The Christmas update

Well Christmas came and went, I think I had the best Christmas since living in Kansas City, it was relaxing, very much so, in fact we seemed to go back and forth from the table to eat back to the couches to nap. I think it's also easier because I don't have an expectation for things to "feel like Christmas" as I knew it growing up, because considering back home it's Summer and I spend it with my family that's not going to happen but close friends is a great alternative!!!!




By far the best thing about Christmas this year is my niece Caitlin Grace Dorothy Blundell was born, just over 7 pounds and in a little over 2 hours, I can't wait to meet her!




The "family picture" from Christmas day at Sarah's, it was definitly a family picture because when I announced it people complained, which is what we do in my family, then TJ couldn't find his timer on his camera, so many Christmas memories relived!!!





Christine, Amanda and Gabrielle as we open our stockings together and have hot chocolate with tim tams, for a taste of home for me :)

On another note, right now I'm studying the minor prophets a little and I really like them, but today my little job is to try and finish my knowledge of the holy outline, which was one of my goals to do this year, and now it's like 5 days left to go!!

Of counting and winter

I found counter that will tell me how many days until I come to New Zealand, now I don't have to try and work it out while I"m in the prayer room because it does it for me.

Winter is here, it's funny how you get used to something. The high can be 2 degrees (I'm talking NZ temp here) yes, that is the high, sometimes the high is less than that and this is the crazy thing, I'm used to it. My walking on ice ability is slowly improving with time and though I enjoy snow it's not as excited as it was when I was here for my first winter. I think Kansas City is starting to feel like home.......a little bit.

It's been a whole month

I can't believe it's been a month, time flies really fast sometimes. So I'm going to do a month in review and then try to be a little better at writing. Emphasis on the try part. So this month............

the weather got cold - the coat, scarves and hats are out and I have to confess I enjoy this aspect of the weather, I found out I love wearing hats, who knew? In Nz I only wore woolen hats skiing.

We had thanksgiving - I made pumpkin gooey butter cake ,didn't overcook it this time and it was pretty much amazing, I will make it next year,

I found out why everyone makes cakes and cookies from box and ready made stuff - it's so much cheaper! I needed a yellow cake mix for my recipe - it was one dollar, add butter and eggs and you have a cake! BUT homemade is always better and I will not yield (though I will eat things other people make from boxes)

Relational wholeness seminar - with our interns, this is a really great 2 day seminar that a couple from ihop do, but pretty intense, usually a need for a few more one on ones than normal

I GOT A NEW BIBLE - NASB Thompson Chain, a friend offered to buy me a new one when the other one he bought me last year broke in half. I think Thompson chain should give me a commission because I am telling lots of people about how great it is!

We got a Christmas tree, and stockings, Amanda and I decorated our tree with red and gold and it looks pretty, it's one of those plastic ones that comes with lights in it already so we can use it again, I'm happy to finally have a Christmas tree (now I need my family to send me presents to go under it!!!!)

I got my taxes done - I know really late and that's bad but I got them done and I don't owe the American government anything, praise the Lord, in fact they are giving me money back which is nice of them, I am totally having my tax done by some place like as soon as I can in January.

I think that's about it but I will leave with some thoughts after some conversations I've had with people recently

- Jesus did the Father's will perfectly, always obeyed and ended up on a cross - so when we pursue obedience can we expect anything less?

- Why talk to your friends about something but not to God, Jesus cares more about us than our friends do, and he has scars in his hands to prove it (note that doesn't mean don't talk to your friends, but I've noticed many people don't believe that he really is kind

He is always good

Happy pumpkin day

Really it was Andrea's birthday, but the theme of pumpkin ran all through my day last week.




This is a pumpkin patch (go state the obvious Wendy) and they are all orange, unlike New Zealand pumpkins which are kinda pale green. In the states pumpkin is primarily used for sweet thing, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffin, pumpkin spice chai. etc.



This is the Chocolate harvest cake that Lacey and I made that night, which is chocolate cake with cream cheese and pumpkin filling, it was amazing, we also made pumpkin butter cake, pumpkin apple cake and a smores easter, we then invited come friends around and feed them all our sugary goodness!

autumn/fall

Well it's here, it's fall, in NZ we say Autumn, but until writing this blog that didn't even cross my mind. It is strange the longer I'm here the less I use NZ termanology.

the beginning of Fall in KC is a lot like an NZ Summer, the sun is still warm and just cooler temperutures. I know it's really fall because tonight I switched my winter/summer wadrobe, which doesn't take very long as I don't have that many clothes, it's just getting out my super warm clothes from a bag and replacing them with summer tank tops and dresses that I wont wear 'till I VISIT NEW ZEALAND. I'm already super excited and it's still 4 months away but it'll go fast I know it. And my friends here will get the countdown too, I think I will start at 30 days.

My friend Sarah will probably come for 2 1/2 weeks which is so exciting to actually travel with someone else. I have done this trip quite a few times now so the idea of having someone in line with me is nice and being able to show her my country.

The end and the beginning

Well, Orientation with our interns is over. Which means I will no longer spend most of my day in the multipurpose room though I have to say I have really enjoyed orientation. Stuart spoke a lot about fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit it was so helpful and simple. Talk to God. all the time. About the Word.

I'm alone in my room for the first time since last Friday as one of my interns from last track stayed in my room until her apartment was done. I loved having her stay with me and staying up a little late talking about Jesus, we had a wonderful conversation last night about the cross that brought us both to silence, just wanting to think about the Lord's goodness.

Now Orientation is over FITN really begins, I'm starting to work on connecting with my eight interns, taking classes, doing what we do. I love it. And love Jesus through it all.

That's all for now
W

Sometimes I forget.......

I kinda forgot that I had a blog, it's true, I guess because my days have been filled with other thoughts.

The Summer interns left Monday, I really loved this track and I'm glad that all my interns are sticking around, for at least another 3 months. We have 120 interns arriving on Friday, basically double what we had this time. I know this is going to be a big growing curve for a lot of us, I'm excited and also feeling the weight of 120 young adults who the night watch are entrusted with for 3 months.

If I could sum up what I hope for these interns it would be that I want to win them over to the wisdom of going deep in prayer, the Word and fasting and I want them to become friends of Jesus. Really that is what is important, that they love the Lord with all their hearts, and Jesus the bridegroom, king and judge would find friends in these ones.

On a completely different note I meet Adi, Sommer's little girl for the first time today, I had been praying with Sommer throughout her pregnancy so it's amazing to meet the little one that I felt kick inside Sommer! She is the sweetest thing and I look forward to seeing this little girl grow into being a woman of grace and beauty

Why I am thankful for IHOP-KC

I can live out my dream to be before the Lord for hours at a time

My life is very simple and uncomplicated

I have teachers and leaders who care about me pursuing righteousness

I have friends who don't get offended if, when they ask me to hang out, I say no because I want to be in the place of prayer

I get to sing as much as I want

People care more about the Word of God then being "right"

We never stop worshiping Jesus

I'm reminded of the importance of living the Sermon on the Mount

Personal days

Well I did it, I have taken 5 personal days and including my Sabbath I have six "days off". That is pretty good for me because I do have a tendency to just keep going and going but I know the benefit of taking time out to reflect on the Lord's goodness, on where I am heading and how I think I need to get there.

People do lots of things when they are on vacation. I have to say it's strange for me this time because either I ski or I am by water, but there is no ocean in the background as I sleep. Oh well, I'm still getting outside and chilling out around rivers and lakes.

There is one thing that I think is important for us to do, actually two things. One, is to treat our vacation times as extended Sabbaths, as times to trust in the Lord for provisions and thank him for all that he has done. Secondly to take stock of where we are. Am I doing what I think God is calling me to, if not why? Am I fulfilling the goals I have made for this year or was I unrealistic? I think it's important to look at how we live our lives WITH THE LORD, not naval gazing but being honest in where we are in our walk of obedience. Look at our schedules what is working, what isn't and taking responsibility if change is needed.

So really look at what the vision is that the Lord has given us and am I being faithful with what I think he is saying. Because otherwise we can find ourselves just going and doing life and then realize we have no idea what we are doing because we never took the time out to think about, life just kinda happened.

I hope that makes sense.
Me

Hooray for me

Another little milestone in my year.

I have just finished outlining the New Testament, I have been doing this by re writing each verse in my own words, then summarizing the paragraph. And I've finished, I'm very excited especially since I'm about to go on a little break and it's nice to have things finished I can spend some time deciding what the next project is, though Jeremiah is going to get a lot of attention from me as I decided to focus on outlining the New Testament after I finished phase two of Jeremiah, so here I come Phase Three.

Yeah for me

Singing Theologians

One of the values of our "harp and bowl" model is that we want to be a "singing seminary" (seminary is bible school). I've been thinking more than usual about this. How do we become singing theologians? How do we go from people who get together and sing around a verse to people who go deep in the Word? the answer is obvious. We go deep in the Word ourselves. Spending "long and loving hours meditating on the Word of God". Because at the end of the day, it's the Word that transforms our hearts, it's the Word that is eternal, it is the Word of God hidden in our hearts that keeps us from sinning.

I want the Word written on my heart, and it costs something - time! But the fruit is so worth it, I know I feel the most alive when I am in the Word and the Holy Spirit is teaching me things.

I want every person on our team to be able to preach on whatever Psalm we are studying. I want us to have the Word rooted in our hearts and cleansing our minds, being washed with the water of His Word.

I really want the Word written on my heart.
Amen, let's stand.

It's been a while....

Two weeks in fact. Mainly because I have to confess that I do not schedule blogging so it only happens on my Sabbath or before I go to bed. Another contributing factor has been wondering if I have terribly much to say at this point in time, but I will do my best.

1) It is very hot in Kansas City (NZers I'm talking 35-40 degrees)
2) It will be hot when I go home in February, I don't have dates yet but I will probably be there for about a month
3) Loving people takes time, lots of time, an abundance of time and I'm thankful that God loves it and enjoys it when we love people.
4) I am getting better at learning where all the states are in the US thanks to a quiz site I found online.
5) Only 12 chapters left on the New Testament outline
6) I am taking a class "Preparing the Way of the Lord" which is about counseling and prayer ministry, I'm excited about it
7)The Lord is good and his mercy endures forever.

Wendy

Of maggots, chiggers and couches

I know how can these three things be in one entry? Answer: I have encountered adventures with all these three in the past week.

Maggots - well, this really isn't me, so much as my wonderful, kind, servant hearted flatmate Amanda. It was her turn to do the trash this week. And the trash had maggots. Yuk yuk yuk. I came home and saw the trash out a day early, then I came into the house with the kitchen smelling rather clorox like. Yes, Amanda cleaned all the maggots out. But then we had another problem. Earlier in the week I had cleaned up a bag of trash left outside that animals had gotten into (note: in New Zealand there are not any animals that would get into our trash, except sometimes my cat) it smelled real bad. So we decided the only solution was to go to wall mart and get a trash can at 7am. So we did and we got to see a whole set of people who get up at that time to go to work. Interesting crowd.

Chiggers - for my New Zealand readers. Chiggers are insects that bite you, but their bite itch WAY MORE than your average mozzie bite. I got about 28 chigger bites on my legs. Self control takes a whole meaning

Couches - today four wonderful male fitn interns came with their core leader to do the couch swap. Because our landlord is moving into our old house she wanted the couches from the house we live in now (she bought all the furniture for our house), so I asked Alan (the core leader) how he would feel about some male bonding over moving my couches, he said yes and the guys came round and did it in like 15 minutes with great attitudes. One of them seemed keen to do yard work too. I made cookies for them as payment, which they were going to have with their manly lots of meat bbq.

That's my story.
I like the people I live with
Wendy

Luke 23

In an earlier post I mentioned Luke 23, so here is the blog concerning this scripture. I was reading this scripture before we had communion with our interns and was struck by two things.

Firstly, everyone knew that Jesus didn't deserve to die, the Pharisees knew it, they had to pay people to give false testimony. Pilate knew it, he says it like 3 times that Jesus has done nothing to deserve death. Even the thieves on the crosses next to him knew he was not guilty. The Judge of the whole earth who is going to judge everyone in righteousness was condemned guilty and deserving of death, and he didn't deserve it. I did. I'm the one who deserves to die, not Jesus, but he died the death that I deserved that I may live eternally with him. Selah.

Secondly, it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love does not seek it's own, that was a temptation that Jesus faced at the cross. People saying "If you really are the Son of God save yourself" "He can save others but he cannot save himself" Jesus could of saved himself, no one took his life from him HE LAID IT DOWN, and it's because he is God that he didn't because love does not seek it's own. How often do we have the temptation to save ourselves, to look after ourselves first but Jesus has the ultimate expression of love in the cross. He did not save himself, he knew what he was doing for the sake of love.

Luke is cool
Wendy

Phase Two complete

Hooray for me!!

Today I finished what I am calling "Phase Two" of my Jeremiah study which means I have now outlined verse by verse the whole book (I then summarize the verses in a paragraph) and made comments, added bible verses and my own thoughts to every paragraph, well I think. Now I will be going over all of it. But needless to say I am very excited that I have finished outlining and my initial personal study. Bring on the commentaries!

same colour same country?

Here's another great quote

Aren't Australia and New Zealand the same place, they are both purple on the risk board?

getting relationally whole again

Every track of fire in the night we have a two day seminar on "relational wholeness" or some might say "inner healing". This week was the week we had the seminar which was really good, it is the eighth time I have gone as I missed one of the seminars because I was in NZ. Speaking with my interns the teaching and ministry times have really helped them and has led to some great conversations about our skewed views of God. It's wonderful seeing the Lord break in on people's hearts and people being free on the inside.

It's wonderful but also very tiring and my introverted little self is thankfully alone tonight curling up on the couch reading "He who wept" a novel about Jeremiah. This scene will seem very similar to my family. I really like being alone and I like being okay with being an introvert, there is a lot of freedom when you understand that you want to be by yourself not because you don't like people but that you get energy by being by yourself, so to function best alone time is needed.

Which explains why I spend my Sabbath by myself, lately the only exception is my other introverted friend who I sometimes go for a walk with. I guess I just like being with myself!

Change is in air.....

I'm sure I would have mentioned that IHOP is going through a time where change is becoming a very common thing. In my own little life I have yet another change to inform people of.

I am now a Ministry Assistant for fire in the night. I am still core leading but am now also serving as an "MA". Basically I, with 2 other women help out the female core leaders with situations when they are not sure what to do, or just regular living as an intercessory missionary stuff. Because as core leaders we do pour ourselves out for our interns we also need people pouring into us and helping us keep perspective.

I'm excited about this change, what I like the most is when I looked around the room at my first MA meeting I was looking at a small group of 5 people who I really like and look forward to spending more time with in this context

Of summer and Luke

I have two thoughts right now that are totally unrelated!

As I was walking today and outside at various times of the day I have to confess I was very very hot. Here's the thing, in the middle of summer it's hard to remember that 6 months ago I was having to carefully walk in snow, in fact it's hard to almost remember what that's like. I am very thankful to the Lord for revealing air conditioning to someone, he's pretty smart like that, of course as we approach very last days I have a feeling air conditioning is not going to be a top priority!

Secondly. I really like Luke, as I've been plugging along with my outlining (34 chapters to go!) as first I was not looking forward to Luke because it's really long but now I love it It's such a wonderful gospel because Luke has all these little details, like about Jesus' prayer life and just little comments that are amusing. Today Leah (my fitn co leader) and I had our apartment hang out time watching the gospel of John. I like it because Jesus smiled a lot and was happy, because I think Jesus was joyful while he was on the earth, because he likes himself, and he loves to reveal the Father to people, so I think that Jesus liked being with us, if he didn't then why would he die so he can be with us forever. In saying that I know that there is also the great mystery that the creator would bow so low to become part of creation - become a man forever. But it was the Father's pleasure to have his fullness dwell in bodily form.

those are my random thoughts for the day, soon I will write about Luke 23 - I'll keep you posted!!

"I've gotten up early for lesser reasons"

This is what I said to Sada when she asked me to prayer lead for the 2pm last week, this little phrase came in handy this weekend. Firstly the solemn assembly, the aim was to get there at noon with my room mate Amanda, neither of our alarms went off which meant I knocked on her door at 12:15pm and we were there by 12:45, not bad I think. The Solemn assembly was wonderful, it was great praying in a focussed way with a bunch of people.

I think one of our problems in getting up was that though we planned a hang out time we proceeded to talk until 8am, I will take responsibility for that because I started it with asking Amanda about a verse in James and what she thought. Amanda is one of my favorite people to talk to about the bible because she cares about the truth more than being "right".

Anyway, that was early day number one, after going to bed at 5:30am I got up again at 8:45am to go to the FCF service. The leader of the night watch was giving a message on the night watch and asked those who were willing to come, so we did. IT was a lot of fun and I cried (at both services) after this Amanda and I went and had lunch then a nice 3 hour nap before the second service, which was a little groundhog day like because I was going to the same building in the same clothes, with the same person to hear the same message. BUT it was so good remembering the importance of the night watch in the hour that we live in. What impacted me the most was actually Shelly's short exhortation that Jesus, the judge wants friends in the night, those that would weep with him, I think the other highlight was Stuart declaring Psalm 134 over us, pretty intense.

As I said I had not much sleep for lesser reasons than supporting my leadership and listening to a message about the night watch.

And a practical note - a short nap is better than nothing and drink lots of water!!!!
Wendy

The national holiday that came and went

Most people know that the 4th of July is a day the United States celebrate independence. I have to confess that this year all it meant for me was a I saw a few fireworks on the way to a class and that they collect the trash a day late.

This week and been very full with orientation for fire in the night, but more than that I've been working a lot on making the most of every hour of the day, which I've found is very tiring but it feels so good! I did two out of the ordinary things this week, one being I sung for a 6am team, they only had two singers, it was fun to "just sing" as usually I'm playing as well, they are fortunate that when I was asked my heart was feeling alive and I was having a "thank you Jesus that I am here" moment! Secondly I prayer led for a 2pm team which I enjoyed greatly. But do not fear! Though some of my actions could indicate otherwise I am not planning on moving onto days. I want to do the night watch until the end, by the grace of God.

Another cool little thing of the week, my interns and I were talking about bible stuff, just talking about verses, they were asking questions and that night when the leader of the night watch spoke he mentioned so many of the verses we had talked about there is no way you could call it a coincidence! It was really fun.

that's my week in a nutshell!

It's been a while

This week has been very full so writing for my blog has not been on my priority list so much! But it's my Sabbath so I have a little time to catch up.

Our new interns arrived yesterday, I get to lead with my friend Leah which I am excited about. We have five women in our apartment and I am looking forward to getting to know them. Orientation is always a little overwhelming because we give A LOT of information in a short amount of time.

Today I have been thinking again about how thankful I am to be here. I remember when I would be cleaning my house back home and day dream about a place where there would be 24/7 prayer and worship, now I belong to one! Now I'm on memory lane. I also remember when our church did a all night prayer meeting, by the time we got to the end of the night there were maybe 6-8 people left, the leader said he felt there was something significant about that, maybe that was where I first got a glimpse of being able to minister before the Lord in a continual manner.

I am also becoming thankful for the focus that is coming to the night watch, with the global prayer teams. These teams sit in the first four rows. It's amazing sitting close to your friends and praying together, I really do like it.

So I'm thankful to the Lord for his kindness - the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places!

Another bend in the road

There may be some who recognize this quote, if you do well done! In two days the spring track of fire in the night will end, today we had our last apartment time at cold stone creamery(an amazing ice cream place) where we sat and talked about what we appreciated about each other, and tonight we had our last burn team. They will check out at 2:30pm on Monday and then fire in the night Summer starts on Friday. This will mark the beginning of my third year as a core leader, though the outworking of that role has changed a lot in these past two years, the values have not. We want interns to leave being found leaning into Jesus. We want them to be men and women of prayer and the Word and those that radically pursue sermon on the Mount lifestyle. I have great confidence that the young women who have been in my apartment this track will do that. They are amazing, and I feel privileged to have worked with them.

A certain young man who has stolen my heart!

This is Daniel John Blundell, he is 21 months old and my first nephew and everyone agrees he is a very good looking young man, which makes sense because his parents are so good looking how could he not be?

Since being here, and especially since I have been praying for the pregnant women in the night watch I do believe that children are a gift from God. And motherhood is one of the noblest roles a woman can have in this life, because among other things it involves so much laying down of oneself for the sake of another who for a long time can't "give" much back except maybe a cuddle. So go mums! (or moms). What a beautiful way to live out Jesus' love.

A wonderful miscalculation!

Today I was looking at my outlining list of what books I had to go, and noticed though my total said that I had 73 chapters left of the New Testament I only have 53 left! When I recounted, I was so excited! This means I should be done with my New Testament outlining in 2 months at the most, perhaps one month - I'm excited!

Psalm 45

Every Wednesday I get to prayer lead the 2am worship with the Word set, right now we are doing Psalm 45 the "Song of Songs" of the Psalms. I have two favourite cycles. Today I will talk about one of them Psalm 45:3-5 (Gird up your sword O mighty one....) What I love is what it says in verse 4 "on behalf of truth, humility and righteousness ride on". Basically these verses are telling Jesus we want him to come back and judge the earth and we agree with his judgments, he is true, he is meek and he is right and he will fight lies, pride and wickedness (everything that opposes who he is). And he will win. There is a day hidden in his heart, the day when he will make all the wrong things right, a day when his enemies will be killed, when he will vindicate his Bride and avenge her blood. And this is GOOD NEWS, I don't know if anyone has noticed, but there is much wickedness on this earth and there is only One who is worthy, only one who is pure enough to Judge - the lamb that was slain, the one who died to set us free to love him without shame.

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to open the seals! (release God's judgment upon the earth)

What I like about Kansas City/the US

Squirrels - are one of the cutest animals and make me happy when I see them, which is a lot, today one was in a bird house
24 hour supermarkets - Hivee and Walmart, being on night watch they are very helpful
Cheery blossoms -they just pretty
Amazing sun rises - because KC is flat we see some great ones
Natural peanut butter - I never ate PB before I came here.
IHOP - I like IHOP, it's why I'm here but it's an amazing place with amazing people if it wasn't I would have gone home a while ago!
Snow - it is really pretty, though a little annoying after the pretty stage!
Doughnuts -I'm ruined, I can never eat dunkin donuts again (not that I did much anyway!)
Bagels - America has an amazing gift in yummy breakfast foods
My flatmates - I have had great flatmates, though still mourning the loss of two when I moved house I live with really great people

I think that's it for now!

What do you miss?

Today I was hanging out with my interns and one of them asked me what food I missed from New Zealand, it then became what I miss about home period, so for the viewers back home I thought I would list a few (this is by no means exclusive)

THE BEACH - so many decisions have been made walking along the beach praying!
FAMILY - I miss being a part of family events, birthdays, Christmas, thanksgiving (kidding, we don't have thanksgiving in NZ!)
MEAT - lamb roast, real sausages in tip top fresh bread with Wattie's sauce
THE CHEMIST - this is strange but I miss not knowing what all the brands are and the chemist lady up the road who would always tell me what to buy!
THE BATCH - I miss my little weekends away in the quiet with the stars and lots of books!
CADBURY - black forest
ICE CREAM - fruju's trumpets, goody goody gum drops
MY HOUSE - being a 10 minute walk from everything you would need
MUM - I know I already said family but I miss chatting with my mum and gleaning from her wisdom whenever I needed it
RUGBY - though violent, I do like it, especially when we are winning
MANUKA HONEY - on weet bix, I know it's strange but mum would give it to us when we were not feeling well
CULTURE - I miss easy going Kiwis! And subtle humour

So that's my list for today, there are many more things but that will do for now, maybe my next post I will write what I like about Kansas City :)

Wendy

My new room

As promised, here are some pictures of my new room, I don't think it's too difficult to guess what country I am from :)




My bed, and my cool lamp that kind of broke a little, the red part fell and the plastic melting, still haven't worked out how to fix it!



This is the best picture shows the colours the best, if you opened the door on the left of my drawers then you will actually find my bookcase and all my folders and papers



sorry it's not straight, this is my photo wall with my keyboard.

And that's it, the only thing you don't see is my other window that has two black sheets serving as curtains on both sides and my All black flag as the real curtain.

A funny question

I thought some people may be amused by the question that one of the interns asked me today

"Can you see Australia from New Zealand"

Just another day in America, it's almost as good as "Do you use the Euro"

A bad habit

One of the many beaches back home


I tend to make up for my lack of posts by writing two at a time! This is to say you will notice the colors for my blog have changed, because it's hard to read on a black background, my new colors reflect my new room colors, bright and cheerful and remind you of summer, and I love summer in New Zealand, in Kansas City fall is my favorite but nothing beats a kiwi summer with beaches and bbq's and lots of good fruit. The sun shining and the cool breeze that makes you forget that you are getting burnt, the moisturiser you put on after you get burnt, and the tan line that hopefully follows. And yes, I do plan to have a kiwi summer next year!

Just another day

Today was "just another day" in my simple little life. I'm thankful that my life is simple, because it's just easier. I have officially outlined 180 chapters of the New Testament now which means I have 80 to go, I'm pretty excited at the recent progress I have been making.

Today I prayed three times on the microphone, that doesn't happen everyday but at the 4pm there was only one other person sitting in the chairs, at the midnight I was associate prayer leading and then at 4am I prayer led (I was asked about 15 minutes before the set). Which is something I actually like (being asked last minute) I like being someone who can fill in last minute, who you know will probably be in the prayer room and be there until 6am. And I like that I have boundaries so if I really don't want to I'll say no, but then usually I'm far more likely to be focused in leading the meeting in some way than I am sitting in my chair thinking about how I am tired. Because the thing is, I actually did come here to pray. I came here so I could pray in the night and go deep in the Word, and I actually am. Not perfectly and it's not like every night is amazingly profound, many nights aren't. But I'm here and I'm doing it, and I'm thankful because the One who called me is faithful and he who began a good work will bring it to completion and all said and done I think the Lord did a good job with me!!

Wendy

A forty day fast

IHOP is joining many around the nation and the world to fast for 40 days. (for more into about this visit www.thecall.com). At IHOP we have a "don't ask don't tell" policy which means we don't ask other people what they are doing, or compare our fast to someone else. I like this policy though it is somewhat amusing because in 40 days it can become pretty clear for the most part what people are doing.

The people who seem to be losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time, probably on a water fast. The people who have lost a little weight and seem to be eating carrots and other veges a lot are probably doing a Daniel fast, those who are drinking more naked juice than normal probably a juice fast, those who still have coffee, a liquid fast. Those who haven't' talked to you for a week probably a speech fast. Those who eat the chocolate cake that is made for someones birthday are perhaps fasting something specific or not at all.

All that to say that because Fasting is about voluntary weakness and positioning ourselves to encounter the Lord is doesn't matter what type of fast we do, as long we make the most of the grace we have in this community to fast in the way we feel led. And knowing God doesn't love us any more or any less if we fast, but fasting tends to put us in a position where we become aware of our need for love and when we cry out we find the One who is love

Happy Fasting
Wendy

the God who cares

"casting all your anxiety on Him, because he cares for you"

I was talking with one of my interns, we've been talking about two particular issues, today as we talked she said she didn't like talking to the Lord about these things, because she felt shame, because he already knows, because I'm not sure if God cares so much. In a moment of clarity I asked her "Why do you talk to your friends about something and not the Lord, do you think they care more than he does? Did your friends die so that you could speak with them? The reality is God is Holy, high and lofty, He is the maker of heaven and earth and he knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, he cares, he dwells with the meek and the lowly.

Jesus died that we might be with him, he died so we could be his bride, holy and blameless, I am so thankful and I want to give him my heart, I want the Lord to be the one who I talk to, who I share my feelings and thoughts with, yes he knows them already, but it's about trust. It's funny how scary it can be to speak to the God who knows everything about something he already knows!

I want to be a friend of God, friends trust one another, if we want to know the secrets of God's heart, maybe we should share ours as well, maybe God cares about our day, maybe he cares about the days I miss my family, maybe he cares that I am grumpy and need his help, maybe he cares that I really like my new room. I think he does.

The assignment she gets this week? Talk to the Lord about the two things you are scared of talking to him and write me an essay "Why God wants to hear about who I have a crush on". I know kind of strange, but I know he is after our hearts.

Wendy

Change is here to stay

I was speaking to someone a few days ago, and told them I decided this about 3 or 4 months ago. As creatures of habit we tend not to like change that much. I remember when the stage at IHOP was extended and they changed the lighting, it was so weird, now that God TV will start filming soon they've changed it again, and no one really made a big deal about, we now have grey chairs instead of blue (and the blue chairs are in FSM instead of the orange ones - hooray!) Prayer leaders can no longer have pens on stage or anything besides bible and outline, just because it does look like the Prayer leaders not really paying attention.

This week I have a new co leader for FITN, the previous two having stepped down to focus on other areas of leadership within the night watch, I am now the overseer of the fasting teams in the night, and as I have been saying I am moving rooms.

Here's the good news. the Lord doesn't change, ever, no matter the circumstances, he is always faithful, always good, always king, always loving.

A little catch up

Despite my good intentions I have to confess I am not a faithful blogger like others I know. The excitement of Tuesday is my friend Sarah Edwards gave birth to the first IHOP-KC "night watch baby". Today (Thursday) I helped my interns move apartments, and we moved everything (well the men moved the heavy stuff) needless to say it has been a rather tiring day as we started at 2pm. As for me moving, I'm trying to find time to pack, which hasn't been easy lately.

Currently I've been a little distracted from Jeremiah looking at all the verses on anger in the bible. Looking at what arouses the Lord's anger, because God is love, and that's who he is and he feels love as an emotion, but God is not anger, though he feels angry, but he is just and righteous and he hates wickedness, so I'm thinking about these things. Last night as I was prayer leading our Psalm 45 set I was thinking about how he loves righteousness and hates wickedness and how part of our problem is that we don't. Most of us still struggle with the idea of God hating the wicked, but I have a feeling that's because we don't love righteousness like he does, so we don't hate wickedness like he does.

There's a thought for you! Of course then tonight I got my interns to meditate for 10 minutes of love is kind and God is kind. There's so much more to God then meets the eye!

Another fun thing

Yesterday I got to lead worship at a 24/7 solemn assembly as Haskill University (A native Indian college). My friend Sarah came with me and sang. It was so wonderful singing to Jesus, about him, and our love for him and his love for us. There are moments when you remember what you were made for and this is one of them, I was made to enjoy God.

My room

Since living in the states I have done things I've never done before, and I did it again today. With the help of my friend Becca I painted my new room, I will post pictures once I've moved in bit it's really fun and I'm excited about how it will look once all my stuff is moved in.

Yeah me

Latest reading.....

Actually I'm reading through an old book of mine "Foundations of Christian Doctrine" by Kevin Conner. I read this the first time when I was about 18 and I'm thankful I brought it with me to KC. I am currently reading the chapter "Doctrine of Christ". Talking about Jesus being fully God and fully Man, it's so good for my heart to remember who Jesus is. Jesus is everything God is personified (image of the invisible God) he really does show us God, because he is God in human form.

God became a man! I was thinking about how much Jesus has changed the world even in the natural . I mean a carpenter from a little town in Israel who claimed to be God literally changed the world ( he also created the world and is sustaining it by his great power, but that's another topic!). And why? Because HE IS GOD. He rose from the dead and he conquered the grave, he conquered death so we have nothing to fear but God alone!

I know, slight rambling, but I've decided I like this sort of theology, that makes God bigger and me want to worship him more. We all have to know what we believe about Jesus, salvation depends on it, he's not just a good man or a prophet, he is the very Son of God because of love sent to die to save us from eternal torment. And not have it just be something we can intellectually explain but something that arises from the inside so when we are asked "What is your beloved more than any other" we answer, our hearts "overflowing with a GOOD THEME".

I think that's all for now especially since many of my thoughts are at the "This is so cool my mind is going a hundred miles an hour" stage!
" Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless and with great joy, to the only God and Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever"
AMEN!

When the Word of the Lord is spoken..........

I have been outlining what would be referred to by my commentaries as the "Baruch document" Chapters 34-45. It's the story part of Jeremiah when you hear about this life. And it's scary, really scary. So here's Jeremiah, he's been speaking the Word of the Lord and has a pretty good "track record" people, kings even come to him and ask him to inquire of the Lord, that's pretty cool, but here's the thing, no one ever listens to him, occasionally some officials do and when they let the king know the king burns Jeremiah's scrolls (chapter 36). Seriously read it, not only do people not listen (so they continue in rebellion against the Lord) but Jeremiah has to experience the judgment that comes to Judah as a result of them rebelling against that Lord.

I think a lot about the Jeremiah 23:22 Word of the Lord, the Word of the Lord that causes people to turn from their wickedness. Here is where it hurts, it appears that the Word of the Lord either softens or hardens the heart, no one can be neutral when the Word of the Lord is spoken. People in Jeremiah's time, ask him for the Word of the Lord, say they will do it whether they like it or not and even call God as their witness, and then when they hear the Word of the Lord refuse to follow and decide to worship false gods (Chapter 42).

Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is living and active....and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Though people came and asked Jeremiah for the Word of the Lord they wanted him to say what they wanted to hear. The Word revealed that their hearts were still in rebellion against the Lord.

So I don't have any conclusion for you, but this is what I think about ALOT.
I guess to be continued

The license continued

I know that my last 3 posts have been about my license but I'm going to continue. Today I went into the city hall, it was a short line, I had all my documents and I got that's right...........a temporary license, my real one will come in the mail, but they have to send all my documents to someplace. But now I have a cool piece of paper with my picture on it that says I can drive!

Next post will be something about the Word, hopefully Jeremiah, I'm really enjoying it at the moment

Me

I got my license! (well almost)

The good news is I passed the written and skills test. According the the Missouri License people I am safe to drive in the states. Amazing! I was happy, after doing the test I then had to go to the city hall and get the actual license (you are given a piece of paper that says you have passed but it's not a license). After waiting in line for about 1/2 an hour I got to the counter, and found out the letter to say that I work for IHOP-KC must have a date 30 days or less, mine wasn't as I just used the one I had for customs.

So the saga continues, but soon I will have a Missouri License, a real American one with my photo and weight and height and address.

One of my motivations in getting my license, is not only does my international license expire in May but I am going on my first real road trip in July and I want to be able to share the driving. My friend Jen and are going to Nashville for a one day prayer and worship event called "The Call" we are then going to Virginia (her home state). So there will be a lot of driving and I'm glad that Jen now wont have to do all of it!

Another international incident

You would think after living here for almost 2 years I would have learnt by now! Today I went to do a written and driving test that I could get my Missouri license (I have been driving on my international license this past year). I brought everything the lady told me, my passport, my social security, my letter to show my address. And then the women at the desk asks "Do you have the letter". Yes it's true, I need a letter from IHOP to show that I am at IHOP. Despite the fact you can't even get into the country without this letter! The moral of this story is if you are international take ALL your documents to anything that involved getting more documents!!!!

Honey or soup?

When we have a "bad day" do we find comfort from the Word of God aka honey (Psalm 19:7-10) or "chicken soup for the soul." Nice stories but words that lack the power to transform us on the inside. So much of the time we run to things that make us feel comfortable, but maybe sometimes the Lord wants us to feel uncomfortable. Maybe he wants us to deal with the sin in our lives and the areas of compromise or maybe he wants to comfort us in times of affliction with true comfort (2 Cor 1:3-4) Either way the Word of God is alive (Heb 4) and it is eternal (heaven and earth will pass away but my words will remain" and it is powerful.
The moral of this blog? We need to read and pray the Word, we need it written on our hearts and we need it to transform our lives. How do we do that? Everyday actually reading the Bible, making time, turning off the television and opening our bibles. Letting God speak to us through his Word because he really likes doing that!

Easter

It seems appropriate during Easter to talk about Jesus, and that he rose again. I've been going over Allen Hood's message on the resurrection (notes can be found at www.ihop.org). Remembering the importance of the resurrection to our Christian Theology. If Jesus didn't rise again and conquer death once and for all then what hope to we have? The Good News is that there was an empty tomb! Jesus fulfilled his prophecy concerning himself and we are going to live forever with him, we no longer have to fear death because Jesus is ALIVE!!

I've been outlining Acts and so I've been looking at the messages of the Apostles, much of which concerns that Jesus, who was crucified is alive! He is the firstborn from the dead. No one has ever raised themselves from the dead! So we die with Christ and we are raised with him. This is such a mystery and something I want to spend a decent amount of time studying and meditating over!

So happy easter everyone!!
Note to New Zealanders - it was 2 degrees today and the weirdest thing, it didn't feel that cold!
Wendy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

It's 4:15am which makes it my birthday, so to celebrate another year of the Lord's faithfulness I am going to share what I am thankful for in this moment
I get to do the night watch. I can't believe I get to do such an honourable and holy thing as stand in the night. That the Lord would call one so weak and so fickle to stand in his house is beyond words for me, that at 25 I know exactly what I want to do with my life and I'm doing it, without regrets and without reservation, I was made for this!

As we were having bonding time with our interns we were all telling our stories a little, as I shared how I got here it's like I took a step back and went this has to be the Lord!

So I'm thankful, for many other things, but I was struck again today with how much I love what I do.

Seasons come and go.....

Summer, fall, winter and spring have a new meaning to me now, mainly because that's how we divide fire in the night tracks. This Spring 07 will be my 9th time core leading, which sounds like a lot, and it is, I've been doing this for almost 2 years, and then there's the time I core lead while doing track 2. So I think I will say why I like core leading. These are in no particular order, and this is not exhaustive
1) I get to encourage young women to pursue the Lord for the rest of their lives, and put a vision in front of them for holiness
2) I get to talk about the Word
3) It doesn't take too much time out of the prayer room
4) The people I work with are amazing and many are my closest friends here
5) Stuart is an amazing leader and I get to learn stuff from him
6) It forces me to continue to pursue the Lord myself - I want to be in the prayer room more than any of my interns!
7) I get to go to an inner healing seminar every three months
8) I get to eat peanut butter and pretzels
9) I get to meet amazing people and be a part of their lives
10) I get asked questions and find out I know that answers

I think 10 is a good number so I'll stop there! This Friday we have about 60 interns arriving, track 1 and 2 combined. I am looking forward to meeting new faces that will become people that I know and love by the end of the three months. I really do have the coolest job!

Wendy

Two in one night

I was thinking tonight about my interns, they are leaving on Monday, two left yesterday, one thing I do have to say is that these ones have loved one another well, though that's not the point of this blog.

I had my last burn team with them tonight and I talked about the Love of God, and how when we believe God loves us, nothing can touch us - what can man do to me? And told stories of time when the Lord broke in when I needed him to with the reality of his love for me, and that he knows Iove him back.

It is right to remember His love, and His faithfulness. It's good to call to mind what he has done, we can start with the fact that we deserve hell and get to spend eternity with pleasures evermore and if there was nothing else he ever did that would be enough to know he loved me, that he died for me. But he does more than that, he gives us food, and clothes, and friends, and fun stuff to do and __________ (fill in the blank)

He is good, and he loves us, I wonder how differently I would live if everyday I just spoke that over myself. Maybe I'll try for a few weeks and let y'all know - anyone up for an experiment in remembering his goodness?

I will remember your love more than wine............
Wendy

Jeremiah

Some of you have probably being wondering why haven't written about Jeremiah yet (I can think of one person in particular) and I figured it's about time I started. For those of you who don't know I have actually been studying Jeremiah on and off for over a year, and this year have decided to be more intentional about it, so on average I spend 10-12ish hours on it a week, outlining, reading commentaries, connecting dots! So I will probably be devoting quite a few blogs to this subject matter.

To begin with I just want to explain why I have chosen Jeremiah as a book of the bible that I want to study. The main reason, to be honest, is because Jeremiah was a prophet to a nation who were experiencing the judgment of the Lord and he felt the Lord's heart, which is why many refer to him as the weeping prophet. And despite his own weakness the Word of God was so alive in him even when he didn't want to he had to speak it. He knew the heart of the Judge who is a Bridegroom and coming back as King I want to know God like that. I want to pray and feel God's heart for those I'm praying for, I want to stand in the council of the Lord and when a nation is going through a time of judgment I want to have the Word of the Lord. That's about it, it's funny choosing a book to go deep in that is really long and no the easiest book to read at the surface level but I'm finding myself reading a lot of Old Testament scripture to help me make sense of what is happening. Some days I get a little overwhelmed with how long the book is but also how serious the message is. But I'm excited to have something to sink my teeth into, and now I've said on my blog I'm studying it I better!

Photos

This post is just going to be photos of my life here in KC for those of you back in NZ
Photo 1 - One of our interns Kristian had a birthday so Gabrielle and I made her a carrot cake - the type her mum would make
Photo 2 - My flatmates and I Easter 06, we all made what we would normally have back home for Easter, Christine (centre) made the most amazing pineapple stuffing for the ham!
Photo 3 - This is our backyard in Spring, when it's beautiful and sunny and still cool enough to be outside
Photo 4 - This is a picture of me with my friends Micah (left) and Shawna (right) at our friend's Sarah and Clay's wedding, the reception was at one of the prettiest places I've seen in Kansas City
Photo 5 - This is our backyard in winter - a slightly different look!

Love does not take into account wrong suffered....

This is amazing, NIV says "keeps no record of wrong". when we approach the Lord he doesn't have a little list in the back of his mind of all the times we failed or broke our promises, he doesn't relate to us thinking of the disappointment we "brought him in the past". OUR ACCOUNTS AGAINST HIM ARE CLEARED because this is how we know what love is WHILE WE WERE SINNERS Chirst died! I love this, great is his mercy towards!

that's all!

GBF/conference week

As I mentioned in my last blog I am going to attempt to explain GBF/conference week dynamics for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about.

Firstly the GBF, this stands for Global Bridegroom Fast, a 3 day fast (7 days in december) when basically a whole bunch of people fast, not just at IHOP, but all around the world (aka "Global") without going into great detail, because we want Revival, Israel to be saved and Jesus to come back! As IHOP staff we are asked to go to at least 2 intercession meetings a day the 10am, 4pm, 8pm or 12am, I don't quite understand why the 4am doesn't count, but I'm sure there is a reason!

During the GBF we are encouraged to pick a book of the bible and read it through, I always chose Jeremiah and I never get through it, I think I did once and that could of been the seven day one. I look forward to the GBF because most other meetings are cancelled and it just nice to spend time getting re-focused.

After the GBF we have a conference, this month it's Passion for Jesus, to be honest I don't attend much mainly because my sacred trust involves being in the prayer room a lot on Thursday and Saturday is my Sabbath, and I don't really like big groups of people. But we have I guess 1000-2000 people? God TV also broadcasts them. I am looking forward to tomorrow as John Bevere is talking.

So, needless to say the GBf/conference week is pretty packed out and you pretty much can't do much else during that week. Interesting aspects of the week is that Misty's set at 10pm is PACKED out, at our midnight sets we have a few extra people who can't get enough of the prayer room (I can understand if I was here for 3 days I would stay up as late as I could too!) the interns get exhausted from having to get up and be at sessions at 2pm, a time when most of them are still sleeping on other days. Also the 4th of July has been over the GBF both years I've been here for it and sure enough it's on Wednesday this year!

I think that's all, except that I have a little cold so I'm feeling very sorry for myself and finding it very difficult to concentrate on anything that's actually important!

FYI - a happy day

FYI - these posts will be bits of information for the people back home just to know what's going on in my little life. So if you just want a regular catch up you can go straight to these posts.

Today was a happy day because I finished my Fire Within outline, a few weeks ago I decided I was just going to get it done, so I did! It's nice going into this week (which is GBF/conference week, I'll explain another time) without really having to think about my Fire Within outline until next week when I work on it more.

A little note that the main reason I got it done is because I woke up at 12:30 again, (an hour earlier than I want to be up!) and thought I'd just use my time effectivly!

That's all

To love and obey

As a somewhat famous lyric goes " I want to know what love is" they must have never got around to reading 1 John or Romans for that matter because in first John we are told not only that "we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" but that "God is love" if we flip over to Romans 5 we are told in verse eight "But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" And just because we all like the Chapter we can throw in 1 Corinthians 13 "Love is patient, love is kind......". So from these verses we can say that we know God loves us because he sent his Son to die for us (John 3:16) and that Jesus on the cross is a manifestation of "God is love". He makes in invisible visible by displaying the love of God in such a deep way we will spend many years singing "Worthy is the lamb because he was slain" So if it is Jesus death that shows us the love of God what does this mean for us showing our love to God and to others?

Jesus, in his "final message" in John 14 tells us that those who keep his commandments are the ones who love him. So, to love God is to obey God. People may ask what does it mean to obey God. It means do everything He tells you to do, and I'm not talking about which job to take, or car to buy but actually do what the Bible says. For example, take Matthew 5-7 and do it. Ouch. When there are policies in place for your work, follow them. Say what you mean, forgive people, don't complain, all those things that are quite frankly really hard and in fact impossible to do without God, so we go back to 1 John, we love because he first loved us, and having a revelation of God is what enpowers us to obey him.

I have been reading and outlining Fire Within by Thomas Dubuy, which is a great book on the contemplative life that we are all invited into, if I was to summarise the book I would say one of the main points is that our obedience to the Lord, and to those over us has a direct co relation to our prayer life, it's hard to pray if we are not obedient and it's hard to obey if we don't pray. Amazing.

I think I'll leave it there, but this will be a subject matter that you will find me pondering on a lot. How can I love Jesus to the fullest right now? Not tomorrow and not yesterday, because really all I can do is love Jesus in the present!

Grace and Peace
Wendy

Okay, I'm actually going to do this

So, I'm going to become a blogger and actually write in it and actually tell people that I have a blog, amazing. Someone once told me that the person who gets the most out of a book is the author, the person who gets the most out of a sermon or message is the speaker, so the person who will benefit that most from this blog is me. Nothing like selfish motivations. Hopefully I will learn to better communicate thoughts and ideas that sporadically turn up into my head and have them become something concrete. As I go along I will try and include photos and make this blog look interesting, because as we know we live in a visual generation.

Next post I'll try to say something moderately interesting

The Explanation

I have decided to start a blog, for a number of reasons, the main one being that I like people who live far away from me and this is a great way to keep people up to date with my many and various thoughts and life events. Secondly, my nephew, who is 17 months ( I think that's right) has a blog and he is way younger than me, so I'm going to take the plunge.

I would like to explain my blog site name "for real kiwi". I'm talking about the bird, which is a native of New Zealand, as I am, and is nocternal, as I am, though I am in Kansas City (thus the title of this site).

For those who need a little update, I'm in Kansas City as an Intercessory Missionary (with a 5 year visa with 3 1/2 years left). I serve at IHOP-KC, the international house of prayer in Kansas City, we pray 24/7 and I have the privilege of being in a section called "the night watch" the midnight-six am section. Which means I go to bed around 6:30 and get up around 1:45 (that's the aim anyway. I am also a core leader for fire in the night our internship in the night watch.