Notes from Roger Aubrey
(any scriptures are NIV [unless otherwise stated] and these are haphazard, jotted down notes from class...sorry for the lack of structure...)
John 4 v24
"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
Romans 8 v11
"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. "
The Holy Spirit has no interest in your life at all. He comes to live his own life in you, as God in you.
Romans 8 v14
"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God."
Matthew 3 v11
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. "
Acts 1 v8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
(you will recieve all the ability of God when he comes on you)
Genesis 2 v4-7
"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. "
(everything God creates, he creates by speaking)
When you become a Christian, you don't become spiritual, your spirit comes alive to God.
Zachariah 4 v6
"So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty."
Mark 1 v9-11
" At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
The Spirit tore heaven open as he descended!! Jesus never performed any miracles until the Spirit descended on him.
Could Jesus have performed miracles without the Holy Spirit?
-->YES, because he was fully God. The Spirit did not add anything to his person. NO, because he was modeling for us what a man filled with the Spirit looks like.
John 7 v37
"On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. "
The Spirit flows from within you. He works in you. He didn't say you would recieve a lake or a reservoir. It's not the lake of peace and tranquility, or a reservoir that gets used up. He's a river of flowing water.
To not be filled with the Spirit means that he doesn't have free range to move through. You can be filled with the Spirit in your sleep! You are, constantly, filled with the Spirit!
Who, exactly, are we dealing with?
1) The Holy Spirit is God.
In dealing with the Spirit, we are dealing with none other than the personal presence of God.
The Holy Spirit is the third person of God. He is just as much God as God the Father or God the Son. You are dealing with God.
For you in your experience of God, he's more likely to be the first person of the trinity that you deal with. You know Jesus through the Spirit and God through Jesus.
Genesis 1v2
"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
The first person of God indentified in the whole word of God was the Spirit. (the law of first mention...)
You should get the idea of fatherhood, not from your earthly father, but from God.
God is fully comfortable within himself to not be bothered whether you pray to the
Father, Son or Holy Spirit.
Elohim: Gods. God plural. Genesis 1:1 'Elohim said, let's make man in our image.'
The Spirit is not New Testament. He is throughout all of scripture. He is God in motion. The first way he was described was as hovering; in motion.
Yahweh: the covenant, sacred name of God. Whenever someone asked his name in the old testament, this was what he answered.
Yahweh: I am the God who is. He is eternal and unchanging.
You have the same Spirit who came upon Samson and Elijah, Elisha and Moses!
Never read the bible as a book of nostalgia.
Whenever you read the bible, about what the Spirit does in all the stories and scripture, think, 'he's in me'.
The Spirit shares the names and titles of God.
We all have the same 'portion' or 'amount' of the Spirit. (every person's who's a believer) We have ALL of the Spirit, it's just how we let him use us.
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus as well as the Spirit of the Father.
Matthew 10 v19
"But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, " (WHEN they arrest us. Haha, thank you Lord!)
v20..."for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."
Romans 8 v15
"The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” "
The Spirit is never called the 'spirit of the spirit', because he's not about himself.
The trinity is a sweet society. He always produces unity, he's a spirit of peace.
It may be something where you think, 'Oh Lord, I've always been this way,' and the Spirit shakes you and says, 'yep, and it's time to grow up.'
He has all the attributes and qualities of God. Our walk with God is determined very much by our concept of God. 'God is good' is a fundamental aspect of who God is - if God is good then nothing else makes sense.
God is omnipresent. He is this way through His Spirit.
Psalm 139 v7-10
"Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast."
The Holy Spirit is in the mosque. Just because he's there doesn't mean he gives his approval. The Holy Spirit is in you with exactly the same amount as he is in the farthest reaches of the universe.
The most miserable person in the world in the Christian who doesn't want to walk with the Lord, because there is nowhere you can go away from him.
Are there times when you are more aware of the Holy Spirit than others?
(an expectation? a mindset?)
--> you leave the meeting and then you go and you aren't paying attention anymore. It's almost a mode.
The general sense of the Holy Spirit's presence is there. We need to understand that that presence is a person.
ex. family members. You have photos or facebook or phone calls, but there's nothing like his presence.
It'll affect you in many different ways. He inhabits the praise of his people.
An attitude of thankfullness, you can attract the presence of God by the words that come out of your mouth. Praise, worship.
Silence itself can be powerful, but silence can be deadly. You should always begin by opening up your heart and verbally give thanks to God.
There's a power in the corporate. You've got to be strong on your own, but don't forsake the assembling together.
Expect something, you're there to make a contribution and take part.
You bring your attitude in. To any corporate meeting, church, home group, prayer meeting, when people come together, they all bring an attitude.
You have to learn how to wait on the Spirit.
When you're summoned, it's not an invitation. (talking about royal visits)
One of the appropriate dressings of going into the presence of God is thanksgiving. Don't go scruffy into the presence of God.
It's attitude. You're there to wait on the King of Kings. He can do with you as he pleases, with his timing and his agenda, and you go when he's done with you.
That's what the presence of God is about: we're here for him.
We're not here to analyze things. "Don't worry, it's God. I have no idea." (Roger Aubrey)
If you know it's God, then don't interfere. Leave people in the presence.
You leave experiences like that changed.
The Holy Spirit is not a subject, he's a person. And often when you focus on him, he'll focus you inward.
Everything God does, the trinity does, everything Jesus does, the trinity does, everything the Spirit does, the trinity does.
Matthew 3 v16
"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. "
John 14 v15-23
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. "
(they didn't have the Spirit yet, so this all would have been so confusing!!)
Ephesians 3 v14
Friday, April 8, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Holy Spirit, Part Two
Notes from Roger Aubrey
(scripture references are from NIV)
Fire, mighty rushing wind, floods of water--> the very thing we pay money to insure ourselves against...
Wind: at Pentacost, the first inkling they got that something was going to happen was the sound of a strong wind. They didn't feel the wind but they heard it.
Ruach (Hebrew) - wind or breath or breathe. Air in movement or motion.
Pneuma (Greek)
Ezekiel 37
"The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”
I'm just having fun with the colour coding, but just to highlight that there's POWER in our words. Power in what we say. God created everything by speaking. Also the red highlighted stuff was about breath.
John 20 v21-22
"Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. "
John 3 v1-8 (NKJ for some reason...)
"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
You can't see the wind- it's invisible. You have to have faith , and you have to know the spirit by faith. If you can't see the Spirit, you're living by faith if you believe in him. It's no hard thing to believe what the devil says to you-->you're worthless, etc, but you need faith to believe when God says you can do the impossible! (through him of course)
We don't create the wind and we can't control it. Wind comes in varying degrees. It can be stronger and tornado-like sometimes, or weak and just a gentle breeze. The Spirit can move in different intensities or varying degrees, depending on the situation or what's needed. You can't see the wind but you can see the affects of the wind.
You can see when the wind of God is blowing through a person's life. If this was happening, what would you expect to see?:
----> changes (from glory to glory) (God can't resurrect your old life,your old sinful life, he won't do it.)
---->Fruit of the Spirit and signs that someone's filled with the Spirit. Joy, etc. Joy you can hold on to, but happiness slips through your fingers. It depends what your circumstances are, but your joy is your strength.
When there's a storm, the weaker structures would fall and the solid structures on solid foundations will stand.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is blowing through, you'll see someone who knows who they are in Christ. Where the Spirit blows you will find peace. And when it happens to the natural it is really beyond all understanding. The wellbeing of God in your life.
Christians are not immune to life, we face the same things as the rest of the world, but we are overcomers.
Power--->to do everything God calls us to do. The ability to do what's necessary.
What do you have the ability to do?
-->pray for the sick
-->cast out demons
-->testify that Jesus is Lord
John 14 v12
"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
When thinking of miracles, people default to Christ's greatest miracle, which was raising the dead, and then say they can't do that.
What could Christ do through 18 (there are 18 students in my class...) people?? He changed the world through twelve.
Fire:
Acts 2 v1-4
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
Signs are there to point you to something, and wonders make you wonder. To make you think, wow, this is what God's capable of!
At Pentacost, they heard something first, and then they saw something.
Matthew 3 v11
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Hebrews 12 v28-29
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire."
Fire is to do with the nature of God. God got Moses' attention with a burning bush. Burning bushes were nothing new to Moses, he lived in a dry desert, but a burning bush that was not consumed, that did not burn up, THAT caught his attention... (Exodus 13 v19-21)
There was a pillar of cloud and fire leading the Israelites for forty years. Through everything that happened to them, that pillar was there. Cloud during the day and fire at night. This pillar was presence. It was a symbol that his presence was with them. The trademark of the church is God's presence. There's an attraction to fire, and it's the same with the Spirit.
God judged sin with fire. Fire's natural quality is to refine, cleanse, consume, purify. (refining fire, my heart's one desire).
Leviticus 10:1 "Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. "-->this was unauthorized fire. Fire that God did not ask for or want.
Breaking bread is a time of self-judgement, not criticism.
Holy means set apart. You are holy. Our christian walk is really just us trying to attain what we already are.
Zeal--> to burn in your face, have a face that's on fire.
Isaiah 9 v7
"Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this."
'I'm so zealous for this (thing), that I would lay down my life for it.'
John 2 v12-17
"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
What are you zealous for? People are zealous but for the wrong reasons.
Are you more passionate for things than you are for the Lord? For the house of the Lord? What do you give your time to?? What do you think about the most?? What do you talk about or tell people about the most?? What are you willing to give up things for? Where are you willing to put your money? What are you giving your life for??
The thing that should burn greatest in you is zeal for his house.
Water
John 7 v37
"On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. "
Psalm 46 v4
"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells."
The Holy Spirit shall make glad Zion (the church).
Three rivers the bible talks about.
Genesis 2 v4-14
"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. "
It's meant to flow OUT of you and produce fruit. Our life is designed to be a pleasure, to be good, to be a blessing. No matter what happens, have the attitude that life is good. Your life is meant to be a pleasure and a blessing to the world and to God. Your presence in this world is a benefit to this world. The Holy Spirit is given to you for good, for blessing.
The river watered the garden. The Holy Spirit has been given to water our life. To bless us and give us delight.
The river flowed out from the garden. The river of the Holy Spirit will flow out from you. Attitude, character, conversation, actions. He's given to you that you might give him away.
The river had four branches that flowed out to the world. We're meant to take this out into our world.
Pishon: to gush, to overflow, to drench or to spring up. (very active). The life of the Spirit in you is not a trinkle.
Gihon: to break out, burst forth, break forth. Cannot be controlled or contained. Life in the Spirit is not subject to human control. You cannot put limits or conditions on what the Spirit is allowed to do in your life. He has the absolute control.
Hikkekel (Tigris): to be active, rapid, quick, swift. The opposite of passive. Life in the Spirit is like white water rafting! The Holy Spirit sweeps you along in the current. Never lose that sense of adventure in the Spirit.
Euphrates: sweet, to bear fruit, to be fruitful.
Second type of river:
Ezekiel 43-47
The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.
3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits[a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,[b] where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
The river flows from God, through the temple. The temple is for worship, and in the NT, Paul tells us that we are a temple for the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit flows from God through us. Our life is one of increase. Increasing measure. We were designed to swim. He's breaking the control of our lives.
This river is a river of life. The spirit that flows out of you is fresh and it produces swarms of living creatures. It goes into impossible situations and changes things.
You have the resource and power to bring life into every single situation you face. Your Holy Spirit way of life changes things.
God has no problem with you having wealth, the problem is when wealth has you!
Christians deal in hope. We are the trees that stood by the river bank. We live a supernatural life. It's not ordinary for trees to produce fruit each month. That means they are even producing out of season.
You're part of the answer and not the problem.
The last river is in Revelation 22 v1-2
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. "
The river was pure and flowed from the throne. It flowed down the center of the city. Jesus stood astride the river. He stood on either side. He's the center, the pride, the guide of life.
Our life is meant to be a blessing, and the church is really only the church when it allows the Holy Spirit to flow through the center to point us to Jesus.
Let the Holy Spirit increase your sense of bigness.
(scripture references are from NIV)
Fire, mighty rushing wind, floods of water--> the very thing we pay money to insure ourselves against...
Wind: at Pentacost, the first inkling they got that something was going to happen was the sound of a strong wind. They didn't feel the wind but they heard it.
Ruach (Hebrew) - wind or breath or breathe. Air in movement or motion.
Pneuma (Greek)
Ezekiel 37
"The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”
I'm just having fun with the colour coding, but just to highlight that there's POWER in our words. Power in what we say. God created everything by speaking. Also the red highlighted stuff was about breath.
John 20 v21-22
"Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. "
John 3 v1-8 (NKJ for some reason...)
"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
You can't see the wind- it's invisible. You have to have faith , and you have to know the spirit by faith. If you can't see the Spirit, you're living by faith if you believe in him. It's no hard thing to believe what the devil says to you-->you're worthless, etc, but you need faith to believe when God says you can do the impossible! (through him of course)
We don't create the wind and we can't control it. Wind comes in varying degrees. It can be stronger and tornado-like sometimes, or weak and just a gentle breeze. The Spirit can move in different intensities or varying degrees, depending on the situation or what's needed. You can't see the wind but you can see the affects of the wind.
You can see when the wind of God is blowing through a person's life. If this was happening, what would you expect to see?:
----> changes (from glory to glory) (God can't resurrect your old life,your old sinful life, he won't do it.)
---->Fruit of the Spirit and signs that someone's filled with the Spirit. Joy, etc. Joy you can hold on to, but happiness slips through your fingers. It depends what your circumstances are, but your joy is your strength.
When there's a storm, the weaker structures would fall and the solid structures on solid foundations will stand.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is blowing through, you'll see someone who knows who they are in Christ. Where the Spirit blows you will find peace. And when it happens to the natural it is really beyond all understanding. The wellbeing of God in your life.
Christians are not immune to life, we face the same things as the rest of the world, but we are overcomers.
Power--->to do everything God calls us to do. The ability to do what's necessary.
What do you have the ability to do?
-->pray for the sick
-->cast out demons
-->testify that Jesus is Lord
John 14 v12
"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
When thinking of miracles, people default to Christ's greatest miracle, which was raising the dead, and then say they can't do that.
What could Christ do through 18 (there are 18 students in my class...) people?? He changed the world through twelve.
Fire:
Acts 2 v1-4
"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."
Signs are there to point you to something, and wonders make you wonder. To make you think, wow, this is what God's capable of!
At Pentacost, they heard something first, and then they saw something.
Matthew 3 v11
“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."
Hebrews 12 v28-29
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire."
Fire is to do with the nature of God. God got Moses' attention with a burning bush. Burning bushes were nothing new to Moses, he lived in a dry desert, but a burning bush that was not consumed, that did not burn up, THAT caught his attention... (Exodus 13 v19-21)
There was a pillar of cloud and fire leading the Israelites for forty years. Through everything that happened to them, that pillar was there. Cloud during the day and fire at night. This pillar was presence. It was a symbol that his presence was with them. The trademark of the church is God's presence. There's an attraction to fire, and it's the same with the Spirit.
God judged sin with fire. Fire's natural quality is to refine, cleanse, consume, purify. (refining fire, my heart's one desire).
Leviticus 10:1 "Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. "-->this was unauthorized fire. Fire that God did not ask for or want.
Breaking bread is a time of self-judgement, not criticism.
Holy means set apart. You are holy. Our christian walk is really just us trying to attain what we already are.
Zeal--> to burn in your face, have a face that's on fire.
Isaiah 9 v7
"Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this."
'I'm so zealous for this (thing), that I would lay down my life for it.'
John 2 v12-17
"When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
What are you zealous for? People are zealous but for the wrong reasons.
Are you more passionate for things than you are for the Lord? For the house of the Lord? What do you give your time to?? What do you think about the most?? What do you talk about or tell people about the most?? What are you willing to give up things for? Where are you willing to put your money? What are you giving your life for??
The thing that should burn greatest in you is zeal for his house.
Water
John 7 v37
"On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. "
Psalm 46 v4
"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells."
The Holy Spirit shall make glad Zion (the church).
Three rivers the bible talks about.
Genesis 2 v4-14
"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. "
It's meant to flow OUT of you and produce fruit. Our life is designed to be a pleasure, to be good, to be a blessing. No matter what happens, have the attitude that life is good. Your life is meant to be a pleasure and a blessing to the world and to God. Your presence in this world is a benefit to this world. The Holy Spirit is given to you for good, for blessing.
The river watered the garden. The Holy Spirit has been given to water our life. To bless us and give us delight.
The river flowed out from the garden. The river of the Holy Spirit will flow out from you. Attitude, character, conversation, actions. He's given to you that you might give him away.
The river had four branches that flowed out to the world. We're meant to take this out into our world.
Pishon: to gush, to overflow, to drench or to spring up. (very active). The life of the Spirit in you is not a trinkle.
Gihon: to break out, burst forth, break forth. Cannot be controlled or contained. Life in the Spirit is not subject to human control. You cannot put limits or conditions on what the Spirit is allowed to do in your life. He has the absolute control.
Hikkekel (Tigris): to be active, rapid, quick, swift. The opposite of passive. Life in the Spirit is like white water rafting! The Holy Spirit sweeps you along in the current. Never lose that sense of adventure in the Spirit.
Euphrates: sweet, to bear fruit, to be fruitful.
Second type of river:
Ezekiel 43-47
The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.
3 As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits[a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. 4 He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. 5 He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. 6 He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. 7 When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah,[b] where it enters the Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. 9 Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Mediterranean Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
The river flows from God, through the temple. The temple is for worship, and in the NT, Paul tells us that we are a temple for the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit flows from God through us. Our life is one of increase. Increasing measure. We were designed to swim. He's breaking the control of our lives.
This river is a river of life. The spirit that flows out of you is fresh and it produces swarms of living creatures. It goes into impossible situations and changes things.
You have the resource and power to bring life into every single situation you face. Your Holy Spirit way of life changes things.
God has no problem with you having wealth, the problem is when wealth has you!
Christians deal in hope. We are the trees that stood by the river bank. We live a supernatural life. It's not ordinary for trees to produce fruit each month. That means they are even producing out of season.
You're part of the answer and not the problem.
The last river is in Revelation 22 v1-2
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. "
The river was pure and flowed from the throne. It flowed down the center of the city. Jesus stood astride the river. He stood on either side. He's the center, the pride, the guide of life.
Our life is meant to be a blessing, and the church is really only the church when it allows the Holy Spirit to flow through the center to point us to Jesus.
Let the Holy Spirit increase your sense of bigness.
Holy Spirit, Part Three.
Notes from Roger Aubrey
(I'm using the NIV version in here for the scripture references. This is just what I jotted down in class so sorry if it's really disjointed...)
How the Spirit works in our minds:
Matthew 22 v37
"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’"
Ephesians 4 v22-24
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Romans 12 v2
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.
Romans 8 v1-11
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you."
Proverbs 23 v7 (NAS)
"For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, "Eat and drink!"
But his heart is not with you. "
1 Corinthians 2 v16
" “Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ. "
Your mind is part of being human. It's a gift from God. Because of the fall our minds are warped, our thinking's twisted.
Genesis 2 v17
"but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
-->the problem was knowledge. That we could think independantly of God and thereby separate ourselves from God. It was a battle for the mind. Satan didn't call God a liar. He said, "Did God really say...?" And Eve questioned it.
Romans 1 v18-32
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. "
Governments take care of the physical aspects of life, but not the root of the problem, which is the heart of man.
In the west we're taught that something is true when we understand. Faith says, believe it and then understand it. It's not what we're taught, because we all think we need to understand a thing before we're willing to believe it, before it can be right.
The first thing you have to do in salvation is repent, which is changing your mind.
Your mind is not born again. It's not wiped like a computer drive. You still know who you are, how you grew up, etc. All it's learning and memories, so your mind has to come under the control of the Spirit, forever.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is something that should be yours right from the beginning; day one.
Your mind is based on what you were. The old Chantal. God works to transform you by the renewing of your mind. Until the moment you speak in tongues (because the Christian life is very much about speaking), every word you've spoken in your life up until that point has been under the control of your mind.
You're not designed to be a silent believer! Take things by agreeing with them, verbally!
When you speak in tongues, your words are controlled by the Spirit. You speak truth and your mind becomes more like Christ.
Don't rationalize it with your brain. If someone's a Christian then they already have the Spirit in them.
As you speak in tongues more, you'll find that your mind begins to yield to the Spirit. To the control of the Spirit. Your mind wants to be fed and renewed. Your mind is still very important because it becomes the means by which the things of the Spirit are acted out.
Our minds are constantly being renewed and they NEED to be constantly renewed. If you stop, your mind won't revert back, but it also won't renew and your mind of the flesh will start to show.
An important thing about speaking in tongues is that you don't babble. It's a language you never learn, but it's a language: it has expression, context, syntax. It is you talking to your father. Anything's possible. Focus your thoughts on the Lord! He's who you're talking to, and TALK to him.
There's a corporate nature in speaking in tongues. (story of hearing angels sing)
Tongues can appear to be mechanical, but it is us trying to get ahold of something. The discipline of speaking in tongues is that sometimes you don't see the benefit right then.
There's power in speaking in tongues when you really need it.
(I'm using the NIV version in here for the scripture references. This is just what I jotted down in class so sorry if it's really disjointed...)
How the Spirit works in our minds:
Matthew 22 v37
"Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’"
Ephesians 4 v22-24
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
Romans 12 v2
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold.
Romans 8 v1-11
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you."
Proverbs 23 v7 (NAS)
"For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
He says to you, "Eat and drink!"
But his heart is not with you. "
1 Corinthians 2 v16
" “Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ. "
Your mind is part of being human. It's a gift from God. Because of the fall our minds are warped, our thinking's twisted.
Genesis 2 v17
"but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
-->the problem was knowledge. That we could think independantly of God and thereby separate ourselves from God. It was a battle for the mind. Satan didn't call God a liar. He said, "Did God really say...?" And Eve questioned it.
Romans 1 v18-32
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. "
Governments take care of the physical aspects of life, but not the root of the problem, which is the heart of man.
In the west we're taught that something is true when we understand. Faith says, believe it and then understand it. It's not what we're taught, because we all think we need to understand a thing before we're willing to believe it, before it can be right.
The first thing you have to do in salvation is repent, which is changing your mind.
Your mind is not born again. It's not wiped like a computer drive. You still know who you are, how you grew up, etc. All it's learning and memories, so your mind has to come under the control of the Spirit, forever.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit is something that should be yours right from the beginning; day one.
Your mind is based on what you were. The old Chantal. God works to transform you by the renewing of your mind. Until the moment you speak in tongues (because the Christian life is very much about speaking), every word you've spoken in your life up until that point has been under the control of your mind.
You're not designed to be a silent believer! Take things by agreeing with them, verbally!
When you speak in tongues, your words are controlled by the Spirit. You speak truth and your mind becomes more like Christ.
Don't rationalize it with your brain. If someone's a Christian then they already have the Spirit in them.
As you speak in tongues more, you'll find that your mind begins to yield to the Spirit. To the control of the Spirit. Your mind wants to be fed and renewed. Your mind is still very important because it becomes the means by which the things of the Spirit are acted out.
Our minds are constantly being renewed and they NEED to be constantly renewed. If you stop, your mind won't revert back, but it also won't renew and your mind of the flesh will start to show.
An important thing about speaking in tongues is that you don't babble. It's a language you never learn, but it's a language: it has expression, context, syntax. It is you talking to your father. Anything's possible. Focus your thoughts on the Lord! He's who you're talking to, and TALK to him.
There's a corporate nature in speaking in tongues. (story of hearing angels sing)
Tongues can appear to be mechanical, but it is us trying to get ahold of something. The discipline of speaking in tongues is that sometimes you don't see the benefit right then.
There's power in speaking in tongues when you really need it.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
with love, from cuba
I'm in Guantanamo, Cuba. Do you miss me?
The long yellow school bus pulled up to Beth and Pat's right on time, 3:30 a.m; either too early or too late to be awake depending on how full your glass is. The streets were mostly empty and the sun still on the other side of the planet. Josh waved the attendance sheet and there was at least one person dozing at all times. We double checked everyone had their passports before leaving the girl's house: not everyone did. All the Britts were very excited to be on that yellow school bus that took us to the airport. We all had two pieces of luggage and one medpak, which meant more metal luggage carts than people. Second cup had good coffee and Tim's had good food, so two long lines later we sat grouped together with our breakfasts and Spanish dictionaries. Josh now has more pictures of him sleeping in that chair than I'm sure he'd like...
The sun rose as the plane left for Toronto, so my whole 45 minute ride was spent with my camera glued to the roundish plastic plane window. I've never been able to choose between sunrise or sunset, both show God's glory so radiantly! Much to David's chagrin, I ate an onion filled greek salad in the inbetween foodcourt. We bought yoghurt covered pretzels, a pack of gum and found our seat on the plane. I was seat 20A on all four flights, which means I only whack nineteen people in the arm with my bag on the way to the back. You're safe rows 21-24. : )
I fell asleep shortly after take off, and I'm not sure who all else was sleeping. The drink cart rattling down the aisles woke me after what had to have been a few hours. I got apple juice, David orange. Before he'd had two sips he nudged me for the cheese/cracker and grape tray he'd somehow convinced me to stuff in my carry on in the Toronto airport. I am a cheese smuggler. Excitement errupted behind us and I turned to find Matti training his camera out the window. Water appeared beneath the clouds; baby blue wrapped around white sandy beaches. Islands and islands that turned out to be the Bahamas (according to the little map on the screen on the back of every seat). In some places the water sashayed a bright, neon blue, and several cruise ships left a short, foamy trail near the coast. It took us awhile to figure out that the white dots we saw adorning the ocean like flecks of paint were savage white horses dancing furiously. I used the airplane bathroom for the first time in my life, barely able to follow all the rough little diagrams and knobs everywhere... Someone should have told me it would be my last bathroom with a toilet seat.
Palm trees appeared as the plane came lower and lower, circling around to hit the runway. We all cheered as it touched the bumpy pavement, still comfortable in our air conditioned atmosphere. Stairs rolled up and, being at the back half of the plane, we exited out the rear; no more bag whacking. Sunglasses appeared out of nowhere and I'm sure we waltzed into the slightly cooler Holguin airport. When the bags wound their way toward us we grabbed anything tagged pink, and I was surprised how quickly all bags were accounted for. Naive Chantal thought the little puppy running around the airport was just oh so cute...turns out it was a drug sniffing dog. Ha. Good thing I only smuggle cheese.
Medpacks went first toward the door-and were stopped. Tim stood there with a big wad of paperwork as five official looking people argued off to the side. Beth saw the translators outside the glass doors, along with the rest of thick, waiting crowd, and did a little happy jump. In ten (maybe fifteen) minutes the medpacks were pushed, untouched, out the airport doors, followed quickly by the rest of us. Oh, I wish you could smell Cuba. Two white vans waited the two groups. Luggage was piled high in the back of our van. A man named Pepe coming with more and more, all the while saying, "No problem!" Five minutes into the drive I heard a quiet squeak and turned to see Esperance pushing against a duffel bag that had fallen on her. We shoved it back on top and I assured her, giggling, "No problem!"
Look both ways before getting out of a vehicle, because the roads are narrow and the traffic fast. They communicate everything by horn: 'I'm coming,' 'I'm bigger,' 'Get off the road.' Supper was bread and cheese, cake, ice cream and diced fruit served in a huge orange bowl. TuKola and Hola (Coke and orange pop). Really, they have coke in so many third world countries, why is it so hard to get the gospel in? We had our first experience with unlit, unflushing, un papered, unseated Cuban bathrooms. Be proud of us brave students. Hand sanitizer and grins all around. The teams split up and we all hugged goodbye; climbing into our separate white vans. See you in eight days. Eight LONG days.
I'm not sure who we picked up on the way, who we lost. The van seemed to stop so many times and people moved around; the vehicle was so big I was never really sure who or how many were in it. It probably didn't help that I was at the very back, situated like an expectant ten year old on the last seat of a school bus. Cameras were out and snapping for the first half hour, and then we were singing. Singing our way to Guantanamo. The landscape changes so dramatically, so quickly. No sooner did I put my camera away than I was pulling it quickly out again. It's like Canada, condensed, only not like Canada at all. Once it was dark more people were dozing than quietly singing to themselves. I could stand full height in that van. "This van is 5'4, now don't hit any bumps."
Modified love letters:
Sunday afternoon, Guantanamo, Cuba.
Three days in, Josh got his guitar. I learned the hard way not to complement a specific object, but the person as a whole. In Canada you can say, 'I like your shirt,' or, 'That's a nice bracelet,' and it's a conversation starter. A 'likable in', but I warn you, not in Cuba. I said, "That's a nice shirt," to one of the girls who came to the beach with us, and she said, "Oh thank you, I'll wash it and give it to you tonight." Ummm, not what I meant! Oh no! Note to self. As the bathrooms look so different from what we're used to in Canada, I didn't find it that hard to remember not to flush the toilet paper. What took more reminding on my part was to bring in the pack of kleenexes in the first place. (kleenex's? kleenexs?) Our team has picked up certain Spanish words that we think are funny and repeated them to death. Guan Carlos, the pastor at the church we're staying at, has a low grumbly voice and he stands over us as we eat, offering food and icecream. He says 'melanga' (a type of potato) and we picked it up. On the bus to the beach we were all yelling 'melanga', and Ali said, "It's no wonder they think we're crazy: we yell potato all the time!" Another word is 'bomba', meaning bomb. It's amazing how many places you can slip that word in to get a chuckle (or an uproar), but we've most commonly adapted it to mean we're full. They feed us SO much food. The table's always so full there's no elbow space; someone always ends up holding a plate of scrambled eggs or fried plantain until a space can be cleared for it. Coffee is grown in Guantanamo, but all exported, so it's hard for them to get. We bought a package of it in Santiago and right on the package of Cuban coffee it says, "Cubita is a coffee variety grown in Cuba's Eastern region mounatins. Our farmers produce Cubita for their own use because they rate it as high quality coffee." (not true) They serve Nescafe made in hot milk. (addictions abound) Becase I've asked about nuts so many times (mani), Guan Carlos has taken to calling me 'peanut'. Irony at it's best. He'll point at me, say 'peanut',and then direct his attention elsewhere.
We swam in the ocean yesterday. That baby blue water with the smooth pebble beach and hot sun. Our smooth Canadian soles can't handle the sizzling rocks, so we sink in flip flops while the Cubans run bare. Where the pebbles are smaller and slide as you step on them, it tickles my feet so much I can barely walk. It's almost a painful hot tickle! We met all the youth; said hello with a kiss to the cheek in a long line, like a sports team congratulating the other after a game. Placing our belongings under the shade of the trees, we made our way cautiously out to the ocean. I watched the waves slam against the beach and was so nervous. I come from Saskatchewan. The wave pools did not prepare me for this! Where's the floaty mat I clung to? I sat on the sand and Sam sat beside me. Screams of laughter as bodies washed ashore, then scrambled back in. I burried my feet in the small pebbles. As I pulled them out, little bugs scrambled back to hide in the cool dark, and I was off like a bullet into the ocean. I'd rather waves than bugs, sorry Sam!
Turns out most of the youth there didn't really know how to swim either. Well, the girls anyways. With their hair up and bundled, they faced and jumped in time with the waves, screaming when a bigger wave threw them off their rythm. They laughed as I joined them; this white girl sputtering as salt water slapped her face. Don't swallow the water, cautioned Tim. Yeah, right. *cough* The boys were more adventerous, swimming further out. On shore was a volleyball game of sorts, and then later soccer, which Sam and Josh both joined. To be a spectator to that game was hazardous! Stones hit you in a stinging spray whenever they ran or kicked.
Megan and Lesley had their circles of girls and they spoke half sign, half Spanish. I sat on the edge and tried, I really did, but my sign/spanish is not so good. They all knew my name though! Ha. As we sat along the edge, watching boys roll into the waves (an art not to be imitated by an ameteur), FULL plates of food appeared. In true Cuban style, when they go to the beach they have pork (there must have been six thick slabs piled high on my plate, all cut WITH the grain...), plantain and rice and beans. I couldn't finish half of it and tried to pawn it off on our translator, Orly, who declared he'd finish his plate and no one elses.
Baptisms were next, and, unfortunately, my camera died right before then. The battery, not the camera, thank goodness. The one thing I'm missing pictures of! I think four people were baptised, and they all sing a song as the person goes under, which I though was wonderful. We had a great time of prayer and then boom! "Let's go!" I was very surprised by how many worn out shoes littered the edge of all the beaches. A sandal here, a runner there. As we drove back to town, we must have had close to thirty people in that van. Standing, sitting, squating. No room for personal bubbles. At the meeting last night there was a man blind in one eye, and I thought of how David really wants to pray for a blind man. I didn't have the courage to ask him if I could pray, it was only the first night. They put on a talent show of sorts, which was wonderful, and a cute little girl claimed my skirted lap as hers. I almost lost my waterbottle, but somehow kept track of the flower they'd given us all. I met Suset, and she taught me to dance. Grabbing my hands and joining them with tiny child hands so we could dance in circles and kick our legs. So joyful!
The ice cold showers are quite refreshing after a hot, muggy day. Although, one shower and six girls... I've decided I like getting out of a cold shower into a hot room rather than a hot shower into a cold room. Less shock in the long run. Guan Carlos alwasy whistles at his wife. It's sing songy, but it's how he calls her, and after the meeting last night a man on a bike was trying to get past me by whistling, and I'm so not tuned to it so I didn't move. Ali joked David will pick up the whistling and all I had to say was he had better not.
Everyone loves Esperance's name. It has the same meaning in Spanish so they call her Esperanza. They made her sing a worship song in church this morning, unexpectedly, on the spot. I would have been shaking with embarrassment but she did SO well! Just called her up and handed her a microphone. Tim brought the pastor some Axe and this morning he wreaked as strong as a grade nine boy. He shook our hands and afterwards (after he left the room to check on breakfast), all eleven of us could smell him, the Axe, on our hands. Tim joked we should make a hoax Axe commercial like that. Youtube! Children stare in wonder at megan's baby blue eyes.
Cuba smells like burning cane sugar, frying plantains and hot, dusty road. Close your eyes and take it in.
I know why the Cubans sit outside now. Why they leave their front doors open, sit on the porch, the steps or stand along the sidewalk. They seem to be watching for you, for something interesting. Aimlessly walking the streets, hands in pockets, wandering. It's relaxing. Half an hour before the meeting I sit on the steps of the church, watching the road from behind a spiked iron fence. It's cooler outside than inside, and the breeze is warm. I hear car horns, music, hammering, birds, children and-children. There's a two year old girl-topless-turning over a stone her size to my left. Inside the fence. She's walking over to me, speaking Spanish. Another girl, older, follows. All I can do I say, "No comprende," (which isn't right), shrug, and not answer their many questions. The little girl picks up my camera and so I take a picture of her, and then more children come. Children who want not to have pictures taken of them, but to see the picture I took of her. I feel helpless and stupid for not understanding what they're saying.
11 pm, Sunday.
When Lesley came out with the group to leave for church, she told me they were waiting to see the bus we had come on. Alas, no bus; the chuch is just around the corner. At church there were eight hundred people. Eight hundred people packed like sardines, looking in windows, filling the balconies. We danced during the never ending worship-danced in the front with the kids. Everyone was SO tomato faced, just dripping sweat from the heat and the jumping and the dancing. Hello Cubans. We are attractive Canadians. (HA) Josh brought the message, and when he said, "Shout to Jesus," the congregation took it literally, which I don't think he was prepared for. He took it well and rolled with the shouting congregation. Fourteen people came to the Lord, and then we prayed for the church. All 800. We climbed on pews and shoved our way through other sweaty people, laying hands and praying in tongues. A learned practice ( I think) is that when the Spirit comes, they shake and faint. Which I'm sure the Spirit can totally do, just maybe not as often as we saw. Lesley gracefully "fell" a very tall woman onto me! Augh!
The ushers were very good at laying people down on the floor and covering any exposed skin. They helped us through the crowd and on and off the creaky wooden pews. It was a humbling moment for me to realize that all the 'fainted' men on the floor were covering their eyes because of all the skirts in the room... O.O
Touring the Cuban coast, Monday.
There's twenty of us in this rickety bus with it's fold down seats. Butterflies flutter across the road and mountains stand tall on either side. They're taking us (3 hours) to a river, a tourist area, where we can swim and boat. It's supposed to be a relaxing day for us. We have some people from the church with us, and as they got on the bus they handed us all freshly cut roses! They were so beautiful! We heard word of team two this morning. That many have come to the Lord, the Spirit is moving and everyone has preached several times. Everyone except David, because he joined too late to get a religous visa. Our translator, Orly, spent the bus ride translating and then trying to teach the song Great Are You Lord in Spanish. It's easier to learn when you can see, so he gave up and passed around the sheet. We all scribbled out letters as bumpy as the road, and will learn the song later.
I was ready before everyone to go out today, but the doors were padlocked. To keep others out, but then I'm locked in! One of the back doors just had a slab of wood across it so I moved it and 'snuck' out. I just sat on those front steps again, watching the business of the morning. It's not so hot out so the streets are lively. Sam is 'the holder of the keys', so we can't really go in or out without him. Tim came out and said I'd found a way to escape, because I'm a free bird. Si. : )
My hair's blowing in the wind because I'm by the ever open windows. Tim also calls me the journalist photographer of the trip. Both names gladly accepted. I can't wait to swim.
Home again in Guantanamo, Monday evening.
Suset, a teacher we had met on Saturday, joined us to the river. She pointed out the different trees- mango, cocoa, banana, coconut, apricot and orange. Soon we were smack in the middle of the mountains, where the road was so narrow and winding that they had to honk the horn before every corner- to warn traffic! It's beautiful though. We stopped at a look out to take pictures and there were Cubans there, trying to force their wares upon us. Chocolate, coffee beans, peanuts (mani), oranges and colourful snail shell necklaces. They get right up in your face and don't listen really when you say no.
We stopped for lunch in Bacoa. Visited a church (it was the pastor's birthday) and they showed us their parrot and little baby turtle. More interesting were their two little children, whom Megan spent the meal wooing with games of peek a boo. I had fish (a slab, bones and all) and I picked it apart with my fingers. I'm so used to canned fish, but even with the bones it is so much better. Suset is funny. She loves pictures, speaks fair English and is fearless. We only hit the beach at 4:30 pm (four hour drive, two hour lunch), which was kind of disappointing. I absolutely could have spent all day there! It was, once again, a pebbly beach, only this one had pigs and chickens and cows meandering up and down it.
The water was warm and the waves large. The Bishop told them to take us to the river, which was right by the beach, but we didn't know that and so we swam in the waves. They knock you over and drag you under. The Cubans were swimming right into the white horses as they rose, and I asked Suset why- it looked so scary! She said it's because you feel the water rush past your face. I gave it a try and it was so refreshing, like facing a salty waterfall, though you have to regain your footing after. I had worn my flip flops in the water because of all the sharp rocks, and they were very helpful until the constant pull of the tides snapped one of them... Half barefoot and limping back to the van: quite embarrasing. Esperance handed me her flip flops as loaners, which was very kind of her. Please, when you swim in the Cuban ocean (I know that's not the geographical name of it, but in this blog it's Cuban everything. So, the ocean along the coast of Cuba), face the rolling white horses.
The sun set over the mountains, rocks, huts, palm trees and waves. With nowhere to change, we wrapped our towels around our bodies and sat on the seats with the windows open. We sang camp songs and worship songs and I burst out with a Hebrew song and was laughed into silence. I stuck my head back out the window and watched the stars; breathed in the night. Outside the city the sky glitters and I never tire of it.
Rain. Guantanamo, Cuba, Tuesday afternoon.
Is it raining where you are? Big black clouds rolled in this morning, which I was kind of sad about because I had wanted to tan as we shopped. The hot sun is peeking out through the heavy rain, so maybe there is hope. The water sound sso nice as it pounds the tin roof-makes me think of monsoon rain in New Mexico. I have a tiny floral cup and saucer next to me, holding some sweet Cuban expresso (espresso?). You really can't drink more than a shot of it, because it's so sweet. Suset came to Guantanamo with us, so she's hanging out with us for the day. I haven't needed all the protein/granola/fruit bars I'd packed because they feed us SO well! I gave her a taste of the apple granola bars I'd brought and discovered that here in Cuba they have neither apples nor granola, so it was an entirely foreign taste to her! I gave her the rest of my granola bars, which she happily received.
There are ants all over our room. Tiny, tiny red ants that march in a solid line up a crack in the white washed cement wall. The march through our luggage, over our beds and in our clothes. They must have multiplied since we arrived. Now we scrutinze our sheets before bed, check our shirts and beware of a literal ants in your pants. Ali discovered they can penetrate sealed packets of crackers-we lost two bags that way, just simply infested with tiny tiny red ants.
I'll finish this when it's not 3 a.m. This is a work in progress blog. You're so excited, aren't you. I know.
The long yellow school bus pulled up to Beth and Pat's right on time, 3:30 a.m; either too early or too late to be awake depending on how full your glass is. The streets were mostly empty and the sun still on the other side of the planet. Josh waved the attendance sheet and there was at least one person dozing at all times. We double checked everyone had their passports before leaving the girl's house: not everyone did. All the Britts were very excited to be on that yellow school bus that took us to the airport. We all had two pieces of luggage and one medpak, which meant more metal luggage carts than people. Second cup had good coffee and Tim's had good food, so two long lines later we sat grouped together with our breakfasts and Spanish dictionaries. Josh now has more pictures of him sleeping in that chair than I'm sure he'd like...
The sun rose as the plane left for Toronto, so my whole 45 minute ride was spent with my camera glued to the roundish plastic plane window. I've never been able to choose between sunrise or sunset, both show God's glory so radiantly! Much to David's chagrin, I ate an onion filled greek salad in the inbetween foodcourt. We bought yoghurt covered pretzels, a pack of gum and found our seat on the plane. I was seat 20A on all four flights, which means I only whack nineteen people in the arm with my bag on the way to the back. You're safe rows 21-24. : )
I fell asleep shortly after take off, and I'm not sure who all else was sleeping. The drink cart rattling down the aisles woke me after what had to have been a few hours. I got apple juice, David orange. Before he'd had two sips he nudged me for the cheese/cracker and grape tray he'd somehow convinced me to stuff in my carry on in the Toronto airport. I am a cheese smuggler. Excitement errupted behind us and I turned to find Matti training his camera out the window. Water appeared beneath the clouds; baby blue wrapped around white sandy beaches. Islands and islands that turned out to be the Bahamas (according to the little map on the screen on the back of every seat). In some places the water sashayed a bright, neon blue, and several cruise ships left a short, foamy trail near the coast. It took us awhile to figure out that the white dots we saw adorning the ocean like flecks of paint were savage white horses dancing furiously. I used the airplane bathroom for the first time in my life, barely able to follow all the rough little diagrams and knobs everywhere... Someone should have told me it would be my last bathroom with a toilet seat.
Palm trees appeared as the plane came lower and lower, circling around to hit the runway. We all cheered as it touched the bumpy pavement, still comfortable in our air conditioned atmosphere. Stairs rolled up and, being at the back half of the plane, we exited out the rear; no more bag whacking. Sunglasses appeared out of nowhere and I'm sure we waltzed into the slightly cooler Holguin airport. When the bags wound their way toward us we grabbed anything tagged pink, and I was surprised how quickly all bags were accounted for. Naive Chantal thought the little puppy running around the airport was just oh so cute...turns out it was a drug sniffing dog. Ha. Good thing I only smuggle cheese.
Medpacks went first toward the door-and were stopped. Tim stood there with a big wad of paperwork as five official looking people argued off to the side. Beth saw the translators outside the glass doors, along with the rest of thick, waiting crowd, and did a little happy jump. In ten (maybe fifteen) minutes the medpacks were pushed, untouched, out the airport doors, followed quickly by the rest of us. Oh, I wish you could smell Cuba. Two white vans waited the two groups. Luggage was piled high in the back of our van. A man named Pepe coming with more and more, all the while saying, "No problem!" Five minutes into the drive I heard a quiet squeak and turned to see Esperance pushing against a duffel bag that had fallen on her. We shoved it back on top and I assured her, giggling, "No problem!"
Look both ways before getting out of a vehicle, because the roads are narrow and the traffic fast. They communicate everything by horn: 'I'm coming,' 'I'm bigger,' 'Get off the road.' Supper was bread and cheese, cake, ice cream and diced fruit served in a huge orange bowl. TuKola and Hola (Coke and orange pop). Really, they have coke in so many third world countries, why is it so hard to get the gospel in? We had our first experience with unlit, unflushing, un papered, unseated Cuban bathrooms. Be proud of us brave students. Hand sanitizer and grins all around. The teams split up and we all hugged goodbye; climbing into our separate white vans. See you in eight days. Eight LONG days.
I'm not sure who we picked up on the way, who we lost. The van seemed to stop so many times and people moved around; the vehicle was so big I was never really sure who or how many were in it. It probably didn't help that I was at the very back, situated like an expectant ten year old on the last seat of a school bus. Cameras were out and snapping for the first half hour, and then we were singing. Singing our way to Guantanamo. The landscape changes so dramatically, so quickly. No sooner did I put my camera away than I was pulling it quickly out again. It's like Canada, condensed, only not like Canada at all. Once it was dark more people were dozing than quietly singing to themselves. I could stand full height in that van. "This van is 5'4, now don't hit any bumps."
Modified love letters:
Sunday afternoon, Guantanamo, Cuba.
Three days in, Josh got his guitar. I learned the hard way not to complement a specific object, but the person as a whole. In Canada you can say, 'I like your shirt,' or, 'That's a nice bracelet,' and it's a conversation starter. A 'likable in', but I warn you, not in Cuba. I said, "That's a nice shirt," to one of the girls who came to the beach with us, and she said, "Oh thank you, I'll wash it and give it to you tonight." Ummm, not what I meant! Oh no! Note to self. As the bathrooms look so different from what we're used to in Canada, I didn't find it that hard to remember not to flush the toilet paper. What took more reminding on my part was to bring in the pack of kleenexes in the first place. (kleenex's? kleenexs?) Our team has picked up certain Spanish words that we think are funny and repeated them to death. Guan Carlos, the pastor at the church we're staying at, has a low grumbly voice and he stands over us as we eat, offering food and icecream. He says 'melanga' (a type of potato) and we picked it up. On the bus to the beach we were all yelling 'melanga', and Ali said, "It's no wonder they think we're crazy: we yell potato all the time!" Another word is 'bomba', meaning bomb. It's amazing how many places you can slip that word in to get a chuckle (or an uproar), but we've most commonly adapted it to mean we're full. They feed us SO much food. The table's always so full there's no elbow space; someone always ends up holding a plate of scrambled eggs or fried plantain until a space can be cleared for it. Coffee is grown in Guantanamo, but all exported, so it's hard for them to get. We bought a package of it in Santiago and right on the package of Cuban coffee it says, "Cubita is a coffee variety grown in Cuba's Eastern region mounatins. Our farmers produce Cubita for their own use because they rate it as high quality coffee." (not true) They serve Nescafe made in hot milk. (addictions abound) Becase I've asked about nuts so many times (mani), Guan Carlos has taken to calling me 'peanut'. Irony at it's best. He'll point at me, say 'peanut',and then direct his attention elsewhere.
We swam in the ocean yesterday. That baby blue water with the smooth pebble beach and hot sun. Our smooth Canadian soles can't handle the sizzling rocks, so we sink in flip flops while the Cubans run bare. Where the pebbles are smaller and slide as you step on them, it tickles my feet so much I can barely walk. It's almost a painful hot tickle! We met all the youth; said hello with a kiss to the cheek in a long line, like a sports team congratulating the other after a game. Placing our belongings under the shade of the trees, we made our way cautiously out to the ocean. I watched the waves slam against the beach and was so nervous. I come from Saskatchewan. The wave pools did not prepare me for this! Where's the floaty mat I clung to? I sat on the sand and Sam sat beside me. Screams of laughter as bodies washed ashore, then scrambled back in. I burried my feet in the small pebbles. As I pulled them out, little bugs scrambled back to hide in the cool dark, and I was off like a bullet into the ocean. I'd rather waves than bugs, sorry Sam!
Turns out most of the youth there didn't really know how to swim either. Well, the girls anyways. With their hair up and bundled, they faced and jumped in time with the waves, screaming when a bigger wave threw them off their rythm. They laughed as I joined them; this white girl sputtering as salt water slapped her face. Don't swallow the water, cautioned Tim. Yeah, right. *cough* The boys were more adventerous, swimming further out. On shore was a volleyball game of sorts, and then later soccer, which Sam and Josh both joined. To be a spectator to that game was hazardous! Stones hit you in a stinging spray whenever they ran or kicked.
Megan and Lesley had their circles of girls and they spoke half sign, half Spanish. I sat on the edge and tried, I really did, but my sign/spanish is not so good. They all knew my name though! Ha. As we sat along the edge, watching boys roll into the waves (an art not to be imitated by an ameteur), FULL plates of food appeared. In true Cuban style, when they go to the beach they have pork (there must have been six thick slabs piled high on my plate, all cut WITH the grain...), plantain and rice and beans. I couldn't finish half of it and tried to pawn it off on our translator, Orly, who declared he'd finish his plate and no one elses.
Baptisms were next, and, unfortunately, my camera died right before then. The battery, not the camera, thank goodness. The one thing I'm missing pictures of! I think four people were baptised, and they all sing a song as the person goes under, which I though was wonderful. We had a great time of prayer and then boom! "Let's go!" I was very surprised by how many worn out shoes littered the edge of all the beaches. A sandal here, a runner there. As we drove back to town, we must have had close to thirty people in that van. Standing, sitting, squating. No room for personal bubbles. At the meeting last night there was a man blind in one eye, and I thought of how David really wants to pray for a blind man. I didn't have the courage to ask him if I could pray, it was only the first night. They put on a talent show of sorts, which was wonderful, and a cute little girl claimed my skirted lap as hers. I almost lost my waterbottle, but somehow kept track of the flower they'd given us all. I met Suset, and she taught me to dance. Grabbing my hands and joining them with tiny child hands so we could dance in circles and kick our legs. So joyful!
The ice cold showers are quite refreshing after a hot, muggy day. Although, one shower and six girls... I've decided I like getting out of a cold shower into a hot room rather than a hot shower into a cold room. Less shock in the long run. Guan Carlos alwasy whistles at his wife. It's sing songy, but it's how he calls her, and after the meeting last night a man on a bike was trying to get past me by whistling, and I'm so not tuned to it so I didn't move. Ali joked David will pick up the whistling and all I had to say was he had better not.
Everyone loves Esperance's name. It has the same meaning in Spanish so they call her Esperanza. They made her sing a worship song in church this morning, unexpectedly, on the spot. I would have been shaking with embarrassment but she did SO well! Just called her up and handed her a microphone. Tim brought the pastor some Axe and this morning he wreaked as strong as a grade nine boy. He shook our hands and afterwards (after he left the room to check on breakfast), all eleven of us could smell him, the Axe, on our hands. Tim joked we should make a hoax Axe commercial like that. Youtube! Children stare in wonder at megan's baby blue eyes.
Cuba smells like burning cane sugar, frying plantains and hot, dusty road. Close your eyes and take it in.
I know why the Cubans sit outside now. Why they leave their front doors open, sit on the porch, the steps or stand along the sidewalk. They seem to be watching for you, for something interesting. Aimlessly walking the streets, hands in pockets, wandering. It's relaxing. Half an hour before the meeting I sit on the steps of the church, watching the road from behind a spiked iron fence. It's cooler outside than inside, and the breeze is warm. I hear car horns, music, hammering, birds, children and-children. There's a two year old girl-topless-turning over a stone her size to my left. Inside the fence. She's walking over to me, speaking Spanish. Another girl, older, follows. All I can do I say, "No comprende," (which isn't right), shrug, and not answer their many questions. The little girl picks up my camera and so I take a picture of her, and then more children come. Children who want not to have pictures taken of them, but to see the picture I took of her. I feel helpless and stupid for not understanding what they're saying.
11 pm, Sunday.
When Lesley came out with the group to leave for church, she told me they were waiting to see the bus we had come on. Alas, no bus; the chuch is just around the corner. At church there were eight hundred people. Eight hundred people packed like sardines, looking in windows, filling the balconies. We danced during the never ending worship-danced in the front with the kids. Everyone was SO tomato faced, just dripping sweat from the heat and the jumping and the dancing. Hello Cubans. We are attractive Canadians. (HA) Josh brought the message, and when he said, "Shout to Jesus," the congregation took it literally, which I don't think he was prepared for. He took it well and rolled with the shouting congregation. Fourteen people came to the Lord, and then we prayed for the church. All 800. We climbed on pews and shoved our way through other sweaty people, laying hands and praying in tongues. A learned practice ( I think) is that when the Spirit comes, they shake and faint. Which I'm sure the Spirit can totally do, just maybe not as often as we saw. Lesley gracefully "fell" a very tall woman onto me! Augh!
The ushers were very good at laying people down on the floor and covering any exposed skin. They helped us through the crowd and on and off the creaky wooden pews. It was a humbling moment for me to realize that all the 'fainted' men on the floor were covering their eyes because of all the skirts in the room... O.O
Touring the Cuban coast, Monday.
There's twenty of us in this rickety bus with it's fold down seats. Butterflies flutter across the road and mountains stand tall on either side. They're taking us (3 hours) to a river, a tourist area, where we can swim and boat. It's supposed to be a relaxing day for us. We have some people from the church with us, and as they got on the bus they handed us all freshly cut roses! They were so beautiful! We heard word of team two this morning. That many have come to the Lord, the Spirit is moving and everyone has preached several times. Everyone except David, because he joined too late to get a religous visa. Our translator, Orly, spent the bus ride translating and then trying to teach the song Great Are You Lord in Spanish. It's easier to learn when you can see, so he gave up and passed around the sheet. We all scribbled out letters as bumpy as the road, and will learn the song later.
I was ready before everyone to go out today, but the doors were padlocked. To keep others out, but then I'm locked in! One of the back doors just had a slab of wood across it so I moved it and 'snuck' out. I just sat on those front steps again, watching the business of the morning. It's not so hot out so the streets are lively. Sam is 'the holder of the keys', so we can't really go in or out without him. Tim came out and said I'd found a way to escape, because I'm a free bird. Si. : )
My hair's blowing in the wind because I'm by the ever open windows. Tim also calls me the journalist photographer of the trip. Both names gladly accepted. I can't wait to swim.
Home again in Guantanamo, Monday evening.
Suset, a teacher we had met on Saturday, joined us to the river. She pointed out the different trees- mango, cocoa, banana, coconut, apricot and orange. Soon we were smack in the middle of the mountains, where the road was so narrow and winding that they had to honk the horn before every corner- to warn traffic! It's beautiful though. We stopped at a look out to take pictures and there were Cubans there, trying to force their wares upon us. Chocolate, coffee beans, peanuts (mani), oranges and colourful snail shell necklaces. They get right up in your face and don't listen really when you say no.
We stopped for lunch in Bacoa. Visited a church (it was the pastor's birthday) and they showed us their parrot and little baby turtle. More interesting were their two little children, whom Megan spent the meal wooing with games of peek a boo. I had fish (a slab, bones and all) and I picked it apart with my fingers. I'm so used to canned fish, but even with the bones it is so much better. Suset is funny. She loves pictures, speaks fair English and is fearless. We only hit the beach at 4:30 pm (four hour drive, two hour lunch), which was kind of disappointing. I absolutely could have spent all day there! It was, once again, a pebbly beach, only this one had pigs and chickens and cows meandering up and down it.
The water was warm and the waves large. The Bishop told them to take us to the river, which was right by the beach, but we didn't know that and so we swam in the waves. They knock you over and drag you under. The Cubans were swimming right into the white horses as they rose, and I asked Suset why- it looked so scary! She said it's because you feel the water rush past your face. I gave it a try and it was so refreshing, like facing a salty waterfall, though you have to regain your footing after. I had worn my flip flops in the water because of all the sharp rocks, and they were very helpful until the constant pull of the tides snapped one of them... Half barefoot and limping back to the van: quite embarrasing. Esperance handed me her flip flops as loaners, which was very kind of her. Please, when you swim in the Cuban ocean (I know that's not the geographical name of it, but in this blog it's Cuban everything. So, the ocean along the coast of Cuba), face the rolling white horses.
The sun set over the mountains, rocks, huts, palm trees and waves. With nowhere to change, we wrapped our towels around our bodies and sat on the seats with the windows open. We sang camp songs and worship songs and I burst out with a Hebrew song and was laughed into silence. I stuck my head back out the window and watched the stars; breathed in the night. Outside the city the sky glitters and I never tire of it.
Rain. Guantanamo, Cuba, Tuesday afternoon.
Is it raining where you are? Big black clouds rolled in this morning, which I was kind of sad about because I had wanted to tan as we shopped. The hot sun is peeking out through the heavy rain, so maybe there is hope. The water sound sso nice as it pounds the tin roof-makes me think of monsoon rain in New Mexico. I have a tiny floral cup and saucer next to me, holding some sweet Cuban expresso (espresso?). You really can't drink more than a shot of it, because it's so sweet. Suset came to Guantanamo with us, so she's hanging out with us for the day. I haven't needed all the protein/granola/fruit bars I'd packed because they feed us SO well! I gave her a taste of the apple granola bars I'd brought and discovered that here in Cuba they have neither apples nor granola, so it was an entirely foreign taste to her! I gave her the rest of my granola bars, which she happily received.
There are ants all over our room. Tiny, tiny red ants that march in a solid line up a crack in the white washed cement wall. The march through our luggage, over our beds and in our clothes. They must have multiplied since we arrived. Now we scrutinze our sheets before bed, check our shirts and beware of a literal ants in your pants. Ali discovered they can penetrate sealed packets of crackers-we lost two bags that way, just simply infested with tiny tiny red ants.
I'll finish this when it's not 3 a.m. This is a work in progress blog. You're so excited, aren't you. I know.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Magazine Article Numero One.
‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.’ Do you remember that quaint little tune? Maybe you told it to someone, maybe you received it but either way, did it ever feel as if, just maybe, it wasn’t true? We would like to think we’re strong, that we can let words just fall off and not penetrate like a poisoned arrow into the very depths of our hearts, but then we find one harsh insult dissolving a hundred compliments. We find that if we were honest, even to ourselves, it hurt. Not physically like a punch, but you know when something hurts. You know when you’re ignoring it for mental preservation, when you’re ignoring it to prove stronger than the opposition. Let me propose something: have you ever seen a physical fight not first initiated by words. Is the person kicking ever silent. Which hurt more, the slap, or the word accompanying it?
Words hurt, injure, assault, damage, torment and utterly crush, but none so much as the ones you say to yourself. Let me pause now to clarify. The devil’s greatest dagger is the one you think is yours. The words he whispers in your ear and you listen, and as you listen, you agree, and as you agree, you consent. Now he has you. He has you thinking his voice is yours, and your voice is not saying very nice things. His first of many ploys recorded in scripture was to deceive Eve, the first woman. “Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13) How it must have seemed like a good idea though! How connivingly convincing he must have been!
Now, I know you don’t get in many fights, but let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you’ve just had a row. Hurtful things have been said by both parties and now you’ve gone separate ways to lick your wounds and recover. You replay the fight in your mind, allowing yourself to mull over the insults and then the voice that sounds like yours says, ‘You know, he was right. You don’t care about other people. You’re actually quite selfish.’ You think, ‘Oh. Am I selfish?’ The voice that sounds like yours says, ‘Yes, yes, and no one really likes hanging out with you either. You’re the person no one likes.’ You think, ‘It’s true, no one really talks to me.’ Now you’ve got yourself a pity party, and no one’s invited except the people who take the time to talk to you, but remember, that voice: your voice, says no one really talks to you.
Beauty is defined by human standards, by who we idolize, by who the world idolizes. As girls we stand in the mirror, an image of perfection in our head but what our eyes see doesn’t match and so we fail to see beauty. Did you know that fewer than ten percent of the female population would consider themselves beautiful? That means ninety percent is looking in the mirror and there is this voice that sounds like theirs that hisses, ‘Faaaaat.’ The voice critiques your haircut, the space between your eyes, your body proportions. It compares everything and you never seem to measure up. Hence there is costly plastic surgery, doomed diets, avoidable eating disorders and all in all, low self-worth/esteem. When you’ve failed your diet, acknowledged your eating disorder or realized that even with surgery you need more, acceptance can set in. You affirm the voice and decide that for a fact that you are not beautiful, past, present and future. Finding our worth in our looks is so absolutely not God’s plan for us! 1 Peter 3:3&4 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Unfading beauty. Beauty that does not disintegrate with age, with wrinkles and white hair and stooped shoulders as this world’s beauty does. You know how someone carries themselves; personalities are prominent and what they think of themselves can influence your opinion of them, of their beauty. God sees inside. We are made in his image, and to him we are precious and beautiful. Princesses even, for lovers of pink and frills.
When the devil deceives, his paramount accomplishment is convincing you that you’re broken, permanently. That you cannot change. That you are worthless, that you are unloved, that you are ugly. That who you are is all you’ll ever be and if you believe him, if you listen to the voice that slanders who you are, then that is all you’ll ever be. Break these chains! “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31) As daughters of the living Lord we are worth more! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) He loves us, and so we are never unloved! “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) He created us in his image and so we are always beautiful!
What do you find your worth in? What you can do? How you look? Who you know or how you can help? In Ephesians Paul says, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” What a calling. We are called to more in Christ. Don’t listen to the voice that degrades your self-worth. Don’t listen to the voice that sounds like yours but hurts, more than sticks and stones ever could. You are a daughter, a treasured daughter and are worth so much that God sent his son to save you! Ninon de L'Enclos said, “That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.”
Words hurt, injure, assault, damage, torment and utterly crush, but none so much as the ones you say to yourself. Let me pause now to clarify. The devil’s greatest dagger is the one you think is yours. The words he whispers in your ear and you listen, and as you listen, you agree, and as you agree, you consent. Now he has you. He has you thinking his voice is yours, and your voice is not saying very nice things. His first of many ploys recorded in scripture was to deceive Eve, the first woman. “Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13) How it must have seemed like a good idea though! How connivingly convincing he must have been!
Now, I know you don’t get in many fights, but let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you’ve just had a row. Hurtful things have been said by both parties and now you’ve gone separate ways to lick your wounds and recover. You replay the fight in your mind, allowing yourself to mull over the insults and then the voice that sounds like yours says, ‘You know, he was right. You don’t care about other people. You’re actually quite selfish.’ You think, ‘Oh. Am I selfish?’ The voice that sounds like yours says, ‘Yes, yes, and no one really likes hanging out with you either. You’re the person no one likes.’ You think, ‘It’s true, no one really talks to me.’ Now you’ve got yourself a pity party, and no one’s invited except the people who take the time to talk to you, but remember, that voice: your voice, says no one really talks to you.
Beauty is defined by human standards, by who we idolize, by who the world idolizes. As girls we stand in the mirror, an image of perfection in our head but what our eyes see doesn’t match and so we fail to see beauty. Did you know that fewer than ten percent of the female population would consider themselves beautiful? That means ninety percent is looking in the mirror and there is this voice that sounds like theirs that hisses, ‘Faaaaat.’ The voice critiques your haircut, the space between your eyes, your body proportions. It compares everything and you never seem to measure up. Hence there is costly plastic surgery, doomed diets, avoidable eating disorders and all in all, low self-worth/esteem. When you’ve failed your diet, acknowledged your eating disorder or realized that even with surgery you need more, acceptance can set in. You affirm the voice and decide that for a fact that you are not beautiful, past, present and future. Finding our worth in our looks is so absolutely not God’s plan for us! 1 Peter 3:3&4 says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Unfading beauty. Beauty that does not disintegrate with age, with wrinkles and white hair and stooped shoulders as this world’s beauty does. You know how someone carries themselves; personalities are prominent and what they think of themselves can influence your opinion of them, of their beauty. God sees inside. We are made in his image, and to him we are precious and beautiful. Princesses even, for lovers of pink and frills.
When the devil deceives, his paramount accomplishment is convincing you that you’re broken, permanently. That you cannot change. That you are worthless, that you are unloved, that you are ugly. That who you are is all you’ll ever be and if you believe him, if you listen to the voice that slanders who you are, then that is all you’ll ever be. Break these chains! “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31) As daughters of the living Lord we are worth more! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) He loves us, and so we are never unloved! “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) He created us in his image and so we are always beautiful!
What do you find your worth in? What you can do? How you look? Who you know or how you can help? In Ephesians Paul says, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” What a calling. We are called to more in Christ. Don’t listen to the voice that degrades your self-worth. Don’t listen to the voice that sounds like yours but hurts, more than sticks and stones ever could. You are a daughter, a treasured daughter and are worth so much that God sent his son to save you! Ninon de L'Enclos said, “That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)