It ain't Memorial Day Weekend without a Lindsey Cookout!!!

Dave & David on the grill!  Teamwork!

Today we just couldn't stand it any more!!!!  It had been over two full months since we entertained!  Since we had a cook out!!!  So we ran up to the grocery store and bought a grill, 64 hamburger patties and 100 hotdogs, plus all the fixin's.  Then we proceeded to set up shop next to the base pool and started grillin.  No invitations needed.  Just the aroma of fresh grilled meet brought quite a crowd.  We think we had over 100 folks show up.  It was one of the best Memorial Day's cookouts we've ever had.  Canadians, Norweigen's, Koreans, etc. all asking, "So what is this holiday all about?"  Made us proud to be Americans and even more thankful to all those that have served, especially those that have given their lives.

Our feast was especially appreciated because the kitchen was closed for lunch and dinner today in recognition of the holiday.  It was just a good ole' fashion picnic full or old friends and many new.  

Plus it was a great opportunity for our family to serve and we had forgotten the joy we get in entertaining and fellowship.  David made a great "Memorial Day Free Picnic" sign and was my perfect assistant as we fed the masses.  The ladies set up a buffet and looked as beautiful as ever.  Great day :)  

P.S. Jess is such a great photographer that we never get any shots of her!!!  We will work on that!!!  Sorry, she's as beautiful as ever!  All the young ladies look up to her here on the base for her beauty and gentleness, inside and out.

Jonni hold our neighbor, beautiful Julia

Beautiful Maggie putting on her Hula face

David being silly over the weekend



Jackie Ray, Cowgirl



Our neighbors from Korea & Norway under Memorial Day Sign

Two rootin' tootin' cowgirls

Cheese or no cheese?

David and his crew (USA,Denmark,Taiwan,Norway)

Why we shouldn't STRIVE to keep the Law, but just accept His grace. Week's summary...



Dave & Jackie Ray coloring pictures with the Marshallese people during our Wednesday night outreach food kitchen



1 Corinthians 15:56 (New International Version)

 ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

God never takes Grace away, but we can LOSE it by STRIVING to keep the law.


When we worry about keeping the law we are so focused on it that we lose the natural grace God intends for us.  When we accept the grace and have a loving relationship with God we really end up better obeying the laws naturally, not through obligation. Too many Christians drift back to the law and start condemning others and people start STRIVING to work their way to salvation.  It is subtle, but God does NOT want us to strive.  Just accept. 

Read Luke 15 below.  Think about the sheep.  Did they do ANYTHING except just let the master pick them up and take them home?  Same with the coin and prodigal Son in the next two parables.  They did not have to DO anything.  Just accept.  Read the last sentence of Luke 15.  God prefers one person that repents (accepts grace) to 99 others that live by the law (even if they keep it perfectly).

When we accept God's grace we an start building his Kingdom on earth!  Let's make ours a LIVING FAITH VS. A DIEING FAITH - THAT'S WHAT THIS WK WAS ALS ABOUT.  We want to be a church for all people, not just for the "converted".  If all the church does is tell us how to get to heaven, then it is a church of death.  If it embraces all people, nations and spheres of society with an attitude of Grace, it becomes a CHURCH OF LIFE!!  That is a relevant church.


May 21 is over.  Let's stop waiting for the rapture.  God isn't coming to take us up to heaven.  He wants us to be building his Kingdom on earth so that he can join us someday!!!


Jesus did not draw a circle around himself and say "You are In, You are Out"  He just said to follow Him.  How would we really even know who belongs in the circle and who does not?  Who are we to say we know another man's background or heart?  That would be to use the law.


Thank you for listening. I hope I have not abused my platform.  I'm not saying everything I've written here is correct.  I am a student.  Let your Bible be your guide, let my thoughts provoke :)


In love and humility always asking for grace,
Dave

Luke 15

 

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

 ¹ Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

 ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents (changes the way they THINK) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.  (In the Message Version 15:7 reads “Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.”)

The Parable of the Lost Coin

    ⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Parable of the Lost Son

 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.

   ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

   ²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

   ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

 

The kids loved the Sponge Bob drawings :o)

Mrs. Chee

What a special honor!!! Mrs. Chee made a special guest appearance at our class today!
Dr. Chee and Mrs. Chee both in the same reek!!!

A follow up on SIN, GRACE & the LAW

Out to dinner with some classmates & neighbors - the couple on the far right are Davey & Jess from CA!!!

So our last blog said that we could still sin, and we are saved by God's grace.  What a gift!



I WANT TO BE CLEAR that my goal is NOT to encourage you to sin :) 

My goal is to share that the real path away from sin is to get intimate with God.  Instead we often try to keep laws that are dead, then condemn ourselves into doing good works, thinking that somehow it will make us closer to God.  It doesn't work that way.



Checking out Asia with classmates Tina and Chris



Some of you have asked, "What do you mean by 'Keeping the Law'?" 

This is trying to follow the rules laid out in the Old Testament (such as the 10 Commandments and many other laws regarding food, etc.) for the sake of the rules, trying to earn points or "be good enough".  It would be like me following a handbook on being a good husband and ticking off the checklist, but not really showing intimacy to my wife.  She doesn't care if I follow the checklist, she just wants to know my love!!! 

The best plan of action is to make sure I show her intimacy, and to use the checklist as a good guide.

As my good friend says:

It's a lot better to live a life of freedom, knowing that we're Saints that sometimes sin; rather than dirty rotten sinners who sometimes act like Saints.

I accept God's grace daily, knowing that I'm His child and His Spirit lives in me! (romans 8 is so cool especially 8:15-17)

Actually if you break Repent down in the Greek linguistics, it means “Change the Way you believe”.  It does not mean to Feel Condemned.


One of the greatest gifts from our schooling time here in Kona has been to be able to intentionally be with the Lord on a daily basis in a "safe zone" free from distractions.  It is this simple intimacy that is increasing my heart for God and AT THE SAME TIME WEEDING OUT THE SIN INSIDE ME.  I am not trying to keep laws and deny myself.  Instead I am enjoying deeper relationship with the one I love.



Kids playing games during our retreat.  Far right in red hat is Ryan, 20 yrs; Center white T-shirt is DY, 28 yrs -- two of the three leaders of our outreach to Japan.  This is YOUTH with a Mission!!!



Question: Am I allowed to still sin?

Answer: Yes

Candles spelling grace

This week we have received some amazing teaching about What Grace Is, and How Grace Works.  We've even found out that we can lose Grace (which I did not think was possible :)


Our teacher told us, "We are not pushing the message of Grace hard enough to our brothers and sisters until we get them to ask, 'So, can I still sin?'"  That's when we really begin to understand GRACE!


The answer is YES, YOU CAN.  Many churches are afraid to teach this.  However, we know that Jesus has died for our sins, so our sins are forgiven, right?  We are only saved by His grace.


So, Yes, you can sin.  But let me explain. Jesus' love is unconditional... he will always be waiting there for you.  If you sin, it may feel good for a moment, but I suggest in the long run, you will find that your sins seperate you from God's love.  So when you sin, you aren't going to feel as good as you would if you avoid sin in your life.  Think about this the next time you sin, see how connected you feel to those you love and your Creator.  But yes, you can keep doing it.  God gives us grace.


Wow!  That's wild stuff!!!


So how do we lose this awesome Grace from God?  Well THE ONLY WAY WE CAN LOSE THE GRACE OF JESUS IS TO TRY TO START LIVING UNDER THE LAW AGAIN.  The LAW is the Old Testament, the 10 Commandments and all the other RULES.  The law is dead!  Jesus came to take away the law, and he left us with Grace.


Now, I am not saying that Grace is a license to lower our standards or to ignore sin.  The Law is good, it is a good road map for us to live by.  People are happier, children are happier, families are happier, nations are happier when they keep the law.  However, we don't need the law as a road map... we now have a personal tour guide in Jesus.


If we try to live by our WORKS and DO GOOD AND KEEP THE LAW, we will find that we never quite measure up.  The law is a tough judge, and he will never give you better than a 6.  But Grace gives you a 10 every time.  Everytime Jesus looks at you he says, "10!"


Law stirs sin.  Grace stirs love.


Law is all about me.  Grace is all about God.


Law is for the mind.  Grace is for the heart.


Guess what, God still loves us the same, even when we just sinned!  No need to hide.  He sees it all, he knows it all... and he still loves you.  Now that is unconditional love!

We are all sinners, that's why we need Jesus!vvMaybe parents can relate to this.  No matter how much our children sin, we still love them.  They will always be ours.


Religion is man's attempt to earn points with a God that is not keeping score!


You can't stop sin & He doesn't want you to. He INSTEAD wants you to just get closer to Him. In simple & joyful ways. Then the sin will disappear on its own.

Forget the law & stop condemning yourself with it. When you do, you separate yourself from Grace.


We are not saved by our Works (How good is good enough???).  We are saved by the wonderful Grace Jesus gave us.  He forgave our sins!  So let's stop trying to "work harder at it" and just enjoy deep intimacy with our Father.  That's all he asks for!

A special guest, "Dr. Chee" stopped by our class today :-)

Let God out of the Box! - by Jessica

Dave, Jonni and Jeff and many of our classmates walking down to the black sand beach on the Kohala Coast

Dave's Art to express progress at mid-term.  Left is before DTS, middle is current and right is the vision

Jess' mid-term art expression.  Strong heart filled by Holy Spirit on solid rock

Great week learning about why we as Christians need to understand the world and what our role is in this world.  Sometimes we put God "in a box" but we need to let him out.  We put God in a box because of our denomination, culture, upbringing, wounds, etc.

YWAM is more than just missions. They have a goal of touching the seven spheres of society Family, Religion, Business/Science, Education, Media, Celebration.    

There were a lot of great takeaways from this week - I will list just a few of them and share with you a couple of videos we watched.  I really encourage you to watch the videos - they are really interesting and will give you a new perspective of leadership, our brain, purpose in life and education!!!!

* Every place has needs -education, truth, love,  food.  We can help to meet these needs.  If you see hungry people, feed them.  Don't just tell them "Jesus loves you".  Until the hunger is gone, they cannot even hear you talking. 

* Everyone deserves a second chance.

* Look at everything Christian and non christian and see how God is at work in it.

* Science and Christianity and intertwined.  We have to accept science - God made it all possible.  If we look closely we will see God and the Holy Spirit in Science.

* Our bodies' systems are more complex than the space shuttle - certainly this didn't just "happen"!

* The worldview on Christianity is that it is single-minded and righteous.  We need to change this view and build it on FORGIVENESS and LOVE!

Here are the links to the videos we watched:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/patrick_awuah_on_educating_leaders.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/rick_warren_on_a_life_of_purpose.html

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

P.S. The website TED.com is amazing!  Great way to exercise the mind :)

Pictures from Around our YWAM Campus



Walking to Class - Everything is very accessible and an easy walk.  We only get in the car a few days a week!





One of the larger buildings on Campus, the "Go Center" includes a small hotel for short-term visitors, a handful of classrooms and a nice courtyard.  Jess & Dave's class meets here daily.





Jess praying during one of our classes - clearing her heart to better hear God's Voice



Everyday all students start the day with one hour of worship.  On Thursdays we get to worship together with the kids in the Prayer Room (one of two air conditioned rooms on campus!).  The Prayer Room has worship and prayer going on 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.  In the Bible it discusses creating a room such as this that fills up a great cup full of prayer and worship.  The angels then tip the cup and it rains down fire of the holy spirit on the land.  You can just feel the closeness to God here on campus from years and years of folks worshipping here.  They call it a "thin place" - where the barrier between the world and the heavens is especially "thin".

Jackie Ray in the pool.  Gotta take a dip to beat the heat.  The pool is very modest.  A hotel was on this land in the 60s & 70s and we still use the same original pool from that hotel.  A little old but still refreshes just the same.

O'hana Court (Family Court) is the main meeting venue of the base.  The entire base gathers here for for worship every Monday morning and Thursday evening.  Its basically an open air gymnasium that hosts basketball night on Mondays and skate night on Tuesdays (both events open to the Kona public).

Open air cafeteria.  Mostly sunshine here so it usually works.  Not so fun if it rains or if you don't like flies :)

The cafeteria line (empty at the moment).  Daily over 600 people go through the line for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It is only a one hour window for each meal, so need to be on-time.  Humbling to stand in line for every meal.  Especially when you are hungry!  After eating each of us scrapes our own plate off into the pig buckets (pigs are raised for food on the base), places our recycleables into correct containers and then turn in tray and silverware to the kitchen for cleaning.  If you don't like today's meal, there is always PB&J.

The second A/C room on the base is the movie theater.  Every Wed. afternoon is the children's matinee.  I finished watching the Little House on the Prarie series today with the girls.  Lots of good lessons for missionary kids in this series... meager one room house living conditions, praying for God's protection and provision, traveling from place to place and experiencing new cultures!

Always some kind of innovation or big news on the base.  Here are our friends Peterson and Lucy with their beautful baby.  They visited our Kona base to raise excitment among the students to come to Haiti and join them in the new YWAM base they just started there.  They plan to build a transformational school and community in Haiti to be a light to Port au Prince.

Dan and Megan's wedding

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We had a wonderful time at Dan and Megan's wedding this past weekend in Cancun. Great to see family and friends(after being gone 7 weeks). It was one of the most beautiful weddings we have ever been to!!! So glad we could be a part of it! We are back in Hawaii now - 7 more weeks of classes than off to Nippon(Japan). Maggie and I practiced our Japanese on the whole flight home from Mexico. Can't wait to put it into practice!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Jessica - We had a great day!  Church, beach, slip-n-slide and valley hike!  We are on the North tip of the Big Island at a YWAM retreat center with our classmates.  Only thing missing was our Mommies!

WE LOVE OUR MOMMIES!!!

David and I behind local church.  Beautiful arch!!!

Amazing Black Sand beach!

Maggie shooting down the world's longest slip n slide at our retreat center

MORE HEALING! (CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR A GREAT SONG THAT WE LOVE)

Jessica - This weeks teaching on The Wounded Heart really touched me and I wanted to share so that it may help others heal their wounded hearts.

Basically, the teaching is that we were all wounded as children - even people with great parents - because no parent is perfect and can meet EVERY need of a child. Wounds can also come from outside the home  - on the playground, at school, etc...These wounds we carry around in our heart our whole life and we even make "vows" in our heads about these wounds.

We can feel "not worthy" of love.  These feelings form beliefs.  These beliefs of the heart are 5000x more powerful than the thoughts in our mind. Of course, rationally we think we are worthy and that we have it all under control but subconsciously, our heart is saying, "I am not worthy."

> In order to heal we have to re-write the truths of our hearts to change the truths in our head.  In order to do this we need to forgive.  Forgiveness does not mean that what the person did is ok, it is just to release the offense so we can change our beliefs in our heart.  Forgiveness=Freedom.

The truth is that God loves us and this love cannot be earned and therefore cannot be lost. With this belief, we are all worthy to be loved. Things that happen to us are not an excuse to stay there. You have a choice!

**HERE IS ANOTHER SONG FROM A GREAT BAND.  CLICK THE LINK. THIS SONG SAYS IT ALL!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiIwpJcQ34Q

So what the heck is missionary training? And why does it take 12 weeks?

I'm sure you are wondering about this. I asked the same questions before I came here :)

Well, it does include a bit of tactical tools like language training, cultural protocol and evangelism practice. However, what we are really doing over these 3 months is working on our HEART!

For example, this week our topic was "Healing the Pain of the Wounded Heart." We learned that in order for us to be most effective in healing others during our Outreach, we first need to heal the wounds of our own hearts. It was a transformational week... like a week long IMAGO training!!!

Everyone has wounds! Even those from the greatest backgrounds & families. We are born into a broken world full of broken people.

This week we simultaneously worked on ourselves AND learned a process that we can take with us as we minister in Japan and for the rest of our lives.

We were created for Relationship. Which means our deepest need is love. We all desire acceptance.

We listen with our ears but Hear with our Heart!!!

I guess our training is as focused on what we are "becoming" as it is focused on what we are "doing".

Peace.
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David playing drums with our leader Ben at worship this morning.

This IS University of the Nations!!! We heard prayer & song and danced movements in the countries of Tajekestan. Chinese. Japanese. Denmark. West African. Norwegian. Samoan. French. English. Korean. Swiss. Spanish. Australian. Wow!!!
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Cleaning Jesus' Trash Cans

My buddy Josh & I just cleaned some nasty trash cans that have been bothering us all week.

He thought we were just squirting them out when I came out of the garage with scrub pads & gloves. He said, "Oh, you wanna clean inside too?".

To which I replied, "My Big Daddy told me, 'If your gonna do a job, as may as well do it right!'"

Jesus thanks you Big D & Big M for the cleaning skills :)
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Want a better relationship with your wife? husband? child? parent? friend? boss? teacher? student? neighbor?

1.  Sometimes we think our relationships are simply a straight line between us and the other person.  Is there a relationship you want to work on?

2.  But every relationship has a god.  The relationship is a triangle, not a line.  EVERY marriage, friendship, family, business, etc. HAS A GOD.  Maybe that god is money, career, the kids, partying, exercise, the house, grades, sports, even each other! 

Anytime two or more people gather, a god(s) is present.  Let's not fool ourselves, even the Communists, who claimed to be atheists, created gods (Stalin, Lenin, Nukes).  So who is the God of your relationship?  May I suggest, that if it isn't the one True God, Jesus, the relationship will be challenged?  Whether we believe Jesus was the Son of God or not, can we deny he was a perfect example for our relationships?  How big a role do Jesus' teachings play in your Relationship in this example?

3.  When we move further away from God, we find ourselves moving further away from each other.  If we move too far away, the relationship may falter, shake, break.

4.  But if we draw nearer to God, we find ourselves GETTING CLOSER TO EACH OTHER.  A stronger bond is formed.  Note: We canNOT make each other a god and worship each other (husband-wife, parent-child, leader-team member).  We are all broken people.  When we do this, we set ourselves up for failure and disappointment. 

A wise Pastor (Arthur Rouner) counseled Jess and I before we got married to, "Find something, some god bigger than yourselves, to build your marriage upon."  He promised, "If you do, you will find a marriage full of joy, FORGIVENESS and strength.  If you don't, you will find yourselves broken in two."   

5.  That's it!  We just did it!!!  You and I just got closer, right?  That's what this blog is all about!!!   

* As my smart wife always tells me, "It's always better when we include God!"  :) 

A  final thought from our teachings this week...
We Become More Like the God We Serve.

One of our favorite songs right now, Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLy-B9LuqMo
(click or paste this link)

Aloha from Kua Beach!

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We went to the beach with some friends this weekend and had a great time boogie boarding! It really is this beautiful!!!

White or Brown Rice?

Work duty in the cafeteria!  The Asians LOVE their rice.  Really, its like a security blanket!!  Tonight my friend Yuka told me as she went through the line... "White rice is very important.  It make me very, very happy."  They miss their home and most of the food here is American... the Asians are used to having white rice with every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They really don't eat bread or pasta -- rice is their carb of choice :)

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