Wednesday, November 16, 2011

London Adventures Oct 31 - Nov 13

Ok I'm just going to admit failure on this one, try to give the gist, and move on...

Halloween happened to be on Monday which meant CU and it was a really good night.  Sang on the worship team and was particularly moved by "Beautiful" by Phil Wickham:

When we arrive at eternity's shore
Where death is just a memory and tears are no more
We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring
Your bride will come together and we'll sing
You're beautiful, You're beautiful, You're beautiful

(I highly recommend his entire Singalong album by the way).  Another line states, "Soon we will be coming home."  How true.

Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered - how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.
-Psalm 39:4-5

The question of course is where will you spend ETERNITY after this brief life.  "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23).  His glorious standard is the Ten Commandments, given to us simply to show our need for Him.  Imagine sin as a bunch of stickers and for every sin you commit a sticker is stuck to you.  That means every lie (even "white lies"), every stolen item (even that paperclip at work), every hateful thought (Jesus said to hate someone is to murder them in your heart), every lustful thought (Jesus said to look upon someone with lust is to commit adultery with them in your heart) and the list goes on.  For even just one sticker you are marked with sin and cannot enter Heaven.  Nothing you can do will 'earn' your way to Heaven.  Just 'being a good person' is not enough because none of us is truly good.  

Yet, "God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners" (5:8).  "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord" (6:23).  Sin leads to death and an eternity separated from God because in His perfection He cannot look upon sin.  But praise be to God that He provided a way to be cleansed!  "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved" (10:9-10).  When we confess Jesus is Lord, Jesus' righteousness covers us like a giant robe and hides all of our imperfections.  It is then through Jesus Christ that we can enter God's presence and spend eternity with him in Heaven.

I praise God that I know where Dad is.  The night that he died a good friend of mine had a dream.  She didn't know he had died that night until after she woke up.  She saw him standing with his arms spread wide, a huge smile on his face, meeting Jesus.  Such a glorious confirmation of God's Word when Jesus said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God, and trust also in me.  There is more than enough room in my Father's home.  If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.  And you know the way to where I am going" (John 14:1-4).  Friends, it is because I love you that I say this.  I pray that I will meet all of you in Heaven.  Put your trust in Jesus.

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Baked a chocolate cake in honor of what would've been my dad's 68th birthday.  Chocolate icing and ice cream along with it of course!

Spent these past two weeks finally getting into what I guess would be normal life here after all that time sick.  Started running and working out again.  Most of the time I've been pretty sore, but it feels so good!  Began practicing with the Accies Thursday nights.  So weird that training is only once a week.  2-0 shutout win on Saturday the 5th and played center forward on Saturday the 12th - HA.  Technically scored, too, if the ref had held for advantage like you're supposed to (I shot the ball after it rebounded off of a defender's foot and as it held no advantage for the defender to have the ball hit her foot the foul should not have been called).

Began research for my essays that are due before Christmas.  I feel so out of practice!  I haven't written a paper in two and a half years!

Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night Nov 5 - Remember, Remember the Fifth of November

Visited Cambridge on Nov 11 with Rachel and James.  James did his undergrad there, so he was the tour guide.  First time out of London!  Loved the campus and town!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Alive Again

This pretty much sums up the past month:

I woke up in darkness
Surrounded by silence
Oh where, where have I gone?

I woke to reality Losing its grip on me
Oh where, where have I gone?
'Cause I can see the light
Before I see the sunrise

You called and You shouted
Broke through my deafness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again

You shattered my darkness
Washed away my blindness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again

"Alive Again" Matt Maher (listen


When thinking of October 2011, I think of a black hole. I feel like I've emerged out of a huge black cloud that had me both physically and mentally down. It's as if suddenly I can see everything around me and rejoice in its beauty. It's as if suddenly I'm ALIVE.


"Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. 
Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect."
-Romans 12:2

"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. 
For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. 
But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 
And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying,
for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. 
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good
of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."
-Romans 8:26-28

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? 
Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity,
or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?...
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us."
-Romans 8:35, 37


It's also funny how sometimes you can give something up to God, being truly content whether or not you ever have or do that thing again, and then God just hands it right back saying, "Here, it's a gift. It's always been a gift, but now that you understand a little more of how it comes from me, you're ready to receive it again."

"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, 
the glory, the victory, and the majesty.
Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, 
O Lord, and this is your kingdom.  
We adore you as the one who is over all things.  
Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything.  
Power and might are in your hand, 
and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.
O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name!  
But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you?  
Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!
-1 Chronicles 29:11-14