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