substance.
You walk on, a car speeds past,
You exit left
And now I wait for you to reappear
In our picture together
In His Time.

Day 21

Day 21

‘Do not fear, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God,

  your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.
 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days.’ (Daniel 10:12-13)
Or to paraphrase: But the prince of the kingdom of darkness has withstood us for 21 days since Erica disappeared from our home. Detectives have pored over hours of video surveillance footage and come up with only 1 sighting from that first day. Countless tips checked out, but no leads materialized. Hundreds have covered Abbotsford’s streets: looking, asking any who might have seen her, posting flyers for all to see.
Her face is literally all over the city! Where is Erica?
Over 1500 follow Help Find Erica + thousands are praying all over this earth. Yet we have not yet found her.
Even the detectives admit this is not normal. Without trying to sensationalize: we are involved in something bigger than just a single lost person. As Mark observed at one point: we are engaged in spiritual warfare: a battle deeper than merely one person’s disappearance.
How do I know this is true and  I’m not just reacting through hurt that it’s my wife who has gone missing?

First: the constant intensity of enemy opposition. Our family has been under attack for some time; even our house was broken into this August one Sunday morning. They took stuff and the damage could have been much worse; but the sense of personal violation of our home hit deeply.
One week ago, during one of the darkest days of this journey, the news had not been good and I went for a walk in the woods near our house to hopefully clear the air. I walked up an overgrown trail and suddenly right there in front of my path  lay a snake, sunning itself in the warm afternoon sun. It was only a garter snake, but it was unusually big – huge in fact + it literally glared at me as it confronted + even reared up its head to challenge me.
This is totally uncharacteristic of a mere garter snake: I  know whih kingdom snakes represent.
Something welled up inside me + I immediately lunged forward to deliver a crushing death blow to the serpent’s head like Jesus in The Passion’s opening Gethsemane scene.  But it slithered away!
This was no mere snake.  Spiritual forces are confronting not only me + our family, but directly opposing the Body of  Christ and His call to arise + take the battle to the enemy!
Added confirmation came a further 50’ down my pat: one lonely piece of garbage, an empty Cheezies bag: Erica’s favourite junk food snack! I continued walking: leaves loosed by the wind softly fell in the woods, but the Spirit of the Lion of Judah roared through m: ‘Let Erica go!’
Have I provoked these satanic attacks when I challenged Kali the destroyer in Kathmandu or Artemis the hunter in Ephesus? Is Kali so upset she’s spirited my wife away? 
But isn’t that what Light’s supposed to do: challenge darkness? So… I declare again,
‘Jesus destroyed the enemy’s works at The Cross. He has destroyed the destroyer: Kali, Abaddon, Apollyon, I don’t   
 care whatever name he goes by, in whatever form or language.
 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord rebuke his lies; he must restore 7-fold!’
I feel somewhat like David when he returned to find his city Ziklag burned + his wives kidnapped.  But he encouraged himself in the Lord + pursued the enemy until all was restored, including his wives. I only have one!
Destroy or restore? Similar letters, but the faith + love of Jesus determine a very different result.

Second: It is quite evident God is at work in how the Body of Christ has responded in this attack.
We’ve been told this rallying of support is unprecedented: individuals who don’t even know us and churches in our city have been praying for Erica’s safe return. One detective expressed he’d not seen such an overwhelming response in all his 24 years of service.  
Groups are praying all over the earth: Estonia, Guatemala, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, the United States + United Kingdom, India, China, Vietnam and more!  
One woman dropped off supper last week + also testified she’s seen people focus on praying for Erica and lay aside their personal differences with others. Forgiveness + healing are flowing in Christ’s body; religious walls have come down; the Body of  Christ is arising + mobilizing for action and not just meetings.
That’s always been Erica the intercessor’s desire, although I’m sure she did not envision it happening this way.

              Third: I simply can’t believe that God would allow her to be taken from us at this time, except if it were to raise up 10 or 100 more prayer warriors/intercessors in her place.  Anything else simply flies against everything He has built in and through us up to this point. It’s all about more revelation, not retreating into shadows of mystery!

              As I wrote previously, timing is so very critical in our walk + NOW He’s speaking ‘Enduring’ to us:

 ‘But he who endures to the end will be saved, enter the reality of His promise fulfilled and see His desire the battle won. My family + I thank you with for your love + support with all our hearts, and  we also charge you,
 ‘Don’t give up! Persevere! Endure! Take up the torch! Fight the good fight!’ + like Gideon, we will see the Lord send forth an army of  light to destroy the principalities of darkness in our city + nations beyond!

19 days: 19 steps

19 days: 19 steps and I never thought we would walk this road this long.
But my direction remains clear: 'I have Decided to Follow Jesus'.
His timing continues impeccable: simply one step after another as He leads and I trust that as I take the next step open before me, He will reveal tomorrow in His time.
When I battled malaria years ago, His Spirit confirmed His Word:
'I will never leave you nor forsake you’ and the feverish sickness subsided.
He was true to His Word then, why should He not be now again?
Our walk is by faith, not natural sight; otherwise fearful circumstances, evil reports + confusion would rule.
I recently read an article debunking nice religious-sounding phrases, not truth found in God's Word; well-meaning but lifeless clichés such as: 'God never gives you more than you can handle.'
Sounds good, eh?
But I find myself now crying out, 'This is more than I can handle!'
Intended as a paraphrase of 1Cor 10:13, the article emphasized this Scripture’s context was dealing with temptation, not everyday trials. In other words, believers have ability to handle lusts + temptations. That may be, but that explanation hangs too much on theological hair-splitting for me; I need more of a sword to cut right through the whelming confusion at hand. Differentiating between tests + temptations neither brings clarity and peace to my heart, nor Erica back home.
Erica’s trail has again gone cold. The police have no further tips, leads, or tracks to follow. The 12-second video surveillance footage from the day she disappeared over two weeks ago is our last visible evidence of her whereabouts. This reality is more pain than I can bear. 'I cannot handle this!'
But God has shown me: it's not about how much or how well I can handle.
I am ‘hard pressed, but not crushed; struck down, but not destroyed,’ and in this my brokenness, it is ‘Christ in me’ who ever shines and carries me through.
I cannot do or handle all things, let alone shoulder these things, this weight and burden of loss I feel.
This is impossible for me. But it is possible for God. + Jesus bids me to:
‘Cast all my care on Him for He cares for me.
‘Take His yoke, exchange my burden, and let His Cross + Resurrection be mine through this time.
It's not about my ability to carry this great weight, but about Him carrying me.
I am not sufficient, but His grace is.
He alone 'bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.'
The 'Footprints' poem has taken on a whole new dimension of meaning for the Schmidt family.
'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’
Alone I cannot, but Christ within me not only can, but does + will.
One more step, one more day at a time, following His steps, and He will yet bring this journey into revelation.
Thank you for walking this Emmaus Road with us; we are moving into His next glory.

Day 16 Light came in the night

Day 16 Light came in the night concerning my need to ‘know’ answers to Qs? like:
‘Where is Erica? Is she OK? When will she come back?’ - things I don't know.
And I heard the Holy Spirit admonish me that focusing on these Qs? is like looking back
to the Tree of Knowledge of good + evil.
God turned me from such doubt and fears when I gave my life to Jesus 39 years ago.
My life changed + my mouth spoke:
“I’ve given up the pursuit of knowledge + found the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ!’ (If you'd like to read more, go to Sept 2/13)
Now I need to look again to my spiritual roots + draw from that same Tree of Life - what I do know.
Just over 4 years ago, Erica’s life also hung in a balance. Many of you walked through that dark night with us + the Lord spoke Job 23:10 to me, ‘He knows the way that I take.’
And what do I know?
He knew my way + brought us through then + I know His Presence still with us as He walks us through now.
I know Our Redeemer lives.
I know Erica is with Jesus. Whether still with us here on earth or in heaven, I don’t know,
but I do know He is faithful, He has never left us, He has not forsaken her, nor will He ever. 
His Promises are ever true in Jesus!
And that is where we as a family in Christ choose to live + abide today + always. 
Covering us with His mercy + truth, surrounding us with peace + love,
from beneath I know His mighty wings of grace + truth are lifting us up through this storm.

Day 15- Stretching

Day 15-Saturday: It's been a long 2 weeks this morning since Erica disappeared + my 'enduring' strength is stretched beyond any limit I had ever previously envisaged. For our 34th Anniversary in July I wrote in her card that I was believing God to break new horizons open for us this year. I never thought it would happen this way, nor did I ever think 2 weeks could be so long! I'm sure you all feel the same way. So, I encourage us like Jesus to keep our ears + eyes set on The Father + only speak what we hear Him say (especially on this FB page) + only do what we see Him do (throughout our community). We will then see + be led by His Spirit. All else is distraction + we have had to sort through much of that in this search.
Hebrews 6:12 'faith + patience inherit the promises'; we need both wings + His emphasis now is heavy on patience. We haven't had any further confirmed sightings in these last 2 weeks, nor have we actual evidence Erica has left either Abbotsford or the planet. Unless that is revealed, I will keep on trusting, hoping + enduring by God's sufficient grace to see the promise of her restoration to us soon! Thank you so much for continuing walking with me + my family through to His promise fulfillment!

Day 13 + I'm not superstitious!

Day 13 + I'm not superstitious! Rather, I believe this Romans 8:28 paraphrase for every day, regardless of its number: 'God is able to work all things together for our good + His glory!' Yesterday brought troubling reports: the trail had gone cold, 12 days had drained us, without any word from or about Erica, signs of life were few.
But today, as friends gathered in our home praying, a friend started reading The Father's Love Letter, a compilation of Scripture passages that reveal how much Our Father knows, loves + watches over each one of His children, especially Erica, + before we had finished the page, the phone rang + the police were asking me to view a street video to verify whether it was Erica. It's only 12 seconds long, but right when the figure came on screen I knew in my heart it... was her, I cried out + started to weep with joy! We saw her clothes + without a moment's hesitation, agreed they were indeed hers; her hair, her walk, the way she lifted her purse strap over her shoulder: it was her + like one exclaimed, 'I just wanted to reach out + pull her in!'
So close, and yet not home. But our hearts have been encouraged + we're believing for the next pieces to come together, yield the full picture + see her safe soon! Thank you so much to all of you who stand with us: your prayers, messages, meals, helps in so many ways, keep us afloat, rising up in faith above the obstacles.
Thank you Mark for your superb direction in co-ordinating all the bits of info + focusing all the present effort for what will hopefully find + bring Erica home!
And Thank you, Father God, for completing what You start to do.

Day 10 Thanksgiving

Day 10 -Thanksgiving Day in Canada

 + I had so hoped this day would bring our longed-for revelation and resolution.

 Last year we faced what we felt then was a difficult season, but was merely a broken car transmission in California and Erica phoned me from home:
"'I've got the word of the Lord for you, Henry! You know how you so like the Book of Revelation? Well, it's Rev 2:10, 'You shall have tribulation 10 days!'"
It was only my 2nd day in the California furnace + not wanting to stay so much longer, I countered, 'That's symbolic, not literal.'
But it proved to be 10 days, exactly like she'd said, until I was able to return home; then the tide turned, and the Lord moved us from gory to glory.
I was hoping somehow that same pattern might hold true for this year's trial,
but last year's test does not even come close to the awful pain I now feel for my bride + our family. We cry out to hear some evidence of her whereabouts + safety!
And the Lord has led me to Job: he lost everything in one day, but Job 1:20 reveals his heart:

Job worshiped. The battle was already won in Chapter 1!
The book continues through 41 more chapters: accusations, debate + argument with 3 comforters(?) before the Lord Himself shows up in the midst of the whirlwind.

And when He speaks, revelation comes + Job replies in 42:5:
'I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You...'
Thanksgiving brings resolution in the midst of the storm.

It is not merely a statutory holiday, but the response of thankful hearts who don't understand what's happening, but know their Redeemer lives + brings His sons + daughters through!
Thank you for this day, Father!

Thank you for Your love + faith: both wings in Christ to not only cover + protect Erica, but lift her up + bring her safely home!