Saturday, February 21, 2015

Week 6: Defending Your Faith

       What? This post is early? I am such an overachiever. Hah just kidding. But this blog post is early because tomorrow our entire school is going to Auckland for a week! The reason is, the previous school that started in October is returning from their outreach and they are staying here so we are getting kicked out and driving 3 hours to Auckland to stay at that base for next week's lectures. I am so excited! Now about this past week....

       Overall this week was very challenging in such a good way. Our speaker's name was Doug Sparks (I think he has written a book or two), but he literally challenged everything we believed. Only about half of it was his prepared presentation and a lot of it was spontaneous conversation, debating, asking questions, discussion on different viewpoints about war, death, marriage, sex, homosexuality, God's justice, mercy, and goodness. At times the conversation got intense and other times it got really annoying, but overall it was good and I learned to own my faith even more. The general theme of this week was that the reason a lot of Christians aren't very influential is because they know what they believe but not necessarily why they believe it. That's what this week was essentially. We were forced to think for ourselves and not just be force fed information. Literally every single day I left the lecture room with a lot of questions and few answers. When it comes down to it, we really aren't responsible to teach each other anything. Doug told several stories of a ministry he has called the Foundry which is really just a place for troubled teens to come and discover God. Doug wouldn't try and teach them anything. He would simply keep asking why? Why they felt that way about a certain life event or why they believed something about God. He also would just love on them so much and continually ask what do you feel the Holy Spirit is leading you to do? I think that is so cool. Often God teaches us through other people but ultimately He is the one who allows the information about Him to really sink in and resonate. I am quite fond of that. I know some of my fellow students really struggled this week and really were quite frustrated with Doug because he always kept the conversation going which provoking questions. Now that we are out of it, I am really glad I went through it because I have a deeper understanding of who He is.

       In some exciting news, I felt that God was nudging me to get baptised again and that took place on Friday. I did get baptised before and at that time it was a real declaration of my faith but since then I had still lived my life by putting other things above Him. I still put the opinion of man over the opinion of God and identified with how I thought I was viewed. This most recent baptism was a statement to say that I am done with that lifestyle and that God will be first and foremost of my life from here on out. So whoo!

       Fun/annoying story: So last night we had a MASSIVE bonfire, but afterward I got into a really cool conversation with some rad people here (Katie and Christy) and it ended up going from like 12 to 4 in the morning. It consisted of our week and what God was showing us and our struggles and past and was really amazing (I have really learned here that talking through and sharing everything is incredibly freeing). My mindset was that the weekend was before us and I could sleep in until lunch the next day. However, at 5:30 in the morning I wake up to a face saying. "Get up, put on warm clothes, and meet me by the door in 10 minutes" Me being dazed, thought it was my bunk mate trying to go for a spontaneous prayer adventure or something but after a couple seconds I realized it was my stream leader. Turns out our entire worship stream was woken up and we were going somewhere at 5:30 in the morning, after I had a whole hour and a half to sleep. Needless to say I was struggling to stay awake. As we were driving, they told us how their plan was for us to go to the beach and eat while watching the sunrise. They prepared everything: pancakes, eggs, toast, fruit, coffee, tea, and bacon. It was incredible but I was pooped. So the food and the adventure of it was fun but it was annoying how tired I was/still am right now. I'm loving this place and these people and I am learning how to be confident in who I am and to be who I am all of the time. Thanks for reading.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Week 5:Character and Nature of God

       Hello friends! So once again this one is late J. On Sunday, I had to bake for the next days meeting, read my book, write this blog, and do laundry…so I played volleyball instead. It’s funny how intentional you have to be to get things done. There are just so many fun people! This week was pretty good. Our speaker’s name was Peter Brownhill and he taught on the nature and character of God. He taught us the difference between His character and nature. His nature is attributes that God is. For example, He is omnipotent, omnipresent, the Trinity, omniscient, infinite, everlasting, etc. His character though, is what he chooses to do. Which while that list is sooooo long he only focused on 8: Love (which is on both lists and is soooo confusing!), holiness, mercy, righteous, justice, wisdom, faithfulness, and truthfulness. I am finding that the more I try and understand who He is, the more I get lost. I am learning (on paper and through experience) that He truly does have me. These little blogs really don’t do justice for what I am learning, but what I know for sure is that the most important things I have learned have been through my quiet time with Him and through worship. This week, I really got to see the beauty of life and how there is no reason to worry at all because “no one can take me out of my Father’s hand”. Life is good eh?
     This week was a week of encouragement so we all picked a name out of a hat and secretly blessed that person with gifts, notes, encouragements, etc. The person blessing me was so sweet and gave me a note everyday with either chocolate or tea (which I have fallen in love with since being here). Weekends have now turned into a time to sit back and relax because during our weekdays we move so fast. Time is flying so fast and it’s hard to believe that we are half way through our lecture phase. I am praying about what the future holds for me (btw I got into the Honor’s College at Messiah College!) so as far as prayer requests go that would be nice J.
       Seriously the love from people for the texts and encouragements and reading this is amazing so thank you all so much for your support! It is appreciated!!!


       Fun story about how amazing John Hartman is: he sent me a “care package” that included half a roll of toilet paper, a quarter of a pack of lifesavers, pictures of our youth group (and an elephant’s butt), some snacks, and a journal with a lot of funny notes.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Week 4: Father Heart of God

       I will start off with an apology for this being two days late. The week days are so busy and the weekends are so free that I always want to do stuff so I pushed this off until now. So we found out where we are going on outreach. We are going to (drum roll)...India! We are going to Kolkata, India and that is pretty much all we know at this point. Our leaders were the ones who prayed about this and decided where we would go. While separated from each other, they each felt God pulling them towards India. One night our one leader was in bed with her husband and she felt God say that her husband would say where they are going. Three minutes later, without knowing that God said India to his wife, he rolled over and said that he feels led to India! So God has a plan for us to go to India :) This past week was pretty good. Our speakers name was Femi and he heard God so clearly. He would start off the class by talking about something and then (almost like he was being interrupted) would stop, smile, and walk slowly to someone in the room and prophecy for their life. It was crazy how spot on he was too! Prior to coming here he knew none of us, so it was crazy that he heard what God was saying so clearly. He also spoke over my leaders life and said that she will have authority over the dark powers in India. He did not know we already decided to go there! Crazy! God's work in my own life has been focused around identity and me living as a son. That regardless of my doings, He is good and loves me the same. Also that he is not an abusive father but that He is for me and working with me and wants the best for me. These are truths that I am trying to view my entire life through. This week started off really good so I am siked to see what happens.

       Fun story of the week: There is a waterfall on base and a group of us decided to walk up the river and we found 2 more waterfalls after about a mile of walking. We also found a dead sheep in the water (go figure), some scary eels, and a nice cliff to jump off of into the water. My friend made a video of the experience so watch my Facebook for the posting! It was one of my favorite days while being here. 

     Thanks for reading guys and thanks to those that have been reaching out to me. It seriously means a lot!