A little more...

Today we had some great teaching on covenents - the threshold covenent in Jewish culture, the Jewish wedding and marriage covenent and the new covenent in Jesus. The covenent of hospitality was very important in the Old Testament. There are so many parallels between the Jewish betrothal and marriage ceromonies and culture and the new covenent that God instigated with Jesus. I will add more when I have 'processed' it all ie thought through it. Just had a curry with the other men in the class - good time of bonding. And we are off to the pub to some community outreach (honest !).

Latest bits

Hi ! Friday saw our last day with Paul Hawkins. We prayed for him and he sensed that I had an annointing on me. He said it may possibly involve education. I had a good chat with him afterwards. On Saturday I visited my mum's in Cambridge where Thomas, my brother, and his family were. I played Thomas at tennis and won ! I cooked a meal in the evening and spent some time with my mother and Thomas. On Sunday morning I drove back to the King's Lodge and took some folk to the Living Rock, where I have been the last three Sundays now. On Sunday afternoon I did some catching up with reading and emails and writing my journal. Today we had a new speaker on Sin, Salvation and the Cross. Tonight there was the base celebration night with about one hundred people worshipping including a number of visitors. Barry and Kay Austin, originally from New Zealand, shared something from their trip to Asia, running leadership courses.

Quick update

A ver quick update. We have been having an excellent teacher from the States, Paul Hawkins, who has been in YWAM for 37 years. He has been teaching us on the Nature and Character of God and has instilled in us, in a very direct and challenging way, that we must never doubt God's character. What we believe about God shapes what we believe about ourselves and the world. There is a lot in his teaching to digest. He has told us of many instances where when he has been obedient to God, God has always provided and has always been faithful. When we go through tests (for example he was about to run a course like the one I am on now and a day before, he only had two students; he trusted God and ended up with 25), our work bears lasting fruit (ever since then he was able to fill courses several times over).

Above is a fellow student. Loren from the US, and I, ready to go for a 6am run.

And to the left is my brother, my niece Kirsten and a rather large cat fed by one of my mother's neighbours.

The games room
The front of the King's Lodge
Good night !!

The snack bar for break times
Cosy, eh ?

What I have done and learnt this week ?

At the end of my first week here at the YWAM King's Lodge, I am looking back to see what I have learnt this week. Our first talk was on 'Finishing the race well' partly based on Hebrews 12. I learnt that the race is like the Tour de France: some days it will be on the flat, others it will be on steep slopes and others still will be downhill. God will help me all along the way to finish well. It is a privilege to serve Him; Isaiah 61 is key for me when we go the Philippines.

Our second talk was by the school leader, Maged Kalta, from Egypt, who is also the leader of the King's Lodge. He stressed on us the importance of learning to hear God and that His ability to speak to us is far greater than our ability to hear Him. And hearing Him is more than listening for instructions; we need to converse and listen for the details.

The third speaker was a Brit, Paul Hopkins, a YWAM England leader, who spoke about being blessed to bless the nations. God spoke to Abraham and promised him the land of Canan. Abraham obeyed God and he and his people were indeed blessed. We too are part of the Abrahamic covenant. God speaks about His promises, we need to have faith in Him and obey and there will be a blessing, though it may not be in our lifetime.

And with work duties in the kitchen, doing a food hygiene certificate, prayer triplet, small group and an outing today with our class to a nearby Abbey, things have been busy but very good. It seems a lot longer than a week. And it is great have all these different nationalities. Do write in with some comments and say how you are getting on as well.

The other evening we got to see some video clips from last year's trip to the Philippines and to pray for the leaders and various places in the city (Cagayan de Oro). Amongst other things, we will be visiting a refuge for young women and a correction centre for boys. Our role will be to form relationships and share the gospel. The photo above was taken last year at a settlement on a rubbish dump.

Well, here I am in blogosphere. Just to say that all is going well here at the King's Lodge. I am busy most of the day - in the morning there are lectures (for example today we had ' Hearing from God') and then in the afternoon we have work duties ( I am in the kitchen). There is also time to write our journals on what we think God is saying to us and what we are learning. And tonight we saw 'Faith like potatoes', a film about a South African farmer who became a Christian and gathered many farmers together to pray against the violence between the whites and the Zulus and for rain during a drought. He also told them to grow potatoes as God had told him to do so, despite it being as dry as a bone.