Week 2

Week 2 – Bill Payne

The Truth Box

We all have a truth box. It's the little box that we file things that we know, or think, are true. If you hear something you immediately run through the files in your truth box to verify it's true. Say if I were to tell you that the world is not really round like we all thought it was, but instead that the world is actually square. You'd take that bit of information that I just gave you and check it against all the things that you know about the earth, pictures that have been taken, eye witness accounts that have seen that the earth is actually round, etc... and you reject the idea that the earth is square. We also put things in the truth box about God. Depending on your life experiences and other influences your truth box may have untruths put in there by other people or even the father of lies himself. Untruths like: God can't possibly love me as filthy a sinner as I am or God is just waiting for me to mess up so He can zap me with lightening, or some other such nonsense. The picture of God in our truth box influences how we approach Him. The truth is God loves you more than you can imagine.

Don't believe me? Read it for yourself. Ephesians 3:17b-19 says:

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Hmmm.... Sounds pretty clear to me. Yet for some reason we read this passage and the knowledge of it stays in our head and doesn't make it down to our hearts.

Do you ever wonder why you were created? Why would God create such frail and fragile beings as us? Did anyone ever ask you why you had kids? For most of us, we had kids as an expression of our love between our spouses and us. We wanted to share the relationship we had between us with our children. That is why God created us. God had a perfect relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Out of that perfect relationship God created mankind to be a gift between the Persons of the trinity. Mankind was meant to be an expression of the love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God acknowledged that His relationship was good and He wanted more of it. It's like us having a bowl of ice cream and wanting more because it was good. Jesus didn't come so we could get into Heaven, but to restore the intimacy mankind had with the Father.

Did you know that God can't make you love Him? Love is not love unless it's freely given. If God could make you love Him you would because His will is that no one should perish, see 2 Peter 3:9.

If you're not trusting God or believing His love for you, you are attacking His character and are in league with Satan. We believe that our families love us, but we doubt God's love even though He tells us over and over again that His love for us is unmeasurable.

People sometimes reject God because they can't believe in a God that would send people to Hell. God doesn't send people to Hell. People are free to choose which path they follow. God doesn't stop them from following the path they've chosen. It's like telling someone that I want to go to Chicago, but I'm determined to take the road to Detroit. There is no way that I'm going to make it to Chicago, but I keep insisting that I'm going to make it. Then suddenly I end up right where the road has taken me. Then God gets blamed for me choosing the wrong road.

God is more interested in my pleasure than I am. He created us for ecstasy. I am valuable because I am a creation of the living God, created to have relationship with Him! I'm not valuable because Jesus died for me, but Jesus died for me because I'm valuable. If you pick up any person in the world and look at their price tag, you would see the ultimate price for each and everyone of us, every drop of Jesus blood. We are the most expensive things ever purchased in the universe!

Update we sent out by email

Hello family and friends,

Sorry it's been so long since you've heard from us. Life here is much busier than we anticipated. We arrived on Sunday, Aug 30 and were shown to our house/room. We spent the rest of the day meeting people and getting unpacked. They also treated us with a steak dinner that first night as a welcome! Not bad, eh? We hit the sack early because breakfast was at 6:45 (yeah, right) Monday morning with class beginning at 8:00 for all of us. The first few days were a blur of new faces, new schedule, getting to know our housemates, etc, etc, etc. We went to bed early because all the changes wore us out! Now we feel much more settled so I have a few minutes to tell you about our life.

The YWAM base is a few miles NE of Chico, CA down a very, very, very bumpy tar road. There are many springs in the area that have ruined the road. The road follows a mostly dry creek bed through the canyon between some mountains (don't think huge, Rocky Mountains!). The surroundings are mostly brown, dead grass and many trees with greenish/brown leaves. They can go for 6 months in the summer without a drop of rain...VERY different from MI! The center of the base is the hotel from the 1920's (see www.ywamchico.com). We have all our meals in the dining hall/banquet room of the hotel. We also have meetings, worship time, prayer time, some classes and coffee time in the hotel. There are many regular hotel rooms upstairs that are used for conferences and summer youth camps. There are a few larger buildings around the hotel where the younger DTS students live, the house we (Crossroads DTS) live in and a few cabins for speakers and such. Also scattered around are numerous tiny houses where the rest of the staff lives plus a bunch of tiny cabins for visitors (hint, hint). There are lots of trees on base and we are surrounded by mountains on three sides. It's really beautiful! There are a few flowers and bushes sprinkled around to add green to the place. There is an Olympic size pool which is very much in need of a new paint job if anyone is interested. Oh, yeah, the school is by the hotel along with tennis courts and a small playground. Definitely a place we could be very happy at for a long time!

Our schedule starts with breakfast every morning at 6:45, usually only Dan goes, the rest of us have cereal at our house. At 8:00 school starts for the kids and we begin with either worship time, prayer time or lecture. At 10ish (depending on the day) there is a coffee break at the hotel complete with coffee cake or some delicious, fattening treat. Then we have lecture again until 12:00. We meet the kids at the dining room for lunch all together and at 1:00 school resumes and we have lecture or other activities until 3:00. School is done at 3:00 so the first week we went swimming everyday after school. This week will be different...work duty begins. All students are required to work 2 hours a day during the week for the 3 months we are here. Dan is doing breakfast cooking/prep so he has to be in the kitchen at 5:45 am M-F. Ugh, not for me but it's what he wanted. I was assigned to grounds so I'll be helping to weed flower beds, mow some lawn, rake leaves and other outside duties. I'm glad I get to be outside but also nervous since it'll be hard work and the temps are predicted to be close to 100 again by Friday. I prayed that I would lose weight here, God is having me sweat it off! Dinner is at 5:30 and most evenings are free but they go very quickly since we go to bed earlier.

There are 5 other students in Crossroads with us and they are all around 50 yrs old. Karen is a widow from Colorado, Chick and Lynda are from Colorado and Frank and Denise are from Arizona. Frank and Denise have 5 grown children from previous marriages and now have 5 children together ages 5-12 and all 5 are autistic. They are gluten and dairy free along with a number of other food and environmental restrictions. We can barely tell that they are autistic, they have come along way in "healing". The oldest is Caleb, he's 12 and since they are all a bit delayed he is a perfect fit with our Caleb. Nathaniel and Josh play great with the younger boys. Unfortunately, they have one lone girl that is 10, she is really outnumbered. We live in a house with Karen and Chick and Lynda. It has a kitchen, dining room, family room, living room, laundry, 2 bathrooms and a bunch of big bedrooms with lots of bunk beds. We have a room with 2 sets of bunk beds pushed together, a big desk and a big closet. The boys room is attached to ours, they have 2 sets of bunk beds and a dresser to share. There is also a big front porch which I LOVE! We have plenty of space and so far sharing has been easy. Lynda actually said that our boys were 'so quiet and well behaved'. WOW! We said that school was tiring them out.

Stay tuned for more updates!!!

Week 1 Summary Aug 31 through Sept 4

Week 1 was a week of settling in and getting to know some of the staff and the base. We had a lot of orientations and mini teachings on a number of different things. We also met our CDTS classmates Chick and Lynda Munfrada are from Colorado, Karen Wells is also from Colorado. Denise and Frank Derusha are from Arizona. Derushas are the only other family with kids. They have five: Caleb, Tavita, Macaiah, Israel and Isaiah. Poor Tavita is the only girl in the bunch.

On Monday we began the day with base worship. Everyone on base comes together and we sing a few songs, and the base director gives a little message. We also had a tour of the base showing us around several of the different buildings and showing us where to go for certain things. The base was a luxury hotel back in the 20's that many people from Hollywood would visit because of the mineral springs that are still actively flowing in some areas.

On Tuesday we began the day with worship again but just with our class this time. We then continued with orientation until lunch time. After lunch Bill Cheney, the leader of the men in our group, taught on intercession. One phrase that sticks out in my mind from that time is “Lord, break my heart for the things that break yours.”

Wednesday started with worship again and after that the official DTS teaching began. Our first teacher was Dale Harrison, our base director and he taught on Intimacy with God.

Intimacy with God – Dale Harrison

Where does the world get it's concepts of God? Basically from other people. Sometimes we get the wrong impression of God from well meaning people. Some of us grew up in churches that left us with a picture of a God that is cold and heartless waiting for us to screw up so He could punish us. God is nothing like that. He is a loving God that wants a relationship with us, His children. God wants us to receive our concepts of Him, from Him. He wants to show us His heart. We are precious to Him. He wants that intimate relationship with us. That relationship has to be from the heart. All of our other relationships flow out from our relationship with God. Jesus came and gave a direct picture of what our relationships to others need to be like. Jesus example of washing the disciples feet in John 13: 12-20 was not only about washing feet, it was to show the disciples an attitude of service. We are called to serve people as priests. The priests served in three different ways. They ministered to the Lord, to the Lord's people, and to the world. We cannot relate to the world if we are not relating to each other, and we cannot relate to each other if we are not relating to the Lord.

When the Israelites wandered in the desert the tabernacle (God's dwelling) was always at the center of their camp. In the same way, worshiping God should always be the center of our lives. Worship is our destiny. Serving God is not something to do but something to be! Worship is personal, costly and transforming. Remember when Mary washed Jesus' feet with perfume? When she left his presence she smelled like him. We can go to church and hang out with our christian friends without truly worshiping Jesus, then we go away smelling like our friends and not like Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot worship. He is our inspiration, initiator, instructor and interpreter. It's possible to go to a worship service where sound is made...motions are made...but there is no worship. If what we are doing is worship, God must be the subject of our worship/song. Our worship will be limited by our God concept. Talk to God like you talk to a person, with expression and body language. As we communicate with God in love our worship will grow. God made us to be worshipers, being real is the only way to worship God. We can worship with tears, laughter and dancing. It doesn't matter how much time we spend in Bible reading and prayer but we need fellowship with God everyday.

“All service must flow out of worship lest it become a substitute for worship. We long ago learned that God will curse a substitute, but may bless a supplement...It is not an 'either/or' situation but a 'both/and'! We will worship and serve the Lord God, but in that order.”

-Judson Cornwall-New Wine Magazine-Nov 1976

Finally day 6 of our road trip!

Day 6 – Saturday, August 29

(This was now over a week ago, I'll try to remember) Saturday morning we headed a couple of miles back to the salt flats. It was worth it! We took the exit by the Bonneville Racetrack but stopped just into the salt part rather than drive to the racetrack. Apparently this racetrack is one of the fastest in the world and it's just out on the salt. The spot where we stopped was not pure white but rather looked like dirty snow. There was a piled up spot that the kids climbed on just like a snowpile. We walked out to a cleaner spot and tasted some salt crystals. Cool educational moment!

On the road again...within a few miles we were in Nevada. If I remember right, Nevada was pretty boring. There were a lot of brown, rolling hills covered with mostly dead shrubgrass. Gas was about 40 cents higher per gallon in Nevada then it was during the whole rest of the trip so we watched our tank go down hoping to find cheaper gas. Big mistake! We finally entered California just north of Reno by a gas station with a big Hallejulah Junction sign by it. We really needed gas and it was another 30 cents higher in CA. Duh, isn't everything more expensive in CA? Instead of taking I-80 down to Sacremento we cut across the mountains on CA-70. It was beautiful! Most of the way was winding through mountains following a river. The whole area is a National forest so is was loaded with evergreen trees. The green was a welcome relief after the brown of Nevada.

After a while we came out of the woods into the brown, dead fields of eastern Chico. It looked so barren, I was nervous to live in this type of place. We made it to the highway and then the tears hit. I realized how far away we were from everything that is comfortable and familiar to us and for how long. We saw the Welcome to Chico sign and eventually I got a grip again. We found our hotel in downtown Chico and enjoyed our last night of “freedom” for 5 months. Yikes!

Days 4 and 5

Day 4 – Thursday, August 27

Today we spent at Brad and Kelli Drenth's house near Denver, CO. She has been my good friend since I was in 2^nd grade. We took the kids to a couple of parks to burn off energy and play with Tegan and Riley, their kids. We all enjoyed the break from traveling, even if only for a day. We were treated to a fantastic dinner of tacozanga (taco lasagna), homemade pico de gallo and chips. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing each other again and the kids played so well together even though they hardly remembered each other. Tegan cuddled in bed with me for a few minutes Friday morning and said, “I'm really gonna miss you guys 'cuz I really like you.” It's always hard to say goodbye. Sniff-sniff

Day 5 – Friday, August 28

After a great nights sleep and a sad goodbye we left Denver and headed north to I-80. I was excited to drive through the mountains thinking that it would be like driving to Estes Park, CO. Well, in my opinion, the “Rocky Mountains” do not exist in Wyoming. It was rather boring and flat with rolling, rocky HILLS. We saw lots of permanent, wooden snow fences all over plus some more cattle and sheep. Around 5:30 we stopped in Evanston, WY for McDonalds and gas. The playland had little, built-in saddles for chairs by the kids tables! They were soooo cute! They also had a 'hot & spicy McChicken sandwich' on the value menu instead of the regular chicken sandwich we have in Michigan. I tried it and almost couldn't eat it, that baby was HOT!

Soon after dinner, we crossed the border into Utah. Honestly, I've never had a desire to visit Utah but it's really beautiful. We drove through actual mountains finally. The were very rocky with huge areas of gray or red rock. Mostly they were shrub/grass covered with some areas of evergreen trees. We never got above the treeline so I guess we'll have to visit the Rockies again someday for my snow covered mountain top craving. We saw a few interesting signs that you don't see in Michigan. Of course you see many 'falling rock' signs but one that made us chuckle was 'Chains required when lights are flashing'. Obviously that's a winter sign!

Salt Lake City is gorgeous. It's surrounded by mountains. I had no idea. We saw the Great Salt Lake, looks like any other big lake. Then, just past the lake, we saw miles and miles of flat land that was covered in salt. Looks like they flood the area and then wait for the water to evaporate so they can harvest the salt. Not sure if that's how it works but that was our guess. We saw a Morton Salt plant surrounded by giant piles of pure white salt. Pretty cool! We just passed through the Great Salt Lake Desert but it's too dark to tell if it's all sand or all white with salt. We can tell it's light in color and I really want to get out and touch it but it's after 9pm and we are almost to our hotel in Wendover, UT. Hopefully in the morning we can figure it out, either on-line or in person.

Thank you so much for all the prayers and facebook comments of encouragement. We can feel the prayers and know that that's why this trip is going so well. Today we saw many trees growing out of the rock on the mountainsides. I was reminded of the foolish man who built his house on the sand and the wise man who built his house on the rock. We've been learning to trust God completely and be anchored in Him. No matter what comes our way, I pray that we are strongly rooted in our Creator and Sustainer so we can weather storms when they come our way. Hotel in view, goodnight all!

Go west.... day 2 continued and part of day 3

(con't) It was about 8:00pm when we arrived at Badlands National Park. Since we were on the very edge of the time zone the sun was just about to set. The Badlands are incredible! You drive through surrounded by towers of rock and deep crevices all with layers of different colors of rock. We hopped out for some pictures and let the kids climb a bit amidst the "Beware of rattlesnakes" signs. Being there at sunset was especially beautiful since there were amazing shadows on the rock and gorgeous 'sky-blue-pink' clouds. We left in the dark and heading up to Wall, SD to our hotel.

Day 3 - Wednesday, August 26

What an awesome, mighty and creative God we serve. We are truly seeing God's handiwork in creation while we drive across the country. From the landscape to the wildlife to the flowers all creation sings praise to our God! Today has been packed so far. We started out at the famous Wall Drug Store. It's a complete tourist trap with tons of little shops. Mom O, you would LOVE this place! We didn't want to spend too much time so we just shopped a bit and took some pictures. We saw the giant T-Rex in the back 'attempt to feed'. Nathaniel and Josh were terrified! Next we drove an hour-ish to Rapid City where we stopped at this little Dinosaur Park. It had a few rather pathetic, painted, cement, dinosaurs but an amazing 100 mile view. Next we drove through Bear County USA. It was pricey so we debated rather we should or not but we got our money's worth. We saw a large variety of animals but the highlight was definitely the black bears. We rounded a curve and saw 20-30 bears walking around, splashing in a small pond and walking right beside the cars. It was fun (and slightly frightening) to see so many bears up close. Next stop was Mount Rushmore just a little further south. It was inspiring to see such large replications of past presidents after walking through The Avenue of Flags. We hiked the Presidential Trail that gets a bit closer to the monument. There were a lot of steps so we were pretty hot when we finished. We stopped at a concession stand for ice cream cones. Caleb chose a cup instead of a cone and he asked the gal at the counter if he could have a spoon please. She told the gal at the register to 'give the boy a free pop' because he's the first child she heard say please today. She said she would shake our hand if she could (she had gloves on) because we are doing a great job. We were all so happy, especially Caleb with his free root beer. After Mount Rushmore we headed south through a scenic Black Mountains drive. The scenery was awesome, tight turns and tunnels. As we drove through one short tunnel we could see through an opening in the trees straight to Mount Rushmore far in the distance. That was a nice surprise! We didn't pay to do the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop because of time constraints. I think that's where the buffalo roam. So we missed fields of buffalo but did see a couple resting beside the road. After our scenic drive we started heading south towards Denver where we are spending the night with good friends. We're due to get there at 10:35pm. I'm glad we are taking a break from travelling tomorrow. It's been going great but we're all pretty sleep deprived. Today was another fantastic day of sunny, blue skies with poofy clouds. The kids did great again with just a few minor squabbles. The sunset in Wyoming tonight was breathtaking! Goodnight all.

P.S. It's really dark in Wyoming at night!

Go west..... days 1 and 2

California Road Trip August 09

Day 1 - Monday, August 24

We wanted to leave at 5:00am but didn't get packed up on time. We couldn't take any of our bikes because it was too much weight for the van, that made me cry. We finally left our house at 10:22am. About a mile from home Josh asked how long it would take to get to California, we said "all week." He had a shocked look on him face and he was speechless. At 10:24 we were in front of the Hudsonville McDonald's when Caleb said, "look how far we are already!" It was a beautiful, sunny day in the 70's. The drive through Michigan and Indiana was pretty uneventful. Of course the kids loved crossing the border out of Michigan.

We took 94 to 90 (toll road) near Gary, IN and stayed on 90 to Rockford, IL and up to the Wisconsin border. The boys were amazed with the Chicago skyline. We pointed out the Sears Tower and John Hancock buildings. As we neared O'Hare airport there were a ton of planes landing and taking off. The boys were constantly spotting them. At one point Caleb let out a yell when a low flying plane scared him. Josh became irritated at this point because he is packed into the back seat of the van with the seat beside him full of stuff. Since he can only see out of one side of the van he claimed it and said that no one else may look out HIS side. He'll put up his hand and sternly say "no peeking!" We ate the yummy sandwiches that grandma VJ packed for us between Chicago and Rockford, IL. We were starving and daddy didn't want to stop driving. It was about 2:00 MI time. About an hour later we stopped at an oasis for gas, the rest of our lunch and a bathroom break. The boys thought it was cool to stand in the oasis, over top of the road and watch the traffic pass below.

Wisconsin was pretty uneventful. The boys watched some Superman videos while mom took a much needed nap. Even daddy took a couple of micronaps. The last hour of Wisconsin and first part of Minnesota were beautiful. We went through some hilly, rocky, tree covered areas that made for interesting scenery. We crossed the Mississippi River as we crossed into Minnesota. We stopped at a rest stop for some pictures. The boys had fun rolling down a small hill on the bank of the river. After driving in Minnesota for a while we were all getting sick of it. We'd been on the road for almost 10 hours and didn't want to drive to our goal of Albert Lea, MN. We called to book a room at a Comfort Suites in Rochester. It was a new hotel with free wi-fi, and the tiniest pool I've ever seen in a hotel. The boys were obviously stir crazy since they 'thought' they could run down the halls and jump on the bed. They were wrong! We swam a bit then ordered Godfather's pizza. We highly recommend their taco pizza, it's amazing! Daddy and the boys finally hit the sack at 10:30 while mom spent a little time on the computer.

Day 2 - Tuesday, August 25

We had a wonderful stay at Comfort Suites. Everyone slept till 7:30 (very impressive that the boys slept that long since that's 8:30 MI time). The hotel breakfast was fantastic and even had bacon and these cheesy, sausage things. The weather was cloudy and cooler, great for travelling. The boys and I walked around a small pond while daddy loaded pictures on Facebook. Nathaniel cried a bit when a Canadian Goose 'chased' him. I even pulled a couple of giant weeds out of the hotel landscaping (gardener at heart). We left the hotel at about 10:00, it was just starting to sprinkle. Later than I thought we would but that's ok. At about 10:30 we drove through a big wind farm. The boys LOVED it! They kept pointing and looking and exclaiming. At 11:15 it was pouring rain when a nut came loose where our wiper attaches to our van. Of course it was the driver side, the wiper flipped back up against the mirror. Dan drove for a couple of miles looking out my side of the windshield until he was able to pull over until a bridge. Oh, and this was in a construction zone so traffic was going in both directions. Thankfully, he packed a tool kit so he fixed it in just a couple of minutes and we were off again. As we pulled away Caleb said, "goodbye old, faithful bridge that kept us dry."

By 1:00 the sun had come out, we stopped for lunch about 1:30 at a rest area. Later "Here I am" is on the radio reminding us of what we are doing. We crossed the border into South Dakota the first time at 2:40. My picture of the sign was blurry and since I was showing Dan the picture he missed the tourist info rest area. So we turned around and looped back for a redo. I was happy! He rolled his eyes at me. :-) Still 1 hour to the corn palace. This day is going way too fast, it'll be another late night. We arrived at the corn palace at 4:00. It's really an entertainment auditorium with a really cool looking outside and a lot of corn murals inside. There were photos on the wall of the corn palace dating back to the late 1800's. They have to replace the corn every year so all the pictures were a little different. There was also a tourist trap gift shop and concession stand inside. The outside was the best part. We got gas before getting back on the highway. The boys jumped out for a quick snack and had fun stomping on crickets in the parking lot. We were on the road again by 4:30. The east side of South Dakota is very flat, similar to Iowa. Then, out of nowhere, there is a big hill that you go down before crossing the Missouri River. After that it's pretty hilly with almost no trees or signs of life. There are giant fields of corn, hay and bright yellow sunflowers. There are a lot of pastures too. There are giant fields covered in round bales, they even bale the grass along the sides of the highway. Day 2 to be continued.........