in the presence of my enemies

from the apt secret santa exchange we decided to do books with the theme of missions/missionary bios. =] Amy gave me a book titled 'in the presence of my enemies' by Gracia Burnham, and I must say it was quite an interesting read.

quick synopsis [spoiler kinda]: Gracia[gray-sha] and husband, Martin, are kidnapped by abu sayyaf-linked to al queda, while serving as missionaries in the philippines.

So many times, as I was reading it, I thought, how unfair, how could they[abu sayyaf] think this? and the thought process of both Martin and Gracia, were hard to digest at times, to understand how they were feeling a fraction of the time, and what i take for granted here in my comfortable house, in my comfortable room.

a toothbrush was a commodity and so precious to them; you wouldn't think it was such a big deal, but it was. being fed daily, something of nutritional value, was scarce; yet it is something that we are so blessed with in this nation, even with the economic hardships, we don't necessarily have to worry when our next meal is. it is such a different mind set. even as they transitioned from missionaries to prisioners it was amazing how much they clung to the truth of God's word and the promises He makes.

"Nor would the Abu Sayyaf evr think of turning away from a tempting situation. Temptation, in their view, was something to be eradicated from the world by rules, not something to resist through personal discipline. That's why they wanted an Islamic state. In such a place, there would be no bad movies, no prostitutes, stealing or cheating, because the rules would be so stringent that people would be afraid to do anything wrong...'If you remove the temptation, there will be no sin'" [164]

and to counter this

"Scripture tells us that everyone is tempted, but you have a choice about what to do with that temptation. God always works on the heart of a person. It's not outside temptations that make us sin; it's our sinful heart, and God wants to change that heart."

how true is that. how well did i need to be reminded of this especially during these last couple weeks at home. it is not the outside of the person, the external in which everyone can see and praise and laud; no rather it is the internal, in which only the person themselves and God Himself can see. no one else. there is where the truth lies.

pouring

its pouring outside. oh wait, there's sun now... and it's pouring again. such weird weather. serious bouts of pouring rain, and then all of a sudden clear blue skies on one end of the house, and then pouring rain again. makes you wonder what is going on


something that my pastor said at church the other day.
while we are cuddled up in our warm blankets, in our warm houses under the shelter of solid roofs, Christ came down in a manger.

the manger was not like what we picture in our minds today, full of soft/pokey hay, clean and nice wood, but no that manger was stone, cold, smelled of manure and urine from the animals that resided there. yet this is what Christ came down from heaven as, no warm blankets, no warm house, no solid roof.

cold, smelly, manger.

why? because of love for us, obedience toward God the Father, and sympathy for us.

Dogggggieee

i love my dog <3















Lounging at homee















lounging on the patio table, being 'king of the jungle' ;)

Mere Christianity

Some quotes from the read of the day Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.

Highly recommended for all people, of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs.
There is so much packed in this small paperback book that I want to just highlight it all, but that would make highlighting lose its purpose no?

Beginning at Book 1:

"Quarreling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are; just as there would be no sense in saying that a footballer had committed a foul unless there was some agreement about the rules of football."


"Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later."
[how true is this? how often does someone, us or others, break a promise to a friend, and later when a promise made to us is broken or a word was not upheld do we cry "That's not fair"]

"These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. They know the Law of Nature; they break it."

This Law of Human Nature that Lewis explains is the inherent feeling within us that compels us to not think of ourselves but of others. One of the situations he brings up is a feeling to help out. Seeing someone in danger and feeling a desire of helping"(due to your herd instinct)" and another to flee, to 'keep out of danger(due to the instinct for self preservation)" but besides these two are another a third impulse that "tells you that you ought to follow the impulse to help and suppress the impulse to run away. Now this thing that judges... cannot itself be either of them."

"There are two reasons for saying it [Law of Human Nature] belongs to the same class as mathematics. The first is... though there are differences between the moral ideas of one time or country and those of another, the differences are not really very great- not nearly so great as most people imagine...the other reason is this what you think about the differences between teh morality of one people and another do you think that the morality of one people is ever better or worse than that of another? Have any of the changes been improvements? If not, then of course there could never be any moral progress. Progress means not just changing, but changing for the better."

something to chew on more to come later

quotes on my desktop wall

"Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy, and exalts God as wealthy." -When You Pray, Ryken

"Christ tasted death for everyone, because it seemed fitting to God that the way to lead his children to glory was through the suffering and death of Christ

In other words the design of God-the aim and purpose of God-in sending Christ to die was particularly to lead his children from sin and death and hell to glory. He had a special eye to his own elect children. It's exactly what the gospel of John says in 11:52-that Jesus would die to "gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad." -Desiring God, Piper

"We give glory to God when we trust him to do what he has promised to do -especially when all human possibilities are exhausted. Faith glorifies God. That is why God planned for faith to be the way we are justified." -When You Pray, Ryken


Jeremiah 29:11-13
11'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

12'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.


Romans 11:36: "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen."

something to chew on.

"Speak, O Lord"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow'r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we'll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Christmas

Interesting little poem I came across recently and thought I would share


Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a 'Holiday'.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday!

DONE!

YAY! Another quarter has passed, and another break is upon us. Winter break or formally known as Christmas break...

Thankfully I did not have the last final of the quarter yet again, but it seems as if I cannot break the cycle of Friday finals. Thermodynamic Chemistry, physical chemistry. It is fun stuff really. There is no two ways about it. =]

God is gracious.

So entering into this final, out of 200 class total point I only had... 21 and how much is that weighted and how did that happen you might ask? Well, turns out even though I knew how to do the homeworks, apparently thats not enough and does not always transfer to the exams. After talking with the professor, we calculated that I would need to do about A- work to get at least a B- in the class. So much added pressure that I do not necessarily need. But hey, I am the only one at fault for this.

Seeing the severity of the problem, I began non stop studying and doing homework problems over and over and over. But still that did not stop me from being anxious. My discipler encouraged me with Jeremiah 29:11-13

'For I know the plans that I have for you' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

which reminded me that I was not in control, but God is. And regardless how hard I studied, or whatever the circumstance if it was not in God's will then it will not happen. This however is not disregarding human responsibility at all no, where I don't study and if God wills it, then it happens necessarily, no not what I mean. Rather with all things to trust in His plans for me.

And now blogging after the test, I can say God is gracious, and God is good
The test was fair, do-able, and I was able to finish on time! =]