I think God has taught me the most important and valuable lesson I am going to get out of this DTS. I know that this is a very crazy statement to make, and I also acknowledge that it's more than likely wrong, but it's something I have been struggling with for ages, and God has finally calmed my spirit about it.
I need to stop trying to control the spiritual lives of those close to me.
I always do things and have incredible experiences with God and amazing revelations through the things he puts me through, and then I always find myself telling others to do those exact same things! What God has shown me through the course of this week is that He's got a specific and unique path for everyone, and just because He does amazing things in my life through certain situations and experiences, doesn't mean He's gonna do it the exact same way for others.
However, that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop recommending things to others! So I recommend to all of you to do YWAM if you have a chance. Seriously. I have only been here a week, and I am already so in love with everything God is going to be using us for and doing with us/through us.
I don't have much else to say other than I'm excited to sleep in tomorrow! And have a whole free day! Goodnight all, and God bless to those going to Northern Summit this weekend. God's gonna do big things :).
Friday 30 September 2011
Thursday 29 September 2011
Stop Saying, "Homeless"
Today was awesome. Almost the whole day was a testimony from a man here named Wes.(don't quote me on this, but I think his last name is Anderson?). He is a man who grew up as an abused child, and whose parents divorced when he was at a young age. Through high school he tried to get into the NHL, and almost made it, but broke his knee when he was 19 and that ended his career.
For the next ten years he got married, had a son, seperated, got back together, and got divorced finally when he was 28. His wife left telling him that he would never amount to anything, and he believed her. He contemplated suicide many times, as he had had the same job for almost 10 years and gone nowhere(he was in marketing).
Then they started a new project at work and he was put in charge for something, and it was up to him to come up with a business plan(which he had never done before). Long story short, he became a millionaire in less than a year. He was good friends with Bill Gates. He went to dinner with movie actors. He flew to Paris on the weekends just cuz. He basically had everything THE WORLD could offer. Literally. He paid 40,000 cash for a lexus cuz he really wanted it, then sold it a couple weeks later cuz he though it smelled funny.
I think you get the picture.
When he was 45 he became a christian. And a couple years later, God told him very specifically to sell all his belongings, give away all his money, and live on the street. So he did. Obviously, not that easily. He told us quite a few stories about him trying to get out of it, but how the conviction from God never ever left no matter what he did, so about a year after getting the conviction he actually did it. All he had was a really really old beater car to store his stuff in. He spent a year on the streets living with homeless people(he told us to stop saying homeless by the way, because he finds it an insult as they are just as much regular people as we are, and when we say that about someone we instantly think less of them). He has countless countless stories about miracles he witnessed and relationships he built.
Wes was friends with homeless people. He didn't minister to them, he didn't preach to them. He was just their friend. That being said, they all knew he was a christian, because they could tell by how he lived day to day, and because they knew he chose to live with them. He talked about not trying to force Jesus on people, but just remembering that every time you treat someone as Jesus would treat them, you plant a seed in that person that God goes crazy on. He would not stop emphasizing that he never had to tell anyone he was a christian, and never once did he preach to these people(unless they asked questions obviously), he simply walked the walk that Jesus did while he was on earth.
Then he met a lady named Maureen, who had the same passion as him for people, and they now run a farm in northern ontario where they sort of foster people from the streets. They have 1-4 people living on their farm at all times who live with them for months-and sometimes even years at a time. They don't preach to them, and they don't force God on them. They just love them, because that's all God needs us to do.
Just. Love. People.
This excites me, because they're going to take us out to do these sort of things for missions in Toronto( by the way, they don't call it missions, because they feel like that makes it a seperate part of our lives even though our every single second of life is supposed to be ministry to others just by living). And I have always felt convicted that we just need to care about people and stop preaching to them.
So I'm excited to love people and trust that God has the rest under control :).
Then we were told we're going to Japan and Thailand for outreach. So that's pretty freakin awesome!!
But I have to help lead worship tomorrow so I'm going to bed because I have to be up at 6 and it is now 11. I love you all. See you tomorrow :)
*I paraphrased what was actually about 4 hours worth of talking from Wes and Maureen just so you know.*
For the next ten years he got married, had a son, seperated, got back together, and got divorced finally when he was 28. His wife left telling him that he would never amount to anything, and he believed her. He contemplated suicide many times, as he had had the same job for almost 10 years and gone nowhere(he was in marketing).
Then they started a new project at work and he was put in charge for something, and it was up to him to come up with a business plan(which he had never done before). Long story short, he became a millionaire in less than a year. He was good friends with Bill Gates. He went to dinner with movie actors. He flew to Paris on the weekends just cuz. He basically had everything THE WORLD could offer. Literally. He paid 40,000 cash for a lexus cuz he really wanted it, then sold it a couple weeks later cuz he though it smelled funny.
I think you get the picture.
When he was 45 he became a christian. And a couple years later, God told him very specifically to sell all his belongings, give away all his money, and live on the street. So he did. Obviously, not that easily. He told us quite a few stories about him trying to get out of it, but how the conviction from God never ever left no matter what he did, so about a year after getting the conviction he actually did it. All he had was a really really old beater car to store his stuff in. He spent a year on the streets living with homeless people(he told us to stop saying homeless by the way, because he finds it an insult as they are just as much regular people as we are, and when we say that about someone we instantly think less of them). He has countless countless stories about miracles he witnessed and relationships he built.
Wes was friends with homeless people. He didn't minister to them, he didn't preach to them. He was just their friend. That being said, they all knew he was a christian, because they could tell by how he lived day to day, and because they knew he chose to live with them. He talked about not trying to force Jesus on people, but just remembering that every time you treat someone as Jesus would treat them, you plant a seed in that person that God goes crazy on. He would not stop emphasizing that he never had to tell anyone he was a christian, and never once did he preach to these people(unless they asked questions obviously), he simply walked the walk that Jesus did while he was on earth.
Then he met a lady named Maureen, who had the same passion as him for people, and they now run a farm in northern ontario where they sort of foster people from the streets. They have 1-4 people living on their farm at all times who live with them for months-and sometimes even years at a time. They don't preach to them, and they don't force God on them. They just love them, because that's all God needs us to do.
Just. Love. People.
This excites me, because they're going to take us out to do these sort of things for missions in Toronto( by the way, they don't call it missions, because they feel like that makes it a seperate part of our lives even though our every single second of life is supposed to be ministry to others just by living). And I have always felt convicted that we just need to care about people and stop preaching to them.
So I'm excited to love people and trust that God has the rest under control :).
Then we were told we're going to Japan and Thailand for outreach. So that's pretty freakin awesome!!
But I have to help lead worship tomorrow so I'm going to bed because I have to be up at 6 and it is now 11. I love you all. See you tomorrow :)
*I paraphrased what was actually about 4 hours worth of talking from Wes and Maureen just so you know.*
Wednesday 28 September 2011
Discussion Desserts
Today we were introduced to something we are going to be doing called, "discussion desserts". I am very excited about this. Why? Because we are going to be given a very difficult topic(like, apologetic topics level) and it will be in our hands to discuss this topic over things such as cake and ice cream. The reason for the cake and ice cream is simply because it keeps in a better mood so that no one is trying to kill each other whilst getting worked up over opinions. I find that quite hilarious, but I also find it very logical!
I am extremely excited about these discussions, because I LOVE doing this kind of thing. Philosophy and Apologetics fascinate me. The main reason they do is because it is one of the biggest ways God has always revealed to me that He exists. Through pure and simple logic--And sometimes very intense and complicated logic. I just love knowledge, and I love debates and discussions about knowledge, logic, reason, faith, etc.
So I am very excited for these discussions to begin.
We also talked about some upcomign missions things we'll actually be doing while we're still in Canada, and those are pretty exciting. Things such as getting in a van with a local missions organization from 6-11PM and feeding homeless people throughout Toronto. That will be fun. We will also be walking with a man who is an expert on homelessness and getting to know homeless people throughout the day and working in places such as soup kitchens. And finally, we'll be working on a farm that is sort of on the same idea as Teen Challenge, but on a much smaller scale.
I'm super excited!!
Talk to you all tomorrow. :)
I am extremely excited about these discussions, because I LOVE doing this kind of thing. Philosophy and Apologetics fascinate me. The main reason they do is because it is one of the biggest ways God has always revealed to me that He exists. Through pure and simple logic--And sometimes very intense and complicated logic. I just love knowledge, and I love debates and discussions about knowledge, logic, reason, faith, etc.
So I am very excited for these discussions to begin.
We also talked about some upcomign missions things we'll actually be doing while we're still in Canada, and those are pretty exciting. Things such as getting in a van with a local missions organization from 6-11PM and feeding homeless people throughout Toronto. That will be fun. We will also be walking with a man who is an expert on homelessness and getting to know homeless people throughout the day and working in places such as soup kitchens. And finally, we'll be working on a farm that is sort of on the same idea as Teen Challenge, but on a much smaller scale.
I'm super excited!!
Talk to you all tomorrow. :)
Tuesday 27 September 2011
The Power of Prayer
Today we had a lady come in and tell us about different types of prayer that are more than just talking. I myself have personally never found it difficult or boring to pray, and actually love spending time completely quiet and relaxed just talking to God/listening to God. To me, prayer is fantastic at this stage in my life.
This lady taught us different methods of prayer like singing our prayers and prayer with scripture and such. It was cool, and I enjoyed it, but I don't think I have any problem communicating with God the way I do now.
Of course, every other time I've thought that way in the past God has completely proven me wrong. So we'll see what happens in the future!
Then I discovered a store in the area that sells bolthouse farms smoothies so I was rather excited, and we checked out a sword shop and army surplus...never going to be able to afford any of that while I'm here! But it's pretty to gaze at and hold I suppose....
I'll see you all tomorrow if this continues to be so consistent :)
This lady taught us different methods of prayer like singing our prayers and prayer with scripture and such. It was cool, and I enjoyed it, but I don't think I have any problem communicating with God the way I do now.
Of course, every other time I've thought that way in the past God has completely proven me wrong. So we'll see what happens in the future!
Then I discovered a store in the area that sells bolthouse farms smoothies so I was rather excited, and we checked out a sword shop and army surplus...never going to be able to afford any of that while I'm here! But it's pretty to gaze at and hold I suppose....
I'll see you all tomorrow if this continues to be so consistent :)
Monday 26 September 2011
DTS: Death To Self
Well, today was the first day of classes. And I absolutely loved it!!
The guy who spoke was the guy who sort of started this DTS. We found out a lot behind the history and I don't want to write three hours worth of lecturing into this post because I don't have that much time, but in short, this DTS is very different than any other DTS's for one main reason.
We don't have a base. Almost every other YWAM DTS in the organization has their own base. It's like a campus. It's safe, and contained, and the students don't get as much experience outside the base as we do. This DTS doesn't have a base, we live in a hotel that is on the water and is in the middle of Port Credit, Mississauga, Ontario. We are surrounded by all kinds of people and ethnicities and cultures, and in some cases even crime which we will witness on a higher level during missions/outreach(sex trafficking). So part of the training for this DTS is actually living in an idea of what our outreach will be. So that's kind of awesome.
Then we talked about DTS in the respect of meaning, "Death To Self". I can't remember word for word very much, so here's my notes from it.
- Only when you experience the true feeling of losing God and losing Christ can you appreciate the crucifixion, and THEN the joyfulness of the resurrection
- The Christ even has two moments in it: the crucifixion and THEN the resurrection. In order to appreciate the resurrection you must know weakness, fear and trembling first.
- Death has to work in you in order for life to come out
- When you die to yourself, public opinion is neither here nor there(who cares what anyone thinks about me or what I do?)
- Paradoxically, rejoicing comes out of being in sorrow.
- When Paul feels like everyone has abandoned him, he lets his friends know that straight away!
- Pual says that he dies daily. Meaning that he had suffering every day of his life. Do we experience this? Why not? Why is suffering such a shock to our culture? Why have we shielded ourselves from suffering? Why do we call it Good Friday when really on that day there was so much suffering and sorrow? We need to be open to suffering, because out of suffering comes much joy and much more appreciation of the resurrection.
- Israelites are the ones who wrestled with God. So should we and WILL we wrestle with God in our journey.
So yea, that was our first day. Then we went and bought ice cream and I helped to make dinner for everyone! We only have to do it once a week, so I'm already done for the week!
I shall see you all on the morrow.
The guy who spoke was the guy who sort of started this DTS. We found out a lot behind the history and I don't want to write three hours worth of lecturing into this post because I don't have that much time, but in short, this DTS is very different than any other DTS's for one main reason.
We don't have a base. Almost every other YWAM DTS in the organization has their own base. It's like a campus. It's safe, and contained, and the students don't get as much experience outside the base as we do. This DTS doesn't have a base, we live in a hotel that is on the water and is in the middle of Port Credit, Mississauga, Ontario. We are surrounded by all kinds of people and ethnicities and cultures, and in some cases even crime which we will witness on a higher level during missions/outreach(sex trafficking). So part of the training for this DTS is actually living in an idea of what our outreach will be. So that's kind of awesome.
Then we talked about DTS in the respect of meaning, "Death To Self". I can't remember word for word very much, so here's my notes from it.
- Only when you experience the true feeling of losing God and losing Christ can you appreciate the crucifixion, and THEN the joyfulness of the resurrection
- The Christ even has two moments in it: the crucifixion and THEN the resurrection. In order to appreciate the resurrection you must know weakness, fear and trembling first.
- Death has to work in you in order for life to come out
- When you die to yourself, public opinion is neither here nor there(who cares what anyone thinks about me or what I do?)
- Paradoxically, rejoicing comes out of being in sorrow.
- When Paul feels like everyone has abandoned him, he lets his friends know that straight away!
- Pual says that he dies daily. Meaning that he had suffering every day of his life. Do we experience this? Why not? Why is suffering such a shock to our culture? Why have we shielded ourselves from suffering? Why do we call it Good Friday when really on that day there was so much suffering and sorrow? We need to be open to suffering, because out of suffering comes much joy and much more appreciation of the resurrection.
- Israelites are the ones who wrestled with God. So should we and WILL we wrestle with God in our journey.
So yea, that was our first day. Then we went and bought ice cream and I helped to make dinner for everyone! We only have to do it once a week, so I'm already done for the week!
I shall see you all on the morrow.
Sunday 25 September 2011
Day Two
Wow, here we are and I'm on my second day in a row! Impressive!
Today we woke up and went to church at freedom centre international in Mississauga. It was interesting...not quite like home but still nice to go to a new church for fresh perspective. Then we had lunch which was delicious, and went for a walk all along the shore here. It goes on forever and it's all nature parks to the south! It's beautiful!! I'm glad I'm still close to nature, because to be honest I was quite worried about living in the city.
Then we had dinner and went for ice cream. Was quite nice! I actually really enjoy being in the city, but I definitely miss the peace and quiet of home.
Now I'm posting this...so yea..
Tomorrow classes start! We'll see how this goes..
Today we woke up and went to church at freedom centre international in Mississauga. It was interesting...not quite like home but still nice to go to a new church for fresh perspective. Then we had lunch which was delicious, and went for a walk all along the shore here. It goes on forever and it's all nature parks to the south! It's beautiful!! I'm glad I'm still close to nature, because to be honest I was quite worried about living in the city.
Then we had dinner and went for ice cream. Was quite nice! I actually really enjoy being in the city, but I definitely miss the peace and quiet of home.
Now I'm posting this...so yea..
Tomorrow classes start! We'll see how this goes..
Saturday 24 September 2011
The Beginning...
Well hello there everyone! It would appear that this is the first blog post of my brand new YWAM blog! Thank you all for joining me! I'm going to try and update this thing as much as possible, but I think it would be best to say right off the bat that I'm not making any promises, because I've never been good at those, and I've never been good at constantly updating or checking these things either. To be honest the best way to track my adventures would probably be either facebook or youtube, but you probably know that already :).
Anyway it's probably high time I got this first entry started. And what better place to start than the very beginning? I'm writing this on the very day I left: September 24th, but I'm not sure it will be up the same day. Oh well, I suppose that's irrelevant now anyway.
I woke up at 7 this morning in a house that is not my own, then went and packed up the majority of my belongings in a house that's not really my own either, hopped in a car that's also not my own, and drove a couple hundred kilometres south to Mississauga.
Two significant things took place on that drive, and they're pretty much gonna take up the rest of this post for multiple reasons.
The first thing that happened was music. I had the following five songs on repeat for the entire drive.
-Wish you well (TFK)
-The Last Song (TFK)
-What do We Know (TFK)
-Favorite Disease (TFK)
-Home (TFK)
To be honest I pretty much ahd that entire album on repeat, but these five songs in specific stuck out like a sore thumb. TFK(Thousand Foot Krutch) was literally like a crutch for me in high school. I listened to them constantly. The first two songs especially bring memories of grade eleven flooding black into my mind like a broken dam on steroids.
I actually don't even recall listening to those songs since grade eleven, and so the level of nostalgia which overtook me on that drive was almost unbearable. To top it off, "Wish you well" and, "The Last Song" are extremely nostalgic songs within themselves.
As I sat there listening to those first two songs, I found myself yearning to be a kid again, and wondering how and why I let myself grow up so fast. But then, "What do we know" began playing, and in its own way offered me hope for the future, and for all the wonderful things God has yet to come in my life. "Favorite disease" continued that feeling, and, "Home" just brought feel good memories of planning a music video for that song. Needless to say, it was rather an emotional rollercoaster of a ride.
The second thing that happened was 1 Timothy 6:7-8
"For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these."
Talk about a verse to calm your worries.
I'm obviously nervouse about this thing: It's a new experience, and new experiences are always scary, but worrying is gonna get me nowhere, and God will provide everything I need. And if God provides all I need, I will be content.
So that was my drive here. And now here I am. I'm not gonna lie I got slightly teary-eyed when I said goodbye to my parents for the last time. Because, yes, I've lived at Muskoka Woods before, but that was still close to home. I'm not three+ hours away! And I'm almost completely independent. It's a strange and terrifying feeling. I'm pretty sure it's akin to the feeling that the daycare kids get when their parents drop them off at our house for the day. In their mind, a day is almost a lifetime to be away from their parents!
In my mind, five months is forever! But I'll get over it, because God's beside me every step of the way, and He wants me to grow and live life to the fullest potential He has given me. So thank you all for any prayers or thoughts you send my way. I highly appreciate them all :).
Here we go!
Anyway it's probably high time I got this first entry started. And what better place to start than the very beginning? I'm writing this on the very day I left: September 24th, but I'm not sure it will be up the same day. Oh well, I suppose that's irrelevant now anyway.
I woke up at 7 this morning in a house that is not my own, then went and packed up the majority of my belongings in a house that's not really my own either, hopped in a car that's also not my own, and drove a couple hundred kilometres south to Mississauga.
Two significant things took place on that drive, and they're pretty much gonna take up the rest of this post for multiple reasons.
The first thing that happened was music. I had the following five songs on repeat for the entire drive.
-Wish you well (TFK)
-The Last Song (TFK)
-What do We Know (TFK)
-Favorite Disease (TFK)
-Home (TFK)
To be honest I pretty much ahd that entire album on repeat, but these five songs in specific stuck out like a sore thumb. TFK(Thousand Foot Krutch) was literally like a crutch for me in high school. I listened to them constantly. The first two songs especially bring memories of grade eleven flooding black into my mind like a broken dam on steroids.
I actually don't even recall listening to those songs since grade eleven, and so the level of nostalgia which overtook me on that drive was almost unbearable. To top it off, "Wish you well" and, "The Last Song" are extremely nostalgic songs within themselves.
As I sat there listening to those first two songs, I found myself yearning to be a kid again, and wondering how and why I let myself grow up so fast. But then, "What do we know" began playing, and in its own way offered me hope for the future, and for all the wonderful things God has yet to come in my life. "Favorite disease" continued that feeling, and, "Home" just brought feel good memories of planning a music video for that song. Needless to say, it was rather an emotional rollercoaster of a ride.
The second thing that happened was 1 Timothy 6:7-8
"For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these."
Talk about a verse to calm your worries.
I'm obviously nervouse about this thing: It's a new experience, and new experiences are always scary, but worrying is gonna get me nowhere, and God will provide everything I need. And if God provides all I need, I will be content.
So that was my drive here. And now here I am. I'm not gonna lie I got slightly teary-eyed when I said goodbye to my parents for the last time. Because, yes, I've lived at Muskoka Woods before, but that was still close to home. I'm not three+ hours away! And I'm almost completely independent. It's a strange and terrifying feeling. I'm pretty sure it's akin to the feeling that the daycare kids get when their parents drop them off at our house for the day. In their mind, a day is almost a lifetime to be away from their parents!
In my mind, five months is forever! But I'll get over it, because God's beside me every step of the way, and He wants me to grow and live life to the fullest potential He has given me. So thank you all for any prayers or thoughts you send my way. I highly appreciate them all :).
Here we go!
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