Humble Servitude

Thomas Kempis may have been a Medieval monk from the 12th century, but his wise words of advice still ring true for Christ's followers today-"You must not think that you have made any progress toward becoming humble until you look upon yourself as inferior to all others."

You Were Made in Christ's Image

Do not deny the One who made you; the One who formed you in the secret place. If you reject His perfect work, you scorn the Creator.

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Jesus Time

I go through my day, living out my life in a repetitive manner. I wake up, slowly but surely, to my phone singing out my alarm tone; crawl out of bed; take a shower; eat breakfast; go to my classes; work on homework late at night, then slip into bed. I never do anything adventurous or out of the ordinary, because I convince myself that I don't have the time or that the adventure will waste time. (We, as humans, are so time-oriented that we forget that it was God who invented time in the first place!) When I do dare to take an adventure, they are the moments that I am most focused on Jesus and His plan for my life. My true 'quiet time' with Him is rare, for I unbelievably think that breaking the seal of my Bible right before my head hits the pillow is suffice for Jesus, as if I'm saying, "Look God. I read a chapter in Romans. Be proud of me. I'm sacrificing some well-earned sleep."

Get this-Jesus wants to spend the ENTIRE day with me. The Awesome God of the universe wants to spend His time with me. How callous of me to simply shrug Him off until the end of my day, when truly, my mind is already asleep.

This evening, I was reading one of my good friend's notes on Facebook. She stated an interesting thought that won't leave my memory for some time to come. She said, "My conversations with God aren't always the most conventional, but I'd like to think that they're at least real. I've definitely woken up to the sound of my alarm waking me up for my quiet time and rolled back over because I told God, 'I'm mad at you. I don't want to talk today. Try again tomorrow.'”

This confession really hit home for me. Jesus was an unconventional guy! He hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves, and murderers for goodness sakes! The least I could do is make an unconventional attempt to be with Jesus during the day, whether that action is talking to Him while I shower, reading snippets of the Bible right before a class begins, or talking to a friend about Jesus' amazing love for us. All of these activities can bring me to doing unconventional adventurous acts-spending time with my Savior. That in itself is an adventure.

Dance For Joy!

Do you have those moments when you just want to dance and sing out loud to praise our Father? Do you ever have those urges in public? I have them many times a day when I am walking to class, listening to my iPod. I wonder how people would respond to my actions...it really shouldn't matter what people think of me or what they would do, because all that truly matters is that my Abba is being glorified! Even if those desires are played out in my quiet time with Him, Jesus knows my soul, but I pray that He could strip bare my heart for the whole world to see how awesome He is!

I Thank you God

Sitting in my Intro to American Politics class today, I was looking up world events on my phone before class started, when I came across the headlining news of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that demolished parts of Christchurch, New Zealand. My initial reaction was of complete dread and panic, for my brother is currently down in New Zealand studying abroad. He and his flatmate are taking their winter break in the south island for two weeks. Clicking on the link to get some more information, I was scared to think of what damage this Haiti-equivalent earthquake brought upon the people of the south island. Christchurch was where my brother and his friend flew into from Auckland, and I'm guessing where they would be flying out to get back to school. Thoughts flood my mind as to what could have happened to them and if they were okay or not. I text my mom and tell her about the news while I impatiently wait for class to begin. As time ticked, ticked, ticked slowly on the clock, I fought down tears as I struggled to comprehend anything that my professor was saying. I kept praying, "God, let them be okay, let them be okay." When he finally dismissed class, I rushed out of the building to contain my emotions and get ahold of my mom for support. She told me that sometimes "no news is good news." I hoped this was the case.

I relied upon the strength of one of my best Christian friends. As we were driving home for the long weekend, she took my hand and began to pray a prayer that my soul longed for God to answer. Upon arriving at home, I logged onto Facebook to see if he had written anything on his wall as to his whereabouts or his condition. Nothing. I called his New Zealand phone to see if there was any chance that I could possibly reach him, but I realized that all phone towers in that area might be down. Praying was literally the only thing that I could do to know in my heart that he was alright.

Hours later, we finally got word. He and his flatmate were on the train in the NORTH island, headed back to Auckland. They had no idea that there had been an earthquake. Talk about God's perfect timing and His wonderful grace.

When I was sitting in my class, I thought what it would be like to lose my best friend, my brother. That would be the worst possible thing, ever. God has huge plans for him. But I know that if he was taken from this earth, he have an eternity with our Creator in heaven, where things are perfectly splendid. And for now, the least I can say to my LORD in humble submission is, "I Thank you God."

Perseid Meteor Shower August 2010

Last night, or should I say morning, I woke up around 1:00 a.m. to drive out into the country with some friends to view the awesome Perseid Meteor Shower that happens every year in August. With homemade brownies in one hand and bug spray in the other, we nestled down in the middle of the road near some farms to view the breath-taking events occur. Within minutes, my two friends and I saw a beautiful light gleam across the northern sky, leaving it's glowing trail behind. Of course, we burst out singing, "Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars..." but these weren't airplanes at all, but meteorites giving us fortunate star-lovers a show. We sat out there in the wee hours of the morning swapping stories and gazing into the star-dotted sky, but my favorite part of the night was surveying the wonder of God's might and artistic talents. After an hour and a half of observing the sky, I turn to my friends and say, "Alright, one more, and then we can head home." About 20 seconds later, the best light we had seen the whole night appeared, causing us to gasp with "Ooh's!" and "Aah's!" as the brilliant meteor streaked across the black ceiling above us. I smiled to myself, because I know that Jesus, in all of His marvelous wonder, presented to us this utterly fantastic production of His extraordinary artwork.

The Peasant Princess Sermon Series

For the past couple of days, I have been listening to the sermon series, The Peasant Princess, by Mark Driscoll. This particular series is based off of the book, Song of Songs in the Old Testament. I love the way Mark speaks, because he is so straightforward about true Christianity, and he tackles the tough issues Christians face today. The Peasant Princess was recommended to me by a girl friend, and though it may sound girly, men would most certainly benefit from this composition.