Update #79

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6

I was playing a game with some friends a while back and one of the questions asked was “How do you waste the most time?” We anonymously wrote our answers and the person who was “it” guessed who submitted what. Some of the answers were “MTV, email, listening to music, watching television, procrastinating, surfing the internet” etc.

What do you do when you are caught with a few minutes of time? My mom tidies, a friend of mine knits, another grabs a book that she is currently reading…my current time-suck is Facebook. What’s yours?

I was chatting with a good friend the other day and “appetites” came up. (She is an accomplished chef so I thought we were going to discuss some new culinary delight she had recently dreamed up, or better yet cooked up, for me to try – sigh - not so). She made the poignant statement that appetites drive what we do. If we gravitate toward television we spend hours sitting in front of it. If we like gaming – we can spend hours and hours and hours honing our skills. If we are into cooking, learning a new languages, mastering a new skill - these are the activities that take our time. She sighed and said wished she hungered for God more and that her appetite would drive her in that direction.

I agreed. I wish my appetite drove me to hunger and thirst for more of God – to improve myself in him, to learn more of his character, his ways and his thoughts. In Matthew 5 it talks about the “blessed” – and one of the “blesseds” hits this topic. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” When I looked up the key words the verse became more meaningful to me. It actually says (Dena paraphrase) when you are famished and pining for God, so thirsty after him and his ways, he will fill you to overflowing, with abundance; you will be able to gorge yourself and be satisfied – not only once, but forever.

In America hunger happens – but not like I have witnessed abroad. In America there are those that feel hungry and are on close to a starvation diet – but not like I have witnessed in Africa. I don’t think Americans, 90% of the populace, really know what it is like to experience “my brain is numb, I can no longer think or function, I want to die” hunger. I, personally, have never been famished. I have been hungry after a three day fast, I have been nauseated and felt “icky” – but I have never been ravenous to the point of pining for food. Have you?

Back to the appetites thing - what are you hungry for? What are you pining for? What are you ravenous for? What would you give anything for? What are you seeking to fill and replenish you? A lot of single women today would answer that question with “beauty, a fine figure, a husband” – wrong answer. A lot of men would answer with “sex, success, power, prestige, money” – again, wrong answer. Nothing but God can fill you to overflowing today, tomorrow and forever.


Updates:
Living – I am living with my relatives, but the Johnsons have made an offer on a property in Los Gatos (close date October 28th) and so I may be moving in the next few months. Check out the blog for details http://campus.inst.net
Work – Our “training weekend away” went incredibly well – thank you for praying! Lives were radically changed, people discovered God in a new way, and prayer became a working component in their lives! And logistically everyone got to the airport! Whoo hoo!
Travel – heading to Indonesia the 31st of October through the first part of December. I am recruiting some dedicated intercessors to cover me while I travel…let me know if you are interested.

Requests:
Housing – the house on the property will need some remodeling/updating before anyone moves in so a place close by would be ideal…for me and for the Johnsons.
Work – please pray for the pre-venture/travel prep for the consultants, team-leads and host countries. Also, I am scouting facilities for the next training weekend (April) – I would appreciate prayer as I negotiate contracts and fees.
Purpose – I have been tasked to pioneer the rēp intercession effort in Indonesia. Pray for God to raise up the right people to carry the vision forward.
Financing - If you are interested in contributing toward my day-to-day or travel fund, please see ‘Contribute’ at www.repurposing.biz on the left of the page, or visit www.denaandrews.blogspot.com and read the footer for additional info.

Dena

P.S. Several “readers” have encouraged me to publish. Thank you for the encouragement – I am praying about it but am clueless on how to proceed – if you have any insight or remark please reply to this mail…or if you are reading this on the blog (www.denaandrews.blogspot.com), please leave a comment. Thank you!