Bible Lit Service Project

Back in a previous post, I mentioned a class that was taking this semester, Bible Literature. Well, one of the requirements for the class is a field trip, an individual service project. Each student was to find a location to service that was not their home church, was not super comfortable for them, and was new or challenging. For my service project, I traveled to Carmel land to Northview Church to assist their groundskeeper, Marcia. I went into the day not knowing what exactly I'd be doing, and walked away with a renewed sense of awe for God.

In the first part of the morning, I was assigned to prune and clip back some pine bushes...some wonderfully overgrown pine bushes. Needless to say, 3 hours later, the bushes looked wonderful and I had quite a collection of battle wounds on my arms. What struck me as ironic though, was the concept of pruning a bush. Someone comes and kills a living part of a plant, because in the long run, it will grow healthier and the plant will live longer. I was reminded when Jesus talked about the vine and the branches in John 15. He says the he will cut every branch that does not bear fruit, but he even prunes the branches that bear fruit, so it will be more fruitful. Those 3 hours truly gave me the chance to ponder upon what God is pruning in my life, whether its fruitful or not.

Serving tody at another chruch was a very different experience, but a good reminder that God works in any and every church he wants. Right now, Northview is growing almost exponentially, and it amazes me! Sometimes, I forget that God moves outside of White River, and going today was a healthy reminder of how massively big God is. Just a cool thought to ponder on.

Well, an update upon my challenge: I am a few days from finishing Proverbs and 2 Corinthians. Once again I will say how excited I am to finish the challenge, so I can read through these amazing books again and take my time.

Psalms and Such

Today was my last day in the blessed book of Psalms. Wow, what a book!! Now, I know I say that about almost every book I've read during my challenge, but this one deserves some real props. I was planning of writing a creative little ditty about Psalms like 150 Words for 150 Psamls. But my computer crashed halfway through writing it, so I've decided to give a little teaser.

If you haven't read through Psalms before, do it. There are so much things you can learn from it. It amazed me how much a person can connect with the words of the authors of this compelation. You can get such an inside perspective of a person's heart. You experience the agony they're in, or can be called to worship through their adoration of our Lord. Just today I was reading in chatper 147, and the author describes the physical power of God and what he can do. In the next chapter he describes who should be praising God and why they should. This book is so wonderful..

Psalms truly was a blessing for me. When I first began my challenge, I wanted to encorporate the Psamls into my everyday reading, so I wouldn't spend 2 months reading Psalms. Well, I decided not to do that back in October or so, because I though maybe when I get to Psalms, I'll be going through a rough patch and would really need the extended time in easier and encouraging reading. How did God provide!! These last 2 months have been really really hard. Between show choir craziness, senioritis at its worst, and a stressing college desicion, I really did need the break. Looking back, I can see how God provided through all of it. Even if I got behind in my schedule, it is much easier to read 12 chatper of Psalms than 12 chapter of Isaiah in one sitting. So, in hind sight, I can only give God the glory with his protection of me, and with the blessing Psalms has been in my life.

I'll end this post with a Psalm 121, a song of ascents. These types of psalms could only bring me to praise the Lord:

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Technology, Priorities and Psalms

Well, there is much to discuss with this blog post considering it's been 3 week since I've last updated.Firstly, I had an interesting experience about 2 weeks ago concerning technology. After an amazing night at small group I sat and talked for a long long time with my mom about things, such as college, God, priorities, etc. After much discussion I came to the conclusion that technology was cluttering my life, and it needed the boot. So, I took a technology fast for a few days. No computer, no television, no cellphone, no music. nada. Honestly, it wasn't as hard as I though it would be. It was freeing, actually. I learned to appreciate silence more, and I learned that it's ok not to be connected with absolutely everyone at any and every moment of the day. Because of this learning experience, I have deactivated my twitter account, taken off facebook updates, and it's a beautiful thing. The point of getting rid of technology was to learn to better manage my priorities, which leads into my second paragraph.

I have found myself slacking in priorities, mostly in the technology department. Thus the tech. fast. I have been trying, and asking God of course, to retrain my habits. Because I haven't been spending time wisely, I've been procrastination on my homework. This in turn leads to me not getting my Bible reading done (see, this blog ties into my challenge). And since I've become behind on my reading schedule, I've felt obligated to catch up. I haven't been reading God' word as a blessing and encouragment, but rather as an obligation and constant reminder of my misuse of time. That is not how I want to view the Word of God. So, I've been asking God to redue my mindset toward his Word, and you know what? He's been moving!

I am still in Psalms, but should be finished soon. And, what I've been reading has been extremely fascinating. For example, i was reading Psalm 107 and the patterns of repitition in it is crazy! Basically, the author describes the sin of man, the punishment of God, man's repentence, and God's rescue of man. It does this about 3 times in the chapter, following the pattern. Now, I don't know what that means, but I think it's really cool. Also, in Psalm 119, the author uses the word "law" about 30 times, "command" about 17 times, and "precept" about 20 times. If you haven't read Psalm 119, it's very long, but a good read. I admire the talent these writers have in Psalms, the way their words still connect to people today. I'm loving this book!!

UPDATE: I have very good news to share!! Tomorrow, April 5, I will be 2/3 completed with the CIY Challenge!!! I believe that should inspire a blog in it of itself. I will say though, I can only attribute it to God, and his mighty power and control in my life. What a journey it's been, and how Awesome is our God!!!