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