I can't quite believe it is the end of Thursday already. This week has just shot by, in a good way. Today has been long, but quick. This YWAM DTS course at Holmsted Manor, England is exactly where I need to be right now, and I'm so glad I know that.
We started today with a Quiet Time based around Psalm 145. Verses 8 and 9 are quite well known, and very encouraging:
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
It is so sad that many people have the idea that God is mean, judgemental, and waiting for an opportunity to "smite" them (whatever "smiting" is anyway). All throughout the Bible, we see the true message, that God is whispering to us: "I love you". All He has for us is love.
After Quiet Time, we had our first "Prayer for the nations" session. Holmsted Manor has several key nations around the world which we will be praying for throughout our stay here. We have been put in to teams, each team will be praying for a different one of the nations. I am in the team praying for India. One of the leaders on the course is from India, so he told our team a lot about the current situation and the history of the country. There is a lot to pray about in future weeks!
Then we started our next lecture on The Father Heart of God. We've been through so many great examples and thoughts on this subject, it is hard to encapsulate the teaching in an easily re-readable form now, but I'll just say this has been a great lecture series, which has been more like a re-introduction to a good friend than a lecture. I'll never look at "The Lion King" in the same way again either. Clips from this film have been used yesterday and today to help describe The Father Heart of God, and to great effect. We finished off with a clip from a YWAM video interview with a lady already serving God overseas. She made the point that she no longer needs to ask "Is this worth it?", but instead asks "Is He worthy?", to which the answer is always "Yes!". God is so worthy of our praise, worship and adoration. Who else would look at all my faults, failings and bad thoughts, even the ones I'm yet to do, and still love me? I've got a great relationship with my parents, which I'm extremely thankful for. I love them, and I know they love me. I'm thankful to God for giving them to me as an example of His love for me.
As it was Thursday, we had curry for lunch. This was a very nice chicken based dish - slightly hotter than the Chicken Tikka Massalas I'm used to, but very tasty all the same. Thursdays were the curry day in my old work place too, so it is funny to find a culinary similarity here. As a student, I'm not allowed to enter the kitchen here. Personally, I'm finding this to be a blessing. I've been cooking for myself and others for about as long as some of the other students have been alive, so it is good to have a break from cooking for a while.
The Community Care time was interesting today: we are having new showers installed for the guys, so the old shower room didn't need to be cleaned, and the male toilets didn't need to be cleaned either, as they were working in there too. This meant I had a bit of extra time to help with some floor sweeping. It is amazing to see how much dust settles in just one day. If we didn't clean this huge house every day, it would get very dirty very quickly!
Having no male showers available meant we decided not to play football today, but opted for the slightly less sweat inducing volleyball. This was quite fun today, as my team won each of the four games we played. It is really great to have sports built in the schedule here. I have not managed to participate in many sporting activities in the last 5 years or so, so it is good to have the opportunity now to have fun with the other students and leaders, and know there is nothing else I need to be doing instead. It is also a great way to see some more of the other peoples' personalities.
After dinner we met again for a time of sung worship, followed by a very beneficial time of reflection on Psalm 139. I spent a lot of time thinking about verses 7 to 12:
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
The first line reminded me of that cartoon dog which always appears wherever it has just been removed from. The last few lines made helped me to think about God's love for me again: I thought about how God sees us the same - in our deepest, darkest actions and thoughts, He looks on us and sees the bright light, what we can be, and what we are becoming through Jesus. I also got to pray with the course leader about some thoughts I've been having about my direction after I graduate from the course. I really appreciated this time.
We still do not have the list of possible outreach locations, but I'm starting to think I know where I may be going. I'll keep you posted on the latest developments when I can.
I'm still really enjoying this course. It feels like I've been here a lot longer than I have. Just looking around at the other people here, I feel like I've known them for a lot longer than I have too. They all seem to just fit in here on the course - like we are all pieces of the same jigsaw that is being fitted together here, to make a perfect picture.
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Edward Ross
Holmsted Manor
Staplefield Road
Cuckfield
West Sussex
RH17 5JF
England
"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."