California Trip Day 3

Hey Guys,

So today we finally did it! We are in LA we took the trek from Redding, Cali all the way to Simi Valley, Cali. This day was a day of travel and just basking in the glory that was God's creation. We finally said good bye to our friend Dave who blessed us by opening up his home to us. He left us with some more knowledge that he has learned while attending bethel. It is always great to discuss and understand. I am a firm believer that understanding God comes through discussion, questioning and figuring out what is being said.

 So once we left Redding it became pretty wide open and we started seeing these mass fields of these tree's as you see below. It was a big change to go from a church service at Bethel to seeing the creation of God. Both were rewarding and it was nice to just travel through California just enjoying each other's company, enjoy God's creation and rocking out to worship music, techno music and also a little Top 40 stuff. I still agree that Canada is the most beautiful place in the world especially Vancouver but driving through California was amazing just to see how beautiful blossomed tree's are. I know that sounds weird but something that was said was how beautiful TWU is when all the Cheery Blossoms are bloomed. This just gave us a little tid bit of what spring will be like again at TWU. Unfortunately we live in the west coast so our tree's may not blossom until April :)

 So this was one another one of our stop's along the way, one thing we noticed is with a group of 6 people someone is either hungry or wanting to go the washroom. Especially Dan Lowen he always seems like he has to go to the washroom for some reason. But dude CANADIAN's step it up everywhere we went there was a picture like this below... a massive flag blowing in the wind being patriotic!

 Our next major stop is when we stopped for lunch which was some where around 4pm and we stopped outside this Best Western. Now the reason we stopped out here was because they had free wireless :) so we definitely took that opportunity to call some people, try and find a place for tonight and also just check emails and figure out what was going on. As some of you have noticed by now a few of our 'plans' have fallen threw. Well God will provide right? At this point in the day we had ZERO idea about where we were staying, these were our options... Sleep in the car or hope something works out.  Well ill tell you that story a little later on. But this has sort of been the tale of our trip thus far, we stopped in the middle of no where, pulled up to a hotel and hoped that one of our contacts had come threw! God will always provide.

Today was a somber day a day of reflection in alot of ways and just as I mentioned just taking in the trip, thanking God for the ability to get away and everything he has provided. We are continuing to learn about what God has shown us this trip and I just wanted to share with you guys a few verse that have come up and you can see what is going through our minds a little.

Luke 11:33-36

The Lamp of the Body

    ³³ “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Hebrews 3: 7-14

Warning Against Unbelief

 ⁷ So, as the Holy Spirit says:    “Today, if you hear his voice,
 ⁸ do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
   during the time of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your ancestors tested and tried me,
   though for forty years they saw what I did.
¹⁰ That is why I was angry with that generation;
   I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
   and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
   ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
 ¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

We have been praying and reading the word together to hopefully understand what God has in store for us. The picture below is an orange field cause what is the other thing they are known for eh?

This is the last picture we took of the day and it sort of summarized the whole day for me. Take a second and take it all in this is what we drove through all day. At that moment the sun was setting, the clouds and sky were mixed and we could see over a field of trees, through rolling hills and on ward further then our eyes can see.

Psalm 24:1 

A Psalm of David.

The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains,
         The world, and those who dwell in it.

Genesis 1: 9-23

⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
    ¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
 ¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
 ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

As we are doing the same I encourage you guys to take a day or rest, relax and just enjoy God's creation for everything it is worth. As much as we have gone through we have been remind that God requires rest and meditation too. You need to relax, rejuvenate and then get going again :) Thank you for all the prayers and thoughts as we have been going along this trip is has been great! We do not know what tomorrow has in store for us only God knows that! I encourage everyone reading this to take a day of rest and go outside into God's creation!

Lastly here is Paul the great man who opened up his home to us! It was great to the end of the day to have a place to stay his family is great opened it up to us and have been such a bless.

 

 

Goodbye for now,

Christian Sawka

I leave you with this if you have more time to read:

Habakkuk 3

Habakkuk’s Prayer

 ¹ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

 ² LORD, I have heard of your fame;
   I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Repeat them in our day,
   in our time make them known;
   in wrath remember mercy.

 ³ God came from Teman,
   the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His glory covered the heavens
   and his praise filled the earth.
⁴ His splendor was like the sunrise;
   rays flashed from his hand,
   where his power was hidden.
⁵ Plague went before him;
   pestilence followed his steps.
⁶ He stood, and shook the earth;
   he looked, and made the nations tremble.
The ancient mountains crumbled
   and the age-old hills collapsed—
   but he marches on forever.
⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan in distress,
   the dwellings of Midian in anguish.

 ⁸ Were you angry with the rivers, LORD?
   Was your wrath against the streams?
Did you rage against the sea
   when you rode your horses
   and your chariots to victory?
⁹ You uncovered your bow,
   you called for many arrows.
You split the earth with rivers;
 ¹⁰ the mountains saw you and writhed.
Torrents of water swept by;
   the deep roared
   and lifted its waves on high.

 ¹¹ Sun and moon stood still in the heavens
   at the glint of your flying arrows,
   at the lightning of your flashing spear.
¹² In wrath you strode through the earth
   and in anger you threshed the nations.
¹³ You came out to deliver your people,
   to save your anointed one.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness,
   you stripped him from head to foot.
¹⁴ With his own spear you pierced his head
   when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour
   the wretched who were in hiding.
¹⁵ You trampled the sea with your horses,
   churning the great waters.

 ¹⁶ I heard and my heart pounded,
   my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
   and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
   to come on the nation invading us.
¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
   and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
   and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
   and no cattle in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
   I will be joyful in God my Savior.

 ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   he enables me to tread on the heights.

   For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.