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
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
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!
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