Winter Retreat

This weekend, I went with 53 other people from the 20's and 30's group from Bethany, lovingly known as PCEC (Post college, early career) we drove about an hour and a half out of the city to Yelm, WA. for our winter retreat. We stayed at a really beautiful camp, and enjoyed times of fellowship, worship meditation and lots of fun.

The theme of the retreat was 'Encountering God' and as a part of our sessions we did some practical things to meet with God, this included meditation, lectio devina and reflection. We would meet in small groups after each session and talk about how each experience was. We discussed which ways we 'met' with God were easiest for us and which were harder. We also shared some of the things, scriptures, convictions that we felt God put of our hearts during the quiet times. These small groups times were really special, and I really enjoyed the group I was in. None of us knew one another before the weekend so it was a great opportunity to make some new friends too.

The camp surroundings were beautiful. Set amongst huge evergreen trees and close to the mountains. We walked from our cabins to the dining hall, and next to the dining room was the lake. The weather here is freezing and the whole lake was frozen. Early Sunday morning I walked down to the lake with some new friends and we were in awe at how beautiful it was. The lake surrounded by the tall trees, and a heavy white mist hung over the frozen grey water. As branches fell, or birds dropped things onto the ice, spooky echoes bounced across the lake. When we realised what was happening we began throwing stones on to the frozen lake and making these spooky noises ourselves!! The wonders of nature.

We were staying in an old railway, the station building was the meeting hall, and we stayed in the train carriages attached to the steam engine that sits on tracks at the old station. The rooms were really nice, and again it was a great chance to get to know another set of new people. We all got to know each other at our potential worst too because we had late nights, and early mornings, central lighting and one shower. Everyone in my carriage was very gracious to one another and we enjoyed our experience as roommates!

I also was part of many a lively game of catchphrase and a 2-hour game of Signs - my personal favourite game of the moment.

Here are some pics of us at the camp, the train cabins, the mountains in the distance and a fun one of me playing damsel in distress on the tracks...It was a great weekend, and I am thankful for the opportunity to get out of the city for this time of refreshing and connection.

Life in 2008

This email has been floating around for a while, but I just read it again and it rings so true to the way I am feeling today I wanted to share it. I have such a desire to bring more balance into my own life, as I make time to work and rest and pray. I believe this is a way of being faithful to who God made me to be - I pray for all of us on the journey to leading a life of balance.

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life; we've traveled all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw-away morality, one-night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom..."

Back in Seattle again (sung to the tune of 'back in the saddle again')

I have been back in Seattle now for a week - it's gone by quickly, and in a kind of blur. I think this is mainly because of jet lag and the nasty coldy flu thing I have been fighting off over the past 7 days. On the one hand it feels like my time with you in England went by so fast, and my visit was so short, but on the other it feels like I had been gone from Seattle, YWAM, and Bethany for a very long time.

I have been glad to get back into life here, and start all those things I had been putting off until the new year - suddenly it was January (how did that happen?)

Today all of the Bethany Community church Interns were introduced officially to the congregation, in all 5 services. As I write this we have done 3 of them and have the 2 evening ones to go!!
I always attend church in the evening, so this morning it was strange to be in the Church building with so many people, many of whom I had never seen before. Of course there were some familiar faces, and also some very good friends who attend in the morning but it made me realize a little more the challenge we will be facing as a church when in a few weeks we move into our new building. We will be losing 2 of our regular services by combining them and I am sure this will be a hard transition for some members of our Bethany family.

Please be praying for us as a church community as we transition. Please pray for all of the staff and ministry teams who will be working to make this transition as easy as possible for everyone.

Today I led informational meetings for the mission trip to Mississippi that I am leading through Bethany. We had low numbers which was a little disappointing, but I am more and more excited to be going as I talk about the vision for our time. The trip will be mostly what we like to call poverty relief. This means being available to be used by the church in whatever ways they need. This will be lots of home repairs, still fixing houses from hurricane Katrina as well as more long term damage that predates any of the storms. We hope there will be quite a few skilled labourers on our team to balance out people like me who come with a good attitude and a willingness to learn but couldn't apply sheet rock if our lives depended on it!

The issue of racial reconciliation is becoming more and more of a hot topic in Christian circles, and the church begins to examine its role in pursuing this process. I know that our time in small town Mississippi, as we work serving a black community will challenge my comfort zone,a nd I am sure crack open some preconceived ideas about simple fixes to the issues of racial reconciliation.

I ask for your prayers as people begin to sign up, we would like there to be 15-20 people but numbers are looking low, mostly though I want to take a team made up of the people that God wants. Please pray for wisdom for me as I prepare to lead this team.

In other news, YWAM Seattle has started the year off well too. This week we have a family visiting from North Carolina who are considering joining us on staff. They did DTS with us 4 years ago, and have always felt a pull back to Seattle and the DTS program. Please be in prayer for them and us as we meet and talk about the future of YWAM Seattle and where they could be a part of seeing that vision come to be.

I will be sending out a newsletter to you all very soon sharing highlights form the past year, prayer requests and more about the vision of YWAM for the coming season. I don't want to spoil that for you so I will end now and hope that writing this ending will be the motivation to do the final touches to the letter and get it to you!!

(However...the sunshine outside is making it hard to be in the office much longer)

Have a wonderful week!