3.5 out of 10

Hello peoples, the brain has decided to function (though the sinuses have not) and therefore I get to blog at you today.

IHOP–KC recently had its ten-year anniversary, which was great—ten years of 24/7 schedule worship and prayer. We had a big blowout celebration over the last week, during which we all listened to the stories behind how this thing got started, watched some videos (kudos to the Media Department), and then had a giant picnic on Sunday.

So. I’ve been here 3.5 years out of 10. Which is not really a lot, but (1) around here people tend to view years as being approximately four times as long as they actually are, kind of like dog years, and (2) things at IHOP–KC change faster than the obscurest mechanics of World of Warcraft (i.e., weekly. Though here there are fewer complaints about getting nerfed after a patch). Anyway, once you’ve been here over two years, you tend to get people saying to you, “Wow, this place must seem so different to you now / IHOP must have changed sooo much / Are you like an Anna or something?”

To which I respond, “Yes and no. Definitely no to the last, because I do not have a cot behind the stage.”

Sure, there have been major changes, many of them necessary. The cameras in the prayer room took a long time to get comfortable with. I remember when it was easy to get an entire row of seats to yourself, before the remodel and the ushers and the partitions. We used to “war in the Spirit” during intercession sets. We sat in those anti-sleeping torture devices orange plastic chairs during church. All-staff meetings were held in the prayer room. I used to get the A/V room in back all to myself when I recorded for the Limited Edition.

Things have gotten bigger, too. The school’s branched out. There are new properties and new departments, and there are always new people.

But at the core everything’s the same: a bunch of people in a room praying to an invisible G-d, believing He loves to answer our prayers for unsaved souls and for justice. And outside of that room, we’re trying to live a life worthy of His calling at work, at home, on outreaches and in the mission field. So no, things haven’t changed—not the things that matter.

My internship, three and a half years ago

This post was going to be funnier than it turned out. But as I wrote it I felt the sober awesomeness of ten years (and I mean “awesome” in the “full of awe” sense) hit me. I’m not meant to be at IHOP–KC forever, nor am I meant to be an intercessory missionary for the rest of my life. Being stuck here with a bunch of people who are is often frustrating and confusing. Yet I’m so honored I’ve gotten to be a part of a house of prayer for this long. My life would’ve been very different without the experience of the last few years. I might never have known about the global prayer movement, or about the thrill of interceding single-mindedly with hundreds of people every week, or about the transcendent experience that is IHOP cafeteria food.

Maybe I could’ve lived without that last one. But anyway. Adding the good times and the frustrating ones in a highly scientific process, I would rate my time here a 3.5 out of 10. 1 being the highest, naturally. And despite all the people who’ve questioned my reasons for being here (if not my sanity and/or salvation) in the past, and may even jump on this post, I’m glad the L-rd brought me here for a season.