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Written by Greg Benner 10-24-2010

Times, Places, and Dates

Time, places, and dates are significant in heaven’s history of the world as mankind works out his salvation before a Holy God.   Though things occurring around us seem to be the by-product of external influence, random chance, or cosmic oversight…in reality…circumstances portray the cause-and-affect impact of human decision within the context of God’s transformational reach to a struggling humanity.

In an effort to help you understand kingdom dynamics in a physical world, I bring you to the realization that Santa Monica, like many coastal cities represents a secondary western spiritual gateway into America’s interior. As a point of reference, the primary spiritual gateway resides on San Juan Island off the coast of Washington State in Puget Sound. I’ll write more about that later as God leads…  

Spiritual gateways, as with other supernatural realities, carry associated physical manifestations with them. That is why we hear places like Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, New Orleans, Miami, New York, and Boston called “gateway” cities. If one does careful historical, geographical, and Scriptural research under the Holy Spirit’s leadership…they will discover that gateway cities share common physical, cultural, and spiritual characteristics. These similar features include, but are not limited to…social unrest, religious fragmentation, cultural identity, convergent weather, entrenched problems, stronghold thinking, resulting consequences (i.e. Seattle: liberalism, San Francisco: un-bridled sexuality, Houston-Miami: Hurricanes, New York: violence, etc.), and more. 

What lurks within the gates on the by-ways of life?

Written by Greg Benner 10-24-2010 

First off…all of us must realize that God assigns our name, defines our purpose, empowers our labor, and numbers our days before one of them came to be according to Scripture. We do not live random lives that hit the planet like an off-course comet leaving confusion in its path. Instead, God created each one of us to live with specific purpose, divine destiny, and eternal impact for His glory and our good. Choosing to remain unaware or indifferent toward God’s plan for our lives assures that we will experience empty, troubled, and unfulfilled purpose dispatched to change our struggling world.   Living life by the seat of our pants without concern for the indifference revealed by our ongoing lack of direction…robs us of God’s blessing. As a result, both our own lives and those represented in the world-at-large live without joy, freedom, and peace as God intended. Therefore; I encourage you to turn off the TV, clear your plans, and to join me as we ask God to silence our minds, draw our hearts, enlighten our eyes, correct our paths, and empower our destinies with renewed power for His glory in Jesus’ name.

Friday Post

I met a young man named Lance at a starbucks as I wrote on my laptop. He was open, informative, and interested in my life views. We shared our vantage points and parted as instant friends. Walked 15 miles on my first day yesterday…a bit sore this am…Jesus still said, “go.”   Walked from Ralph’s market on Adams Blvd. where I ended through more economic, ethnic, and spiritual dynamics. Most churches were well fortified on their perimeters, until they became nearly non-existent along my pathway. God a late start today because of numerous issues…walked past colleges in nice areas until I turned left into the inner city on Main. It was like a total culture ship occurred within feet. Walking down main into the city…I came into the Fashion district where every type of clothing was sold in warehouse direct form. The sidewalks were line with people from poor to affluent shopping for personal items. Some people smiled, others looked foreboding. From the fashion district, I entered the next area where a lot of renovation was happening to buildings, sidewalks, streets, and more. The cross-tension between homeless people and those with money seemed tangible in the air. Yet, no strife was visible. Night was coming, called a cab, and headed out of inner city toward my place to write and retire for the evening. My cab was a 44 year old man who had escaped the Iron Curtain in Czechslovakia at age 19. His story was both interesting and moving. He has lived and driven cabs in LA for more than 7 years visiting his homeland occasionally now as a man with dual citizenship. Left him my card… Looking forward to more progress the next day.

Wednesday / 8:00 a.m. (New Beginnings)

Escalating alarm tones…4:00 a.m. Wednesday October 20, 2010…eyes open after already waking up 2 times earlier in the night. Stare at ceiling…ask myself if I’m nuts for walking across America again…flashback of last time whizzes by…can’t describe, won’t try…get out of bed…shower…dress…load car…leave for launch point on Santa Monica Memorial Pier at 5:44 am…head north on 1-5 north…traffic already…merge to highway 10 west…enter Santa Monica proper around 7:00 am….arrive at Santa Monica Pier few minutes later…drizzling rain…park rig…ask myself 2nd time if I’m I nuts for walking across America again…get out of car…put on gear…walk to end of pier in rain…notice normal (and abnormal) early morning people and activities…find other person crazy enough to be out in the rain and ask him to take a picture of me…breathe deeply…sigh…ask myself 3rd ime-am if I’m nuts for walking across America…lean forward…silently say, “here goes Jesus”…take first step…give self permission to table issue of whether I’m nuts or not……remind self that God said, “go”…

8:00 am on Thursday morning. Stop to see Jerry the service manager at Delaney and Alph...the local diesel shop. Have them install a couple u-joints and change filter in transmission, while I drain cooling system, install new hoses, re-fill, and fix electrical problem. Now, everything I know of is fixed. Head to grocery store to stock up on good food for walk. Head to LA and arrive into La Mirada after midnight and early Friday a.m. the 15th.   

Park and sleep in parking lot. Early a.m. on Friday, I move to Camping world in Anaheim until they open to ask about RV parks. Move to local RV park and set up. Go to sleep early. Saturday am 16, work on RV and paperwork. To bed. Sunday a.m 17th sleep in and catch up on rest. Work on web page. Go to store early evening to get supplies. Talk to family. Bed. Now Monday a.m....work all day on web page after fixing software problem on gps unit. Chart walk route in gps. Talk to family and friends. Bed.

On my way from Harris Ranch to Fresno to get machined part revised. Jess the supervisor is a peach of a guy who was very kind and helpful. He fixed what we all assumed was the last issue, charged me nothing after giving me half his time the day before, and off I headed back to RV by 2:30 in the afternoon. 4:00 p.m. arrive to RV and begin putting on revised part. Nuts for the 4th time,

Nuts again...I arrive and put my feet in the water at Santa Monica at 12:28 am early morning October 11th. Couple on beach takes a picture in dark. Back to my car, out of the city to Santa Clarita, sleep in car in Comfort Suites parking lot before heading north to Bakersfield to rustle up RV parts on way back. Found most parts and returned to RV. Install new exhaust system in parking lot. Dirty, shower, went to bed. Next morning Tuesday October 12th... lifted hood, disassembled broken parts, call many machine shops, found one in Fresno (60 miles north) who can make my adaptor part. Deliver part and measurements to machine shop in Fresno. Use time waiting to gather more parts and return items in Fresno. Now 4:00 pm and on my way from Fresno to RV an hour south of Fresno. Arrive to try installing new part...close but no cigar. Nuts for the 3rd time. Now I must return to Fresno Wednesday a.m. the 13th.

After going without sleep for 26 hours the day before and getting out of Seattle later Friday than anticipated...I stopped to park and sleep in a store parking lot south of Portland, OR. Throughout the night, my RV electrical system turned off and on due to an unidentified circuit issue. Saturday am October 9th, I cruised down to the local Les Schwabs and installed four (4) new house batteries and found the delinquent cable that had broken off in the process. Five hundred and seventy three ($573) later, I rolled into the local fuel stop and threw on another $274 worth of diesel fuel and hit the road. Now a bit after 12:00 midnight the evening of October 9 and early morning of October 10...I stop for dinner and crash for sleep in the restaurant parking lot in Redding, CA.

Today started with too much to get done. It was my long-awaited day of departure toward Los Angeles, CA where my TransAmerican Walk 2010-2011 was to begin. All around me, final repair details lingered unfinished beckoning my attention. So, into the pile I jumped finding that my progress hummed along at a surprising pace. 6:00 pm has arrived and I still have two more trips to make to my office to store a car being left behind, to pick up remaining equipment, and to give my family a hug. Now, it is 11:00 pm and I'm on my way from Yakima to Seattle to stay the night, conduct Friday a.m. walk and other business, exchange more gear, see more of my kids, have lunch with a dear friend, and hit I-5 south towards Calli...

Vision for TransAmerican Walk 2010 came early in 2007 amid an already-under-way seven (7) year season in which God was revealing the assault dispatched against His people in the days ahead. The next several years provided ample training ground for God to bring my life into a place of "relevance" in keeping with His eternal purpose and timeline. Following the completion of that seven (7) year season on July 23, 2010...it became obvious that God's time of release was closing on me fast. From world to local arenas...economic stabilities, business trends, moral values, social tones, client bases, spiritual delusions, applied responsibilities, wavering priorities, and hope levels were radically adjusted to all-time lows.