Gods Love

God's love for us is so incomprehensible. He does so many different things in our lives that just make us really think that its not all about us. Gods love is spreading the Good news to the people in the DTES. I love God so much thta he shows mercy on me because somedays I do fall into this trap of sin and just can't get myself out of the temptation that I get in to.
Five places where I see Gods Love:
1) In the People of the DTES.
2) Through Ashley, Caitlyn, Jordan, Peter, Meghan, Megan, and Jessica, he loves you all so much
3) In the Leaders, they have so much passion to see us grow in our walk with God
4) In the War Room: this gives me time to worship God and express my love to him
5) In my family witch is the the whole 614 community, and my family at home

I challenge anyone who sees this to list 5 places where they can see Gods love and post up on the blog.
I just love blogging.

Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and your body, love your neighbour as you would love yourself.

We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testiments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitue the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.
peace.

Today is my day to Blog.

What to say what to say. Today I'm a little confused with the money situation for my tuition, but besides that I'm doing great. It's been and interesting few days I experience happiness but I expirienced some emotions too.

Three Things I can say about my life today:
1: God is changing me spiritually
2: I'm not the same person anymore
3: I am learning alot about myself and knowing thats it's not all about me.

I love learning new things everyday. I know that sounds weird but its true God has been merciful on me and has given me grace for the crapy things i do. God gives me peace to do things he wants me to do and the will go out to find Jesus in the people I come in contact with.
My high for the week would be playing my guitar on Sunday night and just falling deeply in awe of God and his love. I played this one song called in my war room shift for almost an hour. The song was called more love, more power, more of you in my life. I just needed his encouragement to do things he asks me to do and I pray that I can obey his calling for me.
I thank God for my session mates and I pray that they are doing well and I say that I love them all with

Three things about my life

Street preaching:
The other day we took part in open street evangelism (I say took part but I had no choice). Any one who knows me well will know that I not only don't do street preaching but hate it. This time we went about preaching in a whole new way we formed a circle and wen't about praising God this worship was not for the people but for God. We respectfully shared out testimonies, scripture and a short sermon to any one who wanted to listen that included us. The meeting was done in such a way that we didn't push the Gospel on any one but invited them to share in the meeting with us. Most forms of street preaching I've seen or taken part of have involved preaching to "the other people" whiles Christians handed out Gospel tracts I see that as being counter productive. What I experienced the other day is the way I invision all churches, getting rid of their buildings that waste space,money and effort and having meetings outside. I am very glad that dispite my protests I was forced to take part. Praise God

I know this may upset some people:
About a year ago I came to the conclusion that I was not a soldier IHQ didn't want me to be one and I didn't think it necessary to help spread the gospel so I stepped down, this has been great for me and taken a huge burden that was on my back. Recently I decided to make this official this is proving to be very hard. People seem to think that this is a great big tragedy instead of a step forward in my walk with God. Please pray that people would be understanding and please pray for me in this new walk in life.
I should say that whiles I am not a soldier any more I do love soldier ship and encourage it for anyone who is called.

Moe-Vember:

On a lighter note next month is Moe-vember and because of this some of have decided to celebrate the month by growing moustaches. The rules are simple start the month clean shaven and grow.

The taste of ink.

So last night I ended up having a conversation with a few of the girls in my session.
It got me thinking to who I used to be, and my past. It was really cool to think about because now I'm such a different person.
The only real difference now is Jesus.
After the conversation I found a song I used to listen too a lot.
Oh man the lyrics remind me so much of who I used to be.
"Pretty girl is offering while he confesses everything
Pretty soon she'll figure out you can never get him out of your head"
One line in particular stuck out to me
"She's beautiful as usual with bruises on her ego."
That is totally me about a year ago.
Praise the Lord I'm not still there.
After that another song came on from a band that I used to be a huge fan of. I hadn't listened to them for quite a while so it was a major flashback. It was good. I'm listening to them now. I just keep thinking back to all of these instances in my life where I was searching for something, and I would always think I had found it, but I never really had untill I found Jesus.
Now everything has such a different meaning to me. I can find truth in songs that I used to love. It's really cool.
God would speak to me through them so subtly that I wouldn't even know it was him, but looking back, it's just amazing. It blows my mind.

I did Re-Cre-8 tonight. There was no leader, so I tried to kind of take over.
It was probably the worst Re-Cre-8 shift I've ever had.
First there was some guy taking to many muffins and getting upset, then I was left alone out front (By accident.. Niether knew the other was also back there...) right when we got super busy so that was stressfull, then the same guy that did the muffin thing wanted to take his cup outside, then there was a guy who stood uncomfortably close and didn't say anything to bad but I still was just not comfortable with him. Then there was this one guy, who comes in a lot, who is always a little off, and he was just getting mad at me when I was doing absoloutly nothing. I wasn't talking to him or even looking at him and he was getting angry. Ive never kicked someone out, but I was really really close to doing so, but then he stopped talking.
I definatly needed some dusting off.
Once I got that I felt a lot better.. But since I'm still ranting about it I think I might need a little bit more.
Which is allright seeing as it is the girls all night of prayer tonight.

I've really enjoyed getting to know everyone. Not just my session mates (although they do kick butt) but also the leadership, and people in the community.
I like it down here, a lot.

God is revealing a lot of stuff to me that I need to work on.
For one, actually letting people keep me accountable.
So, to people in this community who read this, that I've mentioned something about this too, PLEASE DO! Force me to tell you whats going on, don't let me get away with saying "It's going okay". If I say that, I'm probably just avoiding the real answer. Pester me a bit and I will be an open book.

I have lots of pictures I should be posting, but they are not on my computer and I forgot my camera. I fail at the picture thing, but at least I'm blogging.

Thanks for reading guys.
I still dont have a good catch phrase.
Jessica.

The Spiritual

Since being here I have found that The War College is all about the spiritual. When you get here you are kind of not use to the lingo. For example last night I was saying how I felt sick, and the first thing someone asked was if it was spiritual or not......my first thought was well I haven't gotten sleep in forever and my head hurts and I think that I might vomit it seemed very physical, than I thought could it be spiritual ?

I am reading No Compromise which is the biography of Keith Green. In the book it talks about how Hell is not talked about any more and Satan is not a reality any more. It is surprising to me now to think about the fact that people don't think about Hell or even realize the reality of it. There are so many people in this world that are suffering in this life, and they don't have God who is the only one that can take this suffering away, and than they will go to Hell and suffer for eternity.

It is scary to think about Hell and it makes people uncomfortable to even here the word. Well, guess what it is real and the path to Hell is wide and the path to Heaven is narrow. We need to get to work. We need to stop wearing these blinders that only allow us to see what we want to see. We need to see it all. We need to see that Satan is real, Hell is real.

We need to start seeing the spiritual. We need open our eyes and see how there is so much that effects us that we don't see. We are at war and it isn't a war against flesh and blood.

Satan's Boast
(Keith Green)

Oh, my job keeps gettin' easier
As time keeps slippin' away.
I can imitate the brightest light
And make your night look just like day.
I put some truth in every lue
To tickle itchin' ears.
I'm drawin' people just like flies
'Cause they like what they hear.

I'm gainin' power by the hour,
They're fallin' by the score.
You know, it's gettin's very simple now
Since no one believes in me any more.

Oh heaven's just a state of mind
My books read on your shelf.
Oh, have you heard that God is dead?
I made that one up myself!
They're dabblin' in magic spells.
They get their fourtunes read,
They heard the truth but turned away
And followed me instead....

Everyone likes a winner.
With my help you're guaranteed to win.
Hey, man, you ain't no sinner no!
You've got the truth within.

And as your life slips by you believe the lie
That you did it on your own.
But I'll be there to help you share
Our dark eternal home---
Our dark eternal home.

Grace,
Meg

Falling! and He keeps calling me back again

My mom once told me I could never, ever work in a postition with both people and money, because I would just end up giving it all away. I used to bring homeless teens and stray kids home all the time and ask if we could keep them. Thing is that it is really, really easy for me to fall in love. I fall in love with everything and everyone very quickly and so easily. I have this tendancy to meet people and fall head over heels in seconds. I figure it's like I fall in love with God IN people, God in their lives. I could probably fall madly in love with someone in about 4 seconds and not even know their name or anything. I'm still trying to decide whether that's a blessing or a curse in my current situation. I've always had this way of looking at people behind their problems, there's a couple of particular people in our neighborhood that have called me some terrible things and have probably never done anything positive towards me, but I am so crazy in love with them. My heart hurts so much to hear the pain in their cracking voices as they call me the things they've probably had directed at them for most of their lives.
People always told me that it was easy to get heartbroken in the Downtown East side.
But I never realized that happened because it was so easy to fall in love.
Thank God that He IS love, so the heartbreak isn't worthless; It makes love more than a conqueror.
It makes it a savior.

Honour God with your body

Our War College students played a great game of ultimate frizbee together this afternoon. This also displayed the kingdom of God with our friendship and inclusiveness. Our college's fitness consultant, Andrew Evans [of sibling relation to the training principle] is featured in this month's JAC and today at therubicon.org

The Past few weeks have been good i found alot of freedom in getting to know other people in the community. Spending time up at Camp Sunrise was great. I thank God for the great things he does for us. I beleive being in the storming stage means that we have different opinions that we donèt reallu agree on but after this stage we will be in the norming stage just working out differences than we learn to work with each other and apprecitate one another better. I just cant explain how much i love spending time with my session because they bring the best out of me and I can see God through that and its a blessing knowing the fruits they have and being able to encourage them sometime when i donèt think i am. Thats all I aàhave for this weeks sorry that i missed my blog date but God bless all who read this.

Love Rob

New propoganda

New propoganda out from our Propoganda Secretary: Cdt. Peter Lublink!

The unseen.

Look around for a moment.

What do you see? What price would you put on it?

It baffles me that God calls us to "set our eyes on what is unseen and not what is seen". He calls us to go agianst the grain in a very revolutionary way. Honestly, you cant read that, and honestly say that you are following it without standing out in a croud. *** Oh, side note... Jesus is contravertial, revolutionary, and weird. Therefore, if you don't fit that definition, you might want to ask the Lord where he wants you to give another part of yourself to him.*** Not only does he tell us to focus on what is unseen though, he explains why (i do love it when he does that). Its because the unseen things are the things that are going to last for eternity! The city that is going to come at the end is going to be one with an eternal foundation. The things you see around you; money, cars, houses, buisnesses, hobbies, even the ocean and the sky, all these things will pass away, and if you are holding unto them and only them, you'll fall too. I'll fall too.


I am really asking God to show me what parts of the world I am holding onto too tightly, and what parts of eternity I am not holding onto tight enough. I do warn you though, only ask such questions if you are ready to deal with the answer (because he WILL give an answer).

Remebering

I love Jesus sooo much! In my heart and spirit I know it, but sometimes it's my head that holds me back. D'ya know what I mean? It drives me nuts! So, there was this guy they called Brother Lawerence and he talked about doing absolutely out of love for God - menial or masterful, all for God - He called it "Practising the Presence," so I've been trying to live like that for the last few weeks and I've realised how genius it is for someone like me whose biggest God-block is my brain! I'm loving it, but it is sooo hard.
So, then I'm looking at holiness and how I can follow God closely like that and I think it is seriously answered in Holy Spirit living and that living can only come out of reckless love for Christ which is awesome if you constantly remind yourself of His love. I don't know if that was as confusing as it felt - all I really wanted to say is hallelujah! Jesus is all!
So far as War College goes, I reckon it's all worthless if you're not loving God. SAme for life.
Go in God!

A few days it all seemed so clear :P

Just a quick heads up my blog http://petefooter.blogspot.com/ is a probably a more update view of my day to day life and it looks firkin awesome.

Anyway......

remember the good old days

I remember the good old days working in Asia and going to Australia to visit my family and friends not a care in the world.

The other day we had a debt collector on our level abusing one of the guy's. I couldn't bring myself to jump into the fight he was a skinny user so I could have taken him down if I needed. Last night we went to street combat and I couldn't bring myself to talk to any one finally my partner bullied me into talking to some one. Generally I am not what I would call a pansy I a bible smuggler for goodness sake I break the law for fun I have stared down mass crowds of people wanting to hit me (OK so that was just in high school) I'm not an advocate for violence but why have I become such a wimp?

UFC and drinks at the pub

So the other day I was sitting in the pub with some of my slum mates drinking (coke :P) we came to the pub to watch a UFC game on the TV and it dawned on me that we had just by being in the pub redeemed the whole scene from being a place to drink to a place of entertainment (I got to eat my first chicken wings to)

Bill Siskay

In the last 6 months Donny and I joined a group of young people called SIEGE. SIEGE is part of Fly High ministries (4mycanada.ca), a motivated youth for a stronger Canada.

I've learned so much about the governmental system in Canada and how laws are passed or not passed....I don't think I'm quite sure how it all works in Texas or the US....

Part of what we do it go around to vist local MP's (members of parliament) and MLA's.
Originally I was really interested in doing this because it was a great way to reach the law makers of our land and tell them about what's on my heart - Human Trafficking.

Last week a few of us went out to meet with Mr. Bill Siskay. Bill is a hard working, kind, christian man. There were several things discussed during the meeting. Some things we absolutely agreed on, and some things we had different approached for, but over all it was evident to me that Bill has a heart for people and to be a (louder) voice for others.
I was beginning to wonder whether any of our meeting actually made a difference or had any impact on these people at all, or if these meetings were just another social setting where they have to explain once again their views and decisions, and above all to some young person who's not even Canadian...
Then I was reading up on some of the current bill and their presentations and debates. In one of the presentations an MP, now in agreement with Bill C-22, (raising the age of sexual consent) had changed his mind after hearing the testimonies of three young women who came into his office to testify of how this law leaves high potential for damaging products based on their own life stories. They went to see him, to simply share their hearts.

My initial thought was to wonder if those three young women had ever heard of SIEGE or if they were a part of it. As well as, the possibility that speaking up, sharing your thoughts, opinions and testimonies might actually make a difference.

Set fire to the face on fire

So far at the War College:

• I've realized that I know NOTHING.
• Everything I thought I knew or understood is being scrutinized or destroyed (isn't that the first step of brainwashing?)
• I've become well-known for blasting metal/hardcore/obnoxious music during my War Room shifts.
• I've lost around 7 pairs of socks
• I've fallen in love with an incredible cast of people
• I've met God in several differant faces, everyday
• I've spent a lot of hours yelling in the War Room
• I've actually became the weird yelling girl who weeps during worship.
• I layed down on the floor infront of around 250 teenagers weeping and screaming "REPENT AND LIVE! THERE IS NO LIFE WITHOUT REPENTANCE! ONLY DEATH!"

Awesome. Fo' Sho. Rock on, God.

We don't abstain in order to be saved, nor do we do good in order to be saved. We don't move to the downtown eastside and mind the poor in order to be saved. The Word says that we are saved by faith and faith ALONE. These things that we do or don't do are simply biproducts of that saving, justifying, God-given faith.

Are you saved?



Jeremy Strain.

Blogs.

Okay, this blog is causing me so much trouble.
I had to create a google account last time just to be able to log in, then since I did that in such a rush at camp sunrise, I totally forgot what it was.
I was trying to figure it out and just got frustrated, so I made a new one today. This time I better remember it.
Okay, so my last post didn't really say much about my time at war college so far, and I would love to tell you all about it, but I don't really know how. It's like a whole different world down here, it's hard to keep track of time and even remember everything thats happened.
The main difference I've noticed between battle school and war college, is the amount of sleep.
I slept so much during battle school, and now, I'm lucky if I get a good nights sleep two nights in a row. (Not that I'm complaining.)
Also, there are more teachers, more classes, and much more homework. But so far I've enjoyed all the new classes, and the homework.

The rest of the time at Camp Sunrise last week was good and bad.
They played my raw commercial, but with the wrong sound. It made me very angry.
Video is not just something I do, it's what I want to do with my life. Aside from Jesus and Brent, it's pretty much my life. (Even though right now I barley have time to do any sort of photography or anything..) Editing is the one thing I don't like doing, and I spent so long editing that sound. I would rather have had them not play it, then to play it with the other sound.
I really shouldn't let it bother me that much... But, right after I stopped being all angry and upset I had a really good (yet short because it took me a while to get over it) worship session.
Then everything else was really good. I very much enjoyed setting a station up with Jordan, and didn't so much enjoy losing my voice after the second group, but I tried not to let it bother me.
The ferry ride coming back was fun.. Getting to the ferry was an adventure... Climbing over rocks, water, walls... Good times.

I was sick for most of this week. I still am a little bit but it's almost gone, so thats good. But I need to go back to the doctors to make sure the fluid in my ears is draining. (In Abbotsford I got two ear infections and it was bad times.)
Monday I slept a lot. Tuesday I slept a lot. Wednesday I didn't sleep enough.
Thursday was my birthday! I was 18 on the 18th.
It was okay. We didn't really do too much for it, but we had a cake for breakfast (a free one from harbour light!) everyone in my session put together a little card.. Which is technically a pair of sandals tapped together and written on, which I love.
Then my mom came and took my out for dinner, then she came to knee drill (Which is amazing, she is not a christian... YET!) then there was cake afterwards and it was good times.
Then I got stressed out because I didn't know who had my keys but Jordan needed them and since it's my brengle blessing I had to get them to her.. But that all worked out.
While I was walking to the Empress I saw this one guy laying on the ground and two guys kicking him. There were tons of people staning around and nobody did anything.
By the time I got up there, the guys had stopped and the guy on the ground was just laying there and someone was talking to him, so I didn't do anything about it. Part of me feels like I should have, but I don't know what I would have done.
Yesterday a few of us went to the squat about housing. It was good, Ricky was there, and he was happy to see us. I met some people, had some good conversations, got some information about the housing situation, or lack thereof.

I feel very good about my time at war college so far. And I am very excited to see what God has in store for me in the coming year.

If I could figure out how to get my pictures from my camera to this computer, I would post them. So, I will try to do that soon.

I still can't think of a catch phrase..
Jessica.

the incendiary gospel

during the War College, students focus their attention on a number of different areas: study, accountability, prayer, the Word, evangelism, service, and fellowship. the beauty of it all is that this multi-faceted year of devotion is walked out in the setting of darkness, oppression and sorrow.

here's an update on the evangelism side of things.
so far this year the students have each:

-shouted their testimonies at Pigeon Park
-presented "The Bridge" (a gospel tool created by the Navigators) to 3 people
-done prophetic artwork in chalk on the walls in alleys
-walked around holding "free prayer" signs
-spent time at Re:cre8, in hotels, and on the streets, building relationships

this coming Wednesday is a biggie-- the students first, real, open-air meeting.
there will be music, testimonies, and gospel shots.

please pray for wisdom and discernment as the students prepare.
please pray for effectiveness-- that we would be tuned into the Holy Spirit.
please pray that the Lord would unveil the minds of the unbelievers.
amen.

Streams of Justice

In our neighbourhood there is a new squat to raise awareness and lobby for laws pertaining to homelessness. I was able to use my all night of prayer in this endeavour. Ricky, who was at our peace vigil invited me to come and be with the gang. You can check out what is happening with loads of pictures here: http://www.streamsofjustice.org/

If you are reading this before 3PM, there is a medal awards ceremony today. Come check this out Main & Prior.

Week 3 of Blogging

It's raining.

So last weekend we had the privilege of being invited to BC division's senior youth councils - Youth Together 07. The War College was put in charge of running the 24/7 prayer room and a prayer walk for Saturday night. Now, I, being who I am, naturally rose to the position of leadership in all this. One word: TIRED. The prayer room went especially well, and, under the conditions of the walk (late at night, only an hour - a lot less time than we expected - and a complete miscommunication in what the directors wanted) I think it, too, went over very well. Probably my favourite part of the whole weekend was seeing the groups (the campers went in groups to the prayer stations on the walk) break off into prayer after every station (this prayer time was part of the walk). It was cool because it was so evident that people were moved, and that was the goal: to stir up something inside people that would make them think, act, and move closer to the Lord. So that, for me, was awesome. I love seeing the Spirit work. But MAN was that weekend draining. At the end of it, I felt like I was poured out in every sense of the word: spiritually, emotionally, physically. So this week has been a week of rest and waiting on the Lord for me. The first thing I did when I got back from camp was to spend some good time with Jesus in the war room (the rest of the session went spontaneously to do a service at Southmount).

Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about spiritual gifts lately and asking Yahweh for what mine are. If you have any input, feel free to post. I don't like saying what I think mine are, I'd rather have people declare it over me. But yeah...spiritual gifts :-)

Oh, the city strike ended this week! Praise the Lord! We went to the Carnegie today, pretty much for the first time ever, and got our membership cards. I am so thankful that it is open! It has all these great community activities, and a board of representatives that I will be able to vote for! It's like I rediscovered part of my love for music and politics and all my other passions today (the Carnegie has music jams or classes - and a jazz band! - almost every day!) They also put out this great newsletter for the community. I feel a lot more at home and part of a neighbourhood now that the Carnegie is open. Praise Yahweh!

Alright, I'm pretty good. I've had a great week growing in the Lord.

Peace,

The Sick

I have been sick the last few weeks. It has been up and down. There was a bit of time that I just kept getting sicker and sicker. I eventually started to get better. The other day I went for a jog with Ashley and through the whole thing I was feeling okay. At the end of the run I could not stop coughing. I turned to Ashley and said to her "I forgot I was sick, until I tried to be healthy."
I started to think about this comment, it really relates to us as christians. We try to do things to become closer to God than we realize how much that is keeping us from Him. We realize that we still need to be healed. I am seeing that a lot in my walk. I came here ready for God wanting to grow and become closer to Him, but than I realized that it is a lot harder than I anticipated. I have come to a point where I know that I am broken and I need to be healed. I have been seeing the blocks that I have been putting up between me and God. I have been discouraged by these blocks, but now I am seeing the good in it. I now see that there is stuff holding me back from God which means that I can get rid of it, praise the Lord. God is a Healing God. I am excited to see Him and action.....and you should be excited as well.

Peace,
Meghan

Continue to Fast and Pray

My students continue to surprise me. This weekend their desire was to fast and pray for another meal on "Fast Food Fridays" to see the release of captives from Human Trafficking. They are also writing 5 letters per month to MPs, MLAs, City Council members and Senators. May their increased efforts provide more fruit. I believe their praying and fasting has something to do with todays front page stories of Metro News in Vancouver.

Link 1. "Worldwide hunt; Canadian subject of international search for suspect"

Link 2 "Manhunt for pedophile"

Please fast and pray that this will stop.

Sandra Ryan speaks at The War College

It was our pleasure to spend time at the feet of Sandra Ryan. She exhorted us to know our doctrine. Know the basics of who we are and what we do. She encouraged us to know what our Salvation is and work it out with handy spiritual disciplines. Moreover, she encouraged us to get others involved in Christ's redeeming work: body, soul and spirit.

Things didn't stop there. Sandra blessed our community by prayer walking, visiting, eating, teaching and visiting community members. She is deeply loved by our community. What a grace to have her visit us.

Glory to God!
JE

This past weekend was spent at Camp Sunrise which was nice to get away for a weekend. I'm doing well and I love having my guitar around so that I can play and maybe even write songs so if you guys feel like praying for me over this area please feel free I could use all the encouragement. I had my second deliverance session with Stephanie L. I got to do a session for her at the same time. Thank God for his joy he has in me. Thats all for now.
God Bless.

City lights...

The sunset was beautiful tonight. I have been terribly tired with all the coming and going lately, so I slept from 3 until 6:30 this evening, and woke up just in time to see the sunset; orange and pink swirls, twisting up from the jagged city sky line. Then you can see the lights. Every building overflows with light that shines out into the cold darkness. The thing is, you don't see the lights in the day time. The buildings can, depeding on one's opinion, look rather lovely during the day also, however, they are best gazed upon at night... when everything glows. This, truely is beautiful.
However. Over the weekend Jessica and I set up a prayer station on the beach, and were delighted to be able to use a handful of tiki tourches. A number of them were set up around the logs, where one of the main parts of the station was, but then one was set alone down by the water. Now, this was beyond beautiful... it was drawing.
What we were having the kids do was wash off their hands in the water. At first this seemed to be a simple task, but when the tide went out, leaving ankle deep mudd, I was forced to lead the groups across the rocky beach a ways. It was in that time that I truly realized the importance of light. It was in that time, and in this time of reflection that I now truly understand, that when there is no light, there is darkness.
Understand this: I am not saying that a light shawn amoung many lights is not useful, most definatly it is. What I am suggesting is this; that there are still places left in complete darkness. Christ calls us to be lights, and I believe we are so surrounded by light all the time, that we forget what it is like to walk in darkness. We forget what darkness is all together, and doing so, we forget to go out, and look for the dark places, into which we are called to bring light.

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14-15


Grace,
Jordan

So here we go with my second blog for the WC and once again it is late at night and I am trying to find creative way's to stay awake.

Last weekend was an interesting one, we were all sent to a teenagers camp to help run and pray for the participants. I am not a teenager and so found it rather hard to relate with every one. North American camps are also run a whole lot differently to Australian camps so I have to admit I was very distracted observing the differences and so did not get as much as I probably could have out of this time.

Storming:

Storming is a term thrown around here a fare bit. it refers to when a group starts to annoy each other most people seem to think we are due this stage soon. Having lived in Acts 2 housing for the past 2 years I am familiar with this part of community and understand that it is healthy but also dangerous. Please pray for us as we advance to this part of our time in DTES.

Christmas:

A few of us students had planned to go to Hong Kong on a missions trip for the 2 weeks Christmas break, prices for tickets have just gone up $200 and so this target is looking harder to get to. Although I am Australian Hong Kong is my home and I was really looking forward to allowing my session to truly see my heart and passion for Asia. I have no set home but would hate to think of not going back for Christmas, Hong Kong is realy where my mission life started and I would happily die to take the gospel to there. Please pray that God would provide funding for this.

God is Here

Hey friends!
So, what has God been teaching you lately? Well, He has been teaching me that I'll never stop getting taught! Community here is amazing. Most of the spiritual disciplines stuff we do here at the War College I did before on my own, but it's great doing it here cuz it's now like my spiritual disciplines are on steroids. My community here is amazing - that's a big part of what I was missing in the past before I guess.
We had Youth Together on the weekend - it really is amazing to see so many teens seeking after God and heartbreaking to see so many teens just coming to "another conference."
Anyways, God is good and He is here.
I went to these sessions on Life, culture and The Bible in New Zealand when I was there and there is one of my favourite quotes from Mark Strom: "The meaning of our existence is the praise of His glory." We don't have to do anything other than just be. Cool eh? How radical is that? Here's to teens!
Practice His Presence!
Love,
Ashley

I fought the law and God won.

SO I have this problem with listening and responding. Especially in situations in which I am required to respond; most definitely in situations where someone with authority is the one issuing the instruction. This probably explains the weeks that I missed of high school, the meetings I blew off and the people I've refused to call by the title "Mr." or "Miss." (first names are obviously more personal anyway).
So I've pretty much gotten away with murder the majority of my life. I'm pretty sure that I've done about 3 homework assignments in the past 12 years. And my mom raised me to be a really independent person, you know? To live according to my own terms and go where ever the wind blew me and when. There were several days when I would come home at 3 am on a school night, get up at 11 the next morning, maybe make it to school for one class and chat with my teachers about it on MSN. I've never been able to view a teacher or a principal or a pastor or anyone as having any sort of real say in my life, really. I hang out socially with some of my high school teachers because I never allowed them a higher place in my life than as a friend. I've been fired from past jobs for talking back to bosses or storming out when they try to correct me
And it's worked just fine for me thus far.
Apparently, though, this is some sort of issue at the War College. It seems like, here, there's some sort of a blur between independent and rebellious. And rebellion is some sort of a big deal, or something.
So that's what brings me here, typing, when I should so clearly be in bed. There's some sort of discipline in typing out how I feel for people I don't know to reflect on and read. I don't mean that to come across as contentious as it does, because somewhere, deep down, I must actually want to change. So I guess I'm walking in an opposite spirit, one of obedience and servant hood. And so, out of some sort of obedience, I'm blogging and not sleeping.
And that must count for something.

Sunrise.

Hello everyone who reads this blog.
I'm Jessica. I joined this war college session late, hence why I have not blogged yet.
So far war college has been amazing. I haven't been here that long, but I allready feel like so much has happened. I was worried that coming in late I wouldn't fit into the group, but I feel like I fit in perfectly and I love them all.
Funny story how I got involved actually. First I went to RAW last year, but only because my film course got cancelled and Jon would let me go for free if I filmed it (I think that was just because he likes Brent though..) and it ended up being the time of my life.
Then I went to Battle School, kinda randomly but loved it.
Then two or three weeks into the session I decided I wanted to join war college this year instead of taking a year off.
I moved it friday, and packed all my stuff on saturday.
It pays to live so close to the D-tes.
Right now we are at Camp Sunrise, and soon my commercial I made during RAW is playing for everyone. I'm excited about that.
Then Jordan and I need to set up our prayer station for tonight.
Next time I blog I will tell you more of what the war college has been for me so far, and even add pictures.

I don't know how to end this in a cool way. So...
Jessica.

The Dirt

At the War College we have Brengle Blessings, which are basically chores which allow us to bless our community with the discipline of doing them. Mine is vacuuming and sweeping the floors in the command center. Which I have to say is one of my least favorite things to do, it could be because of the summer I spent as a house keeper and I did it a lot sweeping and vacuuming.

Yesterday, while doing my chore I wanted to get it done fast and be on my way. While vacuuming I noticed that I had to go over it twice, maybe even three times for it to be efficiently cleaned. I got a little frustrated with this because I wanted it to be done, but I was patient and saw that it was important for me to do the job to the best of my ability. Once I was done vacuuming I had to sweep the floor in the War Room, which I really didn't want to do. The broom was so small and the room was so big, I felt discouraged from the start. I even thought about skipping it because the floor didn't look that bad, but I decided to do my job correctly and stop complaining. I than realized how much dirt was on the ground and that I actually did need to clean it.

I saw while cleaning how this is like the pain that we have. When I was vacuuming I wanted the room to be clean with one time, but I had to go back over it slowly and make sure that each thing was picked up. We always want so badly to be rid of the pain that we have in our life, we want freedom. We want it to be a quick fix, though because we are afraid that it will be more painful if we really get into it. I saw while I was sweeping the room that I thought was not dirty actually had a lot of dirt. It was hidden dirt and we as Christians at times hide our pain for various reasons.

In the DTES we see all this pain. The people on the streets wear the pain on the outside. We can see that they are in pain with each time they shoot-up or smoke crack or yell profanities at us. It is easy to see that they need help. I am now seeing that you can have pain that is harder to see. It will hurt just as bad as their pain, but some of us are better at hiding it, keeping it close to us.

We need to find freedom from this pain. God wants to replace your pain with Himself. He covers all offenses that you have done and that have been done against you. He endures all things. He can handle it and He wants to. He wants us to have peace. He wants us to be filled with joy and love. He wants us to be free from the lies.

Grace,
Meghan

love=obedience.

well i just LOVE the War College students.
and here's why:

they are hungry for God.

they are so hungry for God, that they will run after whatever He says.

He tells them to jump off a cliff, and *WWOOAAAH!* they're gone before you can even ask them if it's a wise choice.
He tells them to stand up and preach on the street and they're up there on a curb, shouting their lungs out before you can suggest that it might offend some people.
He tells them to take 8 hours overnight in the prayer room, and they come early to prepare their hearts, regardless of the loopiness that may accompany their lack of sleep the next day.

they do this because:
they know that He is holy.
if God were not perfect in every way, it would be a risky thing to obey Him.
but He is perfect.
they know that the safest place to be is in the centre of His will-- regardless of how wacked out His will appears. His will is perfect.

please pray for the Incendiaries.
pray that zeal for the Lord would continue to consume their every action, word, and thought.
and thank the Lord that He is the One in control.

Our spiritual act of warfare...

So this weekend our troop is heading to Camp Sunrise for senior youth councils, BC division. The War College is in charge of running the prayer room and the prayer walk on Saturday night, which is a lot of work when you put it off until two days before camp. So, being the organizational person I am, I'm in work mode. But I realized, this is an act of spiritual warfare! I can fight by putting together activities that are going to bring youth closer to Christ - take that Satan! These kids are going to be PRAYING to our awesome God, they are going to be CRYING OUT to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, they are going to be taking steps towards our living Lord! They are going to be getting intimate with our Saviour, they are going to be getting CALLED to service, they are going to be walking out in justice, mercy and humility with the power of the Holy Spirit to do God's will! Ha! And no one, not even Satan himself, can handle the power of God! So Father God, we ask that you would come in POWER on this weekend, pour out your spirit, pour out your heart to us O God! We want to know your heart - we want to hear from you, get directions and have courage to ACT! We want holiness O God! We are desperate for all you are Yahweh! We want you in fullness this weekend, your words, your voice, your direction, your power, your courage, your action, your healing, your forgiveness, your grace, your mercy, your justice, your strength, your power on us this weekend! O Lord come in full! Nothing else!
This is our spiritual act of warfare!

Pray for the teens this weekend, that NOTHING of the enemy would be able to pull them away, that God would send His Holy Spirit thick upon the camp, that teens would be DRAWN in to the obvious presence of Christ this weekend, that we would have open ears and minds to hear the words of the Lord and courage to go forth! We want to hear from you O God! Give us clear calling and a Spirit of courage to go out!

We love you Lord! Praise Yahweh!

Lonliness...

I have come to realize that living incarnationally in itself will automatically throw in a number of other incarnatonal aspects. One of the major problems faced by people in the DTES (downtown east side) is lonliness. It is in fact one of the root causes for many addicts here. It should not have come as a surprise then, when I was overcome with a deep, aching lonliness last night during my prayer room shift. It did, however, take me entirely off guard, an it took alot of prayer and a bit of frustration before I realized that the feelings I was experiencing were not infact my own. I am still learning slowly about a number of my spiritual giftings, and intercession is one that is very foreign to me.
However, I praise God even now for this feeling of lonliness and emptyness, because it is through this that I will be better equipped to minister to those experiencing the same things (by that I mean 99% of the DTES' population). Just a thought, and perhaps something you can pray if you remember me in yoru prayers: for me to have the strength not to let emotions or feelings get in the way of me doing God's work.

Grace,

Jordan

I've just been getting that I need to be more patient with the things he shows me. But make sure I spend time with him and I start to struggle if i don't focus on God and what my focus is. So if anyone feels like praying for me you can pray that God can keep me on track and that I can understand some of the classes I'm doing. For example I'm having difficulties understanding Biblical Interpretation although i know some things I would like to know all of it and how God works through these things. Pray that I can have full understanding and encouragement for this course that I will learn the knowledge so I can use this in the future. I know i will make mistakes as well as everyone else will i just want to learn from the harder ones.
Thank the Lord because he give me encouragement to go on through the day to learn of his glorious works. I pray for patience and understanding as to what he is doing for me right now and I ask that you can pray for this on me as well. I really love prayer and if you want prayer please come to me for prayer. My past weekend was a good weekend to refresh myself and know what my focus is and get distracted by the ways of the world. I really enjoyed going to the Victoria Museum on Monday to view the Titanic and what happened behind the scenes. I liked how the had all the artifacts and how they were able to find all those belongings of people that have been lost in the sea that were discovered after I was born.
I thank God for the relationships he has grown in me through Daryl and find out that he's an amazing guy to hangout with and that he took the time say you wanna come check out the rest of the museum i know it might sound of but it was great to know that he actually wanted to hangout with me and to know that were are now friends and we can share things together.
Pray that i can keep the relationships he has given be and also pray that I can help the people he still wants me to hook up with. Pray for Chris my friend who is Harbour Light that he will stay in Harbour Light for good and finish the program a come out clean. Pray that God reveals himself to Chris even more. I thank God every time I get to see my friends/session grow through in Christ and I want you to now that I will pray for you every day and I hope you pray for me as well. Just let me know what you want prayer for and I will do this for you. I know I say a lot but I like expressing myself this way so I can get my voice herd somewhat.
Go in God's grace
Love
Rob

TC's to visit The War College!!

Review of the Troops!

Saturday Nov 10th at 9:30AM Commissioners William and Marilyn Francis will be teaching at The War College:

Please feel free to come for our Territorial Commander's visit of The War College and 614. They've carved out a whole morning to teach and pray with us:

9:30 - 10:45 a.m. TC's Session on Israel's Culture and Their Feasts

10:45 -11:00 Break ( Maybe light refreshments)

11:00 - 12:00 p.m. - TPWM's Session on Intimacy and giftings of The Holy Spirit

Peter Footer

So here's the first blog for me in what seems like years. sorry for the bad grammer and spelling but God don't care about I asked him so I'm cool with it.Firstly I have to say I do not enjoy blogging for the sake of blogging or blogging because I can't afford a real friend to listen to my thoughts and frustrations. I blog so people who care to pray will know what to pray for and so if people find half way through the year that I haven't been writing blogs don't stress, it just means life is good God is good and I have no new prayer points.Prayer is the preparation, fight and victory. The first few weeks have been great fun as a group we blend really well. A few subjects we are taught I love, a few I hate and a few I totally disagree with and I think that's good. As Soldiers we are welcome to opinions, disagreements and I believe that our God is big enough to be in both sides of the arguments. We have been to a Miracles signs and Wonders conference which was fun (well I kinda didn't get into it all that much) but most importantly we spent a great amount of time praying for each other, eating great food and having clean showers (any one who doesn't understand the difference between a clean shower and a dirty should go live down Hastings for a while.) The Balmoral where I stay is by far the greatest hotel I'ved stayed at, we can paint the walls and generealy do what ever we want to the place (although the suggestion of bringing in Chickens was knocked back) the food is great although I was sick for the first few weeks after a short fast life is good again. Well that's a short sum up of life in the slums of the worlds number one city, short I know but I'm doing thanksgiving celebrations right now and chilling with every one is way more fun than writing :) Don't forget to fight (pray) for me or this whole blog is useless. Prayer points: My computer has been stolenI don't like to make a big deal out of it as no one is to blame and it is just a materialistic object....... That fricken thing had my whole life up till now on it. I have to say I am gutted few materialistic things upset me but this computer was a part of me as it all of my memories on it. I struggle to do lessons with out a computer as I can't concentrate with just pen and paper and the computer was I my only contact home.I also had a letter on there to my dad who left me when I was 1 I hadn't heard from him in 20 years now I have lost the letter and his address. Please pray that I will get the computer back or that I will be able to replace it. BoardemI get board really easy and the temptation to just muck around during long lectures is always there so far it has been great I have been able to take notes and concentrate on the lesson but now with out a computer to take down notes I fear I will get board and miss out on some important lessons. Please pray this does not happen. Time well spentI have never realy taken life to seriously and don't want to start now please pray that I will be able to balance out War College with a healthy does of fun as some times I am finding that I am taking this whole thing way to seriously and making it so much less fun.

Give thanks

Yesterday I attended my niece's dedication at Westsong in Victoria. We all had glad hearts for the blessing of her life and devoted to take care of her. As I held her innocence, purity, full of potential life in my arms during the response, I was greatly moved by the song, "Give thanks." The 1978 Marathana song's words were in sharp contrast to what was before my eyes a daughter bequeathed to be brought up free from harm, raised in Christian living and loved. Next to me was also my daughter thriving in her upbringing. Here's the contrasting chorus,

And now, let the weak say I am strong,
Let the poor say I am rich,
Because of what the Lord has done for us,
Give thanks.

Five years ago I could sing this chorus detached from the harsh living of the weak and poor. Now, my chorus singing is a dangerous act. If I sing of freedom for captives, God's love for everyone or anything with the weak and poor, my mind if filled with images of girls prostituted, wearing less clothing than the weather dictates and in harms reach. Their innocence robbed, likely years ago, not far off from the ages of my daughter and niece.

This Thanksgiving, I give thanks that God works in people's lives, to give strength, riches and to renew people's lives. I'm thankful beyond the world's circumstances and for God's compassionate glory [Ps 103]. I'm also thankful for the material and family blessings but in the wide scheme of things those could and one day will be stripped away.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
(Repeat twice)

And now, Let the weak say "I am strong"
Let the poor say "I am rich"
Because of what the Lord has done for us
(Repeat twice)

Give thanks !

JE

Parachuting in...

So, parachuting into the downtown eastside...its been the best experience of my life so far, even with all the struggles. It is definitely difficult living in the slums all the time, and I have to admit, it is really nice when you get the chance to get out of the DTES, but God is really working here. It's been rewarding, personally and for the Kingdom I believe (although I'm still only really finding out what the Kingdom actually is in our class on the subject).

You quickly learn that the best thing here is community. It easily gets to the point where you can walk down the street and not see someone you don't know. As scary as you think it might be if you've never lived here, you almost always feel safe and protected because you know most of the street guys will stand up for you. The whole neighbourhood quickly becomes like a family, with many prodigal brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers. It is really easy to make friends here. And it is really easy to feel loved. I am very blessed with the friends I've made here already, both in 614 and in the neighbourhood. The community here is beautiful. And that is the most encouraging thing in a neighbourhood with so many other issues.

You learn a LOT. You take on discipline. You discover things you never thought of. You get angry. You get close. You make incredible friends and meet incredible people. You wake up early. You pray. You read the Bible. You meet God. You see Jesus. You do crazy things you never thought you'd do. You are blessed. You learn a lot about yourself. You have great teachers. You feel loved. You are delivered. You deal with your issues. You grow. You get focused. You have the best and worst times of your life.


If you're thinking of coming, pray about it and do it, and check out the poster (is i on the www.warcollege.com?)

Peace,

Megan S

My third week at The War College i got to got to a Miracles signs and Wonders conference.
I felt a strong presence of the Lord on me this past weekend. I found it very fruitful and sanctified. It was pure and holy. We got a chance to pray over one another again by dusting off one another and just finding out things about one another. I've learnt allot about how to find signs through a song and learn what they mean. I enjoy spending time with my session they are an amazing group of friends who I dearly love. I like spending time to get to know them so I can open up myself to them and be vulnerable with the things of my life. I really love how my faith has helped me grow through the spirit and through the people God puts me with. Leadership has been really great to us and they are looking after us well. I like turning to leadership for help with things I need help with and even when I just want to hang out with them. Jonathan has been a great influence to me I see Gods work in him and I see lots of grace in him. Thank you Lord for bringing Jonathan into my life, to work through me and to keep me accountable for the things I do. Stephanie has been a great influence as well I've been through deliverance through her and it was amazing. She didn't have to do a hole lot but she was their and I love her for that. She is a great friend and I give blessing to her.
For my session mates, Ashley, Caitlyn, Meghan L., Megan S., Jordan O., Jessica, and Peter F. these are the most nicest, blessed people that God is working through and I pray that I can help them as much as I can are just amazing. They all have great qualities and giftings and God surly shines through them. We are one in the spirit and we love each other no matter what. They are my brothers and sisters through Christ Jesus. I will back them up, they are not alone as I myself will not be alone aswell. For the past few weeks I got to know them and I've learn things through them that just help me come closser to God than I have ever been before.
Till next time.
God Bless you all
Love Rob A.(Gideon Warrior)
Warrior For Christ
More than a Conquerer

My First two weeks at the War College

Hi My name is Rob Alberts and I would like to proudly say that I'm a part of the War College. My first week was just getting to know everyone around me. I found that God has lots of work to do through me and the first two weeks were challenging but great. I got to meet a great bunch of session mates whick i deerly love and care for. I have strong passion for prayer now than I ever had before. I act out in faith but I feel this still more improvment for me to work on.Spending this much time with the Lord is so amazing and it is something I always love wanting to do and now I'm living the life Christ did. He has delivered me from my sins, and taken away every burden (almost) and released faith in to me. Even though it can be tiring at times i find that alot fruit comes out of it. I found out that you can get alot out of doing rations in the morning. We are really being looked after leaderships who does not want us to fail instead they want us to suceed. I love my leaders and I encourage them to keep on doing the work God has placed on their hearts. Its been a very blessed two weeks and I'm hungry for more. I thank God for the things he does for me like keeping me honest, accountable to leadership, know that I can't always do things on my own. I love the Lord our God with all my Heart, Soul and Body. I will be hungry for more of what God has for me. I really opened up to praying for others and my session mates, and they have prayed for me aswell. Ashley, Jordan, Meghan L, Megan Smith, Caitlyn, Jessica, and Peter are all amzing friends, they have amazing attributes, they have the hunger for the Lord They are really open with their honesty, I love how we are bonding as group, their, kind, gentle, friendly, joyfull, and courage. I give thanks to God for bringing these great girls and guy into my life so i can show them how much i care for them as much as they care for me. Its been an upliftting for me and I'm glad I have come to the war college and I can't wait to see what else he has for me this year. That all for now.Be blessed in the Spirit