"You stay the same through the ages. Your love never changes. There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. And when the oceans rage, I don't have to be afraid. Because I know that you love me."
Well, I've had a really good weekend. :) One of those that I feel like I should blog about, for when, undoubtedly, the devil comes to try and tell me it didn't matter.
This weekend was the Chi Alpha winter camp 2011. It's pretty much a weekend getaway with all the XA branches in Washington state. We drove to Camp Beracha in Auburn, and it was just...good. Our topic this weekend was sin. Which, as Julie said when introducing it, is something that we tend to gloss over in the church a lot. It's not easy to talk about the tough stuff. We don't want to come across judgemental, or scare off any possible unbelievers who might be sitting in the audience. We try and make our Christianity very surfacy sometimes, and they pretty much took the lid off of that this weekend. Friday night, Julie shared about leaving the "desert" of our lives, and going to find water. And the main point that I actually took away from that night was "Once you've found water, stop living like you haven't." That wasn't necessarily something that she mentioned, but it was one of the comments that I think God told me, personally. Knowing the truth means living in the truth.
Saturday morning, we talked about the three battles that we face with sin - ourselves, the world, and the devil. It's interesting to think about them as three separate entities. I always considered it one battle, but the devil used ourselves and the world as weapons on his behalf. We broke it down a lot, and then identified ways to combat the fights - regenerative power (Holy Spirit), truth, and trust in God. Saturday night was about how to pick ourselves back up after we've sinned, and like Hebrews 12, running the race with perseverance. We were designed to be runners, and as Christians, are bound to endure hardships. It's just part of being human, and part of training to live life God's way.
Then Sunday morning, the speaker (Jessica from University of Idaho) talked about what the role of Christian brothers and sisters is regarding sin in one another's lives. I think that she did a really good job explaining what "judgment" means in the Christian life. It's a balance between humility and self-evaluation, giving love and grace to others, and trying to spur them on when they're living below their potential. I also liked that she mentioned how we aren't to judge those outside the faith, holding them to our standards, when heck- they don't even know what the standards ARE to begin with!
Bringing it to a personal level a little bit, I was able to really see and hear God at work in my heart. I know that He was reminding me of things in my life that I need to work on, and showing me that it's really okay to not be perfect. I've been guilty of believing the "I need to be perfect" lie so many times...of feeling burdensome to others, and of being afraid of judgment. He's given us each other for a reason - to live this human life together. I need to continue to humble myself and remember that it's not about me. God told me that this weekend too. I just kept repeating during one of the worship songs - It's not about me. It's not about me. It's not about me. My "flesh" doesn't deserve control. I don't have to take on these problems alone because Jesus came with the strength to help me through them. And as I was saying that, He was responding in my ear - I did it for you. He survived this world, and died for me.
"God, why'd you do it?"
"Because I love you. And I am crazy about you. Not just 'the world'. You."
Wow. That's the truth that I've been working to believe all year long. Amongst so many lies that I hear, and some that I even occasionally believe, that's the conversation that keeps repeating itself. So who am I to question God, or His timing, when I know full well that the path He has is right, and all things will work together for my good?
*Your Love Never Fails, Jesus Culture
1.08.2011
"And this old world is a new world...is a bold world...for me..."
Well, I think I need to post one blog entry at least before Christmas break is over. :) It's the day before I head back to school - I'm not too sure how I feel about it. I'm really looking forward to the classes I'm taking, and I do miss some aspects of college life, for sure.And it's weird not talking to all of the great people I've met. But at the same time, being home for a month...seeing all of the people that I grew up with... it's started to take its effect again. I love the "chill"-ness of Christmas break. And this is still home, really. It's comfortable. Although at the same time, I have experienced some of the "culture shock" being back. It's tricky to not revert to some of my old habits and things...even though I've changed a lot, being back makes it really easy to be the person I was last year and not many people would know. But coming back from being away for a while, it's helped me to recognize places that I still need to grow. I can tell where my weak points are.
I actually had time this break to see a lot more people, which I loved. Thanksgiving was such a whirlwind! But having over three weeks....I could schedule a lot more one-on-one time with people. And I got to go to school a few days, see three basketball games, all kinds of cool things like that. :) It was awesome to hang out and catch up on everyone's lives.
Christmas itself was great. :) I haven't had a Christmas Day at home since I've been really little, because we usually go over to Colfax and spend it with my grandparents. This year they came here. It was really nice, and it felt like what a "normal" American family might do for Christmas. At least in my mind. Haha. And trying to keep everything scaled back and simple was good. I'm kind of at a point where I don't want stuff, really. Okay, that's a little bit of a lie. Of course I want stuff. But I recognize that I don't want it at the expense of other people. I'd much rather just try and take care of it on my own if I can. The generosity at Christmas, well... it overwhelmed me a little bit this year.
Oh, and that's right - it's 2011 now! I'm so OLD! :D Lived in 3 decades, 2 centuries, and 2 millenia and I'm not even 20 years old yet. Crazy! Lol. Did I make New Year's Resolutions? Nothing really official. I've got ideas of things I want to work on, for sure. My new "semester's resolution" is to make it to the rec center at least once a week. Which sounds like nothing to anyone who actually works out hard core, I know. But for me - that will be a challenge, at least to start with. But a good one - I definitely could get into better shape than I'm in.
This coming semester I'm taking psychology, calculus, french, english, band, and american social dance. Should be an exciting batch of classes, and I'm looking forward to it a lot. The first few weeks will be hard though, just getting back into the swing of getting up at 8am, actually walking everywhere, doing homework.... but somewhere deep down I know that once I re-adjust it'll be a lot of fun. And I'm hoping to start volunteering in the local school system this semester too. :) Get my "kid" quota every week. Haha.
I guess I'm about out of things to really talk about right now. My next post will most likely be from back in the ol' dorm room. *shakes head* Weirdness!
*Feeling Good, Michael Buble
I actually had time this break to see a lot more people, which I loved. Thanksgiving was such a whirlwind! But having over three weeks....I could schedule a lot more one-on-one time with people. And I got to go to school a few days, see three basketball games, all kinds of cool things like that. :) It was awesome to hang out and catch up on everyone's lives.
Christmas itself was great. :) I haven't had a Christmas Day at home since I've been really little, because we usually go over to Colfax and spend it with my grandparents. This year they came here. It was really nice, and it felt like what a "normal" American family might do for Christmas. At least in my mind. Haha. And trying to keep everything scaled back and simple was good. I'm kind of at a point where I don't want stuff, really. Okay, that's a little bit of a lie. Of course I want stuff. But I recognize that I don't want it at the expense of other people. I'd much rather just try and take care of it on my own if I can. The generosity at Christmas, well... it overwhelmed me a little bit this year.
Oh, and that's right - it's 2011 now! I'm so OLD! :D Lived in 3 decades, 2 centuries, and 2 millenia and I'm not even 20 years old yet. Crazy! Lol. Did I make New Year's Resolutions? Nothing really official. I've got ideas of things I want to work on, for sure. My new "semester's resolution" is to make it to the rec center at least once a week. Which sounds like nothing to anyone who actually works out hard core, I know. But for me - that will be a challenge, at least to start with. But a good one - I definitely could get into better shape than I'm in.
This coming semester I'm taking psychology, calculus, french, english, band, and american social dance. Should be an exciting batch of classes, and I'm looking forward to it a lot. The first few weeks will be hard though, just getting back into the swing of getting up at 8am, actually walking everywhere, doing homework.... but somewhere deep down I know that once I re-adjust it'll be a lot of fun. And I'm hoping to start volunteering in the local school system this semester too. :) Get my "kid" quota every week. Haha.
I guess I'm about out of things to really talk about right now. My next post will most likely be from back in the ol' dorm room. *shakes head* Weirdness!
*Feeling Good, Michael Buble
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)