Classical Craze

After discovering that the first five pages of "Twilight" are written at a 4.2 grade level I decided that that for the next year I am going to read only classic books. This may be crazy for a student who is still in high school (only 2 months left though), but I want to see if it makes a difference. I still can't believe that... 4.2, that means that if required to write at grade level all 5th graders could undoubtedly come up with better. I regret to say that I actually was obsessed with the series a couple years ago.

Spiritual disconnect

As of late I have been feeling that oh too familiar feeling of a disconnect from God. It is a frustrating thing to deal with, but not impossible to revert. Yesterday evening I noted that it had been a good three weeks since the last time I read the Bible, therefore starving myself spiritually. Worse than that my prayer life had become pitiful, praying only when something big was going down and late at night when I could not sleep. Perhaps the worst of all of it was the recurrence of some sin in my life, not cutting just to clear that up, but some not so pretty sins. However as sin often does, it blinds you from seeing what it is that you are doing wrong, how to fix it, and the salvation we can obtain from Christ. Tonight I decided to stop being lame and pick up my Bible. Normally I would not be in favor of a random search of the Bible, but it worked tonight. I turned to Psalm 38 (the book I have been intending to start). Read it now then come back. After reading it twice I decided to go online and find some commentaries, just for grins. This is what I found:

Isaiah 53:5 "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Mark 14:50 "Then everyone deserted him and fled."

Mark 15:3-5 "The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, 'Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.' But Jesus still made no reply and Pilate was amazed."

Christ suffered and died for you. Now maybe you know that in your head, but let it sink in a little bit, He died a horrible gruesome death so that he could spend eternity with you. Every single little secret sin, which nailed him to the cross, he sees and still loves and forgives you, that is a radical love. Even though many people will never love him, he still loves them. Think about the person who has hurt you the most, and I might add repeatedly with little to no regard to how it hurts you. Love them. A little tough, right? And yet Christ loves us despite the fact we regularly spit in his face.

- Salvation means making safe, more specifically after death
- soteriology - theological study of salvation that covers the how we get salvation and how the
process is began (weird terminology, hard to explain)
- freedom from bondage to sin
- salvation is not earned
- It brings a person back into the right relationship with God
- Salvation must be accepted or claimed
- Repentance is more than just saying sorry for past mistakes, it is being sincerely remorseful
for rejecting Christ.
- Salvation is rooted in the grace of God
- God is good, perfect, and fair so sin keeps us from being in a right relationship with God.

I would encourage you to also google the names of God with scripture, a website I found to be helpful was: http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestudyresources/qt/namesofgodjesus.htm.

I ask for prayer for the trip Katie and I are planning for Canada this summer and for my job which I should be starting next week sometime.

Opportunity

I have the awesome opportunity to (for lack of better word) mentor a 8th grader. She is 14 and the youngest in her family, she has the whole tough chick routine and knows how to play church girl when needed. Please pray for that, I really hope she can know Christ on deeper more personal level. Also looking for good devotionals to go through with her.

Also pray for my job interview tomorrow, so nervous.

Wow

Ok so I have been experimenting with "plarn". If you dont know what plarn is it is plastic bags like you would get from the grocery store that are cut up and used like yarn. While many cliches would fit with this I have to say tha God can take anything and make into something good, even ridiculous plastic bags from the grocery store. This is definitely a fun way of recycling

Things not to ask God.

These are just a few weird things that happened to me following prayers.

Prayer: God, give me more opportunities to talk to people about you.
Answer: Within 10 minutes I found myself talking to a Hindu man from Trinidad.

Prayer: God, if this is where you want me please make it clear
Answer: Within an hour the small group leader wants me to lead the small group for the next two weeks.

Prayer: God show me where to look for a job
Answer: Now hiring signs on many McDonalds, as well as on my AOL job finder. (God your so not funny. lol)

Prayer: Please help me to if nothing else get the interview for ANY job.
Answer: Within 24 hours McDonalds calls.

Ok lesson for today, make sure you are willing before you ask God. It is not that I am not willing, it is simply surprising the response that came so quickly.

Perhaps I did hear right

When God told me to go back to my old church I cleared out my ears and tried again, the message was the same. *sigh* ok, God, whatever you say (may have said that with a little sarcasm). This morning as I was driving to church I asked God to show me in some way if that church is where he wants me, then He is gonna need to do something, anything to make that clear. Well He made it clear, and it could be because I was about ready to give up on them. However, as I am beginning to see, God's time is not our time and I should not assume that what I think should come at a certain time will not.
Well as it turns out I am leading small group for the next two weeks, that may not seem like much, but it is the group with all the upperclassmen, and I have two goals I am praying God will work out. First, that the Holy Spirit speaks through me and convicts, and Second they will leave wanting to give their world a little more Jesus. Regardless I think that if the youth drastically changes from being focused on itself to focused on God that the rest of the church will see that and go. Anywho, Aaron, you may have been right, but we shall see.

Ok

James 1:19 - 20 (NIV) "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring the righteous life that God desires."

Ok so after memorizing James 1 random parts have come back to me and well some was encouraging, and some, like this passage, was simply convicting. Last Sunday at youth I showed up angry, angry with them and let's just say it was not exactly what God wanted. When God called me back to that church I was kind of sad because I really loved my old church. Anyways going to a youth group to change things for the better is seriously impared when one (such as myself) goes in and blows up. Oh, I kept on my good little church girl face, I have learned that one at least, but it was at least to upset the small group leader. So I screwed up and now I have to make amends and it will not be fun.

Spiritual Gift

I took a spiritual gift test. Here are my highest along with their description. The first two were tied as the highest.

Missionary: "the ability to communicate across cultural barriers and plant churches where there is no knowledge of the gospel. It is usually acompanied with a distinct calling and a miraculous lifestyle. In Greek (apostolos) 'a sent one', or 'a messenger', a Missionary. Sometimes called the gift of Apostle, although true apostles were required to have seen the risen Lord."

Prophecy: "speaking what God wants said with clarity, creativity, and power. It is also caled the gift of Preaching. The primary ministry in this gift is not prediction, but in confronting people with the truth about God and man - with conviction and repentance as the result."

Serving: "a gift which expresses the love of Christ by taking care of lowly or time-consuming tasks to allow others to be more effective ministers. Similar to the gift of Helps, but here the work performed is menial rather than skilled."

God, Why did you hurt Elmo?

Just sitting here in barnes and noble reading. I see a mother pushing her her child in a stroller who is holding an Elmo book. The mother turns for a moment to look at some books and the child leans over the side and drops her book. Then instantly starts crying to her mother asking why mommy hurt Elmo. I caught myself thinking, "I sure am glad I was never like that." Then I realized that I do that all the time with God... Oops.

Location:Barnes and Noble

Long Division

This has really began to irritate me. This may be offensive so if you are are feeling particularly sensitive just go to a different site. I want to ask why there are so many denominations that fall under the Christian umbrella (excluding those that deny fundamental teachings from the Bible)? Have you really sat down and thought about it? We as the body of Christ should be acting unified, but we aren't like that when we look at the fact that there are so many denominations. I have nothing against baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, etc... but I do have an issue with the fact that we are not acting like a unified movement going into the entire world.