The Cross

Even though I had a part in planning the bible study today for Zoe, going through Hebrews and such, I do not think I fully experienced the power and significance of the cross until Felix read from the Case for Christ.  Hearing about what is involved during the flogging, what happened when Jesus was dragging the beam, then being nailed to the cross, his experience on the cross, I know that it impacted me.  It definitely made the cross even bigger for me!  The response song definitely captured my feelings, "I'm humbled by your mercy, and I'm broken inside."  Thank you, Jesus.

Team

Your friend!

My friend!

Running joke between the team as introduced to us by Kell on Tuesday.  It is quite funny and all out of fun and love.  But apparently you can't use it against someone, hahaha!  I love my family in Christ!

Blessings

This week has definitely been a week where I have experienced God's blessings.  In my conversations with people, devotionals, and just experiencing his love for me and others.

In a conversation that I had on Tuesday morning amidst the crazy snow that was falling, I came to realize how easily Satan can get into our thoughts and minds.  It boggles my mind that even when I sin, I feel/think that I am the only one going through it or struggling with it.  But in my mind I know that others are struggling through it as well but then irrationality sets in, as inputted by Satan, and I believe that I am alone and the only one.  Even though I know that others struggle with their sins, Satan makes me believe that I am alone in my sin, which causes me to isolate myself, and feel shameful.  However, rationality does eventually prevail through the power of his Holy Spirit and reading his word and I know that I am redeemed and renewed each day.  But it was still eye-opening to hear and to experience it.

A conversation the following day touched upon this again and it just reaffirmed everything that I already knew.  As humans, we seriously are dumb, no wonder God made us analogous to one of the dumbest animals on earth, sheep.

I think that God has revealed his answer to me about certain things and I am glad, however, I still need to keep praying about it--I do still have about a month! ;)  It is refreshing to experience new perspectives in terms of serving and the other things that come before and about with that.  God is definitely opening doors, it is now just a matter of which one to go through!  It's exciting and scary all at the same time!  See, this is what 2009 is going to bring!

Difficulties

After the great sermon on Sunday, it was followed by a wonderful Sunday School lesson led by my dear sister Kelly.  Even though she doesn't think she did well facilitating the discussions I took a lot out of it--maybe not in terms of the lesson per se, but what others contributed in terms of answering the questions that she posed.  I don't know what to think of some of them though!

How do we as Christians deal differently with difficulties in our lives?  I wanted to post my thoughts earlier about this, but now I know why it didn't happen until now.  Personally, I do not feel like I am going through difficulties anymore, not like 2-3 weeks ago where I was so heavily burdened.  After tonight's PM it even puts more things into perspective and how my problems seem so small.  However, I also know that God will solve all problems, big and small, mines and others.  We just really need to rely on God in these times of trouble and to claim onto his promises for our lives.

Shepherd

Yesterday's message was so good!  Some of the things that Pastor Scott spoke about really rang true, and it was crazy that he did not even get past the first line of Psalm 23!

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

I have heard sermons before about the lifestyle of being a shepherd and how sheep are really dumb (which are analogous to us as human beings).  However, Pastor Scott put a new perspective on shepherds and shepherding.

1. As a shepherd, you are more than likely to be quite poor.  This is because as a shepherd you have saved and saved until you can purchase a flock of your own and then once you have purchased your flock, it is a lifelong commitment because the sheep depend on you for everything.  Further, there is no real rest for the shepherd as he has to tend to his flock in the blistering heat of summer and the frigid cold of winter.  The shepherd invests everything into taking care of his flock.

This is so much like Jesus where he took care of us by leaving everything he had on the cross.  I loved Pastor Scott's story about this boy and his boat:

There once was this boy who became very interested in boats.  After seeing this very nice toy ship he decided to make one of his own.  He worked so hard on it and it was finally ready to be used on the water.  He brought it down to the water and in the beginning everything was going great, the boat was sailing back and forth, but then there was a change in the wind and his boat started sailing further and further away from the boy, until he could no longer see it in the distance.  He had lost his boat.  

Then one day while he was walking down the street, something caught his eye in the toy store.  He had to look 2 or 3 times to make sure that it was true, but there it was, it was his boat!  

He quickly ran into the toy shop and told the owner, "That is my boat in the window!  I made it!  Can I have it back?"  

The store owner replied, "Of course you can... As long as you have the money to pay for it."

So the boy ran home and worked hard to get enough money to pay for the boat.  When he finally had enough, he ran to the store, pulled out all his money and coins onto the table.  The store owner counted the money and took the boat from the store window.

The boy took the boat, hugged it and said, "You are mine."

Isn't that such a great story?  This is an analogy to God's relationship with us.  We are twice his--He made us, yet we fall short of his glory because of our sin, we are sinners by nature and by choice, and become separated from him, but he buys us back through his son, Jesus Christ, and we become his once more.

2. God had to mark and name his flock.  This is where the second part of the first line comes into play.  In order to differentiate their own flock from others, shepherds would have to mark their flock with symbols and colours.  As Christians we have that mark as well.  It may not be as evident as the symbols on the sheep, but when we have Christ in our lives we are changed and it makes us different from other flocks.

In addition, when we know God, we will be content in Christ and trust that God knows the best for us.  This includes blessings and trials.  And we have to remember that sometimes God's richest blessings are trials, this is when we draw the closest to God.

Sore

I don't believe that I am that out of shape (refrain from your comments =p).  But yesterday's gym day of dodgeball and volleyball has definitely destroyed me.  I was already feeling the effects of it last night during the TC rally where I could not get comfortable sitting in any position in the pews.  My back and leg muscles just felt really tired.  Then my soreness gets worse after I come home and fall asleep.  I am actually awaken by the soreness in my legs when I rolled around in my bed.  Man, today it was pretty bad going up and down stairs, even walking and getting up after sitting down in particular positions for long periods of time. If only I could know that I had a great workout without feeling the effects of it afterwards!

Dumb

Last night I went out with Ruby and Jeff after the TC rally.  I didn't want Jeff to just go home by himself on his birthday so I suggested we go out for some food and fun, and Ruby agreed!  We went to BR and had some interesting and funny conversations!

We somehow got on to the subject of some of the dumb things we did when we were younger and in our high school days.  When I think back upon high school I definitely realize now how dumb some of thing I did were!  The one incident that sticks out in my head is piling 9 people into a Dodge Neon and actually travelling some distance, at least 10 minutes, on city roads where people could definitely see us!  That was quite dumb.  Found out some funny things about Jeff and Ruby as well, but I guess you'll have to ask them yourselves.  It's crazy how our thinking is when we are 16 years old, we are invincible and on top of the world, no one can stop us.