One of the wonderful privileges of college is, unlike working full time, it provides nice breaks several times a year. Granted, the largest one of those (summer) is usually occupied with a full time job. Still, I love it. I really hope this upcoming break will give ample time to reflect, refresh, enjoy my family, and (maybe) get a little job searching done.
I am sitting in my apartment living room right now. The whole apartment is pretty clean and tidy. I spent this evening hanging out with my beloved roommate, Bethany, who is graduated! So sad! I will miss her dearly. The dear girl surprised me when I got home with a Java Chip Frapaccino, my favorite, and a sweet Christmas gift. Then, we played two rounds of Scrabble. It's been a wonderful last night together.
Now, as the caffeine from the frapaccino (or excitement) keeps me awake, I am just marveling over God's faithfulness. The heater is humming and I just feel this incredible peace. God is so generous and kind to me. He has blessed me so much. I have just a million thoughts I could share, but I guess this is my main thought tonight: He loves us, oh how He loves us - how great His affections are for us.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
3 miles!
Woot woot! Guess who ran three miles today?! It was on a treadmill, so no hills involved. Still! I'm proud.
I picked my corner treadmill. I really do like it. It's tucked away far away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the work out room, with a clear view out the windows. The sky today was a blue so crisp you could almost taste the cold air. There was a big, fat robin sitting on the tree right outside my window, too. I shook my head in pity; it was cold out! The robin is typically the promise of spring, but in the case probably the remnant of this year's long-extended nice weather.
As I ran and thought about the promise robins signify, I thought about God's promises of hope to come. God sends me reminders of His promises often, little robins in a world whose cold winter wind can bite. A promise that the Savior will return and I will be caught up in the air to meet Him. A promise that my sins are covered, that I am redeemed. A promise that death has no sting, that to live is Christ and to die is gain. A promise that my future is secure. A promise that He will never leave me. A promise of heaven.
Well, as you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed the [unchanging] scenery during my run. I went in spurts of telling myself "one foot in front of the other" and talking with the Lord--hopefully someday I will be in shape enough that I can focus more on praying. :) Someday.
I picked my corner treadmill. I really do like it. It's tucked away far away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the work out room, with a clear view out the windows. The sky today was a blue so crisp you could almost taste the cold air. There was a big, fat robin sitting on the tree right outside my window, too. I shook my head in pity; it was cold out! The robin is typically the promise of spring, but in the case probably the remnant of this year's long-extended nice weather.
As I ran and thought about the promise robins signify, I thought about God's promises of hope to come. God sends me reminders of His promises often, little robins in a world whose cold winter wind can bite. A promise that the Savior will return and I will be caught up in the air to meet Him. A promise that my sins are covered, that I am redeemed. A promise that death has no sting, that to live is Christ and to die is gain. A promise that my future is secure. A promise that He will never leave me. A promise of heaven.
Well, as you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed the [unchanging] scenery during my run. I went in spurts of telling myself "one foot in front of the other" and talking with the Lord--hopefully someday I will be in shape enough that I can focus more on praying. :) Someday.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
I am Free, But...
I am just going to leave us with a verse today. I think it speaks for itself.
"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessing. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize.... Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body, and make it my slave so that after I have preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
Parts of 1 Corinthians 9
"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessing. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize.... Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body, and make it my slave so that after I have preach to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
Parts of 1 Corinthians 9
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Expel the Immoral Brother
I have been reading in 1 Corinthians of late, and a passage that really has stirred up thought is 1 Corinthians 5. It talks about Christian brothers who refuse to repent of sin and how if they continue to refuse to repent they must be expelled from the church. The hardest part for me comes in the last verse where Paul directs the congregation not to associate with that man, or even eat with them.
It is hard for me to imagine actually having to cease associating with someone I loved. We had a speaker come into one of my classes the other day that (as a side note) talked about his theory that if someone remains unrepentant long term, they were not a Christian in the first place and you can begin to re-associate with them and evangelize. Still, that is so hard!
So then, last night, I talked about a lot of this with Josh. While I was falling asleep later, I also wondered: Is my biggest struggle with this possibly because I do not have enough love for God in comparison to how much I love people? The first commandment is to love the Lord your God will all that your are, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. I wonder: do I sometimes (still) replace passion and love of my GOD with love for the lost?
This story that God is writing is not mainly about the people, it is about the merciful and holy God. God is the one that is supposed to drive all I do. I am supposed to be "zealous for the fear of the Lord." (Proverbs 23:17) DO I (ULTIMATELY) LOVE GOD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE? I certainly want to. Am I ready to give up all of the ones I love dearly, Christian and non-Christian to the service of His glory, come whatever cost? I do not think that I am really ready. I struggle when He lets loved ones suffer, and when He lets people die that I know are not saved. Father, help me! Help me understand this strange combination of loving those around me, but loving You most... and wanting You to be glorified.
Can loving people be an idol? Yeah. How do we even do this? We can't. We need "The Helper" (as Dr. Ward reminded us yesterday) - the Spirit. Send the Helper!
Big thoughts. Few answers.
It is hard for me to imagine actually having to cease associating with someone I loved. We had a speaker come into one of my classes the other day that (as a side note) talked about his theory that if someone remains unrepentant long term, they were not a Christian in the first place and you can begin to re-associate with them and evangelize. Still, that is so hard!
So then, last night, I talked about a lot of this with Josh. While I was falling asleep later, I also wondered: Is my biggest struggle with this possibly because I do not have enough love for God in comparison to how much I love people? The first commandment is to love the Lord your God will all that your are, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. I wonder: do I sometimes (still) replace passion and love of my GOD with love for the lost?
This story that God is writing is not mainly about the people, it is about the merciful and holy God. God is the one that is supposed to drive all I do. I am supposed to be "zealous for the fear of the Lord." (Proverbs 23:17) DO I (ULTIMATELY) LOVE GOD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE? I certainly want to. Am I ready to give up all of the ones I love dearly, Christian and non-Christian to the service of His glory, come whatever cost? I do not think that I am really ready. I struggle when He lets loved ones suffer, and when He lets people die that I know are not saved. Father, help me! Help me understand this strange combination of loving those around me, but loving You most... and wanting You to be glorified.
Can loving people be an idol? Yeah. How do we even do this? We can't. We need "The Helper" (as Dr. Ward reminded us yesterday) - the Spirit. Send the Helper!
Big thoughts. Few answers.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Countdown: 3!
Today is just a life update, nothing profound! :)
Three full days until I leave for home! I am just so excited to see all of my family!!! This break has a little extra special tidbit to it: Josh is coming home with me. I am just so excited to be able to show him where I grew up and became who I am. (It's actually probably a little pathetic how excited I am!)
God is doing cool stuff around here. Our women's retreat seems to be one of many ways God is bringing up and dealing with issues on our campus. It has been incredibly to see the people who are rising up and pushing things even further. We're organizing several "Girl Talks" for the semester. Girl Talk has been done before and it is a panel discussion on a lot of issues that face women on campus: sexuality and related issues,family issues, and coping issues. I could tell you a lot more, but long story short: God is getting His people to admit their struggles and be real and honest with each other! Our hope is that He will transform Covenant into a place where sin and pain can be freely discussed and we all can be supported and held accountable in our fight against it! PLEASE pray for this movement. Pray that God would help us make wise decisions and that He would bring a lot of healing as well as help us deal with the sin involved.
Whew, passion explosion! I get excited about that. God has also been teaching me a lot in my relationship with Josh- a lot about my sin and shortcomings. It has also been a huge encouragement.
I have (not unusually) also been a little under-the-weather, but it's all looking up. Speaking of looking up, I'm still working on memorizing Colossians 3. Check it out :)
Three full days until I leave for home! I am just so excited to see all of my family!!! This break has a little extra special tidbit to it: Josh is coming home with me. I am just so excited to be able to show him where I grew up and became who I am. (It's actually probably a little pathetic how excited I am!)
God is doing cool stuff around here. Our women's retreat seems to be one of many ways God is bringing up and dealing with issues on our campus. It has been incredibly to see the people who are rising up and pushing things even further. We're organizing several "Girl Talks" for the semester. Girl Talk has been done before and it is a panel discussion on a lot of issues that face women on campus: sexuality and related issues,family issues, and coping issues. I could tell you a lot more, but long story short: God is getting His people to admit their struggles and be real and honest with each other! Our hope is that He will transform Covenant into a place where sin and pain can be freely discussed and we all can be supported and held accountable in our fight against it! PLEASE pray for this movement. Pray that God would help us make wise decisions and that He would bring a lot of healing as well as help us deal with the sin involved.
Whew, passion explosion! I get excited about that. God has also been teaching me a lot in my relationship with Josh- a lot about my sin and shortcomings. It has also been a huge encouragement.
I have (not unusually) also been a little under-the-weather, but it's all looking up. Speaking of looking up, I'm still working on memorizing Colossians 3. Check it out :)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Non-entitlement
This is just going to be a short blurb of thought, one which I am sure many of you have heard me talk about of late. It's totally worth re-sharing though!
I have been reading through a short 30-day devotional on Philippians by the president of MTW (while his name is Dutch, I'm still scared to spell it.) The first devotional in there speaks about Paul's introduction of himself in the beginning of his letter as simply a "servant (slave) of Christ Jesus." After some other insights, Mr. K asks a question, "How does Paul's sense of non-entitlement to his own life affect his joy?" BAM! It hit April. Non-entitlement to my own life. Why do I still not get that? I have this persistent sense that I am entitled to a relatively smooth and comfortable existence. No. Life is NOT about me. "Since then you have been raised with Christ," says Paul, "Set your minds on things above." (Col. 3:1)
Father, teach me that my life is not my own, that it was bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20) Take away my sense of a right to American-style happiness and comfort. Make me see only Jesus, and give me the joy that that brings.
I have been reading through a short 30-day devotional on Philippians by the president of MTW (while his name is Dutch, I'm still scared to spell it.) The first devotional in there speaks about Paul's introduction of himself in the beginning of his letter as simply a "servant (slave) of Christ Jesus." After some other insights, Mr. K asks a question, "How does Paul's sense of non-entitlement to his own life affect his joy?" BAM! It hit April. Non-entitlement to my own life. Why do I still not get that? I have this persistent sense that I am entitled to a relatively smooth and comfortable existence. No. Life is NOT about me. "Since then you have been raised with Christ," says Paul, "Set your minds on things above." (Col. 3:1)
Father, teach me that my life is not my own, that it was bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20) Take away my sense of a right to American-style happiness and comfort. Make me see only Jesus, and give me the joy that that brings.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Asking Hard Questions
One of the prominent themes that the Lord seems to be pushing lately is this: asking hard questions. Recently, I began asking my boyfriend some questions that did not have easy answers or were not particularly fun to talk about. I had not really thought about it, but he thanked me for asking him and asked me to "keep asking hard questions." I've been thinking about that a lot. As Christians, shouldn't we be constantly asking hard questions? Of ourselves... and of our friends.
By hard questions, I mean questions that get at our hearts- that expose our failures and incorrect ways of thinking. Hard questions that lead to better communication within ourselves and between each other. Questions that we know may very likely have answers we will not like.
Pursuing holiness by asking hard questions, and then dealing with the answers- that's the new theme.
Hmmm. Just a thought.
By hard questions, I mean questions that get at our hearts- that expose our failures and incorrect ways of thinking. Hard questions that lead to better communication within ourselves and between each other. Questions that we know may very likely have answers we will not like.
Pursuing holiness by asking hard questions, and then dealing with the answers- that's the new theme.
Hmmm. Just a thought.
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