Easterfest!!!

       Our last Australian outreach came in a big hurrah in the form of a Christian music festival.
The whole base except perhaps 5 people all went up to Toowoomba, setting up tents, fences, and the like. You won't believe the amount of time and work that those things take, and I wasn't even there for a lot of it!
I was stationed in the kitchen. Kitchen is the best place to be (sometimes anyways) because we do crazy things like ad lib parodies of worship songs replacing the words with the name of whatever food we are cooking. We had an amazing time singing Disney and chopping\mashing 70 KG of potatoes all at once.
 Unfortunately, the shoes I bought for Japan were ones I thought were good, but were actually horrible, and I developed a really bad limp from an inflamed/stressed tendon. |So my Easter Sunday was spent watching gates for 8 hours. yuck. I did go and get new shoes, and I am soooo thankful for the head cook and his wife, who paid for half, and the insoles. I need to remember that I'm not invincible, and I have amazingly generous people around me. I mean, I don't even know how many people prayed for me that week!
  Easterfest was a lot of hard work, and a bit painful for me, but I still had a lot of fun. I got to go to part of The Almost's mainstage concert, unfortunately my camera strap broke, and I had to go look for it, but a lady brought it to lost and found as I was reporting it. How cool is that! I also went to a Shonlock concert. I liked his music, but I didn't know he was such a good showman! Then later on, as I was heading off to sleep, I bumped into the whole band. I talked to them for a minute, then they all gave me a hug, and told me to rest because my foot wasn't going to get better if I keep walking on it. Good artists, showmen and nice people? Sweet! The paintwall, constant worship and great new friends are probably the highlight of the week.
 God was really working in this weekend, and I think there were a lot of lives changed by conversations at the YWAM Chai tent. I'm going to miss it.
     I wasn't homesick much at all during DTS, but soon I'm going home, and I think I'm ready. I'll miss Australia and everyone, but I need to see my little siblings  before they are all taller than me! Fourteen days until I walk onto that Alberta bound plane, with suitcases full of stuff, and a head full of memories and ideas.

say it, repeat it, then say what you said- a sermon about second chances

 God’s nature is perfection, justice, and love. He wants us to be near to him. Since he is perfect, he hates sin. He gives us the choice to choose to follow what he says or not.  Adam and eve sinned by choosing not to listen to the only rule God gave them. God gave this rule to protect them from pain they were not ready to know.  Genesis 2:16-17 ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ 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.”

    God cared about Adam and Eve and didn’t want them to live forever in their sin. So God took them out of the Garden of Eden, and thorns grew, and they felt pain, because they knew what they did was wrong. Since then every one of us have tried to run away from him. We are the children of Adam and Eve, and so our whole world is affected by sin.  Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

       But God is a God of second chances. He warns us many times to listen to him. He gives us time before he punishes us.

Jeremiah 29 10-16

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.  I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

      .    

       In this passage, The Israelites sinned and worshipped other Gods. They refused to acknowledge only The true God alone had the right to be worshiped. God loved them so much that he was sad and angry when they ignored him. He should be respected and loved! So he punished them by giving the people of Israel what they wanted. If they wanted to be like the other countries that were sinning, they were going to be slaves in that country.  If they didn’t want God, he would give them to someone else for a short amount of time.

        People might think of God as mean for sending the Israelites into slavery, but they chose it. He gives opportunity to come back, and you see again and again in the bible that God gives them lots of time to come back but they don’t want him! 

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 The second part is about God’s love and the redemption.

        God will take you back. I’m not saying everything will be easy when you follow Him, far from that! But life is always better (not easy) with God. His idea of what’s best and our idea of what’s best are very different. No matter what you have done, no matter how much you think God should not love you, you can still come back. He has a purpose, and sometimes the bad things in your life shape you to be used by God for something better in the future of his Kingdom.  Look for him, search for him, and you will find him. He makes that a promise.

Luke 15 11-24 11

      Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

      In the runaway son story, the son dishonored his father by asking for his inheritance, the money that he should have got when his father died. Yet again God (the father in the story) gives him punishment by giving the son what he wants. For a while the son parties and gets drunk, and soon his money is gone. His friends leave, and he gets the worst job there is.  He was starving, and there was no food, and he was paying for his party life. But when he goes back to the father (God) he is welcomed back!

         These themes are seen again and again in the bible. Man sins and runs away, God lets them run away for a while, and when we turn back to him, he welcomes us. But that doesn’t mean we should treat God badly and ignore him. God is powerful and Mighty. Everything we do has consequences. When a child falls down, he scratches his knees, but his parents are there to help him up. When we run away from God, we get hurt, and we keep him from helping us.   Even when we are trying to do good things for God, we fail. We can never be perfect because of Adam and Eve’s sin. Everything we do cannot even get close to how good God is. That is why he sent Jesus. Jesus is all God, so he had no sin in him. He was all human, so everything we struggle with also tempted him.

Jesus could have sinned if he had wanted to, but he chose not to. Instead, he was laughed at, hurt, and killed. Jesus, the son of God died to make us pure. He did all of this just to make a way for us to come back to God! Can you imagine a God so perfect?  He loves us so much that he lets us learn by our mistakes, he allows us to choose to be with him, and he Dies in order for us to come back to him! He was the last sacrifice we will ever need for our sin.

So what now?

     We WANT to be with God. His plan is always good. There are hard times in our lives, but when we have the Holy Spirit in us, when we believe we have the authority God has given to us, we will always have Him to help us. We will always be ready. God gives us a second chance, he makes us sons and daughters of Himself, the highest King. He makes us warriors with the best armor and weapons.  So that now, we can fight the sin and the enemy that keeps us from God’s love.  We are on the holy God’s side of the war against sin.  So now what do we do?  The first thing we do is pray. Pray for forgiveness, and admit you are a sinner. That is why Jesus died. So that all humans could come back, and be with God instead of the death we deserved. Jesus took our punishment, that’s how much He loves! God is our friend, and he wants to hear from us, even though he knows everything already. He will give us what we ask for, as long as we are obeying him.  Talking to the God who created everything is powerful! Ask what you need to do!

The second thing is to do it! God has given you faith, Authority and everything else you need. The fight belongs to the Lord, and he has already won, you’re just fighting a small battle, but it still makes a difference. You are a son of God now, so you need to fight for your kingdom. You are saved, now it’s time to fight for the right of others who don’t yet know the love of God. That is who you are in the grace of Christ Jesus!  Be careful what you do and think. Would God approve? Is it good? Stay away from things you know are wrong. Go towards a life of being holy and pure. Worship God for how awesome he is. Show love in what you say and how you act.

The last thing is said in this bible verse.

 Philippians 4; 7-8 ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ 

God is a Good God, and he loves you. He has given you all the things you will need to stay strong in him. Love him, and respect him, and he will bless you. 

the cute little version of part of my testimony

My parents were very loving and taught me about who God is, and I wanted to tell people about him even when I was very little.  I told my mother I was going to be a mssionarry in Japan when I was six!

When I was eight, My mother decided to teach me at home. I thought I had good friends, but when I stopped going to school, they started to make fun of me and be very mean. I felt very alone, and I thought that what they said was true. I didn't think I was beautiful, or worth being loved. At thirteen many things happened all at once to make me very depressed. I would often hide in my room for days, and the only good thing I would do is draw, because it was the only safe way to let my emotions out. I didn't want to feel, because feeling hurt. I wondered why, if God loved me, would things like this happen? Even though I still believed God was real, I didn't care about him, because I couldn't hear him speaking to me. Then someone asked if I wanted to come to a christian concert. There were many people speaking, And one of them had no arms and no legs. I don't remember all of what he said, but I thought, “If God can love that man, with no arms or legs, and if He can do good things for God, So can I. I remembered the bible verse Jeremiah 29:11-12.(read out the verse?) God had plans for me! I was worth something! I held on to that bible verse. It said that even though God's chosen people were having a very hard time, and they were hurting, One day God would heal them and bring them back home.

I was still  depressed, but now I had hope, and I knew there was a reason I was alive. When I was 15 I went to work with children that had no home or sometimes no parents. I felt that God was calling me to help people like those ones again, Just like I wanted to when I was little. I worked with those kids for four years, and then felt like God was calling me to go to Australia to study the bible, and how to use art to reach people. I didn't want to, because my art was very close to me, and I didn't show anyone, because I thought it wasn't a worthy way to spend my time. But God kept telling me to go, and so I did. In Australia, I learned so much about God's love, and plan for me. I healed a lot, and learned I could trust God, and I could trust people. I met genuine Christians, who were willing to love God no matter what. They wanted to share God's love in everything they did! I started showing people my art, And I prayed for God to be able to use it to bring the world hope. I didn't really see the worth in my art yet.  My art teacher encouraged me to do big things with my art. I was so afraid! But as I let God use my art, I began to see how it shows God. God can use any skill, if you let him! The hardest thing was to draw myself. The first time, I drew a very ugly person. The second time, I drew a person who was searching for something. The third time, I drew a person who was beautiful. She looked like she knew God loved her!

When my Australia team found out we were going to Japan, I was so excited! We prayed, and God gave us a picture of a red balloon.  To me, the red balloon means being filled with Hope. Not from what you can see, but from Jesus Christ. That, with God, we can rise higher than the things that hold us down. And that God gives us the ability to have joy even when the world seems dark. The red balloon is a reminder of who God is, and how much he loves us. It may take time, but prayers really do get answered.

   Having God means that I have hope, and that I always have him with me. . I’m not saying everything will be easy when you follow Him, far from that! But life is always better  with God. His idea of what’s best and our idea of what’s best are very different. No matter what you have done, no matter how much you think God should not love you, you can still come back. He has a purpose, and sometimes the bad things in your life shape you to be used by God for something better in the future of his Kingdom.  Look for him, search for him, and you will find him. He makes that a promise. Galatian 6:9 tells us that when things are hard, when Jobs are stressful, when friends and family leave, don't give up God's work. He loves you, and your life has a great plan to build the kingdom of heaven. God can use anything you can do, and even if you don't thing you can do anything, He knows what you can do. He loves you anyways!  

reminiscence and profundity part 2

 When I thought of the Joshua verses 'Be strong and courageous, I always took that as a 'Don't fall apart', push through and don't let people see you struggle. But I never thought about the second part. "For I, The Lord your God is with you. " He isn't saying hold yourself together, he's saying we have the God of the universe on our side to rely on. Sometimes, being strong could mean doing the hard thing and being vulnerable, and trusting God with what giant walls you face.  -Joshua 1:9

   (I was going to add a story about how the world without creativity and colour would be, but it's too long.)

      Japan has stolen part of my heart in these six weeks. I will miss the softness of the trees, politeness, the Sakura celebration, the brightness of the pinks and blues. I think of the kids I worked with, The dancers by the city hall, the toddlers building blocks and painting. I remember octopus balls, Bento boxes, trains as packed as sardines, and too many pigeons. The Hollands, who blessed us so much during our stay, and the reason why the song Total Eclipse of the Heart will never be the same! Constant selfies documenting our travels, umbrellas, bikes and rain. Masks and walking EVERYWHERE, and general confusion of the language.
    God has taught me that I am capable of much more than I thought, less capable than I could be, that I need to rely on him, and the biggest thing, Missions is all about relationship. work to the exclusion of people is wrong, and God needs to be the forefront.
Art, however self conscious I may be about it, is a powerful tool. One that speaks without words.
     Also, leaving. yeah, leaving is hard, and being left hurts,  but it's a blessing to know the people and places, and hold God's creation close to your heart. Our capability to love grows with our efforts to use it. Dream big, its ok to expect a lot when God partners with you. Stare at the clouds! why keep your feet on solid ground when you can soar around the world and make memories and change lives in entirely new cultures?
ah, the melancholy feelings of leaving one place, and heading to another! Watching a plane take off, a train depart, packing that last thing in a suitcase bound for who knows where! Kimonos? A stop in Korea, a dip in the sunshine coast... what else does God have planned? I am truly blessed to be in the service of this great God who created this! there are cons though. confusion, not fitting in, constantly leaving, not being understood, being broke or exhausted.But my strength comes from the Lord, I am destined for something better than this world, I am always making new friends and stories. I can always trust God's provision.
I feel like I am becoming more of who I am meant to be. I'm not who I was a year ago, or even a week ago. every minute past presents a new challenge I am to conquer.

reminiscing and profoundly tired thoughts (part one)

"I will hold you together. It is my strength not yours, that keeps you from getting lost, falling apart, getting ragged. the buttons you find on the ground, on trains, and in the obscure corners are my reminder to you that you can rely on me. I am with you. I will keep you warm, provide for you, and be your joy. I found you, and you are not a lost button." - The Button promise, Kynya Lee

  "Every motion I make is perpetuated by another’s will. I do not know the meaning of choice. The master pulls a string, I move. This is life. In my mind, a series of stories in which I am a player run circles. My thoughts never vary, and I will never revise them, for they are not my own.  I am fed what to do, where to go, what to say. I am a fool, and I care not of consequence. I have no emotion other than what the master tells me to feel. There is no pain, yet I have never felt joy.  I am wood. I am dead. I am a marionette.

       You! You of flesh and blood! You of thought and soul! You, with the power of choice and imagination! Be life! Formed by the Giver of Life, with the miracle of free will, be not like me! Do not be deceived by the show of whirling forms around you! They have no choice, no life, no thought to their next move, they are controlled by a power that is even less than the one you hold! Walk out of that puppet show of lies and complacency! What does the mind, the body, the emotion or the soul profit you if you do not exercise the right? Go and live!

    so I walked out of the puppet play of Media, of what is smart, of what makes money. I entered a life where the only known was the unknown. Anything could happen, and I chose it myself.  I will not be controlled by the things others say. I have cut the strings, and given them to the Almighty Creator. I choose to know sorrow, and I also know Joy. , I am Real, I am Alive, I am Free.

        And I bow as the curtains close behind me." -The show, Kynya Lee

"After the deepest winter, after the coldest nights, I will give you a fragile beauty. It will notlast forever, but it will not fail to come again. It is my promise, a promise of fruit and sunshine to come, that I will not fail. Imagine this with me. If this inconstant beauty gives you joy after the frost, how much more will the trees of eternity be, after death? Your world is a shadow, this fragile beauty is a glimpse ofwhat is to come and is at this moment being formed by my hand. you are a mirror reflection of me, imperfect and scratched. But look towards eternity, continue without fear, for now is a phantom world. Your pain won't last. the winter will come to an end, like Eternal Cherry blossoms. 

- spring's reminder, Kynya Lee