Follow the Star 2010

So, I'm at Center Lake Bible Camp right now for the whole weekend. I'm helping with a free living nativity they run every December known as Follow the Star. I'm playing the prophet Isaiah all weekend. I stand by a fire and read from the book of Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 6-7 when prompted. It's pretty cold here at night, and it's hard not to get a faceful of smoke next to the fire, so I ran circles around the A-Frame to keep warm. Also, at the end of the event tonight, I failed at finding the right knob to turn my lantern off, and I got some really nice burn imprints from a metal piece on the top of the lantern. Pretty nice patterns.

I'm highly amused by what my boss Don has been wearing since I've been here. Along with normal warm-looking clothes, he has some big ol' boots, a pointy cap that trails halfway down his back, and rabbit-fur mittens that go halfway up his arms and look like bear paws. He kind of looks like a big angry elf.

I have a good bit of work to do while I'm here beside volunteering in the evenings. I have to research my camp's history and write an 8-10 page paper by the middle of this coming week, so I have to focus on that in the day. A couple of my friends here are going to see the new Narnia movie tomorrow, but I don't think I'll be able to go because of my homework. Oh well. Camp is really peaceful when no one is around, and it's really beautiful in the winter.

On a side note, I'm really happy that school is almost over for the semester. It's gone by pretty fast, but it's been pretty frustrating at the same time. Christmas break should be good, even though I'll be working ahead on homework for my January class. Being at home will make it much better.

Peace.

Footprints

So, I was walking back from class this morning in the snow. I decided I wanted to walk where there weren't other tracks in the snow; I wanted to make a distinct path that was my own, a path which was different from all the rest, and that would maybe even become used by others. Then I thought about how when spring comes, my tracks are going to disappear, never truly remembered by anyone else. The snowy path I thought was my own will melt away to reveal the glory of the green grass thriving again in the sun.

Food for thought.

Peace.

A Dream

So, I have a certain professor for two of my classes this semester. They're a newly hired ministry professor at Spring Arbor. At the beginning of the semester, I thought this professor was pretty cool and a good professor. After spending most of the semester learning under this person, though, I've been seeing more of their "faults" and teaching methods which I don't particularly like. It's been really getting to me the past couple weeks, in fact, and I started to lose respect for this person at one point because of my dislike of certain classroom activities and the fact that they grade work slightly harsher than many other professors here.

Last night, I had a dream that this professor personally asked me something to the effect of, "How am I doing as a professor?" In my dream, I scrambled to come up with answers which would encourage this person, because I realized they really were a good professor, and were trying hard. WOW. That was a mindset change for me. I realized this morning in class (ironically, the only class I have today, AND with this same professor) how poorly I have been regarding this person, not necessarily in class, but in my words outside of class and in my thoughts.

I can't really continue acting and thinking this way after that dream. Thank you God for showing me where I was going wrong in my relationship with this person.

Peace.

Boundaries

So, I was thinking a few minutes ago about boundaries in dating relationships. If you read my last post, you already know I just started a new relationship with a friend of mine. Like anyone else normally would in a relationship, I've been thinking about boundaries and intimacy. We haven't really talked about boundaries, other than taking things slow and wanting to glorify God in everything. Strangely enough, though, I'm ok with not having talked about it. My past relationships, we set boundaries. Those boundaries became lines which we got as close as we could to, and we would inevitably cross them. Talking about boundaries has, in my own past, made things harder. As I've posted before, I've put a lot of thought already into how I want things to go this time around, and that includes boundaries. I see this person as a beautiful child of God in a way I couldn't in my previous relationships. We both know our feelings for the other, and we both want to relate to each other in a respectable, Godly way. Things are going well, and I have no desire to push the boundaries from where they currently stand.

Peace.

Lately...

So, I guess I haven't blogged in a while, have I, internetz? Well, most things have been going pretty average lately. College is lame, as usual.

There are a few new developments with me, though. I have been working on memorizing Scripture, first off. How sad is that! It's a NEW thing with me...we should ALWAYS be memorizing Scripture and spending time in God's Word if we claim to know ANYTHING about what He's said in it! I just memorized part of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and now I'm working on Romans chapter eight. It has been pretty tough, especially since I left my Bible at my camp this weekend (which is three hours away...). I would highly recommend memorizing large portions of Scripture as a life habit...it will really help change your heart, your perspective, and your actions. Think of a time when someone you really cared about sent you a letter, message, note, etc. Did you read it over and over again, going back to it later to really let it sink in? I have. How much more we should be doing the same with God's Word!

Speaking of things like that...another new development for me is that I've just recently entered into a new relationship with a friend of mine. I've posted about relationships on here before; my own failings in them, my feelings at the time, and what I want to do differently in the future. Well, in all my contemplations and prayers about my next romantic relationship, I did not actually think I would find myself in one as ideal as I was hoping for...but that's pretty much where I'm at right now. We both are taking it very seriously, and don't want to rush anything, which has been hard, but really great. Something which I would like to change, however, is how we spend our time together. So far, we've gone out to dinner a few times, bowling, watching movies, and just chillin on Mt. Beebe...but I would like for us to spend some time in the Word together, focusing on God. I'm planning on bringing this up the next time we're together.

If anyone still keeps track of my blog, I would really appreciate your prayers in this matter. I know from personal experience how badly a relationship can go when the focus isn't on God; I don't want to have that happen again. Thank you.

Peace.

Vision

So, every once in a while, I get this recurring vision. It's not some great vision of God's majesty and splendour; it's more of an idea which keeps coming to me. I often think of all the things I could do with my life which would bring God glory and make plans of how I could do them, but for some reason this one keeps coming back, and often more detailed each time. I want to someday have a home characterized by generosity and peace, where anyone can come and go as they please. They would get fed and shown love, and would even have a place to stay for some time if necessary. It could be a place of recovery and of job-searching. I don't know if this includes me having a family or not, but this idea keeps coming back to me.

Along with this, I think God wants to cultivate generosity and peace in me for it to happen. Ironic, as those are two of the fruits I often struggle with the most, even if it's not obvious. I can give away things which don't matter to me, but when it comes to more "important" things, like my CDs, my iPod, my stereo, and even my time. I'm very selfish. I'm also often easily upset and angered by certain things. Basically, I'm the opposite of generosity and peace most of the time, haha! I'm always thinking about Luke 14 and 18, where Jesus speaks about the cost of following Him, and selling one's possessions. I am rich by the world's standards in general, so why do I feel like I need more stuff so often? God has been slowly convicting me more and more of these things (the chapel speaker today even brought up the story of the rich young ruler), and I'm getting tired of hearing Him tell me things and not obeying Him. I was going to talk a lot more about Jesus' words here, but that's a rant for another day, haha.

These are my thoughts today. I'd appreciate your prayers for generosity and peace.

Some thoughts on Sabbath

So, I've been really looking into the Sabbath, or Shabbat, a lot lately. In my Spiritual Formations class, we talked about some verses in Isaiah 58 about fasting, but I found some verses about Sabbath which I really liked.


"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth..."


You may see some issues with this. For example, it's obviously originally addressed to the Israelites, not Christians (since they weren't even around then). Next, you might say it doesn't apply to us, since it's in the Old Testament and Jesus has freed us from all those laws. I don't want to talk too much about those issues, but I will say a few things. I believe God's Word is living and active, and also that God is outside of time, so from there it's not much of a stretch to say God's Word addresses all of God's people throughout time, including Christians. Also, without getting into a really big argument, I'd also like to say this passage is not technically part of the Law, nor is it a law at all.


This is God talking to His people, telling them the purpose of the Sabbath. Going to Jesus' own words, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. This doesn't contradict the passage in Isaiah, even though God says we should keep from pleasuring ourselves "or talking idly." The Sabbath is made for man so that he can have a time to focus completely on God alone. Of course it wouldn't make sense if man was made for the Sabbath. God makes it plain in the Isaiah passage that we are supposed to use the time for focusing on Him, not ourselves. It's not a day for catching up on homework, for fasting, or even for doing nothing at all; it's a day meant for a time of closer communion with God and for seeking Him. It's also one of the most taken-for-granted aspects of our faith. I'm running out of thoughts, so I guess that's it for now. Just thought I'd share that.


Peace.