Dichotomous Keys

Well I'm swamped in Microbiology right now. Next week we are going to begin doing unknown bacteria. We will each be given two tubes of bacteria. One will be gram positive and one will be gram negative (basically a simple difference of the anatomy of the bacteria's cell wall.) We will need figure out not only which is positive and negative, but which exact species of bacteria each on is based on a series of tests we have been conducting over the past three weeks. In order to do this, we had to make what is called a Dichotomous Key. A couple years ago when I was in another class I stumbled upon Gliffy.com, a website built for making flowcharts, floorplans, and organizational charts. It's a lot of fun to work with! Here is the dichotomous key I just designed.

Pioneer by Nancy Honeytree

This song is a beautiful heart cry of pilgrim who is learning, like me, to walk by faith, resting in the Father's love. Sometimes the trek is lonely. Nancy Honeytree wrote songs during the Jesus Movement in California. Last year someone played it at a huge gathering of believers at the state capital. I ran across it again lately and thought I would share it.

Stepping Out

I want to share with you all a neat experience I had last weekend. The Lord had laid it on a friend’s heart a few months ago to begin visiting people at a very run-down apartment complex near her home. She and another sister began to bring bags of groceries to several of the families at the end of the month and offering to pray with people. In our prayer meeting we have been pressing in for the people there. Many of them are alcoholics, unemployed, and really need Jesus.

Last weekend something came up and one of the girls wasn’t going to be able to go as planned so they asked me if I was available. I agreed, and the next morning spent some time praying and just asking God if there was anything specific I needed to know or prepare my heart for. I honestly just wanted to feel God’s heart for these people and get excited about ministering to them. But as I prayed, the only thing God spoke to me was, “O you of little faith, why do you doubt?”

Over the summer as I read and talked through the book of Matthew with the other volunteers at YWAM SF, one of the things that kept jumping out to me was how often Jesus said to his disciples, “O you of little faith.” It comes up at least four times in Matthew. I realized how often I think I need a fresh, new word from the Lord before I can get excited about obedience. Sometimes we just need to go for it. He has already commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He has already given us all authority. He has already asked us to share our bread with the hungry, to share our coat with him who doesn’t have one, and to pray for the sick. Do I always need a new revelation before stepping out?

So that morning as I prayed, I sensed the Lord just speaking to me to go in sheer, practical obedience, expecting Him to just work through us and give us what we needed as we went. After assembling the bags my friend and I spent some time praying and worshipping. I shared the word the Lord spoke to me that morning, and was so happy when she told me the Lord had spoken to her exactly the same thing!

So we went, and I can’t tell you the sweet thrill of getting out of the car on this swelteringly hot summer day, walking up to these apartments, and offering these people some groceries and getting to just talk and love them. They were all so grateful to receive the groceries, and most were eager to have us pray for other needs as well. Hearts were so open to us and to the love of Jesus.

I want to continue to press into prayer and ask the Father to reveal more of His heart to me for people around me. Yet I also want to remember to simply be faithful because He has already spoken so many things to us throughout our lives and simply through the Bible. We can step out in simple obedience, knowing that He has prepared good works for us from the foundation of the world. And I firmly believe that as we begin to step out in faith, the Lord will continue to direct us and guide our steps.

Baptisms

Since I've been here in San Francisco we've had two baptisms! Totally awesome. Praising Jesus for the obedience of these precious friends.

These first pictures are of my sweet roommate Tessa. She had been wanting to be baptized for awhile, and asked to do it here with all of us. We all went out to Ocean Beach on a Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful couple of hours of worshipping, baptizing Tess, playing on the beach, getting wet, and praying over our friend.



David's baptism was in the backyard here, which also opens into Boedekker Park. David is a wonderful, tenderhearted young man who has decided to follow Jesus with all his heart. It was a blessing to be there that day. We all enjoyed a hot dog lunch after David was baptized by his pastor Evans. The backyard was decorated in chalk with verses and encouragements for David.

360

Many days I walk into the dining room here at the YWAM base and am greeted with a warm smile from Derek. He is a sweet older man who brings so much joy to this place. He's always cooking up something in the kitchen or chatting with someone. He is one of the students in the 360 program here. 360 is a discipleship program run YWAM SF. It is a three month program for men and woman on the street who need relationship and accountability. The name 360 represents a full circle. The purpose of the program is to bring discipleship into every area of the student's life. It is not only Bible studies and prayer, it encompasses serving others practically, learning to live in community relationships, and the staff are able to help the students with many other life skills such as CPR training and filling out job applications. It is a three-month program, though many choose to continue on longer. Please keep this ministry in your prayers as they really need more staff and resources.

360° 2.0 from YWAM SF on Vimeo.

I've really enjoyed spending time with some of the students in the program. Currently there are six. They are around the base every day and help out a lot with afternoon events and are generally part of the "family" here. Some of them live on the street, some in shelters around here. The director of the program really pours out a lot on his students and is looking forward to seeing the Lord bring more people to help with this program.

Sunday Musings

Sunday Musings…

Sometimes I just feel like I can’t do enough. During the Tuesday Dessert Social last week I met a woman named Coleen who asked me to pray for her. She had responded angrily at the neighbors at her apartment for some things they legitimately did to wrong her, and is now being kicked out of her home. She totally blames herself and sorely regrets her actions. She knows what it is like to be homeless, and is so afraid to be in that position again. I asked her some questions and prayed for her to get it resolved, but left feeling like I just couldn’t do enough. This week I realized that I felt like I just couldn’t do enough in every part of my life. I wanted to pour out more of myself in my community and spend more time with the Missionary Adventures kids. I wanted to pray more, spend more time with Jesus, read my Bible more—instead of letting it be about a life overflowing with abundance. I began to ask myself, “Am I approaching life from a perspective of scarcity?” It’s so easy when we see so much suffering around us to be overwhelmed and carry heaviness. But that is so not the Jesus we serve. He said that if we would believe in Him, we would have rivers of living water flowing out of our hearts. Praise the Lord! That really makes me excited! It’s about trusting Jesus that He is enough, and then choosing to give what we have been given.

He brought me back to Isaiah 55 again. These are some of my favorite verses, but as I read them again, it made me so happy to see the word abundance. “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.”

The living water is for free! But we have to come get it. It is easy to coast along and eat spiritual “junk food.” It might be good stuff like Christian books and movies or even great sermons. Or we might be eating “leftovers”—enjoying what our friends are receiving from Jesus. It might work for awhile, but eventually we’ll be dry and parched. We have to go to Jesus Himself to “eat what is good” and then approach the problems we see around us from a perspective of abundance, not scarcity.

Homeless Church

Written last Sunday...

Today Rachael and I attended Homeless Church. The morning service is held outdoors at the Embarcadero, right across from the Ferry Building about twenty minutes walk from the YWAM base. There is a very large paved area that is used as a craft fair, a huge water fountain, and some grassy areas where homeless people often hang out. The businesses there are very well-to-do, and the area is home to the Levi-Strauss and Co.

The service began with several men playing guitar and violin, singing mostly gospel hymns. It was very heartfelt. The presence of the Lord was very sweet as the Holy Spirit was invited to come. More homeless people began arriving with their backpacks. Some have shopping carts which carry all their worldly possessions. Some seemed very depressed during the service. Others were joyful and full of hope. We met a man named Rick, who was in his sixties. He has been a believer for a year and a half now, and says it is because of this ministry. He was so kind and welcoming to us, while still homeless himself. Another homeless woman I met named April was so sweet and welcoming. It is amazing to see the difference between homeless people who know Jesus and the ones who don’t. A homeless guy named Mike who we have met and spent time with several times during our stay here surprised us by coming over and greeting us. I had no idea he attended Homeless Church. He is a funny guy with a toothless smile and a huge heart. After the worship, he grabbed us and brought us into the line to get coffee and a cookie. Rachael spent some time talking to him while I had to find a bathroom.

I ended up having to go to the Ferry Building across the street. The shops and bathrooms there were so nice inside. Crowded with tourists buying gourmet sandwiches, shopping at Sur La Table and Cowboy Creamery’s Artisan Cheese Shop, it was one of the nicest shopping areas I’ve seen here. It felt so weird to come right back over to the Homeless Church. My mind resisted the sudden culture change from one extreme to the other. While I was comfortable in either place, it was weird to switch back and forth so quickly.

A guest minister, Ralph Hiatt was introduced. (Click to read his blog account of the day.) He was a sweet older gentleman who used puppets to share the story of the Good Samaritan. He then talked about the woman caught in adultery. The gravity of that story was impressed on my mind while sitting on the ground surrounded by homeless people. During the message people were sitting and lying on the cement wall and the grass, most of them listening. A few of them were stoned. One guy toward the front unrolled his sleeping bag and began retying it up. Pigeons and seagulls swooped in and out. The visiting minister talked about how Jesus came and lowered Himself to where we all are at and gave the opportunity to begin again. He told how this past year his wife died of cancer. He went to a favorite mountain in Oregon and asked God what to do. God told him at 79 years old that He was giving him a new opportunity to start a fresh life. Since then, this dear brother has been traveling and preaching all over Argentina. I was brought to tears at the sincerity of this message. If God can begin a new chapter in someone’s life at 79, any of these precious homeless people can have the same testimony. I can have the same testimony if I will reach for it. In a strange way I felt closer to Jesus there in that group than I do singing my favorite worship songs and hearing great Bible teaching.

After the message there was some ministry time, and then the pancake line began. I loved watching the servers and the ones who come to help out. Their love for the people was so evident by the way they engaged them, sat and talked, prayed with them, and just loved them. We met a girl named Meredith who was twenty-one and had just come to know Jesus a few months ago. She is still out on the street and needs to get into a rehab place. Stephanie, one of the pastor’s wives, asked us to pray that God would raise up something more for girls trapped in this city. It was a blessing to talk and pray with some of the leaders of this church. It is very much alive and full of the presence of Jesus. Definitely one of the places I would love to go back to again. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this church, you can see here.

Identity

I was on the bus the other day, bringing a group of about 14 young people back from the Haight where we had shared sack lunches with homeless people. I sat down next to a young girl and struck up a conversation with her. Her name was Christy and she was in an art school in the city. I always love hearing other people’s impressions of the city and the people here. She used to live in the Tenderloin because the rent was cheaper, but finally had to move because she felt unsafe at night. She asked what I was doing, and what our group was doing. I told her a little about WYAM and the prayer walks, the hot cocoa ministry, and what they are doing to help abused women in the Tenderloin. She was amazed and said she had no idea that stuff like this was happening in her city. Several times she expressed her opinion that I was really amazing to give up a summer to come and do things like this. I felt like I was talking to friend and was able to be really honest and sincere about my life and the fact that some weeks aren’t so easy. But it was such a privilege to tell her from my heart that doing this kind of stuff is what I do for fun. And not just me, but most of the staff here feel the same.

I told Christy that it’s truly because we KNOW we are incredibly loved by Jesus, and find our identity not by what we do, but in who He says we are. Because of this we have the strength to love and give to others.

Identity has been something the Lord has definitely been dealing with me about since I’ve been here. I find it a daily choice. I ask myself a lot of questions…

Do I find my identity in the fact that I feel weak and powerless when kids I’m leading are messing around and hanging from the rails in the Muni or am I confident in the fact that I am strong and equipped because the Father has given me all authority in heaven and earth?

Do I find my identity in the fact that I messed up when trying to share with a group of people a verse the Lord laid on my heart for them, or do I awake in the morning knowing that I am a loved, called beautiful and chosen by the Father?

Do I rest in the fact that His righteousness is all I need, and that there is nothing more I could do to make Him love me more, or do I try to earn more grace by trying to grow in the areas He is calling me into?

Do I have the confidence that Jesus has called me a friend, or do I still think that I somehow must be something more to gain that level of relationship?

Do I find my identity in my communication skills or lack thereof, in the fact that I was or wasn't able to help others to share their hearts, or in the fact that Jesus is all I need?

Do I value myself more by what I perceive others think of me or by who the Father says I am? That I am chosen, precious, holy and without blame, sealed and covered in His righteousness?

Let’s allow the Father to be the one to name us. We are His children.

Highlights in SF

Well folks, I’ve been neglecting this blog completely. I always have good intentions to post, but alas, by the time I finish other online activities I just can’t find the time to post here, too. I’ve been here at WYAM SF for six weeks now. I have so many stories to tell, so many awesome things the Lord is doing. I love having my teammates around to talk to and pray about all the neat things God is doing. One of the things I’m especially enjoying is just the community living here. You don’t have to say everything in one conversation, because you can see the person again tomorrow. But it’s also hard because finding a place to be alone is almost impossible some days. And writing and blogging is something I have a hard time doing when I’m distracted. Then there’s always the question, “Do I take time away from what I am living to write?” For me the answer is often no. I can’t believe I only have about 5 weeks left here. The time has gone by so fast and while I’m looking forward to getting home, I’m going to miss this place so much.

Some of my highlights for the past few weeks have been:

• Sitting at the Civic Center with two kids from a Missionary Adventures team and sharing a sack lunch with a homeless girl who was coming off heroine. We had an awesome time of sharing and opening our hearts as she expressed her fears. Praying for His perfect love to cast out all fear and transform her life.
• Worshipping in the basement with our team the night before the Pride Parade and speaking life over the city as we stand and worship our amazing King. Jesus is building His kingdom and as we focus on Him and obediently walk out our days here, people are being touched.
• Asking MA kids questions in debrief times and hearing them spill over with stories as they ventured out of their comfort zones to pray for the broken and poor.
• Praying in the room I share with two other girls (last week there were four) and being there with one another during our good days and our bad.
• Fixing spaghetti for 160 people who come for the Love Feast every week. This is an opportunity to sit down and enjoy a meal with the homeless people, listen to their stories, and laugh together. I love doing this, and it’s amazing when we have so much help from the MA teams how fast a meal can be prepared, tables set up, plates served, and then cleaned up while not feeling especially hurried. Organization is key. :)
  

I’m going to try to blog more often, as there is so much to share about. Thank you all for your prayers.

San Francisco! Here We Come.

"Yesterday the cities were in the nations; today all the nations are in our cities." Ray Bakke

This is a part of a letter I sent to some friends:

Over this past year, the Lord spoke several things to me. There have been a lot of themes, but the ones that keep coming up are “strength and joy.” I’ve spent a lot of time praying and fasting and really sense Him nudging my heart to get out of my comfort zone and go somewhere for an extended time this summer. After looking at several different possibilities, the one that I landed on is a Youth With a Mission base in (of all places!) San Francisco. One of the things that really drew me to them at the beginning was a disaster relief training program. I won’t be able to do this training program at this point, but I will be going up there for two and half months this summer to volunteer with their Summer of Service program. They have a lot of various things going on during the summer. The base is right downtown in the heart of San Francisco’s “tenderloin,” one of the worst parts of the city. Some of my family and I took a short visit and tour of the base a couple of months ago, and I was amazed at how strange the area felt… it truly felt like a foreign country to me. There were so many needy and hopeless people standing around in the streets. So I’m really looking forward to serving with this ministry. You can read more about them here.

What I will be doing is helping with the Mission Adventures teams that come for weeklong visits throughout the summer. These teams of young people come to serve the city through various service programs, evangelistic activities, and prayer walks. I will be trained, along with several other SOS staff, for the first 2 weeks before they arrive. I may be helping prepare meals, assisting with hospitality needs, and going alongside them as they pray and minister on the streets. Along with ministering to the residents of the Tenderloin, I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to meet and bless many of these young people who have a heart for the lost and for prayer.

Thank you all for keeping me in your prayers. My heart has been so uplifted and filled with the prayers, encouragements, and love of my family and other precious friends. Thank you all for keeping in touch.

Sutton's Iris Gardens

Grandma Lillie and I took a little trip out to Sutton's Iris Gardens, a family owned Iris farm west of Porterville. I had always wanted to go, but had never been there before. It was a lovely time spent together, strolling up and down rows and looking at the interesting colors and wondering who thought of all the unique names for each one. The farm has around 30 new varieties this year.

Do Not Let Your Heart be Troubled

"Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

Jesus is saying so much to us here. He does not want fear in our hearts. Fear is very subtle and creeps into so many areas of relationships, our decisions, and our ability to be free in life. But here he takes it a step beyond even fear. Jesus says, "Don't let your hearts be troubled." He's saying we have a responsibility to guard our hearts from fearing anything but Him, and and to keep our hearts in peace.

It's amazing how we can feed off each other's heart rumblings. The other day, I was taking a written test for my state CNA examination. I wasn't nervous about it at all until I sat down at a table with a few classmates. And as we began talking about how much (or little!) we had studied for the test, I could feel myself getting nervous. It was rediculous how easily fear was transfered!

I think the same thing can happen with peace. I love how we can be with people who have spent time with the Lord, and somehow the rest and peace they have is scattered to those around them.

Ultimately we have to go to Jesus. His peace is so different than any other. His peace is like a warm blanket, an answer to the unspoken questions, the beautiful fresh dew on the grass. It's the assurance that He is with us. And even though it's so gentle, it's powerful enough to crowd out the fear and the "troublings" of our hearts.

Let's take the time to come away with Him and seek Him for peace. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." Colossians 3:15. Let's look into His face with no shame, for He has set us free. Know that He will guide you with His peace.