Update February 2011

Hello Sunshine Coast!!

We are nearing the end of February, so it is probably time for an update.  First things first; Scotland, for the record, is a wet country! We get lots of rain, but there is sunshine in between. It is like home; when the sun does shine, Seamill is beautiful. Our class(or DTS) is very much a family already; when you spend hours praying over each other, sharing dreams and visions and learning just how everyone takes their tea(which is a staple, you always have a mug within reach), you tend to get acquainted with everyone pretty quickly.

Seamill, our little town, is actually part of West Kilbride. The wee town is adorable! The sidewalks are narrow and everything is made of stone of course, but the people are very warm and loveable. We meet people walking their dogs a lot, and they just love talking about anything. They tend to know we are YWAMers because of our accents, so they love asking us where we are from, and why we came to Seamill of all places.

We’ve had a few chances to see some of the surrounding towns; Largs is the tourist destination. It has lovely walking paths along the seashore, with a gelato shop conveniently located at the beginning. Saltcoats is another nearby town, but it is better known for its rough and tumble nightlife. We were warned against spending much time down there at night, because rowdy drinking and pub brawling tend to be pretty prevalent there. These towns pretty much sum up the character of the Scottish people in general. They are beautiful people, but so broken at the same time. Statistics say that although Scotland has access to the same healthcare as everyone else in the UK, they are the least healthy. The average life expectancy of an adult male in one of the suburbs in Glasgow (namely, Colton) is only 52. This comes from a lifestyle of overeating and overdrinking. Even the grocery stores here attest to this fact. In our local shop, we have one aisle of fruits, veggies and dairy, one of various booze and the centre aisle is devoted entirely to cookies, chocolate bars and candy. I’m not saying I don’t love being able to choose between six or seven varieties of KitKat bars, but it’s pretty sad compared to the two or three kinds of fresh fruits there are to choose from.

So, on to the big news; our outreach is going to be in Scotland! At first, our DTS was a little bummed about not going to Turkey, what with the incredible food and sunshine and poor Muslim people there. But then we all gathered around the flag of Scotland and started praying for the country, and immediately everybody got the same stirring that this is exactly where God wants us. Pretty cool, eh? Scotland actually has quite a history of revival, right from St. Columba to John Knox to the revival on the Isle of Lewis, which was just after World War II. This is a stark contrast to the state the church here is in today.

There are three lovely old stone churches in West Kilbride, but two have been boarded up, their stained glass windows broken and tombstones knocked over. In Saltcoats, we saw an old church that had become a grocery store, while another housed a furniture shop. The people in Scotland are tired of religion, but at the same time, they are so hungry (literally) for something fulfilling that they are willing to try almost anything, from alcohol to sugary sweets to witchcrafty-type stuff.

The motto of YWAM is “To know God and make Him known”. Here are some of the things I know or have recently learned about God:

He likes to heal people! In our first week here, one of the staff on our DTS got prayed for and got healing. Since then, two more students have been healed of back problems etc.

He loves His kids! Everybody on the DTS has encountered or re-encountered this truth in some way or another over the past month, from just getting the words “I love you” in their heads to crazy Holy Spirit moments where they laugh hysterically for two whole hours. Good stuff, man.

He provides for His kids; He never leaves them. We heard awesome stories from some of the speakers about provision, but the best stories are our own experience, right? So last week we prayed for one of the staff on the base who has been trying to get an entry visa into the states for six months, and had finally gotten an interview with the visa people. Long story short, he got the visa, because God’s cool like that.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if the people in Scotland knew this God? He isn’t a distant, vague, rule-making God of religion, but a loving, saving, always present and destiny-ensuring God. This truth could radically change a nation. Heck, I bet candy and chocolate bar sales would go down.

I have to admit, I was kind of hoping to do an outreach in a third world country of some sort so that I could feel like some kind of hero doing “real” humanitarian work. Now that I can’t hide behind that, I pretty much have to relinquish control and let God pull me way out of my comfort zone. After all, He loves the fatherless in Scotland just as much as the fatherless in Africa or Turkey.  There is a definite need to take care of the hungry orphans in countries torn apart by war and famine, for sure. But Scotland is so emotionally and spiritually deprived, I know for a fact that my Jesus would spend time with these people too.

“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now He will heal us. He has injured us; now He will bandage our wounds. In just a short time, He will restore us, so that we may live in His presence. Oh, that we may know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”   -  Hosea 6:1-3