So I've realized that even though I'm home for the summer and spend most of my days at the house pretty much not doing anything, I still don't seem to find the time to blog more often. David, I'm sorry that you've been carrying the blogolution on your shoulders alone most of the time. It's a good thing you're a big, buff, strong, jock.
I learned to wakeboard a week ago. And I got up on my first try...for like, two seconds. But after a few tries...well, after a few more than just a few tries, I not only got up, but I stayed up for a good thirty seconds. Woo! I can wakeboard. So legit. And none of this has anything to do with anything.
You know what one of my favorite Bible stories is? 2 Kings 2:23-25.
Here's how it goes: "From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. 'Go on up, you baldhead!' they said. 'Go on up you baldhead!' He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria."
Hahaha! So good. Don't mess with old guys who are pretty close to God. Or you'll get mauled by a couple of bears. I just like how Elisha was simply walking on through town, gets made fun of by a bunch of kids, calls a curse on them, and then simply walks out of town. Elisha's the man.
So some pretty exciting news: my 24 year old sister, Kingslee, who hasn't been home in like, two years, is coming home tomorrow! But SHHHH!!! It's a secret. My dad doesn't know. See, here's the dealio. My dad's birthday is this Saturday. That's right, my dad was born on the 4th of July. And Kingslee decided to come home for his birthday and surprise him cause my dad has been talking non-stop about how he wishes ALL his kids were home for the summer. She'll only be home for a week, though. I imagine lots of tears when the reunion takes place.
So anywho, respect your elders. But then again, gettling mauled by bears would be a neat story to have someone tell at your funeral...except I'd hate to have someone share how I got mauled by bears because I disrespected my professor, or grandma, or church elder...respect your elders, kids.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Are You a Gideon?
The other day at church, during pre-service prayer, I was reading through Judges 6 and 7: the story of Gideon. The verses that stood out to me, 6:12-16, are what really made the story, I think. Just to give some background to this story, the Israelites, after being saved under the hand of Deborah, began to do evil (once again) in the eyes of God and they worshiped the gods of the Amorites. So, to return the favor, God handed them over to the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so oppressive that the Israelites hid in mountain caves. When the Israelites cried out to God for help, he reminded them how he brought them out of Egypt and slavery and gave them the land of their oppressors, and commanded them not to worship false gods, "But you have not listened to me." (6:10b)
And finally Gideon comes into play. An angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat in a wine press, hoping to keep it from the Midianites.
"When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' 'But sir,' Gideon replied, 'if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?" But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.' The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?' 'But Lord,' Gideon asked, 'how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.' The Lord answered, 'I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites together.'" Judges 6:12-16
The verses that first stood out to me were 14-15, when the Lord commands Gideon to go save Israel and Gideon replys by saying he is of no worth. Not only was his clan the weakest in his tribe, but he was the least in his family. Gideon's family was not known for being mighty warriors. They were worthless and Gideon was at the very bottom of the foodchain. Still, God commanded him, "Go in the strenth you have...am I not sending you?" That's a pretty powerful statement. God's telling Gideon, "Look, I know you're the least of your family and your family is the least of your tribe, but I want you to go out and save Israel anyway."
Remember verse 12? "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Before the dialogue in verses 14-15, the Lord approaches Gideon with the promise of "I am with you" and refers to Gideon as a mighty warrior, despite the fact that Gideon's family was known for their weakness. And he gives this promise again in verse 16, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together."
Moving along to verses 36-38, Gideon, after summoning an entire army together, asks God to show him a sign, proving he'll deliver the Israelites, as God had promised. "'Look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.' And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew-a bowlful of water."
Going back again to verse 13, Gideon asked the angel of the Lord why God had abandoned them and he asked where all the wonders were that their fathers talked about. Well, just to prove that He was legit and still performed miracles, God does this simple task for Gideon. Not only was the ground dry, but the wool was drenched in dew, "a bowlful of water." That is awesome!
You'd think at this point that Gideon would be convinced, but he asked God to do the miracle again, except reversing the effects, making the ground wet, and the wool dry. Verse 40, "That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew." So cool!
And now we come to chapter 7. Remember, Gideon has an army at this point, but God has a different plan. "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian inot their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" As a result, 22,000 men left, leaving 10,000 to take on Midian. But God still said there were too many men. He told Gideon to take the men to the water and separate the men who lapped water from their hands from those who lapped water from their tongues, like dogs. 300 drank the water from their hands and the rest got on their knees to drink. With the 300, God promised to give the Midianites into Gideon's hands, and the rest were sent home.
Uh, 300 men...taking on the oppressive army of Midian. I'd be like, "Well thanks God. This is awesome." God, however, gives another command telling Gideon to go down to the camp of the Midianites, listening to what the men say, so that they may be encouraged. So Gideon goes down with his servant and they overheard some men talking (oh and by the way, Gideon couldn't even count the Midianite's camels any more than the sand on the seashore). A man was telling another about his dream. "'A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.' His friend responded, 'This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon....God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.'" (7:13-14)
Well I'd certainly be encouraged after that! As was Gideon, and he worshiped God. What a response! So Gideon took his army of three hundred with trumpets and empty jars and torches. Once the 300 trumpets were sounded around the Midianite camp, the Lord caused all the men in the camp to turn against each other, and the rest fled. Gideon sends out a message to Ephraim, commanding them to pursue the Midianites as far as Beth Barah. They captured two of the Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb, and killed them on their own land.
So now you can hopefully see why Judges 6:12-16 stood out to me so much. God calls Gideon, in his weakness, to save the Israelites from the Midianites and does it in an awesome way! 300 men, representing Gideon's lowly position, taking on an army as "thick as locusts." (7:12) I think this has to be one of my favorite Old Testament stories. I mean, how many times have we used out weaknesses as an excuse to not carry out God's plan? And how many times has God done crazy things to fullfill his call in our lives? Be encouraged by Gideon and worship God.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Christianity Doesn't Play Favorites
So last night I had Young Adults, which is simply a small group for college aged students. We all meet together and mostly hang out and talk for some time and then we'll have short discussion on either theology, doctrine, faith, etc. Anything along those lines.
To open up the discussion, our leader, Cody Winkler, who is currently the youth pastor at my home church, but will be moving back to Lubbock, TX this summer with the rest of his family, asked us the question, "What is your favorite part about Christianity?"
And the ever awkward moment of silence filled the atmosphere. Cody finally asked specific people the question: "Julian, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" Julian pauses for a moment, and then replys with (and I'll paraphrase to the best of my ability), "Prayer. Just the idea that we can have open communication with God, which in turn, allows us to have a relationship with him." Good answer.
"Jordan, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" I just stared back, blankly, at a loss for words..."We'll come back to you," Cody said.
"Grant, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" I, for some reason, forget Grant's answer, but it was also a good one, I think.
Back to me..."Jordan, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" Again, I'm at a loss for words. I sat there and thought, trying to figure out what to say. The reason I had such a hard time answering the question is, 1) because it forced me to think of something, to exclude all other attributes about Christianity, and to have a bias towards Christianity, favoring some things over others, and 2) I didn't want to give a generic answer. I told Cody and the rest of the group, "I don't really know. I'm at a loss for words..." Another awkward moment of silence, making me feel inferior and pressured.
Finally, my sister, Lindsay, broke the silence by saying (again, my paraphrase), "I think it's really hard to name one favorite thing about Christianity because the wonderful thing about it is that every single component works together." It's like she read my mind.
Cody, who apparently likes to throw us into corners, asks, "Well, what are those components?" We all nervously laughed, not knowing what to say. It's just one of those questions that's the easiest, but at the same time, the hardest question to answer. We all knew that the question went beyond the surface. Cody wanted a specific answer.
"I want to do a survey with 1000-5000 people," Cody said, "asking this question, expecting people to give answers like grace, hope, joy, etc." Cody then began to tell us how these answers all benefit us as Christians. They're all selfish answers. Now, we should all long for grace, hope, and joy because God offers them to us freely for our benefit. There's nothing wrong with these answers. But why should we play favorites? What makes hope better than joy? Well, nothing. It's like what Lindsay said. Everything about Christianity works together, which is why it's so wonderful. There is no one thing that overrides everything else.
Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jersualem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
You see, most people stop at "you will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on you..." and tune out the second half of the verse. People think, "Well I just need more power from God," "I just need to be filled with the Holy Spirit." Christianity is more than just recieving. I think the layout of Acts 1:8 is in perfect alignment with God's plan for us. We can't be God's witnesses unless we recieve power from the Holy Spirit, but we shouldn't be content after recieving any power and overlook the second half of the verse. The power of the Holy Spirit is for our benefit, so that, in turn, we can be used for God's benefit. I loved it when Cody said, "There are reservations in heaven, but there are no limits to who can be invited." We are God's witnesses. It's one thing to "walk the walk" and people do take notice to how we live our lives. And living a good, strong, Christian life does have an impact. But why stop there? Let's walk and talk.
I love Christianity not only because of what it offers me, freely giving me grace, hope, salvation, joy, purpose, you fill in the blank, but because after recieving all these free gifts, I am able to return the favor to God, devoting my life to him, living unselfishly, being his witness to the ends of the earth.
So...what's your favorite part about Christianity?
To open up the discussion, our leader, Cody Winkler, who is currently the youth pastor at my home church, but will be moving back to Lubbock, TX this summer with the rest of his family, asked us the question, "What is your favorite part about Christianity?"
And the ever awkward moment of silence filled the atmosphere. Cody finally asked specific people the question: "Julian, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" Julian pauses for a moment, and then replys with (and I'll paraphrase to the best of my ability), "Prayer. Just the idea that we can have open communication with God, which in turn, allows us to have a relationship with him." Good answer.
"Jordan, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" I just stared back, blankly, at a loss for words..."We'll come back to you," Cody said.
"Grant, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" I, for some reason, forget Grant's answer, but it was also a good one, I think.
Back to me..."Jordan, what's your favorite part about Christianity?" Again, I'm at a loss for words. I sat there and thought, trying to figure out what to say. The reason I had such a hard time answering the question is, 1) because it forced me to think of something, to exclude all other attributes about Christianity, and to have a bias towards Christianity, favoring some things over others, and 2) I didn't want to give a generic answer. I told Cody and the rest of the group, "I don't really know. I'm at a loss for words..." Another awkward moment of silence, making me feel inferior and pressured.
Finally, my sister, Lindsay, broke the silence by saying (again, my paraphrase), "I think it's really hard to name one favorite thing about Christianity because the wonderful thing about it is that every single component works together." It's like she read my mind.
Cody, who apparently likes to throw us into corners, asks, "Well, what are those components?" We all nervously laughed, not knowing what to say. It's just one of those questions that's the easiest, but at the same time, the hardest question to answer. We all knew that the question went beyond the surface. Cody wanted a specific answer.
"I want to do a survey with 1000-5000 people," Cody said, "asking this question, expecting people to give answers like grace, hope, joy, etc." Cody then began to tell us how these answers all benefit us as Christians. They're all selfish answers. Now, we should all long for grace, hope, and joy because God offers them to us freely for our benefit. There's nothing wrong with these answers. But why should we play favorites? What makes hope better than joy? Well, nothing. It's like what Lindsay said. Everything about Christianity works together, which is why it's so wonderful. There is no one thing that overrides everything else.
Acts 1:8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jersualem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
You see, most people stop at "you will recieve power when the Holy Spirit comes on you..." and tune out the second half of the verse. People think, "Well I just need more power from God," "I just need to be filled with the Holy Spirit." Christianity is more than just recieving. I think the layout of Acts 1:8 is in perfect alignment with God's plan for us. We can't be God's witnesses unless we recieve power from the Holy Spirit, but we shouldn't be content after recieving any power and overlook the second half of the verse. The power of the Holy Spirit is for our benefit, so that, in turn, we can be used for God's benefit. I loved it when Cody said, "There are reservations in heaven, but there are no limits to who can be invited." We are God's witnesses. It's one thing to "walk the walk" and people do take notice to how we live our lives. And living a good, strong, Christian life does have an impact. But why stop there? Let's walk and talk.
I love Christianity not only because of what it offers me, freely giving me grace, hope, salvation, joy, purpose, you fill in the blank, but because after recieving all these free gifts, I am able to return the favor to God, devoting my life to him, living unselfishly, being his witness to the ends of the earth.
So...what's your favorite part about Christianity?
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
I Kinda Got Lost on the Way Home
Today is June 2, 2009 and that fact has absolutely no relevance to this post. Just stating a fact. Speaking of facts, my sister is 2nd in the nation for the 400meter hurdles for NAIA division two schools with a time of 1:01.02. Ya, she's pretty legit. I spent my first week of summer in St. Louis, MO watching her run. And then we drove home together, roadtrip style. Our first stop: Lubbock, TX.
Now I know what you're thinking: "Why in the world would these girls in their right minds travel south to Texas, when Washington is clearly up north?...way up north." Lubbock is my original hometown. Well, technically I was born in Milford, Delaware, but when I was two months old we made the trip down to Texas. Anywho, my sister and I ended up staying in Lubbock for a few days, reminiscing and catching up with some old friends. We went to our old school and found some of our old teachers from elementary school. Boy that was swell. Oh, and I got to see my first crush from, like, the first grade. After nine years of separation we finally got to rekindle our love for each other and we're getting married when I graduate from college, that way he can continue to work and save up some money to hopefully pay off my incredulous amount of debt...ok, so we only talked for, like, twenty minutes...without rekindling anything. Haha
The best part about going back to Lubbock was the food. Barbeque's with fresh corn on the cob and baked beans, best cheap mexican food you can find, and cheese fries. Real cheese fries. They actually bake real cheese on top of the fries instead of pouring nasty nacho cheese on top of them. And then you dip them in ranch, and you're in grease heaven.
Our next stop before home: Utah, where my brother and sister-in-law live. So, from Lubbock we were supposed to go through New Mexico and then crossing up through Colorado and all the way through Utah til we were to reach Salt Lake City. Well...on our directions, after crossing through New Mexico we were supposed to get on this on highway that led up into Colorado. What we didn't realize was that we were supposed to merge onto a different road that led up to the highway we were supposed to originally get on. So...we ended up continuing west through New Mexico...and beyond. Now, I had fallen asleep for a good hour or so and when I woke up my sister asked me to look at the atlas because we had been going west for quite a long time, she said. We were looking at the New Mexico map and couldn't find the town we were almost to, and Lindsay, panicking, said, "Turn to Arizona!" Upon turning to the Arizona map, we found we were almost to Flagstaff...which is in the middle of Arizona. My sister had driven us almost halfway through Arizona...which was about 2-3 hours off course. So we re-routed and what was supposed to take us 15hours ended up taking us 17.
The final leg home, thankfully, was only 10hours long and we didn't get off course.
Well I've been home for three days now and I have been a total bum, other than church. Church was wonderful and everyone was there. I've been able to sit down and read some good books, finally. My brother is in a talent show for school tonight. He's gonna sing. I've never really heard him sing but I know he can at least carry a good tune so I'm excited to see him show us the set of pipes he's really got.
I don't really have a devotional thought for this post and I normally always have something to go somewhere with. I'm sorry all you got to read was an update of my summer thus far (this is a shout out to you, Nathan, for a good use of the word "thus").
I also got a haircut. Nothing drastic. Just a slight trim and layers. And my birthday's in one months and 22days.
Now I know what you're thinking: "Why in the world would these girls in their right minds travel south to Texas, when Washington is clearly up north?...way up north." Lubbock is my original hometown. Well, technically I was born in Milford, Delaware, but when I was two months old we made the trip down to Texas. Anywho, my sister and I ended up staying in Lubbock for a few days, reminiscing and catching up with some old friends. We went to our old school and found some of our old teachers from elementary school. Boy that was swell. Oh, and I got to see my first crush from, like, the first grade. After nine years of separation we finally got to rekindle our love for each other and we're getting married when I graduate from college, that way he can continue to work and save up some money to hopefully pay off my incredulous amount of debt...ok, so we only talked for, like, twenty minutes...without rekindling anything. Haha
The best part about going back to Lubbock was the food. Barbeque's with fresh corn on the cob and baked beans, best cheap mexican food you can find, and cheese fries. Real cheese fries. They actually bake real cheese on top of the fries instead of pouring nasty nacho cheese on top of them. And then you dip them in ranch, and you're in grease heaven.
Our next stop before home: Utah, where my brother and sister-in-law live. So, from Lubbock we were supposed to go through New Mexico and then crossing up through Colorado and all the way through Utah til we were to reach Salt Lake City. Well...on our directions, after crossing through New Mexico we were supposed to get on this on highway that led up into Colorado. What we didn't realize was that we were supposed to merge onto a different road that led up to the highway we were supposed to originally get on. So...we ended up continuing west through New Mexico...and beyond. Now, I had fallen asleep for a good hour or so and when I woke up my sister asked me to look at the atlas because we had been going west for quite a long time, she said. We were looking at the New Mexico map and couldn't find the town we were almost to, and Lindsay, panicking, said, "Turn to Arizona!" Upon turning to the Arizona map, we found we were almost to Flagstaff...which is in the middle of Arizona. My sister had driven us almost halfway through Arizona...which was about 2-3 hours off course. So we re-routed and what was supposed to take us 15hours ended up taking us 17.
The final leg home, thankfully, was only 10hours long and we didn't get off course.
Well I've been home for three days now and I have been a total bum, other than church. Church was wonderful and everyone was there. I've been able to sit down and read some good books, finally. My brother is in a talent show for school tonight. He's gonna sing. I've never really heard him sing but I know he can at least carry a good tune so I'm excited to see him show us the set of pipes he's really got.
I don't really have a devotional thought for this post and I normally always have something to go somewhere with. I'm sorry all you got to read was an update of my summer thus far (this is a shout out to you, Nathan, for a good use of the word "thus").
I also got a haircut. Nothing drastic. Just a slight trim and layers. And my birthday's in one months and 22days.
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