party saturday, study sunday

always divine

Two quick stories of God wowing me the last few days ...

• One morning I headed to a local cafe to read and pray and was settled into my window seat with my chai tea. There are lots of characters around Paia so it's not necessarily unusual for some kind of ruckus to occur ... anytime. That particular morning there was a woman COMPLETELY out of sorts though, and causing an extraordinary commotion in the cafe. I was kind of in my own little world, but it got so noisy and I could hear the desperate exasperation of the cafe owner attempting to shut the lady up. Next thing I know she is yelling, "Well I'm a manic depressive! Do you have any idea what that is?!" among other things, to which the poor employee says no. I was sitting there rolling my eyes at God, feeling sick in my stomach, but finally I said from my corner, "Hey, my dad has that. I know what that is." Crazy loud lady practically leaps out of her skin with joy. (Kinda felt like she would've whipped out a gun if no one had known what bipolar is - she was intense.) So I walked over and sat down and I could see the relief on the owner's face as I brought a calming presence to the situation. Amy had recently moved to Maui from Las Vegas where her ex and two little girls were still living. She poured out her entire life story with breaks to sprint outside to check on her poor dog locked in her car - "She's only acting so nuts cause she can sense that I'm nuts - once I calm down she'll be okay." (uh-huh, and maybe if she was outside instead of sweating to death without food or water she'd be okay too ...) She told me how important it is to tell my dad that I love him, horror stories from her own illness, and how important her Christianity is. She hugged me when I said I was a Christian too, but her distorted view of God made me feel sick. I don't know what came out of it, but I know I was in that place for a reason and it continues to amaze me just how intricately God orchestrates our lives. I need to be obedient in the "small stuff."
• Last night I was having a fabulous conversation with my roommate, and eventually we were pouring out our hearts about abortion and how passionate we are to see it come to an end. We were saying how we could both just bawl every time the topic comes up, when another girl walked in. We caught her up on the content of the conversation and she starts talking about her huge heart for intercession and all that God taught her at The Call this past summer. Turns out she had been fasting yesterday about abortion, and feeling very lonely in her desperation for the urgency to end abortion. Then she "just happened" to walk in on us discussing that ... one of the issues heaviest on both of our hearts as well. This was probably one of those "had to be there" kinda things ... but once again, in my eyes it was a divine appointment. I am so stoked for the three of us to lead an intercession time with the DTS or maybe the whole base focused on abortion. Even MORE stoked to see it come to an end, to see people come out of shame, to see the value of human life restored in our nation and WORLD!!!
  

soaking it up

My roommate Megan and I at Lovefeast, which is a huge celebration night to conclude "Exodus." Exodus is something each DTS at YWAM Maui does to kick off the school. Everyone sleeps under the stars and roughs it for 3 days with only a sleeping bag, Bible & journal, and flashlight. No showers, changing clothes, brushing teeth, nada. It was awesome during my DTS because it unified our school and helps you to bond really quickly. Nevertheless I was thankful to be on the clean side of things this time around. :)

Haha, this would be my friend Elizabeth, who is staffing the DTS and had a wonderfulll time on Exodus. Just to give you a glimpse into the extremes of Exodus.

Goes without saying, but here is the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l coastline. Views like that make it so much easier to wake up early in the morning to go running.

Attempt at capturing the reflection of an awesome sky turned into a portrait of Shamu, one of the vans we take when we're not hitchhiking. So far hitching has been a breeze. Yesterday morning we prayed and in less than five minutes a hyperactive woman pulled over to pick us up. She couldn't figure out how to unlock the doors and told us she was just in a bad car accident and didn't quite know this vehicle yet. All of that information became apparent as she started driving, but I think she was also distracted by worshipping. She had her music blared and was so stoked we were Christians so that she could continue singing and dancing. She ended up taking us all the way to our destination even though hers wasn't quite that way.

The first week of classes has been EXCELLENT. Tom Osterhus, our base director, spoke each day and it was basically an overview of the course, introducing us to Biblical worldview. I have to go do heaps of homework, so I'm not really in the mood to rehash it all out here. Soon though.

la la la

the workload is hyped up to be exhaustive, so i'm taking things one day at a time. i am on day two of classes and it's working so far. :) we have a lot of reading to do and the books we're working through right now are "celebration of discipline" "know the truth" and "what skeptics say," along with reading through the Bible. after some mind-boggling reading yesterday i switched to the Bible and found myself thanking God for the simplicity of His Word. it's so refreshing to understand what you read and yet be able to come back to it again and again and receive new insight and revelation. but why would i ever expect God to be anything less than amazing like that?

this morning as i read in Genesis i was reminded of the miracle that rain had to be to people who never experienced it before. i was praying about not wanting to take God for granted - or anything for granted. i kept praying and was "distracted" by the most beautiful rainbow! it was enormous and brighter than any rainbow i've ever seen. there are rainbows on the island quite often, but this one was so bright that i had to stop looking at it! it got really noisy and i thought it was only the wind in the palm trees but it turned into this heavy downpour of rain. it kept raining and raining and was one of those perfect moments, just me and God ... knowing that He loves me.

relaxing before classes start

Paia fits me so perfectly! everyone is uber friendly and i'm not used to people smiling back at me and asking how i'm doing. i love it. you know how i'm generally afraid of dogs? not in maui! i decided that the dogs here get to be free and run around the beach so much so they're just happier and friendlier and less aggressive. i may or may not have seen owen wilson tonight at pbay frolicking in the waves with his adorable pup. couldn't tell, it was dusk & everyone tends to have shaggy sun-bleached hair like his.

i like to think my hair was meant for beach life.

i was thrilled to return to New Hope Maui this morning, the church i was involved with during my DTS. the pastor had a huge impact on my life and my vision of what church can/should be. he mentioned this morning that if we all come to church prepared, there isn't that much of a need for a sunday morning message. our personal testimonies will feed the body as much as a message from the same one or two pastors will. people shared what was happening in their lives and that always encourages me greatly. his message definitely hit home though! the enemy doesn't necessarily reside in hell or in the world, but wherever there is spiritual darkness. it is when i let sins linger that i leave room for the enemy to attack. something that stuck out to me was that God gives us the freedom to fail. i love that, probably because i need that! and here's a quote that's still sinking in ...

"Satan will not continue to assault you if the circumstances he designed to destroy you are now working to perfect you."

trying to put pictures on, not knowing what i'm doing

maholo jesus

getting here felt like a lifetime, but i'm here now so that's what counts. philly continues to show itself as the dumbest airport, and i missed my connection in phoenix exactly like i did when i flew out to maui for my DTS. this time i was able to catch a flight to los angeles and then maui, but it was tiring. i wandered over to some girl who looked YWAM-ish and thankfully she was! she was on her way to do her DTS so it was fun to answer her questions and have awesome conversation as we waited for our next flights.

i had a comical conversation with a guy from LA on that flight. he was very intrigued with the idea of doing "charity work" and i felt like i didn't quite do YWAM justice in my explanation. he said that he has always been interested in charity work and is thinking about doing it. i said, "well are you going to do it or are you just going to think about it?" hahaha, his facial expression to that comment was hilarious. i was glad that i made him think. i prayed for him and i'm sure the Lord is going to do awesome things in his heart - probably He has already begun. he also told me that i should move to LA, and i said, "yeahhhh ... i'll think about it." =P

classes don't start until monday so it's been a fun first few days. i forgot how much i LOVE hitchhiking when i get to ride in the back of pickup trucks! i have a lot more to say and since writing helps me to process things, i'll probably write again soon.