It literally scares the hell out of me

"First, the online response has been shocking and we are grateful for all our Internet friends who have tripled traffic to the Mars Hill Church website (www.marshillchurch.org) and also pushed our iTunes podcast as high as #4 under Religion and Spirituality, just behind Oprah, Joel Osteen, and the LDS national conference."

Woah. Dang.

It takes MHC to do a series on sex to come in BEHIND Oprah, Joel Osteen, and the Mormons???

Are you freaking serious?

As Driscoll would say: that's just fresh toilet water.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

"But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?" Romans 9:20-24

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." 2 Tim 3:16

Desks

They say that a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind.

For me, a cluttered desk= a cluttered life. It's rare that my desk-space isn't clear, and when it isn't it's because life is so stressful that I don't have time to keep it organized.

Perhaps it works in the reverse too: if I organize my desk, then maybe my life will become less stressful.

2 words

Psychomotor retardation.

Halloween

is just an excuse for girls to dress up in what they could never get away with any other time in October.

God is good.

God is good.

Hell is bad.

God is omnipotent.

God can do whatever He wants.

God is good.

People go to hell.

Jesus died so we wouldn't.

But people still do.

God is good.

Jesus' death could have covered it all.

But people still go to hell.

God....is.....good....

I know it's Biblical, but i just can't reconcile it in my brain.

Why yes...(part 2)

I spent almost all of the daylight hours on the computer with Jesus and my boyfriend, listening to sermons and talking.

Doesn't everyone?

Why yes...

...I DO listen to sermons, do my dishes, and clean my room to relax on a Friday night.

Doesn't everyone?

Divided Monarchy

There were kings in both Judah and Israel named Jehoram and Ahaziah.

And practically every other king's name started with J or A.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

It's too late for this silliness.

Optimism?

Well, I wasn't going to get much sleep tonight anyway, b/c of my exam. So this isn't making it much worse than it was going to be in the first place....

A comparison

Shakespeare: grocery store romance novels :: LOTR: Harry Potter

Sorry kids. HP was interesting and all, but Tolkien just plain owns.

Nada te turbe

Simply beautiful. And so much better in Spanish. But it's no good if you don't understand it...

Nada te turbe,
nada te espante,
todo se pasa;
Dios no se muda.
La paciencia
todo lo alcanza;
Quien a Dios tiene,
nada le falta;
Solo Dios basta.
~Santa Teresa


Translation...
Let nothing disturb you,
nothing surprise you,
all things pass;
God does not change.
Patience
it wins everything;
whoever holds onto God
lacks nothing;
God alone is enough.

Course Selection

Class listing:
REL-337W-A: Biblical Topics: Mark and Thomas.

Swell!

Until I looked at the course description: "By comparing and contrasting these two Gospels...." (emphasis mine)

Not so swell.

On Chronicles (and most of the OT)

I wonder why God, knowing from the start that He was going to reveal Himself to His people in one book (or 66...), decided to fill up so much of the Old Testament with genealogies, tribal/ military/ musician divisions, and very precise details (ie. the dimensions of Noah's ark, the ark, Solomon's temple....).

"I can't wait"

While I find myself using this phrase a good deal when associated with feelings of excitement, it makes no sense to me whatsoever.

"I'm excited" makes sense.

But "I can't wait" ?

What do you mean you can't wait? As in you're not going to make it until what you're waiting for comes? You're going to die of anticipation? Not likely.

It's a phrase I'm trying to weed out of my brain. Because I *can* wait, by God's grace. That doesn't mean it's *easy* to wait. But I can.

And for some things, I'll wait for as long as I have to...

Grace is

seeing a 98 on the back page of the exam you thought you bombed.

Old Testament Therapy

Depression isn't a new thing, by any means. And how did God treat it?

Sleep, food, sleep, food.

It's Biblical!

Slowly but surely

In a Christian setting, no one will ever refuse the use of a Bible verse. Whether or not they like the idea of using one.

"Hey, do you want me to get a verse for that?"

I can almost promise that you'll never hear: "No, that's okay. We don't really need a Bible verse."

They'll agree to it whether it was in their plans or not.

Arm-twisting? Perhaps just a bit. But I don't have a problem twisting arms for the Word.

Old Testament Exegesis Project

Is it just me, or is there something (or everything!) fundamentally wrong about making a thesis about a Biblical text, and then finding the resources to back your thesis?

Shouldn't the thesis be one of the last things? Shouldn't you be examining it in depth and from all sorts of angles before you make a thesis?

Far too many un-Biblical things can be Biblically defended if you take the former approach.

Dems and Reps

Republicans are apparently a really crappy thing from an economic standpoint. We're bad for unemployment rates, tax rates, economic trends and all sorts of other stuff.

Democrats on the flip side: decrease the unemployment rate, raise taxes for those who can afford to pay them, and lower them for those who can't, and just generally are better for the economy. Oh yeh. They're better at balancing the budget too.

http://www.stefanhayden.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/obama_mccain_taxcut.gif (McCain vs. Obama tax proposals)

It bothers me that McCain isn't increasing taxes on those who can actually afford it. That he's not making the wealthier shoulder more of the burden. (To whom much is given, much is expected. - Luke 12:48)

But at least he doesn't want to kill babies.

Biblical character

So, reading thru the OT, you meet a lot of people. A LOT of people. (I kind of wish my Bible had a Silmarillion-style index in the back so I could keep people straight.)

And having a zillion years of English lit classes, and now Spanish lit classes, I find myself asking all the time: Who's the protagonist? Who's the good guy in this story? And quite frankly it's hard to find a good guy. You have Saul, who starts out pretty good, but then goes all mad-crazy and tries to kill David a zillion times. David seems like a good guy, except for his...erm...womanizing, shall we say? His son, Amnon is a pretty straight-forward bad guy: we don't know much other than he rapes his sister. And then there's Absalom (which is an awesome name), who loves his sister and takes care of her, and avenges her...by killing his brother. And then he repents, but then he tries to overthrow his dad's kingdom!

Which makes one ask: Who's the good guy? Is there a good guy?? Even the good guys have a lot of bad in them.

It's the perfect question, that even the youngest child can answer. And it applies as much today as it did then. None of us are doing any better than Saul or David or any of them.

Who's the good guy?

Jesus.

A good rule of thumb:

Don't tick off your pharmacist.

"Yeh, I know what about 3/4 of this campus is on...But I won't/ can't say what."

They're powerful, knowledgeable people.

Don't waste your life

My new questions, that I have to ask myself sometimes dozens of times a day:

Am I using my time how God wants me to? Am I glorifying Him in this action? Is this a good use of the gift of time He's given me?

Old habits die hard

I'm trying to stop cracking my knuckles. It's not easy.

Living on love

Sometimes sleep needs to be sacrificed. Sometimes you have to sleep thru your first class and have your Spanish prof ask if you're okay because you can't keep your eyes open in class. Sometimes you just have to buy that cup of coffee. Sometimes you have to sacrifice sleep for more important things.

And it's always worth it. <3