School

I’m just about halfway done with the summer semester of my online college courses, and boy am I relieved that it’s drawing to a close (even though I’m rolling right into Fall). The classes haven’t been particularly challenging, but it’s been such a doozy getting back into the school frame-of-mind. Although I love to write (hence this blog), I get so impatient sometimes with structured writing, even though it’s helpful. We’ve been writing on some good stuff so far, and it’s been pretty cool to re-learn some of the basics, but I’m glad we’re almost done! 

I’m also taking an Evangelism class, which is primarily lecture-based. I really enjoy the content of the course, but moreso, the interaction with fellow classmates and the encouragement by everyone is pretty cool. I like how God can bring so many different people together to the same thought process and allow stimulating debate, rather then pointless rhetoric. 

Hopefully Fall will be just as challenging. I figure if it takes me to a point where I can’t wait until it’s over, it’s definitely challenging me unexpectedly. I can’t settle for the mundane, it just won’t do.

Wild At Heart, by John Eldredge

So I’m gonna start reading this book I’ve been meaning to read. I know it’s pretty popular and old too, but I’m looking forward to reading it. Let me know what you think, if you already read it. I look forward to reviews.

P.S. And no, this isn’t Wild At Heart, as in the early 90’s movie with Nicholas Cage :\ This stuff has substance!

The Japanese Marine

We said goodbye (for now) to my good friend Jon this past week. He’s moving to Charleston with his family for work, and I’m uber excited for him.  I consider this guy a brother to me and he’s shown so much passion for God and his love for his family is evident through all of it. He’s recently come back to God, and there’s nothing like seeing a refreshed spirit to encourage you. I’m truly blessed to have been a friend, because unbeknownst to him, he’s blessed and encouraged me just by being who he is.

I truly believe in the fact that God puts people in your lives at certain times for certail reasons. In Jon’s case I was encouraged by his tenacity in gaining a higher understanding of God in his life.  He’s now starting a new chapter in his family’s life, and I’m more than confident he will continue to strive strong for God.

Never take the people you have in your life for granted. Make new relationships whenever you can. I can’t stress that enough. You never know what blessing will find its way to you through it.

Oh yeah, Jon if you read this, I’m still leaving Kourtney with you! : )

 

Call me out, God

How deep are you to you? To your friends? Many of us only have a select few, or even one friend that we share our deepest parts of our lives with. There are even some things we don’t even share with anyone. Psalm 139 quotes David asking God to “search his heart”. I know that God knows all that we do, and He indeed is all-knowing, but when was the last time you specifically asked to him to convict you? Even though we go into church services to get fed with the Word, and experience God in that place, but not everyone goes in and says “God, CONVICT ME! TELL ME I AM WRONG!” We don’t, because we enter church or any prayer attitude with a timid I-hope-I-don’t-get-called-out sort of attitude, and when we do, we are convicted -yes- but a little surprised, as if God wasn’t supposed to bring that up.

Asking God to convict us makes us accountable to our own actions. He knows it all, but He wants us to confess it with our mouths to him in prayer. I know some skeletons are just too horrid to unashamefully bring up, even in the own confines our our private prayer, but we have to learn to ask God to search our hearts and hold us to what we do. This shows God just how committed we are to the change we seek in Him. This is something I’ve been trying to hold myself to lately, and its so liberating.

Your relationship with God will prosper because of it. He promises you.