Romans... the Truths Never End!

A fully colour-coded Romans - A book brought to life

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith'"

-Key verse for Romans: 1:16-17

ROMANS... a book that clearly and simply spells out the gospel and our means of salvation. Although this may be true in some senses (the clarity more than simplicity), I definitely did not feel like this was the case this past week! The amount of detail Paul goes into to describe each aspect is amazing, but most of the time it was like "information overload," but in the best possible way! With so much good stuff to learn, I felt like I couldn't absorb and process fast enough and it was definitely a week of teaching that I didn't want to miss a detail of!!:) I was very impressed with the way Tom broke down and explained the reasons WHY Paul addresses so many specific topics in such detail (answer being because Paul was directly answering questions that were relevant to both the Jews and Gentiles in the church). 

To help me with processing everything throughout the week, I wrote out a lot of the timeless truths (revelations/ things that are always true about God,etc) that I was discovering on an A3 sheet of paper.

My Final Application

Endless truths, for you and me

In case you can't read it clearly, some of the main ones are:

-There is nothing I can do to earn or deserve God's salvation - it is a gift of grace
-God loves me AND likes me, and thats never going to change!
-There can never be true unity if we don't view each other as equals (in any context)
-When God sees me, he sees the infinite righteousness that was deposited there through faith in Jesus, not all my yucky sins
-Told to live out in love, not to earn or keep one’s salvation, but as an out flowing of one’s heart because of their salvation. God is love - love is the fulfillment of the law.

I could honestly go on forever with listing truths I am taking away from this week!
On a personal note, Romans has given me more understanding of God's heart of overflowing love for me (even though I'm still anything but perfect) and has really strengthen my security in his opinion of me :)

There is so much more I wish to share, but this week is hard to put into words.

 I know this hardly does it justice,but if you walk away with anything, know this: God has much he wants to reveal to each of us through this book. I am glad we took the time to study it on the BCC and I hope you feel encouraged to do the same!

Be blessed!

Things to do during a cyclone..

Hey everyone,

So as you already know, I experienced one of the worst natural disasters to hit Australia in over a century (and thats saying a lot), but we all came out safe and sound. With minor damage to infrastructure in my area, the main priority has been re-landscaping.

I feel very blessed to be apart of YWAM, for they have an excellent emergency plan and they executed it perfectly. We had plenty of water and food, plus they made sure everyone was in the most safest place possible for when we "locked down."

I'll just give you a quick summary of what happened:
We had warning of the cyclone possibility for over a week in advance, but it wasn't until Wednesday morning (Feb 2) that the reality that it was a certainty set in.
Everyone had jobs/ houses divided up so we could make sure all areas were completely secure.
During that time my flatmates and I cleared off our entire deck. The plants moved inside, along with 2 BBQs and all our patio furniture.
During Wednesday morning I moved locations 3 times as the conditions worsened and my flat became included in the "red zone" which meant subject to being flooded.
In the end, my flatmates and I all moved into our base director's house (Ken and Robyns), which was a BIG blessing as their house is only a few years old and was actually built cyclone proof (unlike mine that has cracks all over and could easily fall apart)

After lunch when everything was secure, we all headed off to our perspective lodgings and waited for the storm to hit. It wasn't until late afternoon that the wind really picked up, and the power lasted until 10pm. The eye of the cyclone crossed the coast about 2hours north of us at midnight. Although the storm was a category 5, the strength of the wind/ storm that hit us in Townsville was a category 3. During the afternoon while we waited, I decided to be productive and smash out 5 hours of homework (since there wasn't much else to do anyways lol). Once the power went off, I went to bed and actually slept right through the storm until 9 the next morning!! (Not bad - 11hr sleep and I actually only woke up the next day because I got shot with a nerf gun).
Thursday afternoon, we got the OK to leave our houses and so we went to survey the damage. To my pleasant surprise, my house survived and was in great condition minus 2 big trees that just missed the house. (The pics are on facebook if you haven't seen them already). Also, no structural damage happened to any of the other YWAM properties (only a bit of water leakage)
The power stayed off until late Friday morning, so during the time without power, here is some of the stuff that I did:

Made up a Bible Study lesson

Did LOTS of homework

Made cards :)

Hung out with Karly

Relaxed

Listened to Fiona playing live music

So that is the end of my cyclone adventure. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you so much for your prayers. We really appreciated them and honestly, you can see the impact they had as so many things should have been destroyed and somehow they were just missed by trees, etc. Absolute miracles everywhere.

All my love,
Liz

They Say 2 is Better Than 1...

Reading the Bible out loud in class

This past week was really good, but also a lot harder for me. This was due to person sickness, as well as the workload increasing from doing two books instead of one this week. The books we studied were Philemon and Titus.


If you have never read either of those books (which I strongly recommend) heres a brief overview:
 Philemon is a letter that Paul wrote in the hopes of bringing reconciliation between a slave owner (Philemon) and a runaway slave (Onesimus). In that, its themes are repentance and forgiveness. 
Titus, which I have renamed to "Living Life for Dummies, the Manual," is a detailed letter from Paul to Titus about how to instruct the church and rise up more leaders (elders) in Crete. This was a big task in light of the rowdy society that Titus was trying to disciple and so the boundaries and actions for believers to live out are very clearly outlined in the text so that they could be noticeably set apart from the rest of their Pegan society. 


This week, especially while doing interpretation on Titus, God was giving me continual revelations!! The book of Titus holds the keys to several practical tools for living out good doctrine, leading, and equipping others. 
The biggest revelation I am taking away from this week is that "the reality of God's grace causes responses of humility. I was bewildered and horrified at the realization that I have been taking the amazing gift and reality of God’s saving grace so lightly in my heart and mind. I now want to spend time just meditating on the meaning and being in awe of God’s grace, so that the true meaning of it would be embedded in my heart and cause me to operate and live my life out of a place of utter humility and gratitude towards/ for God. 
Overall I am loving this course more and more as God's word is becoming alive to me.


Blessings xo
Liz

My "ACTS" of reflection

Have you ever walked by something a hundred times, aware of it and yet not really seeing it, and then SUDDENLY one day it catches your eye? Well I feel like this past week has been one of those experiences for me.

Growing up in a Christian home, attending church weekly, and even going to a Christian school, I have heard a LOT on the Bible. For the first week of my Bible Core Course, we set out studying the book of ACTS. In all honesty, this week was the first time I had ever read the entire book of ACTS, and throughout the course of the week we did so multiple times. However, I didn’t realize how much I had underestimated the contents of the book through my past assumptions of what it was about.

ACTS, if you have not read it for yourself, is a book of much relevance and importance. It holds the history of the first Christians and traces the journey of the expansion of the Gospel through focusing its narrative mainly on Peter, Paul and the workings of the Holy Spirit. If you have not read it, do so!!

This week in class focused on establishing a lot of good foundations for Biblical observation and interpretation. Through those procedures, which required multiple assignments, I began to start understanding God’s heart for all people, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the sacrifice of the apostles and first Christians to share the Gospel, a little more. What amazed me most, while studying ACTS, was the willingness and obedience of Paul. He went and did whatever the Spirit said. He had no fear of persecution and he continued to praise God even when he was put in prison multiple times, so much was his hope in God and dedication to share the Gospel with both Jews and Gentiles. Through Paul’s submission, God was able to use his life and affect countless people through literally fulfilling Acts 1:8 bearing witness to Christ “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It’s pretty amazing what God was able to do through just one person!

From this past week of study, I am more determined to be open and available to be used by God – live a life fully submitted. I want my life to count for something BIG (maybe not quite as big as Paul’s, but who knows!) I’m not going to limit God. Instead, I feel even more inspired now as I look into my future of endless possibility. I can’t wait to see what God will shape it as J  

Map of Paul's Missionary Journeys - I used this a lot this week.

Home

Home in Australia

Home in Canada

What defines a home? Some say that it is the physical address of where you live. Others say it’s where your heart is. For me, it is coming back to a familiar place and knowing you belong.

After three months of being “home” in Canada, I returned “home” to Townsville this week. It’s always a bit weird making the transition, and also a bit surreal. Questions like “how did I get here?” always seem to pop into my head. However, it’s always nice to go back to somewhere and know you are missed. It is also equally as challenging knowing that you have just left a place and people you will miss! Ahhh the never ending cycle caused by travel.

Regardless, I am glad to be back in Townsville. I unpacked everything as soon as I arrived at my flat and it feels really good to be settled already. I surprised myself how quickly I made the mental change to life back in community. Already I participated in base worship, staff meeting and caught up and said hello to EVERYONE on staff.

 In the next few days, things are going to be happening fast… new students have already started arriving – 63 are coming for 3 schools!!  I am excited for this new season ahead. For the joys and the challenges that will grow my character. Orientation starts this Sunday, so please keep that in your prayers.

This week I hope you enjoy YOUR home and family. Love to hear your definition of “home” too!

SYDNEY

Due to the blessing of friendship, I spent the first whole week of January in Sydney Australia with my dear friend Becky Dawborn J We initially met during my Discipleship Training School in 2009 where we were roommates, and it was a joy to spend more time with her as she personally toured me around the city. It was a full-on busy week, but here are some of the highlights!

Day 1: Family Party

After my redeye direct flight from Vancouver to Sydney, I met Becky and arrived at her house to be greeted by her entire family and participate in their grandparent’s 50^th wedding anniversary surprise party with lots of relatives! With lots of food, games and unpacking, the day was filled with much laughter and the joys of reunited bliss!

Day 2: Beach Day

Bondi Beach

Upon waking to clouds and chances of rain, Bec and I took our chances and braved through multiple modes of transport: trains, buses, and boats to enjoy the sights of some Sydney beaches. We went to the famous Bondi beach with golden sands, and then Manly beach, a local favorite. The day turned out to be gorgeous, relaxing and then consequential! Although we applied sunscreen multiple times, apparently we missed some spots and still got really bad burns… see for yourself!

Day 3: City Day

Starting early in the morning, we spent a very long day in the city seeing what Sydney had to offer. Here is an overview picture tour of SOME of the places we went:

Harbor Bridge

Opera House

Darling Harbor

War Memorial

Hyde Park

St Mary's Cathedral

Botanical Gardens

Art Gallery of NSW

Absolutely wonderful day that ended with meeting the family for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens!

Day 4: Sydney Festival

Each year Sydney puts on a 3 week festival to celebrate the arts and it just so happened that I was there for opening night! Essentially, they have stages set up all over the city with lots of acts and bands performing. Lots of streets were closed, disco balls hung from trees, music was in the air, and they even had SNOW MACHINES blowing down the main path. It was a fun night to walk around and there were thousands of people.

Day 5: Hillsong

So on Sunday, I had the privilege of going to 2 church services. First I went with Becky and her family to their home church which is very intimate and friendly, and later we went to Hillsong! Now for the past 10 years it has been a dream to go there (as I’m sure it is for many) and I was so overjoyed to see the place that first inspired my heart with Christian music. To my surprise, it was exactly what you would think it would be like… and then some! It was like a concert with lights, music, dancing/jumping… even in the balconies! Heaps of people go, and it was encouraging to physically see thousands of other believers in the same place with the same purpose – to worship God.

Day 6: Katoomba

 Among Australia’s many landmarks, there is one 2hours inland from Sydney called “the Three Sisters.” Bec and I made the journey stopping at a few quaint towns along the way to have a wonder and wait for a break in the rain. One had a massive lollie (candy) shop in it with treats from all over the world.

When the rain finally stopped and the fog cleared, this is the wonder we saw:

Pretty cool! We ended the venture with a stop at a neat café that makes you feel like you escaped back to medieval times, or the woodland fairies land – pipe music and everything. It was a great end to a fun filled week J

End conclusion: I love Sydney. I would love to go back, and I recommend it to everyone… lots to see and it is all beautiful!

Migrating South

So its officially 2011, and I'm heading back to Australia TODAY for my 3rd time. I am getting pretty good at this migrating south thing. Who says you have to wait until your retired? Anyways, its never an easy thing to uproot one's self, pack everything into a suitcase and move to the other side of the world every few months - no matter how much you do it. There are always mixed feelings when I get on the plane, but the funniest thing is that by the time I get off, I am ready to face my new adventure head on. There is a shift that happens, an excitement that builds, a realization that sets in. This is MY life - the choice forward has been made and I am going to make the most of it (and have my fun too). This time going back to Australia I am taking a Bible Core Course with YWAM, but I have no clue what to expect. I'm glad you're apart of this adventure with me... I guess we are going to find out together what God has in store for me! Tonight as the setting colours fade into black, think of me and know that I'm on my way.... migrating south and into a new chapter of life.