Why yes, yes I did. Found out I made a stinkin' awesome grade on my bio test, and all the glory goes to God on that one. I could NOT get into studying last week, but the Lord provided! He promised me bio would be taken care of, and it was. So excited right now!
Hopefully this good grade will motivate me to finish a paper that's due tomorrow and study for my psych test Friday! Is it bad that I'm already looking forward to the weekend?! BUT, I am totally pumped about Rez Week on campus this week. Worship every night at 7 in Gregory Plaza and 24 hour coffee/tea and prayer! Ask me about it!
Love y'all!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Santa Yalla
Hope I wrote that correctly, it should say, "Praise God" in Wolof. Tonight, for some reason, I am really missing my friends in Senegal, but so thankful that I even know them! These views aren't half bad either! ;) Praise God for such a beautiful place and wonderful people!
I should be reading psychology...story of my life.
I really should be reading, but I HAVE to share this with you guys. My mind is absolutely blown right now at how God puts everything together perfectly. (And no, this is not about Memphis, but I promise one day I'll finish telling about that trip...maybe.)
Anyway, so Friday I was a complete basket case because of my biology test. I got out of psychology at 11 and headed to Kinsolving to grab some lunch before some last minute reviewing and I was just about freaking out. But as I was walking through the doors, I felt like God was telling me to slow down - not to worry about biology so much because the people around me were far more important than me going over the Citric Acid Cycle in cellular respiration for the 50,000th time. Naturally, I tried to rationalize things with God about how much I really needed to study and I just needed to sit by myself and not bother anyone with my Jesus talk. That was a dumb idea on my part, because when a guy sat down at the table next to my booth, the Holy Spirit would not let it go. I probably sat in my booth for 10 minutes arguing with the spirit about not knowing what to say and how that guy really didn't want to talk to my crazy self. So, I finished eating, packed up my stuff, and looked over at the guy and noticed he was done eating and just chilling. I was about to miss my chance completely. So I stood up with all my stuff, and after that it was no longer me talking.
I asked if he had a few minutes and when he said, "Yes," I sat down. I asked about his day and told him that I honestly felt like God was leading me to talk to him. He was really nice and responsive which made things a little easier. We got to talking about school, and then somehow there was a nice little segue into the topic of faith. I asked about his and then got to tell him about mine and share Jesus with him. I was scared to death about saying something wrong until I remembered something I learned in Memphis - any time the gospel is lovingly shared, it's a win. It doesn't matter if you stumble over your words. The important thing is that someone heard the gospel.
And tonight, my friend, Morgan, and I were in the Kinsolving lounge studying and decided to go get some food. We had planned to go get a slice of pizza at a place down the street, but it was closed so we went to the Jack-in-the-Box right next door instead.
We ordered our food and then found a table and sat down. Not long after that an older African American man walked in and just started talking to us. He was talking a little crazy and it was hard to get a word in edge-wise with this guy, but he told us he was a former Marine who lost his foot, and in the past three years he's lost 7 people in his family - most to Diabetes. After some joking about us partying, he found out we are Christians. Morgan and I both were so excited to get to talk to this man about Jesus, but we wanted to respect him and let him get what he wanted to say out, so we just let him keep talking for a few minutes. It's not like he was letting us say much anyway! When we were just about to start talking though, his food was ready and he jumped up from his seat and said, "Gotta go! I wish you success in everything!" and walked off. We were both kind of upset that we didn't get to share the gospel with him, but God just gave me a peace that us simply talking to that man for a few minutes was a blessing to him, and the fact that he knew we were Christ followers was huge.
I just pray that more followers of Christ will be put into the lives of both of the guys I talked to this week. God is good, all the time!
Anyway, so Friday I was a complete basket case because of my biology test. I got out of psychology at 11 and headed to Kinsolving to grab some lunch before some last minute reviewing and I was just about freaking out. But as I was walking through the doors, I felt like God was telling me to slow down - not to worry about biology so much because the people around me were far more important than me going over the Citric Acid Cycle in cellular respiration for the 50,000th time. Naturally, I tried to rationalize things with God about how much I really needed to study and I just needed to sit by myself and not bother anyone with my Jesus talk. That was a dumb idea on my part, because when a guy sat down at the table next to my booth, the Holy Spirit would not let it go. I probably sat in my booth for 10 minutes arguing with the spirit about not knowing what to say and how that guy really didn't want to talk to my crazy self. So, I finished eating, packed up my stuff, and looked over at the guy and noticed he was done eating and just chilling. I was about to miss my chance completely. So I stood up with all my stuff, and after that it was no longer me talking.
I asked if he had a few minutes and when he said, "Yes," I sat down. I asked about his day and told him that I honestly felt like God was leading me to talk to him. He was really nice and responsive which made things a little easier. We got to talking about school, and then somehow there was a nice little segue into the topic of faith. I asked about his and then got to tell him about mine and share Jesus with him. I was scared to death about saying something wrong until I remembered something I learned in Memphis - any time the gospel is lovingly shared, it's a win. It doesn't matter if you stumble over your words. The important thing is that someone heard the gospel.
And tonight, my friend, Morgan, and I were in the Kinsolving lounge studying and decided to go get some food. We had planned to go get a slice of pizza at a place down the street, but it was closed so we went to the Jack-in-the-Box right next door instead.
We ordered our food and then found a table and sat down. Not long after that an older African American man walked in and just started talking to us. He was talking a little crazy and it was hard to get a word in edge-wise with this guy, but he told us he was a former Marine who lost his foot, and in the past three years he's lost 7 people in his family - most to Diabetes. After some joking about us partying, he found out we are Christians. Morgan and I both were so excited to get to talk to this man about Jesus, but we wanted to respect him and let him get what he wanted to say out, so we just let him keep talking for a few minutes. It's not like he was letting us say much anyway! When we were just about to start talking though, his food was ready and he jumped up from his seat and said, "Gotta go! I wish you success in everything!" and walked off. We were both kind of upset that we didn't get to share the gospel with him, but God just gave me a peace that us simply talking to that man for a few minutes was a blessing to him, and the fact that he knew we were Christ followers was huge.
I just pray that more followers of Christ will be put into the lives of both of the guys I talked to this week. God is good, all the time!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Blast from the past...
I have SO much to say just from today alone (and it's only 1:45, mind you), but I know that if I don't tell you about the rest of the Memphis trip now, it may never make its way on here, so let's do this:
I ended last time on the Monday of our trip where we visited the Civil Rights Museum, and ate some AMAZING Gus's Fried Chicken. After that we worked in Uptown cleaning/organizing a church/community center (at the church where Michael Oher's youth pastor still works, how neat!). I spent most of my time on shuffling cans/food around in the pantry with Kaelye, Zach, and Chelsea just trying to make order out of chaos, and trying not to think about the dead mouse that I happened to find within the first five minutes of working. We got it done though, so we helped with other odd jobs around the building. I was so proud of how efficiently our team was working. No one complained a bit! We even finished early so we got to go back to our home away from home for a much needed nap!
Later that night, we met up with the Iowans (another mission group in Memphis the same time we were there) and got to do a Q&A with Ricky Jenkins, the preacher from Fellowship Memphis Downtown. He spoke a lot about racial reconciliation which was good for me to hear because my hometown is pretty diverse, but there are still a ton of problems to work through. Many hurt, lost people that we could be talking to but aren't, and it's all because of our silly racial divisions.
Ricky started off reading from John 4 about Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. The background of this situation is this: Jews hated Samaritans so much they'd add days to their journeys just to avoid going through Samaritan territory. Also, women in that time were pretty much only valued for their ability to have children. So basically, everything in the world was against Jesus (a Jew) having a conversation with this woman (a Samaritan). In fact, he could have been dragged out of the city and stoned just for speaking to her. Did he let that stop him? Nope. Jesus' followers were bewildered that he was talking to a woman, much less a Samaritan woman that just happened to be a "lady-of-the-night." One of the big things to draw from this is, even when she wasn't thinking about him, he was thinking about her. Jesus found her just as she was and loved her.
As a result of Jesus' intentionality, someone who probably never would have been saved was, and it wasn't just an emotional thing like so many Americans get sucked into, but it was a heart change. Before meeting Jesus, this woman was an outcast in her own society, but after meeting Jesus, she went back into the town and joyfully told her story. Have you really met Jesus? If you said yes, has it changed your heart and your actions? Imagine what God could do with your life if you started being intentional about sharing the good news that is Jesus Christ!
We learned all of that to apply it to this: in Memphis (and really anywhere today), racism is organized- it is understood and expected, just as it was in biblical times between Jews and Samaritans. We have to accept the fact that people will probably see you as racist, even just by talking to other races, and especially when you try to teach someone of another race something (even if you don't mean it like that at all.) A lot of what Memphis is dealing with are old wounds. Many people think that "time heals all wounds," but Ricky said it well in saying, "God heals all wounds in time." People will not initially accept the racial reconciliation that these churches are trying to induce, but when those people actually see people living out what they're preaching, in essence, living out the gospel, things will start to change.
Another thing that Ricky talked about that I myself am guilty of is don't assume that because you're different from whoever you're speaking to you have to ask 40,000 questions. I'm the kind of person who LOVES learning about other people - their culture, their lives, them in general, so I'm sure I can fall into the category of the annoying-20-questions-girl sometimes. The best way to get to know someone is to lay down your rights, do life with them, and BE the gospel. As a college student, I will never be more available to do life with people than I am right now, so that really hit me hard. Life will pick up and life will get busy, but right now I have time to make the most of, and I need to start doing it!
I didn't realize that I was going to put in so much info, so I'll let y'all chew on that for a while before I talk more about the trip! Hopefully I'm not boring you to death, I'm just so excited for how God moved and what God is doing in the lives of the Memphians and in my own!
By the way, I survived my biology test. Don't know the grade, but I'm DONE. Yay for the weekend!
I ended last time on the Monday of our trip where we visited the Civil Rights Museum, and ate some AMAZING Gus's Fried Chicken. After that we worked in Uptown cleaning/organizing a church/community center (at the church where Michael Oher's youth pastor still works, how neat!). I spent most of my time on shuffling cans/food around in the pantry with Kaelye, Zach, and Chelsea just trying to make order out of chaos, and trying not to think about the dead mouse that I happened to find within the first five minutes of working. We got it done though, so we helped with other odd jobs around the building. I was so proud of how efficiently our team was working. No one complained a bit! We even finished early so we got to go back to our home away from home for a much needed nap!
Later that night, we met up with the Iowans (another mission group in Memphis the same time we were there) and got to do a Q&A with Ricky Jenkins, the preacher from Fellowship Memphis Downtown. He spoke a lot about racial reconciliation which was good for me to hear because my hometown is pretty diverse, but there are still a ton of problems to work through. Many hurt, lost people that we could be talking to but aren't, and it's all because of our silly racial divisions.
Ricky started off reading from John 4 about Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. The background of this situation is this: Jews hated Samaritans so much they'd add days to their journeys just to avoid going through Samaritan territory. Also, women in that time were pretty much only valued for their ability to have children. So basically, everything in the world was against Jesus (a Jew) having a conversation with this woman (a Samaritan). In fact, he could have been dragged out of the city and stoned just for speaking to her. Did he let that stop him? Nope. Jesus' followers were bewildered that he was talking to a woman, much less a Samaritan woman that just happened to be a "lady-of-the-night." One of the big things to draw from this is, even when she wasn't thinking about him, he was thinking about her. Jesus found her just as she was and loved her.
As a result of Jesus' intentionality, someone who probably never would have been saved was, and it wasn't just an emotional thing like so many Americans get sucked into, but it was a heart change. Before meeting Jesus, this woman was an outcast in her own society, but after meeting Jesus, she went back into the town and joyfully told her story. Have you really met Jesus? If you said yes, has it changed your heart and your actions? Imagine what God could do with your life if you started being intentional about sharing the good news that is Jesus Christ!
We learned all of that to apply it to this: in Memphis (and really anywhere today), racism is organized- it is understood and expected, just as it was in biblical times between Jews and Samaritans. We have to accept the fact that people will probably see you as racist, even just by talking to other races, and especially when you try to teach someone of another race something (even if you don't mean it like that at all.) A lot of what Memphis is dealing with are old wounds. Many people think that "time heals all wounds," but Ricky said it well in saying, "God heals all wounds in time." People will not initially accept the racial reconciliation that these churches are trying to induce, but when those people actually see people living out what they're preaching, in essence, living out the gospel, things will start to change.
Another thing that Ricky talked about that I myself am guilty of is don't assume that because you're different from whoever you're speaking to you have to ask 40,000 questions. I'm the kind of person who LOVES learning about other people - their culture, their lives, them in general, so I'm sure I can fall into the category of the annoying-20-questions-girl sometimes. The best way to get to know someone is to lay down your rights, do life with them, and BE the gospel. As a college student, I will never be more available to do life with people than I am right now, so that really hit me hard. Life will pick up and life will get busy, but right now I have time to make the most of, and I need to start doing it!
I didn't realize that I was going to put in so much info, so I'll let y'all chew on that for a while before I talk more about the trip! Hopefully I'm not boring you to death, I'm just so excited for how God moved and what God is doing in the lives of the Memphians and in my own!
By the way, I survived my biology test. Don't know the grade, but I'm DONE. Yay for the weekend!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Biology is intense.
I haven't even been studying for very long and my brain already needs a break from all this biology. The info on the rest of the Memphis trip is coming, promise! But for now, a cute story from the Kinsolving lounge...
So I'm sitting in the lounge minding my own business, throwing a bit of a pity party because of how much junk I have to know for bio, when I see a few people walking past the entrance of the lounge. There was a girl sitting a couple of tables away from me when a boy walked past. Get ready for one of the cutest things ever - guy walks past, does double take, and BEAMS when he sees this girl. I mean, absolutely RADIATES happiness. And they were a little nerdy together, but that just made it even more cute.
And now it's back to studying my life away. Test tomorrow. Not looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll get the rest of my Memphis stories up by the end of the week. Maybe even some hilarious videos if I can figure out how to do that!
Wish me luck!
So I'm sitting in the lounge minding my own business, throwing a bit of a pity party because of how much junk I have to know for bio, when I see a few people walking past the entrance of the lounge. There was a girl sitting a couple of tables away from me when a boy walked past. Get ready for one of the cutest things ever - guy walks past, does double take, and BEAMS when he sees this girl. I mean, absolutely RADIATES happiness. And they were a little nerdy together, but that just made it even more cute.
And now it's back to studying my life away. Test tomorrow. Not looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll get the rest of my Memphis stories up by the end of the week. Maybe even some hilarious videos if I can figure out how to do that!
Wish me luck!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
My Awful Blogging Skills...
I have to be one of the worst bloggers on the planet. It's been about 6 months since my last post, so here's a quick recap:
-Moved to Austin to go to UT
-Met some awesome friends through HCBCUT (Hill Country Bible Church UT) and my classes
-Watched UT football games, even though we lost most of them
-Saw tobyMac, Third Day, Michael W. Smith, Jason Gray, Jars of Clay, Brandon Heath, and Cory Morrow in concert
-Survived my first semester with Mostly A's and one B+...stupid Chemistry
-Had a relaxing Christmas break with my family
-Started my second semester in January
-Studied like a maniac (and still am-this is just my procrastination activity for the day...I have a biology test in two days)
-Went to my first Texas Longhorn Baseball game
-Just got back from a stinkin' amazing mission trip to Memphis, TN with the best HCBCUTers in the world
-Did a TON of other fun things in between!
The Lord has blessed me and taught me so much in the past year, I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll just talk about what has impacted me most recently, and that would definitely be the Memphis trip, which was the best trip ever.
After lugging all of our stuff down the drag from Kinsolving to the church and getting strange stares from homeless people, my friends, Kaitlyn and Amanda, and I set off with about 20 other people crammed in 2 vans for Memphis around 6:45am the first Saturday morning of Spring Break. I have to admit I was nervous about this trip- I only really knew 3 people going. Once we got going, it was like we had known each other forever though. The 12 hour trip didn't seem so long. We got to the church we were staying in Saturday night, and went to Fellowship Memphis downtown the next morning to hear Ricky Jenkins speak. He definitely did not water down the Word. After that we ate some great burgers, learned a little bit of Memphis' history, and headed out to Zion Christian Cemetery - one of the oldest African American cemeteries, but not always has it had a good reputation. At one point, it was a huge center for all kinds of crime because of the huge overgrowth. Luckily, a group stepped up to start the cleanup and it's been getting better ever since. There are about 22,000 people buried there, but you wouldn't even know it driving past the small entrance. Crazy stuff.
The next day we were supposed to go back to the cemetery, but it was rainy so we got the chance to go to the Civil Rights Museum and site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s untimely death. So much history recorded in that place from slavery to Jim Crow to the end of the Civil Rights movement. After that we went to a neighborhood called Uptown where we helped clean up a church/community center.
There was so much going on last week that it's going to take me a while to get it all in, so enjoy the break as I head off for some intense biology studying. You'll get the rest of the story soon, promise! It seems like a slow start to the week, but I'm telling you - it picks up! Hang tight and I'll get you the details. Be prepared for some awesome stories of God's work.
-Alicia
-Moved to Austin to go to UT
-Met some awesome friends through HCBCUT (Hill Country Bible Church UT) and my classes
-Watched UT football games, even though we lost most of them
-Saw tobyMac, Third Day, Michael W. Smith, Jason Gray, Jars of Clay, Brandon Heath, and Cory Morrow in concert
-Survived my first semester with Mostly A's and one B+...stupid Chemistry
-Had a relaxing Christmas break with my family
-Started my second semester in January
-Studied like a maniac (and still am-this is just my procrastination activity for the day...I have a biology test in two days)
-Went to my first Texas Longhorn Baseball game
-Just got back from a stinkin' amazing mission trip to Memphis, TN with the best HCBCUTers in the world
-Did a TON of other fun things in between!
The Lord has blessed me and taught me so much in the past year, I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll just talk about what has impacted me most recently, and that would definitely be the Memphis trip, which was the best trip ever.
After lugging all of our stuff down the drag from Kinsolving to the church and getting strange stares from homeless people, my friends, Kaitlyn and Amanda, and I set off with about 20 other people crammed in 2 vans for Memphis around 6:45am the first Saturday morning of Spring Break. I have to admit I was nervous about this trip- I only really knew 3 people going. Once we got going, it was like we had known each other forever though. The 12 hour trip didn't seem so long. We got to the church we were staying in Saturday night, and went to Fellowship Memphis downtown the next morning to hear Ricky Jenkins speak. He definitely did not water down the Word. After that we ate some great burgers, learned a little bit of Memphis' history, and headed out to Zion Christian Cemetery - one of the oldest African American cemeteries, but not always has it had a good reputation. At one point, it was a huge center for all kinds of crime because of the huge overgrowth. Luckily, a group stepped up to start the cleanup and it's been getting better ever since. There are about 22,000 people buried there, but you wouldn't even know it driving past the small entrance. Crazy stuff.
The next day we were supposed to go back to the cemetery, but it was rainy so we got the chance to go to the Civil Rights Museum and site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s untimely death. So much history recorded in that place from slavery to Jim Crow to the end of the Civil Rights movement. After that we went to a neighborhood called Uptown where we helped clean up a church/community center.
There was so much going on last week that it's going to take me a while to get it all in, so enjoy the break as I head off for some intense biology studying. You'll get the rest of the story soon, promise! It seems like a slow start to the week, but I'm telling you - it picks up! Hang tight and I'll get you the details. Be prepared for some awesome stories of God's work.
-Alicia
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Life Comes at You Fast.
Tomorrow marks the 3 week mark for my first year of college at the University of Texas. It feels like I’ve been here for 5 years already some days, but others feel like I just got here yesterday.
I went to my first UT football game (against Rice at Reliant) on Labor Day with my mom and had a blast. I didn’t realize how much I missed my family (that includes Daisy) until I got back home. My parents have always been there for me and it’s just strange living away from them. I probably won’t be going home for a while, so it’s going to be an experience.
This past Saturday was the first home game, and I must say it was amazing. We played Wyoming and won (duh). It was a pretty good game spent with great friends, Kaitlyn, Sunayana, and Allegra, even if we were at the very tip top of DKR Stadium. I have a cousin coming at the end of the month and we were planning to go see the UCLA game, but evidently tickets to that particular game are in high demand as they sold out in a day. I am extremely bummed and feel bad that my cousin won’t get to go to the game like she planned, but I’m sure we’ll figure out a way to have some fun.
Just so you’re not misguided, there is more to my life than football games and long drives home. There is chemistry class with crazy concepts and much expected of you – even on the first day. There is my statistics class where much of the work is done in Excel (which, if you don’t know me- I repel technology. It’s a struggle for me to say the least.) Then there is my theatre class where we read graphic plays about misery, violence, homosexuals, AIDS, and sex. Not my idea of a relaxing afternoon read. And I have a few other classes/responsibilities academically, but that’s the gist of it.
But before any of that, a few friends and I have been attending church at Hill Country Bible UT, and it has been great. It’s a smaller church of 87% college students. It’s awesome to see so many college kids worshipping at 9:30am on a Sunday morning, and those same kids worshipping on Wednesday evenings, knowing how busy they are and how they don’t have anyone here to tell them they HAVE to go. They worship because they want to. They worship because God is great. The pastor has been going through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings and has been talking about the undeniable power of God. It was kind of ironic because I just started reading a book called Forgotten God, by Francis Chan, that pretty much coincides with the topic.
The book is about how we claim to have God in our lives, but we forget that the Holy Spirit (which is God) actually lives in us and through us. In the last chapter I read, it talked about what our lives should look like after the Holy Spirit enters it. Chan compared it to a person saying that God came into their body and gave them an amazing athletic ability…people expect to be able to SEE that athletic ability. If not, they probably won’t find much truth in your claim. The same goes for your claim that the Holy Spirit lives inside you. If you tell people that, they expect you to be different. Along with that idea comes the power that we’ve been looking at in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit is God. God is all powerful. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is all powerful. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, that all powerful God lives inside you. You have that power living inside you. Shouldn’t that affect the way you live? The way I live? The way we all live as Christians? I’ve realized that after 3 weeks of college, it’s easy to forget about things. You can get so caught up in studying and trying to not be a recluse because of that studying that it’s easier to just say, “I’ll talk to you later, God.” It’s also easy to ignore the fact that it’s not your life that you’re living. You’re only alive through Jesus Christ who lives in you as a Christ follower. The Holy Spirit sustains us, yet we ignore Him like He’s not even there. It’s just been very convicting for me to see these things in myself and in others the past few weeks and I’m working on it every day.
I went to my first UT football game (against Rice at Reliant) on Labor Day with my mom and had a blast. I didn’t realize how much I missed my family (that includes Daisy) until I got back home. My parents have always been there for me and it’s just strange living away from them. I probably won’t be going home for a while, so it’s going to be an experience.
This past Saturday was the first home game, and I must say it was amazing. We played Wyoming and won (duh). It was a pretty good game spent with great friends, Kaitlyn, Sunayana, and Allegra, even if we were at the very tip top of DKR Stadium. I have a cousin coming at the end of the month and we were planning to go see the UCLA game, but evidently tickets to that particular game are in high demand as they sold out in a day. I am extremely bummed and feel bad that my cousin won’t get to go to the game like she planned, but I’m sure we’ll figure out a way to have some fun.
Just so you’re not misguided, there is more to my life than football games and long drives home. There is chemistry class with crazy concepts and much expected of you – even on the first day. There is my statistics class where much of the work is done in Excel (which, if you don’t know me- I repel technology. It’s a struggle for me to say the least.) Then there is my theatre class where we read graphic plays about misery, violence, homosexuals, AIDS, and sex. Not my idea of a relaxing afternoon read. And I have a few other classes/responsibilities academically, but that’s the gist of it.
But before any of that, a few friends and I have been attending church at Hill Country Bible UT, and it has been great. It’s a smaller church of 87% college students. It’s awesome to see so many college kids worshipping at 9:30am on a Sunday morning, and those same kids worshipping on Wednesday evenings, knowing how busy they are and how they don’t have anyone here to tell them they HAVE to go. They worship because they want to. They worship because God is great. The pastor has been going through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings and has been talking about the undeniable power of God. It was kind of ironic because I just started reading a book called Forgotten God, by Francis Chan, that pretty much coincides with the topic.
The book is about how we claim to have God in our lives, but we forget that the Holy Spirit (which is God) actually lives in us and through us. In the last chapter I read, it talked about what our lives should look like after the Holy Spirit enters it. Chan compared it to a person saying that God came into their body and gave them an amazing athletic ability…people expect to be able to SEE that athletic ability. If not, they probably won’t find much truth in your claim. The same goes for your claim that the Holy Spirit lives inside you. If you tell people that, they expect you to be different. Along with that idea comes the power that we’ve been looking at in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit is God. God is all powerful. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is all powerful. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior, that all powerful God lives inside you. You have that power living inside you. Shouldn’t that affect the way you live? The way I live? The way we all live as Christians? I’ve realized that after 3 weeks of college, it’s easy to forget about things. You can get so caught up in studying and trying to not be a recluse because of that studying that it’s easier to just say, “I’ll talk to you later, God.” It’s also easy to ignore the fact that it’s not your life that you’re living. You’re only alive through Jesus Christ who lives in you as a Christ follower. The Holy Spirit sustains us, yet we ignore Him like He’s not even there. It’s just been very convicting for me to see these things in myself and in others the past few weeks and I’m working on it every day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)