Tips for 2010 Candidates

I'm not sure of the schedules of other sessions, but right now in New Zealand we have just begun the school holidays. For us cadets this means a holida... ahem... "study break" - a time to get work finished, plan for the last term of this year and for the Prayer Warriors to prepare for commissioning. Hasn't the year gone by so fast!

We've also been hosting assessment weekends here at the college and have watched a few very nervous candidates come and go. Faces are appearing in the War Cry announcing the incoming session accepted candidates. Surely they will now be arranging and trying to get everything sorted in order to be prepared to move here in only three months. Time flies so quickly... So here are a few things I wish I had prepared earlier.... (and I don't have kids so if you want tips for those types of things just leave a comment and I'll ask around...)

1. You can never save too much money before you come. Trust us - Student Allowance only goes so far... Its enough to survive and have a little fun with but...
2. If you have spare cash and packing boxes, stock up on the stuff you really like but don't think you'll be able to afford, like your shampoo and conditioner etc
3. Don't leave any blankets or warm clothes behind thinking you wont need them... this place is freezing and power bills really cut into the budget...
4. Go to the dentist. Trust us. Tooth pain can mean big dentist bills when the money is tight. Your choice... suffer a short pain the mouth now or a huge dent in the savings later... The health benefits only kick in when you are commissioned.
5. Read your bible, and maybe brush up on The Salvation Army doctrines... I know this seems silly, but the more we learn here the less we realise we knew. Make sense?
6. Go on holiday. Enjoy your last days of freedom. Have a fantastically extravagant Christmas - as it may be the last you can spend with your extended family, as once enrolled you must stay at your appointment.
7. Keep and maintain freindships with people in your corps/centre. Random donations and food parcels are a blessing.
8. Get some practice - if public speaking really isn't your thing, then to prepare yourself try things around people you already know. Read a poem or carol in a Christmas service, deliver a prayer in a meeting - just to get a liitle more comfortable in front of people.
9. Pay close attention to how your corps does things. Watch and really listen to your pastor. What do you like about what they do, how they preach, what don't you like etc. In a few years this will be you. How do you want to come across, be heard, seen etc. Listen and seek out messages or pastors you are really moved by and study them.
10. Last but certainly the leastest... continue to pray and rely on your call. God has prompted this change in your life and has got everything covered. Trust that he knows what he is doing!

Things will work out, they will be fine. You'll see.

We can't wait to meet you all in 2010.

Habakkuk

Anyone read this lately? It is a fascinating transcript of a prophet's prayer. It begins with a very human moan, a complaint, and then God answers and defends himself. Again, the man questions God 'Why?' Why does bad things happen to good people? How can God allow things like that? Why doesn't he step in a fix it? Why doesn't God answers prayers like we want him to!

The great thing about this prayer is that, not only does God audibly answer the questions, but the pray-er, Habakkuk, is transformed through it. He encounters God in his prayer, and is physically trembled at the thought of what God has done in past and what he still can do. At the very end of the prayer is a wonderful statement of belief that come rain or shine, miraculous justice intervention or horrible destructive invasion, Habakkuk will rejoice and praise God.

I'm preaching on this in a week or so, and am still coming to grips with how scary that statement really is. Its easy to praise God when things are going well, but a whole lot harder when things aren't.

My prayer for us all, as Ambassadors of Holiness, that even when the tough times come - and they assuredly will - we can say as the Message translation puts "I'm singing joyful praise to God. I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God for He is my strength."