It Is Finished - by Kevin

Rachel and I have graduated from our 12 week Couples and Family Counseling School and our 3 kids seem to be functioning well, so I think we got the balance right.  They have all been really patient with us and our busy schedules as we worked on assignments and research papers. I am proud to say we both got A's (although Rachel got 94.5% to my 93.5%).  

We had so many good speakers and covered so much information, I think it will take some time to process it all.  Rachel has really blossomed in confidence as a counselor and she is so bright she picked up all the theories, and in our practice times she was amazing.  

CFCS 2016 students and staff - missing George and Shellie from the USA and Koami from Togo who had to leave early.

In our last week we had a great speaker named Rod Smith.  He is originally from Durban but now lives in Indiana, USA where he rears his two African-American boys that he adopted as infants... as a single 43 year old.  He works as dean of a school, a teacher, and a family counselor.  He loves to empower people to "Show up, stand up, and speak up".

Here are some nuggets from our week with him: 

- All relationships impact all relationships and those impacts impact all relationships.  

- Healthy people don't become victims or victimize anyone else.  

- Listening is love, you can give someone a BMW and still ignore them.  (Just for the record, if you want to give me a BMW and ignore me, I'm O.K. with that...a blue Z4 roadster).

- When the outside is too shiny the inside must stink.  

- All holiness is local - you can't export what you don't have inside you.  

- All growth requires some loss.  

- We see the world as we are, not as it is.  

Rod really encourages people to find out what they want out of life.  So he asked us what we want, and to write it in 20 words or less.   I thought about this for a couple of days and this is what I want (although it could change next year): "I want to grow to be a mature man and to help others move towards maturity".  What would you do with your 20 words?

Now we are in full-on packing and sorting mode, tying up the loose ends so that we can fly on the 28th.  Tomorrow already our lovely dog Timmy will be moving to his new home on the YWAM base.  We will miss him terribly but he knows something is afoot and the old boy doesn't need any more stress. 

In other news, Ashani lost her first two teeth within the space of a few days.  Here's the first gap:

Daniel and I will be in Ellensburg for a few days to visit my brother and some friends, and we will speak at Wellspring Church on Sunday May 29th at 10:00 - all are welcome to join us!

Our season in Worcester is coming to a close.  It feels strange to be leaving, nothing has gone according to our plans, but as we look back we can see God's finger prints.  Proverb 16:9 says, "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."  What does that mean to me?  The apostle Paul thought he was just going to Damascus.  When we meet Jesus and are eyes are opened, then the real adventure begins.  He is the lion of Judah and he is not tame.  I remember a line from Narnia, about Aslan  "He is not a tame lion...but he is good." 


Thank you for being part of our adventure.  We value your prayers and support.  

Kevin, Rachel, Daniel, Zaden and Ashani.