Hey Guys,
So as this trip my blog is going to go back to somewhat more of a normal routine. But there is still alot of things that God is putting on my heart. These are the two things that have been on my heart and I am going to be writing about them in this blog. Is TWU dead spiritually? and what happens after the trip? These are two huge topics that have been on my heart today. I have been feeling a little bit of burdened by it trying to figure out these answers and I know it is not for me to know the exact answer. But here are my thoughts and such after I quickly go over what we did today!
So we went to this random park that I think was called Balboa Park. We were going there to finally get some alone time with God and away from people, not that we do not love people but sometimes we need to get away. Sadly one thing was that we were unable to get some warmer weather, we found out that last week it was mid 80's so 26 degrees in San Diego. Oh yea by the way we are officially in San Diego! Our day started off waking up way to late probably the latest we have woken up on this trip which was 11am! We woke up had some breakfast after Steph so nicely opened up her home to us and then we drove down the coast to San Diego. Now let me tell you this the coast of San Diego has to be one of the most BEAUTIFUL places I have ever seen in my life. This whole trip I am continuing to see the BEAUTY of God's creation. Well back to what the day was like we all arrived and this park and began to walk around and it was just absolutely beautiful.
This is where the Day/Group started to spread out. We walked around for a little bit but after a while we split a little bit to do some reading. I left the group and walked around until I got into this Japanese Tea Shop. It was interesting because I got some food and was just sitting there and randomly started talking to these two ladies about our trip down from Cali. I found myself telling about the trip and sharing some stuff that happened etc.. and it just hit me really hard right then and there. What is going to happen when we go back home? what happens when life gets back up and running will things be the same or change? Often this question gets asked after like a inspiring conference, or a great speaker or bible camp. I am asking this now though and the trip is winding down what is going to happen when we return, there are plans to talk again, debrief and share but what is going to happen a week from now, a month from now and a year from now? God calls us not to be luke warm Christian's and I feel like for the majority of my life I have been a Lukewarm Christian at best. These last months after my depression/suicide thoughts have been the most rewarding and best months for me and God. I am not saying that I am perfect or that my walk is great yet but atleast I know I am not lukewarm right? These are my thoughts that I am fighting out with God right now is my calling for next year and what that looks like. I have been fighting God these last few days not only about what I am going to be down but also on the level of boldness he is calling me. I am a pretty loud person but when it comes to me faith I am quiet. God has been telling me to step it up and currently we are fighting, I will tell you how that fight goes okay?
This is the next place we are staying at. Now let me tell you this the people we are staying with right now are the nicest, greatest more awesome people ever! They are so caring, considerate and understanding! They are also my family! My mom side of the family and they have been so great about having us all over. I cannot wait to talk to her tomorrow about everything that has gone on she has so far been such a blessing! She said something that was really interesting and affirmed my thoughts in a way that the Church's today are dead. Dead in the way of unbelieving of a living God. In so many ways I did not believe God will still present among us today I did not believe in healing, tongues, prophetic words, dreams, vision, spiritual warfare etc... God has shown me this week who he is and how great he is. Back to the story though she made us a great dinner and we ended up staying around the house for a while before going to Seaport in San Diego. We met up with a few people and just had a great time by the ocean, taking a few pictures! We are back at home a little tired everyone has crashed a long time ago.
So that was our day again which was a little less eventful but tomorrow should make up for that! Tomorrow we will be at invisible Children for the morning, the maybe the beach for the afternoon and we will see after that. We are continuing to see God in everything that goes on and hopefully tomorrow we can get a little rest before we start to head back again.
The last thing I wanted to talk about and this will be a mini-series of blogs I am going to write about but is Trinity Western University spiritually dead. I am not trying to offend anyone or attack anyone I am working through my own thoughts and this is my blog. Disclaimer I love TWU to bits and love the impact it has on Christians. This trip has been eye opening to what I believe is a living God. Stuff I have never seen before in my life that kind of upset me because I read through scripture again and it hit me, God was not just talking about the past healing and such but healing today. This is never something I experienced at TWU. At Bethel I saw some great things, I still do not understand everything about that school but the one thing I saw was people wanting to come. To the university from around the world. Maybe I am being too critical but I am wondering why is this not a TWU? How come we are not experiencing healing, revival and blessings around Trinity? I may be stepping on toes or egg-shells here but I am going to be going into if my university TWU is a dead campus spiritually.
If you disagree with me please comment and show me I would love to be shown wrong nothing would make me happier! Continue to keep us in your prayers and thoughts!
God Bless,
Christian
I read this this morning and it showed me where I've failed but where I hope you will succeed:
ReplyDelete“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. 17 Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Mathew 9:16-17
Tyler
I personal wouldn't say that TWU is spiritually dead. I think that God is very present here on campus. I think we all get caughtup in our indepence and we don't frequently ask God to show himselfwe in the ways u have stated. Everyone has a different experience with God here, but I do think ( if it is even possible) that we can only blame ourselves, we are the ones that are hindering God's amazing power and his willingness to show himself to us. Looking forward to reading about ur thoughts on this as ur trip comes to an end. Blessings to u all!
ReplyDeleteI hope your mountain top experience does not blind you to spiritual aliveness at Trinity. I hope you will look and truly see. I adamantly disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteAnd please use spellcheck, this is painful to read.
Hey Christian,
ReplyDeleteThose are some tough questions that God has put on your heart. Let me just encourage you in this to wrestle with them wholeheartedly.
Remember, that what you saw at Bethel is only one part of the body of Christ. While it is great and awesome what God does and is capable of doing in ministering to his people, God meets people in collective way and also in a personal way: sometimes it's with a shaking thunder and sometimes its a soft whisper.
I agree with you when you say that selections of our western society have rejected the miraculous. However, is it not also miraculous that our bodies have been that they are receptive to food and drugs? These are at one level only chemical mixtures of things and yet our bodies are able to use them for healing. The Creator himself is miraculous from day one of the universe even if we don't see or acknowledge it.
So, What I mean by all of this is hold fast and true to what you have seen and heard, but also remember that God is not only a God of the tangible but also of the unseen. There are a lot of things that occur in our lives that we can't even begin to realize what kind of "instructions" God has put into them.
Something to keep in mind when you ask "What's next?" is that everybody sits at a different point in the journey. You've come a long way through a lot of things with God (which I'm thankful that you've been sharing). However, some people aren't at that place and some people have reached that place and God's teaching them different things now that you or someone else may have learned earlier. I want to encourage you to see these experiences less as a landmark (which it is on one level) but as a way of being able to better appreciate the Church (as multi-faceted as it is) as the body of Christ. That you can hold on to and treasure these moments in your life and then being sensitive to where God is calling you next.
I'm hoping I haven't done anything to crush of the truths that God has shown you. If I have, I ask for your forgiveness. I'm really excited for the things going on with you all in California and I'm praying that God continues to reveal himself to you in the tangible way that he has. I'm sure there's lots of spirit-led individuals on TWU campus who are praying the same things right now as well.
Can I like the spellcheck comment?
ReplyDeleteSpelling aside: Christian, enjoying reading your blogs. Keep asking good/tough questions. The TWU question is an interesting one, arguments on both sides. Nevertheless, always a good thing to talk about at a Christian institution.
Nice blog Christian. Your trip sounds like it was spectacular, I'm so glad to read how God's been revealing all of these things to you. This kind of stuff has been on my heart for a long time as well...how we are called to live much more uncomfortably than we do. We are called to heal, love, and spread the Gospel; advancing His Kingdom. And I agree, to a certain degree, TWU is spiritually stagnant.
ReplyDeleteAshley