"Overflowing Joy"

“And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own” -2 Corinthians 8:1-3

Every time I read this it is a stark reminder of a reality. We are told of two environmental conditions of these churches, in severe trial and in extreme poverty, each followed by an attitude that seems to contradict their situation. I love the strong language used to describe them, “overflowing joy” and “rich generosity.” These two things combined to the point that they gave “beyond their ability.” Do we have a faith strong enough to give beyond our ability? Do we have an overflowing joy that would prompt this?
I’ll also point out that this attitude is part of the gift of God’s grace. Not a gift that we wait patiently for, but a gift that is given to all believers that have a saving faith. However, as with all gifts, it is something that must be accepted. What is a gift if we do not accept it? It sits in a box and is no use to anyone.

Ponderings

“The place of redemption is the place where God appears weakest. Where God appears weakest, He is doing the most: This point is the culmination of irony and the paradox. Jesus never looked more incompetent from a human perspective than when He was hanging on the cross, yet He was never doing more from a divine perspective than at that same moment.”

I read this in my text for my Church History class. This is not a direct quote from the protestant reformer, but it is the author’s paraphrase of one of Martin Luther’s thoughts.
I found it incredibly interesting.
It’s deep, but I understand it, and I agree.
It left me pondering other moments in history as well. Is it possible that in the moments that God seems incompetent from a human perspective, he is actually accomplishing the most? An intriguing thought that I will continue to ponder.

Psalms and Proverbs

This is my second post today, but I just wanted to share this. As I was reading through the Old Testament last spring, I wrote down my favorite Psalms and Proverbs.

Psalms:
37
51
96
100
103
121
138
139
145
146
148

Proverbs:
1:7 3:5-6 4:23-27 6:16-19 7:21-27 10:17
11:4 11:24-25 12:1 12:16 14:21 20:19 21:23
22:1 25:21-22 28:9 28:27 31:8-9

Lamentations 3:19-24

sick of sick

Happy Saturday
I never really get a weekend because most of my homework is due on Mondays.
Today is really hard for me. Being sick is really starting to wear on me mentally. I wish it would just go away. I've had this cough now for 2 months, and I thought I was over this latest cold, but I went to bed with a fever last night and woke up with a sore throat. I'm trying to accomplish so much this semester, and being constantly physically attacked is making it so much harder.
I had to miss my friends birthday party today.
I'm trying to get homework done, but I can't focus with a headache and stuffy nose.
It's frustrating when the doctor says "get some rest". Thanks doc, I've been sick for 2 months and that's all you got?


I went to the college kick-off at my new church last night and it was a lot of fun. I think I'm going to really like it there.
When I got out of my car in front of my house last night, these two black guys walked by and asked if I'd give them a ride to the 7/11. I said sure, why not. Turns out they are new to the area and don't have any friends. One of them is coming over sometime so I can help him with his math homework. This is why living in the city is cooler than living in the woods.

Making friends

I was really expecting my classmates at GRCC to be really lame. It's just the stereotype of community college students that I had. I mean, everyone at West Shore fit the description. As it turns out, I think my classmates are really cool. Maybe it won't be so hard to meet new friends outside of camp people (no offense camp people, but I need to get out more).
On the same note of meeting new friends, Kris and I went to Berkley Hills Wesleyan Church last Sunday and we both loved it. I'm pretty sure that I'm done searching for a church down here. Everyone says that "church shopping" is so hard. Every time I've done it, I've found where I want to go on the first or second try. I thought it was funny that we met a bunch of Kuyper students there. Kuyper is a reformed college (which is opposite of Wesleyan). Just a little humor for my day. The church is less than a mile from my house, so I'm really excited about living right in the neighborhood of my church. I think driving 30 minutes to church defeats part of the purpose of church.

I watched Invictus last night. I would just like to say that I think it is stupid that we do not learn about this kind of stuff in public school. All they care about in public school is American history (it builds patriotism after all). We never learned about foreign issues and world history. The story behind that movie is incredible. If I could choose to have witnessed one sporting event in history, it would have been that.
I'm guessing that we don't talk about Nelson Mandela in American schools because he is famous for criticizing the US saying "If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don't care."
But I would have to agree with him.

9/11

Today is September 11th, if you didn't already know.
This day is a little weird.
All year we fight and bicker as a country
but then on this day people forget about it
as we come together and remember our common enemy
We set aside a couple minutes on this day to pray
for the families of those who've lost
It sounds all well and good, but it's so fake
Tomorrow we will forget again
Tomorrow we will begin fighting and bickering again
and what about the other tragedies?
did we stop to remember the 2000 people who died in Katrina?
did we pray for their families?
do we even remember the date that it happened? (Aug 29th)
How about the 200,000 people that died from the Tsunami?
or the 200,000 people that died in Haiti last January
are we going to stop and remember them?
Probably not
So why 9/11?
Because behind 9/11 is the enemy, an actual tangible foe
Someone we can retaliate against.
we can't take revenge on a hurricane or an earthquake.
If we can come together against a common enemy we build patriotism.
and every good tax paying, ball park loving, consumeristic American loves their patriotism.

But what if we're told to love our enemies and pray for them (Matt 5:43,44)?

Stormy Stormy night, and improvement on Van Gogh

Well, all of my classes are underway. It's going to be very difficult, but I think I'm going to make it. I just have to work on my priorities.
Roommate life is going well. The roomies are finally getting busy so they are less of a distraction. When none of them had classes, I was having a difficult time getting work done. My largest concern at the moment is that, with my insane amount of school work, keeping up with spiritual disciplines is increasingly difficult. So I would appreciate your prayers in this area. I can already begin to see my lack of getting into the Word and prayer affecting my thoughts and decisions.

I have to say that I am excited for autumn. Summer is my favorite season, and I hate winter with a burning passion. This has been a very long and hot summer (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and I am excited about the prospect of wearing my hoodie and drinking hot chocolate. In a perfect world the seasons would go from summer to fall to spring. Sometimes I become sad in the fall because it reminds me that winter is coming.

Also, I absolutely love storms and I wish that I was on the east coast right now.