2006 lessons

Hey!

I'm in Denmark again. After 374 days away from my homecountry, I'm finally here. We had a wonderful month in the States visiting with family and friends and speaking in a couple of churches. Now we have a month ahead of us here in the oldest existing kingdom in the world - good times!:-) Can't wait for my first red, Danish hotdog!!

2006 was a very eventful year, and it's hard to pin down all that I learned through that year's experiences. It was obvious that God knew that I needed another lesson in humility through the spring DTS I helped staff, a school where we had next to none that I could communicate with in English. It was a rough experience to help staff the school. My flesh was yelling out constantly, complaining about the fact that I wasn't where I thought I would've been (my old base Holmsted Manor in England where I would've been DTS-leader if God hadn't changed our plans), but God's challenge for those months was clear: "serve in whatever small ways are available". I tried, and it was good. Hard, but good. And I learned a lot about humility. I still need more lessons in that difficult topic, but 2006 was a big year in this area.

Being the main leader of the fall DTS was a great experience. I very much enjoyed putting into real life many of the ideas, dreams and visions I've had since my own DTS. It was a great school, and I loved leading it. Now the students are on outreach (in Crimea, Southern Ukraine and Moldova), and I'm looking forward to meeting them in Kiev in early March and debrief them.

Throughout the fall DTS I learned more about humility. We had some great speakers who came in and taught and modeled humility. Very challenging to hear speakers who actually took Jesus's teaching about humility seriously. It's challenging and I still have a long way to go. Jesus truly gave up his right to his reputation and to his accomplishments. And he calls me to do the same.

Teaching wise I got to teach some on discipleship and some on godly relationships - my two favorite topics to speak on these days, and I'm happy that I have more and more chances to teach. I love teaching, and I feel like I'm growing in my teaching gifts.

Many more things could be said about 2006, but it's been incredible to see how God has been challenging, encouraging and blessing me this past year. Blessing us. Jeannette remains the single greatest blessing in my life. I love being married to her, and I love experiencing life together with her. She's wonderful! And she keeps growing with God as well.


Wonderful books I read in 2006:
Lee Strobel: "The Case for Christ"
Jeff van Vonderen: "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse"
Philip Yancey: "Prayer - does it really make any difference?"

Looking forward to hearing from you, dear readers. What did you learn about in 2006? What dreams and visions do you have for 2007?

Torben - greatest sports moment of 2006 was beyond any doubt seeing Marcus Allbäck score the only goal against Manchester United to secure a shocking Champions League victory for my heroes, F.C.København!!:-)

"God is God and I'm not
I can only see a part of the picture He's painting
God is God and I'm man
So I'll never understand it all
For only God is God" (Steven Curtis Chapman)