“I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.”

Jeremiah 10:23-24


But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves are green, and they never stop producing fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Friday, December 8, 2006

MTI End of Week 1

The last two days of week 1 at MTI we learned about Spiritual Vitality and Soul Care. The spiritual vitality discussion centered around foundational truths and making sure we understand them so that when things aren't going well, we can stay spritually vital because we know these foundational truths:

1. God is God (and I am not!) - we have to surrender to this truth, God is a mystery and not to pretend when we do have questions

2. God may not be safe, but he is faithful - struggle is normal, there is no pit so deep that God's love isn't deeper still, there is nothing God will allow in our lives that he won't redeem

3. God is good - this doesn't mean he will take pain away, but he will be there and he will send his people to help - the enemy will shout otherwise

In the Soul Care module, we defined soul care as taking care fo the whole person, paying attention to the inner world as well as the outer world. The discussion centered around solitude and the sabbath. We talked about the busyness of our society and that in Chinese the word busyness is translated into 2 words - heart and annihilation! And that busyness is the only sin the North American church applauds! We went through Luke 6: 12-19 and looked at how Jesus spent a day. First he spent the entire evening in solitude praying (intimacy with God), then he gathered his disciples together in the morning and had "with" time with them (community), then he did ministry, teaching, healing the people, etc. So we learned the rhythm of Jesus' life was solitude - community - ministry. We looked at the many times in scripture it shows Jesus withdrawing to solitude and prayer. Jesus modelled this for a reason! Then we talked about observing the Sabbath, how it's not natural for humans, we resist it, so it must be practiced. Sabbath means cease! Rest is talked about many times in the Bible and not to rest leads to death! We ended the day taking a "God walk", walking by ourselves to observe God's creation and listen for his voice. It felt good - though it's a little cold in Colorado!!
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