Praise and Worship

Mondays are long. :) We ended the day with our base celebration...the base is opened up for the community to come in and join us as we listen to God's word and worship. Tonight was a little different. The crowd of 75+ was encouraged to break into small groups and define praise...then we were to define worship. After tossing around many different definitions, we went back to our groups and discussed how we had worshipped the Lord today...how had we praised him today. This was an interesting exercise....one that I will challenge myself to think about each day. So do we think that gathering on Sunday and singing is the only act of worship we are to engage in? Probably not but I wonder if we all too often settle for something that looks very similar. I know I was challenged by the question. It was encouraging that last weeks memory verse clearly came to mind tonight. Blessings!!!

And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 NLT

Saturday at the Lodge

This week was amazing! We were all so blessed by the teaching's and how the Holy Spirit ministered to us. One teaching focused on learning to forgive..others as well as ourselves. Forgiveness is an act of the will, not a feeling. It is important to remember that forgiveness is a process and we may need to ask the Lord to help us. Then Peter came to him and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" "No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven." Mt 18:21-22 If we can learn to walk in forgiveness, EVERYDAY, it can be life changing! POWERFUL! God wants us to be FREE and walking is forgiveness offers much freedom. Wonderful teaching and a great reminder of how we should live and love one another. There were so many other good lessons this week!
Most of my class went to Cambridge for the day. One of our classmates, Patrick, is from that area. They are going punting...do a google search, it looks like so much fun! I'll give you a hint: involves water. I'm sure they will have wonderful stories to tell...and I'm betting that someone gets wet today. :)
This is my weekend for work duty so I stayed on base. It is a beautiful day!!! The sun is out and the lodge is very quiet. Breakfast is from 9-11 so it is a chance to SLEEP IN... and I did! Lunch is brown bag on Saturday's... sandwich, yogurt, salad and fruit. I had a PBJ sandwich with banana...awesome! As you can tell from the picture above, we all did laundry this morning. :) It is quite expensive to wash and dry so we wash and mostly hang our clothing up to air dry. We are being prepared for the Philippines...all hand wash and air dry! :)
My weekend work duties...cleaning the men and women's loo on the ground floor, kitchen clean up after dinner on Saturday and after lunch on Sunday. It is really a community effort to keep the lodge running and they have it working like a well oiled machine!!
Good news....a fellow Carolinian, Betsy from NC, loaned me her coffee press for a month!!! They found an automatic maker in their flat...she felt my pain for a good cup of coffee. I am running into town on Sunday for a bag of french roast...I can hardly wait! :)
It is such a blessing to be here. God is working in all of us as we prepare to do our outreach. The bonding among us has come so naturally...we all truly enjoy time together...learning, praying and just getting to know one another better. A note concerning outreach...we will be in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines for our outreach. This area has recently been declared dangerous for travel, especially for Americans and Australians. Please pray that God will prepare the way for us to safely visit this area, that he will prepare the heart's of the people to receive His message and that the people who are causing trouble in this area will be exposed. Thank you friends!!! Blessings!

It's raining in England

At last the rain has come!! Yesterday was the first rainy day I have seen since arriving...and it has continued into today. :) Every Monday we have vegetable soup for lunch...we had just sat down and filled our bowls when the fire alarm went off!! You know the drill...the central meeting point is always outside and away from the building. Soooo...leave your warm bowl of soup and wonder out into the cold rain...soup or rain...soup or rain??? I could tell everyone in the cafeteria felt the same. :) Quite funny...and a blessing to come back in and find my soup was still warm. :0)
The picture above is of a field of rapeseed. It is used for many different things including bio fuel. Just thought I would share it...there are miles of green fields around here and so the bright yellow flowers are magnified in the contrast..quite lovely!
This weeks memory verse: And so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 NLT

Week three..already!!

This appears just left of the entrance to Westminister Abbey. I was speechless at the size and beauty.... snapped a photo. London was incredible!!!

This week we are studying Sin and the Cross...the first two day's have been so good. The lecturer this week is Mo Tizzard. She did her CDTS in Kona, Hawaii in 1989 and has staffed several since. She and her husband have remained involved with YWAM over the years, lovely people. (I guess you've have noticed that I take every opportunity I get to use lovely and quite lovely...wish we used the phrase in the states but somehow I think my southern accent could really kill the charm :) Anyway.... Mo has a great teaching style and we all are really enjoying what God has given her to share!!
One of the points I've found myself pondering this week centers around relationship with God. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 The Hebrew word for life here is relationship. Think about that...He is the way, the truth and he is relationship. Two points we have visited many times here.....Learn to hear his voice and have a relationship with him! It all comes down to relationship...He is a God who desires for us to know Him, to know his character, his nature and to have RELATIONSHIP with him. He want's us to want Him. Life is relationship..wow.
So the common theme through three weeks of teaching...learn to hear his voice and engage in relationship with him!! Isn't it incredible to think about how deep his love is for us... I can't get my brain around that sometimes. :) What a wonderful God we serve.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

"For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths." 2 Timothy 4:3-4
I opened my bible tonight and my eyes were drawn to these verses. Perhaps because we talked so much this week about knowing the true nature and character of God.....we were challenged with a lifetime homework assignment: seek Him and KNOW His character... There are so many teachings out there that question the goodness of God and I'm saddened that many buy into the lie. I don't want to be one who is lost, listening to what the world says, rejecting the truth....I want to know my God. The only way to know Him is to spend time with Him. Paul challenged us to change our priorities and MAKE ROOM FOR GOD!! How else will we even begin to understand our lives and what we have in Him.
Paul defined the character of God as Love, Holy, Wise, Faithful, Just, Merciful, Gracious, Good, Kind, Forgiving...and many others. This is who God is and the likeness of whom we are becoming. We were encouraged to pray asking God to reveal which of these characteristics He felt we needed to learn. Paul went on to say that through knowing God's character, we can have every need in our lives met. I found this very encouraging.
I want to know Him...I don't ever want to be caught in the lies of the world...false teachings and such. He is Love, Holy, Wise, Faithful, Just, Merciful, Gracious, Good, Kind, Forgiving and so much more! "Lord I will seek you. On my bed think upon you. In the day I'll dream of you. Your always on my mind. With my whole heart I'll love you. With my mind and my strength too..waste my life searching for you..you're always on my mind." Those are words from a song that really speaks to my heart...that is how we get to know His character..waste our lives searching for Him! I pray that God will give me the courage and the strength to spend all my days seeking Him.

A full week!!

I can hardly believe the first full week is over! We have heard from four speakers thus far and the material is so RICH!! All of the speakers have been with YWAM for a minimum of 18 years and Paul Hawkins, the lecturer for this week, has 37 years as a YWAMer. He was here at the beginning. Paul is speaking on the character, nature and ways of God. He has made it a point to say that "How we see God will determine how we see everything." It has made me stop and think about how I see my God..I want to know Him more. This teaching is foundational in the YWAM organization..what a privilege to receive the message from a man who has been walking faithfully in missions for almost 40 years. He has incredible stories of God's faithfulness, his provision, his goodness and his love. REALLY GOOD STUFF!! I am so excited to be here..to see what God is doing in the lives of the people here...to see his work throughout the Kingdom as we hear from the missionary family who is preparing to go back to Central Asia. God is truly amazing..he is so good.
I had the opportunity to spend this past weekend in London with my friends Hope and Vince. We packed as much as we could into two days..we must have walked 20 miles!!! Saturday started with the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It was quite a ceremony that required the entire area in front of Buckingham Palace to be blocked off. Many other streets are closed too as the guards march in and out of the palace gates while playing patriotic music. This was a highlight of the trip for me...Hope loved the tall fuzzy bearskin hats worn by Prince Charles' guard.
We then headed to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. I'm not sure I have the words to describe how beautiful these monuments are. We all three just seemed to stare in awe at the size and beauty of the buildings....well, Hope and I stared but also snapped a ton of pictures!! Big Ben is on the end of the Houses of Parliament...WOW! Just amazing. We were among thousands of people who were looking to get a glimpse of history.
Sunday we headed for SW London to church at a Vineyard!! The subway system in London is called "the tube" and little did we know the city would be doing repairs on Sunday. So off we go, on the tube to the Vineyard... one hour later we arrived! What should have taken 30 minutes turned into and hour as we tried to manage the tube...Thank goodness the Vineyard here breaks for tea and donuts after worship!! We made it just in time to hear a wonderful message. That was great!!
OK...gotta get to bed but will share more tomorrow if I can. I will leave you with our memory verse of the week.... For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
Blessings!!!

First Full Day

Today was the first full day of activity...and boy do I feeeeel it! :) We started with breakfast at 7, devotion at 8, Base intercession 8:30-9:30, lecture 9:45-11:10, coffee break, lecture 11:30-1, lunch from 1-2, reflection time from 2-3, work duties 3-5, one-on-one 5-5:45, dinner 5:45-6:15, FREE TIME 6:15-7:30 (unless you have kitchen clean up duty-my days are Monday and Thursday) 7:30-8 Family in mission - this is the time where we all gather and the children are allowed with us, 8:15-9 missions night!!! WOW!
Tonight we watched several videos of the 2005 CDTS outreach trip to the area in the Philippines that we will visit. It was so incredible to hear the stories of Jesus and see the faces of these beautiful people!!! We will be visiting an area called Smokey Mountain which is a HUGE garbage dump. Many people live on the garbage and some have spent their entire lives there. There was a picture of a woman who was 93 years of age and she was missing an eye...a precious woman. When she heard the story of Jesus she said she knew now why she was alive...and that she had waited 93 years to hear it but could hardly wait to tell others!!! Praise the Lord!!! There were so many wonderful testimonies...I can't wait to go!!! I can only imagine what God will do as we travel to see these beautiful people. He is so good and forgets NO ONE!!! Thank you for your faithfulness Lord.
Here is the sunset I promised...this is right out the front door...beautiful!

Happy Easter

View from my room

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!! It was another lovely day in the English country side!! They still warn that the rain will come :) We visited Living Rock Church today...it was awesome!! Great worship and a powerful message. I really enjoyed it. Visit livingrockchurch.org.uk if you are interested. Think I 'll go back again.
Sundays here at the lodge consist of church in the am, family style lunch and football at 2pm...all are invited to play!! The kids are amazing with a soccer ball. I opted for a long walk but see myself involved in a game or two before it's over. :) One of the students in my class lives in a village about 8 miles from here. She had us over for a late movie..Revenge of the Pink Panther...haven't seen that on in a long while but it is quite funny!!
Well, things get started tomorrow. Breakfast at 7, worship at 8 and class at 8:30. The course is very challenging so I may go to every other on the blog though I will try to keep up.
The message today centered around the statement IT IS POSSIBLE! Possible to be cheerful each day, to be kind each day, to have a wonderful marriage each day, to give more than we think we can each day, to be loving each day...and the list went on and on. If we choose to grab hold of the Resurrection power of Jesus, each day, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!! I was encouraged. Happy Easter everyone....love you all!!!

Relaxing day

Last night was my first night to sleep and feel rested. My body seems to have made the transition....at least I hope so! I suppose I'll know more at bedtime tonight.
We had "campus orientation" today. Three hours of how to live in a community environment and do it safely. Takes me back to my college days and dorm living. I am adjusting to having four roommates...well, I think. :) Having lived alone for several years I was hoping to make the transition easily. Wonderful women of God I am sharing quarters with..they all have amazing stories of how God has worked in their lives.
We went into town for a few hours to learn the lay of the land!!! I'll be honest...the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road has made it challenging for me to gather my directional bearings!!! The roads here have areas called "round abouts". These are traffic circles that appear in the road and give you many options of direction. So you could take a number of roads off of the round about depending upon the direction of desired travel. Anyway...it's all very confusing to me. :) I think it's better if I catch a lift when I need to get around..no driving. So town was quite lovely. :) I had my first cup of filtered coffee since I've arrived in England. They drink instant coffee here and as many of you know, I am quite the coffee snob...(that is bad, I know..working on it!) so this has been a bit painful. I found out that the nearest Starbucks is 9 miles away. I was so excited to hear this until I found out the price of their coffee....a cup of joe @ Starbucks here costs about 3 pounds..which is $6 US. Tea is sounding better every minute!! :)
A few of us took a long walk in the countryside after dinner. The sunset was amazing...I'll post a picture of that soon!!! I really find that God speaks to me a lot through nature...his creation, down to the most simple creature, fascinates me.
Tomorrow I will attend church with a few of the more local people. We can attend anywhere we want so I'm excited to visit Living Rock Church for Easter Sunday. I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience. Till next time....BLESSINGS!!!

Day three of the British adventure!! For those of you who knew...there was a chance that I would be in a room that sleeps ten....you guessed it!! I am in the BIG room. ;) At this point we have five women in our room. Ok Ja Lee and Chang Su Kim are from Korea and Dawn and Nicole are from England. We are expecting another woman from Africa but it has been said she is not likely to get her student visa. It is hard to get a visa from that part of the world.

This first weekend is really just orientation to the grounds, the local towns and churches and an overview of the program. We are going into town tomorrow to get the tour. Our classes start on Monday morning at 8 am and the schedule is very tight. We are busy from 8 am until 7:30 pm M-F. Weekends are free unless you are on work duty. We have work duty one weekend each month. The classes range from Hearing God's voice to Spiritual Warfare. I'm very excited to study and here many of the speakers that will be here.

Well....stay tuned...I know God has a lot planned for this class!!! Blessings!!!

cow's to the barn!!

The adventure is underway!!! I traveled for close to twenty hours over Tuesday and Wednesday. I flew into Manchester, took a coach to Birmingham and a second to Coventry. My directions were to call the school once I arrived in Coventry. After two calls, both of which went to voice mail, I got a little nervous. :) I text Hope a couple of times and then found another phone number-FOR EMERGENCY ONLY. I was feeling that this was an emergency...tired, not much sleep and needing to see a friendly face. :) About twenty minutes later a friendly woman approached me and asked if I was Cindy. "YES I AM" came roaring out....I'm sure of that!! I later asked her if I looked like a scared American looking for a ride...she laughed and said no....that they had been there for a while and had walked past me many times. I recognized her husband and he had definitely walked past a few times!!! :) We then traveled another twenty minutes to the King's Lodge. I thanked the Lord many times for such an easy trip and friendly people.

The Lodge is an old English boys home built around 1860. My college dorm's were built about thirty years later so I am familiar with this place already. Sue, the friendly face from the bus station, gave me a tour. As we approached the laundry room I noticed a rather unpleasant odor. I said nothing...Sue looked at me and said "Oh, I need to mention the cow farm that backs up to our base. The smell is most noticed in this room but you will catch the odor in the breeze a lot." I thought I would fall out laughing. THIS IS SO GREAT!!! I really want to go check out the cow's!! :) Great place...I can tell already. I will write more later...thank you to all of you who have been a part of this!!!

I have spent a lot of time talking with the Lord about this whole trip. It has really been amazing to see how he made it all possible. He told me that day on the deck that HE would make this happen...if only I would trust him. Thank you Lord. I will give you all I have while I am here.