I think it's affecting me

Dan gave an excellent update on our lecture topic this week! But so much other stuff happened; another blog post is in order. 

First, I just want to express my utter delight in what we have learned this week! Matt and Cora Dawson are incredible teachers, and thanks to them I have a whole new view of worship. In my past worship experiences, I could never understand why I didn't "feel" like worshiping a God who, in my head, I knew was awe-inspiring. Because of this week's teaching, I realized that I didn't have the desire to worship because I wasn't being at all vulnerable or trusting. It hit me like a ton of bricks; a relationship with God is just like any other relationship. It's going to be terrible if there is no honesty, no vulnerability or no “realness". As Danny Boy already mentioned, we all took time to be completely honest with God. I was brutally honest, asking all my hardest questions. I had it out with God for a solid ten minutes. Then, Matt told us to ask for a picture or vision from God. Great, I thought. Like I'm really going to get anything from God after what I just said to Him. But God, in all His goodness, came through like He always does.

I saw myself sitting in a small room. There was a fire burning low, with a bed of coals heaped around it. I was sitting around the fire in a comfy, well worn leather chair. The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit where seated around the fire in the same comfortable chairs.  We were just talking, and laughing. You know how when you are with good friends, you can almost laugh at nothing at all? You can just look over at you r friend, catch the look in his eye, and start giggling? That's what was going on with myself and the Trinity. The God of the universe was saying that He was perfectly content to stay in a dark little room by a dying fire and laugh with me. He not only loves me, He wants to hangout with me. Gosh dang. That's a revelation. 

There was a bit involving The Lord of the Rings, but that may have just been me.

In case you wanted to know what my line was for the worship session the next morning, here it is:

"He's got places to go, but He stays and laughs with me"

I began thinking about how good God is. I thought about what He is doing in my life. I thought about the fantastic landscape surrounding me. I thought about Him laughing with me.

So, I worshiped like there was no tomorrow.

That was just some stuff I had on my heart to share, now on to other cool stuff we did this week!

On Tuesday we had our first BSS (Body, Soul, Spirit) class. It is essentially a physical fitness time that happens twice a week, and to be honest I was dreading it. But by God's grace I actually enjoyed it! We did a standard aerobics workout, and I definitely felt it the next day. I really think God is doing a work in my heart in this area, as silly as that sounds. I really enjoy exercise now. I enjoy hardening my body and turning it into what it was made to be. I have made a bit of a pact with myself; I am going to go on a barefoot run to the river every day. It's not far, but it is quite steep at times. The best part is that I'm not doing it because I "have to", I'm doing it because I want to.

On Wednesday, we had an introduction to intercessory prayer, which we will be doing every week. We didn't actually get to pray this time, but Linda Cowie gave us a excellent talk on what intercessory prayer is, and why we do it. It is simply, to intercede before God on behalf of others. It is a time when we put aside our own prayers about our “stuff," listen for what God wants us to pray about, and pray about it. I'm excited to get into it next week! We also had our first "Justice Stream" on Wednesday. During this time, Dan and I (and the entire Justice team) will learn about issues of justice, and where we as Christians fit into that. I am not looking forward to learning more about child soldiers, sex trafficking and poverty for the sake of just learning. But I am looking forward to learning about those issues so that we can better know how to help those who are hurting. The dozen of us who are in the justice school all have a real passion for justice issues, so it should be a really awesome time.

On Thursday, after our lecture and Holy-Spirit-led visions, we took off to climb Mount Mauganui for BSS. Unfortunately, the van carrying Dan and several other chaps was not running well (it went up hills at about 15 mph), and they had to turn back to the base. Alas, no calf busting jaunt for them, although they still took a walk up the road from the base and saw some beautiful scenery. The climb up the Mount was timed, but no pressure was placed on us, other than to do our best. I alternated running and brisk walking, and made it to the summit at a decent clip. The view from the top was stunning, and well worth the climb. We will get at least one more chance to climb the Mount, and I hope to actually be in shape by then! Thursday night held our first small group, in which the members of the justice team (also know as the Justice League) fellowship together. On this occasion, we snacked and relaxed while watching "Sweet Home Alabama". At last these people have a glimpse at the culture Dan and I come from.

Some photos at the Mount:

Some of Dan's photos from the road to the base:

It really was this green - Dan didn't edit this photo at all!

Friday morning we had Jesse Misa (an international co-director of Marine Reach) as a surprise guest during our fellowship time. He shared about the current state of Marine Reach search for a ship. At this point, they have found a ship in Canada, and are in the process of determining if this is "the one”. Jesse was here to ask us to pray and seek Gods guidance on this situation. Some neat stuff happened, they brought out a white board, and we gathered into groups and prayed for fifteen minutes. They then asked if anyone had heard or seen anything from God. A number of people had received pictures, words or scripture references from God. My mind couldn't fully understand how all of these things worked together. I just feel so blessed to be apart of a community where this type of thing is possible, and even normal.

Friday morning was also when we were told our outreach destination. At this point, the entire Justice team is going to Cambodia! Needless to say, I am very excited! We don't have a clue where we are going or what we will be doing, but outreach is still several months away. Of course, the obvious answer is that we will be doing whatever God tells us to do. Friday was our last day with the lovely Dawsons as well, and we sang our song lines together. Real, raw worship went on for two and a half hours, and it was awesome.

On Friday evening, Dan and I went up the road to see the sunset, which was beautiful. Of course, we couldn't resist taking some epic pictures as well.

Sunset over Tauranga, with Mt. Maunganui on the right.

On Saturday, our DTS joined up with the Couples DTS for a barbecue (cookout) on the beach. Hamburgers were eaten, fun was had, and a few foolhardy guys (okay...I did it too) took a dip in the frigid ocean. I might never get the chance to jump in a ocean in New Zealand in the middle of winter again, so I seized the day. On Saturday night, we gathered around and watched The Two Towers, a nearly mandatory activity for those who are living in Middle Earth.

Our awesome friend Skyler from Missouri, who had never been to the beach before!

Foolhardy

Dan and I attended Mosaic church for the second time this morning, and we both still really like! I had though about trying several other churches before settling on one to stick with, but Mosaic has really drawn me in. The atmosphere is very similar to Dan and I's church back home, The Vine Of The Mountains: warm, welcoming and real (all you Vinelings can relate to this). I relaxed the afternoon away, and for the better part of the day we watched The Return Of The King. Having scratched our Lord Of The Rings itch, (for now) Dan and I are filled to the brim with quotes to cunningly slip into everyday conversation.

Well, that was a very brief overview of what happened this week! Thanks for keeping up with Dan and me, we truly love and appreciate all those who helped get us here. 



Fare thee well,

Seth

A Week of Worship

Well, it has certainly been quite a week. So much cool stuff has happened that it has been impossible to get another blog post out before now, and yet only an incredibly long post could tell about everything we’ve experienced this week so it’s hard to even begin. It’s been such a whirlwind that Seth and I had to stop on Friday and try and remember what we did each day, and it wasn’t all that easy.  Between worship, lecture, meals, hang out time, games, walks to the Valley, and everything else there’s really not much time left. Living in community means you can always be spending time with people, and sometimes you have to careful not to forget individual Bible-reading, journaling, and praying, all of which are central to the main reason we’re here – to know Jesus better and learn how to make him known.

Our excellent worship teachers (and one of  the little Dawsons!)

While heaps of things happened this week, to me the undisputable most important part of this week was the lecture time. This week was devoted to learning about worship from Matt and Cora Dawson, both of whom are worship leaders and have an amazing and deep perspective on what worship is and how true worship happens. I might add that both of them are excellent teachers and communicators who spoke truths and told their stories with total vulnerability. Over the three days that Matt spoke, he used his own testimony, extensive worship experience, and humor (we laughed a lot) to bring out wonderful insights concerning how we connect with God and worship him completely not just in our designated “worship times” but most of all in our entire lifestyles. There is absolutely no way for me to convey everything he did in those three days, but here are a few things for you to think about:

We don’t change through strength of will, but by the total renewing of our minds in Christ.

Worship is a natural outpouring of genuine love for God. But we can’t give God any authentic love until we are free. And what sets us free? The truth makes you free. So really being able to worship begins with being truthful about the current state we find ourselves in - our own brokenness and sin, the wounds we have given and received (he went into a lot of detail concerning this), the doubts and insecurities we feel, and everything else. It also begins with truth about who God is and what he has done for us. Once truth is there, we are finally free to love extravagantly and worship completely.

Love, vulnerability, and risk are inseparable. It is impossible to build trust without taking risks. We have to step out in faith and depend on God to come through, and then every time he does pull through for us it becomes easier to trust him.

Worship is not necessarily where you cultivate intimacy with God, it’s where you find out whether you have intimacy with God.

If other people doing things out of the ordinary during worship distracts you from being able to worship, then what you need is not for them to stop but to have a personal revelation of who Jesus is. Is the Jesus we worship really so boring that we need a good show to be able to fully worship him?

When we really know he Jesus is, we realize that worship is not about us, it’s about Jesus – connecting with him and listening to him. When that is the case, the Holy Spirit might actually lead you to minister to other people during worship, extending encouragement, guidance, forgiveness, and prophetic words through you.

We want to be most familiar with God himself, not with the form of worship that we use.

So that’s quite a bit, but there’s still a lot that I’ve left out. After all of this, Matt ended his time on Wednesday not with teaching, but with an experience that he felt was important for bringing truth, and therefore freedom to worship, into our relationship with God. He had us write down any questions or doubts we had to bring before God, no matter how big. He had heard from the Spirit that God wanted to say to all of us, “I am not offended with you,” assuring us that God could take anything we could dish out, if only we would tell the honest truth. After writing down questions and doubts, he had us write a letter to the Father, Son, or Spirit, speaking to him in all honesty whatever was on our heart.

Finally, Matt told us to pray, asking God for a vision of ourselves with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At this point, my doubts kicked in, certain that there was no way I would receive a vision, since I don’t think I ever have before. But God has a way of answering you if you ask for something, and so to my surprise I really did get something from him, if not a single picture! Actually the first thing that popped into my head was the Wilderness Trail logo, five people hiking in a line, each helping the person in front bear their burden. Then I more images came to mind – Half Dome mountain in Yosemite…people backpacking up a mountain…a sunset…two people hugging…a smile…and the face of old man with a wild beard, full of joy and love. “Let’s go on an adventure,” He says, “Let’s climb a mountain. Trust me.”

The next day in lecture Matt’s wife Cora taught, bringing us even more perspective on worship. Like Matt, she told us her story and imparted all sorts of wisdom that I don’t have time to share. The main point of her talk, however, was that each one of us has our own unique connection with God and expression of worship. Worship is about you, with whatever gift you have, elevating your heart to God and connecting with him. Especially in our culture today, we feel like nothing is expected of us in worship but to show up and sing words that someone else has written. But that’s not right – you have something that only you can bring to God in worship (not necessarily music), and that’s what He wants! The enemy wants us to conform, but God wants us to be totally ourselves as we worship him. She gave the prime example of David, who was of course very honest in worship and used his gift of musicianship to begin the tradition of corporate worship through music and singing.

And so, having discussed this, Cora and Matt gave each of us an assignment: to consider the vision we had received from God the day before and turn it into one line of singing. Then, we would get up on Friday and sing it in front of everyone as we worshipped – our own unique contribution to worship straight from God. Now, of course my first reaction (and the reaction of anyone who doesn’t usually sing in front of people) was that this was a ridiculously silly idea. As it turned out, though, our time of worship on Friday was one of the most powerful that I have ever been a part of! For two and a half hours, Matt played just two chords on the guitar and one by one people got up and shared the line(s) that the Spirit had given them. Then, as each person sang, we would join them and sing whatever beautiful truth God had given them. And so, with two chords, our voices, and only words we ourselves wrote, we made some incredibly beautiful music and had an awesome time of worship! It didn’t matter at all whether each of us could sing well or not, God turned it into a perfect expression of worship.

In case you’re wondering, here’s what God gave me (definitely more than one line):

The Father’s face is filled with joy

And filled with love

And filled with wildness

And he says to me:

Come away with me

Put your trust in me

I have a journey planned for you and me

An adventure planned for you and me

Anyway, this week was a great week for worship even outside of lecture, as I had the privilege of going to the Dawson’s house on Wednesday night for something they do each week called “love songs.” This in itself was a lesson in Spirit-led worship. As on Friday, nothing was planned. Matt would play a few chords on the guitar, then we would sing whatever the Spirit led us to, whether a simple phrase or an actual worship song. We didn’t even have to sing – we could just sit and pray or read Scripture or do nothing at all. It was, more than anything else, a time of resting in Jesus’ presence. And there’s not much that’s better than that.

Hmmm…I think that’s enough for one post. More coming soon!

Toodles,

Dan

P.S. Some bonus pictures of New Zealand!

From the road to the base

The beach near Mt. Maunganui

Also from the road to the base

In case you wanted it...

In case you were just dying to send us a letter, postcard, or other mail, here is our mailing address here in the land of novel zeal:

Dan Snyder and/or Seth Blanton
Marine Reach DTS
PO Box 1028
7th Avenue
Tauranga
3140
New Zealand

You certainly don't need to send us anything, but of course we would be incredibly excited to get mail! Thanks for loving us!

Rights? What Rights?

So hopefully you’ve had a chance to read Seth’s post about our day on Thursday, which included our wonderful traditional Maori welcome. Well, since then we haven’t done anything quite that exciting in real life, although watching The Dark Knight Rises was certainly a louder and more epic foray into the world of fiction. I’m still going to give you a bit of a rundown though, for completeness’ sake, and maybe you’ll find it interesting.

On Friday we got up as usual, but rather than doing our life story sharing time like we have all week, we instead had more of a normal lecture. First we heard from a man named Mike (he’s an important guy, but I don’t remember his last name) about the history of Marine Reach Ministries since it began in 1990, and current situation of the ministry. I found out that Marine Reach goes far beyond the Pacific, being the marine branch of YWAM all over the world. In the past, Marine Reach has conducted DTS’s on board ships operated by the ministry. Right now, the ministry doesn’t have a ship with Tauranga as its home port because they were led by God to give their ship the M/V Pacific Link to YWAM Australia in Townsville, Australia to focus on ministry to Papua New Guinea. Currently, they are refocused on training disciples at their land base (that’s where we are), and are raising money and looking for a new ship. If you want to know more about Marine Reach in general, go to here.

After that we heard from our DTS Coordinator and founder of Marine Reach, David Cowie, for the rest of the morning. First, he told us about the Ruel Foundation, an organization which he started to help impoverished children with physical deformities (like cleft lip/palate, club foot, etc.) get the surgeries and care that they need to live normally. It all started when he found a boy named Ruel who desperately needed care for a double cleft lip and palate and helped him get surgery to fix it. In the process of helping Ruel, he found many more children that had the same problem, and was determined to help all of these forgotten children. It was really amazing to see what David did – he saw a huge unmet need and didn’t hesitate to tackle it head on, and as a result God has worked through him and his foundation to drastically change the lives of so many children. It makes you think that maybe with God’s help we really can change the problems we see around us.

After telling us about the Ruel Foundation, David went on to present an extremely challenging lecture, one which could be addressed to any Christian, because it is wholly based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 8:18-22, 10:37-39, 16:24-26, 19:27-30.

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” -- Matthew 8:18-22

Now, in case you don’t want to look up the other passages, the basic idea is Jesus telling his followers that they are going to have to give up their rights when they follow him – pretty much all their rights. Here is the list of rights that David explained that Christians might have to yield:

• Good accommodation
• Food we like (he passed around Lamb’s Tongue – a New Zealand delicacy that tastes like a cross between spam and tuna...mmm)
• Privacy
• Making Decisions
• Wealth and Possessions
• Justice – did Jesus receive justice??
• Equality
• Reputation
• Mature Leadership
• Freedom
• Marriage
• Friends we want
• Family
• Time
• Life

So just think about that – Jesus didn’t guarantee us any of these things, and he himself didn’t get most of them. Most of these are rights we take for granted as North Americans (we need to include the Canadians here), but if we really listen to Jesus words, we might not get them. That’s kinds of crazy to consider, coming from the really privileged background that I have.

Anyway, after lecture we had Friday afternoon and evening free to do whatever we wanted. That meant that a lot of people played games (ultimate Frisbee always among them), some people went into town to go shopping, and in the evening a group also went to the Tauranga House of Prayer (THOP). I, however, was incredibly excited about putting up my new hammock in the avocado trees in the backyard and reading The Hobbit for an hour or two. After some ultimate, I also ran down to the valley and got some pretty good pictures of the sunset. 

Later in the evening, I also got a hold of the keyboard in the lecture room and played for a good while. I hadn’t played for a few weeks, so I had quite a good time, and was very happy that I had scanned several pieces of music onto my computer before I left home for just such an occasion. Fortunately, I don’t have to give up piano for 5 months!

On Saturday, we just hung around in the morning then headed off to town to see The Dark Knight Rises. New Zealand movie theaters are amazingly even more expensive than US theaters (most things cost more here), so after forking over NZ$16 each (around US$13), we enjoyed two and a half hours of wonderful epicness (though not quite as wonderful as the previous movie). Then, after exploring downtown Tauranga for a bit, we came back for dinner.

Later that night we got to break off with the other students from our specific DTS stream (justice) and have some hang out time. It turns out that we are going to have an awesome group of 12 students and 3 staff, and we can already tell it’s going to be all kinds of fun. We had dessert, then ended up playing a game that I’ve played before called fishbowl, but with some added aspects. It’s essentially a fusion of catchphrase, charades, and some other things. For those of you who have played fishbowl, this version had two extra rounds: one where you have to act out the word with only your hands (the rest of you is hidden behind something, like a sofa), and another where you can only use facial expressions. Needless to say, it’s hilarious.

Finally, this Sunday morning we got up and went to church. Seth and I went to the Mosaic Church, which turned out to be really great. My initial impression is that it’s a bit like my two churches The Vine and Vintage21 combined, which is awesome. The worship style and the pastor’s teaching style seem more like Vintage, while the overall location and atmosphere are really informal, kind of like the Vine. The pastor is a young guy that speaks really quickly and passionately, and is great at telling stories from the Bible in a way that we can relate to. He actually got up at the beginning of his sermon and told us that he had something planned, but he thought God wanted him to do something else, but he didn't have an alternative plan. He just had a few passages of scripture in mind, so he said, but he had no trouble building an entire off-the-cuff sermon on grace off of those passages. Both of us are really excited to go back on future Sundays.

After church, we went to a mall to have lunch then came back to the base. It turned out to be a nasty rainy day, so of course the first idea was to watch a movie. And what is the first movie that you would think to watch in New Zealand? That’s right – The Lord of the Rings. And so we moved all the lounge couches into the lecture room and piles in to watch the extended Fellowship of the Ring, which Seth and I could just about quote in its entirety. Later, we had excellent Mexican food for dinner (again!).

Well, that’s probably more details than you ever wanted to know, but then again no one is forcing you to read this. But that was our first weekend here, and we had quite a good time. Tomorrow, it’s back to lecture and watching God do some more of his incredible work.

Nighty-night,

Dan

Many Meetings

Kia ora! It’s time for another update on what Dan and I are experiencing!

Thursday dawned bright and beautiful. The view from our kitchen/ dining room is incredible. Every morning my squinty eyes struggle to take the sheer magnificence that is New Zealand. And that’s just from our kitchen, going for a jaunt down in the valley is even better.   The rain that seemed to dampen our arrival has pushed the falls to even greater splendor.

 With Cheyne leading and God working among us, we continued to share life stories and testimonies. So much healing has taken place in such a short time. We have seen so many walls torn down and chains broken. Its like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. Our God is so good.

Walking down to the valley

Our whole school!

The leaders! Linda and David Cowie, the founders of Marine Reach,  are shown here with Cheyne Hosking, an incredible DTS leader.

After lunch, we began our walk down into the valley to be welcomed by the Maori people in a powhiri ceremony. We had gone over the protocol for this ceremony before hand. We were to walk down to meet them, women first, with men bringing up the rear. We were not to smile or laugh, as this showed disrespect. Tradition is so important to the Maori people, and for good reason. The welcoming ceremony began with a Maori warrior charging the group, testing us.  He wanted to make sure we came in peace.  While waving his taiaha (spear) dangerously close, the warrior yelled and chanted in this native tongue. After he was done testing us, the warrior laid down a feather in front of our group’s representative. Our guy carefully picked it up, signaling that we came with the best of intentions.

Maori warrior checking us out

This would be incredibly scary if we weren't sure they would receive us peacefully...

Approaching the tangata whenua ("people of the land") for welcome, having been deemed well-intentioned by the warrior.

The ceremony then moved into an oratory stage, with the Maori side giving several speeches and songs. Our side then returned with speeches and songs in turn. We had the honor of singing “How Great Thou Art” the Maori tongue. After all the singing and speech making was over, we lined up and participated in the hongi. Much like some North American Indian tribes, we touched noses with the members of the welcoming party, and breathed in together. Hongi literally means, “the sharing of breath”, and it is a beautiful welcoming gesture from the Maori people.

Giving speeches and singing. These are the tangata whenua (note that "wh" makes an "f" sound in Maori), the native Maori or others who have been welcomed previously.

Singing in Maori and English.

More speeches

The hongi

After the powhiri, several of the guys and I were able to talk to the Maori warrior over tea and crackers. He explained to us the significance that culture and history has among the Maori. Its never “just another powhiri” or “just another haka”. For him it is a way to honor his family and ancestors. He also explained the meaning of his traditional Maori tattoos. The tattoos tell the story of him and his family. They aren’t just cool shapes and designs they are a actual record of where he was raised, who raised him, and what he has done. I loved soaking up his cultural knowledge, and welcomed the opportunity to sit and talk with him.

The Maori welcome was fantastic, but after being still and reserved for part of the day, many of us were ready to doing something athletic. Ultimate frisbee fit the bill nicely and we played until it was nearly dark.

ULTIMATE!

To our surprise, we had dinner with a local couples DTS that is going on right now. At this point, we have all become experts at meeting new people, and so enjoyed the new company.

Nearly every day ends with time to fellowship. We are catching a glimpse of community as God intended it to be, and it is an incredible thing. We have known everyone here for less than a week, but we are already bonding and becoming true brothers and sisters in Christ. I look forward to seeing how we will grow as a family in the coming months.

Gods Peace,

Seth

A God Who Redeems

Well, we’ve only been here for a little more than four days, and God is already doing amazing things in us and our classmates! But before I tell you about any of that, I want to give you an idea of the wonderful place that we get to live in community as we walk closer to Jesus.

The Marine Reach Training land base is located on an incredibly beautiful piece of property south of the city of Tauranga, New Zealand. The property is known as Gideon’s Valley or Gideon’s Fields because someone who bought the property a long time ago heard God say to name it after Gideon, though the man had never heard of Gideon before. In the Bible, Gideon was a judge over Israel before there was a king, in Judges chapters 6-8. Though he was not a warrior and surely felt inadequate, God used him to deliver the Israelites from the oppression of the Midianites with only 300 men, so that only God could receive the glory.

We also learned that Gideon’s Fields encompasses part of an area of land that 148 years ago was confiscated from the native Maori people by the English in the land wars that were taking place, so that the indigenous people were cruelly forced off their homeland. Fortunately, we also heard of the healing and reconciliation that is finally taking place today, and tomorrow we will get a traditional welcome from the Maori who live on the property and in the area today!

Through Gideon’s Valley runs the Waimapu River, a wonderfully beautiful (and cold! - we jumped in...) stream that plunges over a majestic waterfall right on the property, just a ten minute walk from the base. Along the stream, in the forest near the waterfall is an international prayer walk with different locations marked to pray for each region of the world. Seth and I first walked down into the valley on Sunday, and even in the rain the stream, waterfall, and forest were breathtaking. Being outdoorsmen, we were also quite intrigued by how different the types of vegetation are from what we have back home, because so much of the flora and fauna of New Zealand is unique to the country. It felt like being in a jungle.

Speaking of interesting flora and fauna, last night we took a walk into the valley with some friends in the dark to see the glow worms that live in the woods and along the banks of the stream. It was unbelievable, looking at the ground and seeing what looked like the stars in the sky, with perhaps a slight green tint. In some places where there wasn’t much tree canopy, the glow worms in the hillside nearly appeared to be an extension of the spangled heavens. And spangled they are, too, as there is not much light pollution here. It’s easy to look up and see millions of stars, including the Milky Way draped across the sky.

The building where we do pretty much everything

Kitchen

Bunk beds!

A ways up the hill from the prayer walk and stream lies the excellent building where we get to do most everything for the next three months – eat, sleep, pray, learn, play, and most of the other things that people do in their day-to-day lives. It’s really a privilege to live here in community with more than 30 other students and 10 or so staff. It’s a nearly new building, essentially laid out with a central great room (kitchen, dining room, and lounge), and two wings branching off for guys and girls dormitory-style housing. Most of the students live here in the building, although a few students and most staff live close by in small (portable?) buildings called Modcoms. There is also a laundry room, some offices, and a lecture room where we have class. It’s really a wonderful setup. To the north, there is a field for just about any sport, a chapel that’s being renovated, and a stunning view of the valley.

Lecture Room

Because we have a nice, new building and even more because we want to learn to be like the servant that Jesus was, everyone has different work duties to do during the week. After breakfast each morning, we all get down to cleaning a different part of the building, and then at other times during the week we are assigned to prepare for or clean up after certain meals, or do other tasks around the building and property.

Lounge

Each day, we get up at around 6:30am and eat breakfast before 7:30 or so. Then, as I mentioned, we clean until the building is sparkly, and have lecture at 8:30. In the coming weeks, we will have different speakers come from all over the place to teach on different subjects that they have great experience dealing with, including worship, relationships, spiritual warfare, hearing God’s voice, and more. During these morning sessions, everyone meets together, regardless of the specific focus of their DTS (ours is justice, others are medical, compassion, and “go”). After the morning lecture, we have lunch at 12:30 – I should mention that the food here is wonderful and healthy – and the schedule in the afternoon is comprised of a lot of different activities. One day a week in the afternoon, the students in each specific DTS will meet to learn about their respective “stream,” or the curriculum that pertains to their school’s particular focus. In our case, we will meet on Wednesday afternoons to do our Justice stream and learn about what justice means and how we bring justice to a world that really needs it. Also in the afternoons some people will have work duties, and a couple times a week we will have a time called “Body, Soul, Spirit” (BSS), during which we make sure to take care of our physical self along with our spiritual self by exercising together in some way (more details on that when we actually do it). On some afternoons and most evenings, there is free time which may be used for processing the day’s teaching, doing assignments, and generally hanging out in fellowship with each other (this so far has included games like Mafia and Signs, and a dance party). Weekends are generally also free, with the prospect of exploring some of the nearby country (or in the case of this weekend, going into the city to see the newest Batman movie :D ).

The little chapel at sunrise

This week has really been quite different from the schedule I have just laid out because it is orientation week. The first morning we were introduced to Marine Reach, the ideas and values behind the DTS, and most of the specifics of living here on the base. We also had the privilege of meeting the delightful David and Linda Cowie, the couple who began Marine Reach Ministries back in 1990 and have since led it to take the gospel and medical care by ship to 16 countries in the Pacific. Today, Marine Reach conducts training at its land base here at Gideon’s Valley, but is waiting for God to provide a new ship.

After the introduction the first day, we jumped right into one of the most difficult, intense, and incredibly beautiful experiences I’ve ever had. We don’t spend any time with niceties here, but instead jump right into the depths of each person’s story, sin and all. The Go DTS leader, Cheyne (pronounced like Shane), calls this process “Openness and Brokenness.” It is essentially a time for each person to share their life story, focusing particularly the sins and brokenness that are a part of that past which they need Jesus to redeem. Once each person shares in complete vulnerability (which usually takes a good deal of courage), Cheyne listens to the spirit to hear how God would have us confront each area of brokenness or sin. The response which the Spirit prompts always includes abundant prayer, but sometimes God presents specific ways to minister to each person in their specific situation, from footwashing to proclamations of forgiveness to affirmations of a person’s worth by other people. It is amazing to be a part of the spiritual warfare which has taken place and the amazing acts of healing and redemption that God has directed. There are many students at our school who have come out of unbelievably difficult pasts, especially family and relationship situations, and it has been overwhelmingly awe-inspiring to watch God mend deep, deep wounds from abuse (physical, emotional, and sexual), broken families, oppressive relationships, insidious sins, and just about anything this depraved world has to offer. Honestly, it is impossible to convey in writing just how much restoration God has been doing these past two days with little more than our prayers, His Word, and the power of his Spirit.

Truly, it has become so evident that we are all broken, and there are often massive wounds that men and women carry around that you could never guess unless they told you about them. But, it has also become so clear that God can and will redeem any and all of our hurts, if only we will confess them and bring them into the light.

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:5-9 ESV

We’re only three days in, but God has already worked miracles, and he has so much more in mind. It’s not going to be easy in the slightest, but there’s no doubt it’s going to be good.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” -  James 1:2-4 ESV

-Sir Daniel

P.S. Writing the passage from James reminds of one way that God has already worked in my life. One of the reasons that I came to this DTS was because I hoped that I would learn to hear God’s voice better. And so I was talking to Cheyne about that very subject because he is so sensitive to God during our “openness and brokenness” time and he had told us that hearing God’s voice is his favorite DTS topic. While speaking with him, I realized that one reason I didn’t hear was because I honestly didn’t ask very much. He told me that to better hear God’s voice one of the things you have to do is just practice, and he recommended that I start by asking God what to read in Scripture. I did so, and the book of James came to mind. I wasn’t sure whether I had really heard from God, though, until I began reading:

“If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.” – James 1:5-7 NLT