We got a pretty incredible phone call last night.
We decided last week that we needed a new cooker for the houses. We have two cookers there already, but neither work very well at all, and a temperamental oven when you’re trying to cook for 16 doesn’t go down too well… So we decided before going out and buying one, that we would take it before God and start praying for one. At our house meeting on Monday night we spent a bit of time bringing our need before God, believing that he is a God who provides us with the things that we need. We didn’t tell anyone outside of the YWAM Belfast circle about our need.
Then we were sitting at the dinner table here in Harpenden last night, and Erin gets a phone call from a friend of YWAM. She is getting a new kitchen put in, and offered us her old cooker for free!!
I’m learning a lot these days about God and how he is able to provide for our needs in incredible ways.
Monday, 26 November 2007
"I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane"
Originally written on Sunday 25th November
I sit here in Belfast International airport, laptop on my lap, but with no internet connection…I was hoping to be able to post something today on some free airport internet...but they're trying to make me pay for it! It’ll have to wait for tomorrow to be posted...but I can write it from here…
I’m heading off to Harpenden, a village just outside of London where we’re going to be spending a week in lectures with another DTS there hearing from a guy from South Africa who has a lot of experience working in reconciliation there, so it looks like it’s going to be a good week, it’ll be nice for our students to be able to get a chance to see a bigger picture of YWAM too and meet a group of people who are on the same journey as them but just in a different place.
The school has been going well. We’re just about to enter into our fourth week of the students being here, and it’s been pretty crazy! I think I underestimated the amount of work that actually goes in to putting together a DTS and filling the schedule, as well as finding a bit of time for a life outside of that…
It’s been a bit of a struggle over the last few weeks to really make sure that this DTS doesn’t take over my life… Sure, it’s probably the biggest thing that’s happening right now, but if that’s all that I’m doing or where I’m spending all of my time, then that’s probably not the healthiest. So, please know that I’m trying to figure this out right now, what the balance of working for YWAM and also trying to live a life outside of that means, and so if I’ve been a bad or inattentive friend or family member over the last few weeks or months, please know I’m working on it, and I’m sorry.
In different and happier news though, the students are doing great. They really are an amazing bunch of people. We had a speaker called Steve Sullivan from YWAM in Harpenden (ironically…the very place I’m jetting off to right now!) teaching last week, and what he kept saying was how unusual our students were, and how this is a pretty special DTS. I wasn’t sure what he was meaning by this, and so I talked to him in the middle of the week to ask him to confirm what he was meaning, and he said that the difference with our DTS was that they are coming here to Belfast not just to figure out their own heads, but they are coming with a plan in mind for where they’re going to after this and a goal in the centre of their vision. They are a very purposeful DTS, focused on the direction that God is taking them in and the plan He has for their lives.
I have to admit this is pretty cool. Anyways, the students are doing great, really getting involved and engaging with the lectures and the teaching they’re receiving and so it’s exciting to see where it’s going to go from here!
A date for your diaries…. On Wednesday 12th December (at an as yet undisclosed (i.e. undecided) location) we are going to introduce our DTS students to the world! We’re going to have an evening where the students have a bit of a chance to explain to supporters and friends of YWAM where they have come from, and, as you’ve heard in this blog, a little big of where some of them are hoping to go to after this! So, if you can make it, pencil it into your diary, and I’ll put a location up here in the next while when we figure it out! It’d be great to see you there and to get a chance to meet the students you’re hearing about on here!
I sit here in Belfast International airport, laptop on my lap, but with no internet connection…I was hoping to be able to post something today on some free airport internet...but they're trying to make me pay for it! It’ll have to wait for tomorrow to be posted...but I can write it from here…
I’m heading off to Harpenden, a village just outside of London where we’re going to be spending a week in lectures with another DTS there hearing from a guy from South Africa who has a lot of experience working in reconciliation there, so it looks like it’s going to be a good week, it’ll be nice for our students to be able to get a chance to see a bigger picture of YWAM too and meet a group of people who are on the same journey as them but just in a different place.
The school has been going well. We’re just about to enter into our fourth week of the students being here, and it’s been pretty crazy! I think I underestimated the amount of work that actually goes in to putting together a DTS and filling the schedule, as well as finding a bit of time for a life outside of that…
It’s been a bit of a struggle over the last few weeks to really make sure that this DTS doesn’t take over my life… Sure, it’s probably the biggest thing that’s happening right now, but if that’s all that I’m doing or where I’m spending all of my time, then that’s probably not the healthiest. So, please know that I’m trying to figure this out right now, what the balance of working for YWAM and also trying to live a life outside of that means, and so if I’ve been a bad or inattentive friend or family member over the last few weeks or months, please know I’m working on it, and I’m sorry.
In different and happier news though, the students are doing great. They really are an amazing bunch of people. We had a speaker called Steve Sullivan from YWAM in Harpenden (ironically…the very place I’m jetting off to right now!) teaching last week, and what he kept saying was how unusual our students were, and how this is a pretty special DTS. I wasn’t sure what he was meaning by this, and so I talked to him in the middle of the week to ask him to confirm what he was meaning, and he said that the difference with our DTS was that they are coming here to Belfast not just to figure out their own heads, but they are coming with a plan in mind for where they’re going to after this and a goal in the centre of their vision. They are a very purposeful DTS, focused on the direction that God is taking them in and the plan He has for their lives.
I have to admit this is pretty cool. Anyways, the students are doing great, really getting involved and engaging with the lectures and the teaching they’re receiving and so it’s exciting to see where it’s going to go from here!
A date for your diaries…. On Wednesday 12th December (at an as yet undisclosed (i.e. undecided) location) we are going to introduce our DTS students to the world! We’re going to have an evening where the students have a bit of a chance to explain to supporters and friends of YWAM where they have come from, and, as you’ve heard in this blog, a little big of where some of them are hoping to go to after this! So, if you can make it, pencil it into your diary, and I’ll put a location up here in the next while when we figure it out! It’d be great to see you there and to get a chance to meet the students you’re hearing about on here!
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Perseverance
I just got back from a run with one of our students Kyle. Those of you who have known me for any period of time may find this a somewhat humourous picture! But Kyle was very gracious, waiting for me at various points as I stopped to regain my breath by the road side and putting up with my lack of running experience, sticking by me even though he could quite easily have outstripped me and run ahead at so many points.
So, if you couldn’t tell by now, I’m not really a big runner! But, it’s something I want to get better at, and I’m realising that I need to do something to keep fit, (even though, as we ran through a park, a man told us we were “nutcases” for running…)
The thing about running that I really struggle with is keeping going. I’m the kind of person that when something is getting difficult (i.e. a big hill on the Springfield Road!) then, I might decide to take it easy, walk it out or stop and take a rest instead of keeping going, running through the tiredness.
The thing about running with someone else is that you can take motivation from their journey. Running with someone else encourages me to keep on going, to not let them down by having to stop (too often at least!) and take a rest. Having someone else running with you, particularly someone who is better, has more experience and stamina really motivates me to keep going. Having Kyle running beside me motivated me to keep going, and to try and get better at this.
So, we were on the home straight, about 600m left to go, and I was definitely losing steam, but I made a conscious decision in my mind that I was going to keep going, that I was going to make it to our house without stopping running.
At this point in time, Kyle turned to me and said he was going to run full pelt till he got home, and that he’d meet me there. So, he headed off, and got a bit ahead of me.
And then I stopped running.
As I walked slowly back to the house, this reminded me of something that I read about in the Bible a few weeks ago. Hebrews 12:1-2 says this:
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
While I had Kyle in my sights, and while I followed behind him, I was determined to finish the run, inspired to finish by his example. But as soon as he went out of my immediate line of sight, I gave up and fell away, giving up the run and instead settling for something less.
Our walk and life as Christians can mirror this. We can be following after Jesus and his example, and be following so closely behind with our eyes fixed on Him. But the second we take our eyes off Him and instead choose to look to other things in our lives for our motivation e.g. money, acclaim or other people, then that’s when we fall behind and lose the drive to persevere.
May we always have our eyes fixed on Jesus in this life, may he be our ‘pace-setter’, showing us the way to live as the perfect example for us and inspiring us to persevere through the pain, difficulty and challenges that life throws up in our path. In our lives may our eyes always be turned towards Him, may He be constantly in our sights, and if we ever fail, and look away, may we have the wisdom and courage to look back up again.
May he also be able to do something about my aching legs…
So, if you couldn’t tell by now, I’m not really a big runner! But, it’s something I want to get better at, and I’m realising that I need to do something to keep fit, (even though, as we ran through a park, a man told us we were “nutcases” for running…)
The thing about running that I really struggle with is keeping going. I’m the kind of person that when something is getting difficult (i.e. a big hill on the Springfield Road!) then, I might decide to take it easy, walk it out or stop and take a rest instead of keeping going, running through the tiredness.
The thing about running with someone else is that you can take motivation from their journey. Running with someone else encourages me to keep on going, to not let them down by having to stop (too often at least!) and take a rest. Having someone else running with you, particularly someone who is better, has more experience and stamina really motivates me to keep going. Having Kyle running beside me motivated me to keep going, and to try and get better at this.
So, we were on the home straight, about 600m left to go, and I was definitely losing steam, but I made a conscious decision in my mind that I was going to keep going, that I was going to make it to our house without stopping running.
At this point in time, Kyle turned to me and said he was going to run full pelt till he got home, and that he’d meet me there. So, he headed off, and got a bit ahead of me.
And then I stopped running.
As I walked slowly back to the house, this reminded me of something that I read about in the Bible a few weeks ago. Hebrews 12:1-2 says this:
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.”
While I had Kyle in my sights, and while I followed behind him, I was determined to finish the run, inspired to finish by his example. But as soon as he went out of my immediate line of sight, I gave up and fell away, giving up the run and instead settling for something less.
Our walk and life as Christians can mirror this. We can be following after Jesus and his example, and be following so closely behind with our eyes fixed on Him. But the second we take our eyes off Him and instead choose to look to other things in our lives for our motivation e.g. money, acclaim or other people, then that’s when we fall behind and lose the drive to persevere.
May we always have our eyes fixed on Jesus in this life, may he be our ‘pace-setter’, showing us the way to live as the perfect example for us and inspiring us to persevere through the pain, difficulty and challenges that life throws up in our path. In our lives may our eyes always be turned towards Him, may He be constantly in our sights, and if we ever fail, and look away, may we have the wisdom and courage to look back up again.
May he also be able to do something about my aching legs…
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
The first few weeks of the school
I’m trying to think about where I should start with this entry. It’s been a few days (over a week actually...) since I wrote anything here, and I’m not going to make excuses, but it’s been pretty busy here! (oh…looks like I did make an excuse…) So I’m trying to decide where to start in telling you about all the things that are going on…
I suppose I should start with the students! We have twelve students here currently. One more is on his way tomorrow, and another awaiting a visa (actually, talking about that, please can you pray for Fred Daniel in Rwanda that his visa would be approved and he’d be able to join us here in Belfast!)
The students are from a good variety of nations and backgrounds, and it’s been really exciting getting to know them over the last week a little, and watch them becoming this little community here in these small houses on the Shankill Road.
It’s also been a busy week and a half, we spent the first couple of days on the school doing some orientation, introducing them to the world of YWAM and the area of Belfast (I actually sent them on a “photo scavenger hunt” around Belfast one afternoon….somewhat miscalculating the amount of time it would take, and the distance they would have to walk…they only got about half of it done in the time I had written into the schedule…and they came back here shattered!) I’m yet to gather together the pictures that they took, but be assured when I do, I’m sure a few of the choicer ones will appear on here!
On Wednesday last week then, we took the school away for a few days to a place in South Armagh called “Darkley” to lend a hand to a ministry that’s been doing great things in that area for 28 years. It’s becoming a bit of a YWAM Belfast tradition that we take a group down there once a year to give them a hand doing some of the stuff that the small team working there would struggle to get done in a month! It’s amazing how much a willing and able group of 20 people can get done in 8 hours! So, it was a good time of bonding and working alongside eachother. A few of the students and I had a good time cutting down a load of trees and bushes in the rain and then burning them on a big bonfire. (Can you tell this was MY highlight?!).
We then had the weekend off, and I just spent it catching up with a few friends and spending some time with family. This week marks the start of our first week of following the proper lecture week schedule, and so we’re having some interesting times learning about the history of this island and discovering a bit more about our own national identities whatever they may be!
It’s funny after such a long time of us as staff preparing for the students, that they are finally here. And I just have to say that it feels so right. This group of students really are a great bunch of guys and girls, so eager to be here and to seek after what God has planned for them this year. I can’t wait to hopefully introduce you all to them at some point in the future!
On a Tuesday afternoon we have small groups, where the guys and girls separate and just get a chance to catch up in a group setting and share openly with eachother. Today we were talking about the expectations that we have for this year, and what they as students are looking to get out of the year. It was really encouraging for me as a leader to hear that the reasons and the things that we have been praying for them, and desiring them to come here seeking, are really the things that they are looking for during this time.
It’s a really exciting time right now, but at the same time, it’s pretty scary and a little daunting. After so long having these students just as pictures on our wall and names in our minds, it’s funny to have them living in the room next door! I’m just coming to realise the responsibility that’s on me for this year to really lead these guys well, to try and seek God for the best ways to act and teach them. So, if you’re up for praying, pray for that, for me and also our whole staff team, that we would take this really seriously, and honour God with the gift of these 14 people that he’s blessed us with for this 7 months.
Matt Huber, the brother-in-law of a good friend of mine, Jessica (and now, I think I can say, a friend in his own right) has been staying with us at YWAM Belfast for the last few days, just leaving yesterday. Matt, his wife Karen, and kids Jack & Ella are missionary appointees to Dublin with Greater Europe Mission, and he’s here on a bit of a vision trip right now to try and gain a bit of insight into the work that they’re hoping to be involved with, and to get a flavour of ministry on this island. Matt joined us in Belfast for a few days just to see what we’re up to here. You can read a bit about his adventures (and in the broader scheme of things, how their journey over here is progressing) by clicking the link to their blog on the right. They’re doing some good things in Kansas and it’s really encouraging and inspiring to see a family so intent on following the call of God on their life! So, check it out…
Well that's all for now! Hopefully I won’t wait so long to update you next…
I suppose I should start with the students! We have twelve students here currently. One more is on his way tomorrow, and another awaiting a visa (actually, talking about that, please can you pray for Fred Daniel in Rwanda that his visa would be approved and he’d be able to join us here in Belfast!)
The students are from a good variety of nations and backgrounds, and it’s been really exciting getting to know them over the last week a little, and watch them becoming this little community here in these small houses on the Shankill Road.
It’s also been a busy week and a half, we spent the first couple of days on the school doing some orientation, introducing them to the world of YWAM and the area of Belfast (I actually sent them on a “photo scavenger hunt” around Belfast one afternoon….somewhat miscalculating the amount of time it would take, and the distance they would have to walk…they only got about half of it done in the time I had written into the schedule…and they came back here shattered!) I’m yet to gather together the pictures that they took, but be assured when I do, I’m sure a few of the choicer ones will appear on here!
On Wednesday last week then, we took the school away for a few days to a place in South Armagh called “Darkley” to lend a hand to a ministry that’s been doing great things in that area for 28 years. It’s becoming a bit of a YWAM Belfast tradition that we take a group down there once a year to give them a hand doing some of the stuff that the small team working there would struggle to get done in a month! It’s amazing how much a willing and able group of 20 people can get done in 8 hours! So, it was a good time of bonding and working alongside eachother. A few of the students and I had a good time cutting down a load of trees and bushes in the rain and then burning them on a big bonfire. (Can you tell this was MY highlight?!).
We then had the weekend off, and I just spent it catching up with a few friends and spending some time with family. This week marks the start of our first week of following the proper lecture week schedule, and so we’re having some interesting times learning about the history of this island and discovering a bit more about our own national identities whatever they may be!
It’s funny after such a long time of us as staff preparing for the students, that they are finally here. And I just have to say that it feels so right. This group of students really are a great bunch of guys and girls, so eager to be here and to seek after what God has planned for them this year. I can’t wait to hopefully introduce you all to them at some point in the future!
On a Tuesday afternoon we have small groups, where the guys and girls separate and just get a chance to catch up in a group setting and share openly with eachother. Today we were talking about the expectations that we have for this year, and what they as students are looking to get out of the year. It was really encouraging for me as a leader to hear that the reasons and the things that we have been praying for them, and desiring them to come here seeking, are really the things that they are looking for during this time.
It’s a really exciting time right now, but at the same time, it’s pretty scary and a little daunting. After so long having these students just as pictures on our wall and names in our minds, it’s funny to have them living in the room next door! I’m just coming to realise the responsibility that’s on me for this year to really lead these guys well, to try and seek God for the best ways to act and teach them. So, if you’re up for praying, pray for that, for me and also our whole staff team, that we would take this really seriously, and honour God with the gift of these 14 people that he’s blessed us with for this 7 months.
Matt Huber, the brother-in-law of a good friend of mine, Jessica (and now, I think I can say, a friend in his own right) has been staying with us at YWAM Belfast for the last few days, just leaving yesterday. Matt, his wife Karen, and kids Jack & Ella are missionary appointees to Dublin with Greater Europe Mission, and he’s here on a bit of a vision trip right now to try and gain a bit of insight into the work that they’re hoping to be involved with, and to get a flavour of ministry on this island. Matt joined us in Belfast for a few days just to see what we’re up to here. You can read a bit about his adventures (and in the broader scheme of things, how their journey over here is progressing) by clicking the link to their blog on the right. They’re doing some good things in Kansas and it’s really encouraging and inspiring to see a family so intent on following the call of God on their life! So, check it out…
Well that's all for now! Hopefully I won’t wait so long to update you next…
Sunday, 4 November 2007
The day we've all been waiting for!
Well, the day has finally arrived! What we as a Belfast DTS staff team have been planning for has finally happened. The students have started arriving! The houses are buzzing, and the excitement levels are reaching new heights with each one that arrives.
It’s been a busy few days as we picked the different students up from the airport, and exciting to finally get to meet them in person after looking at their names and pictures on our wall for the last few months. It’s odd to put a moving face and personality to the name!
It’s been so great to see their enthusiasm, to see each one of them taking their own individual leap of faith to leave their lives in their respective countries, and come over here to spend a year seeking God’s will and plan for their lives and spend some time thinking about what it means to serve God with our everything.
Having these students arriving here has reminded me pretty strongly of MY first few days on DTS. I can remember walking through the door of the house where we were staying (which, funnily enough is now our office! I type this blog from where my bed used to be!) and feeling the excitement of this step into the unknown, not knowing exactly WHAT it was that I was getting myself into, but knowing that this was exactly where God had for me to be that year.
YWAM Belfast DTS 2003-4 on outreach phase in South Africa
I can only pray that this DTS that I’m staffing now can play in these guys as big a role as mine did for me, inspiring me to attempt to live my life for God in complete abandon, and seeking to fulfil what it is that He has planned for me. I haven’t gotten it figured out yet, and I don’t claim to! But I know I’m just that little bit further along the journey because of that year I spent seeking to “know God, & make Him known.”
It’s been a busy few days as we picked the different students up from the airport, and exciting to finally get to meet them in person after looking at their names and pictures on our wall for the last few months. It’s odd to put a moving face and personality to the name!
It’s been so great to see their enthusiasm, to see each one of them taking their own individual leap of faith to leave their lives in their respective countries, and come over here to spend a year seeking God’s will and plan for their lives and spend some time thinking about what it means to serve God with our everything.
Having these students arriving here has reminded me pretty strongly of MY first few days on DTS. I can remember walking through the door of the house where we were staying (which, funnily enough is now our office! I type this blog from where my bed used to be!) and feeling the excitement of this step into the unknown, not knowing exactly WHAT it was that I was getting myself into, but knowing that this was exactly where God had for me to be that year.
YWAM Belfast DTS 2003-4 on outreach phase in South Africa
I can only pray that this DTS that I’m staffing now can play in these guys as big a role as mine did for me, inspiring me to attempt to live my life for God in complete abandon, and seeking to fulfil what it is that He has planned for me. I haven’t gotten it figured out yet, and I don’t claim to! But I know I’m just that little bit further along the journey because of that year I spent seeking to “know God, & make Him known.”
Two days to go...
DISCLAIMER:
This is just a silly picture...Amalia is not actually meditating on the number two...
Friday, 2 November 2007
Thursday, 1 November 2007
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