The Most Important Thing

This week at G42 was packed with wisdom beyond my understanding. Ted Hanson came from Washington State to speak with us here in Spain. He is a man who truly lives and breathes the gospel, in fact it is hard to have a conversation with him that isn’t about God. Ted would admit to you himself that he lives in a whole different realm. He has regular encounters with Angels has the gift of prophesy which makes him stereotypically… weird, which he embraces!

His topic this week was on “New Covenant Realities,” which proved to be a mentally challenging subject. The bare bones of the teaching was that we are currently living in New Covenant times (after Jesus was crucified and raise from the dead) but hold onto Old Covenant ways of thinking (practices from before Jesus died on the cross so we could be closer to the Father.) The basis of the New Covenant time is to be loved and to love, where the Old Covenant is a works based system. Jesus came to the earth in an old covenant time with a new covenant theology.

The New Covenant that we are intended to be living in is a genuine intervention with God. He wants to simply love us and for us to understand that He sees us as a beloved child. We hear the term “beloved child” too often that it has since become well… cliche. I challenge you to bring meaning back to the term and imagine having a child that you loved more than anything. How would you react to them walking in the room or making them smile? Our Father gets just as giddy and even more with each one of us. He wants to be in relationship with us over anything else. He never stops desiring more of our hearts.

Since He never stops pursuing us when we mess up He doesn’t hold sin against us. He IS Mercy and He IS Love. They are not just characteristics of God they are God. So every single time you see love in the world that IS God. God is love and He wants to love us. Now since we are loved and if we choose to walk in that love as a result we will empower others to be loved.

New Covenant is about what will be passed onto the next generation, our legacy. How will our grandchildren walk in Christ’s love, what is the 100 year plan. To do this we need to be dependent on Rema, or what God is currently doing in our lives not what He has done. Having a personal relationship with Him is what is core. The Bible is a tool to understanding God’s character, but be careful to not make the Bible your God. “The Author is far better than the book.”

I have only touched the tip of the “Ted Ice Burg.” I appreciate his willingness to challenge the common theologies and respect the amount of effort he has put into researching the Bible. Ted is the author of 11 published books, has build two very successful businesses, is the pastor of a growing church and most importantly is a native of the great state of Wisconsin :). Our motto here at G42 is “The Hungry get Filled,” and I know my cup is overflowing as I am trying to wrap my head around his teachings from the week. Praise God for strong men of faith like Ted who live a hungry life.

“You don’t know who you are grasshopper”

-Ted Hanson (Pertaining to how special we are to God)

If you would like to watch pod casts by Ted, or the G42 founder Andrew Sherman, you may do so at this web address: http://rimnetwork.org

Adios Vegetarian: Eating Meat Again

After 11 years of being a vegetarian the season has finally come to an end. Truthfully I have been contemplating the transition for quite some time. My ideas of being a vegetarian were shaken a bit from the World Race where I saw first hand how much of a privilege it was to be able to afford meat.I remember being in Africa at an orphanage and asking the kids what was the ONE thing they wanted. Their response was “meat.” Transitioning from the World Race back into the working world in America I became a nanny. I was working with meat daily, touching it, buying it and cooking it. I stuck to my salads while back in America, but my heart was opening to the idea of eating fish.

When I got to G42 I was relieved that there was one other vegetarian here. I went on with my normal eating habits and stuck to my vegetarian speech. A few weeks into living here in Spain I visited the sea for a day. We went fishing and laid out on the rocks. Since we didn’t catch any fish and we were determined to not come back empty handed, we gathered some fresh scallops from the rocks. That night our house feasted on them for dinner. Although I didn’t eat any I found myself for the first time being okay with the idea of eating them, in fact, i slightly wanted to eat them.

The Aha moment finally happened a few days later when our founder, Andrew Sherman, talked about what it meant to be a good shepherd of the earth. I found myself hit with the realization that I don’t have an issue with eating meat, instead I have an issue with the way meat can be inhumanly raised. Furthermore I asked myself “Is my diet choice really effective, or would supporting farmers who are raising meat ethically be more impactful?” After prayer and research I have decided to incorporate meat back into my diet.

Valentines day was the 11 year anniversary of becoming a vegetarian, so that is when I decided to eat meat again. Two of my friends made a beautiful salmon dinner for my house, and after a cheers with salmon on our forks I took my first bite. Since then I have eaten chicken, beef and pork all in small proportions. I expected my stomach to completely reject the meat, but God has blessed me and over all I have had a smooth transition. Meat is delicious and I am glad it is back in my diet, but I also have no regrets with my past season of being a vegetarian. In this next season I am excited to expand my knowledge of the Spanish culture through food and to support farmers who are working hard to raise their animals correctly.

Life is truly an adventure, so when is the last time that you did something for the first time?

              The best sandwich in the world at a restaurant called “The Blue Chair.” The first time I am eating it with ham.