The cabin I was in was about the size of a standard bedroom most of us live in, it had a small table, a desk, a bed and an old inefficient wood stove.
I had a hard time adjusting to my new hours of operation because there were no lights or electricity at all. I eventually got acclimated to being awake when the sun was rising, and going to sleep after it got dark. I brought lots of canned food, beans, fruit, vegetable etc. So if I wanted to eat I made a fire waited for the coals to get hot and put the beans or boiling water for rice in this small oven and waited for it to get warm. I also brought a wrought iron skillet given to me by my aunt, and I brought pancake mix and had a real fun time trying to cook those over a fire.
So as you can imagine I was having an AMAZING time simply living a unique day to day. Evan and his wife have been living this way for about 15 years now on this land, though they do have electricity they live a very different and simply life. They are inspiring to say the least. They have an amazing Godly relationship and I am honored to have had the opportunity to learn from them.
They have a dozen free range chickens, two angora goats, two female dairy goats and one male for breeding with the dairy goats. I actually had the privilege to milk Heidi and Jesse, and I learned how to tease and spin the mohair of the Angora goats, and she showed me how to make soap.
Now Evan was called to help people find a rhythm and relationship with God, primarily focused on a "new monastic" lifestyle of fleshly sacrifice to Jesus Christ, this specifically came to him in a dream where the Holy Spirit revealed this to him(it's a great dream). I was learning about The Franciscans, The Benedictines, The Dessert Fathers, Pachomious, The Celts, The Boiler Rooms, and many other groups and people seeking out God in a radical way for their times. I was learning how to balance life on Earth with a real relationship with God. Learning to use these four basic methods in my day to day life; prayer, ministry, study, and work. He has been gifted with a teacher’s heart, he's had the opportunity to study and earn many degrees. He has been trained in spiritual direction, spiritual direction is the practice of being with people as they attempt to deepen their relationship with the Holy Spirit, or to learn and grow in their own personal spirituality. He would listen to my telling of the ways the Holy Spirit was speaking to me, through prayers, dreams, and visions, then he would ask me questions, what was happening. When I experienced this most, what this was saying to my life and what I should then do with these experiences. He also taught me different ways to pray, he showed me the Jesus Prayer(Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner) which is practiced in part by breathing in and saying the first half, and breathing out and saying the second half, helping you make this prayer as natural and as necessary as breathing. (While I was sweeping up before I left I saw this message written on the floor, these two clippings were cut by me in Africa out of a newspaper and must have fell out of my journal, coincidence? I think not)
We discussed the Lord's Prayer. I was wondering why this was what Jesus told us to say when we pray, but while reading that verse over and over I noticed that Jesus said "pray 'like' this." It really covers what we should be praying to God. Praising Him (hallowed be thy name) submission to His all knowing will (your will be done) our unending need for His presence in our daily walk (give us this day our daily bread) our need to have a penitent heart and to confess our sins and to forgive others (forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sinned against us) and our need for His help against the serious temptations of this world (deliver us from evil and lead us not into temptation.) Evan also taught me a "centering prayer" where you focus on one word or short phrase that will help you be in the presence of God, to simply be with God and not to use so many words, remembering that Jesus also told us that we don't need to use many words when praying, for God already knows what is on our heart. It is a practice of meditative prayer. He also taught about meditating with the scriptures, where you do just that, take a passage from any part of the Bible you feel lead to and read it over and over imagining it, reflecting on what it means in your life and allowing God to speak to you through it. I Heard God speaking life into me, breathing confidence in me, reminding me that whatever I do, as long as I am doing it for Him, He will be proud of me. Reassuring me not of what I will do, but that I am his beloved child. He is inviting me to learn that I am His son, not a slave. I learned a lot, I was alone with God a lot, and I am so glad I went on this pilgrimage. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.
