To begin with...

I haven't given much of a, "This is my life and what's been happening" sort of update, so I'll start with that a bit and then get on to more interesting matters soon. Hang with me. ^_^

I have a fair amount of notes from lectures and whatnot, but I haven't done much journaling since I've been here. It's been hard to do much of anything, to be honest, without cutting out twelve other things that are about as important. I want to start writing more prolifically and hopefully someday create something more substantial out of my writing. Maybe it's good that I'm writing these updates for anyone to read because I'll be more on top of writing while in mmy abundant free time. (Note to people who have not done a DTS: free time is a sarcastic joke; we don't really get free time, until the weekend when we have nothing but free time....)

The first week was all about hearing God's voice. (I know I talked about this a little already.) The amazing thing was I did hear God speaking to me, everyday in fact. Nothing huge in the sense of, Go tell the king of Israel he needs to share up, 'cause he ain't obeying My Law, but smaller things like confirmation that God wants me to be here going the PhotoGenX DTS, affirmation of His love for me and my completeness in Him, and a lot of words of encouragement for other people. That seems weird in a way, I know. Why would God tell anyone His thoughts through a person they have know for a week or less?

But really, this is brilliant! We all hear/tell ourselves what we want to hear pretty much of the time. And this can include wishful thinking about hearing God's voice. (I am very sensative to what I hear and believe God is speaking to me, and I have been trying to have trusted friends here bare witness in Spirit with what I here. I know it is so easy to convince myself something I thought was from God, when actually it was my own selfish, prideful desires stirring up. I think I'm slowly learning to recognize God's voice as opposed to my own thoughts. This will be a life-long process to humbly hear God, and I'm very excited for the time I'll get to practice.)

But, if God speaks a word to me through someone I know instead of speaking directly to me, and there are details they could not have known about, God will get my attention and be able to speak to me in ways He may not be able to otherwise. (There is a story to go along with this; I will retell it soon.)

And then the second week (last week) was on Freedom in Christ. The whole week was fantastic, but last couple days especially have stuck with me. We started talking about confessing sins and turning around, asking forgiveness from God and people we've wronged, and forgiving people who have wronged us. This whole deal of laying overything out before God and saying, "I'm walking away from this and toward You" (this is what "repent" means), and forgiveness, these are all the core of having true freedom, which can only come through Christ. A lot of people shared in front of God and the class, and it was a great privalage to be there and be united with such beautiful brothers and sisters. It wasn't easy. Friday I layed myself open in front of everyone, and that in addition to everyone else sharing made it a very difficult day, but it was for sure one of the best I've ever had. I would not trade that experience for anything (not even the money I still need to stay in PhotoGenX... ^_^).

I think there are probably more details I'll fill in later, but please know that all is well, I'm photographing as often as possible, and I love you all and miss you very much. Thank you for the emails and comments, &c., and especially for all your prayers. I'll try to get a specific prayer list up soon....

Your servant by the grace and peace of Jesus Christ,

Christopher