Thursday, January 20, 2011

Journey In Isaiah

This may not seem Loma life related but for me, it definitely is. It's a constant struggle to find time to have a quiet time with God here at Loma amidst the business of school and the amazing friends I've got as well as now having a roommate. Despite the great community, I definitely have been having to try extra hard to slow down and read but today I did and the Word was really speaking to me so I thought I'd share my thoughts that I thought.

Passages are from Isaiah 43-44

“Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you… fear not, for I am with you; everyone who is called by name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

The Lord God, Yahweh, sees us, His children, His chosen people, as precious, honored, and loved. We were each created for His glory. I feel like this is a huge thing to realize. We weren’t created just to do great things. We weren’t created so that people think we’re great because of our accomplishments, we were created for God's glory, not our own.

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

So often, we dwell on things in our past but God tells us not to think of the old things. He promises that He is starting something new in us and for us. I find it extremely important that He asked, through Isaiah, “do you not perceive it?” because I think so often, we as people, tend to miss the new things God is doing in our lives because we are thinking too much about things in the past, remaining oblivious to the present.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

This verse also goes along with our dwelling on our pasts. Therefore, if God doesn’t even remember our sins, why should we? We focus so much on all of the junk that we’ve done in the past and constantly remember our sins and let them destroy us. But, we live under a God that doesn’t even know recall the sins we’ve committed, He’s forgotten them! God doesn’t keep a list of every wrong that you’ve done and hold it over your head, so why do you?

“I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

God has not only forgotten our sins, he’s blotted them out, as in gotten rid of them for good, not just thrown them to the side or hidden them as if one would throw dirty clothes under their bed. The clothes one throws under their bed are still there the next day. That’s not what God does with our sin. He has gotten rid of them like mist. Mist is a form of water that is so quickly separated that it quickly vaporizes and disappears as if it was never present. This is what God has done with our sin. He’s spread our sins so far from us that they’re virtually not there anymore. Because of this, God calls us to return to Him, to stop seeking to gain His favor or hide our mistakes, but to return to Him. He has redeemed us. We should walk in the knowledge that we are a redeemed people, knowing that our sins are no longer a part of who we are.

Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old things have gone and the new things have come.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Spring Semester

Well, today marks the end of the first week of the new semester. It's been incredible. I like all my classes thus far and all my teachers seem really cool! I feel like this first week has been a whole month. It was a really long feeling week. A bunch of my friends were feeling the same thing around Wednesday. We were feeling like there was no way we'd only been at school for 3 days. I came up with a llittle theory to explain why some pepole were feeling that way. I felt kinda scientifical or something lol.

The week felt so long because of what we got used to. When we were on break, (for the most part) one day consisted of one or two big events. Therefore, when we got back to school and began doing multiple things each day, our internal clock began to make us feel like if we did 8 tihngs in one day including going from one class to the next, that 4 days had passed. Obviously, I'm not a scientist, or whatever "ist" profession would study this sort of thing but that's just my theory on why it felt so long. Hope that made sense.

Anyway, like I said, this week has been phenomenal. My biggest news is that I got a roommate this semester. It's really different having a roommate when I didn't have one for a whole semester and got used to it, but I'm loving it so far. He's a great guy and I'm adjusting to what it's like to live with someone.

I've been able to see my friends a lot and it's been great catching up with them. I've spent a lot of time with a core group of people and that's really rare for me. But I really love having a group of friends that I know are there for me if I need it and that I can joke around with but also be serious around if need be. I've just been blessed to have certain people in my life. Sentimental moment over.

I had a few highlights of my week that I thought I'd share.

1) On Wednesday night, we had a Time Out service that was not like any other one we've ever had. It was a live worship recording album and the energy was so high in the room. Jesus was definitely glorified that night through the extremely loud singing, the loud clapping, and it seemed that a lot of weighs and burdens were lifted off of people's shoulders. It was a great way to start Time Outs for the semester. On a personal note, it's kind of intimidating because the freshman band plays in Time Out on the 26th and that excitement is a lot to live up to!

2) On Thursday night, we got the band back together and we had a lot of fun. It felt so good to be able to get together with all 5 of my band mates once again and make some beautiful music to our Father in Heaven in the name of His Son by the empowering of the Holy Spirit! I really like how not everything always has to be perfect. We're all humans. We don't always agree on everything both musically and sometimes we get into theological things as well. But I wouldn't want to just go and agree on everything and not grow at all. I love that we get to come together and wrestle with songs and what the words mean to us individually and think about things congregationally. But at the end of the day, we're all falling more and more in love with the same God and that's what matters. A song is not a worship song because of the lyrics, but because of the heart of the singer.

All in all, 2011 has been such a good year so far and I don't plan on letting that change. I'm clinging to God and trusting Him with everything. I'm continually laying down my desires and letting Him by the owner of this life. My heart - Christ's home.

To those of you who read my blog, thanks for reading and I'm glad I get to share my life with you.

That is all.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

International Appreciation Blog


I have been made aware after looking at various stats on my viewing audience and have found that there are people reading my blog from far away places such as Denmark and Slovenia. Some countries I've honestly not heard much of but I just wanted to send hellos your way if you're from outside the United States :)

Sorry if I butcher your language...

To my Danish audience: Hej ven eller venner! Tak fordi du læste min blog! Jeg synes det er cool, at Danmark's største religion er kristendommen. Gud velsigne!

To my Slovene audience: Pozdravljeni, prijatelj ali prijatelji! Hvala za branje mojega bloga! Slovenija je med najbolj biološko raznolikih držav na svetu! Mislim, da boš fit v veliki s prizadevanji Point Loma's go zeleno. Bog vas blagoslovi!

To my Russian audience: Привет друг или друзья! Спасибо за чтение моего блога! Жаль, что я жила в самой большой страной в мире. От имени Соединенных Штатов, извините о холодной войне. Бог благословит!

To my Malaysian audience: Halo teman-teman atau rakan-rakan! Terima kasih telah membaca blog saya! Adakah anda pernah makan ikan pari? Kedengarannya seperti itu akan menarik. Tuhan memberkati!

To my Filipino audience: Hello kaibigan o mga kaibigan! Salamat sa pagbabasa aking blog! Mayroon akong lubos ng ilang mga simbahan mga miyembro ng pamilya na misyonero doon! Edwin Samson ay isa sa kanila, marahil ka na nakilala niya. Siya ay awesome. Natutunan ko ang ilang mga Tagalog last summer pero nakalimutan ang lahat ng ito. God bless!

To my French audience: Bonjour l'ami ou entre amis! Merci d'avoir lu mon blog! La seule chose que je sais comment dire en français «Je suis la petite fille." En France, il est interdit d'appeler un cochon Napoléon. Dieu vous bénisse!

To my Canadian audience: Canadians speak English right? Hello friend or friends! Thanks for reading my blog, eh? :) God bless.

To my German audience: Guten Tag Freund oder Bekannten! Danke für das Lesen meines Blogs. Mein Lehrer für mein Abschlussjahr an der High School hat uns gelehrt, eine andere deutsche Phrase jede Woche. Ich erinnere mich nicht ein einziger von ihnen! Gott segne!

To my Mexican audience: Hola amigo o amigos! Gracias por leer mi blog! Me tomó tres años de español, pero se olvidó más de lo que aprendí. He ido a México dos veces para viajes misioneros. Los buenos tiempos. Vaya Con Dios y Dios le bendiga!

Das ist alles.
Det er alt.
Iyon ay ang lahat.
C'est tout.
Itu saja.
Вот и все.
To je vse.
Eso es todo.
That is all.

Yes, You Are in the Right Place

New year, new look. Don't be afraid. This is the same blog. I just wanted it to look different. Not sure if I like it yet, but we'll see.

Had a lazy day today sitting in my snuggie and chatting with Jesus :D Loving life, but missing Loma.

Nothing really to update on so...

That is all.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Grades

One quick thing.

It's the new year, so happy new year to you all. While nothing is magical about a new year coming, I've definitely had a wonderful start. At 2 in the morning today (January 1st) I saw this:


Needless to say, I am SOOOOO STOKED. I did it :) So many people told me it's "impossible" to get a 4.0 because of the grading scale (An A- doesn't give you 4 points like it did in high school) and work load. But nothing is impossible with God! So, praise the Lord indeed. Anyway. Just wanted to share my good news.

Also, a few blogs ago, I said this:

"That just goes to show, if you read my blog and contact me, you get in to Point Loma. Prove me wrong. I’m going strong 100% right now. One for one. Beat that, bloggers."

Just wanted to say, that I am now 2 for 2. Another prospective student who has read my blog and who I met at a preview day a month or so back has also been accepted into Loma! So congrats to you Tyler Merrihew!

That is all.

Friday, December 31, 2010

Mirror

This is really not Point Loma related. I just had a leading to write after I had this conversation with my Daddy.


I walked into my bathroom a few moments ago. As I walked past the mirror, I heard I heard Him faintly say, “Stop. What do you see?


I looked around me on the sink and saw my toiletries; a razor, a toothbrush and toothpaste, contact solution, etc.


Then I heard His whisper again “Now, look up. What do you see?”


“I see a broken person… I see someone who terribly misses someone that doesn’t even care about him anymore. I see someone hopeless, someone pitiful…”


I then paused and thought about what I just said, I knew it wasn’t from God.

Then, these words came, without me even thinking them,  “…without You.” I pondered what had just taken place for just a few seconds and God once again spoke.

“What else do you see?” He said to me compassionate and loving.

Almost immediately, despite everything negative I wanted to say – “a sinful child, desperately in need of You because he is dead in his transgressions” – He brought this simple answer to my lips.

 “I see a child of God.”

He responded, “And that’s what you are.”

That’s what I am.

And if you’re reading this, that’s what you are too. Simply, a child God. Fearfully and wonderfully made. God’s precious child. His masterpiece.


That is all.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

OMGOSH IT'S CHRISTMAS

It’s Christmas! Merry Christmas to you all. In honor of the Christmas spirit, enjoy this video of PLNU’s freshman band from earlier in the month. It’s pretty funny if I do say so myself. In the video are 4/5 of my favorite people: Danny King, Amanda Spicer, Janelle Hiroshige, Christian Martinez, our last band mate Haley Courtney couldn’t be there this rehearsal. Side note: Haley is also a Loma Blogger and you can check out her blog here (Just throwing it out there) if you haven't done so already. End side note.

With that said, let’s talk Christmas.

I’ve had such a wonderful day today thus far. So much fun and laughter with my family and meditation on the goodness of God, because He is definitely good. Then there were presents. I want to start by saying, I’m not a big present person. The only thing I asked for this year was a new guitar case because mine had tears in it. And I really didn’t want anything. But it’s really funny, because I probably got the best presents this year ever (at least to my memory) I really appreciate when gifts are practical if I do have to receive them. This Christmas was definitely a practical one in the gifts I did receive. It was just weird when I told people not to get me anything and they decided to do the opposite and I was blessed with quite a few things, so praise God J
Some things I got that really make me happy:
Good family time. So much fun and laughter with my parents and sister today. It was so great to have that. My parents were both sleep deprived because they were up the whole night previous and that meant that everything said was twice as funny to them which = good times.
Clothes, which are the obligatory present. Pretty cool to see that people know my style without me even asking for anything
A new guitar case which has a nifty little detachable backpack on it. So cool. The one thing I actually wanted and it’s even better than I imagined.
An iPod nano, the newest one. It’s like not even the size of the face of my watch and it’s a touch screen. Crazy! I’ve never even seen this nano before.
A neck and shoulder electric massager. Talk about practical. I know what I’m going to be doing every night in my room lol. Laying on the bed with that massage machine on, relaxing. I’m actually using it right now. Feels so nice J
A toaster. I didn’t really need one, but a toaster never hurt anybody. Actually, not true. They can burn you if you touch them. Luckily, this toaster has some cool sided feature where the sides don’t heat up which means it’s kid friendly.
A thing called a techno hoodie, which I’ve never heard of but it’s a sweatshirt that has built in headphones in the drawstrings around the hood. And in the pocket is where you can plug in the mp3 player. Sick.
Finally, a SNUGGIE. ‘Nuff said.

That is all.
MERRY CHRISTMAS