Wax on, wax off

For those of you who don't know, I am currently a student in a Musician's Discipleship Training School (also referred to as MDTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Denver.  I would like to use this blog space to specifically update you guys on what I have been up to, and what I am learning here in Denver.  First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to start this blog!  I know I told a BUNCH of my friends that I would start one the weekend I arrived, but that just isn't how it seems to have worked out.  But, better late than never!  (My life's motto.)

Anyway, being in Colorado has been amazing!  I will post some photos in future entries just to talk about the different places I have visited thus far.  This is the first time I have ever visited this state, and it really is just a beautiful place.  Exploring a new part of the world (or, this country, anyway) has only made this experience all the more exciting!

As far as learning and curriculum are concerned, the first couple of weeks of DTS were more about refreshing things I have previously learned and restoring my relationship with God.  This past month was a journey in-and-of-itself to just realign myself with Him.

This past week, I have learned a whole lot about trust in the Lord, particularly in the area of money.  I have never participated in any sort of missions-related work before, so the whole process of fundraising has been totally new for me.  It's been difficult to learn to trust that my support will come directly from God by the hands of others.  Not only that, but my financial situation has also been tighter than I've grown accustomed to, so this is obviously an area that God really wants to teach me something about.

So I want to share a bit of the lessons I've been learning through this fundraising process.  Yesterday, I told a member of YWAM's staff a little bit about my financial situation, and he offered some very wise insights on the topic.  He said that it would be great and amazing and super relieving if God were to provide a HUGE lump-sum of money to help me with all the payments on my plate.  But here's the thing: How much would I really learn if that were to happen?

God might want to teach me something THRU this trial, rather than bringing me out of it right this moment.

The idea reminded me of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.  When Daniel (played by Ralph Macchio) wants to learn karate, Mr. Miyagi immediately begins enlisting Daniel to help out with as many household chores and repairman activities possible.  This continues on for some time until Daniel has an outburst, wondering when in the heck he is ever going to learn karate already?!?

This is when the application begins.  As demonstrated in the video below, Mr. Miyagi reveals that the basic defense moves Daniel needs to know were taught to him through the process of learning these various cleaning/repair techniques.

Ingenious, right?

Mr. Miyagi ninja'd his student's brain by indirectly teaching him how to be prepared for future tasks.  And sometimes, God wants to teach us in this exact same way.  We may not see what the future holds, but if you are in a tight spot right now, be it financial or any other challenging situation, trust that the Lord knows what He is doing.  Ask Him to reveal simple joys and small lessons right now and believe that what you are living through right now will make more sense later.  He has your best interests at heart, after all.