Wow! This last couple weeks have been great. The identity in Christ seminar was more than expected. I wasn’t on my face crying but just sitting realizing that it was ok to rest. It is amazing to see how I can be doing nothing and not resting. Sometimes, worries about the imminent tasks can be more intimidating than the task. But anyway….

Then my parents came! Yay! It was a real treat to have them here. They came with a work and witness team from Baker City to work on a rehab house. I got to join the for about a week and a half. They were troopers. Everyone was shocked at how much work “a bunch of old people” could do. I wasn’t. Along with my parents, My Aunt and Uncle, their daughter, her husband, and their to kids came as well. I got to take them all around where I work and will work here in Kyiv. Their excitement was pretty exciting. It was so cool to have them and the rest of the team here.

The time with the team was really refreshing. I had really amazing talks with most of them. Even though I had just met most of them, they were very supportive. Cool people.

We stayed at this place called House of James. It was really amazing. I suggest you check it out. Sean the director has done a really cool thing.

http://houseofjames.org/

This weekend is bringing me a retreat type thing. Most of it will center around praying for the next school and the events leading up to it. So, please pray for me this weekend as I do it. See ya soon.

It seems now is still a transition time. That is the time between the end of school and leaving for the states. This transition has not at all been an easy one. There are so many things that I would like to get done, but I just don’t have the skills or the know how to do it. So, these past few weeks have been a struggle between wanting to get stuff done, doing stuff that I have no clue really how to do, and thinking up more stuff to occupy my time. What was created in this was an interesting mix of ideas, focusless drive, and a general sense of “what am I doing?” The DTS is going through a time of transition as well, so there has been some quandary about where it is going and how it will look.

You might ask why I would start my update like that. Well, these events and absence of schedule have thrown me into a bit of an identity crisis. Yes, it would be easier to tell you all of the twice-in-one-day, almost-incidents with crazy semi-truck drivers on Ukrainian highways, but that would just be surface stuff that makes newsletters sound exciting. Those stories aren’t bad, don’t get me wrong. I would rather let you know what God is doing in preparation for the next whatevers that may come my way.

This time of no school has been really good for me. Well, at least a revealing time. Some things have surfaced that quite frankly scare me. Things like, being short with people, lack of self discipline, bitterness, you name it, it is showing. I look at these things and say, “wow that is pretty uncharacteristic of me.” But the reality of it is, the mask is finally falling. It is a really cool thing to see. Yes, it is stressful, not fun to deal with, and sometimes ugly, but none the less good to see God bringing it up. Cause when He shows these things, he is not wanting discourage me or to shame me. This means that there is something that He wants to heal.

Have I tried to “pull myself together” and “get over it?” Oh yeah. But this only perpetuated the situation. So I have come to the interesting place of, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Matt 11:28-30 Trying to pull myself together seems ridiculous after that huh? I could sacrifice anything and everything, but without obedience, that sacrifice is nothing. Obedience could include sacrifice, yes. But the results are way different.

So, along with my parents coming into town, my future is bringing, of all things, an Identity in Christ seminar. How perfect timing is that? I am really looking forward to a next few weeks of falling flat on my face and watching what changes will happen despite my efforts to help. See most of you soon.

]]> http://profstrebor.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/identity-issues/feed/ http://profstrebor.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/as-time-passes-by/ http://profstrebor.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/as-time-passes-by/#comments Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:18:42 +0000 profstrebor http://profstrebor.wordpress.com/?p=10

There is nothing like a nice spring Saturday. To add to the blissfulness, the sun is shining, the temperature is comfortable, and I am listening to Jon Foreman sing about God’s love being strong and mind baptizing. There is something peaceful in waking up way earlier than really wanting to. Ya, I am doing a shift at the boat in reception. Some might say I am crazy for doing in on a Saturday morning, but really it is kind of fun.

God is doing some really interesting stuff in me again. You would think that having a week long seminar on support managing would be straight forward. Newsletters, budgets, you name it, it should be really informational right? Just facts, figures and templates to reproduce. Nope! This guy named John Ray came and spoke about biblical support raising. The underlying theme to his teaching was identity in Christ. “Jesus is the answer to everything, or he is the answer to nothing.” To realize that support has everything to do with my relationship with God was a real eye opener.

So often we go into affirmation mode and pharisiticaly seek that affirmation from our friends and coworkers. But this is exactly the problem. When we seek affirmation in people, we easily forget the truth about who we are in Christ. And in a support aspect, we become defensive in our view of ourselves and what we do. This affects us in everything. Then we change our thinking to “what is going to make a good newsletter” and “how can I sell myself to the people I am in contact with.” Both of these along with the rest of this mindset is wrong.

It is also humbling to realize that most of my communication since I have been here has been inadequate. But that is a whole other topic.

So, anyway, this is some of the stuff floating around in my head. Have fun with it. See you all soon.

I am new to this whole blogging over newsletter thing. Well, it will probably be blogging and newsletter thing. But that is ok. So it seems, I will make my newsletters more general and to the point and my blog more deep. I am hoping to get a website that takes people to all these things, but we will see what happens. Here goes the new and ever-trying-to-improve communication of the lancinator. Booya.