Let's get over ourselves...

Why is American culture so focused on independence?  It's all about doin' it yourself and taking all the due credit.  It's okay to give assistance to someone who asks, but Good Heavens! you better not be the one asking.  It's no wonder Americans have such trouble with free grace and salvation in Christ.  Accepting God's provision means we are admitting dependence on God.  Our impressive independence could end up being our down fall.  We really are such a lonely people!  I ride the bus every day to school and hardly anyone says a word to another person.  Most people, young and old, go about their commute with headphones on that clearly send the message of DO NOT DISTURB.  It makes me sad.  I try to make a point to always greet and thank my bus drivers and I don't wear earphones while on the bus.  I may have a tired look on my face, but I want to be approachable and offer a smile to those around me.  We really are all in this together and the sooner we realize that, the better.  

Taking the reigns.

I've started my 3rd week of class and I'm still having fun.  The subject matter is really interesting to me and the social dynamics of the group are really entertaining.  I do wish I was more studious and could keep up with the work load better.  At least I'm aware of my time managment weakness and admission is half the battle, right?  Ideally, I'd like to use my morning train ride as devo time.  Perhaps my lunch hour or my ride home can be my blog time.  It's easier to write a post when the topic is fresh on my mind.


Last Wednesday at the Youth Church I volunteer at I gave the message for the evening.  It started off a bit bumpy but then I hit the part I was most passionate about and the kids quieted down.  I'll post my notes on here eventually.  This last weekend was the Youth Conference for the AOG Northwest district.  I felt like an old person.  I wanted to complain about the music volume and the encouraging of high energy and yadda yadda.  Thankfully, the Lord ebbed me a few times to stop complaining and just join in the fun and be an example for the teens who were there.  It's humbling when you hear God whisper "Hey, this is about ME, not you."  He's never rude about it, just a gentle reminder.


Sometimes I can be so negative about church conferences.  I don't like the idea of going away for a couple days to get high on Jesus only to come back home and drop from that high.  I've seen it happen too many times and a resulting bitterness is planted, or a misunderstanding of how our faith should feel begins to grow.  I do believe should go to events like that (or church even) expecting God to be there, but we should also know that while an emotional high itself isn't a bad thing, we can distort it into something that it is not.  We need to learn to live out our faith reguardless of how we feel.  The Truth of the Word is what we should stand on and live by.  If you're feeling lonely, that doesn't mean God isn't there.  The Word tells us that he will never leave us or forsake us.  We must reign our emotions, not let them reign us.


Peace to you!

Seattle with Sarah!

Today after class, Sarah came and picked me up and we went out to lunch and drove around to a few places in Seattle. It was so nice to visit with her. We went to Fremont and ate at a place called Homegrown. Then she took me over to see her and Aaron's community garden. It's super cute! What a fun project. She drove me around a bit to see some of the sites and then we stopped at one of her favorite coffee shops. I think it was called Fidor. Tasty. It was SUCH a lovely day out to be in Seattle. I've never really been a Seattle person, but perhaps it will grow on me over the next couple years. We'll see!

More to come later about my "Terp Adventures."