"Is That Really You, God?" by Loren Cunningham

So for the first two weeks of our DTS we had to read a book by the person who started YWAM. The book is called "Is That Really You, God?" by Loren Cunningham and it was very inspiring.

The book started out with Loren Cunningham at a very young age, and preceded to go through his entire life throughout the book. When Cunningham was a young boy he always dreamed big. God gave him many visions of many things that would happen in his lifetime. He met his wife Darlene and in the book it expressed how he pursued her. Then it shared his college experience and other things about growing up.

One day in the Bahamas he had a vision about YWAM. He was staring at the wall and God gave him the vision of waves of young people crashing over all the nations. That thought never left his mind. He constantly pursued that and had many volunteers of young people who wanted to go on missions trips with him. He was starting a "Christian Youth Revolution" and he didn't even know it yet. It's so awesome to read how he listens to God. When God tells him to do something he doesn't let it leave him and he acts upon it. That's something that I can really apply to my life. I often times brush away things when I "think" that I am hearing God, whether than seeing if I actually am, I choose not to respond. It's so encouraging to hear Cunninghams story and really take to heart what he has to say.

The book proceeds to talk about many stories of the ways God uses Loren. He's been everywhere around the world. In one story in particular him and hundreds of other young people went to the olympics in Munich to share the Gospel. They were going to march down the streets, but found out that they were unable to. So they hung out around and shared the Gospel in other ways. They got very involved and when there were a couple athletes that got assassinated. Munich really appreciated YWAM being there because they seemed to be the only hope during this rough time.

Cunningham also dreamed big with the ideas of YWAM. He talks about stories of failure, and stories of success. All of this because he listened to God, yes even in the areas of failure he was still listening to God. The instance of failure was when he thought God was telling him to purchase a ship for the YWAM organization. He got a lot of donations from people in order to purchase the boat, but in the midst of all that realized that he did not seek Jesus throughout this. When he realized this the funds started coming in less and less and eventually not at all. He decided to call off the purchase of the ship. Instead, the planting of the University of the Nations started taking place. Cunningham never stops, he is constantly thinking big and constantly listening to the Lord.

Eventually everything came together, in a vision he saw the University of the Nations base in Kona. So did other students during a time of fasting. When there was 100% confirmation that the Lord wanted him to do this he went for it. He bought a great location of land in Kona, Hawaii and started cleaning up the place. There were so many volunteers who helped with this, God truly provided. He was able to purchase his ship by the end. A beautiful white ship, just like in his original vision. The first time must have not been the right time, but God worked it out and blessed them with a beautiful ship in Venice. They had it fixed up in Greece and it's first voyage was from Greece to Los Angeles. When it came in it was a great, powerful message that God is so almighty and that "...hearing God is all about... getting to know Him better."