i love camping days

i think God made me for a few things... drawing on the world, drawing on people, (all for the sake of enlightenment and breaking worldly rules in order to make God known) and camping. i love camping. my body cramps with anticipation for camping. sleeping on the ground in a bag is the best thing in the world. even when its freezing cold... but this time we'll be on a beach, for 3 nights, with everyone on the DTS, and mebe even campfires (but i'm not gonna even let my mind think that its a possibility cuz the north island is one giant fire nazi) and lots of surfing. cold surfing, but who cares i'm canadian. lots of ping pong too... tournament apparently. must... train... more... been slacking on that with all our assignments and whatnot. which are all DONE for awhile... i don't count our CIR's as an assignment cuz in the end its for my own benefit and reflection so who cares! journal on.

brent finished off lectures today (since we leave tomorrow for taranaki... 5 hour road trip WHOO) and honestly the stuff he was teaching on didn't really have much impact on me, since i'm not a worship leader (it was worship as a lifestyle... i just used it in context with my art and it pretty much transferred over alright) but when he ministered to us it was really really sweet.. he's very gifted in prophesy, and so he gave us some really solid encouragement. what i DID learn was when he talked all about prophesy, and what its used for (IE encouragement, building up the church). it was a really good lesson... something we should all be practicing. and its not some crystal ball stupid 'see into the future' thing, its allowing God to speak through us to an individual or church body. its 'forth-telling' not 'foretelling'... bringing forth the heart of God, giving strength through uplifting words to the person being prophesied over. so cool... we talked a little on tongues but nothing as definitive (minus that when someone speaks in tongues, they are talking to God with pure honesty, holding nothing back.. being real. pretty much we should be doing the same thing in english, even if were not in a direct connection with God.), because of the nature of it... ugh so much mystery and discussion on tongues... but everybody can prophesy.

i did my sermonette on TIME. (muhahaha...) i wrote tattoos on the board, very teacher like.. saying i was gonna talk about it (woulda been fun) but then i went nah, scratched it out an wrote intercession. then manna. then edification. then erased all the letters minus the first ones, so it spelt time vertically. it was super lame, and i giggled inside. but pretty much i talked about the worry we place on the future, which is so contrary to what the bible says (matthew 6:34), as well as boasting about it an putting more emphasis on the future rather than now (james 4:13) (which is hard for me cuz i'm a do-er, not a say-er (so now i just don't say anything so i don't have to hold myself to my boastings)). cuz really, Jesus isn't gonna change (hebrews 13:8) even though we do, therefore we don't have anything to worry about. i talked about me'n the guys saying 'there is only one (ex)april 9, 2009' which means we only get this day once, so we must live it up. not irresponsibly, but with purpose! i used my failure to get to australia as an example with boasting, cuz that has worked out sooo well (i'd be there right now instead of here if i had gotten good grades. academics, lick it.). so yeah. i spat it out super quick and as soon as i got up there i was really really nervous and it felt like my face was on fire but it was still fun. nobodies head exploded but i'm saving that expectation for a discussion later on... i think God stopping that clock was a pretty solid smack in the face for me to focus. He knows i'm a visual learner...

so pretty much i'm leaving for another 4 days. it'll be amazing, i'm gonna have tons more pics and memories and stories and hopefully the world doesn't end before tuesday so i can tell you about it. but don't get your hopes up...

for a rapture either. bogus! (did your head explode?!)

yay + amen.