"Jesus already gave them the authority to cast out demons. In light of this, the disciples waking up Jesus in the storm becomes less of an act of "trusting in him" and more of an act of cowardice. Perhaps the appropriately bold response to the situation showing that they believed and trusted in Jesus would be to act like they didn't think he was lying when he told them they could cast out demons. And do it."

Ghana: The Parable.
Starting at orientation as a team we acknowledged we thought God wanted to teach us something about being and forming a sense of "genuine community". We also acknowledged we didn't really know what it would look like for us to do that and be that for each other. We often prayed that God would motivate us and push us and stir up initiative towards each other. And for the first 4.5 weeks or so, (to overgeneralize a bit) that's all we did. We seemed to be missing a sense that if God was calling us into a deeper experience of community, that that would require some sort of action on our part in how we relate to each other, and that he would provide for the things he called us to. He told us to be community. We prayed for him to do his part in that. We didn't act like we thought he'd do his part. The last week and a half we started to get the picture and take more steps to grow together. The amount of change we saw from that short period was kinda ridiculous.
"You of little faith. I told you you could cast out demons. Instead of casting out demons, you ran to me to save you."
"You of little faith. I told you to be community. Instead of being community, you kept asking me to hand you a community."


Leader's Retreat: Acts 1 is ridiculous.

"Jesus when are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? When do we benefit from what you do?"
"It's not going to be me, and it's not going to be Israel. It's going to be you and you're going to restore the world. You're going to do it by being my witnesses. You will serve the familiar, the enemies, and the unknown. You will do it inclusively and indiscriminately."

Similar theme. They expect Jesus to do it. Jesus tells them that him doing it means THEM DOING IT, in his name. What's crazier here though is that they actually do it. This is a ridiculous call for a handful of guys. But this time, they do it. And here we are today. This is ridiculous. Absolutely nuts.