Finally An Update!

It has been a long past couple of weeks. A lot of lectures, a lot of group activities, learning, growing--it's exhausting!


Last week was amazing. It was a week of financial miracles. My DTS saw over $17,000 come in to go towards our outreaches. A member on my South Africa team got just enough money to purchase her plane ticket only 5 hours before the time cut-off. Personally, I was challenged with my obedience to God, and how much I trust Him, and I found that once I stepped out and was obedient, I was blessed! God provided me with a brand new guitar and hard case for me to bring to South Africa to lead worship for my outreach team. I dare anyone to look me in the face and tell me that God doesn't provide.

Leading worship for my outreach team has been a challenge on my heart a lot lately. I like to play the guitar in private on my own time, but wasn't until the invitation to lead worship during outreach did I ever think about putting the little knowledge and skill I had to lead others. Long process short--I doubted, I ignored but I also heard, loud and clear that this was the ultimate opportunity for me to grow in humility and personally. My friends here have been so encouraging. When I get tired and want to have a day where I don't want to believe, and I don't want to step out in this (or any) challenge, they chase after me! We got each other's backs, for sure!


The past four days we have been learning and ministering in the topic of "lordship". It sounds cliche' yet was one of the most impacting topics for my school. I had a lot of revelations over the past four days-- so many in fact that I would wake up in the middle of the night with one, and then not be able to sleep, and would be exhausted all the next day! One of these revelations is that I struggle with becoming. Not necessarily doubt, obedience or repentence, but becoming! An example of this is my resistance towards playing the guitar in S. Africa. I have been asked to several times, I felt I should, I got a brand new guitar for free, and people kept giving me words of confirmation and affirmation-- yet-- I still hesitated to step into that role. Does it not say in Psalm "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord"? And "Bring EVERYTHING that you are to bless the Lord!" Well I realized that guitar was included in that "everything." If I only knew how to play chords D and C, God would want me to bring to Him praise using just chords D and C! He won't ask me to perform a masterpiece with 30 chords if I only know 2! So with this revelation, I am stepping out into this gift of mine-- however undeveloped it is (but I do know more than 2 chords. Ha!)

I also realized that during DTS God has been teaching me that I'm dangerous. I'm learning to step out of my "cup-of-nice-coffee", complacent, good Christian faith and to discover a new way to be. God doesn't love me anymore that I'm here, but as I grow more radical it brings me more ways to love Him-- and THAT is the essence of humanity in the way it was intended and created. A new way of being human-- it's not comfortable, or a destination, but it is a product of what I stand here today as: a day-by-day work of progress! Besides, I'd rather be dangrous and radical and travel the globe seeing out of the ordinary things than sit in my comfortable faith waiting for the next hoop to jump through!


One more week left of lectures: Kingdom of God, then a final week of outreach prep. and I'm off!