Teaching to Learn and Learning to Teach

Obedience to the Golden Rule is “So” Important

teachingtolearn — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:26:18 +0000

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.

God Did This

teachingtolearn — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:07:41 +0000

I saw a lot of guilt and bitterness both in my own life and in the lives of others last semester, that stemmed from not believing God’s sovereignty. Many of us will say that God is sovereign, but then turn around and say things like, “I know this is beyond my control, but I want there to be something I can do to change this so it doesn’t hurt so and so.” “I’m ruining everything.” “So and so doesn’t know what their sinning against me has cost me. I’m not ready to forgive him yet. He is going to have to earn my trust back.”

Let me clue you in on something. The sovereignty of God means that you or I can’t bring anything into each other’s lives that God does not orchestrate. Stop feeling guilt about not being good enough for that friend or spouse. Stop moping about how your difficulty has affected another when it was something beyond your control. Stop accusing others of harming you or bringing you more than you can bear. Those claims are actually accusing the Lord of not being good. It is accusing Him of being unkind to the person who you have affected or of his unkindness in allowing you to be hurt by another. Instead, we can be certain that nothing comes our way that is not loving and divinely orchestrated. That’s good news! That includes break-ups, financial struggles, limitations, sins, and the whole gammet.

Yes, that boy may have been insensitive. Yes, your illness may have come at some cost to your roommate. Yes, your moving away brings great sorrow to those who love you. Yes, that teacher is harder than the others and yes, his B may have cost you a scholarship… this trial was dealt to you by the hand of God. Take it as such and rejoice. Rejoice at seeing your heart. If you didn’t sin in response to this trial, rejoice at seeing the Spirit at work in you. If you are suffering and not sinning, rejoice at coming to know the Lord more fully. Rejoice at sharing in his suffering. Rejoice at your need for Christ. Rejoice at your opportunity to not only model Christ’s response but to help that other believer that wronged you look more like Christ too.

Let the sovereignty of God cure you of moping and bitterness and instead be replaced with rejoicing and loving service to God and others.

Shoes as a Canvas

teachingtolearn — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:06:35 +0000

I love these. One of the Sweazy girls paints on shoes for gifts.

Small Resolutions to be Faithful In

teachingtolearn — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:20:00 +0000

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.

2011

teachingtolearn — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:49:21 +0000

Adrienne and Raqel visited my family with me. My dad cleaned the house because he thought Adrienne might be a boy
Spent Valentine’s Day with some of my favorite peeps: Joe and Heidi, Karrie, Dave and Tricia, Lisa, and Jess Stucky and then attended the big band concert
Hosted Women to Women with Heidi
Enjoyed the Idiot Abroad Dinner Club
Had an informal interview on the beach for my dream job without realizing it
Saw West Side Story :(, Beauty and the Beast :), Bill Cosby, The Gettys, as well as Miracle on 34th St. at The Million Dollar Theater in L.A.
Discovered Cleo’s a trendy Middle Eastern restaurant close to the Pantages
Enjoyed “Game Nights” and a bacon feast with RED, Adrienne, and Phil
Made 500 cake pops and bars for the Ladies’ Tea at Church
Went to Iowa and celebrated my Grandmother’s 90th birthday with the Wilhite Clan.
Road Trip with Jessica Wiley Frederickson for Sarah Marquez Wiley’s Baby Shower
Spent Easter with RED, Adrienne, and the Dennis Family
Helped with Breakfast for Year End Show
Said goodbye to dear friends: Jones Family and RED.
Settled into my first apartment
I became an RD after Dave and Karrie sang a job offer and after Joe gave me the RD Pep Talk
Had my first and hopefully my last root canal
Attended the Grand Baby Wedding for Bel and Bella
I ran out of gas
Survived August and learned a great deal about God as my rock, my defender, and advocate who knows my concerns, my needs, my fraility and my sin and despite all of that saved me and chooses to allow me to participate in His ministry
RD, RA, and SLS Retreat and WOW Week
Became friends with Sarah, Noelle, Natalie, Kaylin, Rae, Summer, and Stacey
Had many house guests including Raqel, Kellie Zerlang, Laura and baby Garrett, Cynthia and Jodi
Played Gotcha for the first time
Went to the Pasadena Flea Market and became a fan of Good Will
My sweet niece, Isabella, was born
Became reacquainted with old friends
Went back to school
Completed C.E.R.T – Community Emergency Response Training
Introduced to Dr. Mario, the best game ever :)
Watched the Keller boys for a weekend when Mabel was born
Celebrated 3 more holidays with the Kintner/Ramirez/Allen Families
Started a new tradition of retreating to Mount Hermon for a few days after Christmas

So thankful for the days God ordained for me.

R&R at a B&B

teachingtolearn — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:37:17 +0000

Okay, so I’m not staying at a Bed and Breakfast this week, but I am staying at a friend’s home at Mount Hermon. They are gone, but I am here. The hikes, the sleep, the quiet, the reading, the pinning, the video-watching, the outdoors, the indoors, and opportunities to hear myself think have been lovely. I haven’t slept as well since I don’t know when but definitely not since moving into the dorm. On campus there is continual life and noise. Even with the students gone there are fire alarms, car alarms, tennis players, knocks on the door, grounds crew people outside making noise, a crow flying into my window over and over in the morning to wake me up… I’m so thankful for the couple who see what God has given them as an opportunity to serve others and minister through hospitality. It makes me dream of someday being able to do the same. A retreat house up here would be nice because it’s only an hour away from the fam and because I am more of a mountain girl than a beach girl, but here they have the best of both worlds since the beach is only 30 minutes away :).

Munchkins

teachingtolearn — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:18:16 +0000

My cousin recently commented on the fact that I must be busy because I haven’t posted much recently. Indeed I have been. I went from caring for 88 college kids to hanging out with a bunch of munchkins. Friday the 16th the students checked out at 5pm and I checked into the Keller ~~Day Spa~~ er I mean Day Care at 5:30pm for a few days. My friend Heidi just had her fourth baby, so while she and her husband were in the hospital, I was home with the three boys ages 8,5, & 3. We had a lot of fun, but I discovered I am not cut out to be a single mom :).

I’ve also had time over the break to hang with my friend Laura’s son, Garrett, my nephews, Sean and David, my nieces, Katie and Isabella, and a few other kiddos. In a few days I also hope to meet my friend Sarah’s daughter Gigi.

Kid’s never-ending battery supply always surprise me but also enthuse me. It also amazes me how it is the unplanned and unpurchased kind of fun that they love best. The Keller boys preferred building a river and dams in the gutter to the playplace at McDonalds (although all kids do like McDonalds) and Garrett kept saying “Jen, boom,” interpreted to mean ”Let’s wrestle or how about you throw me around.” He was also content to just tell me to sit and watch him play only he can’t say “s” and instead says “sh”. These aren’t fantastic pictures since most of them are from my phone and are pictures of kiddos on the move, but this is what I’ve been up to recently.

Click to view slideshow.

The Long Awaited Messiah

teachingtolearn — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:37:07 +0000

Gifts not only represent the great gift received on that first Christmas – God incarnate, they can be a good example for kids of the expected Messiah, the long-awaited Messiah. On this end it can be hard to imagine the longing God-followers had before Christ, but waiting until Christmas eve, Christmas morning, or Christmas afternoon can be a small taste of that expectation for kids. Explain that as a part of giving gifts at Christmas.

RA Photo Shoot

teachingtolearn — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:12:57 +0000

I love my job, so much so that I don’t spend much time blogging. I see more to be done than I can possibly do. My 500th post came and went without me even knowing because the last post was scheduled months ago :). Life is full but I wouldn’t have it any other way. My absolute favorite part of the job is the people I get to work with both in King Hall and in the dorm. Working with my RAs is probably my greatest joy. Here are the pictures from a recent photo shoot: the good, the outtakes, and the purposefully silly.

A New Biblical Commands Candle Line

teachingtolearn — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:34:21 +0000

What other scents would you recommend for this line?