Since I Last Wrote...

Since I last wrote, many, many things have happened. I have spent countless nights awake studying. I went home for Mothers Day, and spent eight lovely hours with my family. Caleb came in for a surprise visit and waited on me hand and foot (while I studied!). I held six pretty kittens, one week old. I have had four outings downtown. I met Caleb's best friend and cousin, Christian, and loved him. I have been on three amazing outings with my one-on-one, Chasity. I have become sick with a dreadful cold. I have sat through dozens of classes, innumerable meetings, and countless prayer times.

But one thing I have NOT done is posted on my blog. And for that I am quite sorry!

Please understand, it was not done without frequent pangs of guilt and remorse that my faithful blog-followers were without updates on my life!

So, let's make amends. Shall we?

The morning air was misty and chill. I loaded my belongings into my car, and kissed my mother goodbye. Monday morning--back to YWAM, back to work. The grey darkness of a morning long before sunrise shrouded the trees and the creek that burbled alongside the house. I looked at the clock. I was late. So I sped through the grey washed countryside, trying to catch up to 5:15am.

And then there he was. Waiting for me at the top of the hill, sat my prince. Together, we watched the sunrise. Together, we listened to the birds sing gustily of spring and love, and together we sighed each time another minute ticked by.

The sunrise was clear golden that shouldered away the heavy charcoal sky. Clouds lit like torches. Mist spiraled into the sky like winter wood smoke. Our cold hands held on tightly to each other. No matter how hard we wished that the sun could pause, that the clocks would just be patient and let us be, time refused to halt.

Goodbyes are dreary.

Photo from: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sxc.hu/pic/m/k/ks/ksvignette/950782_sunrise_over_the_fields_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sxc.hu/photo/950782&usg=__On4BsZLqGc3CalOEhPucxQqtpis=&h=207&w=300&sz=15&hl=en&start=7&sig2=tnTIWfcG6q0GfqIo21W7cA&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=0-ChB87mIuqf-M:&tbnh=80&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsunrise%2Bover%2Bfields%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=-NXVS7DkLMH58AbH082jDw

What God Said.

This morning I awoke suddenly. I slapped at my alarm, and looked out the window. It was still dark. A patch of dingy blue light indicated an imminent sunrise. I glared at it. A bird began chirping outside my window. I threw it an accusing glare. My covers were ripped off my bed as I grumbled, and scowled, and felt more like a thundercloud than a girl.

"I don't WANT to get up," I informed God in a black voice. "Not even a little bit. Not even the teeniest, tiniest bit and...!" At this point, I had not even made it to my bedroom door.

"Go back to bed." He said.

"...what?"

"Go back to bed."

"...for real?" I looked at my bed. The blankets lay in a turbulent mess that looked so enticing. "If I do, I will fall asleep," I said suspiciously. "Then I'll be late."

"Go get into that bed, Rynn. We are going to have a snuggle-time."

I gave in. But after crawling back into my bed, I did not fall asleep as I had supposed I would. There, my head buried under a pillow, I whispered all of the reasons that I didn't want to get out of bed today.

"I am tired. My head hurts still. I hate getting up at 5:30! I am scared to teach this morning. I don't FEEL like being a grown-up, I want to be a two-year-old and stay in bed and wake up to pancakes and play dough! I miss Caleb. Ooooh, I am soooo crabby! Nobody loves me in all the world!" Quite dramatic. I admit this.

Mercifully, God allowed my ridiculous rampage, and by the end of our time in bed snuggling, He had whispered a gentle response to each of my grumbling complaints.

Laughing at myself was the result. The second time I slid from my blankets, my heart was light. I even leapt into the shower singing.

Because God said to go back to bed.

Catch A Falling Star...

This morning I am teaching a devotional on creation. This is one of my FAVORITE stories. I like to imagine it all out, with a soundtrack of My Soul Sings by Delirious, or God of Creation by David Crowder Band. All dramatic events have a soundtrack.

So, while I was planning my devotional, I thought about how precisely God made His creation...and all to bless us, His children. Food, water, air, materials for everything we make. He then challenged me, "How is my creation personal to you?"

And I thought of this story.

When I was seventeen, I spent a long time in a bus on my way to Juarez Mexico for a missions trip. Many hours crawled by, as monotonous as the Western landscape, until 3 a.m. I decided that I would crouch closely to the window to talk to God. No one was awake, the bus was roaring loudly enough to cover my murmuring, and the stars were too brilliant to be ignored.

We talked about this and that, and I admired His stars. Then I whispered to Him

"I would love to see a falling star...it would be so precious....could you...could you send a falling star to me?"

The words had barely left my lips when a star streaked across the darkness in a blaze of light.

It was one of those moments. The moments where God overwhelms you so utterly that all you are capable of is smiling and laughing and tears.

"You sent me a star!"

"It was waiting for you." My mind reeled. "It has been hanging there a long time. That star was made for you."

Our personal God created a world of such delicate intricacy and ferocious majesty. The complexity of creation is our gift, not just our home. More than that, creation is a gift to us personally, not just humankind as a whole.

The daffodil that you see in your garden and causes your heart to praise God is just as much your PERSONAL gift of creation from God as the stars light years away, or the rain forests from which we may get oxygen and medicines. The star that hung for years waiting for me was a piece of God's gift to mankind, and a personal gift to me.

Today, I am blown away by creation. Each tree, flower, cloud, sunrise I admire and praise God for is my personal gift. It can be your personal gift as well, because when you seize the opportunity to take that gift, it becomes your own.

Today, admire God's creation. Perhaps He'll send you your own falling star.

The Oriole's Goodmorning

Today, I met a bird.

In my oriole nest.

It thought it would sing by my head

To wake me up

And that I would invite him in.

For breakfast I suppose…

But I don’t eat worms.

I am sure it must have seen

My walls shine through the curtains

Brilliant orange...

(And chocolate)

It must have seen me sleeping

Lying in a drift of downy pillows

Dreaming that I could fly.

Like an oriole.

It must have noticed that I hit my alarm

Nearly five times.

It must have thought that the alarm

Was not a pretty morning sound

A sound to wake to dawn too.

A sound to yawn too.

So it sang for me.

A chirp, a trill, a “Goodmorning, oriole.”

“May I come in and sing with you?”

My eyes opened to the sky

Grey and dim with rainy light

Radiant blue with a soprano’s notes…

Blazing with song in the darkness

Today I met a bird.

It knew I was an oriole.

And it sang goodmorning for me.

And that is so much more inspiring

Than an alarm.

Meet the Students: Alice Denyer

Name: Alice Denyer

Where are you from? York (Leeds) England

Where and when did you do your DTS? Mobay, Jamaica January 2007

I enjoy…Skiing, kayaking, cooking, music (playing and listening), talking, exploring, laughing uproariously, roller disco, listening, running, walking, swimming, reading, writing, photography, theatre, adventuring, learning new things, and genuinely funny comedy.

Countries I have been To: Jamaica, St. Croix, South Africa, Gambia, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Australia, Switzerland, France, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Corsica, USA, Singapore, Belgium…

Chocolate vs. Vanilla Chocolate…sometimes.

What animal noise are you skilled at making? Monkey

Sky diving vs. Knitting Both. Simultaneously.

Water vs. coke Water.

What country would you love to visit? India…and Peru, and Mexico, and Alaska, and the North Pole, and Nepal, and Israel, and Japan, and Sri-Lanka, and the South Pacific….

Something you like or do that is out of the ordinary? I like to run long races e.g. marathons or ½ marathons. I also like to read the dictionary.

Favorite Bible passage/verse? Isaiah 49, 61 1 Samuel 2:1-10

Your goal in this school? To gain a broader and more solid foundation of truth and to have fun learning.

Any other information you would like to share J My love languages are words of affirmation and quality time. I love variety and helping people reach their goals.

Meet the Students: Chasity Thiessen

Name: Chasity Thiessen

Where are you from? Winkler, Manitoba Canada

Where and when did you do your DTS? Perth Australia in 2007

I enjoy…Dancing, soccer, doing fun random things spontaneously

Countries I have been To: Australia, Germany, France, America, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, China

Chocolate vs. Vanilla? Both. I like chocolate bars and vanilla ice cream

What animal noise are you skilled at making? A cow.

Sky diving vs. Knitting? Sky-diving.

Water vs. coke? Water

What country would you love to visit? Italy and Saudi Arabia

Something you like or do that is out of the ordinary? Probably everything I do is out of the ordinary.

Favorite Bible passage/verse? Romans 8:28, Isaiah 55

Your goal in this school?

To grow in my relationship with God as well as to learn how to study and teach others how to study the Bible, so people and nations will be transformed by God’s Word.

Chasity is also my one-on-one!