What am I learning?

Lectures officially started today and it was AMAZING! Pat Derham from the Adelade base is our guest speaker this week and, in two short hours, she erased any doubts that I had about being here. I am going to try to recap our morning session, but, just as a forewarning, this is going to be a bit lengthy and I won’t even be able to come close to the wonderful job she did.

We began discussing the differences between God and Satan. The point was to really comprehend that Satan isn’t as powerful as the world can make him out to be. She compared him to a lion without teeth and to the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz who was actually very small, but used a megaphone to make himself seem huge.

This is why God will always win and Satan will always lose:
God is Eternal – no beginning, no end; God’s justice is for all of time and not just this earth; He doesn’t always give instant answers b/c he wants us to grow – we do have all of eternity; Satan had a beginning
God is Creative – all creativity comes from God; unless we know what to look for, Satan can counterfeit anything – however, just like counterfeit money, Satan’s copied works are devalued; we must become experts at God’s truth to better discern Satan’s imitations; Satan’s power is over the ignorant; Satan appears as an “angel of life”, a.k.a Lucifer
God is Omnipotent – love is power under control; there is no limit to God’s power; we give Satan power because of unbelief and sin; sin opens the gates for attack – we must close even the smallest gates of sin
God is Omnipresent – all places, all time in His fullness; He will never leave us or forsake us; God is as present as the air we breathe; ex. the air is filled with radio waves and we must have equipment, a source of power and must be tuned in to the station – it is the same with God – He is our source of power and we must be tuned in so we can hear when He speaks to us
God is Omniscient – all knowledge, wisdom and understanding from all time; read Psalm 139 and James 4:7; we resist Satan with the knowledge and understanding of God’s Word; ex. Say you are a little baby chicken and Satan is a fox – no matter how hard the baby chick tries to stand up to the fox, alone he would be destroyed; if the little chick stays in the comfort of it’s mother hen’s wing, the fox would be afraid to come near; we must stay under the protection of God’s love; Psalm 91:1
God is Light – the further we are from Him the bigger our shadow; God has no shadow or darkness; just as the moon can only reflect light from the sun, Satan can pretend to have light from God
God never dies – 1 Tim 1:17; you can never lean too hard on the heavenly Father; example of Job
God is Truth – accurate, complete and eternal; much of the world tells half truths or exaggerations – that is still a lie and on Satan’s side

That's all for now. To be continued...

Orientation is going great. We have discussed the history of YWAM and Island Breeze (the subdivision of YWAM in which I am enrolled), cross cultural relationships, quiet time, small groups and work duties. Learning about the foundation and vision of Island Breeze was really cool. It all stemmed from one man’s holy discontent. I have decided that one thing that I really want to gain from my whole DTS experience is finding my holy discontent. Just one thing that gets me so fired up that I absolutely have to do something about it – one pure and holy passion for which I can focus my God given gifts.

In discussing quiet time, someone compared it to our spiritual food for the day. If we don’t eat, we get thin. If we don’t have a daily quiet time with our creator, we will become spiritually thin. One of the best things about being here is that I have been able to wake up early and have abundant amounts of time to spend with the Lord. I am not rushed to get ready for work or to go shopping or to the beach (I couldn’t go anywhere even if I wanted to). I can focus all of my attention on knowing Jesus more intimately. My goal is to become spiritually overweight by the time this DTS is over. How is your spiritual weight?

This week we are doing orientation activities. I feel like I am a freshman in college again and love it! We even got a syllabus! For the next twelve weeks, this is what I will be studying:
~Nature/Character of God, Prayer, Recognizing God’s Voice
~The Heart of God
~Jesus-Fear of the Lord/Lordship/Conscience
~Worship, Stewardship
~Holy Spirit
~Spiritual Warfare
~Life from God’s perspective
~Mission/Evangelism
~Outreach Week @ Byron Bay
~The Bible
~Destiny
~Relationships

This is definitely the most exciting syllabus that I have ever had. I have to do book reports and everything. I am so excited about what God is going to do in my life and in the lives of those in my class. Today, I played an actual soccer game for the first time since I broke my leg. It was so much fun – even in the bad soccer shape I am in, I still scored two goals! I just tried to post some pictures, but it isn't working for some reason. Probably because the internet connection is S-L-O-W! I will try again tomorrow.

G’day!
I am sorry that it has taken me so long to post. I know that some of you have been on the edge of your seats waiting for this. I haven’t been able to get my computer hooked up to the internet until now, but from here on out I plan on posting at least once a week. The YWAM base isn’t exactly what I had pictured, but I am getting used to it. I am sharing a room with ten (!) other girls who are all in my DTS class. There are also four guys and one married couple with a child for a grand total of 17. Our ages range from 17 to 27 (I was very relieved to find that I am not the oldest “youth with a mission”) and I think we are going to have a great group. We have people from the States (I am the only southerner!), Canada, Fiji, Ghana, Ireland, Finland and Fiji. Quite a mix! I have already connected with a lot of the girls. A few of them have boyfriends that they miss too. :) More about the base… the bathroom/shower area is about 100 yards away from our room. That is fun, especially in the middle of the night when you have to use the restroom. To top it off, we have to watch out for all of the poisonous snakes, spiders and toads. Already, I have killed two spiders from the reach of my top bunk. Just down the road there is a man-made lake with a wake board pulling wire. It, like a boat, pulls you around on a wake board, knee board or skis. How cool is that? I have been running in the mornings around the lake and plan to start a workout program for whoever wants to join. Right now, it is quite chilly in the morning and at night, but the days are unbelievably perfect. The sunsets are amazing and the stars shine so brightly.

I want to thank everyone – you know who you are – that made it possible for me to be here. May God pour abundant blessings on you. I am going to Monday night Meeting now (kind of like Monday night church), but pictures and many exciting posts soon to come!

the other woman...
Two weeks ago another woman came into Jason's life. She is huge, destructive and famous world-wide. She has been taking up the large majority of his time, keeps him up until all hours of the night, makes him stay on the phone, fills up his inbox and causes him to be late. He is so excited that she has come into his life that he hasn't even tried to hide her from me! However, being the loving girlfriend that I am, I am grateful that he has found someone(thing) for which he is passionate. I was even praying that God would put something big in his life to occupy his time while I am away. Gotta love it when He answers prayers like that. :) By the way, her name is Katrina. Has she gotten hold of your man too? I am thinking of starting a support group.