From a book I have to read for a class, the book is "The Offering of Man" by Harry Blamires, a book I actually enjoy!!

(regarding serving God)

"And when we 'serve Him', it isn't like taking flowers to a patient in the hospital.  It is more like leaping on a passing bus."

The opportunity will pass if you hesitate! So take a deep breath...and leap!

The Lord is my light and my salvation -
 whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life -
 of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked advance against me
 to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
 who will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me
 my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
 even then I will be confident.

One thing I ask from the Lord,
 this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
 all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
 and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
 he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
 and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted
 above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
 I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
 be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, "Seek his face!"
 Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
 do not turn your servant away in anger;
 you have been my helper;
Do not reject me or forsake me,
 God my Saviour.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
 The Lord will receive me.
Teach me your way, Lord;
 lead me in a straight path
 because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
 for false witnesses rise up against me,
 spouting malicious accusations.

I remain confident in this:
 I will see the goodness of the Lord
 in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
 be strong and take heart
 and wait for the Lord.

I  Psalm 27

New Moses

I just learned something in a class and I found it fascinating, so I just had to write it down even if no one cares!

I hear quite a bit about the parallels between Jesus and Adam, and how Jesus was the second Adam when he overcame temptation and defeated Satan when Adam could not (The shortened version of it).  I've heard too before about how Jesus was like the second Israel, being victorious in the desert/wilderness for forty days while the Israelites had made no headway, having wandered in the desert/wilderness for forty years.

BUT my prof has just shown our class a  new parallel between Jesus and someone else in the OT, and that was Moses.  As Moses in the OT had chosen 12 tribes of Israel to start to form a new Israel, so does Jesus in the NT start to form another new Israel through the 12 new "tribes" - being the disciples (minus Judas but plus one later on).  Also, Moses on Mount Sinai had read the 10 commandments out to the Israelites, this was their part of the covenant they were to keep in order to have relationship with the Lord, and Jesus later on also redefines the 10 commandments with the Sermon on the Mount, broadening the meaning of each commandment. 

This might be week-old gym socks to someone, but to me, having just learned this was amazed.  I find that the symbolism and the parallelism sooooo interesting in the Bible that I just had to write it down in case I forget later. heh...It's not that big of a revelation, but I somehow found it sooo fascinating, I don't even know exactly why yet, but I'll find out sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

OK

BYE

Hey everyone! I'm in such a good mood tonight, I've just been so thankful for everything that's going on in my life right now.  I'm really thankful for the friends that God has brought me here at school, I can actually have real conversations with them, I've only know them for not even two months, yet I feel like I've known them for years.  Each one is so different, which is awesome.  I talked to a friend tonight and she is feeling called to become a missionary, and so is planning to change her program major from Behavioural Sciences to Intercultural Studies.  It was great talking to her about it, it encouraged myself and reaffirmed my own decisions in my future when I hear myself encouraging her to take this step. It also got me to re-evaluate my own life and all the steps God has taken to prepare and set me up for AUC-NUC to study, and when I think about all those little pointers that God has taken care to place in my life regarding my future, how can I say no to whatever plan He has in store for me?

So with that in mind, I think I really do want a future career in the mission field of some sort, it was hard admitting it at first to myself because it seemed like such an unstable, frightening career.  But now I've gotten over it and it's such a relief! The only thing I'm not certain about is the "how" process, there are so many paths nowadays to get to one place and I just don't know which direction to head in, although I have an inkling of an idea.

I also have a slight idea of where God wants me to go....call me crazy, but there have been so many "coincidences" and this has been on my mind recently and I think I know what place it's all pointing to....for now anyways. BUT I still can't be 100% sure because I just overthink everything and doubt everything a little bit too much.  It might just be a place that God wants me to go to for a while, and not long term, but it's the beginning and we'll see how it goes I guess.  I'm not gonna name this place and why I think it's the place that God wants me to be involved with on this blog thingymajig because I still want to know for sure first, and there's plenty of time. But if you want to know, ask and I'll tell you! Because I would love any thoughts on this and whether you guys think it's just my overactive imagination or if it really is something that might be from God.

The rest of life has been sweet to me, classes are pretty good, one in particular has been really challenging recently.  One assignment has been to talk with a non-christian for about two hours to hear about what they believe in, this is to practise the art of listening and then we had to write a paper thing on it.  I chose my non-christian friend from Victoria to talk with, and although we didn't talk for two hours, it was such a great opportunity to talk about Christianity and to explain to him or her what I believe in.  Another assignment coming up is the act of sharing our faith, where we have to find another non-christian and then share our faith with them and then write a reflection kind of paper on it OR we have to read a book on sharing our faith and then write a paper on it.  But I'm gonna try to share my faith with a non-christian instead and not read the book, for one thing, it'll take less time, and I really want to stretch my boundaries and learn to be more bold. (Also, I just don't want to read anymore..)

Ok man that was a long post, alright everyone, let me know how you're doing!! I don't wanna be out of the loop when I get back!! (which by the way is Dec 21 in the morning:D:D)

sammy slamma jamma (the name mentioned in the movie High School Musical)

Identity

Hey to everyone who actually reads these, I've decided to use this xanga site to post up some of what I'm learning at Bible school, because I know that not everyone wants long serious emails about stuff like this, but with all this stuff I'm learning, I just can't not share it somehow! 

I'm just studying for a quiz tomorrow for the Intro to Christian Spirituality class, and something really struck me.  And that was that our identity does not begin with our understanding of ourselves.  This is the actual quote, "...my identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself.  There is something previous to what I think about myself, and that is what God thinks about me.  That means that everything I think and feel is by nature a response, and the one to whom I respond is God." (Peterson, Run With the Horses, 38).

It's humbling to know that our identity does not begin with what we understand of ourselves or hope ourselves to become.  But that it begins with God when He created each one of us with a purpose in His infinite mind.  It's a common mindset to think that our identity belongs to us and that we get to shape and form our identity, but it really begins with the Creator.  Before what I thought about myself was what God thought about  me when He created me, that's true identity. 

We can look towards Jesus as an example in finding our identity in God. He knew that he had come from God and was going to God, and that gave him confidence in his identity in God to lower himself to the status of a servant to wash his disciples feet. 

"3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist." (and the rest you know...about Jesus washing the disciples' feet and all) John 13:3-4

I think that's all pretty amazing

Ok...I'm done blabbing on for now! Gotta get back to studying...