I saw this somewhere and the student and teacher in me appreciated it even if I don’t follow the advice to proofread enough.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Author Unknown
Filed under: Christian Living, Cool Finds, Good Advice, Gospel, Lessons Learned from Reading
I really appreciated this post that explains that obedience to the golden rule is linked to remembering God’s goodness to us. It is worth reading the whole thing, but here is a little excerpt to whet your appetite.
We first must understand that God will always do good for us (v.11) — so therefore we can devote ourselves to doing good for others (v.12) … Jesus does not want us to obey the Golden Rule by gritting our teeth and ignoring our own needs so we can care for the needs of others. He wants us to obey by first trusting all our needs to our Father in earnest prayer — resting in the fact that He is rejoicing to do us good with all His heart and soul. Then — trusting that God is passionately pursuing us with good — we can devote ourselves to doing good for others.
Just read a post by Stephen Altrogge on New Year’s resolutions, which I found very helpful. And so, here are my Resolutions for 2012,
Personal:
- Work on my handwriting each week as I write notes
- Stick to the Bible Reading Plan I’ve selected
- Hang out with friends outside of the dorm at least once every two weeks
- Spend 30 minutes a week working on a foreign language
- Work out once a week – I know it is small, but you have to start somewhere.
- Read one book for leisure a month or see one movie
- Memorize one verse a week
Ministry:
- Write a note a week. This is something I’ve gotten out of the practice of. I used to write notes all the time in college, even though my roommate said that no one could read them because of my messy writing :), but now a days it seems like there is never time or I don’t have the brain power to do anything worthwhile. That has got to change.
- Every Sunday spend time looking at the month ahead to prepare personally and better communicate to my staff
- Pray regularly for eyes to see how the Spirit is at work in people’s lives to encourage them with what I see.
- Dsomething spontaneous or silly with the girls at least once a month
- And I don’t know how to turn this into a resolution that’s doable since it is more of a mind shift, but here is an excellent post on caring for the person God has placed before you in that moment instead of being preoccupied with that girl on the opposite side of the room who you are not talking to.
Filed under: Christian Living, Good Advice, Gospel, Lessons Learned from Reading, Vocation, work
Recently my group of coworkers read a chapter from a book on words of life and words of death. It examined the counsel that Jesus gave to the people He encountered. It caused us to think about I Thessalonians 5:14. To be helpful we must choose our words wisely. They must not only be true but they must address that individual where they are at. The article reminded me of the fact that most people come into counseling with their interpretation of the problem and the solution. Martha did. She thought the situation was that she needed to put on a fine meal, the problem was her sister, and the solution was Jesus telling her sister to get her petuty into the kitchen to work. Jesus didn’t reply the way she wanted. To reply the way she wanted, would have been harmful to Martha. It wouldn’t have brought life to her soul it would have caused her to rely on herself, be preoccupied with making a meal, and to continue to judge God in thinking that He didn’t care for her, if He didn’t respond the way she wanted Him to, in order for her to control the situation. Instead he says, “Martha, Martha, You are anxious and troubled about many things. Mary has chosen the better portion and for that she will be rewarded.”
I am a people pleaser and as such these words about counsel are hard to think about. I need my faith, wisdom, grace, and love for God and people to be increased by God so I can walk in the Spirit and minister rightly. If I walk in the flesh, my counsel, is going to lead people away from Christ not to Him.
In chapel, a speaker spoke on evangelism. He said the fields are ripe for harvest and yet we tend to look at them and say they are green… Who can live this way? God why did you choose me? I’m so awkward, I’m not a good representative. Why didn’t you choose the best, the brightest, and the suave to represent you?
If God wanted to bring a person to the saving knowledge of Himself or encourage, confront, and have them change He could snap and it would be done perfectly. Instead He chooses to graciously and patiently work through imperfect you and me and He gets the glory and He works for our good.
Recently there have been a number of things where I have been led to cry out in response to God’s commands or God’s call on my life, “Who is sufficient for these things?” “Why did you choose me? Why didn’t you choose someone who was wise or more gifted, someone who wasn’t broken and didn’t mess things up?” “Lord, increase my faith and increase my love!!!” I’ve been led to see my desperate need for Him and I’ve been reminded of the confidence I have in the Holy Spirit abiding within me. I see the work He has done and I know that He will be faithful to continue it. I have a confidence that He will grow my faith and He will foster more love in my heart because He is faithful and He will finish the work He has begun in His perfect way in the perfect time. One day I will be with Him and I will be like Him and I will see Him as He is but for now I will walk humbly and faithfully, confessing my failures and sins, and depending on Him for truth, growth, and life. And in the mean time, I join with the disciples at seeing the great call of Jesus to forgive others in Luke 17, in saying, “Increase my faith!”
Filed under: Friends, Good Advice, recipes, These are a few of my favorite things...
Make Bostwick’s Banana Bread
2-3 smashed bananas
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 TB oil
3/4 cups milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
Combine wet ingredients with bananas. Add dry ingredients grease loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.
Google has changed the way we think and learn. I know longer have to keep information in my brain to “know” it, I just need to know key phrases or search terms to find the well-informed article on that subject that I skimmed two weeks ago. I can use the collective knowledge of society at any moment by searching Wikipedia, the phone a friend lifeline for everyday life. I don’t know about you, but I use the search functions on my email and computer all the time. I remember my boss said something about this project I’m doing. Let me search my notes or let me search my emails to see what that detail was. Technology has allowed us to get a lot done because I can be working on more projects with more details that I could have possibly done 100 years ago, because I don’t actually have to remember anything. I just need a good system for filing or finding that information when it is needed. I don’t even have to remember that truth God taught me a month ago. I can just search my blog and reread it when I need to. Unfortunately, this has affected the way we “know” our Bibles too. How often do you search for a key phrase in the Bible because you know the Bible speaks to that somewhere, but you don’t remember the reference or the details of what it really says. Is this true knowledge? What happens when our smart phones are taken away? Where will we be in our pursuit of God, our knowledge of His truth, and the application of that truth to our daily living?
Recently, a friend shared that he had been praying to feast on the meat of the Word. That is my prayer too. Do you want to know The WORD not just skim it in order to know how to come back with google when you need it. When Tim Challies was on campus, I asked him how to best fight for this knowledge in the midst of the age of technology. He had a couple suggestions.
1. Flounder around looking for your passage in the Bible before you quickly look to google. Think of the context of the verse and skim the Bible to try to find it.
2. Memorize!
Recently, many areas in my life have converged to remind me of the importance, the challenges, and the methods for Scripture memory. Here are some appeals I recently heard.
Don’t think of Scripture memory as a childish thing to do. We can sometimes slip into that mindset because it was normal in Awana or in Christian homes or schools as children to have Scripture memory assignments. Most of us have not been as regular in this area since we hit highschool or adulthood. It may be easier for kids to memorize, but we need it even more as we face the challenges of daily life and the temptation to sin as adults. Memorize it in order to discipline your mind for godliness. It takes work. It takes discipline. Memory is not an easy thing for us anymore because of the way we have trained our minds.
Tim Challies on his recent visit reminded us of how good it is to memorize together. He said their church congregation memorizes passages together and that a five-year-old can come up and ask the preacher what the verse for the week is. One temptation with this accountability is to memorize it right before it is due, just so you can say it to that person. Don’t succumb to this temptation. Don’t memorize it to regurgitate it and then forget it an hour later, memorize it because you recognize your desperate need for and the rich value of the Word of God.
If the word of God is in our hearts, it will be on our tongues, and if it is on our tongues, it will be in our ears.
Over at What’s Best Next, Matt Perman recently had an article drawing the connection between the story of Mary and Martha in context in Luke 10 with the Good Samaritan coming right before it. It is worth reading the entire article, but here’s a little excerpt to whet your appetite.
Do indeed be radical in doing good, just like the Good Samaritan (v. 37). But don’t take this to mean that you should be scrambling around frantically, over-committing yourself and becoming over busy… Serve, but don’t be frantic. Sacrifice and go out of your way, but don’t neglect devoted time to worship and prayer and reading the Bible…God values — indeed, requires — both action and thought. Radical action for good is illustrated in the Good Samaritan. And deep consideration of the teaching of Jesus is modeled in the story of Mary and Martha… There is time for both and, ironically, each serves the other.
Filed under: current issues, Family, Friends, FUN!, Girly-Girl, Good Advice, Lessons Learned, My life, Student Comments, These are a few of my favorite things..., tmc, work
1. Items hung on my walls including the frames from the flea market. Cherilyn, you asked for pictures; here they are. The step stool with the suitcase on it is also “new” from the flea market.
2. Sweet Notes from Villains. Never got anything like this in my old job :).
3. Refreshment and rest looks like this:
4. My niece is still new in my mind and she’s most definitely blog worthy (at least in this doting aunt’s mind).
5. Sweazy won Gotcha! I don’t know how many played, but out of an enrollment of 1000 students, one of my girls got 120 cumulative kills. We had a Sweazy Alliance. Our motto was, “Don’t forsake the Alliance for cute boys.” I stayed in until Friday at which point I fell on my sword for the Sweazy Victory Chain. I had to stay in all week to protect a Sweazy friend who was below me, so I resorted to participating in all the safeties available except for Friday’s. Friday I was sick in bed, so I didn’t yell out “Ninja” at anyone dressed in black that might have tried to assassinate me :). Here are the other day’s safeties:
Monday – ride an imaginary horse
Tuesday – talk on a banana like a phone
Wednesday – in song narrate your day and what you are doing
Thursday – waddle like a penguin
I have never been so paranoid in my life. I heard helicopters everywhere, I had my banana at hand while shopping at Costco, I had full conversations with the banana to my face, I semi-waddled into a class off campus, I wouldn’t open my door when a student that wasn’t from Sweazy knocked. I made friends and watched the girls build relationships with one another and think through issues of life far beyond the game as a result of what the competition brought out both positive and negative in their hearts, relationships, and lives.
6. I was sick over the weekend, but am on the mend. It was a good time to reflect again on God’s kindness in making me stop, rest, and eat better. I’ve never eaten so much chicken soup or rehydrated with such mass quantities of Gatorade. It was also a humbling reminder that I’m not all that important. God is at work and He allows me to be a part of that, but you pull me out of the equation and He is still at work. I needed that reminder to not be overwhelmed with the needs, demands, and responsibilities before me. If you start to think of yourself too highly and try to compare the demands before you to “your personal resources” (I put that in quotes because a friend recently reminded me that my time, energy, strengths, giftedness, etc. are not really my resources.), you are going to get overwhelmed or feel that your resources are overwhelmed. When you see, however, God’s responsibility and care for all those things which is matched by his infinite wisdom and limitless resources, you are not overwhelmed but in awe and energized to move in in the strength He provides. He is matching your time and your giftedness as a miniscule part of His resources at His disposal to a specific situation in which He is working for believers good and His glory. It also helps you prioritize as you see how He is working apart from you and that everything doesn’t and shouldn’t involve you.
7. We’ve celebrated a birthday and had wing breakfasts at my place. Here’s a picture of my favorite RA Team celebrating Natalie’s birthday as well as a few other pics for your enjoyment. We had a lemon and turquoise theme. Lemons are Natalie’s favorite fruit and turquoise her favorite color.
8. Tonight we had an event called Sardines and Shakes or Murder and Malts. This is a traditional Sweazy event during which we turn off the power to the dorm and in the dark either play Sardines or dub someone “the murderer” and play an intense game of hide and seek. We wash all the fun down with shakes or malts afterwards :).
9. My favorite blogger on contemporary Christian issues and thought, who is the recent author of The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion, has been around campus speaking in chapel, classes, and participating in a Q&A. My personal thinking and campus conversations have been shaped by his messages. His first chapel message dealt with all speech flowing from the heart and what that reveals. He challenged us to consider how all of God’s commands for our speech apply to how we communicate through email, texts, Facebook, or blogging. His next message dealt with technology’s use as a part of the command to subdue and have dominion over the earth, but he went on to show how the fall affects that in a way where technology starts shaping and changing us to recreate us in its image or to run our lives. It also draws us in and promises us fulfillment and happiness and encourages us to rest and trust in it. We can be idolatrous about technology. He challenged us in the midst of a world of beeps and distractions to think about how to limit distractions and carve out time to think. Shallow thinking = shallow living and the many beeps in our life on our phones, dishwashers, coffee pots, microwaves, etc. are not discerning in when they beep. They just do their job, as they were designed to do, drawing us away from whatever we are doing at the moment. You can listen to those messages by clicking on the links above or by going to http://www2.masters.edu/pulpit/ . I hope to consider and blog more on this soon.
10. NANC - well NANC itself isn’t new, but the NANC Conference will be new for me this year. I’m very much looking forward to it.
Filed under: Books, Christian Living, Community, Counseling, Good Advice, Lessons Learned, Lessons Learned from Reading, Life, work
Usually when things feel urgent, it is because you have pressure from someone else making you think it is urgent. I have learned sometimes it is better to miss that phone call as an Admin Assistant. The student, parent, or coworker learns to rely on the Lord and after not reaching someone immediately, by the time I get back to them it isn’t such a crisis. John 11 “Let us go back to Judea … Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” He waited two days. Others thought it was urgent, but he was more concerned with God’s glory, their sanctification, and being a faithful servant than meeting their urgent demands.
Not only is it for the other person’s benefit that I don’t always take their phone call or meet their urgent demand, but it is also for my good and God’s glory. I am a human. I am finite. I am not God. I need sleep and nourishment. I have limited time and resources. I need to be faithful to not confuse myself as the Infinite, Limitless One. I need to be faithful to do the mission He has sent me on and not to take over the Kingdom. Faithfulness each day looks different. I need to be faithful with the task I have been given by the Lord. I need to be wise about using Kingdom Resources. I can’t dilly dally or waste time doing what every citizen of the kingdom or of another land wishes me to do. “Non Important – Urgent. Although unimportant, these activities in the guise of urgency conjure up an illusion that they are of value to us. They include interruptions of many kinds: some phone calls, meetings, visitors, requests for information. They can keep us busy for hours meeting other people’s expectations.” (37)
“Jesus did not meet all the human needs he encountered - many urgently desired by family and friends, and by others along his path. But he completed the mission his Father gave him” (Tyranny of the Urgent, 23). If Jesus didn’t meet everyone’s demands or stated needs then why should we think we can? We need to be faithful. They need to encounter a Savior often and not us.
