So a few weeks ago, I went to Tampere (about 2 hours from Helsinki by car) for about 4 days, the first two of those with Eva. It was great to see Antti and Anni, Aki and Maria and their families, who I've known for a few years. We got to spend time with them and pray for them, which was cool. Their hospitality and generosity was a real blessing.
On the second day we visited a nearby cafe, which is run by local Christians. It has an area for people to come and worship and pray, and also sells tasty waffles. We spent some time just worshiping Jesus there and praying for the area, and also prayed for two of the staff there. We did eat waffles too - they were good.
The third day was Saturday, and I was at a 'housechurch day' for people from different parts of Finland. I helped lead some worship there, which was good - always fun singing in finnish. I'm starting to try to be adventurous and sing 'free-flow' in finnish - usually only very basic phrases, but hey. The day was really good - we shared in small groups about our experiences of housechurch, and inpsired and challenged each other. Thankfully the people in my small group were all able to speak english well.
The next day I took a train to Kauhava, about 2 hours north by train, and then got a lift from there to Evijärvi, where I was at a 12-day-long Intercession Seminar (will write about that soonish)
So, after the 'housechurch day' I felt really encouraged to keep pursuing this vision of small communities, focused around worship and prayer, and relationship with one another. It was good to be challenged again on being 'missional' communities, because our small communities can quite easily remain inward-focused. It is personally a challenge as I'm not particularly a natural evangelist, but I know God wants to bring His life to people around me and I'm a channel for His life. Sometimes we think we have nothing to give, but when we look at some of the truly broken people around us, we see that we have so much to share. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in us, but it is so easy for me to forget this.
I really want to see these communities among young people here. We've been having gatherings with some people here recently, and it's been great to worship together, to cry out to God for our city and nation (and other things), and pray and prophesy into each other's lives.
Yesterday afternoon we spent about 4 hours doing these things, and it was wonderful. I'm hoping and praying that in the new year we will be able to keep these gatherings going and perhaps make them more regular.
I pray that we as young people would have a clear vision of Who God is, of what He wants to do (so we may intercede, and be part of the answer to our prayers), and that God would continue to heal us and transform us from glory into glory.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Taste and See
A thought I've been having recently is that the act of remembering is one of the keys to life with God. Throughout the Psalms, there are exhortations to remember who God is and what He's done. It is so easy to forget how good God is.
But we have all tasted and seen that God is good. Throughout the last year I've tasted so much of God's goodness, yet at many times I doubted his goodness. We need to choose to remember God's love and goodness. As it says in Song of Songs 1:4 "We will remember Your love"(NKJV) and Psalm 103:2 "May I never forget the good things He does for me."(NLT)
So, this weekend was pretty amazing, and I definitely experienced God's goodness. I was at a conference called 'Radical Love', organised by Gospel Boarders and some other groups, on Friday eve, Satuday morning and eve and then Sunday afternoon. We worshiped, had teaching, heard testimonies, and had 'fire tunnels'. It was great time of encountering God's love for us.
There were people there from the Nordic School of Supernatural Ministry in Norway, a bunch of people who've planted a church amongst the winter sports community in Sweden, and people from some other places. It was great to meet them, get to know some of them a bit and pray with them. These guys were really filled with God's love, and you could see it by the way the loved each other. It was pretty infectious; I couldn't help but love them.
On the Saturday morning, before going to the gathering, I'd been asking God about an Intercession Seminar I'm going to next Sunday at a YWAM base several hours north of Helsinki. I really felt I was meant to go, but I didn't have all the money for it. So I gave these feelings of uncertainty to God, and resisted the temptation to worry. At the meeting that morning, the guy leading it took a money collection, but he didn't say what for. He then asked us to all take some of the money that had just been collected, and to ask God who to give the money to. It was really cool just to bless each other. Then He asked if anyone had any particular financial needs. I had totally forgotten that I did, but then Eva (a spiritual mother to me here) pointed me out. Then a whole bunch of people gave me money they'd been given. After giving some of it away, the meeting ended. When I got home, I counted the money, and realised that it covered the whole price of the seminar next week! I was pretty overwhelmed by that.
Also this weekend there was a weekend of prayer happening in Helsinki (24/3). I booked a slot in the night on saturday/sunday - midnight to 5am. It was pretty great really. When i got there, the person doing the slot before me gave me some money and a card to encourage me that "worshiping is as good a job as any". Again, I was pretty speechless.
The 5 hours in the prayer room went amazingly quickly. There's something great about spending time alone with God at night, worshiping, crying out to Him for this nation, and just being with Him. It was well worth the tiredness I feel now.
And on Saturday afternoon I sat down and wrote a song about God's love. I'll probably do a basic recording of it pretty soon, and when i do it'll be here: http://www.myspace.com/bonoa
On Thursday I'm going to Tampere, and on Saturday I'm helping facilitate worship at a 'Housechurch day' for people involved in housechurch to network and be encouraged. Then on Sunday I'm going on to a YWAM base in Ruurikkala (where I had a pretty crazy encounter with God on the Burn tour in August). I'm going to a 12-day-long seminar on intercession - should be a pretty great time of learning, meeting new people and being inspired.
So be blessed and remember God's love and goodness.
But we have all tasted and seen that God is good. Throughout the last year I've tasted so much of God's goodness, yet at many times I doubted his goodness. We need to choose to remember God's love and goodness. As it says in Song of Songs 1:4 "We will remember Your love"(NKJV) and Psalm 103:2 "May I never forget the good things He does for me."(NLT)
So, this weekend was pretty amazing, and I definitely experienced God's goodness. I was at a conference called 'Radical Love', organised by Gospel Boarders and some other groups, on Friday eve, Satuday morning and eve and then Sunday afternoon. We worshiped, had teaching, heard testimonies, and had 'fire tunnels'. It was great time of encountering God's love for us.
There were people there from the Nordic School of Supernatural Ministry in Norway, a bunch of people who've planted a church amongst the winter sports community in Sweden, and people from some other places. It was great to meet them, get to know some of them a bit and pray with them. These guys were really filled with God's love, and you could see it by the way the loved each other. It was pretty infectious; I couldn't help but love them.
On the Saturday morning, before going to the gathering, I'd been asking God about an Intercession Seminar I'm going to next Sunday at a YWAM base several hours north of Helsinki. I really felt I was meant to go, but I didn't have all the money for it. So I gave these feelings of uncertainty to God, and resisted the temptation to worry. At the meeting that morning, the guy leading it took a money collection, but he didn't say what for. He then asked us to all take some of the money that had just been collected, and to ask God who to give the money to. It was really cool just to bless each other. Then He asked if anyone had any particular financial needs. I had totally forgotten that I did, but then Eva (a spiritual mother to me here) pointed me out. Then a whole bunch of people gave me money they'd been given. After giving some of it away, the meeting ended. When I got home, I counted the money, and realised that it covered the whole price of the seminar next week! I was pretty overwhelmed by that.
Also this weekend there was a weekend of prayer happening in Helsinki (24/3). I booked a slot in the night on saturday/sunday - midnight to 5am. It was pretty great really. When i got there, the person doing the slot before me gave me some money and a card to encourage me that "worshiping is as good a job as any". Again, I was pretty speechless.
The 5 hours in the prayer room went amazingly quickly. There's something great about spending time alone with God at night, worshiping, crying out to Him for this nation, and just being with Him. It was well worth the tiredness I feel now.
And on Saturday afternoon I sat down and wrote a song about God's love. I'll probably do a basic recording of it pretty soon, and when i do it'll be here: http://www.myspace.com/bonoa
On Thursday I'm going to Tampere, and on Saturday I'm helping facilitate worship at a 'Housechurch day' for people involved in housechurch to network and be encouraged. Then on Sunday I'm going on to a YWAM base in Ruurikkala (where I had a pretty crazy encounter with God on the Burn tour in August). I'm going to a 12-day-long seminar on intercession - should be a pretty great time of learning, meeting new people and being inspired.
So be blessed and remember God's love and goodness.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Passionate love for Jesus
So, over the past weeks I've been going through Mike Bickle's series on the Song of Songs. (you can get mp3s, videos, and notes at http://mikebickle.org/resources/series/song-of-songs)
Now, obviously the book is a natural love song, but this teaching is focusing on the spiritual interpretation. I can honestly say it's changed my relationship with God, and many times now when I worship words from the Song come into my mind and I whisper, speak or sing them out.
Honestly, in the past I've often ignored this book of the Bible; it does seem pretty random at times. But as I've begun to really look at it, it's really changed the way I view God. It's made me see that a passionate, fiery love for Jesus is something we can all have and must all set our lives on. God is raising up a Bride in these days that is passsionately in love with Jesus and will endure anything for Him.
Now, a lot of the church, myself included, is not walking in this passionate love for Jesus. Sure, we love Him and serve Him, but we've settled for what seems 'normal'. We desperately need to encounter God's heart, His jealous passion for us. We need pursue Him violently and tenaciously.
So, here's the notes I made from the teaching session based on Song 1:2 (a lot of this is direct quotes from the teaching). It's pretty epic, but definitely worth reading.
"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth - for Your love is better than wine." (Song 1:2)
- We cry out to the Father, "Let Him (Jesus) kiss me with the kisses of His mouth (Word)." We are asking for the grace to love Jesus with all our heart. (Matt 22:37-38) The first commandment must be the first priority in our lives.
- The theme of the Song is the Bride's cry for the kiss of God's Word to touch the deepest place in her heart - the Word as it reveals the King's emotions for His bride and awakens our heart in the 3-fold love of God (love from God, then love for God which overflows to others).
- Why does she want the kisses of the Word? She says directly to Jesus "For (because) Your love is better than wine." Wine here speaks of the drink of earthly celebration, the intoxicating things of this world, both good and bad.
- As woderful as God's blessings are, they are not to be the primary focus of our hearts. The Bride sees that superior pleasures come from growing in revelation of God's heart (affection).
- God has placed longings in us to woo us into His presence (see Mike's book The Seven Longings of the Human Heart, which you can download free in pdf form at http://mikebickle.org/books
There is a 'God-shaped vacuum' in us that can only be filled by God.
- The greatest 'pleasures' are spiritual ones, experienced by encountering Jesus as the Bridegroom God (Phil 3:8). God frees us from the dominion of the inferior pleasures of sin by allowing us to experience superior spiritual pleasures that are more powerful.
- The reward of a lover is the power to love. A lover does twice as much as a worker and does not care for any reward but the power to love.
- Motivation for Obedience
- "Affection-based obedience" flows from experiencing God's love. It results in the deepest and most consistent obedience - a lovesick person will embrace and endure anything for the sake of love
- "Obedience by faith", or without feeling God's presence, is still required in God's Word. When we don't feel like it we must obey.
- "Fear or shame-based obedience" is Biblical too, but it is not enough to motivate us to consistently resist the pleasures of sin for years.
- Experiencing God is more effective in motivating us to resist sin than the fear of consequences. The fear of sin's consequences does not overpower the tendency in our hearts to sin, but will instead cause us to sin secret, in more creative ways.
- We sin when our heart is hungry and unsatisfied with God. Our struggle for holiness must be set in context to our pursuit to live satisfied in God.
- God loves us in the same way that God loves God.(John 15:9, 17:23, 26) This gives every believer the right to view themselves as 'God's favourite.' This tells of our worth and value.
- The way that the Father loves Jesus is the only accurate measure in which we can understand how Jesus feels about us. God's love is a powerful reality that includes deep desire, enjoyment, pleasure and longing. The Gospel is a call to live in that vast ocean of divine love. (Eph 3:17-19)
- The disciples were sincere but yet still spiritually immature. Jesus' affirmations of love were spoken to weak believers He knew would betray Him that night. Jesus knew that the only thing that would stabilise them was knowing how God felt about them.
- We must make it a priority to meditate on the truths about God's emotions for us. We are transformed most as we understand how God feels about us, especially in our weakness. This revelation causes us to run to Him instead of from Him.
- When God wants to empower us to love Him, He reveals Himself as One Who loves us. We love, enjoy and pursue Him because we understand that He first loved, enjoyed and pursued us. (1 Jn 4:19)
Now, obviously the book is a natural love song, but this teaching is focusing on the spiritual interpretation. I can honestly say it's changed my relationship with God, and many times now when I worship words from the Song come into my mind and I whisper, speak or sing them out.
Honestly, in the past I've often ignored this book of the Bible; it does seem pretty random at times. But as I've begun to really look at it, it's really changed the way I view God. It's made me see that a passionate, fiery love for Jesus is something we can all have and must all set our lives on. God is raising up a Bride in these days that is passsionately in love with Jesus and will endure anything for Him.
Now, a lot of the church, myself included, is not walking in this passionate love for Jesus. Sure, we love Him and serve Him, but we've settled for what seems 'normal'. We desperately need to encounter God's heart, His jealous passion for us. We need pursue Him violently and tenaciously.
So, here's the notes I made from the teaching session based on Song 1:2 (a lot of this is direct quotes from the teaching). It's pretty epic, but definitely worth reading.
"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth - for Your love is better than wine." (Song 1:2)
- We cry out to the Father, "Let Him (Jesus) kiss me with the kisses of His mouth (Word)." We are asking for the grace to love Jesus with all our heart. (Matt 22:37-38) The first commandment must be the first priority in our lives.
- The theme of the Song is the Bride's cry for the kiss of God's Word to touch the deepest place in her heart - the Word as it reveals the King's emotions for His bride and awakens our heart in the 3-fold love of God (love from God, then love for God which overflows to others).
- Why does she want the kisses of the Word? She says directly to Jesus "For (because) Your love is better than wine." Wine here speaks of the drink of earthly celebration, the intoxicating things of this world, both good and bad.
- As woderful as God's blessings are, they are not to be the primary focus of our hearts. The Bride sees that superior pleasures come from growing in revelation of God's heart (affection).
- God has placed longings in us to woo us into His presence (see Mike's book The Seven Longings of the Human Heart, which you can download free in pdf form at http://mikebickle.org/books
There is a 'God-shaped vacuum' in us that can only be filled by God.
- The greatest 'pleasures' are spiritual ones, experienced by encountering Jesus as the Bridegroom God (Phil 3:8). God frees us from the dominion of the inferior pleasures of sin by allowing us to experience superior spiritual pleasures that are more powerful.
- The reward of a lover is the power to love. A lover does twice as much as a worker and does not care for any reward but the power to love.
- Motivation for Obedience
- "Affection-based obedience" flows from experiencing God's love. It results in the deepest and most consistent obedience - a lovesick person will embrace and endure anything for the sake of love
- "Obedience by faith", or without feeling God's presence, is still required in God's Word. When we don't feel like it we must obey.
- "Fear or shame-based obedience" is Biblical too, but it is not enough to motivate us to consistently resist the pleasures of sin for years.
- Experiencing God is more effective in motivating us to resist sin than the fear of consequences. The fear of sin's consequences does not overpower the tendency in our hearts to sin, but will instead cause us to sin secret, in more creative ways.
- We sin when our heart is hungry and unsatisfied with God. Our struggle for holiness must be set in context to our pursuit to live satisfied in God.
- God loves us in the same way that God loves God.(John 15:9, 17:23, 26) This gives every believer the right to view themselves as 'God's favourite.' This tells of our worth and value.
- The way that the Father loves Jesus is the only accurate measure in which we can understand how Jesus feels about us. God's love is a powerful reality that includes deep desire, enjoyment, pleasure and longing. The Gospel is a call to live in that vast ocean of divine love. (Eph 3:17-19)
- The disciples were sincere but yet still spiritually immature. Jesus' affirmations of love were spoken to weak believers He knew would betray Him that night. Jesus knew that the only thing that would stabilise them was knowing how God felt about them.
- We must make it a priority to meditate on the truths about God's emotions for us. We are transformed most as we understand how God feels about us, especially in our weakness. This revelation causes us to run to Him instead of from Him.
- When God wants to empower us to love Him, He reveals Himself as One Who loves us. We love, enjoy and pursue Him because we understand that He first loved, enjoyed and pursued us. (1 Jn 4:19)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Worship evening
I just got home from a wonderful evening of worshiping Jesus and praying for Finland. This is the second one of these evenings we've had, and they've both been pretty great. I guess I've kinda been organising them, with help from some others. Some people from the 24/7 Prayer team have been there, some from our Burn tour in August, and then others who hear about it.
Our first gathering was in an apartment, which was cool in terms of the informal style, but probably not great in terms of the noise level for the neighbours. This evening we gathered in the basement of a church building pretty near central Helsinki, which was cool.
The basic idea behind it is basically to meet with God. So I bring a guitar, others are free to bring other instruments (such as a violin today), and we begin by focusing on God. The style is pretty free-flow, I don't really start with a list of songs. Sometimes songs come up spontaneously, and a lot of the time we just sing what's on our hearts or wait on God. So we worship, and give God lots of space to speak. Sometimes we sing in tongues, and sometimes we just sing without any words (this is something I've only recently started, but sometimes there is a cry in my spirit that just has to be released through singing). The idea is that everyone can be part of it - everyone can pray out, or sing out. The Holy Spirit leads the worship through all of us.
As we encounter God, often He speaks to us. This evening, for example, as I was just singing without any words, I had the impression of God singing His passionate song of love over us. And then He gave me words to speak related to this. Now, I'm definitely not an expert at this, and it took a while for me to get over myself and actually say what I felt God was saying. I also listen to when others are singing or saying something, and then maybe join in with their song. It seems to me that this could be part of what corporate worship really is, we can all contribute.
And God really does lead the worship - we started in worshiping Him, then He revealed something of His love as a Father, wanting us just to be still and receive His love. Then He drew our attention to the cross and what His love looks like, that we are His inheritance and in view of such love we offered our all to Him. Then we became aware of how we need His love to empower us to love in the same way, and to carry His love to a broken world. Then we were led to cry out to God for Finland, that His kingdom would break out in this land, that His freedom and hope and joy would be released.
So yeah, there wasn't really a plan at the beginning, but I'm finding that as we give God space, He is more than able to lead us. As we come to Him without an agenda, His agenda becomes central.
Our first gathering was in an apartment, which was cool in terms of the informal style, but probably not great in terms of the noise level for the neighbours. This evening we gathered in the basement of a church building pretty near central Helsinki, which was cool.
The basic idea behind it is basically to meet with God. So I bring a guitar, others are free to bring other instruments (such as a violin today), and we begin by focusing on God. The style is pretty free-flow, I don't really start with a list of songs. Sometimes songs come up spontaneously, and a lot of the time we just sing what's on our hearts or wait on God. So we worship, and give God lots of space to speak. Sometimes we sing in tongues, and sometimes we just sing without any words (this is something I've only recently started, but sometimes there is a cry in my spirit that just has to be released through singing). The idea is that everyone can be part of it - everyone can pray out, or sing out. The Holy Spirit leads the worship through all of us.
As we encounter God, often He speaks to us. This evening, for example, as I was just singing without any words, I had the impression of God singing His passionate song of love over us. And then He gave me words to speak related to this. Now, I'm definitely not an expert at this, and it took a while for me to get over myself and actually say what I felt God was saying. I also listen to when others are singing or saying something, and then maybe join in with their song. It seems to me that this could be part of what corporate worship really is, we can all contribute.
And God really does lead the worship - we started in worshiping Him, then He revealed something of His love as a Father, wanting us just to be still and receive His love. Then He drew our attention to the cross and what His love looks like, that we are His inheritance and in view of such love we offered our all to Him. Then we became aware of how we need His love to empower us to love in the same way, and to carry His love to a broken world. Then we were led to cry out to God for Finland, that His kingdom would break out in this land, that His freedom and hope and joy would be released.
So yeah, there wasn't really a plan at the beginning, but I'm finding that as we give God space, He is more than able to lead us. As we come to Him without an agenda, His agenda becomes central.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
From fibreglass bears to prayer for the nations
Yesterday I was meant to meet a friend in central Helsinki. Due to some miscommunication I got there an hour earlier than my friend. So, with an hour to waste, I first went to my usual plan when downtown - clothes shopping. After wandering into a shopping centre and through a couple of shops, I then left to wander down another main street full of shops. Strangely, I didn't feel compelled to go into any of the shops - maybe because I don't have loads of money to spend on clothes. As i continued walking down the street I had the thought that maybe God had a plan for this hour i was wasting.
I felt that I should keep walking along this same street. As I continued I remembered that ahead was a major square where the Helsinki Cathedral, original University of Helsinki building, and offices of the Prime Minister and cabinet of Finland are. So I got the impression that maybe I was meant to pray for Finland here.
When I got to the square I couldn't help but notice that the square was full of 2-metre tall fibreglass bears. I was intrigued, so i went to have a look. It turns out this was an international art exhibition with the motto:"We have to get to know each other better, it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully". It's called the United Buddy Bears (great name), with painted bears representing over 140 nations of the world.
So, generally I'm pretty sceptical about these type of things; I mean, statues of bears from different nations holding hands are really gonna bring peace and harmony to the world?!! In fact, the idea that mankind coming together in peace and tolerance and unity can fix the world seems to me both unrealistic and very humanistic.
So anyway, while i was thinking these sort of things, it dawned on me that maybe i ended up here to do more than just rehearse my thoughts on world peace, etc. So, I decided to pause for a short while in front of each bear and pray for the nation represented. Sometimes the prayers were short, "Let your kingdom come in this nation" prayers, and other times there was more that i felt led to pray. As I slowly made my way around the circle, I was amazed at the thought that God has an great plan of what He wants to do in each different nation.
Psalm 86:9 "All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name."
I felt that I should keep walking along this same street. As I continued I remembered that ahead was a major square where the Helsinki Cathedral, original University of Helsinki building, and offices of the Prime Minister and cabinet of Finland are. So I got the impression that maybe I was meant to pray for Finland here.
When I got to the square I couldn't help but notice that the square was full of 2-metre tall fibreglass bears. I was intrigued, so i went to have a look. It turns out this was an international art exhibition with the motto:"We have to get to know each other better, it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully". It's called the United Buddy Bears (great name), with painted bears representing over 140 nations of the world.
So, generally I'm pretty sceptical about these type of things; I mean, statues of bears from different nations holding hands are really gonna bring peace and harmony to the world?!! In fact, the idea that mankind coming together in peace and tolerance and unity can fix the world seems to me both unrealistic and very humanistic.
So anyway, while i was thinking these sort of things, it dawned on me that maybe i ended up here to do more than just rehearse my thoughts on world peace, etc. So, I decided to pause for a short while in front of each bear and pray for the nation represented. Sometimes the prayers were short, "Let your kingdom come in this nation" prayers, and other times there was more that i felt led to pray. As I slowly made my way around the circle, I was amazed at the thought that God has an great plan of what He wants to do in each different nation.
Psalm 86:9 "All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name."
Thursday, October 7, 2010
I have a guitar! Yay!
So, I haven't owned a guitar for a while now. I left my old guitar in Oklahoma, thinking I'd get back there again. That never happened, and now one of my friends there who didn't have a guitar has my old guitar. So pretty much wherever I've gone to lead worship since then I've borrowed other people's guitars. That was good, but since being in Finland I've been realising that having my own guitar would make things easier.
Then last week, someone very generously gave me 260 euros towards buying a guitar. I was pretty blown away by it. So, since then I've been looking for a guitar. I didn't have loads of money to add to that, so I was looking for something fairly cheap but good. I searched websites that sell guitars (although buying a guitar without ever trying it seems like a bad idea to me).
Yesterday I went to central Helsinki to try out guitars in the music shops. At one of the shops I asked if they knew any shops that sold second hand guitars. They only knew one, and printed out a map for me to get there. I saw a guitar there that I like the look of. It didn't have a price label on it, but I figured it would probably be way out of my price range. I played it and really liked it, it had a really nice sound and it just felt right. Then I tried a few other guitars, but that first guitar was still in the back of my mind. It was love at first sight.
So eventually asked the shop owner how expensive the guitar was, and I expected something 600 euros or more, but it was only 290 euros. It's 10 years old (10 years to the month younger than me) and it's a 'Peders' guitar, made by Landola, a Finnish guitar manufacturer. All their guitars are handmade. They guy said they don't make them any more, but it would cost around 500 euros new.
I got the guy to reserve the guitar for me, so I had time to think about it and find out more about what to check with older guitars to make sure they're in good condition. So I went back to the shop today, with 290 euros cash and a list of things to check on the guitar. The guitar passed all the tests, and after trying it out again, I knew this was my guitar. They also gave me a good padded gig bag, guitar strap and new set of strings.
I walked out of the shop with the guitar on my back and a smile on my face. I'm so thankful to God for providing the money and the guitar. He is so good.
Then last week, someone very generously gave me 260 euros towards buying a guitar. I was pretty blown away by it. So, since then I've been looking for a guitar. I didn't have loads of money to add to that, so I was looking for something fairly cheap but good. I searched websites that sell guitars (although buying a guitar without ever trying it seems like a bad idea to me).
Yesterday I went to central Helsinki to try out guitars in the music shops. At one of the shops I asked if they knew any shops that sold second hand guitars. They only knew one, and printed out a map for me to get there. I saw a guitar there that I like the look of. It didn't have a price label on it, but I figured it would probably be way out of my price range. I played it and really liked it, it had a really nice sound and it just felt right. Then I tried a few other guitars, but that first guitar was still in the back of my mind. It was love at first sight.
So eventually asked the shop owner how expensive the guitar was, and I expected something 600 euros or more, but it was only 290 euros. It's 10 years old (10 years to the month younger than me) and it's a 'Peders' guitar, made by Landola, a Finnish guitar manufacturer. All their guitars are handmade. They guy said they don't make them any more, but it would cost around 500 euros new.
I got the guy to reserve the guitar for me, so I had time to think about it and find out more about what to check with older guitars to make sure they're in good condition. So I went back to the shop today, with 290 euros cash and a list of things to check on the guitar. The guitar passed all the tests, and after trying it out again, I knew this was my guitar. They also gave me a good padded gig bag, guitar strap and new set of strings.
I walked out of the shop with the guitar on my back and a smile on my face. I'm so thankful to God for providing the money and the guitar. He is so good.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
What's happening?
Here's a general summary of what's been happening here in the last few weeks.
A couple of weeks ago I took a train 3 hours north(ish) to Jämsä, to visit a friend of mine called Luke. He's an english guy who's lived in Finland for about 13 years, and I met him when i lived in Finland before. I spent a week in Jämsä, mainly talking to Luke and leading worship at some worship gatherings. God seems to be doing stuff in Jämsä, and it was great to be able to support Luke in the work God has him doing there. It was cool to be able to talk through what I'm doing here with Luke, and get his advice on adjusting to life here.
When I got back to Helsinki, I knew I need to sort out the question of my residency status here. I'd lost whatever paper I'd been given when I moved here two years ago, and I wasn't sure whether I'd need to apply again as what I'm doing has changed. So, I finally went to the local police immigration office to find some answers to my questions. Walking in there and seeing all the forms that people were filling out kinda freaked me out. I guess my recent experiences with 'official' things haven't been great (denied visa at U.S. Embassy, 5 hours in Israeli security, denied entry to the U.S. in Chicago). After waiting for a while, I was able to talk to one of the immigration officials. He found me on their database, and simply printed out a new copy of the paper I'd been given 2 years ago. My residency hadn't expired, and I am officialy a resident of Helsinki. This was a great relief, and makes the practicalities of staying here a whole lot easier.
So what else have I been doing in Helsinki? Well, last weekend I was able to be part of two events in the greater Helsinki. On Friday evening I was at a worship evening organised by Verkosto church. I led worship for the first 2 hours, using Finnish songs and then flowing in between in English. God led us to intercede for His Church - that the Bride would come together and sing as one "Come, Lord Jesus". It was pretty great. Two other people led worship after me, and it was great just to be in that place of worship and to pray for whatever God put on our hearts. After about 5 hours we ended, but I'm sure we could have kept going for hours more.
The other event, on the next day, was a worship and intercession day organised by an American guy in Espoo (part of greater Helsinki area). It was great to be there; we worshiped for hours again, and interceded for the church, the area and the nation. We also prayed for one another, and just spent time getting to know each other. Luke came from Jämsä to lead worship and share, which was great. The day lasted about 10 hours in all, so i was pretty exhausted by the end of it. But it was great just to support people with vision for worship and prayer in this area.
I'm also now a member of Silmu, which is a housechurch here in Helsinki. Most of the people involved I know pretty well, and I felt that I could share life with them. There is so much that I could learn from them, and to have their support is a real blessing. I'm sure there are also things God has given me to share with them. Silmu is also very involved in reaching out to Jakomäki (see last post for more), which currently includes running an Alpha course there, which I'm involved in.
So, my life here is developing, and I'm more sure than ever that God wants me to be here. There's still plenty of uncertainty about exactly what I'm going to do here, but that's just part of the fun of adventure.
A couple of weeks ago I took a train 3 hours north(ish) to Jämsä, to visit a friend of mine called Luke. He's an english guy who's lived in Finland for about 13 years, and I met him when i lived in Finland before. I spent a week in Jämsä, mainly talking to Luke and leading worship at some worship gatherings. God seems to be doing stuff in Jämsä, and it was great to be able to support Luke in the work God has him doing there. It was cool to be able to talk through what I'm doing here with Luke, and get his advice on adjusting to life here.
When I got back to Helsinki, I knew I need to sort out the question of my residency status here. I'd lost whatever paper I'd been given when I moved here two years ago, and I wasn't sure whether I'd need to apply again as what I'm doing has changed. So, I finally went to the local police immigration office to find some answers to my questions. Walking in there and seeing all the forms that people were filling out kinda freaked me out. I guess my recent experiences with 'official' things haven't been great (denied visa at U.S. Embassy, 5 hours in Israeli security, denied entry to the U.S. in Chicago). After waiting for a while, I was able to talk to one of the immigration officials. He found me on their database, and simply printed out a new copy of the paper I'd been given 2 years ago. My residency hadn't expired, and I am officialy a resident of Helsinki. This was a great relief, and makes the practicalities of staying here a whole lot easier.
So what else have I been doing in Helsinki? Well, last weekend I was able to be part of two events in the greater Helsinki. On Friday evening I was at a worship evening organised by Verkosto church. I led worship for the first 2 hours, using Finnish songs and then flowing in between in English. God led us to intercede for His Church - that the Bride would come together and sing as one "Come, Lord Jesus". It was pretty great. Two other people led worship after me, and it was great just to be in that place of worship and to pray for whatever God put on our hearts. After about 5 hours we ended, but I'm sure we could have kept going for hours more.
The other event, on the next day, was a worship and intercession day organised by an American guy in Espoo (part of greater Helsinki area). It was great to be there; we worshiped for hours again, and interceded for the church, the area and the nation. We also prayed for one another, and just spent time getting to know each other. Luke came from Jämsä to lead worship and share, which was great. The day lasted about 10 hours in all, so i was pretty exhausted by the end of it. But it was great just to support people with vision for worship and prayer in this area.
I'm also now a member of Silmu, which is a housechurch here in Helsinki. Most of the people involved I know pretty well, and I felt that I could share life with them. There is so much that I could learn from them, and to have their support is a real blessing. I'm sure there are also things God has given me to share with them. Silmu is also very involved in reaching out to Jakomäki (see last post for more), which currently includes running an Alpha course there, which I'm involved in.
So, my life here is developing, and I'm more sure than ever that God wants me to be here. There's still plenty of uncertainty about exactly what I'm going to do here, but that's just part of the fun of adventure.
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