So Rez Week so far = stinkin' awesome. The gospel has been preached both nights so far, and I really think that even if you are already a Christ follower you need to have the gospel preached to you. What exactly is the gospel, you ask? Google defines it as:
-The teaching or revelation of Christ
-A thing that is absolutely true
-A set of principles or beliefs
-The record of Jesus' life and teaching in the first four books of the New Testament
All of these, I believe, are things that really show who Jesus was, who Jesus still is through Christ followers today, and who Jesus will always be. In fact, God led me to the book of Matthew (one of the gospels) today. In Matthew 10, Jesus is talking about sending out the 12 apostles 2 by 2 to tell people about the kingdom of heaven. He talks about how they will not always make other people happy with what they're doing. Even their own family probably will not understand their beliefs and convictions. Is that okay with you? Is it enough for you to just be like your teacher, no strings attached to this world? Jesus says it should be. If you're a follower of Christ, what are you not letting go of? God showed me last night that one thing that I tend to desire before him, and he can definitely show you if you ask. He does not hold anything back. Praise God for that!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Barbecue sandwiches and frozen bananas
I just had a great lunch for 2 bucks, can't beat that! Now on to biology reading and later some psychology. What a day.
Ready for Rez Week tonight, talking about having an undivided heart for God. If you're at UT, it's definitely worthwhile! Josh Tullis from Hill Country Bible Church UT is leading worship tonight - come join us at 7pm in front of Gregory Gym, if it's raining it will be in ART 1.102! See ya then!
Ready for Rez Week tonight, talking about having an undivided heart for God. If you're at UT, it's definitely worthwhile! Josh Tullis from Hill Country Bible Church UT is leading worship tonight - come join us at 7pm in front of Gregory Gym, if it's raining it will be in ART 1.102! See ya then!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Dance in the elevator?
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!
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!
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!
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