wasting time

So it's been summer for a couple weeks now, and I'm currently living at school. The pace is a lot slower than during the school year, and it's strange to me to have so much free time, or at least, not feel rushed all the time to get stuff done.

I think this past week especially, I've been learning to enjoy time just spent chillin' with God. I spend time just hanging out with other friends, but for some reason I always felt like time with God had to be like studying a passage or listening to a sermon or meditating on a verse or praying.

But today after class, I came back to my suite after class and just got some food out for lunch. I didn't want to waste the time just sitting here eating, so I also got out a book, to fill up the free time, you know? be efficient! haha but on an impulse i decided to just sit here by myself and eat, and just have a conversation with god, like i would with any other friend i was eating lunch with.

it's weird, cause the conversation was all in my head, and i still have loads of trouble figuring out sometimes if it's myself talking to myself or if it's god talking to me... but either way, it was a good conversation! I feel like it's really hard for me to just value time spent without an agenda, especially during the school year, but we were made for relationship! that's our whole purpose in life... and keeping myself busy all the time just prevents me from doing just that. so yeah! bottom line... today i learned that it's okay to not be doing anything :)

fully known, fully accepted and fully loved

In the last 2 weeks, I kept coming to our blog to create a new post, but I couldn't think of anything to write, so I would just delete it.

For about a month now, I've been really struggling with a sense of unworthiness. There's something I've been dealing with that made me feel so... distant from God. And not only distant, but I felt like there was a barrier between us. Part of me wanted to come back, and another part of me didn't want to come back, because I knew I could not do so without a repentant heart, without TRULY being committed to change.

psalm 16

"I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'" (verse 2)

--> this reminded me that as a sinful human, there is nothing intrinsically valuable in me. The reason I've been feeling unworthy is because I AM. I just forgot about how automatic sin is, because I was so consumed by it that I became blind to it. And when my eyes were opened a little bit and I was able to see just one part of my sin, I was overwhelmingly reminded of who I am, in comparison to who God is.

Even though this past month has been difficult, and the struggle is still ongoing, I'm glad for this reminder. I'm trying to meditate on the fact that God loves me still, unconditionally, even though I feel like I deserve it less. But that's the point, huh? No one deserves any of it at all (Romans 3:10)

But God knows me completely, he knows everything about me (Psalm 139:1-4, 13-16). And the fact that he still redeemed me in spite of all my flaws and hopelessness means that he accepts everything about me.

"Being fully known, we are fully accepted and fully loved."

Make Me Salty Again!

Matthew 5:13
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

The note in my bible says: "if a seasoning has no flavor, it has no value. If Christians make no effort to affect the world around them, they are of little value to God. If we are too much like the world, we are worthless. Christians should not blend in with everyone else. Instead, we should affect others positively, just as seasoning brings out the best flavor in food."

This verse struck me in two ways.. For one, I realized how I've lost my saltiness over the past couple months.. and secondly, I realized that i've been blending in with the world.. pretty much getting lost in it. But I want to come back!

I read this verse, and it asks the question I was thinking.. how can I be made salty again? But it doesn't give me a direct answer. It only tells me the negative consequence. But then I sat here, and closed my eyes and asked God my first question in a long long time, HOW?? and these words came to mind... Prayer, Obedience/Persistence and Devotion.

Lately, I've been blending into the world way more than I have since I started college.. And I kept using the excuse that If I blend in to the world, I'll be more relatable to my non-christian friends.. so that I can help them later! Plus it is all just harmless fun! But all that's happened is that I've slowly drifted from God because I've stopped praying, and devoting time to him.

Not that having fun with your friends is not good! but it was the part where, at the same time, I gave up my time with God.. But I know what he wants me to do. He wants me to meet with him obediently and daily. He wants me to show my faith and devotion by coming to him every day. And I know that if I show my faith and gain his trust, he will start to reveal things to me. It's just so hard to be disciplined.. So this would be my prayer request! Help me!

Pokemon and Non-Christians: Gotta catch 'em all?

Helloooooooooooooo!

First of all, congrats on getting 1st at the SG Sports Day! Good thing my ankle hurts because the only place we could have gone is down. And yes, I've been MIA the past couple of weeks. I won't name excuses so I'll just say I'll be back soon!

Earlier today, I had lunch with our SG leader, Ken, and we had a good talk about a bunch of things. One thing that came up in our conversation is the topic of introducing Christianity to non-believers. My closest friends at school, including my roommate, aren't Christian. I don't know. It just happened that way. For example, my roommate is a Japanese kid who grew up with parents who are atheist. I know that your parents play a big role in what religion you are. Like many of you, I have Christian parents so it was natural that I would be Christian too.

But what about those people who aren't born and raised in Christian families? How easy or hard is it to become a Christian if you're not surrounded by it at home? I think that it's extremely hard. Case and point: How many Christians do you know? Dozens/a lot. Now, how many Christians can you name that didn't grow up in a Christian environment? For me, I can name...none.

This came up because I want to preach the gospel to my friends, like my roommate, and bring them to church. Who doesn't want to?? But how are we supposed to accomplish this? It seems like a daunting task. I'm still working on figuring this one out. But when I do, expect to meet my roommate sometime in the near future!

Have any of you tried bringing a friend to church? How did it go? Any suggestions?

P.S. Sorry if you read this post hoping there would be something about pokemon. But if you want, here's the first thing that came up when I searched for pokemon on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDX1m0Y2Vkg

whaddup

Dang its real encouraging reading everyone's blog posts. there soo fun and really reflect who you are as a person i like that. other than that i have nothing really much to talk about but idk this week and the past week have been so happy. The weather probably has something to do with it as Superman is healed by the rays of the sun i think we are healed as well. the days are so bright and productive and you wake up hearing the birds and winds haha gay. but its the truth everything is going well cuz the sun shines.

also election is this sunday. i hope everyone does well and really tries there best and votes for the candidates who are the most well rounded to run the positions that they run for. ill keep the elections in my prayers. but other than that,

peace and love

rejoice!

this is a good song to listen to while reading this post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xTvg8h3rQY

So in Leviticus 23, God basically tells Moses a bunch of different festivals and celebrations and stuff that he wants the Israelites to observe every year.

One that stood out to me was the "Feast of Trumpets" (v.23-25)

This one seemed strange because God doesn't give a reason for it, there is no occasion, it is just a day set aside to celebrate!

Note: this festival requires the people to make an offering to God; this makes sure that the people acknowledge that GOD is the reason they are taking this day off to celebrate.

I feel like this shows that God wants to make sure that his people never forget that they (and we also) always have reason to celebrate & be joyful; because God loves us!!

Be proud of your accomplishments

Genesis 1:25

“God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”

I was reading verse and on the side it noted, “People sometimes feel guilty for having a good time or for feeling good about an accomplishment. This need not be so. Just as God felt good about his work, we can be pleased with ours. However, we should not feel good about our work if God would not be pleased with it. What are you doing that pleases both you and God?”

This made me realize that sometimes I don’t acknowledge or celebrate enough on the small or big accomplishments I have made through hard work and perseverance. Often times, I would tell myself not to boast or brag because otherwise, it wouldn’t be a humbling thing to do. However, this made me realize that any accomplishments or actions that do not go against the works of God are meant to be celebrated and recognized with joy. Lastly, the last question in the application “What are you doing that pleases both you and God?” made me assess the activities I do throughout my day. And honestly, I didn’t have much that I could find that would “please God” nor did I find much to anger Him either. But that makes me so…NOTHING haha.

 So, if you guys were to look at your daily lives, how much of it could you say would be pleasing to God?