Sunday, November 22, 2009
Homeless ministry in Kona...
During my first couple of weeks here in Kona I met a homeless lady named Linda. Linda was in a car accident a couple of years ago that causes her to have seizures. Since the accident Linda has lost her job and all of her possessions. She approached me and asked me if I could help her find a place to sleep. She said that most places outside are either unsafe for a woman or she gets the cops called on her. She said she was so tired that she couldn't function. She was very clean, very articulate and seemed completely sober. Seems like we often attach a belief that if a person is homeless they are druggies or alchoholics. After meeting Linda I have searched and searched and can't find an overnight shelter in Kona. L:inda and I have emailed a couple of times back and forth. I wish I knew how to help her. Thoughts... Ideas... please pray for Linda!
Week 7- Fear of God
This week Matt Rawlings was here and talking about the fear of God. I've never really understood what that meant. Matt talked a lot about the nature and Character of God. God's nature is, "God is BIG!" We watched videos about how big and detailed the universe is. If we truly understand how big God is than we will understand that nothing is too big for God. If we understand how big God is we live in awe of Him. God's character relates to how good God is and knowing his character brings intimacy. Matt brought up an interesting thought... Would you ever chose to have intimacy with someone that you didn't know? If we don't know anything about God's nature or who God is, we cant be as intimate with God. I'm not saying that you have to know everything about God before you can be intimate but I do agree that as we come to know God better we can experience greater intimacy with him. No matter what happens in my life, will I decide to hold on to "God is big and God is good?"
Matt also said, "what you are looking for you will find. If you are looking for someone who doesn't like you, then you will find it." I seem to find that all the time. I'm also constantly looking for my own imperfections. In fact, it would seem that I live with mirrors surrounding myself. I'm so focused on being "ok" and being "healthy" that I miss God all the time!!! No matter what is going on in my life, God is big enough and God is good enough!
Ok.. so I feel like I'm rambling. It was a great week of lectures. I know this all sounds really simple but it barely scratches the surface of what we talked about. I'd love feedback. Questions, thoughts?
Matt also said, "what you are looking for you will find. If you are looking for someone who doesn't like you, then you will find it." I seem to find that all the time. I'm also constantly looking for my own imperfections. In fact, it would seem that I live with mirrors surrounding myself. I'm so focused on being "ok" and being "healthy" that I miss God all the time!!! No matter what is going on in my life, God is big enough and God is good enough!
Ok.. so I feel like I'm rambling. It was a great week of lectures. I know this all sounds really simple but it barely scratches the surface of what we talked about. I'd love feedback. Questions, thoughts?
Candyland...
For halloween this year my dts group helped Solid Rock Church with the event, Candyland. We actually set up a life size version of candyland. It seemed like a little kids dream land. We spent the whole day setting up and then got dressed up and played with kids all night. We had game booths set up and had loads of fun. I loved seeing all the cool outfits the kids had on. I think my favorite where all the princesses and the 2 nerds. I went as Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz. This picture above is of me and Hero. Hero is the son of our 2 leaders from Rawanda, Gabi and Margret. THey are amazing people. Please be praying for their family. Let me know if you'd be interested in hearing more about this awesome family.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
week 5... relationshipsand hearing from Loren Cunningham about Nigeria!!!
During this week the focus was placed on relationships.
For me the best thing that came from talking about relationships is that it got me to thinking about the dangers and sin involved with emotionally vacuuming from others and obsessing over relationships. I hope to have set some boundries that will bring freedom in my life and protection to those I enter in relationship with (feel free to ask me if you want more specifics).
Our speaker was a super spunky, straight forward woman, Faith Dutton.
Thursday was one of my all time favorite days in Kona. The founder of the Y family Loren Cunningham made it back from a long trip the week before and on Thursday night he shared with us all what God is doing in Nigeria. AMAZING!!! I'll give you a really condensed version of what he talked about.
When Loren and Darleen got to Nigeria they witnessed buldosers digging graves for the thousands of Christians who had been killed bc of their faith. The news wasn't covering it.
On the flip side Loren got to hear testimony from Militants who came to know God through 25 ywamers answering the call of God to share his love. The Militants are killing and stealing all over nigeria. It was an insanely dangerous call for the ywamers to go and love on the militants. WIth great courage they went anyways. As a result 200 militants accepted Christ, and 69 did a Discipleship Training Program. The militant camp ended up giving up all of their weapons and the latest report is that there are 2000 militants who accepted Christ and want to do a DTS. The government in Nigeria is saying, "what all of our arms and resources couldn't do God has done." THis is simply amazing! I love hearing about the miraculous and I love hearing about what God is doing in the nations.
For me the best thing that came from talking about relationships is that it got me to thinking about the dangers and sin involved with emotionally vacuuming from others and obsessing over relationships. I hope to have set some boundries that will bring freedom in my life and protection to those I enter in relationship with (feel free to ask me if you want more specifics).
Our speaker was a super spunky, straight forward woman, Faith Dutton.
Thursday was one of my all time favorite days in Kona. The founder of the Y family Loren Cunningham made it back from a long trip the week before and on Thursday night he shared with us all what God is doing in Nigeria. AMAZING!!! I'll give you a really condensed version of what he talked about.
When Loren and Darleen got to Nigeria they witnessed buldosers digging graves for the thousands of Christians who had been killed bc of their faith. The news wasn't covering it.
On the flip side Loren got to hear testimony from Militants who came to know God through 25 ywamers answering the call of God to share his love. The Militants are killing and stealing all over nigeria. It was an insanely dangerous call for the ywamers to go and love on the militants. WIth great courage they went anyways. As a result 200 militants accepted Christ, and 69 did a Discipleship Training Program. The militant camp ended up giving up all of their weapons and the latest report is that there are 2000 militants who accepted Christ and want to do a DTS. The government in Nigeria is saying, "what all of our arms and resources couldn't do God has done." THis is simply amazing! I love hearing about the miraculous and I love hearing about what God is doing in the nations.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Week 4...THe Kingdom Of God- AKA amazing
10/19-10/23
Ok... So now I will attempt to blog about week 4. Saturday, 10/24 I went surfing with some people in my DTS. The place where we went had rocks in the place of a sand beach. The day that we went there were no waves. Always thought it would be difficult to surf but never realized how physically taxing it would be. By the time I paddled out I was just about spent. I rode one wave laying down and a little bit after paddled back to shore. So glad i went and want to go again when there are more waves. However I think I might just be a bigger fan of boogie boarding! so fun! I don't remember much else about what I did this week but I remember what I learned.
Don Stephens was the speaker during week 4 and he brought a guy Nyk with him. Don talked about different world views and about the Kingdom of God. I learned about Modernism, Post Modernism, Naturalism, Pantheism, Socialism, Communism, Islam, Evangelical Gnosticism (Religious Christianity) and most importantly the Kingdom of God. I love learning about things like this so during class this particular week I was on the edge of my seat furriously taking notes.
I'll list a revelation and some extremely important things I learned:
*Creation is made to reflect the glory of God. Mankind is made to reflect the glory of God. If God created me to reflect His glory than I am truly glorious in Him. I have something in me that draws mankind to observe the glory of God.
THis is significant to me because I always thought I may be pretty to God but I'm still undesirable to mankind. THIS CAN NOT BE TRUE if I am made to reflect God's glory. Also... this brings a whole new significance to my singing Opera. Not many people can reflect God's glory is this art but God has gifted me. I still don't want to seek a full time opera career but I would like to start practicing again. I miss it! I was created with a burning desire to be the best singer I can possibly be. I love practicing and studying voice. I lose passion for singing when I'm not learning more about it. This is the way God created me and I think it is significant.
*Christians often thing of evangelism in terms of a circle. The "saved" christians are inside and we are focusing on the rest making their way into the circle. Problem is... who really knows when others point of conversion is? When was Peters? was it when he confessed Jesus to be the Son of the living God? Not long after that Jesus says to Peter, "get behind me Satan!" Some people inside our circle may have gotten "saved" and not have any interest in knowing or seeking Jesus and then others outside our circle may be seeking after and searching to know Jesus more. What if we erased the circle and just started pointing everyone towards Jesus... no matter where they are at spiritually. It is my hope to be used of God to make disciples of all nations and not just converts.
*God's plan is for a kingdom. Jesus talks more about the Kingdom of God than anything else. It was the first message that Jesus preached (Matt 4:17). THe Kingdom of God is every place where the will of God is being done. It is everything gone wrong in Adam's fall reconciled in Christ. It is God's glory filling all things. It is the dance of the trinity extended to all of Humanity. We live with a mentality of waiting for Heaven. What untill then? I pray that
God's kingdom come in my life.
Thoughts... questions... ?
Blessings!
Ok... So now I will attempt to blog about week 4. Saturday, 10/24 I went surfing with some people in my DTS. The place where we went had rocks in the place of a sand beach. The day that we went there were no waves. Always thought it would be difficult to surf but never realized how physically taxing it would be. By the time I paddled out I was just about spent. I rode one wave laying down and a little bit after paddled back to shore. So glad i went and want to go again when there are more waves. However I think I might just be a bigger fan of boogie boarding! so fun! I don't remember much else about what I did this week but I remember what I learned.
Don Stephens was the speaker during week 4 and he brought a guy Nyk with him. Don talked about different world views and about the Kingdom of God. I learned about Modernism, Post Modernism, Naturalism, Pantheism, Socialism, Communism, Islam, Evangelical Gnosticism (Religious Christianity) and most importantly the Kingdom of God. I love learning about things like this so during class this particular week I was on the edge of my seat furriously taking notes.
I'll list a revelation and some extremely important things I learned:
*Creation is made to reflect the glory of God. Mankind is made to reflect the glory of God. If God created me to reflect His glory than I am truly glorious in Him. I have something in me that draws mankind to observe the glory of God.
THis is significant to me because I always thought I may be pretty to God but I'm still undesirable to mankind. THIS CAN NOT BE TRUE if I am made to reflect God's glory. Also... this brings a whole new significance to my singing Opera. Not many people can reflect God's glory is this art but God has gifted me. I still don't want to seek a full time opera career but I would like to start practicing again. I miss it! I was created with a burning desire to be the best singer I can possibly be. I love practicing and studying voice. I lose passion for singing when I'm not learning more about it. This is the way God created me and I think it is significant.
*Christians often thing of evangelism in terms of a circle. The "saved" christians are inside and we are focusing on the rest making their way into the circle. Problem is... who really knows when others point of conversion is? When was Peters? was it when he confessed Jesus to be the Son of the living God? Not long after that Jesus says to Peter, "get behind me Satan!" Some people inside our circle may have gotten "saved" and not have any interest in knowing or seeking Jesus and then others outside our circle may be seeking after and searching to know Jesus more. What if we erased the circle and just started pointing everyone towards Jesus... no matter where they are at spiritually. It is my hope to be used of God to make disciples of all nations and not just converts.
*God's plan is for a kingdom. Jesus talks more about the Kingdom of God than anything else. It was the first message that Jesus preached (Matt 4:17). THe Kingdom of God is every place where the will of God is being done. It is everything gone wrong in Adam's fall reconciled in Christ. It is God's glory filling all things. It is the dance of the trinity extended to all of Humanity. We live with a mentality of waiting for Heaven. What untill then? I pray that
God's kingdom come in my life.
Thoughts... questions... ?
Blessings!
Week 3 Late in coming...
Hey everyone! I am so sorry about my inconsistent blogging. It is now week 7 of my DTS and I havn't blogged since week 2. I'll try to catch you up as much as possible.
Week 3 was an extremely difficult week for me. I got physically ill and was running a fever. I also got extremely home sick.
Typically I function a little slower than others might. It takes me longer to perform task and it takes me longer to adjust to change. Although I am considered an extravert, it takes a great effort for me to interact with a room full of people and especially a room full of strangers. I long for deep relationships and would prefer to opperate with the comfort of having a few close friends. If I'm in a familiar environment meeting some new people can be very enjoyable but I still find it draining. THere are 50 students in my DTS and 400 students at the U of N. It is because of my personality that moving to a new place and being surrounded by strangers has been an on going struggle since I have been here. I often feel like I'm on a roller coaster. I'll be having an amazing time and learning large amounts of things one day and the next I feel overcome with loneliness and my old friend self deprication will come for a visit.
You know what I find amazing?! I have the oppertunity to watch the sunset everyday. In fact I couldn't avoid seeing it if I wanted to (not that I would ever want to not watch the sunset). The amazing thing is... no sunset is ever the same. They are all gloriously different and beautiful!
Every passing week God is bringing new challenges and insights. I am growing in friendships and feeling more like myself constantly. It still doesn't feel like home but I'm glad I'm here!
Week 3 was an extremely difficult week for me. I got physically ill and was running a fever. I also got extremely home sick.
Typically I function a little slower than others might. It takes me longer to perform task and it takes me longer to adjust to change. Although I am considered an extravert, it takes a great effort for me to interact with a room full of people and especially a room full of strangers. I long for deep relationships and would prefer to opperate with the comfort of having a few close friends. If I'm in a familiar environment meeting some new people can be very enjoyable but I still find it draining. THere are 50 students in my DTS and 400 students at the U of N. It is because of my personality that moving to a new place and being surrounded by strangers has been an on going struggle since I have been here. I often feel like I'm on a roller coaster. I'll be having an amazing time and learning large amounts of things one day and the next I feel overcome with loneliness and my old friend self deprication will come for a visit.
You know what I find amazing?! I have the oppertunity to watch the sunset everyday. In fact I couldn't avoid seeing it if I wanted to (not that I would ever want to not watch the sunset). The amazing thing is... no sunset is ever the same. They are all gloriously different and beautiful!
Every passing week God is bringing new challenges and insights. I am growing in friendships and feeling more like myself constantly. It still doesn't feel like home but I'm glad I'm here!
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