I was just re-reading one of my books this morning, The Training of the Twelve, which, incidentally, is an awesome book. It's pretty long (545 pages, still little over 100 to go till I'm done) and some of the wording is hard to get through because it was written in the 1800's, but it is FANTASTIC. The author, A. B. Bruce, goes through the gospels and discusses all the events in them and explains them more fully. It's been really great for me because I've been able to understand them more and get a deeper meaning of how they impacted the times and how revolutionary Jesus truly was. The following excerpt comes from chapter 9, "The Galilean Crisis" in which Bruce was talking about John 6:66-71, where many people decided to leave Jesus right then and there, and Jesus asks His disciples whether they too are going to leave. Peter speaks for them (as he always seemed to do!) and said where would they go, because they knew that Jesus was the true Son of God. Bruce says this about the confidence the 12 disciples had in Jesus to not follow the crowds and fall away too:
"Such implicit confidence as the twelve had in Jesus is possible only through intimate knowledge; for one cannot thus trust a stranger. All, therefore, who desire to get the benefit of this trust, must be willing to spend time and take trouble to get into the heart of the Gospel story, and of its great Subject. The sure anchorage is not attainable by a listless, random reading of the evangelic narratives, but by close careful, prayerful study, pursued it may be for years...Those who grudge the trouble are in imminent danger of the fate which befell the ignorant multitude, being liable to be thrown into panic by every new infidel book, or be scandalized by every strange utterance of the Object of faith."
You're only as close to God as you want to be. Do you truly desire a close relationship with God, or are you okay with doing some good things but still maintain absolute control on your life? I am not asking this to be accusatory, I have to ask this of myself often. It's easy to play the card and sit in church and wax eloquent about God, but do you really *know* Him? Because it takes effort and discipline and energy, but there is no better pursuit in life. If you take the time and truly get to know Him, then you will not regret it. As Jim Elliot said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."
If a close relationship with God is a sincere desire of yours, what steps are you taking to get closer to Him today?
Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."
Friday, May 21, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Daniel Days
One of my favorite people of the Bible is Daniel. Why you ask? For the simple fact that he is a stud. My favorite passage of his book is ch. 6:1-4 because I was stuck on those 4 verses for about 3 weeks two summers ago, right at the beginning of my time doing Project Impact in summer '08. Here they are:
"It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
How could I have been stuck on those verses for about 3 weeks? Well, I just couldn't get past them! I was so impressed and challenged by how Daniel conducted himself that I couldn't stop reading and re-reading that passage. It says that Daniel "so distinguished himself" among the others working "by his exceptional qualities." Now, it doesn't say what those qualities were, but we can make educated guesses right? One of the things I love about this is that it gives you great advice for being a leader. His exceptional qualities might have been diligence, faithfulness, initiative-taking, communicative skills, interpersonal skills, etc. PLUS, at the end it says he was trustworthy and "neither corrupt nor negligent." Basically he conducted himself in such a manner that he set himself apart from the daily pack because he made sure he not only did his job but he did it with excellence. And of course, just like what happens today, people got jealous because he was doing so well. Have you ever had that happen to you? You're trying to do the right thing or you're putting a lot of effort into a presentation or just your daily work, and some people label you as a "goody two-shoes" because the norm for American culture is "how much can I not do and still slide by?"
Daniel didn't care that none of the other people weren't doing work to the same caliber as him. He didn't let it phase him that he would stand out and cause some friction with his co-workers. He did it because that is what we are called to do if you've given your life over to Jesus Christ. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." It doesn't say "most things you do" or "just your family/work stuff" but in ALL things, to glorify God in how you do them. How do we do that? By doing our work with excellence, being pro-active, getting the job done, communicating well with the people above and below us, being faithful and diligent, creative and wise, in other words, by being like Daniel.
He gave us an example to follow if we truly want to do our work with excellence. I think one of the reasons it got to me so much is that I was just about to be one of three staff for 19 college students for a whole summer and needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed. But reading this passage over and over gave me some qualities to cultivate and goals to have in order to make sure that no matter what happened, I did my job with excellence.
Ever since I studied the book of Daniel 2 years ago, he still challenges me and encourages me every time I read him. Are there things you could work on to do your work with more excellence? Or even in relationships? Anything you can do to become more faithful/diligent/communicative/observant/etc today? I know for me one thing I can work on is being more diligent with planning the summer Christian Challenge schedule for the next 10 weeks. I have an idea, and now I need to hammer it out. I'll let you know how that goes!
And now for a completely different note, here is the funny of the day:
"It pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom, with three administrators over them, one of whom was Daniel. The satraps were made accountable to them so that the king might not suffer loss. Now Daniel so distinguished himself among the administrators and the satraps by his exceptional qualities that the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom. At this, the administrators and the satraps tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent."
How could I have been stuck on those verses for about 3 weeks? Well, I just couldn't get past them! I was so impressed and challenged by how Daniel conducted himself that I couldn't stop reading and re-reading that passage. It says that Daniel "so distinguished himself" among the others working "by his exceptional qualities." Now, it doesn't say what those qualities were, but we can make educated guesses right? One of the things I love about this is that it gives you great advice for being a leader. His exceptional qualities might have been diligence, faithfulness, initiative-taking, communicative skills, interpersonal skills, etc. PLUS, at the end it says he was trustworthy and "neither corrupt nor negligent." Basically he conducted himself in such a manner that he set himself apart from the daily pack because he made sure he not only did his job but he did it with excellence. And of course, just like what happens today, people got jealous because he was doing so well. Have you ever had that happen to you? You're trying to do the right thing or you're putting a lot of effort into a presentation or just your daily work, and some people label you as a "goody two-shoes" because the norm for American culture is "how much can I not do and still slide by?"
Daniel didn't care that none of the other people weren't doing work to the same caliber as him. He didn't let it phase him that he would stand out and cause some friction with his co-workers. He did it because that is what we are called to do if you've given your life over to Jesus Christ. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." It doesn't say "most things you do" or "just your family/work stuff" but in ALL things, to glorify God in how you do them. How do we do that? By doing our work with excellence, being pro-active, getting the job done, communicating well with the people above and below us, being faithful and diligent, creative and wise, in other words, by being like Daniel.
He gave us an example to follow if we truly want to do our work with excellence. I think one of the reasons it got to me so much is that I was just about to be one of three staff for 19 college students for a whole summer and needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed. But reading this passage over and over gave me some qualities to cultivate and goals to have in order to make sure that no matter what happened, I did my job with excellence.
Ever since I studied the book of Daniel 2 years ago, he still challenges me and encourages me every time I read him. Are there things you could work on to do your work with more excellence? Or even in relationships? Anything you can do to become more faithful/diligent/communicative/observant/etc today? I know for me one thing I can work on is being more diligent with planning the summer Christian Challenge schedule for the next 10 weeks. I have an idea, and now I need to hammer it out. I'll let you know how that goes!
And now for a completely different note, here is the funny of the day:
Friday, May 7, 2010
Need some encouragement?
So I was going to post this on Wednesday, but I had to re-cap the weekend so here is the encouragement you'll need to get through the very last day of the week. I am putting up videos of a guy named Louis Zamperini who I had never heard of until the fall. I heard him speak and this guy is quickly becoming one of my heroes!!
He is from Torrance, CA and now lives in the Hollywood Hills. He is a sprightly 93 years old and still sharp as a tack. He got into trouble a lot growing up but by the time he was in high school he realized he was a fast runner and he entered the Olympics in 1936!! He didn't fare so well though, because he ate too much while he was there! He said that during that time it was hard to have a full meal seeing as how the Depression was going on, and then he comes to these Olympic games and there is food everywhere! He gained about 10 pounds I think and while he finished last in his race, he caught the eye of a Mr. Adolf Hitler! Even though Louis was going to finish last, he wanted to finish well and he apparently gunned it and had a strong finish, so that when he was done Hitler asked for him *by name* to meet him. When they shook hands and met face-to-face, Hitler simply said he was the "boy with the fast finish." Yeah, he shook Hitler's hand AND even stole a Nazi flag, because, hey why not right?
Then he goes to USC and becomes a life-long Trojan, graduates and enters World War II. He was stationed in the Pacific and on a rescue mission his plane was shot down and he and two others were stuck in a raft for over 40 days with no food or water besides the occasional rain. After 40-some days, one of the guys didn't make it, and then they get rescued/captured by the Japanese. He then endures 2 years of beatings, experimentation and starvation and he only gets out once the war is over. He comes back to the US as a national hero, decorated in war, marries a socialite and all is well, until he goes to sleep every night and has nightmares about his POW imprisonment. He and his wife almost get a divorce, but then she went to this event by a little-known guy by the name of Billy Graham. She becomes a Christian and decides she wants to stay in the marriage. This gets Louis' attention, and he goes to the same event and becomes a Christian too and then a year later he flew back to Japan to visit his old captors, who are now in prison, and he hugs and forgives each one of them to their faces!! WOAH!! There was a short video done about his life by CBS during the winter Olympics of 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Louis was one of the torch-bearers and he ran through the streets and even re-visited his old POW camp - it is quite powerful!!
It was so cool to see the power of Christ in one's life and how He can literally change your heart and help you do things you never thought you would, like forgiving those who tortured you and being able to let go of that bitterness. One of the girls in my small group found his video on youtube and it's only 30-ish min so you can't really watch it at work, but it's definitely something to watch when you have the time - there are 4 videos total and I highly highly *highly* recommend you watch them if you haven't already seen them!
This guy is a living and true hero, and you can't help but be inspired at how God saved him time and time again and helped him survive his experiences!! They are trying to make his life into a movie, and have been for quite some time, even starting in the '50's and again in the '60's and then the '90's, but they always want to gloss over Louis' conversion once he got back and Louis won't allow it to be made otherwise, seeing as how that is the whole point of his life now! He won't take any amount of money to have a movie of his life that is not an accurate depiction of what went on, and I hope someday those bigwigs in Hollywood will put aside their biases and make this incredible story because you can't help but get wrapped up in it!!
Hope this was encouraging to you and hope you have a great weekend!!
He is from Torrance, CA and now lives in the Hollywood Hills. He is a sprightly 93 years old and still sharp as a tack. He got into trouble a lot growing up but by the time he was in high school he realized he was a fast runner and he entered the Olympics in 1936!! He didn't fare so well though, because he ate too much while he was there! He said that during that time it was hard to have a full meal seeing as how the Depression was going on, and then he comes to these Olympic games and there is food everywhere! He gained about 10 pounds I think and while he finished last in his race, he caught the eye of a Mr. Adolf Hitler! Even though Louis was going to finish last, he wanted to finish well and he apparently gunned it and had a strong finish, so that when he was done Hitler asked for him *by name* to meet him. When they shook hands and met face-to-face, Hitler simply said he was the "boy with the fast finish." Yeah, he shook Hitler's hand AND even stole a Nazi flag, because, hey why not right?
Then he goes to USC and becomes a life-long Trojan, graduates and enters World War II. He was stationed in the Pacific and on a rescue mission his plane was shot down and he and two others were stuck in a raft for over 40 days with no food or water besides the occasional rain. After 40-some days, one of the guys didn't make it, and then they get rescued/captured by the Japanese. He then endures 2 years of beatings, experimentation and starvation and he only gets out once the war is over. He comes back to the US as a national hero, decorated in war, marries a socialite and all is well, until he goes to sleep every night and has nightmares about his POW imprisonment. He and his wife almost get a divorce, but then she went to this event by a little-known guy by the name of Billy Graham. She becomes a Christian and decides she wants to stay in the marriage. This gets Louis' attention, and he goes to the same event and becomes a Christian too and then a year later he flew back to Japan to visit his old captors, who are now in prison, and he hugs and forgives each one of them to their faces!! WOAH!! There was a short video done about his life by CBS during the winter Olympics of 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Louis was one of the torch-bearers and he ran through the streets and even re-visited his old POW camp - it is quite powerful!!
It was so cool to see the power of Christ in one's life and how He can literally change your heart and help you do things you never thought you would, like forgiving those who tortured you and being able to let go of that bitterness. One of the girls in my small group found his video on youtube and it's only 30-ish min so you can't really watch it at work, but it's definitely something to watch when you have the time - there are 4 videos total and I highly highly *highly* recommend you watch them if you haven't already seen them!
This guy is a living and true hero, and you can't help but be inspired at how God saved him time and time again and helped him survive his experiences!! They are trying to make his life into a movie, and have been for quite some time, even starting in the '50's and again in the '60's and then the '90's, but they always want to gloss over Louis' conversion once he got back and Louis won't allow it to be made otherwise, seeing as how that is the whole point of his life now! He won't take any amount of money to have a movie of his life that is not an accurate depiction of what went on, and I hope someday those bigwigs in Hollywood will put aside their biases and make this incredible story because you can't help but get wrapped up in it!!
Hope this was encouraging to you and hope you have a great weekend!!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Oh goodness...
So this summer I finally know all of what I am doing, and guess what it is? No, sadly it's not becoming a professional surfer and practicing my moves in Australia, no, it's being the leader of summer Christian Challenge!!! While I am excited about this prospect it is also daunting in its execution. I talked to my boss about it and he said I am in charge of ALL aspects of it, as in A-L-L aspects. So I am definitely trying to think through how it should look like and what we're going to be doing for 10 weeks!! If you happen to have any ideas I'd love to hear them :) I'm thinking about maybe having an over-arching theme to the summer, so that all the weeks will be somewhat related because that just helps it flow better in my opinion. So I'll let you know how it goes and what it will look like - but before I do I need to spend some serious time praying because God is a lot more involved in this than I am, so if I ask Him for advice I know He'll help me think through this!!
And I realized it's Wednesday and I never told you about my weekend! Well, Friday I went to Target with Lauren, a girl from my small group, because I needed to get a wedding shower gift. As with all trips to Target, I also got many things that I didn't plan on getting - they were all needed, but they weren't on the initial list. Ah well, I love that place!! Then came home, popped in Princess Diaries 2 and painted my nails. It was loverly :)
Then Saturday I was *going* to get fitted for my bridesmaid dress for the wedding of my fried Jenn, but her friend who is making the dresses had a family emergency so we canceled it. So I basically got ready for Saturday night, which was our Christian Challenge Senior Send-off!! We went to the Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton and everyone dressed up - it was way fun to see everyone in dresses and suits!
This is Tanya with baby Samantha, and Jonathan in the background wanted to get in on the fun!
This is me, Carrie and Tanya at the fun side of the table :)
Then on Sunday we had baptism right after church and we had FOUR Trojans getting baptized!! Including Lauren!!! It was amazing and so wonderful to celebrate these girls' decisions to follow Christ!!
Lauren, Elizabeth, Neil, Karlene and Amy :D
This was Lauren and I right after she got baptized - it was so fun to see her take steps of obedience and faith, something I've been praying for ever since I met her!! God is so good!!!
Then we had a Challenge fundraiser at Rubio's and *then* was the wedding shower, fiesta themed!! And with more Mexican food - maybe the Rubio's was a bad idea...
This is Jenn, our bride-to-be, in her "sombrero veil" :) And yes, we made her keep it on the entire time!
This is the entire bridal party - Jazell, Katie, Jessa, Erin, Jenn, Sarah and myself, all in our bridesmaid sombreros. Jenn's mom thought they were so great she made us keep them and she wants us to wear them for the rehearsal dinner!! ha haaaa!!!!
What wedding shower wouldn't be complete without a pinata???? Jenn didn't want any games, so we got this past her because we saw this as more of an activity than a game :)
So it was a great time and I think Jenn really felt celebrated which was our goal so yay!!
Hope you're having a loverly day and here is the funny of the day:
And I realized it's Wednesday and I never told you about my weekend! Well, Friday I went to Target with Lauren, a girl from my small group, because I needed to get a wedding shower gift. As with all trips to Target, I also got many things that I didn't plan on getting - they were all needed, but they weren't on the initial list. Ah well, I love that place!! Then came home, popped in Princess Diaries 2 and painted my nails. It was loverly :)
Then Saturday I was *going* to get fitted for my bridesmaid dress for the wedding of my fried Jenn, but her friend who is making the dresses had a family emergency so we canceled it. So I basically got ready for Saturday night, which was our Christian Challenge Senior Send-off!! We went to the Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton and everyone dressed up - it was way fun to see everyone in dresses and suits!
This is Tanya with baby Samantha, and Jonathan in the background wanted to get in on the fun!
This is me, Carrie and Tanya at the fun side of the table :)
Then on Sunday we had baptism right after church and we had FOUR Trojans getting baptized!! Including Lauren!!! It was amazing and so wonderful to celebrate these girls' decisions to follow Christ!!
Lauren, Elizabeth, Neil, Karlene and Amy :D
This was Lauren and I right after she got baptized - it was so fun to see her take steps of obedience and faith, something I've been praying for ever since I met her!! God is so good!!!
Then we had a Challenge fundraiser at Rubio's and *then* was the wedding shower, fiesta themed!! And with more Mexican food - maybe the Rubio's was a bad idea...
This is Jenn, our bride-to-be, in her "sombrero veil" :) And yes, we made her keep it on the entire time!
This is the entire bridal party - Jazell, Katie, Jessa, Erin, Jenn, Sarah and myself, all in our bridesmaid sombreros. Jenn's mom thought they were so great she made us keep them and she wants us to wear them for the rehearsal dinner!! ha haaaa!!!!
What wedding shower wouldn't be complete without a pinata???? Jenn didn't want any games, so we got this past her because we saw this as more of an activity than a game :)
So it was a great time and I think Jenn really felt celebrated which was our goal so yay!!
Hope you're having a loverly day and here is the funny of the day:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)