My Roommate is the Coolest

The other night Hallie and I decided it was time to take some pictures. So we decided to not do our homework and go down to the Arb. for 20-30 minutes to see the beautiful colors and find enough leaves to make a pile...Unfortunately, there weren't many leaves on the ground (and they were kind of wet). We ended up taking pictures of ourselves. teehee. It was so much fun!! I love her!


We've been having so many wonderful chats lately...a few yesterday and then another one today at the Gathering :). We walked into town to got to the bank and post office (both were closed...bummer). So we went to this AMAZING old bookstore. It reminded me SO MUCH of the one in Funny Face! When we walked in the cutest cat came up to us...he just has is cat in there and it walks all around...so fun! I found these two beautiful old hymnals that I would LOVE to buy...but because they are so old (pretty much collector editions) they were 25-30 dollars. too bad I'm a poor college student who is spending way more than she should already...yikes. We went to the Gathering and did homework (aka talked) and had coffee. We decided to make it a weekly date. It is so much fun...plus exercise is good. :)
The walk into town was so wonderful. The weather was not that cold but it was nippy because of the brisk breeze...we wore scarves :) I have pictures but for some reason they won't load. Sad. The leaves are turning more and more...and gusts of wind would blow them across the road making the most beautiful scratchy/crunchy sound (hard to explain). Sometimes I feel guilty that I should get to experience such beauty alone...away from friends and family back home who don't get to experience fall (Mom, Hannah, Sarah...). I wish you could all come visit!
This weekend is parents weekend. I have discovered a few things...First, the food is SO MUCH BETTER for parents weekend. Second, Larry Arnn loves to say "give us money"...Third, its so fun to see parents and siblings around. Fourth, it kind of sucks to be among the few without parents and siblings around...alas.
Jared was over tonight and after he fixed a few things on Hallie's computer we asked him to look at our answering machine. It still won't pick up for calls out of hillsdale. weird. Jared is good at fixing a lot of things...unfortunately he wasn't able to fix the machine. But it is ok, everyone! I am going to buy a new one...that works! Because Donna's (just down the hall) accepts them, therefore it isn't the building. My mom wants it just as bad as I do...so she offered to buy it. I don't want her to but the poor college side of me says, "absolutely." Arg.
Allie has fall break next weekend and is coming to visit! Woohoo...So far I have quite a few things I want to do with her:
1. Jackson Parlous (yummo ice cream!!)
2. Cafe in Coldwater
3. The Gathering
4. Target (maybe?)
5. Outlet Malls! (we need warmer clothes!!)
6. Make dinner at Piko's appt. (real food!)
There will be more I'm sure...I haven't even mentioned some of these to you yet, Allie! hehe.
The weekend after Allie is here I am going home with Hallie for fall break! Yay! real food, real family, real home!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!
In other news...I have quite a bit of homework this week. But I am motivated to get it done on time and early so I can hang out with Allie and not be stressed or worried. I am going to start managing my time better...and reading my Bible more...and going to bed earlier. Please pray for me! I need lots of God's help!
I talked to my parents today for the first time in 10 days!! I miss them TONS. My dad just finished his biking of the grand canyon to our home...crazy! He has a fat lip because it got sunburned. And he said his butt hurts. Haha. I love him so much...he's the world's most amazing dad! I miss my family oh so much! Luke wouldn't talk to me long at all (punk!) but I talked to mom and dad for a while. God has blessed me with wonderful parents!
Ok...church tomorrow, I have to go to bed.
Oh, but P.S. I had a very encouraging talk with a friend tonight online about faith and what it means to be struggling spiritually and needing God a whole lot...among other things. It was a huge blessing...Hallie and I talk about these things, too. But other than that, there aren't very many "new" people I feel I can really talk to yet. I don't love it here yet. It's ok. I am realizing more and more that I am definitely still adjusting. I am thankful for so many things but it is sometimes easy to get discouraged or forget and think little of God's many blessing...please pray with me that I wouldn't. He is so evidently working in my life. It is exciting!
I love you all! Night!

Yay for friends and sisters!!!...and PIKO!

We're back from the Piper conference. It was wonderful...and oh so much fun! Kristen and Jay left today :( Sad. I miss them a lot. It was such an amazing trip. I'm super exhausted right now so won't write much. Mostly I just wanted to get pictures up. If you want to know more details you can email me sometime and ask :).

I have a crazy busy week ahead of me...I'm a little behind on work. But this weekend was SO worth letting a few other things slide. Besides, I'll catch up.

PS Jay is super cool! I wish i had more time to get to know him before they leave...alas. We have another road trip in November for thanksgiving! (he's coming up with the fam to my grandparents house) yay!

PPS A special thanks to Piko who made the trip extra fun...because we were able to talk in secret about Kristen and Jay AND take secret pictures of them holding hands...woohoo!!

Sisters, Sisters, There Were Never Such Devoted Sisters...

Kristen comes in approximately 3 1/2 hours!!! I am so incredibly excited....oh my. We leave for the Piper conference tomorrow around 4 (as soon as Piko is off work). This is going to be so much fun!

BUT. Aside from the funness of it all...I would like you all to pray that it would also be a tough weekend in that God would really reawaken me and teach me a lot. I really want God to be glorified in the way I live and that isn't happening right now...So I would love for this weekend to be both fun and hard, and that I can be open and ready to learn some hard truths. If that makes sense....? Thanks guys!

I'll try to update soon. I'll definitely update after the trip with some pictures :). yay.

A Journey to Jackson

Today is Mark's birthday (yay!) and we decided to venture to the Parlour in Jackson (yuuumm). Jared was kind enough to drive mark, donna, isaac, and I. It was quite the adventure, let me tell you. Mark was blindfolded the whole time and the rest of us were trying to figure out the directions. We ended up getting lost for a little while (but it was an adventure!) and Jared slammed on his breaks for a red light and we all almost died. It was pretty crazy. But we finally found it! And the trip back was a lot quicker...
We had food AND ice cream this time. I'm still SO full! It was so amazing, though. I had a BLT (mmmm) and a tin roof sundae (mmmm!!!). It was a wonderful, wonderful adventure but now I have tons of homework to do! Ack! And Kristen comes on wednesday!! OH!! and Jay is coming with us up to my grandparents for thanksgiving!! There is so much to look forward to right now...it makes the day-to-day stuff a lot harder to do. ugh. Must study for exams...






















P.S. Hannah! I HAVE to take you here...its the best ever and i know you would LOVE it. I miss you!!!

AAAAAHH!

Life is CRAZY!!!

I have so much to do and no matter how hard i work i feel like i never accomplish anything. I'm always tired and just want a nap!
(For example...tonight i was SO excited b/ci thought i would be in bed by 9:30...10:00 at least...but it is now 12:00am and I still have to study for a latin quiz. All of this was b/c of my stupid computer and b/c i can't understand computers and i am trying to format, finish writing, and print this crazy paper due tomorrow that I have been working on ALL WEEK!)

I could really use your prayers. I don't want to lose sight of what's really important and not prioritize well. I don't want to forget about the things that really matter...you know?

Please Pray.

thank you!

Crazy Days...Exciting Days

"Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life." Psalm 54:4

Learning to balance and enjoy life at the same time...while relying on the promises of God.

We had a really neat sermon last sunday on Isaiah 55 and how God's desire is not only to save us but to save and satisfy us. It was really neat...and super encouraging.

Sad Day

I MISS MY FAMILY!!!

It might be because I feel yucky, have a headache, and have to write two papers that i feel so...hhmmm, sad :( But i miss them so much! and I miss my house, and my room, and my mom's FOOD!!!

However, on the upside, I'm going to hang out with Piko tonight. We're eating pizza and watching So You Thing You Can Dance? and LOST. Sorry, kristen...i do wish you were here!!! You WILL be in 1 days! YAHHOO

I love you, my family!

Taylor Meets Hillsdale

SO! Here are pictures of Allie and Jenny's visit from Taylor! We had lots of fun...I am so glad they were able to come up!

There's a possibility I might be able to get a ride down to Taylor in about three weeks...AH! How exciting is that?!
I have to go hide myself in the library now and get lots of work done. No more slacking!!


Jenny and Hallie

The Four Girls :)

Me and Hallie

SWINGS!

Fun at the Park! woohoo

Breakfast at the Coffee Cup Cafe (so cute!)

Yay for Fun Days!!

ALLIE IS COMING THIS WEEKEND! I am SOOOOOOO excited!

AAAAAHHH

A Special Day!

Today is Donna's 19th birthday! Hurray! Here are some pictures celebrating HER!

Hannah and Donna (and Donna's new dog that Hannah got her!!). We had a small party and opening of presents in Donna's room...before the treasure hunt :)

Donna looking for another clue. Yay! How fun!!

Lauren and Donna during the amazing treasure/ scavenger hunt!

Tom cutting the cake. He did a very fine job.

Confetti cake on the IM football field. YUM!

Hannah reading Donna's amazing birthday poem

Birthday queen Donna on her birthday throne!!

The whole gang :) (left to right): Mark, Sophia, Hannah, Christine, Hallie, Emily, Donna, Tom, Lindsay (Phoebe), and Me!

Arise, My Soul, Arise

1. Arise, my soul, arise,
shake off your guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice,
in my behalf appears;
Before the throne my Surety stands,
Before the throne my Surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

Chorus: Arise (arise), arise (arise), arise
Arise, my soul, arise.
Arise (arise), arise (arise), arise
Arise, my soul, arise.
Shake off your guilty fears and rise

2. He ever lives above,
for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love,
His precious blood, to plead;
His blood atoned for every race,
His blood atoned for every race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

3. Five bleeding wounds He bears;
received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers;
they strongly plead for me:
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die!"

4. The Father hears Him pray,
His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away
the presence of His Son;
The Spirit answers to the blood,
The Spirit answers to the blood
And tells me I am born of God.

5. My God is reconciled;
His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child;
I can no longer fear
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And "Father, Abba, Father," cry.

©1996 Kevin Twit Music.

These Crazy Thoughts in My Head

“If God is to be, in truth, sought first, He must be seen as heart’s desire.”
Sheldon Vanauken A Severe Mercy


“...the human soul was made to enjoy some object that is never fully given--nay, cannot even be imagined as given--in our present mode of subjective and spatio-temporal experience.”
Sheldon Vanauken A Severe Mercy


“I had tried everything in my own mind and body; as it were, asking myself, ‘Is it this you want? Is it this?’ Last of all I had asked if Joy itself was what I wanted; and, labeling it ‘aesthetic experience,’ had pretended I could answer yes. But that answer too had broken down. Inexorably Joy proclaimed, ‘You want--I myself am your want of--something other, outside, not you nor any state of you.’” CS Lewis Surprised by Joy


“Wait on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14

“It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before Him; tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, ‘Now, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until Thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if Thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon Thee alone,O God, and my spirit waiteth for Thee in the full conviction that Thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.” Charles Spurgeon


I’ve been really burdened and quieted lately. So much is going on in my head...I’ve been thinking about a lot. And struggling with a lot. And waiting a lot...but often feeling very broken and discouraged. I would appreciate your prayers as I seek to experience and somehow understand this great and severe Lover that requires of me my whole life. This Savior that knows all of me and wildly pursues me but whom I hardly know.

Latin Rocks My Socks

So, into the first full week of school! I am excited about all my classes but math (go figure). I am most excited about latin (woot woot) and english (yay!). I really, really like my professors for each.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating...Things started fast and I've been pretty busy since. But I'll try to keep up! Even if the updates are short :)

Unfortunately I have to go. I have a Latin quiz tomorrow, english reading, history reading, and math (yuck!).

God has been so good to me as I have been settling in and getting used to "college life." He has blessed me with so many wonderful surprises (one being a JOB!...but more on that later). Thank you all for your prayers. I will try to get some letters out soon. love you guys!

Here I Go

Today was so weird. Saying goodbye is super hard. I love my family and I love my friends. A lot. Tomorrow I have to say goodbye some more...

I will email out my dorm address, email, and phone number once I get up there and figure things out a bit.

I would greatly appreciate your prayers. I'm a bit nervous...and a little scared. But still insanely excited. It's the weirdest combination and has given me a bit of a stomach ache all day...yuck.

Here I go!

Ragged and Shoddy

Excerpt taken from Shadow of the Almighty (from the journal of Jim Elliot):

December 5. "Deep sense of uselessness this morning. Enjoyed prayer, not for the thrusting out of laborers so much as for their heart-preparation in learning to know Christ. What a ragged, shoddy thing Christianity has come to be, honoring men and means, places and crowds--O Lord, deliver me from the spirit of this faithless generation. how I should long to see the simplicity and powerful beauty of the New Testament fellowship reproduced, but no one seems to be similarly exercised here, so I must wait. O Christ, let me know Thee--let me catch glimpses of Thyself, seated and expectant in glory, let me rest there despite all wrong surging round me. Lead me in the right path, I pray."

Feeling very much the same today...After spending three hours with a good friend I haven't seen in a while (Sarah), and spending time talking about our same desires and passions for the world and missions, I realize how much I have missed that. I haven't had it in a while...I was able to hear more of her heart for Brazil and it felt so good to get excited together and feel challenged together and feel convicted together. I so thirst for New Testament fellowship...Oh how I long to know Christ and know Him also through fellowship with others. Today was wonderful...much needed...but I long for more.

And Life Goes On

After spending 5 days in Prescott and about 4 days in LA, I am finally home. However, we leave tomorrow at about 4 in the morning for Colorado and our "last" family canoe trip for a while...

Life is so busy right now...there is so much I am feeling and thinking but everything is moving so fast I hardly can process anything. I have tons of thoughts and comments to post about my Prescott/LA time...but that will have to come after Colorado (I get back sunday night late).

I just wanted to let everyone know what's going on with me...
I'm mostly just super, super busy...

Love to you all!!
Andrea

Ono Grill

Teriyaki Chicken at Pete's restaurant is AMAZING....I absolutely love, love, love it.

I am going to miss it a whole lot.

The Peter Pan Syndrom

I don't really want to grow up...

What if I don't make a good college student?

Leaving behind 13 years of my life in the mission this past week was pretty hard. I would appreciate your prayers. There's so much change happening and so many different fears and emotions involved. It's a tough place to be...

Seeking God's peace.

Conference

Yay. I'm in Prescott and it's beautiful. the weather is so wonderful...cool and sometimes rainy.

Yesterday we went rock climbing, mountain biking (about 5 miles...), ad kayaking (granted it was a little fake...they were more like rafts than actual kayaks). It's been a blast.

It's weird to think I'm probably not going to see a lot of these people again...or at least not for a LONG time. I've grown up with them! Most i've known since i was five. It's such a weird feeling.

God is continually revealing new and wonderful things to me. it has been awesome to just get away from the same old same old and be able to think about different things...and relax. A lot of people are going paint-balling today...you'd probably have fun mark. But you'll be ashamed to know that I didn't sign up...sorry.

Tomorrow we're going to Sedona! I am SOOOO excited. We're biking in a ways and then hiking to a water hole. Super exciting!

Hosea 6:3

"Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."

To Tell Or Not To Tell

Does anyone ever wonder why when, in the Gospels, Jesus heals someone He sometimes says, "Go, and tell everyone what you have seen," and other times He says, "Tell no one what has happened here"? Because I do...It seems that the general pattern is to ask people not to make Him known...why?

"And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it." Mark 7:36

I'm reading through Mark right now and it really struck me...why charge a man not to tell the most amazing thing that ever happened to him? If I witnessed a miraculous act of God, I'm pretty darn sure I wouldn't be able to keep it quiet. Did Jesus really mean for them to keep quiet?...I'm not sure He did.

Anyhow, It's just something I've been thinking about. Mark is such a wonderful account...I love it.

Let me know your thoughts if you have any...

Too Much Digging

Some thoughts and quotes inspired by Annie's recent blog...

"What good are Greek, commentaries, insight, gift, and all the rest, if there is no heart for Christ?" -Jim Elliot

"Feel I failed the Lord in too much digging for sermon thoughts, and not enough time letting the Scripture speak to me." -Jim Elliot

" I find I must drive myself to study, following the 'ought' of conscience to gain anything at all from the Scripture, lacking any desire at times. it is important to learn respect and obedience to the 'inner must' if godliness is to be a state of soul with me. I may no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather respond to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not." -Jim Elliot

Struggling with feelings of emptiness and dryness, I am beginning to learn respect for the "inner must" and am not expecting shocking and bold revelations from Him, but am training my ears to listen to the still small voice. It's often frustrating but I have found that studying my Bible in such a way leads to a new richness found each day. I'm trying to develop a heart for Christ when, for so long, I have depended on other things...

"Ordinary life for me has been spoiled forever by the prospect of what real living is..."

I'm So Excited!

I got my schedule of classes for the fall semester today!! I am so incredibly excited about them. I can't wait!!

Western Heritage (monday, wednesday, friday)
Latin (monday, tuesday, wednesday, friday)
Math (monday, tuesday, wednesday, friday)
Freshmen Rhetoric and the Great Books (monday) **
English Seminar (thursday) **

**With professor Sundahl!!! I am SOO excited...Hannah, you might be the only one that knows him...from the Hillsdale conference here in town. Anyway, he's really good. I like him tons.

Guys, I am soo excited! AAaaahhh!!!

(Hannah, having your schedule totally helps you feel more like a college student...now i know how you felt when you were having orientation and getting all your classes, etc. It's exciting!)

The Redeemed Whore

So...I am supposed to be reading the Odyssey. I’m behind on my pre-assigned amount of reading for today. sigh...it’s hard to stay motivated. Anyway, I finally got my new Piper book in the mail today. It’s the book he co-wrote with Justin Taylor after the national conference last fall on Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. It came with a free dvd of two Piper messages and brief highlights from the other speakers. I watched Piper’s first message and came away with some incredibly wonderful ideas and verses that I wanted to share...

His two main points for the first message were 1) Sexuality is designed by God as a way to know Christ more fully and 2) Knowing Christ more fully is designed as a way of guarding, guiding, and governing our sexuality. (I’m not going to go into much of these two points, I just wanted to give an idea of what the message was about.)

When speaking on his first point, he referenced some incredibly powerful and astounding verses from Ezkiel that blew me away. They are not for the faint of heart. (Piper was speaking in reference to God’s relationship with Israel--the Church.)

Ezkiel 16:4-10:
“And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!” I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.”

*This passage is so powerful. It is such an amazing representation of the utterly free and undeserved mercy Christ has shown us.

The passage continues 16:13-16:
“Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced in royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.”

*This is what happens when we don’t treasure Christ above all things--when we don’t press on to know the Lord and seek Him with reckless abandon...when we forsake him for "lovers less wild."

The judgement--Ezekiel 16:35-37:
“Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.” (...the passage continues and is, indeed, very graphic in its description of God’s judgement of the adulteress...).

BUT, God hates divorce and never does it. He puts distance between Him and His bride, but He does not (will not) forsake her. He will bring her back (Hosea 2:14-20) at the cost of His Son. He will not break His covenant with her (Ezkiel 16:59-63):
“For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

*As Piper says, “He does not give up His faithless wife to her brutal lovers.” He payed with himself for her awful sins...

I found these passages absolutely incredible. They gave a whole new meaning to the institution of marriage and the words of Paul (Ephesians 5:25-27):
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might me holy and without blemish.”

*Piper’s point (his first point) was that sexuality (our sexuality) is meant to be a pointer to our (the Church’s) relationship with God. The beauty and sacred wonder of our sexuality reflects (on even a much smaller scale) the beauty and sacred wonder of our relationship with Christ, our husband.

My random thoughts and ideas all put together here don’t do much justice at all to Piper’s actual message. These are just a few of his points, not even explained very well. But all this to say that it is a wonderful dvd and I so look forward to reading the book...though I still have to read the Odyssey. arg....

Mother India

(Off of Caedmon's Call's album: Share the Well)

Father God, you have shed your tears for Mother India
They have fallen to water ancient seeds
That will grow into hands that touch the untouchable
How blessed are the poor, the sick, the weak

Father, forgive me, for I have not believed
Like Mother India, I have groaned and grieved
Father, forgive me, I forgot your grace
Your spirit falls on India and captured me in your embrace

The serpent spoke and the world believed its venom
Now we're ten to a room or compared to magazines

There's a land where our shackles turn to diamonds
Where we trade in our rags for a royal crown
In that place, our oppressors hold no power
And the doors of the King are thrown wide


"After the first few days in India, seeing a couple different cities, and all the poverty but all the beauty there, I wanted to write something that would hopefully sound as huge as the experience felt to me. I think that the greatest joy comes from the greatest sadness, and I love how joyful the end of the song became because of the dirt and tears in the beginning."
Andrew Osenga (Words and music with Randall Goodgame)

Finding Neverland

I finally saw Finding Neverland tonight...

It was amazing. I loved it. I don't know what else to say because I can't even explain how i feel. It was wonderful and i haven't had such a satisfying cry in a while...does that make sense? Imagination is incredible and being a kid is so...magical.

I highly recommend it.

Missing My Sister

A lot

Seek God...all else will follow

It's a very hard thing to find the balance between being in the world and not of it...I feel like we as Christians spend (and even waste) a lot of time arguing and analyzing about how we are to live and act in a world that isn't our own. It's ok to struggle and wrestle with issues of our faith--it's important that we do, but I'm afraid we spend very little time seeking and studying what Scripture tells us. I think this is because we've lost sight of the purpose in ministering to the surounding culture--to proclaim the glory of God. I am just as guilty of this as anyone, that's why I'm writing. God has shown me some really neat verses that I believe are key in this issue of how to engage the culture around us.

1 Thessalonians 4:3
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God..."

The Church has become far too occupied with the nitty gritty to be of much use to the Kingdom. I have found that I worry a lot about all kinds of "do's" and "don'ts" when my time would be much better spent on God's work that is eternal...the proclamation and living out of His glory so the world will see a living testimony of His love. God's WILL is our sanctification. Let us align our will with His...all else will follow.

Mark 7:14, 15
"And He called the people to Him again and said to them, 'Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."

Matthew 15:16-20
"And He said, 'Are you without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."

It seems there is a never ending stream of conversation and argument about what, as Christians, is ok to watch (listen to) and what isn't. I recognize that it is important to struggle with, wrestle with, and determine boundaries in such areas--hugely important. However, I found these verses incredibly insightful and encouraging because they brought everything together for me. Watching a movie with crude language and crass humor won't defile me. However, it will soon begin to affect me inside. How it affects my heart, mind, and soul, will be seen in the way I live my life--in my beliefs and actions. What comes out of a man is what defiles him.

I have seen friends "engage the culture" and as a result I can no longer tell who or what they are living for. In my opinion, this is not a good sign. Whether that "one movie" or that "one song" is "bad" or not doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that Christ is no longer being glorified or magnified...and that's the whole point of engaging and identifying with the culture.

I believe that when, and only when, the Church decides to live solely for the sake of the Gospel, and Christians align their will with the will of God (that is, seeking their sanctification), will we see success in the "engaging of the culture."

Christ said that the greatest of all commands is to love God and love others...there's a reason the rest will follow. Perhaps we should be less focused on whether or not that one movie is "ok" to watch, and more focused on God's glory and the work He desires to do in us and through us. I have a feeling the rest will follow...

Wow...its been a while

So our comuter was out for almost two weeks--no email, updating of blog, downloading pictures, etc. I never realized how much I use the computer until I don' have it. It was a good lesson. The downed computer, along with the fact that I still have no job, left me with lots of free time. It turned out to be such a huge blessing.

I haveread (Chronicles of Narnia, No Graven Image, The Great Omission), played with friends, and babysat. The babysitting thing has turned out to be really wonderful. Since I have no job, it brings in a little extra money and I am able to help out a mom with five kids (three of them foster). I have been so blessed to be able to be a blessing to them in their time of need. It is really rewarding to give a mom a break--even if it is only for an hour or two.

For a while I was really stressing out about the job situation. However, by this point, with about one month left of work time, it doesn't look hopeful. I am beginning to feel a little mre at peace about not getting a job. Something could come through, but I doubt it. I am enjoying a restful summer. God has been giving me wonderful time with family and friends...I have been doing lots of neat projects with my mom and I am thankful we've had the time to do them...

Stacey was wonderful and reminded me of the huge importance of rest. I was feeling frustrated and upset because I wasn't accomplishing anything. She reminded me that rest IS accomplishing something. And it is super important or else God wouldn't have set time aside specifically FOR rest.

That's all for now...OH! and I am on my new computer. That's the new big news. I got a new 12 inch mac (ibook)...I absolutely LOVE it!!!