This week, the topic was relationships. Our speakers were a married couple that work at the base, Jeremy & Keeley Lange. It was a good week, nothing too eventful. Some of the information was about finding your spouse which clearly we didn't have to worry about, but it was still good. We were able to find some important things that were things we already knew but were good reminders. This next week, the topic should be quite interesting: spiritual warfare with Dean Sherman. So for any REACHers that are reading this, that's right, we're getting the real Dean Sherman. This is one of the weeks that I have been looking forward to.
So every Saturday, we get the option of doing something fun around the area. The first week we climbed a small mountain (when I say climb, I mean we walked along trails that were uphill a little bit). Then we went to the city of Boulder and walked along Pearl St. which was really cool. Rachel and I skipped the next week. I think they went to an Asian market. Last week, we went to the Celestial Seasonings tea factory. I forgot to mention it in my last post. This place was really cool. Before the tour, there is a large waiting room with random art everywhere. While you wait, you can try any tea that they have for free. You get these small ceramic mugs and reuse them. Then we went on the tour which was cool but not overly exciting. The peppermint room was cool. It has to be kept separate from all the other tea because it is so strong and will affect all the other tea. The inventory was low so the smell wasn't as overpowering as I expected, but it still definitely opened up the sinuses. Afterwards, we went to the gift shop where there tea was a very good price. I think it was like $2.40 for a box of tea which I know is way cheaper than the grocery store. Obviously, it makes sense that it's cheaper since that's where they make it. So anyways, that was our favorite Saturday activity so far. Today was the Cinco de Mayo festival in downtown Denver. I got some tacos which were quite delicious, but the festival wasn't too exciting. I don't know what's planned for future weeks, but it's nice to be able to have options to do some random things like that.
As far as life goes here at the base, it definitely goes up and down for both Rachel and I. Some days we really enjoy it here and know that God has definitely put us here for a reason. Then, there are other days when we both miss our independence and have no desire to be around people. We are fortunate to have our own room so we're able to get our privacy. Of course, we both know that it's good to be without independence. One of the biggest things I learned when I got married was how selfish I am. I'm seeing it again as we live in community with a bunch of people. For example, I get up in the morning and go downstairs for breakfast. At this point, I have literally just rolled out of bed, put on some clothes, and walked downstairs and I'm not a morning person. I don't really like to talk to people until I've had about a half hour to wake up. You can ask some of my former roommates. I wasn't always pleasant. Anyways, living in community makes this difficult. I have begun to sit by myself for breakfast but it's not always an option and sometimes I'm forced to talk to people. It's good for me, I know, but I still don't like it. So community living is not the easiest thing in the world, but it's a good thing. I love being with some people and then others, not so much. God continues to teach me how to love others. It seems that this is a lesson I will continue to learn throughout my life. And God is teaching me a lot of other things even though at this point I'm not always sure what it is. I'll discuss the life on the base more in future posts. Anyways, without further ado, here's today's fun fact:
Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.
Deep thought by Jack Handey:
I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. And since he's so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and hand it to him.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Fear of the Lord week
This past week, we had a teaching on the fear of the Lord by Mark Davies. He is one of the staff members on the base. He's probably the most energetic speaker we have had so far. I found the topic to be a difficult topic to grasp. I've never been through a teaching on the fear of the Lord but I thought Mark did a great job. To me, the fear of the Lord is an all-encompassing aspect of Christianity. It's one of those things about God that you can't really put in a box to explain what it is. The best I could say is that it's reverence and awe for God which translates into every aspect of your life if you're truly in awe of God. At the same time, part of the definition is absolute terror of God. That makes sense since anyone who sees God face-to-face will die because it's too much for us to handle.
Our relationships here are constantly growing. Today, God was just showing me the importance of unity within the body. We found out this week that there are 38,000 Christian denominations and 6,000 have started since 2006. I've seen it in almost every church I've been involved in and I see it here at YWAM. We get annoyed at each other for little petty things and it gets in the way of what God is trying to do. Mark talked about the absolutes and relatives in Christianity. The absolutes would be things like Jesus is the only way, the Trinity, or Jesus died for our sins, etc. Relatives would be those things like alcohol, worship style, and just things where the Bible might not be completely clear and it's not a salvation issue. So many churches split over these things and it's really sad. Non-Christians see all the fighting among the church and want no part of that because that's no different than what they see everyday in the world. I know that there are plenty of people where I really don't enjoy their company. They have different ideas or an annoying personality, whatever it may be. But as a church, we must be able to reconcile those differences for the greater purpose of the Kingdom. It doesn't mean that you need to hang out together all the time, but realize that we all have different backgrounds that God can use to impact so many people in various ways. We must love each other no matter the cost. God loves us no matter how annoying we are sometimes.
On another note, I ate at a place called "$1.35 a scoop." It's a Chinese restaurant. A lot of the people on the base really like this place but I think that's because it's so cheap. A scoop is really large so I got 2 scoops and I was really full. Some people actually do think that the food is really good. I don't want to be too judgmental, but really?!? For one, the scoop thing just sounds disgusting. The rice was okay. I got sesame chicken and it was mostly breading. I wasn't sure where the actual chicken was most of the time. I brought some back for Rachel and she wouldn't even try it. So, needless to say, I highly doubt I will be eating there again. And finally...
Fun Fact: The Bible is not only, the world's best selling book, but also the most shoplifted book.
Deep Thought from Jack Handey: Probably the saddest thing you'll ever see is a mosquito sucking on a mummy. Forget it, little friend.
Randy
Our relationships here are constantly growing. Today, God was just showing me the importance of unity within the body. We found out this week that there are 38,000 Christian denominations and 6,000 have started since 2006. I've seen it in almost every church I've been involved in and I see it here at YWAM. We get annoyed at each other for little petty things and it gets in the way of what God is trying to do. Mark talked about the absolutes and relatives in Christianity. The absolutes would be things like Jesus is the only way, the Trinity, or Jesus died for our sins, etc. Relatives would be those things like alcohol, worship style, and just things where the Bible might not be completely clear and it's not a salvation issue. So many churches split over these things and it's really sad. Non-Christians see all the fighting among the church and want no part of that because that's no different than what they see everyday in the world. I know that there are plenty of people where I really don't enjoy their company. They have different ideas or an annoying personality, whatever it may be. But as a church, we must be able to reconcile those differences for the greater purpose of the Kingdom. It doesn't mean that you need to hang out together all the time, but realize that we all have different backgrounds that God can use to impact so many people in various ways. We must love each other no matter the cost. God loves us no matter how annoying we are sometimes.
On another note, I ate at a place called "$1.35 a scoop." It's a Chinese restaurant. A lot of the people on the base really like this place but I think that's because it's so cheap. A scoop is really large so I got 2 scoops and I was really full. Some people actually do think that the food is really good. I don't want to be too judgmental, but really?!? For one, the scoop thing just sounds disgusting. The rice was okay. I got sesame chicken and it was mostly breading. I wasn't sure where the actual chicken was most of the time. I brought some back for Rachel and she wouldn't even try it. So, needless to say, I highly doubt I will be eating there again. And finally...
Fun Fact: The Bible is not only, the world's best selling book, but also the most shoplifted book.
Deep Thought from Jack Handey: Probably the saddest thing you'll ever see is a mosquito sucking on a mummy. Forget it, little friend.
Randy
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Jeff Pratt Week
This week was much more intense than the previous two weeks. Jeff Pratt spoke on the Father Heart of God. Rachel & I have both had teachings on this subject, but were pretty impressed with Jeff. He the leader of YWAM Axiom which is where we were originally headed to until they canceled their DTS. So we still got to meet him which was pretty awesome. Thursday morning we had a ministry time where we shared some of our struggles and Jeff prayed for each of us. It was extremely intense as we sat in the classroom for 4 1/2 hours. A lot of people experienced freedom through the teaching and ministry so that was pretty awesome.
Thursday night I took 3 Korean girls to Office Depot because each of them wanted to buy the Droid tablet. The lady who took care of us seemed to be a little grumpy when she found out that we would be paying in 3 separate transactions. Then after paying, the girls realized that they wanted covers for it so they bought those then too. One of the girls paid with credit card so she asked for id which didn't really do any good since the id was in Korean. I noticed though that the lady started cheering up even as we took longer than expected. When one of the girls paid in cash, she accidentally pulled out some Korean money which the lady was really interested in. Anyways, I think the Korean girls wore her down and she seemed to actually be in a good mood as we left.
Today Rachel and I decided that we needed a break from everything so we're just sitting at Barnes & Noble reading. Tomorrow, we're not getting for sunrise, mostly because we're too lazy. We're going to an Easter service at a Vineyard church that we've attended the last 2 weeks. Then we're going to a friend's place for dinner in the evening in Colorado Springs. So at least we get to experience some kind of Easter dinner even if it's not with family.
I will end this post with a deep thought from Jack Handey and a fun fact of the day:
Thursday night I took 3 Korean girls to Office Depot because each of them wanted to buy the Droid tablet. The lady who took care of us seemed to be a little grumpy when she found out that we would be paying in 3 separate transactions. Then after paying, the girls realized that they wanted covers for it so they bought those then too. One of the girls paid with credit card so she asked for id which didn't really do any good since the id was in Korean. I noticed though that the lady started cheering up even as we took longer than expected. When one of the girls paid in cash, she accidentally pulled out some Korean money which the lady was really interested in. Anyways, I think the Korean girls wore her down and she seemed to actually be in a good mood as we left.
Today Rachel and I decided that we needed a break from everything so we're just sitting at Barnes & Noble reading. Tomorrow, we're not getting for sunrise, mostly because we're too lazy. We're going to an Easter service at a Vineyard church that we've attended the last 2 weeks. Then we're going to a friend's place for dinner in the evening in Colorado Springs. So at least we get to experience some kind of Easter dinner even if it's not with family.
I will end this post with a deep thought from Jack Handey and a fun fact of the day:
One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disney Land, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said, "Disney Land burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disney Land, but it was getting pretty late.
Fun Fact: Hippo milk is pink.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
2 weeks in
Well, I'm sorry that we haven't blogged about our first 2 weeks in YWAM until now. Our internet at the base has been fairly sporadic so it's been tough to do much of anything online.
Anyways, we've a good first 2 weeks. Our team consists of 9 Koreans and 4 Americans. We also have an American leader and her assistant is a Dutch guy. We might also have up to 6 more people coming along from the Phase II school. I think that one of them is Korean, Swiss, and the rest are Americans. Needless to say, our DTS is definitely multi-cultural. It definitely has its challenges, but for the most part it's been really good. Everything has to be translated into Korean which can make it difficult to focus all the time. I've found that I listen to the English, then zone out for the translation and stay zoned out for the English. Other than that, I really have enjoyed having the different cultures. Most of the Korean students are very interactive and have a good grasp of the English language so it's been easy to connect with them. Rachel and I have really connected well with an engaged Korean couple, In Hwan and Jeong Ah. I really have just enjoyed their love of life and it seems like they're always happy. It's been really cool to see. We are mixed together with another DTS that has mostly Americans on the team. They're leaving 4 weeks before us because they're doing an around the world DTS which we're a little jealous of but we know we're in the right place. We're going to be going to Cancun, Mexico for our outreach. At first we were slightly disappointed, but have since realized that this is where God wants us and we're excited for the opportunity. We will not spending most of our time on the beach in case anyone was thinking that we're going on a vacation. We'll be living among the poor there in the slums and helping the locals there. A YWAM team is there currently and we have heard God is doing a lot of awesome things there. We leave near the end of June and come back about the middle of August.
Our first week was spent just getting to know everyone and going over all the basics of the DTS. This past week was our first week of teaching. Rachel was sick for 3 of the days so she missed most of the teaching which was disappointing, but hopefully that is all that she will miss. She's doing better now. Blake Mattocks was our teacher for the week. He's one of the pastors at a local church here. He taught on the character of God. He was very straightforward and a man full of truth. This next week, we will be learning about the father heart of God taught by Jeff Pratt. He is the director of YWAM Axiom in New Haven, CT. That's where we planned on going originally so it's cool that we still get to hear him speak. Rachel and I have both sat through teachings on the father heart of God. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that we missed in our previous teachings so we're hoping to draw whatever we can from his teachings. I've heard that this is a very heavy week so if any of you are reading this, please pray for us this week. I believe this is a week where a lot of things get confessed and people receive freedom. Anyways, I feel like I've been writing for a while so I'm gonna stop now. I think for some of my future blogs, I will be a bit more creative with some good stories but for now this is what you will get.
Randy
Anyways, we've a good first 2 weeks. Our team consists of 9 Koreans and 4 Americans. We also have an American leader and her assistant is a Dutch guy. We might also have up to 6 more people coming along from the Phase II school. I think that one of them is Korean, Swiss, and the rest are Americans. Needless to say, our DTS is definitely multi-cultural. It definitely has its challenges, but for the most part it's been really good. Everything has to be translated into Korean which can make it difficult to focus all the time. I've found that I listen to the English, then zone out for the translation and stay zoned out for the English. Other than that, I really have enjoyed having the different cultures. Most of the Korean students are very interactive and have a good grasp of the English language so it's been easy to connect with them. Rachel and I have really connected well with an engaged Korean couple, In Hwan and Jeong Ah. I really have just enjoyed their love of life and it seems like they're always happy. It's been really cool to see. We are mixed together with another DTS that has mostly Americans on the team. They're leaving 4 weeks before us because they're doing an around the world DTS which we're a little jealous of but we know we're in the right place. We're going to be going to Cancun, Mexico for our outreach. At first we were slightly disappointed, but have since realized that this is where God wants us and we're excited for the opportunity. We will not spending most of our time on the beach in case anyone was thinking that we're going on a vacation. We'll be living among the poor there in the slums and helping the locals there. A YWAM team is there currently and we have heard God is doing a lot of awesome things there. We leave near the end of June and come back about the middle of August.
Our first week was spent just getting to know everyone and going over all the basics of the DTS. This past week was our first week of teaching. Rachel was sick for 3 of the days so she missed most of the teaching which was disappointing, but hopefully that is all that she will miss. She's doing better now. Blake Mattocks was our teacher for the week. He's one of the pastors at a local church here. He taught on the character of God. He was very straightforward and a man full of truth. This next week, we will be learning about the father heart of God taught by Jeff Pratt. He is the director of YWAM Axiom in New Haven, CT. That's where we planned on going originally so it's cool that we still get to hear him speak. Rachel and I have both sat through teachings on the father heart of God. I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that we missed in our previous teachings so we're hoping to draw whatever we can from his teachings. I've heard that this is a very heavy week so if any of you are reading this, please pray for us this week. I believe this is a week where a lot of things get confessed and people receive freedom. Anyways, I feel like I've been writing for a while so I'm gonna stop now. I think for some of my future blogs, I will be a bit more creative with some good stories but for now this is what you will get.
Randy
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