DTS Update - 7 weeks in

Aloha! I want to start this update by thanking the Lord. He is gently revealins so many new things to me personally and through our speakers. I am slowly beginning to learn who He is. Tankey Papa God.

Now I turn my gratitude to all of you – my family, friends, church family, former employers, teachers, professors, and more. Thank you for your prayers, your encouraging words and for financially making it possible for me to come to Hawaii for this incredible time of learning, devotion, and intimacy with God. These past six weeks I have been soaking in every bit of wisdom and revelation from our speakers. I know it will absolutely change the way I walk with Christ for the rest of my life.

Our lecture phase here in Kona is more than halfway over. We leave for outreach in 4 weeks and 3 days. I am so excited!!!!! I can’t believe how quickly this time has flown by. Though I am leaps and bounds further than where I was two months ago, I can see more of what I need to know that I don’t know yet. I guess that is the continual excitement of learning. The more I know and experience, the more I realize I don’t know yet and haven’t yet experienced. There is still so much more that I don’t even know that I don’t know. Think your way through that one. :)

Here is a little promotional video we made last week. Each student on campus starred in his or her own video and I was selected to do the voice over for the whole thing – for all the videos. It is only 2 minutes long and shows the campus here in Kona, Hawaii. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxZiO9k_1xk

God is becoming so much more real to me each day. I am much more aware of his presence – often I will feel a warm sensation in my stomach and though I originally thought it was just too much delicious food I have since recognized it as the presence of the Lord. I am stepping out in prayer and have been baptized by water and in the Holy Spirit. My first experience with filled with the Holy Spirit revealed to me that He is fun! I was literally on the floor laughing for at least an hour. This stuff is real! AND God can have a good time!

I am recognizing that God speaks to me in the languages I understand – pictures and mathematical equations. How cool is that! Just this weekend God showed me that His love for me is eternal. Therefore the domain of God’s love for me is (-∞,∞). That means God has loved me forever in the past, totally loves me now, and He will love me forever into the future. Forever is a long time, so God must have a lot of Love! An infinite capacity to love! WOW! I can’t even wrap my mind around that one.

I am also seeing that God is calling me for more than just this 6-month honeymoon. The 15 students in my outreach team were presented with an opportunity to stay in Rwanda for 4 extra months. Myself and four other students have committed to stay in Kigali, Rwanda with our two leaders and their 2-year old son, Hero. We will rent a house until July 7^th and continue with the ministries that we start in December. AMAZING! I knew that I wasn’t going back to Colorado when my school was done, but I had no idea that God would keep me in Rwanda sharing his love with a war torn nation for 4 extra months. This is so much better and more exciting than what I could have ever dreamed myself!

Just today, our leaders shared with our team and incredible opportunity that has come up. They feel God is calling our team to a special role of praying and intercession within two countries that have had a negative influence on Rwanda in the past. Belgium reigned over Rwanda from 1918 to 1962 and caused the previously united people groups to turn against each other. To learn more about the skew of ethnic relations during that time, please see http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/5918/Africa-Belgian-Colonies.html#ixzz0Wce96MTD

France has also been involved in Rwanda’s history. There is speculation and belief among many Rwandans and others worldwide that the French were involved and possibly financed the genocide that took place in 1994. Check out this article written 4 years ago for more details.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article782536.ece

So the surprise that our leaders finally shared with us today, is that our team will be spending a week in each France and Belgium prior to landing in Rwanda around the 29^th of December. I don’t know details of what our time in Europe will look like, but I know we will definitely be praying for the healing of the relationships between the nations of Rwanda and Belgium and that between France and Rwanda.

We are not entirely sure what we will be doing while we are in Rwanda either. Our team is praying about different skills or trades that we can teach to the people to help them start their own businesses in some way. God is reminding me continually of the African inspired paintings that I did last year and how they touched so many people’s lives. So, though I am not certain, I may be teaching the local Rwandans to make greeting cards with a similar look to my painting series and then selling the cards back in The States. Also, African patterns are very beautiful (and mathematical) so there may be some cards or paintings coming out of Rwanda too! God is that Good!

As I am writing this and recognizing how much God is speaking to me mathematically lately, I wonder if God will present an opportunity for me to tutor others in math. I am in awe of how God wants to use each of the gifts he has given me. God made me just the way he wanted. That is incredible. It is even more incredible when I think about how hugely enourmous the universe is and how he is even bigger than that. I am just a speck on a speck on a speck, and yet God chose to create me and continually chooses to love me. Check out my blog today for a reminder of how HUGELY ENOURMOUS God made the Universe - it is the posting previous to this one.

So, as I look forward to these wonderful plans God is revealing, I am recognizing my need and desire to have a team backing me. My immediate need is for financial support. I am about $1,800 shy for the final payment of my outreach fees (due next Friday the 20^th. I know God is good and he is BIG, so this is not a problem for him. I request that you ask God if He wants you to help in this manner. Because of the short timeline, I don’t think mailing a check is the best option. I have set up a PayPal account for my supporters to use conveniently online. I think you have to create an account, but it only takes a couple of minutes. If you would rather give a different way, please email me and I can explain other options. The Donate button is on the right side of this blog.

Another need I have is for art supplies. I would love to bring some supplies with me to Rwanda so I can jump right in with the artistic activities and lessons. If you have paints, brushes, art paper, etc, please email me so we can discuss details and how you can send them to me here in Hawaii before I leave.

Of course my greatest need and desire is to have a support team backing my venture. Just like any other adventure I have taken through the world, it is so much more exciting when I am able to share it with others. My support team would be the group with whom I have a continual relationship, sharing stories, struggles, prayer requests and praises. I am still praying about what this God desires for this group. I would like you to pray about how God may want you involved. Look for details about the future support team in another email.

This update shows just a glimpse of how God has been working in my life. As you can see I have a lot of exciting stories and new revelations to share. I will cut myself off here as it is already the longest email I have ever written. If you have any questions, comments, encouraging words, or prayers for me, please send ‘em my way. I miss all of you and am greatly looking forward to adventures God has in store. I am still in awe that He has called me to live such an exciting, outside-the-box life!

Thank you God! Thank you friends and family!

Much love, Logan

God is BIG!

Today we dove into the difference between the nature and character of God. In order to understand the character of God (Intimacy with God) we need to get a grasp on the Nature of God (Reverence). Why are we to bow down to God, trust God, respect Him fully, etc? What makes him deserving? So, to start, we looked at how BIG God is.

Here is an article I found online that gives a great summary of what I learned in class today. WOW! At the end of my "tour" of the universe I felt very small and insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. And yet, God still created me and knows the number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:29-31). He chose me when He planned creation (Ephesians 1:11-12). He created each of us with specific plans, hopes, and dreams. God must be VERY BIG!

How Big Is God? by David F. Coppedge

http://www.icr.org/article/2821/

Most people know the universe is "vast," but until we visualize it, we shortchange ourselves of some healthy awe. The heavens glorify God, but should also humble us—as should become apparent in the following mental journey.

Recently, the New Horizons spacecraft blasted off on a ten-year express flight to Pluto. (A manned flight to Pluto, at the maximum speed of the Apollo astronauts, would take about 17 years.) Since Mars (1/26 the distance to Pluto) seems at the limit of our reach, human travel to the stars beyond must remain a dream for now. But Pluto is very near compared to the stars; if the Sun-Pluto distance were represented by a one-foot ruler, the nearest star would be over a mile away.

Movies mislead us with their talk of warp speeds; real interstellar travel is limited by the speed of light—186,282 miles per second. In our imagination (and ignoring relativistic effects) let's aim for the nearest star at light speed. First, we would be disappointed at how slowly the scenery changes. Only after 4.3 years would Alpha Centauri appear larger than a pinpoint of light. Star-hopping within our galaxy, we would be amazed at how much is empty space.

Turning up out of the plane of the Milky Way, it would take 100,000 years for the full spiral of our galaxy to become visible. Though stars at our sun's radius orbit the center at nearly 500,000 mph, the galaxy would appear motionless. A whole human lifetime would pass with no apparent change except for the rare supernova. As for the earth—if the galaxy were represented as the size of North America, our entire solar system would fit in a coffee cup somewhere in Idaho.

Astronomers estimate that there are as many galaxies outside the Milky Way as there are stars in it. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, taken in 2004, imaged 10,000 galaxies in a cone of space so slim you could cover it with a grain of sand held at arm's length. Integrated over the entire sky, that would mean there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe, many with more than 100 billion stars each. According to Psalm 147:4, God calls them all by name.

Contemplating such things is humbling, but also raises questions. Can a God of such a vast domain really care about us? It's important to understand the Biblical doctrine of omnipresence in answering this question. Learning that God is everywhere does not mean that part of Him is here, part there, and part in a distant galaxy, as if His love were spread thinly across all of space. No; omnipresence means that all of God is present at every place, at the same time.

This means that no matter how large the universe, and how many beings reside within His kingdom, each of us can have His full and undivided attention in our own hearts. Let us pray with the spirit and with the understanding also (I Corinthians 14:15). As the country song insightfully claims, "How big is God? He's big enough to rule His mighty universe, yet small enough to live within my heart."

* David F. Coppedge works in the Cassini program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

I am experiencing more of how real God is. I hope to have time on tuesday to catch up on blogging. Thank you for your continued support and prayers