The Learning Curve ...

God's really been showing me growth in my life I think over the last few weeks. It's been a really really difficult couple weeks, but He's really used people around me and just different moments when it's just me and God to really let me know where I've come from. One of the things He's said was in a time when things were the hardest and I had just been told really bad news about a good friend and there was a lot going on. I was walking back home, not having a quiet time or anything and He basically says, "You're not blaming me" and I realized .. like wow.. I think a few months ago that would have been an entirely different statement like "STOP BLAMING ME" haha, but the fact is He's used SO many things to bring me to a point where I know He's good. He never changes. He never stops being faithful. He always brings us the best regardless of how it may seem at the moment. I just really feel Him around. As I'm even writing this out I'm realizing that God speaking at that moment wasn't only powerful because it was Him who said it .. but it was powerful because He wanted me to realize that He will speak to me as obviously as He needs to when I know I need Him and I dont have to be in a quiet time or not doing anything. I guess I'm just at a place where I know that if He needs me to know something He's going to tell me and He's not going to wait for me to be sitting in a park, alone, with my Bible open to such and such a passage, and my notebook on a new sheet, with my pen in hand and hymn music playing softly on my Ipod. If He needs to/wants to, He'll speak when I'm on the verge of a breakdown in a dodgey area of town because He loves me.

Better Plans

So today we went chocolate selling in 35+ degree weather. Good times I know :). It was pretty good. We got kicked out of the train station, the city and a mall.. but all in all it was okay.
The best part was that before getting kicked out of the mall but after getting kicked out of the city, we met back together to decide where to go and we asked Christine how it went and she replied, "Didn't sell a lot of chocolate but I saw a salvation" and we were all like stunned. This 13 year old foster child got saved! and all because we were there selling chocolate.

He might even come and join us for the SOS training days. Thank you Jesus!

Passage of the Day

FAITH

So God told me to go to the city today and sit so I could see the city square, so I did. I went and sat down with a drink and read some things from Psalms. We just hung out for a bit and then I started to pray for people that were walking past. Whatever popped into my head I prayed about.. for individuals, types of people, genders, ages, children, adults, a lady that was feeding sea gulls... etc. The last few days have been super rough for me and I'm learning to push and rely on God. While I was sitting in the city I was thinking to myself about where my faith had gone. I just wanted to believe in it all again and just know that it was going to okay. Then I read this:

Mark 11:12 > 26

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.

Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.' "
The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"
"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

I dunno. I guess I've read this a lot.. but for some reason this time it was just different.

Hope you're encouraged.

Peace and Love

Whoops

Okay, so the reason I haven't been blogging lately is because I'm a slacker so I want to say I'm sorry for those of you that are keeping posted via .. well this.
I'm doing really well right now. We only have about 2 weeks left of lecture phase before we start prepping for Summer of Service, the 3 week missions trip we lead during summer break with high schoolers. Cecily and I are going to Darwin (northern territory in Australia).
We're very excited, I'm a little wearing about the heat. It's gunna be pretty intense.. like 50s probably so who knows what that entails.
I'd like to continue to ask for your prayer support as the finances were due last Wednesay and commissoining is coming up this week. I still need about $5830.45 which means I only have $330.45 left of lecture phase and then $5500.00 for outreach. As you may or may not have known I started off needing over $2000 for lecture phase and it's come down so much so it's pretty awesome to see how faithful God is in finances. It's cool too that on both sides of the track, me going and those that are financially supporting and making it possible that God sees both people the same. Both individuals are being obedient and letting God use them .. it just looks different. So thank you for being in on it with me.
It's been a great 10 weeks - still can't believe it's been 10 weeks. I still have about 7 months to go which is shocking when I think about it. I started thinking about how by the time I get home next June I would have been in Canada for just over 2 months in a year and like 4 months. SO weird.
Anyways keep the prayers coming, they are very needed and they do make a difference.
Much love.

I'm Sorry, What?

I'm going to start this my saying God's faithful and trustworthy not just to state what to me is obvious head knowledge but as a reminder that it's heart knowledge as well that will be put to the test in the month.
This week our speaking is Maureen who is the director of something and something else and DTSs' all over the place. She's a pretty big deal in YWAM apparently. Now you know.. anyhow the topic is basically Leadership with the Holy Spirit so we are learning a lot about Him and just today I've gained a new understanding of not just the Holy Spirit but the trinity and differences between the Old and New Testament/Covenant. I think the biggest thing that I took away from class today was just that it's not just the Father and the Son that have thoughts, emotions, and wills and a desire for relationships and closeness but the Holy Spirit is in on all of that aswell, and just the fact that He is bound to our spirits and we have all of Him is so mind blowing. I don't know, I guess I'm just really looking forward to this week and what we'll be talking about.
After class, for the first time we discussed outreach. Which is divided into 3 parts this quarter. Part 1 - Summer of Service (SOS) where we lead teams of highschool students to Vanuatu, Cambodia or Darwin, Australia. Part 2 - 25th anniversary of YWAM Perth and 50th anniversary of Youth With a Mission as a whole. It's a pretty big deal and the founder is coming and it's gunna be great.. a week of awesome :). Part 3 - Mexico City from Feb 1 - March 14 (I think). So the bomb as officially been dropped and the cost will be between $5 500 - 6 500 AUS (Aussie dollar is sky rocketing right now unfortunately). I'm not going to lie, I wanted to vommit and scream and cry and do a whole bunch of other things when I saw the number, but the first thing I remembered was that God clearly said for me to do the YMT - which is all of the course, not just lectures, and to trust Him. So here I am.. trying my very hardest to not freak out but trust and give it to God.
Just thought I'd throw that out there and ask you guys to pray for the release of these finances not just for myself but for every student in YWAM Perth right now, and especially those that are in the same boat as me, who are not used to trusting God with time time frames and deadlines.
Thanks for everything guys.
Much love.

Youth Culture - Sarah McCutcheon

(just wanted to say quickly that I absolutely love this comic - laughed so hard.. yes kinda morbid but still funny.. it's okay it's just a comic)

So this week in class we were talking about Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures. It was incredible. I absolutely loved it. It was amazing to be studying my generation and realizing why I think the way I do. I was super stoked about some of the info that we talked about so I'm going to share some psychology and some Twilight facts with ya'll... yes that's right we spent like 2 hours discussing the infatuation with Twilight. I love YWAM.
Age 14 is one of if not the most vulnerable year where everything is very inconsistant. I can't remember where, but Sarah, our speaker, has this friend on the east coast I believe, who's in uni studying psychology or something along those lines. One of the things they watched or looked at was this brain scan/video thing of a teenage brain (14 or 15) and his father and they compared them. The result of the test was that there was no activity going on in the back of the teens brain (which is where logic and reason is thought through) where as in the adults brain, it's totally normal, firing like it should. Not only does this explain SO much when it comes to teenage boys and their complete lack of danger radar but it also explains the emotions. All of the weight that would normally be distributed between logic & reasoning and emotions all on emotions. HENSE THE EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWNS LIKE EVERY DAY. my mouth literally dropped when she told us this. Our brains at like 13 or 14 start to shut off 30 000 neurotransmitters in the back of our brain PER DAY. That is an obnoxious amount. So parents can't say, "what did you do that for? do you not have a brain!?" and guess why? because the teen literally can't think it through logically. Amazing right? anyways, moving on. We talked a lot about MTV and advertising and how we need to be very deliberate with what we do because businesses target young people because of the influence young people have on families. If they can draw them in (cell phones) they can draw in their parents and siblings etc.
Get this, over 1/2 of the world's total population are under 25 years old. 19/20 choose to follow Jesus BEFORE the age of 25. AFTER 25 the chance of those between ages 25 and 35 that chances of them turning to Jesus changes to 1 in 10 000, between 35 and 45 the chance drops to1 in 50 000 and shockingly after 45 years old the chances of that individual turning to Jesus is 1 in 200 000. So why youth? Why be deliberate? Because it's the best time for them to accept truth before they become "stuck" in their ways. They're still moldable and not desensitized. Everyone else wants them, MTV claims they have them, we need them back. MTV says their goal is to remove logic and hit their emotions and by doing so they've caught them.
Which is where TWILIGHT comes in :).
Why Twilight? ---- escapism: everyone wants a savior and no wants to fight or endure hard times.
---- extremes (emotionally): yp (young people) dont thing rationally or logically (brain scan thing I was talking about earlier.. putting more emphasis on emotions). They make permanent dicissions (like sex, drugs and alcohol which have permanent concequences) and dont see concequences clearly, family ties (Bella has a broken family, shes invited into Edward's strong family unit and protected).
Edward and Bella
----- Bella is "different" and wants to figure her out
----- Edward unconditionally loves Bella even though she doesn't deserve it
----- Bella is the one that doesn't necessarily fit in.
----- Edward makes her feel significat
Why is it popular? Reaches their needs. Emotionally of course.
Mindsets affecting Teens:
1. Changing Moral Foundation -- chaos and confusion. no stability.
2. Changing Family Structures -- look at all the step parents and then ex step parents - point made - no stabilitiy.
3. Media is their mentor -- parents are being friends to their kids and the media is "raising" them. They say the average person by 18 has watched 18 000 hours of TV.. many watch more.
4.Technologically Sophisticated -- information available at their finger tips.
5. Disillusioned and Skeptigcal -- being let down from #1-4
6. Instant Gratification -- no waiting.
We talked about how 12 year old girls are dressing far to "sexy" for their age and what that's doing yet some still think boys are "yucky." They don't actually understand the vibe they are giving off from what they are wearing and they wonder why they get all this attention.
Anyways this week has been oober fascinating and there is way more where all that came from so feel free to ask questions.

As Christians we are the most capable of helping because we are the only ones with the actual answers even if youth may not think so, it's because they haven't experienced emotionally, therefore it cannot be real. They want it instantly and are not willing to work for it or change if they don't see the possibility for instant results.
"Those who are the most capable of helping, are most responsible to do so."

Friday Night Meeting - Christian Education

Last night was Friday Night Meeting (church) at the base, and our speaker was the same speaker that we had in classes this week. He was great, really challenged and made us think. He's very intelligent and is determined to change education and the worldviews that are being taught in school. It was actually shocking some of the things that are being taught in Christian schools but anyhow these are some note I took that I thought were really interesting. Hope you enjoy it!

*80% of all Christians are eduated in non-Christian universities
* between 30% - 50% lose their Faith while in university
Colossians 2:8-10 "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority."
*Christians need to understans where world view comes from before getting overwhelmed and devoured.
* UNI = to unify VERSITAS = truth
----- brought together for Christian purpses (first university was created in Italy)
----- all aspects of educations - law philospy, psych, sociology, history, maths, biology, economics, politics were all taught with God being the centre of it. God = all truth - was the basis of education in the first universities.
----- once they take God out of the centre it all becomes human opinions.. the professors opinion - which means they take out truth.
----- philophy used to be theology. now philosphy aims to prove there is no God.

4 OBJECTIVES OF BIBLICAL EDUCATION

#1 Promote Critical Thinking
----- teach importance of the mind & critical thinking.
----- recognize assumptions
----- all humans live by faith either in reason (human conclusions or in revelation (biblical propositions)

#2 Cultivate a Hunger For Truth
----- keep asking why? how do you know? what proof do you have?

#3 Demolish "Fortresses"
----- 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
----- you can't grow to love Christ by being taught evolution and reading books of flat out lies, so focus on the truth .. focus on the Bible it is the book of truth and the worldview we have should be entirely focussed on reality - on the truth
-----scientism -- scientific language used to sound like truth (even though human opinion)
ie - the claim of genetic determinism (you're born gay) (the APA (American Psychological Association) in 1998 started the argument that your are born gay by saying they thought there was a link genetically but in 2009 they put out another article that completely detroyed it saying that there is no gene that will make you gay proving themselves wrong that you aren't born gay.. you're not born with a passion you learn about it.. and what scared some of us was that they are trying to say - you're born a murderer or a pedofile - so this has killed those ideas though some still live by it.)
----- if everything is genetic then we are robots/machines with no free will = no God.
- climate change is man made - lie? global warm isn't actually happening. polar icecaps have actually been growing and expanding in the summer season between i think its 2007 ad 2008.
----- medievel warm period then the "little ice age" and now we are warming up again. theres no connection between CO2 levels and warming its between the sun and the earth not the CO2 and the earth (we looked at graphs CO2 and temp .. weak AS correlation)
----- you throw out Genesis and you throw out Jesus Christ. If Genesis was a lie (like evolutionists may claim) then why in the world didn't Jesus say "oh btw guys the hebrews messed a while ago.. they were just really confused" .. becuase its true thats why.
----- more non christians are dropping the idea of evolution while christians are jumping into it.
Naturalism - changing definitions of marriage. everything has to change because everything evolves so we must make new laws to change our world. stupid.
Relativism (law) no absolutes except what they say.. also stupid.

#4 Teach comprehensive Biblical World View
----- need to learn to think so we can cancel out all the lies that create our world view.
----- God is SOVEREIGN over ALL life (Psalm 24:1)
----- God has PURPOSES in history - discipling natiomns (Matthew 28:28-20)