Updates from Ed Ross

After a fantastic full English breakfast lovingly prepared by the DTS staff, we continued our debrief week with a talk on "Vulnerability after victory". The subject covered the idea that after great victories, such as in war, sport, or outreaches like the ones we have been on, it is easy to let your guard down and let the enemy attack you. We all need to be alert to this possibility, and keep pursuing God after this course has finished.

As an aside, the leader mentioned an interesting sounding book, "The best question ever". It apparently talks about how we shouldn't consider if something is right or wrong before doing it, but instead ask "is this a wise thing to do?". There are many things that are not wrong to do, but may not be the wisest thing, because of the consequences later on.

Things suggested that we could do to help defeat any attacks against us in the time to come  were:

• Pray
• Study the Bible
• Continue in mentorship
• Continue in accountability
• Avoid temptations (for example, if you are tempted to take drugs, don't go and visit your drug dealer!)
• Find a place to serve others
• Be intentional with your relationships - make the effort to go and see people
• Don't over fill your timetable - leave room for God

After a break, we shared our "memory stones" - something from the course that has stuck out to us. Mine was attached to the pair of sunglasses I wore in India. My "Golden nugget" of truth from the course was regarding the Biblical Christian world-view. All of us have a world-view: a way of looking at the world and interpreting what we see. I am convinced that the only world-view that is actually consistent with what we see in the world is the Biblical Christian world view. It explains how there can be such beauty in the world, while there is such pain and loss. It explains science as well as art, and love and much as hate. It was the cornerstone of the West's advancement, and what made so much of what we have now a reality.

A couple of phrases the other students said during their sharing time stood out to me: "to be a leader in my lifestyle" and "God gives us many choices, they are all right - we just have to choose one".

In the afternoon Team India came together to put together a slide show of photos and videos of the trip for a presentation we gave this evening. The presentation went quite well and we were able to talk more about what we have experienced in India. Talking of photos - I'm having some difficulty getting some of my photos off the portable hard drive I took with me (ironically to try to make sure I didn't loose any photos!). Please could you pray I manage to get all the photos off the hard drive?