I guess I should end my New Zealand blog appropriately: by tying together the loose ends and shoving the clothes in the closet... to“clean up” a bit, organize nine months into a few words - concluding my time which took place way down there.
The chances you will even read this are slim, so maybe this is my chance to talk to cyberspace alone, but you're free to eaves drop if you'd like.
I've had a month to assimilate back into British Columbian culture and already my bare-footed adventures are practically over. (Or kept to a minimum at least, it just doesn't work too well here.)
The time I spent in New Zealand already feels like it didn't even happen. Or perhaps it was just a dream in which I remember all the events and thoughts I had were remembered in impeccable detail. I sure didn't go to Bible School on Earth, that's for sure. I was somewhere else, where implanted in my head in this place was A Relationship, knowledge and memories. Incredibly fond memories of fifteen interesting men and women who came together and discovered Real Life and allowed an all-knowing Spirit to possess us.
In the classroom we didn't only gain “head-knowledge” but a deeper understanding of what it meant to be Christian – something, which was made abundantly clear - was impossible to be without God at the center, living His life through us. So it wasn't so much about knowing events and what He did, as to building a relationship so firmly rooted in love that no matter what happened after we stepped back onto earth, we would long to surrender all power and choices to the Creator of the Universe.
Outside of the classroom, we became a family, united by Christ. On the paddocks there were weekly soccer scrums and made up rugby/football tossing games. In the common lounge there was always a piano or guitar filling the whole house with sound. Those sound waves are still traveling throughout that house today, bouncing off the walls which were dusted weekly on Wednesdays and then through the kitchen where our cook, Sheryl found herself most of the day. Those sound waves will still wisp past the ears of Justus and Isabel who will no doubt continue to jump on the miniature trampoline out back or race down the gravel driveway on their bikes or motorized toy-ATVs while Patti and Dale work in the shed-turned-office near the side of the house.
The vacant room one which was once filled with rambunctious noises from the four inhabitants [Joel, Joel B, Bryan and I] now has a chance to recuperate from the many hardships it had to endure: Joel B. angrily pouncing on either Joel's or my bed - trying to get us to squeal about the mysterious White Man, or from the many rage attacks from Joel and I fueled from an ugly-looking suitcase which was too disgraceful to be living among us.
In town, the library's internet will once again have some free bandwidth as fifteen internet-crazed students will no longer be crashing the systems to get into contact with earth, and SuperValu will go into a depression as the shelves won't be raided by snack-devouring North Americans.
My two weeks of madness traveling alone has almost become a forgotten memory. Memories of spending four days alone in a forest, meditating among half-dead trees and a too-salty-for-its-own good ocean. Hitch hiking, and then miraculously meeting up with Bryan, Amber and Kelsey to travel with them for the last week of break. Phew, a Christmas break in which the bookends were spectacular and the meat was uncooked and trash-worthy. Looking back on it, it was perfect. There's nothing like waking up in a tent by the sound of intense rain pelting the exterior, way up in the northwest 100 km away from a main city, with no electronic device or 20th century technology, with no transportation and knowing that you had to take the tent down in the rain... and then pack it into a bag which then had to be carried down a mountain until some merciful person had enough sympathy to pick you up. Glorious.
And then Easter break. Quiet explosions in the heart of various kinds for eighteen days before settling back into life at The Crossing, where the last six weeks flew by and God was realized even further. A hello/goodbye sequence which was strangely weird on the last weekend in New Zealand and then a plane which transported me back into the world as I knew it.
Here I am, changed inside by an extraordinary amount, yet the outside is completely recognizable. Confused and unsure of this world I now live in again, dumbfounded by the way things are, gazing at the crowds of blind and asleep men walking the streets living it all for nothing [ / themselves], who may possibly never wake up and experience Real Life. But God is at work in every person's life, and that is awesome. Although I am currently completely direction-less. I will hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, The Great I Am, and I know His plan for my life is greater than I can imagine.
Thanks to all who have ever made an effort to read what I've been up to, I appreciate it greatly. Special thanks to Rebekah who always sent me encouraging words via Facebook, all of you who commented on here, and to my four lovely grandparents.
29.6.10
21.5.10
Egg.
So here I am, one week away from coming home. I still distinctly remember the first day at The Crossing, silently tip-toeing my way around the house trying to escape from all the strangers who were all way louder and rambunctious. They still tell me they noticed the horror on my face the first few days of school. I hardly said a word. But it didn't take long to feel part of the group, everyone was awesome... they're still all awesome.
And now it's time to leave them all. For the past two weeks I've been extremely excited to go home, but today I woke up and felt all my organs tightening inside my body, and my stomach was squeezing out of my mouth.
The last semester of school (6 weeks) has been great. The lecture lineup was as perfect as could be, and I learned a lot. Outside of class; JB, Joel and I started a football league to celebrate autumn and tomorrow is the championship game. Everyone has their advantages. JB is the big, tall guy with long reach. Joel is the super sturdy, hard-running player, and I'm the speedy guy who usually comes last out of us three, but I hold my own, I always make it really close.
Tomorrow will be my last time attending the Geraldine church. I've finished up my ministries in Kids Alive and Timaru Youth Group with a bang. Both groups of kids said they learned a lot from the Capernwray guys, so that's cool. This last week of school will be debrief sessions and lots of cleaning. We've finished up all of our book reports and random papers and so now we'll just focus on making sure we avoid Post Capernwray Blues as much as possible.
And now it's time to leave them all. For the past two weeks I've been extremely excited to go home, but today I woke up and felt all my organs tightening inside my body, and my stomach was squeezing out of my mouth.
The last semester of school (6 weeks) has been great. The lecture lineup was as perfect as could be, and I learned a lot. Outside of class; JB, Joel and I started a football league to celebrate autumn and tomorrow is the championship game. Everyone has their advantages. JB is the big, tall guy with long reach. Joel is the super sturdy, hard-running player, and I'm the speedy guy who usually comes last out of us three, but I hold my own, I always make it really close.
Tomorrow will be my last time attending the Geraldine church. I've finished up my ministries in Kids Alive and Timaru Youth Group with a bang. Both groups of kids said they learned a lot from the Capernwray guys, so that's cool. This last week of school will be debrief sessions and lots of cleaning. We've finished up all of our book reports and random papers and so now we'll just focus on making sure we avoid Post Capernwray Blues as much as possible.
3.5.10
God is in a constant state of perpetual enthusiasm!
Here are some of my scatterbrained notes/one-liners from my two weeks of classes with Jerry Benjamin who taught on Daniel and Revelation.
---
The unsurrendered Christian life is the unsatisfied Christian life. This is one thing that's a constant struggle for me. Why do I feel an emptiness, lack of satisfaction or a need? It's because I'm not surrendering everything I am and everything I have to God.
Scripture is given to reveal Jesus Christ, nothing else.
All things must be fulfilled - revealing Jesus Christ.
Purpose of prophecy: To reveal Jesus Christ, not for events.
"To die is gain" - because the safest place to be is in the presence of God.
Being in the will of God on earth is the safest place to be. (You're safer dodging bullets in Afghanistan than doing hoolahoops on the beach if God's will for you is to be in Afghanistan.)
The problem is we don't believe Jesus Christ is all we need. Only when He's all we have do we belive He's all we need.
Obedience brings blessing. Israel had faith passover would work. God not obligated to physically bless us... perhaps only spiritually.
If we're disobedient... He will discipline us (NIV: "curse") to correct us and bring us to a right place.
Christ doesn't give wisdom, He is wisdom. All of our true wisdom comes from him.
What becomes a characteristic of Jesus Christ becomes a characteristic of me when I die to self.
Obey God regardless of the circumstance or culture. No compromising: "Well if I do this the king will like me more and give me a position of power and then I could start prayer meetings and Bible studies." Always do what pleases the Father.
God gives man choice but it doesn't thwart His purpose = sovereignty of God.
Job cried out to God when in his trials... he asked question after question. When God spoke, He didn't answer any questions... He only asked more questions right back at him. And Job received revelations and repented.
Prayer is not only an act, it's an attitude. To have complete dependence on Him. Pray without ceasing = Always depend on Him, in all circumstances. Everything must be done in Him or it has no eternal value.
Sheep are the most dependent animal in the world. They NEED the shepherd to direct them to food and water and to the right gate or they will be lost or hungry. We need to recognize our helplessness and have confidence in whom we are joined to... CHRIST!
Every need is met in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ + nothing = everything.
Nothing on earth will ever completely satisfy... there will always be emptiness without Christ.
God is looking for broken vessels, willing to point others to Him for no other reason but for those to know him, and not for self-pride, gain.
The purpose of revelation is for transformation, not for information.
As long as God is glorified, it doesn't matter whether we live or die. Shadrach, Mesach and Abendego realize this... they are willing to go into the fiery furnace because they followed Christ's ways and the situation they were put in was a result of their faithfulness. They had the knowledge of God that He can do it, (save them from dying in the fire) they just don't know if He will. The only issue was: How can God be more glorified? They had faith that God's plan was the best plan.
The battle is the Lord's. We must submit and surrender to God first.
When God takes us through painful trials (fiery furnaces), God is only purifying us of our sins - transforming us more to His image.
We are changed by Christ as much as we are willing to allow Him to change us. No personality trait hinders His ability to change us. We are our own worst enemy.
True worship: The complete surrendering, submission to God with all mind and heart.
We have commited our lives to Jesus Christ, but have we submitted to Him?
In a commitment - the person commiting still has authority to make the final decision.
In submission the person we are submitting to has all authority - God makes the final decision.
He came to transform us.
Does God have exclusive rights to EVERY aspect of my life?
Pride: The spirit of independence.
Humility: NO thought of oneself - humility only comes through submission.
Brokeness: No will of my own. The end of ourselves. (We were bought at a price.)
God sees every person as a pearl of great price. He will search for you forever and once He finds you, He will go and sell everything for you.
Why are we of so much value? Well, God made us! That's why we have value. No matter what condition we may be in, our value is in the Creator.
Our greatest liability in the Christian life is the strengths. We no longer put our dependence in God because we think we can do it ourselves.
Stand in battle by surrendering.
The victory is won when Jesus Christ conquers me.
Don't worry about bearing fruit - only God can do that.
Priorities of prayer:
1. Get me to live for the glory of God.
2. Motivated to love for Him.
3. To live under God's authority. (... in submission.)
4. Walk in the light. (Being transparent. Not self-analysing - He does the changing.)
5. Abide in Christ. (To His agenda.)
Think life is unfair?
The greatest unfairness in history was the death of Jesus Christ.
Jesus didn't come to judge man, He came to save us and transform us into true worshippers.
He didn't come to prove Himself. He could have stepped off the cross if He wanted to, but He hung on the cross quietly... He conquered the grave with quiet power.
He created us for relationship with us. He didn't need us.
The heart of the matter is always the matter of the heart.
Join to God for who He is, not for what He can do/give for/to us.
We are never the fulfillment of God's program. Christ always is. We don't go on missions trips because God needs us to be there to fix things - we should go only for the reason because we love Him - to do His will.
Your sins are submerged in the grace of God. God chooses to forget sins - He allows us to wake up every day as white as snow - pure, blameless.
Never give up on persuing a person to come to Christ. God will open doors if He chooses to, and it's your job to faithfully walk through them when they open. It is not our job to open doors. He will initiate.
Do we have eyes only for God?
---
The unsurrendered Christian life is the unsatisfied Christian life. This is one thing that's a constant struggle for me. Why do I feel an emptiness, lack of satisfaction or a need? It's because I'm not surrendering everything I am and everything I have to God.
Scripture is given to reveal Jesus Christ, nothing else.
All things must be fulfilled - revealing Jesus Christ.
Purpose of prophecy: To reveal Jesus Christ, not for events.
"To die is gain" - because the safest place to be is in the presence of God.
Being in the will of God on earth is the safest place to be. (You're safer dodging bullets in Afghanistan than doing hoolahoops on the beach if God's will for you is to be in Afghanistan.)
The problem is we don't believe Jesus Christ is all we need. Only when He's all we have do we belive He's all we need.
Obedience brings blessing. Israel had faith passover would work. God not obligated to physically bless us... perhaps only spiritually.
If we're disobedient... He will discipline us (NIV: "curse") to correct us and bring us to a right place.
Christ doesn't give wisdom, He is wisdom. All of our true wisdom comes from him.
What becomes a characteristic of Jesus Christ becomes a characteristic of me when I die to self.
Obey God regardless of the circumstance or culture. No compromising: "Well if I do this the king will like me more and give me a position of power and then I could start prayer meetings and Bible studies." Always do what pleases the Father.
God gives man choice but it doesn't thwart His purpose = sovereignty of God.
Job cried out to God when in his trials... he asked question after question. When God spoke, He didn't answer any questions... He only asked more questions right back at him. And Job received revelations and repented.
Prayer is not only an act, it's an attitude. To have complete dependence on Him. Pray without ceasing = Always depend on Him, in all circumstances. Everything must be done in Him or it has no eternal value.
Sheep are the most dependent animal in the world. They NEED the shepherd to direct them to food and water and to the right gate or they will be lost or hungry. We need to recognize our helplessness and have confidence in whom we are joined to... CHRIST!
Every need is met in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ + nothing = everything.
Nothing on earth will ever completely satisfy... there will always be emptiness without Christ.
God is looking for broken vessels, willing to point others to Him for no other reason but for those to know him, and not for self-pride, gain.
The purpose of revelation is for transformation, not for information.
As long as God is glorified, it doesn't matter whether we live or die. Shadrach, Mesach and Abendego realize this... they are willing to go into the fiery furnace because they followed Christ's ways and the situation they were put in was a result of their faithfulness. They had the knowledge of God that He can do it, (save them from dying in the fire) they just don't know if He will. The only issue was: How can God be more glorified? They had faith that God's plan was the best plan.
The battle is the Lord's. We must submit and surrender to God first.
When God takes us through painful trials (fiery furnaces), God is only purifying us of our sins - transforming us more to His image.
We are changed by Christ as much as we are willing to allow Him to change us. No personality trait hinders His ability to change us. We are our own worst enemy.
True worship: The complete surrendering, submission to God with all mind and heart.
We have commited our lives to Jesus Christ, but have we submitted to Him?
In a commitment - the person commiting still has authority to make the final decision.
In submission the person we are submitting to has all authority - God makes the final decision.
He came to transform us.
Does God have exclusive rights to EVERY aspect of my life?
Pride: The spirit of independence.
Humility: NO thought of oneself - humility only comes through submission.
Brokeness: No will of my own. The end of ourselves. (We were bought at a price.)
God sees every person as a pearl of great price. He will search for you forever and once He finds you, He will go and sell everything for you.
Why are we of so much value? Well, God made us! That's why we have value. No matter what condition we may be in, our value is in the Creator.
Our greatest liability in the Christian life is the strengths. We no longer put our dependence in God because we think we can do it ourselves.
Stand in battle by surrendering.
The victory is won when Jesus Christ conquers me.
Don't worry about bearing fruit - only God can do that.
Priorities of prayer:
1. Get me to live for the glory of God.
2. Motivated to love for Him.
3. To live under God's authority. (... in submission.)
4. Walk in the light. (Being transparent. Not self-analysing - He does the changing.)
5. Abide in Christ. (To His agenda.)
Think life is unfair?
The greatest unfairness in history was the death of Jesus Christ.
Jesus didn't come to judge man, He came to save us and transform us into true worshippers.
He didn't come to prove Himself. He could have stepped off the cross if He wanted to, but He hung on the cross quietly... He conquered the grave with quiet power.
He created us for relationship with us. He didn't need us.
The heart of the matter is always the matter of the heart.
Join to God for who He is, not for what He can do/give for/to us.
We are never the fulfillment of God's program. Christ always is. We don't go on missions trips because God needs us to be there to fix things - we should go only for the reason because we love Him - to do His will.
Your sins are submerged in the grace of God. God chooses to forget sins - He allows us to wake up every day as white as snow - pure, blameless.
Never give up on persuing a person to come to Christ. God will open doors if He chooses to, and it's your job to faithfully walk through them when they open. It is not our job to open doors. He will initiate.
Do we have eyes only for God?
1.5.10
I Will Put My Testimony Into You
Well it has been forever since I've made a proper blog post. My apologies. It's not like there hasn't been a lot of cool stuff going on, though. I guess I had a falling out. Anyways, I'll give you a quick fill in on what's going on the last month or so. The leaves are all turning red, orange, yellow and falling off the trees as winter is approaching. The sun goes down at 5:30pm and it feels like Christmas should be coming soon. The group is a lot quieter with Amber (the loudest person on earth) gone but it's been good. We miss them but no one is dying... except maybe Kelsey. I think she's missing Amber a lot. Easter break was awesome. I got to see a lot and laugh a lot. After spending 9 days on the south island I got a bit of a taste of the north island, spending a bit of time in Aukland and a bit in the Cormandel where myself and 9 others rented a beach house and did very little for 9 days. It was good to spend time with three (out of four) of the Adventure Bible School-ers before they left the group. I happened to be in Aukland for Record Store Day and so I was lucky enough to score a few sweet deals and at night I was able to go to a free gig (!!!) on the outskirts of Aukland with Robert. There were 7 bands playing that night and so it was cool to see what New Zealand indie bands were like... most of them sucked unfortunately, but the opening band was really good. They were called Artisan Guns and they were really quirky and fun-loving people. Robert and I actually talked with them after their show, they were nice people. A straight-forward indie rock band Clap Clap Riot was okay too but other than that the music was pretty weak and the groups were more into making noise and then drinking than anything else. Anyways, airports. Domestic flights in New Zealand are easiest things in the world. Now I.D. required. Check your bags, go through security, and you're on the plane. Takes five minutes. Really efficient.
So now I'm back to school. Two weeks of lectures with Jerry Benjamin (our first and only international lecturer this year... from Colorado Springs, USA) have come to a close and now we've got only four weeks left! I'm back in Room One with Joel B. (JB), Joel, and Bryan (with honourary member, Robert) and it's fun times. There have been a few lame pranks pulled this semester and a I've had a few "close encounters" with Joel. Sport of choice right now seems to be football.
This past week was super busy. Angela and I were planning everything for youth group one Wednesday at Timaru Life Church and I was also involved in a presentation for the Christian elementary school in Timaru (in which I was in a drama as a faithful friend and played a pirate searching for treasure in a sing-along action-song) which was for Thursday. There was a lot of stress on Angela and my part because after all the work we had put into the message for youth group we came to the conclusion we had about 30 minutes covered with stuff to do out of the hour and half we needed to fill. The night before Wednesday we prayed a bunch for our plans. Come Wednesday night 7:00pm, Angela and I were able to present a really cool message on Ephesians 1:15-20. Our goal was to make it as interactive as possible and really get the guys participating. At 8:25, as we were about to split off into small groups again to discuss, Hanna, our ministry co-ordinator who came to see how we'd do told us we should probably wrap it up shortly because it was five minutes until the end of youth group... Angela and I were obviously shocked. The one big thing we worried about coming into the day ended up being a non-issue. It was really cool to see God take the one thing that we thought was going to be a weak spot and totally take care of it and really bless us and our time at the youth group. We didn't even have time to do our "time-filling" game! So that was really cool.
On Saturday six of us went and climbed Mt. Peel. It was a gorgeous start to the day and we climbed up the steep mountain in three hours, crossing bush-y ridges and a few streams. On the way down we got rained on (Bryan was really hoping to hike in rain so he got his wish) and then we let ourselves go and flew (or ran as fast as possible) down the muddy steepness which was Mt. Peel. Of course there was quite a few slips and wipe outs. I was hiking in my Vans yet ironically I was the only one who didn't "eat it" yet I was close a few times.
I'll have more soon... with the most important stuff... what I've been learning!
So now I'm back to school. Two weeks of lectures with Jerry Benjamin (our first and only international lecturer this year... from Colorado Springs, USA) have come to a close and now we've got only four weeks left! I'm back in Room One with Joel B. (JB), Joel, and Bryan (with honourary member, Robert) and it's fun times. There have been a few lame pranks pulled this semester and a I've had a few "close encounters" with Joel. Sport of choice right now seems to be football.
This past week was super busy. Angela and I were planning everything for youth group one Wednesday at Timaru Life Church and I was also involved in a presentation for the Christian elementary school in Timaru (in which I was in a drama as a faithful friend and played a pirate searching for treasure in a sing-along action-song) which was for Thursday. There was a lot of stress on Angela and my part because after all the work we had put into the message for youth group we came to the conclusion we had about 30 minutes covered with stuff to do out of the hour and half we needed to fill. The night before Wednesday we prayed a bunch for our plans. Come Wednesday night 7:00pm, Angela and I were able to present a really cool message on Ephesians 1:15-20. Our goal was to make it as interactive as possible and really get the guys participating. At 8:25, as we were about to split off into small groups again to discuss, Hanna, our ministry co-ordinator who came to see how we'd do told us we should probably wrap it up shortly because it was five minutes until the end of youth group... Angela and I were obviously shocked. The one big thing we worried about coming into the day ended up being a non-issue. It was really cool to see God take the one thing that we thought was going to be a weak spot and totally take care of it and really bless us and our time at the youth group. We didn't even have time to do our "time-filling" game! So that was really cool.
On Saturday six of us went and climbed Mt. Peel. It was a gorgeous start to the day and we climbed up the steep mountain in three hours, crossing bush-y ridges and a few streams. On the way down we got rained on (Bryan was really hoping to hike in rain so he got his wish) and then we let ourselves go and flew (or ran as fast as possible) down the muddy steepness which was Mt. Peel. Of course there was quite a few slips and wipe outs. I was hiking in my Vans yet ironically I was the only one who didn't "eat it" yet I was close a few times.
I'll have more soon... with the most important stuff... what I've been learning!
28.4.10
Jesus Christ Killed Adam
8pm, Saturday. Adam is tired of noise and escapes out the front door for a walk down the seemingly never-ending Woodbury Road. The clouds hung so low they were kissing the pavement. Hours pass and the aroma of dying evening fires fill the air and Adam sits down to soak in the atmosphere.
That's when Jesus Christ killed him. Adam was at rest. He leaned against the side of an abandoned shed on the corner of an obscure intersection and that's when Jesus Christ dawned on him. Adam Neufeld is no longer alive. Jesus Christ killed him. The body of Adam Neufeld's is no longer his, it's Jesus Christ's. Whatever is true of Jesus Christ is now true of Adam. They say Jesus is loving, compassionate, strong, patient, wise. Those are all true of Adam. Jesus killed Adam, and took all the ugliness along with him. And now Adam has the Mind of Christ. Jesus Christ owns Adam. Adam is His vessel, His slave. Adam is dead, he no longer lives.
However, sometimes the ghost of Adam Neufeld will try to re-aquire the body which was once his. These are dangerous times. No good can come of Adam when he is possessed of Adam's ghost. The ghost must constantly be put off, whispered away... prayed against. Because Adam no longer has right to Adam's body.
To live is Christ.
To die is gain. (Because then we are in God's presence 100% of the time... for eternity!)
That's when Jesus Christ killed him. Adam was at rest. He leaned against the side of an abandoned shed on the corner of an obscure intersection and that's when Jesus Christ dawned on him. Adam Neufeld is no longer alive. Jesus Christ killed him. The body of Adam Neufeld's is no longer his, it's Jesus Christ's. Whatever is true of Jesus Christ is now true of Adam. They say Jesus is loving, compassionate, strong, patient, wise. Those are all true of Adam. Jesus killed Adam, and took all the ugliness along with him. And now Adam has the Mind of Christ. Jesus Christ owns Adam. Adam is His vessel, His slave. Adam is dead, he no longer lives.
However, sometimes the ghost of Adam Neufeld will try to re-aquire the body which was once his. These are dangerous times. No good can come of Adam when he is possessed of Adam's ghost. The ghost must constantly be put off, whispered away... prayed against. Because Adam no longer has right to Adam's body.
To live is Christ.
To die is gain. (Because then we are in God's presence 100% of the time... for eternity!)
31.3.10
Bitter Sweet As
Well, it's been a while. Too long, and I'm really sorry... I've been neglecting the blogging lately, but yeah, here goes a quick one.
Easter break starts today, we have 18 days off. I'm going to be traveling around the south island for 9 days and at a beach house for the other 9 days. It's gonna be sweet.
Right now I'm not so happy though because four out of fifteen of us are leaving. Cara, Amber, Jordan and Ben are leaving for Adventure Bible School on the north island so they won't be back next semester. Really devestating, but it's been awesome getting to know them all. It'll feel really weird next semester having four less...
We've had the priviledge of putting on some services around Geraldine and the response has been great. Both times it was just awesome seeing the Holy Spirit engulf the place and just make it a crazy cool time of fellowship and worship.
Yesterday we had a really fancy dinner served by the staff and then an "Un-talent Show" because the point wasn't to go up and show talent but just to go up and do something funny or weird. Turns out everyone who went up showed talent. Jonas did some crazy magic tricks which involved disappearing money, chaos, and then later in the show... the money re-appearing so freaky cool. Lots of good music, a funny Snow White play by the girls and even Justus, Dale's son showed off his drumming skills. He's only 6 but he's already incredible... Bryan has been giving him lessons. Dale probably stole the show though... he took out his old flying-V guitar and shredded on it... Joel and I were the last-minute MCs, we did okay... Joel is a great improviser... and very funny...
That's all I've got for now... can't wait to see you all in almost exactly 2 months! Happy Easter.
Jesus didn't die to go to heaven, He died to come out of heaven and into the hearts of man.
You can't, He never said you could. He can, and always said He would.
Easter break starts today, we have 18 days off. I'm going to be traveling around the south island for 9 days and at a beach house for the other 9 days. It's gonna be sweet.
Right now I'm not so happy though because four out of fifteen of us are leaving. Cara, Amber, Jordan and Ben are leaving for Adventure Bible School on the north island so they won't be back next semester. Really devestating, but it's been awesome getting to know them all. It'll feel really weird next semester having four less...
We've had the priviledge of putting on some services around Geraldine and the response has been great. Both times it was just awesome seeing the Holy Spirit engulf the place and just make it a crazy cool time of fellowship and worship.
Yesterday we had a really fancy dinner served by the staff and then an "Un-talent Show" because the point wasn't to go up and show talent but just to go up and do something funny or weird. Turns out everyone who went up showed talent. Jonas did some crazy magic tricks which involved disappearing money, chaos, and then later in the show... the money re-appearing so freaky cool. Lots of good music, a funny Snow White play by the girls and even Justus, Dale's son showed off his drumming skills. He's only 6 but he's already incredible... Bryan has been giving him lessons. Dale probably stole the show though... he took out his old flying-V guitar and shredded on it... Joel and I were the last-minute MCs, we did okay... Joel is a great improviser... and very funny...
That's all I've got for now... can't wait to see you all in almost exactly 2 months! Happy Easter.
Jesus didn't die to go to heaven, He died to come out of heaven and into the hearts of man.
You can't, He never said you could. He can, and always said He would.
28.2.10
Spirit Reign, Flood Our Hearts Again
Peter Thomas, son of Capernwray-founder Major Ian Thomas came to lecture us for the second time last week, and he was amazing as always. Here are a few key lessons I learned from his lectures on 1 Peter:
1:5-7 ...until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief of all kinds of trials.These have come so that your faith - of greater worth that gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
We are not immune from suffering/trials nor should we minimize them but these should be tempered with the greater living hope which has no end. Not only should we place our suffering in the context of eternal hope but it has the benefit of refining our faith ensuring that is it genuine.
1:8-9: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believer in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Our joy must be found in "who I AM today" and not "what I am doing". Earlier this year I learned that we have forgotten how to simply be, in a world of doing. I think it's incredibly comforting and important to remember who we are every time we wake up: God's children who have received His grace, forgiven, cleansed, purified, dead to sin, alive in Christ, joint-heirs of the kingdom come... we have been healed.
Grace is God's presence which is sufficient for ALL situations.
Grace: God has put His righteousness inside of us.
1:13: Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Our hope is not based on our own efforts but on the daily provision of grace and the certainty of complete perfection when Christ comes.
1:14: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
Obedience is not natural in the flesh but now a command because grace is available - obedience can't be imposed from the outside but should stem from refusing to give in to the old nature in the strength God provies.
4:7 Be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
True prayer takes all of our intentional being, not just a passing acknowledgement - only when we see the big picture "clear-minded" do we have reason to pray.
4:13: But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
There is a positive aspect to suffering - that is draws us closer to Christ. It seems paradoxical that increased suffering increases the believer's joy but (Acts 5:41, 16:25, Romans 5:3, Col 1:24) we may be robbing ourselves of the rich Christian experience if we put personal safety as the highest priority - the promised blessing is future tense.
5:5 "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility" is a requirement! This requires a conscious act and is in the continuous present tense - ie. "God is continually opposing the proud and giving grace to the humble" - that is the nature of grace - God giving us His own Christ-like character as we walk in conscious dependence on Him.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This past weekend we had a doubles-tennis tournament (arranged by JB). I was paired with Joel H. and we did alright and got to the semi-finals. JB and Angela ended up winning the tournament. Angela had never played tennis before so it was impressive to see how much she improved with JB teaching her along the way as they played. Apparently it looked like she was going to pass out at the end of the final match because it was really hot and the game went really long.
The sun has been out for one week straight which is the first time Geraldine can lay claim to that all summer. (It's been a very odd summer in New Zealand all around.) We've enjoyed the sun by having some outdoor classes, barbeques, doing some cliff-jumping (or cliff-falling ie. me slipping off the cliff/slope into the water) and lots of sports.
Yesterday night was really fun. I was in bed at 10pm trying to get a full nights sleep because I knew this week was going to be full and busy. However, as it always goes when I try to go to bed early, it ended up being a late night. At around 10:30pm Bryan and JB come into the room telling me they can't find Joel. 20 minutes later there are screams coming from the girls room. For three or four minutes straight the girls collectively yelled "HELP!" And Jordan and I both got out of bed to see what was wrong. At the same time JB and Bryan came in from outside (looking for Joel) to see what was up. Turns out they just needed their light to be turned off and they were all too lazy to get out of bed to turn it off. We were obviously not too pleased this was why they were yelling for help. So now that I was out of bed I decided to help JB and Bryan find Joel. Or should I say "The White Man".
Every so often Joel dresses up in nothing but a white bed sheet and runs around outside. Who knows what he actually does. Because it was passed curfew to be outside, Bryan was a bit hesistant to leave, but JB and I gladly went out because we really wanted to find him. JB thought he saw him behind the car and I thought I saw him hiding behind some trees. We chased the ghost for 5 minutes before giving up and going back inside. As we headed back in we saw two faces peeking out the window, dead still. It was Amber and Kelsey. They did The White Man call which sounded like "cuckoo cuckoo" and then they headed downstairs along with Cara to join the search party. After some theories of where Joel was, or where The White Man was I headed outside on my own. I headed down to the lower paddock and heard some rustling in the bushes. I kept whispering loudly "Joel! Joel!" but nothing... and all of a sudden... Michael appears! It was so random, who knew not only Joel, but Michael was missing. Anyways, I ask Michael where Joel was and all of a sudden Joel comes walking up all nonchalent (in normal clothes.) This whole time I thought he had some grand scheme going on, as it was a full moon on the last day of February and he was acting all mysteriously. Anyways, I told Joel that half the school was looking for him and then I told him we should sneak up on them in the house. Michael, Joel and I get back to the house and only Bryan is in the formal lounge. Where'd they go? Well, apparently they started looking for me, thinking I was in on The White Man scheme. Then the fun ended. Joseph heard us (most likely Amber) and came down to tell us to go to bed. He then waited for JB and Robert who tried to get back into the house after they noticed he was re-locking the doors. Then when all four of us room one guys were in our room laughing at how Joel was just hanging out with Michael and not being The White Man, and how it was a huge operation trying to find him, I look out my window and see the three girls going to the back door. After a quick scolding they were sent to their room and the night of mystery and adventure ended. I ended up falling asleep at 2am, four hours later than I was hoping to be asleep.
The next day the eight of us had to work outside for an hour doing yardwork for breaking curfew, but all in all it was a fun night, if not disobedient.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In many cases, what the world calls liabilities God calls assets.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
1:5-7 ...until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief of all kinds of trials.These have come so that your faith - of greater worth that gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
We are not immune from suffering/trials nor should we minimize them but these should be tempered with the greater living hope which has no end. Not only should we place our suffering in the context of eternal hope but it has the benefit of refining our faith ensuring that is it genuine.
1:8-9: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believer in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Our joy must be found in "who I AM today" and not "what I am doing". Earlier this year I learned that we have forgotten how to simply be, in a world of doing. I think it's incredibly comforting and important to remember who we are every time we wake up: God's children who have received His grace, forgiven, cleansed, purified, dead to sin, alive in Christ, joint-heirs of the kingdom come... we have been healed.
Grace is God's presence which is sufficient for ALL situations.
Grace: God has put His righteousness inside of us.
1:13: Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Our hope is not based on our own efforts but on the daily provision of grace and the certainty of complete perfection when Christ comes.
1:14: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
Obedience is not natural in the flesh but now a command because grace is available - obedience can't be imposed from the outside but should stem from refusing to give in to the old nature in the strength God provies.
4:7 Be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
True prayer takes all of our intentional being, not just a passing acknowledgement - only when we see the big picture "clear-minded" do we have reason to pray.
4:13: But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
There is a positive aspect to suffering - that is draws us closer to Christ. It seems paradoxical that increased suffering increases the believer's joy but (Acts 5:41, 16:25, Romans 5:3, Col 1:24) we may be robbing ourselves of the rich Christian experience if we put personal safety as the highest priority - the promised blessing is future tense.
5:5 "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility" is a requirement! This requires a conscious act and is in the continuous present tense - ie. "God is continually opposing the proud and giving grace to the humble" - that is the nature of grace - God giving us His own Christ-like character as we walk in conscious dependence on Him.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This past weekend we had a doubles-tennis tournament (arranged by JB). I was paired with Joel H. and we did alright and got to the semi-finals. JB and Angela ended up winning the tournament. Angela had never played tennis before so it was impressive to see how much she improved with JB teaching her along the way as they played. Apparently it looked like she was going to pass out at the end of the final match because it was really hot and the game went really long.
The sun has been out for one week straight which is the first time Geraldine can lay claim to that all summer. (It's been a very odd summer in New Zealand all around.) We've enjoyed the sun by having some outdoor classes, barbeques, doing some cliff-jumping (or cliff-falling ie. me slipping off the cliff/slope into the water) and lots of sports.
Yesterday night was really fun. I was in bed at 10pm trying to get a full nights sleep because I knew this week was going to be full and busy. However, as it always goes when I try to go to bed early, it ended up being a late night. At around 10:30pm Bryan and JB come into the room telling me they can't find Joel. 20 minutes later there are screams coming from the girls room. For three or four minutes straight the girls collectively yelled "HELP!" And Jordan and I both got out of bed to see what was wrong. At the same time JB and Bryan came in from outside (looking for Joel) to see what was up. Turns out they just needed their light to be turned off and they were all too lazy to get out of bed to turn it off. We were obviously not too pleased this was why they were yelling for help. So now that I was out of bed I decided to help JB and Bryan find Joel. Or should I say "The White Man".
Every so often Joel dresses up in nothing but a white bed sheet and runs around outside. Who knows what he actually does. Because it was passed curfew to be outside, Bryan was a bit hesistant to leave, but JB and I gladly went out because we really wanted to find him. JB thought he saw him behind the car and I thought I saw him hiding behind some trees. We chased the ghost for 5 minutes before giving up and going back inside. As we headed back in we saw two faces peeking out the window, dead still. It was Amber and Kelsey. They did The White Man call which sounded like "cuckoo cuckoo" and then they headed downstairs along with Cara to join the search party. After some theories of where Joel was, or where The White Man was I headed outside on my own. I headed down to the lower paddock and heard some rustling in the bushes. I kept whispering loudly "Joel! Joel!" but nothing... and all of a sudden... Michael appears! It was so random, who knew not only Joel, but Michael was missing. Anyways, I ask Michael where Joel was and all of a sudden Joel comes walking up all nonchalent (in normal clothes.) This whole time I thought he had some grand scheme going on, as it was a full moon on the last day of February and he was acting all mysteriously. Anyways, I told Joel that half the school was looking for him and then I told him we should sneak up on them in the house. Michael, Joel and I get back to the house and only Bryan is in the formal lounge. Where'd they go? Well, apparently they started looking for me, thinking I was in on The White Man scheme. Then the fun ended. Joseph heard us (most likely Amber) and came down to tell us to go to bed. He then waited for JB and Robert who tried to get back into the house after they noticed he was re-locking the doors. Then when all four of us room one guys were in our room laughing at how Joel was just hanging out with Michael and not being The White Man, and how it was a huge operation trying to find him, I look out my window and see the three girls going to the back door. After a quick scolding they were sent to their room and the night of mystery and adventure ended. I ended up falling asleep at 2am, four hours later than I was hoping to be asleep.
The next day the eight of us had to work outside for an hour doing yardwork for breaking curfew, but all in all it was a fun night, if not disobedient.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In many cases, what the world calls liabilities God calls assets.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
6.2.10
Realignment
So we're three weeks into a new semester. I'm re-realizing every day how awesome this group is. Lately there has been such love amongst us, especially the brotherhood (the guys) that it's lead to many group dog-piles and a(n unusually) mass amount of hugs (mainly from Joel - I think we're in love).The addition of a new student, JB (Joel Baxley), from Wisconsin via Texas (he's got a great aeh-cennt) has been great. He's a roomate of mine for this semester (along with Joel and Bryan) and he's a character, alright. He probably tells me or Bryan that he's going to murder us 5 times a day. He's such a positive, passionate guy and he's got a real gift for ministering and worshipping. He's got a great voice and he's a talented piano and guitar player too. A real dynamic character and he's already impacting this group in a great way. He also loves football so it's good to finally have someone to talk to about that. He's a real leader and we've been playing a lot of sports (basketball, tennis, volleyball, soccer) since he's come. (He's a big guy... 6'3, many pounds.) Real loud and funny.
As a result I'm not really getting to bed before 12 anymore because our room is all about shinanigans when you put him, me, Bryan and Joel together. All the other guy-rooms hate us now because we wake them up in the middle of the night for various reasons. Like to ask them questions like "What image comes to your mind when you think of 'people drinking trees'?" (That one was mainly my fault.) But everyone probably wakes up by the sound of JB's laugh which vibrates the whole house. And then when we do get to sleep we drive Bryan crazy because we're all snorers. If we're real loud Bryan gets his pillow and smacks us across the face with it. Or in my case, he just gets JB to shake the bed (he's on the bottom, I'm on the top) and that does the trick.
///
We've had great lecturers this semester. Class-favourite Werner Schreiber came and that's always a riot. He taught on 2 Corinthians. And as usual I learned a lot. A couple of notes:
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he defended his apostleship. He spoke of all the suffering he had to go through. (We only get to know who we truly are under pressure.) Being in suffering, hardships caused him to rely on God completely. Paul went into the fire, and he came out alright.
He was genuine in his actions and words. There was no hypocricy. He wasn't "business-minded" where personal gain (gaining materials, status, self-marketing) was important. "We crave acceptance from the world."
He wasn't a spin doctor, making Christianty sound nicer than it is - he told the straight up ugly truth.
He had integrity. (The same front to back.) He didn't market the Gospel based on its benefits. Come to Christianity for God, not for what God can do for you. "When you're preaching, you're gonna make them angry, or convert them."
God tests us to show us where we're at. Where our hearts are at. Problems/troubles aren't the problem, it's how we experience the problem. The perspective: How much does it mean to you? Turn to God in every circumstance.
Instead of telling the Corinthians what they were doing wrong, Paul asked "how will you respond?" He was very gentle with the topic of sin. (As Jesus came not to condemn, but to save.)
Chapter 7/
Sorrow
Wordly sorrorw thought-process: I can fix it. I offended man. Ends in a compromise - still bitterness lingering - only grows with time. Does not lead in change of behaviour.
Godly sorrow: I need God. I offended God. Get off the platform, admit mistake, humble self.
Repentence: (Turning from something - and turning to God.)
Worldy words: "Sorry." And then justify "but he did __________", "Yes, but..." Pride is maintained.
Godly: Not justifying sin. Taking full blame. "This is me. Yes, I am a sinner."
Heart's attitude: Brokenness.
Salvation:
Only when we admit brokenness - let the Lord work. (The exchanged life - give God our burdens, junk, God will give us His life, His perfection - He will renew us - working internally.)
Leaves no regret:
How does wordly sorrow lead to regret? Hung up on situation, lingering guilt. Explodes when you're 50. (Midlife crisis.) Conscience overload, memory full of past.
The blood of Christ cleanses us! We need to reformat the heart so the conscience goes!
Angry at self? (For repeating same sinful actions you thought you had overcome.)
Pride: Basis is: You think you're better than you actually are.
When this happens, it just reveals what is in the heart - we are never improved.
Human change is not possible through human.
We will always live in the flesh on earth. Our nature always stays the same. We never improve.
I am not changing, no. Nature always produces the same results. What changes is how much space we allow for God to be at work in us. How much of our insides is GOD SPACE?
The grass is green, why are you mad? It always is!
The flesh will always sin. Call our sins by their name. Don't make up a fancy word for what we do to make it sound better than it is. A woman who struggled all her life with aborting her baby: "Not until she admitted she was a murderer did she feel God had forgiven her."
Paul never sold, compared himself to others.
Bible exposes the heart - takes away the masks.
Boast in weakness as it is strength in God.
Why do preacher's kids grow up and turn away from God? They watch, know what they are like outside of church, when the masks are off. They see that what is being preached, and what is being done are conflicting with each other.
Paul always realized how much he had been forgiven. Do we know how much we have been forgiven? When things go wrong, will we say "oh this is off the scale! God must have left me!" etc. or will we ask God to convict us for the better.
Let God have the foreground, stay in the background.
We are loveless because we don't know how much we have been forgiven.
We're wasting away right now. The physical, material life is not the real life. The spritual life breaks into the material, our true self is not in physical form, but the everlasting spirit.
On evangelism:
No religion can change the heart.
Get involved with life issues. (As Jesus did with the woman at the well.)
Share life truth before Gospel truth. - About the heart: anger, bitterness, resentment, etc.
Have a relationship with the living God, not religion.
/....;;';..,/,/;---\ Sorry for the scatterbrain-ness.
In our video lectures we were taught to be more passionate, and more in awe of the Bible. Russell Kelfer says we should tremble at His Word, and hang onto every word in anticipation.
God is looking for a broken and humble spirit, and a literal awe just at the mention for the Bible! He took the example of food and meals. We don't generally miss a meal in a day... if we do, we're very aware that we do it. Yet how often do we miss a day of reading the Bible? Too often in my life. His challenge was that we should actually skip the eating of physical food to spend time with our spiritual food if we 'don't have time for the Bible'. "If you treasure it enough, you will find time."
In our second video lecture, Charles Price spoke on 1 Samuel. We can easily reduce God, or living godly to a formula, or a pattern. We're to look for Bible principles, not patterns. Jesus didn't want us to think He always did things a certain way, He was creative! He was always doing something out of the ordinary. People thought if they were healed by touch, everyone was healed by touch. Others thought they were healed only by His word - they thought there was a formula to healing. So what did Jesus do? He healed a man by spitting in his eye!
Notes:
Why hasn't God removed my suffering? He is strengthening us.
God makes the message simple. Is it so simple that we have missed it?
The patterns of life are changing - you are becoming wise.
Submit our agenda to HIS agenda.
///
A couple days ago we had a guy from Christchurch come teach us in the morning about street evangelism and then in the afternoon we went out in pairs and put what we learned into practice in Timaru (30 minutes south of Geraldine). Cara and I go together like PB&J (we're opposites in many ways but we love each other (enough that we don't kill each other at least) so it worked ... just watch, Cara will kill me in a few days) so we paired up together and it ended up going really good. At first we kind of wandered around and were really nervous about approaching but after getting rejected a few times it was all good and we just went for it. Most of us were worried about getting rejected and taking it personally but suprisingly we didn't. We just moved on, trying to find someone who was willing to talk about God or the Bible. (We weren't "bible-bashing." ie. Shoving the message into their faces. We gave everyone the option to stop the conversation right away if they didn't want to talk about such a subject.) So yeah, it was cool - we'd dare each other... I'd always tell her to go up to the old ladies. There were four business people approaching us and Cara was like "I dare you to go up to them" jokingly but I just went up to them and asked them if they wanted to talk a bit. None of them wanted to share so that was that, but it got to the point where I didn't mind asking people what they thought of God (even groups like that) which surprised me because I've never been a fan of the idea of approaching strangers at all. After an hour or so, Cara and I settled in a coffee shop and did a Bible study together and thought about what to do next. Neither of us were feeling too interested in getting rejected some more but after some prayer we went out again and I was able to get a good meaningful conversation with one guy sitting on a bench. He was an "ex-Christian" who left the church because he was upset with the congregation which alienated his daughter because she had been making some mistakes in life. He said he'd have to forgive a lot of people before going back... he was really receptive to what I (God) said (through me) and I told him I'd pray for forgiveness for him and I'm hopeful for him. (I'd be great if you could too. He's really on my heart right now.) From there our time was up and we met back up and shared our interesting stories (some had very odd, cool experiences) and overall, I think we all learned a whole lot about how we're most comfortable witnessing to others. This day was really cool because before going out we spent a lot of time in prayer and everyone was really on fire and I could just feel God flooding the place, pouring into our lives. Lately I've found such an immense amount of passion and awareness of God around us. Simple things like "Isn't is amazing God gave us the ability to do this?!" (- Michael, talking about how we bend and twist our legs in such weird ways while hacky-sackying) really uplift the spirit.
///
This weekend there was a folk festival happening just down the road from the Crossing. Amber had gone on Friday night and said it was great so I biked out to the festival with her on Saturday to check it out. The atmosphere was really cool. It was a bit cult-ish, as it looked like one big (hippie) family gathering. Everyone there probably went because they went as kids and kept the tradition going by bringing their family. As the music was going, there'd be long-haired kids sword-fighting with sticks on the paddock below. The festival took place at a farm - there was a tent attached to a house and a stage - it was really low-key but they did have lights and microphones and amps things like that. The first group up was an acapella group and they were awesome. The sang a song called "Mother Nature" and then they sang "Amazing Grace" but to a totally different melody/song structure. It was great. The next few acts were also great - there was a bit of banjo so I was happy about that - but then there were also a few groups which were rather forgettable. At around 10pm there was an intermission and we went down to the bonfire and met a lady from England who had met the same YWAM group that Amber had met in Nelson. It's incredible how many times we've ran into people who have also ran into the YWAM group. We stayed a bit later and saw a couple of Canadian folkies take the stage and then left so we'd be back by curfew. It was incredibly hard biking back to the main road in pitch black lighting but we made it eventually and got back right on time.
In the morning I went to the Anglican church beside the folk festival because I was hoping some of the musicians would be there to play a bit, but none came so it was just me and 15 other older people. I was well greeted by the parish and the other members as they were happy to see a student from the Crossing visit them. The service was cool - lots of readings and hymns that I missed. "Be Still and Know", "Breath on Me, Breath of God", "Here I am Lord, it is I Lord..." and a few others. It was weird having communion with real wine as well. Overall cool experience.
Three easy Bible verses to memorize! (Amber and I have realized we suck at memorizing verses so here's three we learned this week.)
"Be joyful always" - 1 Thessalonians 5:16
"Pray continuously" - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
and...
"Jesus wept." - John 11:35
...gotta start somewhere!
Still working on my hobbit-feet... they're getting better...
As a result I'm not really getting to bed before 12 anymore because our room is all about shinanigans when you put him, me, Bryan and Joel together. All the other guy-rooms hate us now because we wake them up in the middle of the night for various reasons. Like to ask them questions like "What image comes to your mind when you think of 'people drinking trees'?" (That one was mainly my fault.) But everyone probably wakes up by the sound of JB's laugh which vibrates the whole house. And then when we do get to sleep we drive Bryan crazy because we're all snorers. If we're real loud Bryan gets his pillow and smacks us across the face with it. Or in my case, he just gets JB to shake the bed (he's on the bottom, I'm on the top) and that does the trick.
///
We've had great lecturers this semester. Class-favourite Werner Schreiber came and that's always a riot. He taught on 2 Corinthians. And as usual I learned a lot. A couple of notes:
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he defended his apostleship. He spoke of all the suffering he had to go through. (We only get to know who we truly are under pressure.) Being in suffering, hardships caused him to rely on God completely. Paul went into the fire, and he came out alright.
He was genuine in his actions and words. There was no hypocricy. He wasn't "business-minded" where personal gain (gaining materials, status, self-marketing) was important. "We crave acceptance from the world."
He wasn't a spin doctor, making Christianty sound nicer than it is - he told the straight up ugly truth.
He had integrity. (The same front to back.) He didn't market the Gospel based on its benefits. Come to Christianity for God, not for what God can do for you. "When you're preaching, you're gonna make them angry, or convert them."
God tests us to show us where we're at. Where our hearts are at. Problems/troubles aren't the problem, it's how we experience the problem. The perspective: How much does it mean to you? Turn to God in every circumstance.
Instead of telling the Corinthians what they were doing wrong, Paul asked "how will you respond?" He was very gentle with the topic of sin. (As Jesus came not to condemn, but to save.)
Chapter 7/
Sorrow
Wordly sorrorw thought-process: I can fix it. I offended man. Ends in a compromise - still bitterness lingering - only grows with time. Does not lead in change of behaviour.
Godly sorrow: I need God. I offended God. Get off the platform, admit mistake, humble self.
Repentence: (Turning from something - and turning to God.)
Worldy words: "Sorry." And then justify "but he did __________", "Yes, but..." Pride is maintained.
Godly: Not justifying sin. Taking full blame. "This is me. Yes, I am a sinner."
Heart's attitude: Brokenness.
Salvation:
Only when we admit brokenness - let the Lord work. (The exchanged life - give God our burdens, junk, God will give us His life, His perfection - He will renew us - working internally.)
Leaves no regret:
How does wordly sorrow lead to regret? Hung up on situation, lingering guilt. Explodes when you're 50. (Midlife crisis.) Conscience overload, memory full of past.
The blood of Christ cleanses us! We need to reformat the heart so the conscience goes!
Angry at self? (For repeating same sinful actions you thought you had overcome.)
Pride: Basis is: You think you're better than you actually are.
When this happens, it just reveals what is in the heart - we are never improved.
Human change is not possible through human.
We will always live in the flesh on earth. Our nature always stays the same. We never improve.
I am not changing, no. Nature always produces the same results. What changes is how much space we allow for God to be at work in us. How much of our insides is GOD SPACE?
The grass is green, why are you mad? It always is!
The flesh will always sin. Call our sins by their name. Don't make up a fancy word for what we do to make it sound better than it is. A woman who struggled all her life with aborting her baby: "Not until she admitted she was a murderer did she feel God had forgiven her."
Paul never sold, compared himself to others.
Bible exposes the heart - takes away the masks.
Boast in weakness as it is strength in God.
Why do preacher's kids grow up and turn away from God? They watch, know what they are like outside of church, when the masks are off. They see that what is being preached, and what is being done are conflicting with each other.
Paul always realized how much he had been forgiven. Do we know how much we have been forgiven? When things go wrong, will we say "oh this is off the scale! God must have left me!" etc. or will we ask God to convict us for the better.
Let God have the foreground, stay in the background.
We are loveless because we don't know how much we have been forgiven.
We're wasting away right now. The physical, material life is not the real life. The spritual life breaks into the material, our true self is not in physical form, but the everlasting spirit.
On evangelism:
No religion can change the heart.
Get involved with life issues. (As Jesus did with the woman at the well.)
Share life truth before Gospel truth. - About the heart: anger, bitterness, resentment, etc.
Have a relationship with the living God, not religion.
/....;;';..,/,/;---\ Sorry for the scatterbrain-ness.
In our video lectures we were taught to be more passionate, and more in awe of the Bible. Russell Kelfer says we should tremble at His Word, and hang onto every word in anticipation.
God is looking for a broken and humble spirit, and a literal awe just at the mention for the Bible! He took the example of food and meals. We don't generally miss a meal in a day... if we do, we're very aware that we do it. Yet how often do we miss a day of reading the Bible? Too often in my life. His challenge was that we should actually skip the eating of physical food to spend time with our spiritual food if we 'don't have time for the Bible'. "If you treasure it enough, you will find time."
In our second video lecture, Charles Price spoke on 1 Samuel. We can easily reduce God, or living godly to a formula, or a pattern. We're to look for Bible principles, not patterns. Jesus didn't want us to think He always did things a certain way, He was creative! He was always doing something out of the ordinary. People thought if they were healed by touch, everyone was healed by touch. Others thought they were healed only by His word - they thought there was a formula to healing. So what did Jesus do? He healed a man by spitting in his eye!
Notes:
Why hasn't God removed my suffering? He is strengthening us.
God makes the message simple. Is it so simple that we have missed it?
The patterns of life are changing - you are becoming wise.
Submit our agenda to HIS agenda.
///
A couple days ago we had a guy from Christchurch come teach us in the morning about street evangelism and then in the afternoon we went out in pairs and put what we learned into practice in Timaru (30 minutes south of Geraldine). Cara and I go together like PB&J (we're opposites in many ways but we love each other (enough that we don't kill each other at least) so it worked ... just watch, Cara will kill me in a few days) so we paired up together and it ended up going really good. At first we kind of wandered around and were really nervous about approaching but after getting rejected a few times it was all good and we just went for it. Most of us were worried about getting rejected and taking it personally but suprisingly we didn't. We just moved on, trying to find someone who was willing to talk about God or the Bible. (We weren't "bible-bashing." ie. Shoving the message into their faces. We gave everyone the option to stop the conversation right away if they didn't want to talk about such a subject.) So yeah, it was cool - we'd dare each other... I'd always tell her to go up to the old ladies. There were four business people approaching us and Cara was like "I dare you to go up to them" jokingly but I just went up to them and asked them if they wanted to talk a bit. None of them wanted to share so that was that, but it got to the point where I didn't mind asking people what they thought of God (even groups like that) which surprised me because I've never been a fan of the idea of approaching strangers at all. After an hour or so, Cara and I settled in a coffee shop and did a Bible study together and thought about what to do next. Neither of us were feeling too interested in getting rejected some more but after some prayer we went out again and I was able to get a good meaningful conversation with one guy sitting on a bench. He was an "ex-Christian" who left the church because he was upset with the congregation which alienated his daughter because she had been making some mistakes in life. He said he'd have to forgive a lot of people before going back... he was really receptive to what I (God) said (through me) and I told him I'd pray for forgiveness for him and I'm hopeful for him. (I'd be great if you could too. He's really on my heart right now.) From there our time was up and we met back up and shared our interesting stories (some had very odd, cool experiences) and overall, I think we all learned a whole lot about how we're most comfortable witnessing to others. This day was really cool because before going out we spent a lot of time in prayer and everyone was really on fire and I could just feel God flooding the place, pouring into our lives. Lately I've found such an immense amount of passion and awareness of God around us. Simple things like "Isn't is amazing God gave us the ability to do this?!" (- Michael, talking about how we bend and twist our legs in such weird ways while hacky-sackying) really uplift the spirit.
///
This weekend there was a folk festival happening just down the road from the Crossing. Amber had gone on Friday night and said it was great so I biked out to the festival with her on Saturday to check it out. The atmosphere was really cool. It was a bit cult-ish, as it looked like one big (hippie) family gathering. Everyone there probably went because they went as kids and kept the tradition going by bringing their family. As the music was going, there'd be long-haired kids sword-fighting with sticks on the paddock below. The festival took place at a farm - there was a tent attached to a house and a stage - it was really low-key but they did have lights and microphones and amps things like that. The first group up was an acapella group and they were awesome. The sang a song called "Mother Nature" and then they sang "Amazing Grace" but to a totally different melody/song structure. It was great. The next few acts were also great - there was a bit of banjo so I was happy about that - but then there were also a few groups which were rather forgettable. At around 10pm there was an intermission and we went down to the bonfire and met a lady from England who had met the same YWAM group that Amber had met in Nelson. It's incredible how many times we've ran into people who have also ran into the YWAM group. We stayed a bit later and saw a couple of Canadian folkies take the stage and then left so we'd be back by curfew. It was incredibly hard biking back to the main road in pitch black lighting but we made it eventually and got back right on time.
In the morning I went to the Anglican church beside the folk festival because I was hoping some of the musicians would be there to play a bit, but none came so it was just me and 15 other older people. I was well greeted by the parish and the other members as they were happy to see a student from the Crossing visit them. The service was cool - lots of readings and hymns that I missed. "Be Still and Know", "Breath on Me, Breath of God", "Here I am Lord, it is I Lord..." and a few others. It was weird having communion with real wine as well. Overall cool experience.
Three easy Bible verses to memorize! (Amber and I have realized we suck at memorizing verses so here's three we learned this week.)
"Be joyful always" - 1 Thessalonians 5:16
"Pray continuously" - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
and...
"Jesus wept." - John 11:35
...gotta start somewhere!
Still working on my hobbit-feet... they're getting better...
20.1.10
Movement
After three months of being in the Geraldine/Capernwray bubble (for the most part) I had a month off to see new places and meet new people. I spent the first 10 days with mom and dad and that was awesome. I almost forgot how much mom loves to feed me - which was a good thing because the next 3 weeks of travels didn't consist of too much eating for me. Lots of cookies and fruit, always good things. I also almost forgot how much I love road trips. We took a campervan and toured the south island of New Zealand. We saw the quiet sweet town of Akaroa right on the east coast and then headed to the west coast and the northern parts of the south island. The Golden Bay area was probably my favourite spot to go. The weather is almost always sunny here and the beaches were amazing and the scenery also something to behold. Lots of windy roads, but always something to look at out the window.
I left my parents in Kaikoura and did the most amazing tramp (hike) of my life. It was a 3-day/40km tramp which passed through vibrant coloured forests, dark bare Lord of the Rings-esque forests, open farm hills, beaches, streams, tangly branched forest, waist-high damp grass, waterfalls and flowerbeds. At the end of each day there was a little farmhouse where we (me and 5 other trampers) stayed for the night. All very cozy places, and really friendly hosts. I was hiking with five others: A mom, son from Oregon, a couple from Australia and a German. On the first day I tramped with shoes on but 30 minutes in I already felt like I was getting blisters so I took my shoes off and went barefoot. 10 seconds later I sliced my foot on a rock and if my shoes weren't so hard to put back on I probably would have but I'm glad I didn't because the rest of the tramp was fine and I didn't cut my feet anymore. It was actually pretty nice walking barefoot.
I got really familiar with the texture of sheep dung though. It was EVERYWHERE on the sheep trails up on the hillsides. There was no way of avoiding it.
Day two was rough because the first couple hours of the tramp was along a beach and as amazing as it sounds (and was) my sliced foot was getting killed walking on it. Stefan caught up to me and he had a first aid kit and patched me up a bit. The Australian couple caught up during this time too and they both had their two cents on what I should do to take care of it. Everyone had their own doctors advice. Up to this point I had tramped alone but we walked along along the beach together for a bit and it was nice to have some company. Abstract plant life, tangled forests followed after the beach, and then out of the forest into gorgeous hills with sheep grazing in the sun. I went the wrong way at this point because the paths weren`t always so easy to decipher.
When I reached the second hut I had a bunch of Oma and gramma cookies and they were all really tasty. There was a a cool poster at the hut that had the article below on it and I thought it was really cool to read. I don't agree with all of it but I think there's a lot of good points on it.
RULES ON LIVING MORE WISELY by Neil Rosenthal
The last day of the tramp featured lots of sheep. At one point I was following one big sheep and two smaller ones for ten minutes. They would see me and then run for awhile. They'd then stop, turn around and watch me approaching them and then they'd run off again. Their eyes said "stop following us" and mine responded with "this is the walking track for humans who are trying as much as possible to avoid your droppings!"
The young sheep would follow the running big leader-sheep so close they would be tripping over his heels. They looked very afraid. They'd drop a lot of kinder surprises after running. They eventually went off onto a smaller path and I was no longer following them. I thought about following them up the path to the point where they would have been cornered and they'd have to jump off the side of the cliff to avoid me any longer... but I thought I'd scared them enough.
From Kaikoura I hitched down to Christchurch. I wasn't a fan of the city just because I wasn't used to seeing that amount of advertising and consumerism again. I hitched down to Timaru for New Years. That ended up being an interesting experience. I stayed in a backpackers place where only 5 others were staying. I told the owner I wanted a quieter spot for New Years and he gave me a whole building to myself. At 11:30 he came to my door and told me there were fireworks on the balcony and that the others wanted to meet me. I went up and they were all doing shots and drinking multiple beers but they were all respectful and mostly still with it at that point. One of the ladies had Coke Zero so when they took their shots I'd sip some Coke, it was pretty funny. The fireworks were actually pretty impressive for a smallish place like Timaru. I left after a bit of celebrating the new decade and had a good sleep in a huge bed. I woke up feeling like I had the last few days: empty and unsatisfied with traveling, joyless and ready to see people I knew again.
I traveled the next few days just going places for the sake of going places. Every new destination I reached I felt like I needed to leave already. I saw lots but it wasn't fun and it felt like I was traveling with the devil. It was like a heavy ghost was pressing down on my every thought and action. Finally I settled down and spent three days in silence in the middle of a forest in a small town called Waikouaiti. It was close to a vacated beach and I thought it was going to be a great place to swim for a few days. Turns out the beach is empty because the weather is always windy and cold and the waves were really discouraging. Too big! The time in Waikouaiti was very helpful though. I read lots of Scripture and it was a good time to feel close to God with no other distractions. I played my harmonica in the tent a bit too, and the chirping birds accompanied me for a bit. I loved tenting, but finding my tent after leaving the forest for a bit was always an adventure. I imagined it was what trying to find Narnia was like. I'd have to lose myself in the forest before finding the tent. I never got back to my tent the same way. And once I found my tent it was like finding the portal into Narnia, it was an accomplishment. By the third day the trees started talking to me and that's when I knew I had to get out again. The forest was really freaky. At times the ground would rustle and I would think someone was approaching and knowing no one else was around I could have been murdered and no one would have known... yeah, I probably will never do that again. At one point I was approached in my tent... I was told to come out and there he was: a police officer. I was paranoid the whole time that I was tenting in a place which was off limits and that I'd be told to leave or get a fine or something. Turns out the police officer just wanted to know if I had a kayak because he suspected someone stole it. That was a sigh of relief.
So after my big day of hitch hiking from the southeast to the northwest I headed up to Karamea and that was a good peaceful time again. However, the loneliness by this point was absolutely driving me mad but I was able to get into contact with some Capers and so I headed down to Westport to meet them. It was the rainiest day of my life when I hitched down to Westport. I found a hostel and dried off and had my first shower in a long time. I was in bed by 7pm waiting for the next day when I'd meet up with them. At around 9pm I heard a familiar voice checking in... It was Bryan, Amber and Kelsey! I ran out of my dorm and hugged the heck out of them from behind. I was ecstatic. So much joy that I had been lacking for a couple of weeks alone.
For the last week I had a perfect time sharing traveling experiences with friends. We worked our way down the west coast and camped in our two small tents wherever we could for free: on the beach, beside the highway, in our pastor's backyard, behind caravans in camping gounds... cheap traveling.
We had to pay 6 bucks each in Franz-Josef where we had to camp in a campground and we were devestated at that.
Because we did lots of traveling in the car (over 3000km by the end) we made up our own entertainment in the car. We'd have to talk in lisps, in New King James lingo, like a robot, etc. and where our clothes inside out and backwards and crazy things like that. We visited Shantytown which reminded me a lot of being in Canada. It was an old fashioned town where we visited the old jailhouse, took a trainride and saw vintage stuff. Kelsey even panned for gold and got some.
Milford Sound was incredible. Although there were tons of sandflies. And we touched snow! We were all very happy about that. We played in the snow for awhile, sliding down little channels and running around barefoot and feeling like we'd get frost-bitten feet. We slept in beds and had showers for the last two days of our travels because of connections in various parts of New Zealand. Met lots of cool people - even one person who could have passed as a real life hobbit.
It's great being back in school again. Over the last three weeks we really learned to appreciate how awesome it is to know we'll get three meals a day, a guarunteed place to sleep (especially a place with a bed) and showers. It was good seeing the whole Capernwray crew again too and hearing about what they were up to the last month as well. Fun and challenging times are ahead, but it is all very exciting.
Well, there it is - in one big shot - everything that's gone on this past month! Hopefully all of you had a restful and enjoyable Christmas holiday and New Year and I'll see you all again this year, hey?
I left my parents in Kaikoura and did the most amazing tramp (hike) of my life. It was a 3-day/40km tramp which passed through vibrant coloured forests, dark bare Lord of the Rings-esque forests, open farm hills, beaches, streams, tangly branched forest, waist-high damp grass, waterfalls and flowerbeds. At the end of each day there was a little farmhouse where we (me and 5 other trampers) stayed for the night. All very cozy places, and really friendly hosts. I was hiking with five others: A mom, son from Oregon, a couple from Australia and a German. On the first day I tramped with shoes on but 30 minutes in I already felt like I was getting blisters so I took my shoes off and went barefoot. 10 seconds later I sliced my foot on a rock and if my shoes weren't so hard to put back on I probably would have but I'm glad I didn't because the rest of the tramp was fine and I didn't cut my feet anymore. It was actually pretty nice walking barefoot.
I got really familiar with the texture of sheep dung though. It was EVERYWHERE on the sheep trails up on the hillsides. There was no way of avoiding it.
Day two was rough because the first couple hours of the tramp was along a beach and as amazing as it sounds (and was) my sliced foot was getting killed walking on it. Stefan caught up to me and he had a first aid kit and patched me up a bit. The Australian couple caught up during this time too and they both had their two cents on what I should do to take care of it. Everyone had their own doctors advice. Up to this point I had tramped alone but we walked along along the beach together for a bit and it was nice to have some company. Abstract plant life, tangled forests followed after the beach, and then out of the forest into gorgeous hills with sheep grazing in the sun. I went the wrong way at this point because the paths weren`t always so easy to decipher.
When I reached the second hut I had a bunch of Oma and gramma cookies and they were all really tasty. There was a a cool poster at the hut that had the article below on it and I thought it was really cool to read. I don't agree with all of it but I think there's a lot of good points on it.
RULES ON LIVING MORE WISELY by Neil Rosenthal
You will receive a body - you may hate it or you might like it, but it will be yours the entire period this time around.
You will need lessons. You are enrolled in a full lifetime informal school called Life. Each day you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant or stupid.
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much of the process as the experiment that eventually "works."
A lesson is repeated until learned Presented in various forms till you have learned it.
Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lesson. If you are alive, tere are lessons to be learned.
Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
What you make of your life is up to you.
The only heaven and hell we can really be sure of is whether we are living in heaven or in hell while we are alive.
While you're alive, make sure you are living.
"There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become "hereto", you will simply obtain another "there" that will look better than "here".
Your answers lie inside you. Look, listen, trust.
The last day of the tramp featured lots of sheep. At one point I was following one big sheep and two smaller ones for ten minutes. They would see me and then run for awhile. They'd then stop, turn around and watch me approaching them and then they'd run off again. Their eyes said "stop following us" and mine responded with "this is the walking track for humans who are trying as much as possible to avoid your droppings!"
The young sheep would follow the running big leader-sheep so close they would be tripping over his heels. They looked very afraid. They'd drop a lot of kinder surprises after running. They eventually went off onto a smaller path and I was no longer following them. I thought about following them up the path to the point where they would have been cornered and they'd have to jump off the side of the cliff to avoid me any longer... but I thought I'd scared them enough.
From Kaikoura I hitched down to Christchurch. I wasn't a fan of the city just because I wasn't used to seeing that amount of advertising and consumerism again. I hitched down to Timaru for New Years. That ended up being an interesting experience. I stayed in a backpackers place where only 5 others were staying. I told the owner I wanted a quieter spot for New Years and he gave me a whole building to myself. At 11:30 he came to my door and told me there were fireworks on the balcony and that the others wanted to meet me. I went up and they were all doing shots and drinking multiple beers but they were all respectful and mostly still with it at that point. One of the ladies had Coke Zero so when they took their shots I'd sip some Coke, it was pretty funny. The fireworks were actually pretty impressive for a smallish place like Timaru. I left after a bit of celebrating the new decade and had a good sleep in a huge bed. I woke up feeling like I had the last few days: empty and unsatisfied with traveling, joyless and ready to see people I knew again.
I traveled the next few days just going places for the sake of going places. Every new destination I reached I felt like I needed to leave already. I saw lots but it wasn't fun and it felt like I was traveling with the devil. It was like a heavy ghost was pressing down on my every thought and action. Finally I settled down and spent three days in silence in the middle of a forest in a small town called Waikouaiti. It was close to a vacated beach and I thought it was going to be a great place to swim for a few days. Turns out the beach is empty because the weather is always windy and cold and the waves were really discouraging. Too big! The time in Waikouaiti was very helpful though. I read lots of Scripture and it was a good time to feel close to God with no other distractions. I played my harmonica in the tent a bit too, and the chirping birds accompanied me for a bit. I loved tenting, but finding my tent after leaving the forest for a bit was always an adventure. I imagined it was what trying to find Narnia was like. I'd have to lose myself in the forest before finding the tent. I never got back to my tent the same way. And once I found my tent it was like finding the portal into Narnia, it was an accomplishment. By the third day the trees started talking to me and that's when I knew I had to get out again. The forest was really freaky. At times the ground would rustle and I would think someone was approaching and knowing no one else was around I could have been murdered and no one would have known... yeah, I probably will never do that again. At one point I was approached in my tent... I was told to come out and there he was: a police officer. I was paranoid the whole time that I was tenting in a place which was off limits and that I'd be told to leave or get a fine or something. Turns out the police officer just wanted to know if I had a kayak because he suspected someone stole it. That was a sigh of relief.
So after my big day of hitch hiking from the southeast to the northwest I headed up to Karamea and that was a good peaceful time again. However, the loneliness by this point was absolutely driving me mad but I was able to get into contact with some Capers and so I headed down to Westport to meet them. It was the rainiest day of my life when I hitched down to Westport. I found a hostel and dried off and had my first shower in a long time. I was in bed by 7pm waiting for the next day when I'd meet up with them. At around 9pm I heard a familiar voice checking in... It was Bryan, Amber and Kelsey! I ran out of my dorm and hugged the heck out of them from behind. I was ecstatic. So much joy that I had been lacking for a couple of weeks alone.
For the last week I had a perfect time sharing traveling experiences with friends. We worked our way down the west coast and camped in our two small tents wherever we could for free: on the beach, beside the highway, in our pastor's backyard, behind caravans in camping gounds... cheap traveling.
We had to pay 6 bucks each in Franz-Josef where we had to camp in a campground and we were devestated at that.
Because we did lots of traveling in the car (over 3000km by the end) we made up our own entertainment in the car. We'd have to talk in lisps, in New King James lingo, like a robot, etc. and where our clothes inside out and backwards and crazy things like that. We visited Shantytown which reminded me a lot of being in Canada. It was an old fashioned town where we visited the old jailhouse, took a trainride and saw vintage stuff. Kelsey even panned for gold and got some.
Milford Sound was incredible. Although there were tons of sandflies. And we touched snow! We were all very happy about that. We played in the snow for awhile, sliding down little channels and running around barefoot and feeling like we'd get frost-bitten feet. We slept in beds and had showers for the last two days of our travels because of connections in various parts of New Zealand. Met lots of cool people - even one person who could have passed as a real life hobbit.
It's great being back in school again. Over the last three weeks we really learned to appreciate how awesome it is to know we'll get three meals a day, a guarunteed place to sleep (especially a place with a bed) and showers. It was good seeing the whole Capernwray crew again too and hearing about what they were up to the last month as well. Fun and challenging times are ahead, but it is all very exciting.
Well, there it is - in one big shot - everything that's gone on this past month! Hopefully all of you had a restful and enjoyable Christmas holiday and New Year and I'll see you all again this year, hey?
Hitch Hiking
Here's my quick hitch hiking diary of the 18 experiences I had hitch hiking.
01. Stefan (Germany)
Vehicle: Green minivan with bed in place of back seats.
Location: Kaikoura to Christchurch (2 hours)
02. 3 young (low-20s) Christian New Zealanders
Vehicle: White car
Location: Christchurch (20 minutes)
03. New Zealand couple (high 20s)
Vehicle: Black car
Location: Christchurch to Timaru (2.5 hours)
04. Maori couple (40s)
Vehicle: Dark red car
Location: Timaru to small town north of Oamaru (1.5 hours)
05. New Zealander couple (30s)
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: To Oamaru from middle of nowhere (.5 hours)
06. Sharon (mid 30s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Oamaru to Waikouaiti (2 hours)
07. New Zealand fisherman
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: Waikouaiti (2 minutes)
08. Adam (mid 20s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: 1980 vintage red sports car - maxed out at 140km/hr... shame
Location: Waikouaiti to Waipara(5 hours)
09. Hannah and Karen (mid 20s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: dark green car
Location: Waipara to random place in the northwest (2 hours)
10. Israeli (mid 20s)
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: Random place to Reefton (40 minutes)
11. Retired farmer (70-80s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: Tan Oldsmobile
Location: Reefton to middle of nowhere (20 minutes)
12. Middle-aged couple from Holland
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Middle of nowhere (5 minutes)
13. German couple (40s)
Vehicle: Travel campervan
Location: Middle of nowhere to Westport (40 minutes)
At this point I realized I had never been picked up by a truck despite many passing me by, and began being a bit prejudiced against trucks when I was hitching. Lo' and behold the next two people who picked me up drove trucks...
14. Greg (New Zealand) (40s)
Vehicle: White company truck
Location: Westport to half-way to Karamea (30 minues)
15. Matthew (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: Black truck
Location: Small town to Little Wanganui (20 minutes)
16. Melissa (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: White car
Location: Little Wanganiu to Karamea (20 minutes)
17. South African couple (20s)
Vehicle: Black camper
Location: Karamea to Little Wanganui
18. Sam (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Middle of nowhere to Westport
01. Stefan (Germany)
Vehicle: Green minivan with bed in place of back seats.
Location: Kaikoura to Christchurch (2 hours)
Super nice IT guy I met on the 3-day Kaikoura private tramp. Really caring, shyish guy who was really willing to help me out.
02. 3 young (low-20s) Christian New Zealanders
Vehicle: White car
Location: Christchurch (20 minutes)
They turned around when they saw me hitching and went out of their way to bring me out of the city a bit more. Good guys who all attended various Bible schools in New Zealand and knew the pains of hitching out of Christchurch. They were a huge blessing after a frusterating day in the big city.
03. New Zealand couple (high 20s)
Vehicle: Black car
Location: Christchurch to Timaru (2.5 hours)
Right after the last car dropped me off I got picked up by a rowdy couple ready to party in Timaru. They smoked and drank and cursed like sailors.
Pretty sketchy couple but they respected me.
Listened to hip-hop/R&B music and cranked the bass up... I felt so out of place.
They stopped every 30 minutes because the girl drank so much she kept having to go to the bathroom.
04. Maori couple (40s)
Vehicle: Dark red car
Location: Timaru to small town north of Oamaru (1.5 hours)
Also smokers, big jokesters - like most Natives.
We didn't talk much, they just talked about their problematic family and cursed because there was a slow car ahead of them. They had plenty of chances to pass the car (many cars were passing us even) but they decided to stay behind the slow car and complain. It was a nice ride though.
05. New Zealander couple (30s)
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: To Oamaru from middle of nowhere (.5 hours)
Talked about Olympics, scenery, New Zealand - real generic stuff
06. Sharon (mid 30s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Oamaru to Waikouaiti (2 hours)
Probably my favourite hitch hiking experience. Sharon was super nice and we talked the whole time, which was rare up to this point.
Talked about everything really. She attends a Catholic church and is going back to school in Dunedin to become a nurse. She grew up on the farm and loved it.
07. New Zealand fisherman
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: Waikouaiti (2 minutes)
After spending 3 days in solitude in Waikouaiti this guy just stopped and offered me a ride to the main road.
08. Adam (mid 20s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: 1980 vintage red sports car - maxed out at 140km/hr... shame
Location: Waikouaiti to Waipara(5 hours)
The most interesting experience for sure. Pretty much the first thing the guy says to me after I introduced myself was that he was on a mission to get weed because he doesn't want to go all the way from Dunedin to Piction (8+ hour drive) without it. We ended up stopping in Oamaru for 30 minutes while he went around the residential streets to different houses trying to get some. Thank God he didn't - I didn't want to find out if he was actually going to smoke it in the car.
Smoked 8 cigarettes while driving, and had lots of disrespectful comments to various drivers. "This is why there are car crashes in New Zealand." - He drove 120-130km/hr most of the time so he was super effecient and I wouldn't have gotten past Christchurch any faster.
Conversation topics included: weed, politics, education, spirit bears, gangs, war, fatal car crashes
09. Hannah and Karen (mid 20s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: dark green car
Location: Waipara to random place in the northwest (2 hours)
Students traveling from Christchurch to Nelson to Christchurch in the afternoon/night
Picked up another hitch hiker two minutes after me. They said they might as well make their trip worth it.
The hitch hiker they picked up was a Harry Krishner monk and he was super interesting. I really liked hearing what he had to say about living life, and his morals were very paralell to Christians'
10. Israeli (mid 20s)
Vehicle: Small white car
Location: Random place to Reefton (40 minutes)
Most laid back guy I have ever met. At first I thought he was just rude but he was just really laid back about picking me up and everything.
Served in the Israeli army for 2 years (mandatory) and got out to explore New Zealand for half a year - really into multiculteral community living
11. Retired farmer (70-80s) (New Zealand)
Vehicle: Tan Oldsmobile
Location: Reefton to middle of nowhere (20 minutes)
He saw me walking by his farmhouse up the highway and decided to give his car a drive to keep the oil up or something like that.
He drove me 20 minutes down the highway and told me all about the farms we were passing and who owned what. He actually had owned quite a few of the farm pastures we passed at one point or another.
12. Middle-aged couple from Holland
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Middle of nowhere (5 minutes)
Picked me up after I had walked for an hour along the windy highway. They ended up driving me only two minutes because they had to take a different turn off, but after walking a long time in a backpack and getting only a few kilometers getting driven for 5 minutes and getting 7-8 kms down the road is a huge deal and feels like a loooooooong time.
13. German couple (40s)
Vehicle: Travel campervan
Location: Middle of nowhere to Westport (40 minutes)
Nice German couple traveling for a few weeks. The lady talked to me the whole time while I was sitting on their bed in the back. She was really interested in the Bible and said that the first thing she thinks of when she hears about the Bible is nature.
At this point I realized I had never been picked up by a truck despite many passing me by, and began being a bit prejudiced against trucks when I was hitching. Lo' and behold the next two people who picked me up drove trucks...
14. Greg (New Zealand) (40s)
Vehicle: White company truck
Location: Westport to half-way to Karamea (30 minues)
Nice man who worked on repairing roads and knew tons about the forestry and economics of the west coast.
15. Matthew (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: Black truck
Location: Small town to Little Wanganui (20 minutes)
Pretty Maori-looking. Tattoos down the arms, pretty rough personality but very hospitable. He offered a place to stay and I didn't really know what to do but then he kinda just drove to off course Karamea, towards his house down a gravel road so he made up my mind for me. His community was very interesting. I didn't even feel like I was in New Zealand anymore. His house was really rundown and there was junk everywhere. You couldn't see table tops. Pots and pans and papers covered them, the grass was super long and it was just kinda creepy. I kept thinking "What am I doing here?!?" His daughter who was super talkative and outgoing (she was maybe 4) showed me around the whole house. They had a little shack in their backyard behind "the jungle" which was where I slept. It was a little 10x10 room with a mattress and so I stayed in there for the night. Matthew also offered his kayak so I spent a few hours exploring the river which lead to the ocean on that. They had planned a barbeque with some friends on the beach so I went with them and had some good filling food for the first time in awhile. I really felt out of place being there with a bunch of older people and then their kids (5-15) but I got connected with this guy named Sam right away. He talked and talked and was really interested in Canada and my thoughts on anything and everything. It was such a blessing talking to him the whole time. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't seen him. It started pouring so we left and I stayed the night in the jungle and left the next morning.
16. Melissa (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: White car
Location: Little Wanganiu to Karamea (20 minutes)
Matthew's wife showed up the next day and she took me into Karamea along with her daughter. She was much less rugged, pretty nice.
17. South African couple (20s)
Vehicle: Black camper
Location: Karamea to Little Wanganui
After walking in the pouring rain for half an hour I got picked up by this couple who were planning on moving/working in New Zealand. They had this camper which they were adding to. They added a bed, sink, cupboards, closet to the back and they were also building a boat back in Karamea to pass the time before they got jobs.
18. Sam (New Zealand) (30s)
Vehicle: New red car
Location: Middle of nowhere to Westport
I walked another 2 hours in the pouring rain but I had pretty high spirits so I didn't really start minding until 1.5 hours in. The roads were really windy and slippery and I had just finished eating the last food I had so I was hoping someone would come soon... there weren't many cars on the road because it was so rainy and it was Sunday but eventually I got picked up.
Sam told me a lot about weather patterns and New Zealand in general.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)