Hey All!
I made it to the Holy Land safe and sound! Currently, I'm sitting at my school's outside patio, enjoying the beautiful breeze while overlooking Jerusalem. It is wonderful! Today was orientation and then a photo scavenger hunt in the Old City. We went to the West gate, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and through the streets of Old City. In just a few minutes, we're taking a tour to the New City.
I enrolled for classes today and they start on Monday. I'll go to church tomorrow morning with some of my new friends and then we have a field trip back into the Old City. They're keeping us pretty busy, but it's alot of fun. Jason and I are hanging out lots and made sure to keep first things first-- Frisbee. We found a park and tossed around with one of our friends.
Hopefully I'll update again soon with some fun new stories and pictures about my exciting journey to THE HOLY LAND
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Faith
Comfort comes to those with faith in mysterious ways
But for me faith don’t make up for what we lost
This song by Josh Pyke came up on my Pandora playlist. And as I was bobbing my head to the catchy tune, I stopped when I heard this part of the jingle.
Faith don't make up for what we lost.
How deeply wrong this is.
Faith IS the comfort for what we've lost. When I read headlines of earthquakes, see pictures of the hungry, hear of war-stricken countries, I must have faith.
Faith is the only thing that allows us to understand, or allows us to realize that we cannot yet understand.
We have faith in everything. And if faith doesn't 'cut it' for some, then you are severely mistaken. You have faith in everything you believe to be true. So, it has to be enough. Faith is all you need. Because with faith, you can explore, question, dream, love, and experience joy.
Faith is how you know.
I am reading Anselm's Proslogion. It is a prayer-- Faith seeking understanding. He is looking for happiness through understanding God. But he knows understanding is not separate of faith; in fact, faith is essential to understanding.
In faith, in knowledge, in GOD, all "will indeed rejoice as much as they love, and they will love as much as they know."
So, faith MUST be enough to make up for unanswered questions. It HAS to be.
But never should we stop seeking Truth, for in Truth will we someday be revealed understanding.
O truthful God, I ask that I may receive, "that my joy may be full." Until then,"let my mind ponder on it, my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it and my mouth proclaim it. Let my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it, my whole being long for it, until I 'enter into the joy of my Lord' who is God, Three in One, 'blessed for ever. Amen'"
But for me faith don’t make up for what we lost
This song by Josh Pyke came up on my Pandora playlist. And as I was bobbing my head to the catchy tune, I stopped when I heard this part of the jingle.
Faith don't make up for what we lost.
How deeply wrong this is.
Faith IS the comfort for what we've lost. When I read headlines of earthquakes, see pictures of the hungry, hear of war-stricken countries, I must have faith.
Faith is the only thing that allows us to understand, or allows us to realize that we cannot yet understand.
We have faith in everything. And if faith doesn't 'cut it' for some, then you are severely mistaken. You have faith in everything you believe to be true. So, it has to be enough. Faith is all you need. Because with faith, you can explore, question, dream, love, and experience joy.
Faith is how you know.
I am reading Anselm's Proslogion. It is a prayer-- Faith seeking understanding. He is looking for happiness through understanding God. But he knows understanding is not separate of faith; in fact, faith is essential to understanding.
In faith, in knowledge, in GOD, all "will indeed rejoice as much as they love, and they will love as much as they know."
So, faith MUST be enough to make up for unanswered questions. It HAS to be.
But never should we stop seeking Truth, for in Truth will we someday be revealed understanding.
O truthful God, I ask that I may receive, "that my joy may be full." Until then,"let my mind ponder on it, my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it and my mouth proclaim it. Let my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it, my whole being long for it, until I 'enter into the joy of my Lord' who is God, Three in One, 'blessed for ever. Amen'"
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
I am a slave
My desires overtake me. My passions fill me. I know not how to carry out the good i desire to display. The sin I do not want to desire continues to dwell in all my actions, all my thoughts, all my days. Where do I go to be renewed? How can I do this to the One I desire to control my life?
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Praise be to the Lord; His Spirit now dwells within me! He gives my mortal body life-- I am no longer a slave to the passions of my sin! Hallelujah God! The Restorer of all sinful beings! You hear our cries for mercy. You encompass us with grace.
For we are no longer in bondage of the spirit of slavery. But we have received the Spirit of adoption, as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" We are now children of God, and if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
[Romans 7 & 8]
Hallelujah, Father! For you have saved my being from death. And I eagerly await your return.
Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Praise be to the Lord; His Spirit now dwells within me! He gives my mortal body life-- I am no longer a slave to the passions of my sin! Hallelujah God! The Restorer of all sinful beings! You hear our cries for mercy. You encompass us with grace.
For we are no longer in bondage of the spirit of slavery. But we have received the Spirit of adoption, as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" We are now children of God, and if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
[Romans 7 & 8]
Hallelujah, Father! For you have saved my being from death. And I eagerly await your return.
Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Until I am found in Thee
O Lord, You have created us for you, and our hearts are restless until they are found in Thee.
Savior of the world, what have you done to deserve this? And what have we done to deserve you? Strung up between criminals, cursed and spat upon, you wait for death, and look for us, for us whose sin has crucified you.
To the mystery of undeserved suffering you bring the deeper mystery of unmerited love. Forgive us for not knowing what we have done; open our eyes to see what you are doing now, as through wood and nails, you dis-empower our depravity and transform us by your grace.
Amen.
What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.
I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new!
--Saint Augustine
Savior of the world, what have you done to deserve this? And what have we done to deserve you? Strung up between criminals, cursed and spat upon, you wait for death, and look for us, for us whose sin has crucified you.
To the mystery of undeserved suffering you bring the deeper mystery of unmerited love. Forgive us for not knowing what we have done; open our eyes to see what you are doing now, as through wood and nails, you dis-empower our depravity and transform us by your grace.
Amen.
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