Annual Assembly

---

Our team made it safely back to Oslo without any mishaps and all relationships (and limbs) still in tact. We pulled up to the Jesus House around 11:45 pm with the horn blaring as our wonderful leader came running out to great us (or perhaps his soon to be fiancé Dina) with a huge smile on his face. I ran upstairs to grab Sean’s amazingly warm dina (or blanket for those non-Norwegian savvy b/c of the ‘fresh’ Norwegian air entering through an open window) and went straight to sleep on the familiar, yet now very much appreciated, triple deck bunk beds.

The next morning I awoke to find the house full of many different languages as all the JR teams had come to enjoy fellowship and teaching for two days before Easter break.

Okay so here is where I am just going to be honest with how I felt during the first day back in Oslo.
Excerpt from my journal on the first day back (it was an off day that I spent mostly in a café reading the Bible and praying):
“It feels strange to be back at the Jesus House. For some reason I feel like a foreigner as if I don’t belong. I feel like I am unsure of where I am supposed to go or what I am supposed to do. I should be excited to see people I haven’t seen in three months but I just feel disconnected. Sometimes I wonder if I am really connected with anyone and if it is even possible for m to be truly connected with another person, completely comfortable with them. I can’t remember the last time I felt that way, at home perhaps with my family. Perhaps as things start (meetings and teachings) I will feel more connected but as of right now I just want to catch my plane to Malaga, to see my wonderful mom, cousin, and sunny beaches! (Miss you dad! Wish you were coming too!)”

Maybe God sometimes wants us disconnected in a way from the people and things around us, so our focus is completely on Him? In this case, it was good for me because like I said in my previous post, I really want to use this time to seek God’s guidance on what I should do after August. This is when I know the leaders will heavily recruit for next year. I do not want to respond without consulting God.

Day 2

A news team came to film the entire second day of the annual assembly. They are a news team out of Germany and were also filming at the New Years Festival in Bremen, Germany (which by the way is the location of the New Years Festival this year, so you can start planning if you want to go). They have been following the German team on tour to prepare a story that will be broadcast on a national secular German television station.

When we had praise and worship in the morning if felt so good. I definitely have missed praising God with a group of people who truly love Him. We also got good teaching from a South African pastor. Teaching is another thing I have missed so much! Thankfully, because of Kaspars B, I have a ton of good teaching on my computer that I have been listening to on my mp3 player as we toured around Eastern Europe. But that is just not the same to a live person.

The teaching was entitled, “Travel Tips for Spiritual Trips.” So it was very applicable to all of us! He said that God is a god of purpose and has a divine destiny for all of us. He used the analogy of a physical trip. I’ll summarize it for you, so you can enjoy it as well (perhaps even learn something). Here are the travel tips:
1. Consult a guide before you leave
a. As will all trips (or at least most if you want to make the most of your trip) you find out about your journey before you embark on it.
b. God is in eternity and not bound by time is the ultimate guide to consult
c. James 4:2b says, “you do not have b/c you do not ask”
i. So if you are unsure about the future perhaps it is because you have not asked
ii. James 1:5 says if you lack wisdom ask God and He will give it to you, but you must ask in faith, expecting an answer from Him
1. remember that the answer can come in unexpected ways - perhaps even through trials
d. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says God’s thoughts and ways our higher than ours but it also says God is raining His thoughts and ways down on us so we just need to be hungry and thirsty to receive it
e. John 16:13 says the Spirit will guide us in all truth
f. John 14:16 says that our helper will abide with us forever
g. This last thing really hit me from Prov 20:27 & 1 Cor 2:11-12

1 Cor 2:11 (NIV) - “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Prov 20:7 (NKJV) - “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart.”

So the we have the Spirit of God within us, that is spirit is the lamp with which God guides us. Many times, we want guidance from God, we want to hear from God about things and we want it to be through other people who God spoke to but we can look within. We have the Spirit of God within us, as our counselors. I don’t always know when it is me thinking something or when it is God (although I definitely know when it is not God - because of reading His Word). But if I go forward in something I sought Him about and He closes a door I know it is the wrong way but at least I am doing something and not just standing still.

2. Stick to the time schedule
a. God doesn’t only have a purpose and a plan but a program and it is important to be on God’s program.
b. “We have a divine pacemaker in our hearts, the Holy Spirit”
c. He explained the importance of God’s timing with a quote, “The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity.” (Much like JR, in which you must be between the ages of 18-29 to join - I barely made it)
d. Thankfully though we serve a merciful God and if we miss it He will keep us from falling but we shouldn’t use grace as a license to do whatever
3. Follow the directions
a. We just need to ask God to show us the way and He will, at least the next step. (Makes me think of a good book I read a long time ago called, “Just Enough Light for the Step I am On.”)
b. God won’t show you things that have nothing to do with you, things that are secret (Deut 29:29) nor things about your life all at once.
i. If God showed us everything all at once we wouldn’t be living by faith, which the righteous are called to live by faith.
1. He said it is like driving a car at night. You only can see where the light it and you have to keep moving where the light is to get anywhere.
2. The same way we need to take God at His Word step by step.
c. Another good quote (paraphrased) - If we wait for everything to be perfect before making a decision is it no longer a decision but a conclusion.
d. If we have questions then faith is the answer. If there are no questions, there is no longer any place for faith.
e. Therefore we should listen to His directions and if God says nothing we should keep doing what He said to do the last time He told us to do something.
4. Do not take a short cut
a. Sometimes the devil tries to draw us away from the road God has for us (James 1:4)
i. Temptation is like a short cut
ii. This is interesting I thought: the devil use of temptation is not necessarily to prevent you from reaching your destination but to mess up the journey.
1. like a runner who may reach the finish line but is disqualified because they cheated along the way
5. Reach your destination
a. God will help us with both long and short-term goals. We need to seek His guidance about both.
b. Another good quote, “The more you do what you know, the more you will now what to do.”
i. Start with what is necessary and then do what is possible and suddenly you will find yourself doing the impossible
c. Remember to keep following what He placed in you and don’t try to be someone else
d. Good quote paraphrase - Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by things you did not do than by things you did do.
6. Enjoy the journey
a. God created life not just to be endured but to be enjoyed!
i. God has been teaching me this one over our tour and I am really loving it!


I think this teaching really hit home for many of us who are trying to decide what the next step should be (will I ever reach the point where I don’t feel like I am at a major crossroad?). That evening one of the leaders approached me about doing a second year. I had prayed to God that if I were to do another year that I am willing but right now that is not the desire of my heart and I need Him to show me clearly if it is His will. I asked God that if He wanted me to do a second year that if a leader approached me (which I knew from talking to others, that usually happens at the annual assembly) and spoke about a specific area JR would like me to work in that it would be something that would just click in me (an area that got me excited). The position He suggested did not click with me at all but actually was the opposite (possibly one of the last areas I think I would enjoy). I know that working for God isn’t necessarily always fun so I told the leader I would pray about it.

---