Yet another week of learning...learning...learning. I(Kathy) am reminded as I am writing this that we are all students in this life and we are all learning no matter if we are in a classroom or not. Being in a classroom with a teacher is only one of many, many ways that we can learn, yet it is certainly not the only way. God can speak to us and teach us through any circumstance that we find ourselves in, any job, any ministry, any family, and this learning never stops, if we choose. Because we are finite(limited, human) beings, we will always need a relationship with our infinite(immeasurable, exceedingly great, not limited to time or space) father to help us in this life.
This week we had Matt Rawlins come and speak to us, he currently lives in Singapore, but is from Salem, Oregon and he spoke on "who is God?" He told us on Monday that by Friday we would probably have more questions than answers and this is true. He covered a lot, but woven through the fabric of his teaching was "God is good and He is Big". He mentioned that most christians don't wrestle with God being Good, but we often question if he is big enough. Is he big enough in my finances, is he big enough in my relationships, is he big enough to take care of my failures. Is he bigger than any mistake I have ever made in my life? He then went on to taking us through our Solar system and to the world that God has created. I would invite each of you to check out Nasa's website, I believe it is nasa.com. We think that earth is SO big, yet earth is a drop in the bucket compared to all else that God has created. A million earth's fit inside the sun! Matt remarked this week that when we begin to feel 'insecure' in our faith, we should just go do a study on the universe that he has created, that he 'spoke' into existence. Study the vastness of his creation. Do a study on fish. Do a study on stars. Did you know that we have over 2 billion stars and do you happen to know how big one star is? I didn't. Yet, God knows each star by name and by his knowledge, not one star is unaccounted for(Isaiah). Wow. He talked about us being created in God's image. What does this mean? God is sovereign, God is good, God is all-powerful, all-knowing. Does this mean that we are all-powerful and all-knowing? He explained it to us as this:there are 2 aspects of God; his nature (sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful, BIG) and his character (loving, caring, GOOD). When God says we are created in His image, we are created in the image of his character, not his nature. This makes a lot of sense.
A few things that I took out of this week are a)God is a whole lot bigger that I have believed Him to be b)He is better than I thought!!! c) what is man that he is mindful of us? Yet he knows us so intimately, even down to our very cells d)the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and true relationship with Him e)I am not in control.
I want to pass on a quote to you from Henri Nouwen. This quote has really impacted me this week, so much so that I went and bought a journal and am preparing to paste this quote on the front of it. Here goes:
"For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God. I have tried hard to follow the guidelines of the spiritual life---praying always, working for others, reading the scriptures---and to avoid the many temptations to dissipate myself. I have failed many times but always have tried again, even when I was close to despair. Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me. The question is not "how am I to find God?" but "How am I to let myself be found by Him?" The question is not "how am I to know Him" but "how can I let myself be known by him"? and finally the question is not "how am I to love God" but "how am I to let myself be loved by God?" It might sound strange, but God wants to find me as, if not more than, I want to find God…I am beginning now to see how radical the character of my spiritual journey will change when I no longer think of God as hiding out and making it as difficult as possible for me to find Him, but, instead, as the one who is looking for me while I am doing the hiding." (Can the finite find the infinite or must the finite let himself be found by the infinite...added by me)? Henri Nouwen
Just a thought....
Also, we had the priviledge of having the author of the Shack (book), William (Paul) Young, here at the Ywam, Salem campus, he was here on Monday and Tuesday speaking in the counseling school. Carson and I got to sit in on one lecture and also got to hear him speak in our Tuesday evening service. We are planning to get copies of his testimony, what he shared on Tuesday (highly recommended), and if anyone would like a copy, please let us know, and if you haven't read the book, we would highly recommend it to you. Paul mentioned that when he wrote the book, the Shack, he wrote it for his children and when he tried to have it published, noone wanted it. So he and 2 friends opened up a new publishing company, just so they could publish it. In all, they spent less than 300$ in marketing (and this is generous). Basically, God got ahold of the story and is using it to His glory. People all overthe world are 'having conversations', which Paul is really happy about. It is the number one book being read in chinese universities, they have sold over 2 million copies, and now there is a movie in the process of being made via David Cunningham, the son of Loren Cunningham (founder of Ywam). He mentioned that the other day Will Smith was in an interview with Queen Latifah and as they were talking he turned to her and said "boy, do I have a role for you" (he had just read the shack). And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll just have to read the book. Carson and I have a extra copy, so let us know if you want it and we'll send it to you, or you can find it at any local bookstore or Amazon.com. By the way, Paul mentioned that The Shack is a metaphor for each of our souls. The Shack is us. Interesting.God wants to "habitate" our shacks, he doesn't want 'visitations'.
Also, we had the priviledge of having the author of the Shack (book), William (Paul) Young, here at the Ywam, Salem campus, he was here on Monday and Tuesday speaking in the counseling school. Carson and I got to sit in on one lecture and also got to hear him speak in our Tuesday evening service. We are planning to get copies of his testimony, what he shared on Tuesday (highly recommended), and if anyone would like a copy, please let us know, and if you haven't read the book, we would highly recommend it to you. Paul mentioned that when he wrote the book, the Shack, he wrote it for his children and when he tried to have it published, noone wanted it. So he and 2 friends opened up a new publishing company, just so they could publish it. In all, they spent less than 300$ in marketing (and this is generous). Basically, God got ahold of the story and is using it to His glory. People all overthe world are 'having conversations', which Paul is really happy about. It is the number one book being read in chinese universities, they have sold over 2 million copies, and now there is a movie in the process of being made via David Cunningham, the son of Loren Cunningham (founder of Ywam). He mentioned that the other day Will Smith was in an interview with Queen Latifah and as they were talking he turned to her and said "boy, do I have a role for you" (he had just read the shack). And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you'll just have to read the book. Carson and I have a extra copy, so let us know if you want it and we'll send it to you, or you can find it at any local bookstore or Amazon.com. By the way, Paul mentioned that The Shack is a metaphor for each of our souls. The Shack is us. Interesting.God wants to "habitate" our shacks, he doesn't want 'visitations'.
We'll, I have said too much. We hope you all are well, many of you enjoying fair week! We miss and Love you.
Oh, Matt Rawlins (who was with us this week) happens to be an author and he has an excellent book that has just come out, in fact we got to pray and comission the book with him, it is called "there's an elephant in the room" and it is about effective communication in businesses, in churches, and just basically any relationship. You can order it on Amazon.com and you can check out his websites for his other books at http://www.anelephantintheroom.com/, http://www.thegreenbench.com/.
Carson will probably be writing too, so you can hear what God's been doing in His life. We would LOVE to hear from you via comments on this blog or via email, hershy414@yahoo.com.
Kathy
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