5) Class Time

This is Tom talking about the way the body, soul, and spirit interact with each other. Sometimes he or someone else will teach, but usually it's us students. Not that the leaders aren't involved, they're just sitting in seats participating in the discussion. Chapter teachings are so awesome! The first book we went through is called Holiness, Truth, and the Presence of God by Francis Frangipane. As of week 7, we're halfway through our next book - The Fear of the Lord by John Bevere. It's so awesome how we as a class all gather together and talk about truths and how we can apply them to our own lives. Classroom isn't really class like any other class. No. And the more we are coming to trust one another, the more open we are. Each student is assigned a chapter in which they lead the discussion and keep us going, but we'll easily have 20 minutes where the teacher student isn't progressing us on to the next section of the chapter. We stop to talk about truth. To make sure everyone gets it. To see what the quiet students are thinking. And... and sometimes it will turn into a scenario where one student brings something to the table - either because they brought it up in discussion or because they responded to a bit of poking - and then wonders happen. The whole class will speak to that one student. "We've seen you change so much!" "Yes, we see this manifesting in your life!" "You don't have to be afraid of this or that." "Specifically in your life, you can apply this truth in these ways..." "Have you thought about it like this?" "This is how we see you..." And... oh, it's so awesome. x) I love it. It's a truly safe environment to open up, I've never seen an environment like this before. Of course, there are rules about opening up and sharing your heart, rules from orientation. Well, one rule, really. Don't share any of your Goliaths until you've found a truth to defeat it and are comfortable talking about it. And... oh, oh, oh! We as a class are just earning each others' trust so much. Because we're all hungry, and we all have the same goal, and we're all for each other. We all want the riches of our King, and we all want to make one another great. Making people great has to be done in a safe and proper environment. It really really does. I've seen people try to make others great in dangerous waters before. Hidden agendas and motives, a misunderstanding of what unity really is... it's dangerous to try and make people great when you have wrong premises. But when you have right premises... oh! It's lovely. x) I love being here so much! I love my people.

Anyway, more about week 5 specifically! Let's see... on Monday, we found my phone! =D It had been missing since the previous Tuesday, so I went nearly a week phoneless. It's good to know I can easily live without it. The only thing I really missed was my database, Bento. And I can't get Bento on my iPad because the manufacturer stopped offering it. So it was great to get my phone back. It was just on top of the cubbies in the basement.

And then on Thursday I spent the night at Rachel's house, which was fun. We watched Mulan, and went for a long walk in the woods and on the train tracks and in the neighborhood. We probably won't walk on the train tracks again, though, because Gene works with the locomotives. He says sometimes trains will go both ways on the tracks, so we'd need to be extremely careful. Anyway, yeah, it was fun.

4) The days roll by...

Monday - 

Dad and I got to hang out for a few hours. ^_^ He flew into Washington in the morning and got a few jobs done, the picked me up after class and we went to Subway for a couple hours. It was great to see each other and talk.

Tuesday - 

In the evening at Young Adults group the topic was... the cross. I'd heard things like this before, but really... just, wow. This message connected all the dots and made it come alive like it never had before. Just the fact that all the spiritual battles we fight today aren't up for question. Jesus already won these victories for us, and all we need to do is enforce it. If we're losing any battle in our life, it just means we aren't enforcing the victory already given to us. Ryan, the fellow talking, compared it to a sports team. He was like, "I wish the Seahawks thought like this! They're stressing me out with the way they've been playing. They need to step onto that football field and say, 'Yeah, we've already won this game. We could have just stayed home. But we're here to enforce the fact that we've won.'" Of course, that was just an example. Jesus didn't die so one sports team could defeat another. But His death did give his children all the victory in spiritual realms. I already have victory over all my Goliaths, and I'm just going to go take their heads off to enforce it!

Wednesday - 

I was actually all ready for bed by 8:45 PM, so I got to spend two hours journaling. Woo-hoo!

Thursday - 

"Every area of your life that doesn't glisten with hope means you're believing a lie and that area is a stronghold of the Devil in your life.”

Thiiiis, this is the quote which sums up a message about the importance of Hope. I didn't used to think Hope was that important. Sure, it's important... Faith, Hope, and Love... but before Thursday I didn't understand how vitally important it was. But now, here it is. And I'm breaking free from strongholds I didn't even know I was living in. It's quite nice. ^_^

Oh! And we also had a big Fall Festival in the evening. =D Like the Harvest Festival where we got all of those goldfish, some of which are still alive in the pond today. And hey, it's fun passing out candy to children. Really it is. Even though that stuff is deadly and full of poison... still. Forget that and just think about the heart of it. Passing out candy to children is awesome.

Friday -

I biked up to the facilities in the morning and spent three hours holding babies! =D It was soo awesome. x) MOPs, Mothers of Preschoolers, happens every other Friday. I volunteered to help, and it was well worth it. ^_^ I just love little babies so much. They're so... well... they're royalty. I cuddle them, and I feel it. Anyway, Carry Abbott talked about a chemical in the brain women get whenever they hold a baby. I like that chemical! x) Plus they gave all the volunteers a free drink certificate and 3 Friday Club Credits. xD Win-win!

Afterwards, I went to the mall with Tammie and some of the girls. Shopping is exhausting, and I have percolating thoughts and feelings about different fashion. But Tammie has earned my respect in a maternal way no one else ever has. So I allowed her and the girls help me pick out clothes I liked, and Tammie bought them for me. Brand new clothes are expensive! Even when they're on sale. I've grown up on thrift stores, so it all seemed terribly outrageous, haha. Tammie is very generous.

After that she dropped Clara and I off at a bonfire at Rachel's house, where about half of our class was gathered. The train tracks run just behind their house, so we got to hear a train zoom by in the darkness! And it was moist outside... surrounded by a hint of rain, good friends, and circled around a bonfire. So cool! 

Really, I say... this Friday was my favorite day so far. Because babies are just awesome. And because I had about half a dozen level five conversations throughout the day! And because I love my people. And we're all bonding. We're all becoming the family that each GL class becomes each year. And this Friday was just so precious in so many ways.

Saturday - 

When Carry Abbott was here, she talked about how we're growing new brain all the time. And it's just like how a body grows. It grows off of what you put in it. If we eat junk food, we grow new cells which are weak. If we eat wholesome food, we grow new cells that are wholesome. We're always growing, and we grow off of what we eat. Similarly, the brain is always growing. And our brains grow off of the movies we watch, the songs we listen to, the conversations we have, the books we read. So we need to choose wisely what we will grow new brain out of! Of course, I grew up in a safe environment as far as this goes! And I took responsibility for my own media/book/conversation intake at age 16. I was very discreet about that, actually, for a year or two. I had to be. Anyway, Saturday night several of us had a movie night! And... hah... none of us have any intentions of watching the movie a second time. Alchemy was not worth growing new brain on! @_@ xD Rachel's house mom thought it was a good one, but it had been too long since she'd seen it. She kept saying, "Ooh... I forgot about that scene..." So, just a note to all of you people reading this... try to avoid Alchemy if you can help it.

Sunday -

I had a good time playing with my house niece and nephews on Sunday!

Caden and Kyla are the older ones, age 10 and 11. Baby Ryder is their little brother. Toddler TJ is their cousin. There's one more cousin, Josh, who's about 9. But he doesn't come over often because his home is broken. As far as I understand the custody situation, he has summers with his dad (Barb and Gene's son) and stepmom, but spends the school year with his mom... except weekends maybe? I'm not sure. He's a lot of fun and has lottts of energy.

Caden and Kyla... oh, those children are just so WHOLESOME!!! I just love the way they play with each other and get along... they're kind, they're intelligent, they can easily carry on a conversation with an adult. They come up with the most creative and educated things while they're playing. They stayed until about 10:00 PM, so we spent hours playing and talking and such. And Kyla is an absolute chatterbox. After watching a movie during WWII the three of us carried on for several hours with German accents. xD For about the last hour before they left Caden was playing with legos while Kyla and I put together a map of Europe like the one I have in my bedroom. We'll work on coloring it and labeling it next time, and when it's done she's going to hang it up in her bedroom.

... It was a good week. :)

3) Levels of Intimacy

Right now it's the end of week 5, and I'm a few weeks behind! But I have a little something to share from each week. ;) Hopefully I'll get all caught up again today.

So! During week three, we had yet another guest speaker. Carry Abbot, who talks about the different roles of men and women from the original design. Like those awesome books Captivating and Wild at Heart. So it was cool having her here for several days. We also had two or three other GL programs visiting for the event. Only they're called Master's Commission. Generational Leadership used to be called that, but the name was changed a while back.

Here's the MC bus from Canada showing up! And I had three of the Canadian girls staying at my host home, which was fun.

One thing Carry Abbot talked about has proved really useful. She talked about the five intimacy levels between... well, people in general, really. Friends, family, acquaintances. Here are the levels:

1) Nice weather we're having...

Entirely surface conversation you could have with anyone, and no commitment to any friendship or relationship. For the friendship to continue, you need time.

2) Such and such said this...

Reporting what other people have said, telling little stories, and getting people's reaction. It's a good way to gage what people think and how much you have in common. There's very low commitment. For the friendship to go deeper, you need trust.

3) I believe this...

Level three is where lines are drawn. But it's still not extremely intimate, because your beliefs can change. There's moderate commitment at this point. To go deeper, you need respect.

4) My history. This is what I have done and what has happened to me in the past...

You can't change your history. And Carry Abbot was very firm when she stated that it is NOT SAFE to begin any friendship with level four. You have to walk through the first three levels before you get here, you need that time, trust, and respect. Level four is high commitment, but if you start here... you don't have that commitment, the people you share with are not prepared to take care of your heart. But, having walked through all four steps appropriately, with honor you can go on to level five.

5) My feelings. This is what I'm going through right now and how it makes me feel...

This right here is the very highest commitment. You can only have a few friends at this level. Three friends, maybe? People you love. People you are free to share the deepest feelings and struggles of your heart with. I believe the most literal definition of the word intimacy is: "Free to know and be known without fear of rejection." Level five is the very highest commitment.


I just love this scale so much! I'm using it to gage people around me all the time now. Take the three most important people to me, for example. I relate very closely on the first three levels with the person who is the most important to me, and we've had a few conversations on levels four and five. Not near enough conversations, though... relating on levels 4 and 5 with this person is so precious. x) And then the other two people who are extremely important to me... one of them, in a single conversation we'll seamlessly travel between all five levels on a regular basis. And the other person is Rachel, who was of course also there when Carry Abbott was talking about this. We talk about the scale and it makes relating easier, because our transitions between the 5 levels aren't as seamless. It's just so awesome!

And then classmates. Oh, it's so cool! The other day I was having a conversation with a few students... the ones I've related to the most these last two months. Two months of level 1, 2, and 3. Well, there was  level 4 on testimony night. But anyway, I was beginning to go into level 4 and 5 during this conversation the other day. Then an intern walked up and started to join the conversation. Annnd... I was able to send him away! Woohoo! It was so easy! I didn't have to awkwardly fall silent, because it just feels rude to say, "Go away!" But all I had to said was, "This is a level 5 conversation. You and I have only related on levels 1 and 2." It was as simple as that, and he walked away. >:D

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to take a hike with Megan and Rachel and her house dad! We'll see when I get back to write about weeks 4 and 5. Farewell!