When last we talked…. we had just gotten back from Harpenden and our lectures with their DTS. We came back straight into a week of “Forgiveness Training” with the other YWAM ministry here in Belfast. They were training us in how to lead other people in the Forgiveness journey, and how to teach it in schools. On the Tuesday of this week we had an opportunity to go into a school and lead a class in discussion and thinking on this subject which was a good experience, and just a small window into the great work that the guys are doing here working in schools.
This week was also very much charicterised with a great gift in my life... My very good friend Jessica who i went to college with for 2 years at Belfast Bible College was in Belfast for a visit! She was welcomed with open arms into the YWAM Belfast community, staying with us for the week. Jessica is one of my best friends and having her here was a real blessing, it's been funny telling her all about this place I'm living in now and the people I'm sharing my life with with her not having met or seen it! So it was nice to introduce her and give her a taste of Shankill living!
Below are some pictures from her visit...I feel I need to apologise, i think there's at least one picture (and I think you'll be able to guess which one) she told me specifically not to put up here...and yet, here i go.... Aww well, she'll forgive me! (I hope!)
This is not Jessica's usual look! It was a special one night only thing...but i think it suits her!
Jessica, me and a good friend from Dublin Karen spent a weekend on the North Coast. For some reason, this is a tradition of ours when we get together, a picture with toothbrushes! (Mum...I hope you're proud!)
Jessica and I headed down to the City Hall to check out the "Belfast Eye"
It felt like the week was over before it began! Went by pretty quickly...but it was nice to spend a good bit of time with some good friends.
We then were straight into a week of lecture with another “year out” group, also based in Belfast, called the “Sword of the Spirit”, and again these lectures were on Reconciliation. But interestingly from two different angles. A representative from S.O.S. (Sword of the Spirit), Bruce Yocum, spoke for the first few days on the theological and Biblical basis on reconciliation and ecumenicalism working itself out, while our very own Jonny Clark from YWAM NI took on the last few days speaking on how these two issues can work in a practical way.
The following and last before Christmas week, (sorry! I’m powering through these to get through everything!) saw a move in a different direction for the DTS, up until now, it has been quite intellectual in content, using our heads a lot, but the emphasis for the next few lecture weeks is really going to be on the heart, trying to learn by encountering God in his deity and grow spiritually, not just in our brains. So, to start us off on this journey, Jonny gave lectures on the “Father heart of God”, leading us in discussion and meditation on God’s love for us and how it mirrors that of a father for a child. There was a lot more to it than this (but you’ll have to do a DTS to find out what! ☺) Then the week was finished off by two visiting speakers called Andrew & Nice Bowers, who came to speak on “Original Design”, basically the premise being that we have been created to be someone pretty specific, God did not just throw us together and hope for the best, but he has an exact and beautiful design for each of us, but the problem is that oftentimes we don’t believe it, we lose sight of what this is, or else never actually discover it in the first place! Andrew and Nice walked us through this topic, and spent a lot of their time (including their time off) praying with each of us individually and seeking God as to what He designed us to be.
The lecture times are really some of the pivotal moments on a DTS, and we have been very much blessed so far this year with committed speakers who very much value the students that we have and inputing into their lives. And on the flipside, the students have been appreciating what it is that the lecturers bring to the table, fresh ideas and wisdom gained from years of actually getting out there and doing the things that they are talking about, serving God in very practical ways and getting to know Him intimately through this.
One exciting thing though is that it’s not all classroom on this DTS, there’s very much an opportunity for our students to practice what they are learning. In the next blog, I’ll be letting you in on some exciting news about outreach!
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