Saturday, March 25, 2006
Dinner
Dinner on Tuesday worked out wonderfully. It was so fun to have everyone over. Seth and David ended up coming back over on Thursday to finish all the leftovers of country fried streak. I'm cooking again tonight, this time for my flatmates- pot roast. yum!! I hope it goes well. It's interesting here, you have to adjust ingredients because of different products sold and vary in the cooking temperature. You also have to work with the cooking utensils and pans, so overall the experience is quite unique, but really fun to kinda learn new things about cooking, it's all experimental anyway.
I had a Saturday test today in my biology class. It went well, although studying on a Friday didn't really happen, "I'm just not used to it" was my excuse. I have a history paper due Wednesday, so I need to get on the ball and do some research. It should be a pretty interesting paper to write.
This is my first official weekend to stay home since I've been here. It's really nice actually. I think it's so hard to actually call someplace home when you go to class 5 days and then travel. Traveling is wonderful, but there's no real "just be at home" time. I like having a full weekend here because it's so chill and kinda starts to become a sacred, safe place for me. Anyway... I'm getting ready to go look at a car. I'm thinking about buying one with Eva. Used cars are inexpensive here and it's a nice thing to get around. We'll see!
I was reading this morning in Ephesians 6, one of my favorite parts of the Bible, such a vital part, where it talks about the armor of God. Verse 12 stood out to me today, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Do we know this? We're not here to fight man. We're here to fight evil. Let me give you some background on my night last night: I went to this children's program called Youth For Christ. It was alright, they're going through the colors things that we all learned as children. When it was over, all the leaders got together and talked about what worked. John, the main guy, asked me my outsider's opinion. I said a few things and whatnot, spoke a little on the importance of prayer that was never used in the night and a few other suggestions on making things Spiritually relevant through the fun. Anyway, when it was over a couple of people came up to me asking about my beliefs on women in the church, denominations, blah blah. You know the usual debates. It was a fine conversation, but I struggle with wasting so much time talking amongst small issues when the big issue of Salvation sort of hangs in the void. I was then directed at this verse this morning, which our Heavenly Father is so gracious to give me. This is it ya'll. We're not here to fight men, to worry with who's right and wrong, who's a better Christian, who is more patient or loving, or any other conflict with men. We're here to band together and fight evil. We're here to lay down our pride, to be ok with being wrong, to live for others and die for them, to be Jesus to people, all to live for the greater good to save us all from evil. We don't put on the armor to combat pot-heads, Catholics, gays, mormons, alcoholics, fraternity guys, church people or anyone else. We put on the armor because we're at war with EVIL. Even the archangel Michael told the devil in Jude, "The Lord rebuke you," and did not himself bring condemnation. Ya'll- there's such freedom in that. Freedom to sing as loud as you want, to raise your hands in church if you feel the need, to not worry about that one person that doesn't like you, to maybe let a friend go that shouldn't be in your life, to apply to nursing school even if you don't think you'll get in, to spend money to enjoy life. Freedom ya'll, because we're not here to prove ourselves, to be someone that's always right, to be the great role model. If you don't like something about the church or Christians don't rise up against them, rise up against evil that has crept in.
Ok, just thinking aloud as usual. Take my opinion or don't, I'm sure I'll get to heaven and God will shake His head at many of the things I got so wrong in life, but at least I have the one truth right that to believe in Jesus I have eternity with Him. And that truth is enough to keep me going.
I had a Saturday test today in my biology class. It went well, although studying on a Friday didn't really happen, "I'm just not used to it" was my excuse. I have a history paper due Wednesday, so I need to get on the ball and do some research. It should be a pretty interesting paper to write.
This is my first official weekend to stay home since I've been here. It's really nice actually. I think it's so hard to actually call someplace home when you go to class 5 days and then travel. Traveling is wonderful, but there's no real "just be at home" time. I like having a full weekend here because it's so chill and kinda starts to become a sacred, safe place for me. Anyway... I'm getting ready to go look at a car. I'm thinking about buying one with Eva. Used cars are inexpensive here and it's a nice thing to get around. We'll see!
I was reading this morning in Ephesians 6, one of my favorite parts of the Bible, such a vital part, where it talks about the armor of God. Verse 12 stood out to me today, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Do we know this? We're not here to fight man. We're here to fight evil. Let me give you some background on my night last night: I went to this children's program called Youth For Christ. It was alright, they're going through the colors things that we all learned as children. When it was over, all the leaders got together and talked about what worked. John, the main guy, asked me my outsider's opinion. I said a few things and whatnot, spoke a little on the importance of prayer that was never used in the night and a few other suggestions on making things Spiritually relevant through the fun. Anyway, when it was over a couple of people came up to me asking about my beliefs on women in the church, denominations, blah blah. You know the usual debates. It was a fine conversation, but I struggle with wasting so much time talking amongst small issues when the big issue of Salvation sort of hangs in the void. I was then directed at this verse this morning, which our Heavenly Father is so gracious to give me. This is it ya'll. We're not here to fight men, to worry with who's right and wrong, who's a better Christian, who is more patient or loving, or any other conflict with men. We're here to band together and fight evil. We're here to lay down our pride, to be ok with being wrong, to live for others and die for them, to be Jesus to people, all to live for the greater good to save us all from evil. We don't put on the armor to combat pot-heads, Catholics, gays, mormons, alcoholics, fraternity guys, church people or anyone else. We put on the armor because we're at war with EVIL. Even the archangel Michael told the devil in Jude, "The Lord rebuke you," and did not himself bring condemnation. Ya'll- there's such freedom in that. Freedom to sing as loud as you want, to raise your hands in church if you feel the need, to not worry about that one person that doesn't like you, to maybe let a friend go that shouldn't be in your life, to apply to nursing school even if you don't think you'll get in, to spend money to enjoy life. Freedom ya'll, because we're not here to prove ourselves, to be someone that's always right, to be the great role model. If you don't like something about the church or Christians don't rise up against them, rise up against evil that has crept in.
Ok, just thinking aloud as usual. Take my opinion or don't, I'm sure I'll get to heaven and God will shake His head at many of the things I got so wrong in life, but at least I have the one truth right that to believe in Jesus I have eternity with Him. And that truth is enough to keep me going.
