Two related observances

I just thought I'd share this. I was reading about the Pharisee and the tax collecter the other day, where they are both praying. The Pharisee goes on and on quite loudly about how good he was and was thankful that he was better than this tax collecter. A few things ran through my mind at that moment. First, the impression I get from reading that was that the two of them were quite near to each other. If they were, I just have to say that that was so rude. I get the picture that he was standing right next to the guy. The second thought that I had was what was his point in praying? God's so much bigger than us, and all the Pharisee did was praise himself. For him to be so "big" on rules, it seems that he'd broken the number one command, "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me" because I don't recall him giving praise to God once in his "prayer." Lastly, I suppose, is the most meaningful observation. Pride makes people look stupid. I feel like he probably looked really foolish yelling out a prayer like that, but when we're blinded by pride we don't seem to notice...so lesson learned from that, stay away from it.

The second observation has to do with the city of Adelaide, although this isn't my Australia blog. I feel it fits better in this one. I was told by a friend that although Adelaide was known as the city of churches, many of the churches have been turned into other things, unfortunately. Last night, I was walking and I saw a bar called heaven, which looked like it had once been a church, or the building was modelled to look like one. This angered/saddened me at the same time. I immediately thought of Jesus cleansing the temple for the sole fact that I had read Luke's account of it that morning. I imagined what would happen if I walked in there and started flipping tables and stuff. Amusing thought, but I'm not Jesus, so I would have no right to judge the people there. The sadness came as I thought on it longer. I thought about a quote that Pastor Linda often uses: "There's no high like the Most High." I was saddened because people truly need the love and peace and all the other great things that the Holy Spirit offers, but they too often settle for Satan's cheap counterfeits. I suppose that's all the more reason that the church is so desperately needed. Well, that's all for now. You haven't heard from me in a while, and who knows when I'll write on this one again so until next time, May you meet the Most High if you haven't yet, or may you continually enjoy Him if you have.

Chance after chance after chance...

So at the beginning of the summer, or maybe a bit earlier, I'd realized that I hadn't really read any of the prophetic books of the Bible, so I decided to start, in the book of Isaiah and make my way through. Up to this time I've made it through Lamentations, and thus far Jeremiah has really stuck out to me. Not to say in the least that Isaiah and Lamentations are not worth reading, but the thing that stuck out to me in Jeremiah was the patience in God's character.

If you have read the book, you probably know what it's about, and if not, I'd recommend it. But basically, the Israelites, once again have turned their backs on God. But it seems that this time, they were refusing to repent, and instead of coming back to God, they seemed to just get further and further away. They worshiped false gods, and listened to false prophets, and continued to offend their creator. And so Jeremiah is sent to warn them to repent or their enemies would overtake them. And they ignore him. Now you'd think that since Jeremiah does his job pretty early on, that the book of Jeremiah would be fairly short, and yet it turns out (by word count) to be the second longest book in the Bible. So what's the reason that God doesn't just remove His protecting hand from His people? Because He loves them so much. And His nature of patience is so evident to me in this book. In this book that seems to be so dark and gloomy, it's here that God says He has loved his people with an everlasting love (31:3). For nearly fifty chapters God continues to give the Israelites chance after chance after chance to repent, to turn from their wicked ways, and He continues to withhold His judgment. And the extent of His patience amazes me.

So I get a few things from the book of Jeremiah. The first is obviously a deeper understanding of God's character of love and patience. The second is that as I think about it, the book of Jeremiah is somewhat of a mirror of today where it seems that people are running further and further away from God, and yet He's withholding His judgment to give us time to repent and turn back to Him. Fortunately, although people are turning away from God, unlike in Jeremiah, many are turning to Him. The last thing that I take away is an example of how I am to behave. In the book of Ephesians, we are called to "be imitators of God" (5:1). He's perfect and yet He is patient and still loves us in our imperfection. That means that I need to imitate Him in that patience and and love others with an everlasting love.

May the patience of the Lord our God be with you. Until next time, signing off with the other LOL

Helpless

I stand by helpless
Watching you make one foolish decision after another
I'm not in the position to say anything
Not that you would listen anyway
You don't listen to the people in your life
Who try there best to speak wisdom
So I just stand here helpless
Wishing you would get some sense
And stop listening to him
And stop wrekin yo life!
Praying that things will change
for you
for your children
for your family
Praying, praying...praying
Maybe I'm not so helpless
Prayer is powerful
Why is prayer powerful
Cause God is powerful
More powerful than me
More powerful than you
More powerful than him
So maybe I'm not so helpless
Cause although you have him (or think you do)
I have Him, and he's the best
So I'll stay hopeful, keep prayin, and waitin
Cause things will change
All things work together
for the good of those who love God
And I'm completely, and totally in love

The obvious silver lining

So why am I so upset? Because I'm a brat, that's why. I will begin by saying that this post is about a week and a half late, and I currently no longer harbor these feelings, but at the beginning of last week I was being a total brat, and I'll tell why as soon as I give a little background as to why you haven't heard from me in a while.

In my last random "poem" post I mentioned that I got a job. This is the first time I've worked a full time job, which to my surprise takes up quite a bit of time, so I haven't had much time to post anything. Anyhow, I was working the 2nd shift (2-11) remodeling a Walmart (Oh the glamor of my life, lol) but it was decently ok. And it wasn't that hard. Since I had to be at work at 2, I could no longer volunteer at the vets that I'd been at because they were too far away, but one of the vets that I was with told me about a referral practice that happened to be right down the road. So I got to go there a few times and just as things seemed to be going smoothly, I get a call saying my shift had been changed to the 1st shift (8-5). And then of course everything that was wrong with the whole situation came up.

A bit of short but recent background history. Although I work at Walmart, I don't work for Walmart, I was hired by a temp agency, not knowing at that time that Walmart was hiring as well. If I'd been hired by Walmart I'd be getting paid .20 more, and I would have been able to stay on my original shift because the whole reason I got moved is because Walmart kept hiring people to the 2nd shift to the point that they had enough of their own people and no longer needed the temps. And so here's where the obvious silver lining comes in.

Out of the seven people who had not been fired for missing too many days a row, only four were allowed to keep there job by being moved to the 1st shift. Many temps from 3rd shift were terminated as well. And so here I am complaining and being upset because I was one of the fortunate ones allowed to keep my job. (Woe is me, NOT!!!) But that's not the only silver lining that there was. On the 2-11 shift, I really did not get to see my family at all. I'd see my parents at night when I got home, but the critters (I say that in the most affectionate way, little brothers) I really got to spend no time with except on the weekend. And 1st shift actually has work to do, constantly, which makes the time go by a lot faster. And my supervisor is absolutely hilarious. Generally, 1st shift has proved to be a lot better...so I just can't go to the vet anymore. There's always Christmas vacation. And if it's God's will for me to shadow then, He'll work it out, because He always knows what's best. And the times that I've gotten to spend with my family this summer have been quite epically priceless.

In the end there's a moral of this story as well as a lot of the ones that I've posted. That moral would be: Thank God (literally) that He's a God of second chances because to me it seems that every time He throws a test my way, I fail it. completely. But then He gives me grace to get back up and try again, with His help. So never just fail and leave it that way. You were created to be successful because God's not a failure and you were made in His image.

May the grace of God, the perfect Father, be with you in all that you do. Signing off til next time with the other LOL.

Onomatapia in use

Vroom, Vroom
My car is driving
I park, I sit
Tick-tock
time passes
click, Slam
I lock the car and close the door
step-squeek-step squeek
up the stairs I go
Hello, How are you?
chatter chatter chatter
Fill this out, sign here
and here, here, and Oh, there as well
"You've got the job, start this afternoon"
YAY!!!
stomp-squeek-stomp
down the stairs I bound
Into the car
back up and begin the drive home
Vroom, vroom, vroom
thinking quietly to myself
talking to God
maybe a combo of both
SKREEEEEEEEECCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
smoke rises behind me
releasing the smell of burnt rubber
Thank God I didn't hit that deer
as it ran across the road

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... (part the end?)

So I suppose I'll finally finish this story, hehe. (as soon as I figure out where I ended last time)
...

(^that was me pausing to check my last blog) Last time I left off talking about speaking words of life and how God opened the door for me to be in Cleansing Streams. So I suppose that this final entry will be mostly about Chi Alpha during the second semester. More specifically about the theme of getting to know God's character more accurately. During this week, when I felt like the sky was falling (specifically and only on me) there were a few messages that Pastor Linda spoke on that were very helpful when I looked back on them. The other was the Father Heart of God seminar. So for once I'll be orderly and talk about these in order.

By the time Monday of finals week came, I was completely DONE. I felt absolutely and utterly defeated and just completely worn out...the word to describe me was just DONE. I was exhausted, worn out, and i just felt helpless against life. I knew none of these feelings were true, but my emotions were trying to get the best of me. Then I remembered the night Pastor Linda talked about being in God's presence and how His presence brings things such as joy, peace, and rest. So that night, I prayed and asked God to saturate me with His presence. When I did, He responded and peace and rest completely swept over me. I was completely refreshed! I went to bed early that night deciding to trust God with my time for the next day (cause I still had a lot to study) I woke up the next day feeling 110% better and by His grace I was able to get through my microbiology notes faster than I ever had in the past. That day, God spoke to me and He told me that I am not defined by past experiences and that I should no longer believe that lie because He is a God that makes things new.

The other message that helped me out a lot was about God's Word being alive. I guess I knew that, but I'd never really tried it out. In my times of distress I started turning to His Word and throughout that week, God was throwing scriptures at me that I needed everytime I opened my Bible: Psalms 2:8, 12; 3:3,4,8; Isaiah 41:10; 44:22; 48:10,17; and 49:23,25. The only one of these verses that I knew ahead of time was Isaiah 41:10, and I hadn't reall thought about it. Me reading those verses that week was God's continuous way of comforting me, (and a decent amt of those were somewhat at rand0m...there was some systematic-ness to me reading those, sort of, but if I didn't know God, I'd have to say that me reading those was by "chance") which brings me to the last "event" of all that I shall speak of (to finally end this mini novel I accidentally started :p)

The Father Heart of God seminar. I took a lot from there, but the specific thing that helped me the most in relation to this time was that I kept remembering that the God of the universe, who controls everything, is madly in love with me, cares about me more deeply than is even fathomable by the human mind, and will work everything out for my good. Although I still don't have a concrete plan for what I'm doing this summer (and we're gettin into it according to the weather) and some of the same things that were haunting me from the beginning are still going on, it gets a bit rough sometimes, but I know that my God, who loves me, is Jehovah Jireh, my provider, and I will continue to cling to His true nature: God is LOVE!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...(part 3)

Guess I'll jump right in. Last time I talked about how God answered my prayer for more friends who were sold out for Christ. This time I will start off with something that God did that I didn't ask for, but He knew I needed. At the last Ignite meeting of last semester, some people from First Assembly came to talk about a course called Cleansing Streams. It seemed cool, and at the end of the meeting, Pastor Linda was like, "if time and money were not an issue, raise your hand if you would participate." I raised my hand because truthfully, if time and money were not an issue, I would totally do it, but thinking to myself...when are time and money not an issue?
**related sidenote: In hindsight, this is probably a lesson to me...I suppose I more frequently than I should, forget that my best friend is the master of time and created the universe. He existed and will continue to outlast all time and money**

Anyhow, we were informed that Cleansing Streams would take place on Wednesday nights, that we were not supposed to miss any classes, and we were supposed to go to a mandatory retreat at the end in April, which would cost money. I thought up all the reasons that I would not be able to do it, but I can't remember ever asking God to work it out so that I could participate. I can actually remember how cool it would be for the people that would be able to participate and saying to myself, wow, too bad I can't do it. I kind of brushed it off as something that maybe I'd be able to do someday in the future, and that was the last I heard about Cleansing streams until like late late January/early February of the next semester. At the disciplesip dessert, it was revealed to us that the Cleansing Streams course would be in lieu of normal discipleship and we'd only have to pay like half the price of the original course. This meant that I would be able to do it, b/c it would only be adding an extra hr. Actu, due to another activity that I had to drop, I guess net wise I gained an hour. I suppose it was like a praise report without the request beforehand?...That's how awesome my God is :D

There I go being long-winded again...to the point. The 2 most helpful teachings for me were about alignment and the power of words. There kind of intertwined. Learning about alignment has helped me in the fact that anytime I start having negative thoughts or I start freaking out about something (school, life...) I command my soul to align and submit to my spirit which I then command to submit to God's Holy Spirit living inside of me which contains God's truth that I am not to be anxious about anything. Which brings me to the next teaching, the power of words.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat of its fruit." (Proverbs 18:21) I learned not only how, but the importance of speaking life and blessings, and rejecting curses, not only over other people, but also over myself. The Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself, and if you have no problem blessing your neighbors, that's great, but if you're constantly cursing yourself, where does that leave you? How does one reconcile loving others w/o completely loving yourself?

My mom used to always say that you can speak things into existence. For example, if I would say something like I'm not going to do well on a quiz or something, she'd say you'd better not say that because you might speak it into existence. I mean, I suppose that I got the whole idea of not going into a quiz or test or anything, really, with a defeated attitude, but I never really grasped the power of words from her saying that. I think I'm finally getting it. In a word, God spoke the universe into existence. Our salvation comes from believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. The Bible says that they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. From this teaching, I've learned the importance of speaking God's truth out loud so that I could hear it. Throughout the week (the one I started talking about along time ago-finals-that I almost forgot about, hehe), and really anytime I'm feeling anxious, I speak Phillipians 4:6,7,13 and 1 Peter 5:7 out loud so that I can hear them. And once again, I've decided that this is probably an appropriate place to stop because otherwise, the length of this post will be just plain ole indecent.

So until next time, may the peace of the God of the universe continue to gaurd your heart and your mind. ;)
Signing off with the other LOL