non-christian grammer lessons.

In my college writing class we have to write an essay on just what God means to us by describing a place.
a tangible, visible, touchable location.
This is incredibly hard to do because those are all things God is not.
He is a supernatural being, who cannot be confined to one place in time, let alone be described by words.
there's a worship song we sing from time to time that goes...

"Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God"

This song describes the very being of God and how we as humans cannot understand Him.

Yet, we still try to.

Most of us are still trying to fit him on a grid or chart his love.

This is impossible.
Where im getting at is, this is why the act of "witnessing" is so difficult.
because we ourselves do not even fully understand God to all degrees.
i am struggling to finish this essay, but in reality, this shows that if i was faced with the perfect opportunity to share God with someone, i would probably be stumbling for words to describe the feeling i get when i'm in God's presence or feel his love.
Truth is, we all need to brush up on our non-christian vocabulary and learn how to describe what we believe in a logical way that makes people think.

This way, we will not be left scratching our heads, and at a loss for words when the time comes.

one person i know that is extremely good at putting his beliefs into words is my old youth pastor.

he moved to greece to become a missionary with his family recently. 

he has a blog that he keeps up with so that people back in the states, like me, can see what he is up to

here is a link to his blog. http://becominggreek.typepad.com/becoming_greek/

i encourage you to read some of his posts, they are challenging.

i mean how many of us would be willing to get up, leave everything we know as familiar, and live in a foreign country?

beauty in the eye of the beholder...

Can I just start off by saying that I love God?

He is so amazing! I had the opportunity to go on a retreat this weekend off in the secluded mountains, with the gorgeous fall colored leaves, and log cabins, campfires, and horseback riding.

It was so nice to just get away. to really not focus on school or worry about facebook. But just tune into God and spend the weekend growing in his presence and his creation. 

This weekend confirmed in me why I am a Christian. why I believe in what i do...

By even looking at God's creation in the fall with all the different colors of the leaves.

red.orange.yellow.green.

How can you not stand in awe??

I encourage you this week to look around you,
pay attention to something that you might not have noticed before
about God's creation. be it big or small.

Sunsets. the fall. stars. and flowers. are my weaknesses.

when i see them, all i can do is marvel and praise God!

"It is amazing how much we can endure when we're convinced there is a purpose to our struggles."

do you ever find yourself completely thirsting for God?
of course we have all been there
we occasionally have some amazing hyped-up-Churchy-God-moments and we think we can live in that state for the rest of our lives. (FULL)
but the truth is, our schedules start piling up, our energy is spent on other endeavors, and life gets in the way. (EMPTY)
we can never fully keep that up.
kind of like a gas tank meter. 
our spiritual lives are bound to have ups and downs.

hard and easy. 

sometimes I find it more difficult to focus on God when my days are going well. 

Its those times that I feel like I can handle life on my own. without His divine intervention.

but, the fact of the matter is, we have to continue seeking God and following Him when it's hard, AND when it's easy.

The hard times are growing experiences, but the easy ones can be too.

try to let every day be a learning experience.

"We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4

if you dont stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

this skit brings me to tears every time i watch it.

it challenges me to think of what is holding me back from Jesus.

it makes me really look through my life and get rid of things that could be in the way of my relationship with God.

better yet, it reminds me of just what He has done for me.

"Sometimes God allows what He hates to gain what He loves."

questions

recently i have been wondering a lot about where God is leading me. 

i have been praying that i would follow His Will for my life... 

but what exactly is that will?

how do i know what exactly God wants me to do

sometimes i just wish God would smack me over the head with it, instead of giving me all these options.

but something my professor said this week, resonated with me...

"mature faith is being able to live with questions."

this is one thing that i pray for all the time.

...the ability to live with questions.

being an organized person and all, it's hard not knowing what's coming next. or when. or why.

But that's what faith is all about right?

Dictionary.com defines faith as: "Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence"

i don't know what God has planned for me.

but whatever it is, i know that i can trust Him to reveal that to me in his timing... 

i just need to learn to be patient and live with the unanswered questions i have.

i challenge you to do the same.

and trust me, i'm still a work-in-progress. haha :)

bucket list.

as i was looking through one of my old journals

i stumbled across a really old list labeled "life goals"
i don't remember writing it, but there were things on that list that were pretty interesting.
some were serious like get married, graduate high school, have kids, travel, and so on...
but others were hilarious, and made me wonder

just how old i was when i wrote them down.
never get overweight, ride in a hot air balloon, own ten pairs of chucks.
haha. but as stupid as some of these sound,

it motivated me to start a new list. a real one.
so i did.
and now im encouraging you to do the same.
but dont just write a list, start thinking about ways that

you can make some of these things start happening.
it shouldnt just be a checklist...

and don't just think about yourself

how could you benefit someone else?

maybe contribute to sponsoring a kid in a foreign country or go on a missions trip?

the possibilities are endless.
we only have one life to live, let's make it memorable.

TODAY IS A GIFT, THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE PRESENT

  :D

numbered breaths

What would you do if you could know the number of days you had left on earth?
would you be acting any different?
what would you change?


LOOK AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY AS GOD'S GIFT TO YOU, WHAT YOU DO WITH THAT OPPORTUNITY IS YOUR GIFT TO GOD...