I'm excited about this.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Busy Busy
We are very busy with outreach prep. Today we learned another skit. I play two parts: Family Member #3, and Section of Wall #3. If I may say, my performance as Section of Wall #3 is Ocsar worthy. I don't have time to tell the Bucharest story, so that will just have to wait. I've been spending all my free time trying to finish the last book we're supposed to read. Now, I have a new task: write a sermon. :)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Bucharest
The trip to Bucharest went well. I took lots of pictures. Tomorrow I'll have to try and tell the story of our Bucharest adventure. But right now, it's time for sleep. Good night. Noapte Buna.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Getting Closer
April 5th is the day when I'll be changing countries for six weeks. I'm so excited. :)
I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do after the DTS. One of the options is to stay here and join the staff. Today, after our time of intercession and prayer, they had an impromptu staff meeting. Some of the sutdents hadn't left the room yet, so the leader said we could stay if we wanted. I stayed. I wanted to see what a staff meeting looked like. I non-chalantly remained in my chair.
They talked about all the things they were going to do over the next few months. It was cool to hear. They're doing a few different ministries, and conferences and even a staff retreat. Then after the meeting was over, the leader turned and looked at me, "So, are you coming on staff?" Haha, I thought I was being sneaky. (PS, I don't know if I want to come on staff or not. I'm still praying about it.)
Tonight's plans:
Today I got my Romanian Visa. :) Yay! I'm officially allowed to visit Romania for longer than 90 days! I have a laminated card with my picture on it and everything! (We weren't allowed to smile, and I had to take off my hat revealing severe hat-hair, and I hadn't shaved that day, so I look a little like a homeless person, but it's still very exciting.)
Tonight, we need to do some more paperwork things before we leave Romania for outreach. We're going to drive through the night from Cluj to Bucharest. For those Pettys out there reading this, it'll be similar to when we drive to Vegas on Thanksgiving. We'll leave around 11, and get there around 8 or 9 in the morning. There's 5 of us in a 5 seat car. Four boys and one girl. Please pray for us as we travel and talk with all the government officials. Also pray for the one girl that has to be in a car with four smelly boys. :-p
Monday, March 28, 2011
Team Meeting
Today we had a very important outreach team meeting where we played Uno, Jenga, and Three Truths and a Lie. Oh yeah, we also discussed outreach stuff.
This is probably easy for you blog readers because you know me so well, but I'll put my three truths and a lie anyways.
1) I was once so sunburned that I couldn't move for three days.
(It was the day I learned how to swim.)
2) I've hitch-hiked from southern California to northern California.
(It's surprisingly easy to hitch-hike on Halloween when you have cute girls in costumes with you.)
3) I've written a children's book.
(He's a pirate cat. His name is Aarrrrr.)
4) I know what it's like to be in the back seat of a cop car.
(Bachelor party in Orange County.)
Which one is a lie?
This is probably easy for you blog readers because you know me so well, but I'll put my three truths and a lie anyways.
1) I was once so sunburned that I couldn't move for three days.
(It was the day I learned how to swim.)
2) I've hitch-hiked from southern California to northern California.
(It's surprisingly easy to hitch-hike on Halloween when you have cute girls in costumes with you.)
3) I've written a children's book.
(He's a pirate cat. His name is Aarrrrr.)
4) I know what it's like to be in the back seat of a cop car.
(Bachelor party in Orange County.)
Which one is a lie?
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Conversation
Today I was in church and the pastor came over and chatted with us after the service. He was chatting with me about what I'm going to do after Romania. He wanted to know if I had plans to stay, or plans to come back if I did leave. I told him that I didn't know. Then he said something that made me laugh. "Are you single? There's a lot of pretty girls here." Hahaha.
Yep, that's one thing that would get me to stay or come back.
Yep, that's one thing that would get me to stay or come back.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Today's Adventure
Today's adventure was a short one. We went downtown and wandered around for a while. I took way too many pictures of clouds. (I couldn't help it. They were big and the sun was trying to peek through, and it was creating that cool sun beam effect.) Then we ditched the girls, or they ditched us, depending on who you ask. We agreed to split up, and then we weren't where we said we were going to be, and they couldn't find us. Oh well. It was still a beautiful day. The wind was blowing our hair around.
Also, I think Romania is a bad influence on me. A couple weeks ago, I was the get away driver when we stole a bride. Today we got on the bus without paying. It was about to leave, and the Romanian in the group jumped on the bus. We all followed, assuming she knew what she was doing, and then Brooklyn asks, "Ummm, were we supposed to pay?" "Yes." "Are we going to pay?" "No." Brooklyn felt so badly about not paying. She's a good person. I didn't feel bad at all. I'm a bad person. If I come back and start a crime syndicate, you can mark today as the day that I started down the slippery slope. (Or maybe stealing the bride was the day, and this is just further indication that I'm still sliding down.)
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
My Testimony
I was having the hardest time coming up with my testimony the other day. I didn't have a grand experience like some people. I was 5 when I got saved. (Hahaha, it would be funny if I did have a grand conversion story. "Yeah, when I was four, my life was pretty messed up. I was on heroine. My rock band and I slept with different women in every city that we toured to. I thought I had it all, but it just wasn't enough. I came to a place when I was five that I realized, 'I've been alive for 5 years. This can't be all there is to life...'"
[insert Stacie Orrico song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUOcQnWbk_U ]
No, it didn't happen like that. There isn't a grand story for me to tell. ("Darn you parents for raising me right!" hahaha) Instead my life is like a ship going from California to Hawaii. If you draw a straight line from one place to the other, the ship is rarely going to be on that line. It wants to be on that line. That's the plotted course, but currents and winds will carry it away. When it starts to drift away from that line, they make a small correction. If they drift to far the other way, they make another small correction. Day by day, they're just trying to stay on that line, and before they know it, they're at their destination.
My life hasn't been about one big decision. It's been about a thousand small corrections. When I start to worry, I make the decision to read to Matthew 6:25. When I start to fear, I decide to run to Psalm 23:4 and 2 Chronicles 20:15. When my friends want to go out drinking, I decide not go to. When I'm sick, or tired, or beat down, or worn out, I decide to worship Jesus. Even if I don't feel like it, Jesus is still worthy of my worship.
My plotted course are the principles I've read in the Bible, and I try to live my life like that. If I drift to far away, I make a correction. If I drift to far the other way, I make another correction. Without even realizing it, I'm getting closer to my destination. My life looks more like Jesus than it used to.
Hebrews 2:1 says it like this.
We must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
I like that.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Testimony
Definition: Declaration by a witness.
Today we spent some time and worked on our testimonies. We're supposed to come up with a three minute speech. I was trying to think of something to write, but I couldn't think of anything.
"My name is Mike. I became a Christian when I was 5. Now I'm 27. Some stuff happened inbetween. The end."
Boring.
I was trying to think of what to say in the context of talking to other Christians. I was trying to think of what to say in the context of talking to non-Christians. I couldn't think of anything. I tried to think of an answer to the question, "Why am I a Christian?" I came up with the response, "Because of what I've read in the Bible," but that doesn't mean anything to people that haven't read it.
Hmmm, I need to think and pray some more.
Today we spent some time and worked on our testimonies. We're supposed to come up with a three minute speech. I was trying to think of something to write, but I couldn't think of anything.
"My name is Mike. I became a Christian when I was 5. Now I'm 27. Some stuff happened inbetween. The end."
Boring.
I was trying to think of what to say in the context of talking to other Christians. I was trying to think of what to say in the context of talking to non-Christians. I couldn't think of anything. I tried to think of an answer to the question, "Why am I a Christian?" I came up with the response, "Because of what I've read in the Bible," but that doesn't mean anything to people that haven't read it.
Hmmm, I need to think and pray some more.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
I like this
Today our teacher told us a story about a guy. She couldn't remember his name, and I haven't made any effort to search for him on the internet. The story goes like this.
He was asleep in bed when something woke him up. He rolled over to see what it was and he saw Satan sitting in his room! He said, "Oh it's only you," and rolled over and fell back asleep.
:)
He was asleep in bed when something woke him up. He rolled over to see what it was and he saw Satan sitting in his room! He said, "Oh it's only you," and rolled over and fell back asleep.
:)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Joke Explained
I decided that I can't just leave you hanging on the meaning of "I have a job for you." So here is the explanation.
I went to a men's conference with my dad and brothers a while back. It was pretty boring except for the very last speaker, Ken Graves. His message was about how it's not a bad thing when God calls you to do something.
Most of the time when we think of God calling us to do something, we think, "Ug, it's going to be so boring. I'm going to have to give up all my fun things." But that's not the case. Ken went to the Bible to analyze the very first time that God called someone to do something. He went all the way back to Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Think about it. Adam's job was to populate the earth.
God creates Eve, beautiful, tender, sensual, a perfect match for Adam. God then takes Adam by the shoulder, looks over at Eve, looks back at Adam, and says, "I have a job for you."
Hahaha, go get 'em Adam. It's not a bad thing to be called by God. ;)
Sunday, March 20, 2011
"I have a job for you."
Hahaha, the title of this post is such an inside joke, that I think I'm the only one left that gets it. If I can't think of anything else to post tomorrow, I'll explain it. :-p
So, a couple days ago we had an India team meeting. In this team meeting we were each given our tasks for the India outreach. Here are mine. :)
Accounting: Booya. I was born for this.
Children's Ministry: Double booya. I'm on a team of four people, and we're all in charge of children's ministry, but this is also going to be super amazing fantastic.
Journaling & Photography: This sort of defaulted to me because I'm the only one on the team that has a blog, and I'm one of two people with a camera. However, this is going to be a fun task as well.
Teach Advanced English: Ummm, what? What does that mean? How advanced is "advanced"? Do I have to teach the difference between who and whom? Or between their, there, and they're? Or mabye they just want to know the difference between past, present, and future tenses. Where do I begin with this?
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday Night Adventure
On Thursday and Friday there were a couple of birthdays. On Friday we celebrated.
Leaders: "Let's go to the park!"
Clouds: "Rain!"
Leaders: "Let's go bowling!"
So we went bowling. It was about 4pm when we got there and we were the only ones there. Half of the bowling lanes were being lacquered. Oh the fumes! Half of the people got headaches, the other half got high. I didn't have a headache, so I must have been in that second half. The good news is, I bowled a 127 and took first place in our group of bowlers. :)
After that we walked over to a buffet style restaurant and ate a lovely meal. I used the "order by pointing" method and got some chicken with mushrooms, cheese and a tomato on top, and some rice pilaf, and some french fries, and a roll, and some grapefruit and lychee juice. Yummy!
Then we split into two groups. Group A: "We're party poopers. We want to go back to the base, tell kids to get off our lawns, and go to bed early." Group B: "We're young and full of life. The party never stops with us. We want to stay in town and hang out!" Group A took taxis back to the base. Group B left on foot. Destination: Unknown.
After about 5 minutes of walking, "Destination: Unknown" turned into "Destination: Thrift Store." Boys reaction :-|. Girls reaction :-D. I had my camera on me, so I snapped a quick photo. "Hey! Blah blah blah blah blah!" Romanian to English translation: "You can't take pictures in here! It offends my sensibilities! Also, I hate men!"
Okay, okay. I'm sorry. The boys and I stood over in the boys section, which consisted of one rack of a few shirts and a few shorts. The girls wandered throughout the rest of the store, scouring for hidden treasures. Price by weight: 150 lei per kilogram. 23 dollars per pound.
While everyone was looking for stuff, I found a wall to lean against. There was a radio nearby playing tunes that I could groove to. Whenever I got bored, I turned my leaning-against-the-wall party into a dance-and-let-people-look-at-me party.
Man hater's reaction: *Scowl*
Cute thrift store worker girl's reaction: *glance then turn away and blush*
Seriously, that first lady that yelled at me never took her eyes off me. The cute thrift store worker girl on the other hand was walking around the store, organizing the hangers and clothes. The guys and I were hanging out in one spot. She kept getting closer and closer. When she got to where we were, she just stayed there for a while, putting clothes on hangers and being busy.
When she looked over at me, I said "Hi" but I don't think she spoke english. Eventually, she walked away and we went over and found the girls. They were waiting in line to try on clothes.
Number of items Timmy wants to try on: 4
Number of items Brooklyn wants to try on: 9
Number of items Cristina wants to try on: 12
Number of items you're allowed to bring back to the changing room at one time: 5
The girls went in and tried on all their treasures.
Number of items Timmy ended up getting: 0
Number of items Brooklyn ended up getting: 2
Number of items Cristina ended up getting: 2
We waited by the door while the girls bought their stuff.
Scowling lady: "Rawr, blah blah blah blah."
Translation: "You are standing 5 feet from the exit. You need to be standing 5 inches from the exit. You already made your purchases, which means you can't go further than 5 inches into the store. Also, I still hate men....and probably small puppies."
Sheesh, okay. Once we were done buying clothes, we left. Goodbye cute thrift store worker girl. I'll treasure those moments we had forever.
Next destination: Coffee place?
I heard someone say coffee, or cafe, or something like that. We walked some more and went into a bowling alley by a McDonalds. This was the place we went for Paul's birthday. :) We hopped into the elevator and rode to the very top.
Elevator conversation:
Brookyn (noticing that the elevator is pretty packed with the six of us): How many people are allowed on this elevator?
Me (noticing a sign on the wall): Ten people.
Ovi (notcing a comedic opportunity): I count as two people, you (Timmy) count as a half person.
All of us in unison: lols.
We get to the top and there's a really nice restaurant on the roof of the building. There's also a really nice view of the city from up there. (It was either a seven story building, or the elevator designers wanted us to think it was a seven story building by making the number 7 button the highest numbered button.)
Dear Freud, feel free to psycho-analyze our orders.
Girls wanted a fruit cup with ice cream
Dan wanted a virgin sex on the beach.
I wanted a love potion.
Ovi wanted nothing.
Mine was 8.5 lei ($2.88), and it was really good. It's a good thing it was really good, because it was kinda small. You can't go wrong with strawberries and bananas. We had some stimulating conversation (actually, this is not an exaggeration like the rest of this blog post). Then we went outside and took pictures of the lion and elephant statues, followed by pictures of everyone jumping at the same time. :) Then we came back and went to bed. It was very fun.
Leaders: "Let's go to the park!"
Clouds: "Rain!"
Leaders: "Let's go bowling!"
So we went bowling. It was about 4pm when we got there and we were the only ones there. Half of the bowling lanes were being lacquered. Oh the fumes! Half of the people got headaches, the other half got high. I didn't have a headache, so I must have been in that second half. The good news is, I bowled a 127 and took first place in our group of bowlers. :)
After that we walked over to a buffet style restaurant and ate a lovely meal. I used the "order by pointing" method and got some chicken with mushrooms, cheese and a tomato on top, and some rice pilaf, and some french fries, and a roll, and some grapefruit and lychee juice. Yummy!
Then we split into two groups. Group A: "We're party poopers. We want to go back to the base, tell kids to get off our lawns, and go to bed early." Group B: "We're young and full of life. The party never stops with us. We want to stay in town and hang out!" Group A took taxis back to the base. Group B left on foot. Destination: Unknown.
After about 5 minutes of walking, "Destination: Unknown" turned into "Destination: Thrift Store." Boys reaction :-|. Girls reaction :-D. I had my camera on me, so I snapped a quick photo. "Hey! Blah blah blah blah blah!" Romanian to English translation: "You can't take pictures in here! It offends my sensibilities! Also, I hate men!"
Okay, okay. I'm sorry. The boys and I stood over in the boys section, which consisted of one rack of a few shirts and a few shorts. The girls wandered throughout the rest of the store, scouring for hidden treasures. Price by weight: 150 lei per kilogram. 23 dollars per pound.
While everyone was looking for stuff, I found a wall to lean against. There was a radio nearby playing tunes that I could groove to. Whenever I got bored, I turned my leaning-against-the-wall party into a dance-and-let-people-look-at-me party.
Man hater's reaction: *Scowl*
Cute thrift store worker girl's reaction: *glance then turn away and blush*
Seriously, that first lady that yelled at me never took her eyes off me. The cute thrift store worker girl on the other hand was walking around the store, organizing the hangers and clothes. The guys and I were hanging out in one spot. She kept getting closer and closer. When she got to where we were, she just stayed there for a while, putting clothes on hangers and being busy.
When she looked over at me, I said "Hi" but I don't think she spoke english. Eventually, she walked away and we went over and found the girls. They were waiting in line to try on clothes.
Number of items Timmy wants to try on: 4
Number of items Brooklyn wants to try on: 9
Number of items Cristina wants to try on: 12
Number of items you're allowed to bring back to the changing room at one time: 5
The girls went in and tried on all their treasures.
Number of items Timmy ended up getting: 0
Number of items Brooklyn ended up getting: 2
Number of items Cristina ended up getting: 2
We waited by the door while the girls bought their stuff.
Scowling lady: "Rawr, blah blah blah blah."
Translation: "You are standing 5 feet from the exit. You need to be standing 5 inches from the exit. You already made your purchases, which means you can't go further than 5 inches into the store. Also, I still hate men....and probably small puppies."
Sheesh, okay. Once we were done buying clothes, we left. Goodbye cute thrift store worker girl. I'll treasure those moments we had forever.
Next destination: Coffee place?
I heard someone say coffee, or cafe, or something like that. We walked some more and went into a bowling alley by a McDonalds. This was the place we went for Paul's birthday. :) We hopped into the elevator and rode to the very top.
Elevator conversation:
Brookyn (noticing that the elevator is pretty packed with the six of us): How many people are allowed on this elevator?
Me (noticing a sign on the wall): Ten people.
Ovi (notcing a comedic opportunity): I count as two people, you (Timmy) count as a half person.
All of us in unison: lols.
We get to the top and there's a really nice restaurant on the roof of the building. There's also a really nice view of the city from up there. (It was either a seven story building, or the elevator designers wanted us to think it was a seven story building by making the number 7 button the highest numbered button.)
Dear Freud, feel free to psycho-analyze our orders.
Girls wanted a fruit cup with ice cream
Dan wanted a virgin sex on the beach.
I wanted a love potion.
Ovi wanted nothing.
Mine was 8.5 lei ($2.88), and it was really good. It's a good thing it was really good, because it was kinda small. You can't go wrong with strawberries and bananas. We had some stimulating conversation (actually, this is not an exaggeration like the rest of this blog post). Then we went outside and took pictures of the lion and elephant statues, followed by pictures of everyone jumping at the same time. :) Then we came back and went to bed. It was very fun.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Confession
I need to get something off my chest. I'm not perfect.
I'm smart enough and clever enough to know how to get you to think that I'm perfect. I know all the right things to do, and all the right things to say. I've had many years of practice. I know exactly how to show off my strengths and also how to hide my weaknesses, but I'm not perfect. If you already knew this, then consider yourself among my best of friends.
God has been dealing with me in this area of my life. What I've been realizing is that one of my biggest fears is the fear of rejection. I combatted this with perfectionism. If I'm perfect, then how could anyone reject me? Surprise, surprise, it didn't work. Some people still reject you.
Someone was praying for me tonight, and they said something that seems obvious, but for whatever reason didn't sink in. Jesus is the only one that lived a perfect life. I'm not called to live a perfect life. I'm not called to be Jesus. I'm just called to follow Jesus, and do my best apply His teachings to my life.
Please pray for me in this area. Pray that God will build up a confidence in me to live as the person God created me to be, with no regrets or apologies.
I like this quote from John Eldredge, "Let people feel the weight of who you are and let them deal with it."
I'm smart enough and clever enough to know how to get you to think that I'm perfect. I know all the right things to do, and all the right things to say. I've had many years of practice. I know exactly how to show off my strengths and also how to hide my weaknesses, but I'm not perfect. If you already knew this, then consider yourself among my best of friends.
God has been dealing with me in this area of my life. What I've been realizing is that one of my biggest fears is the fear of rejection. I combatted this with perfectionism. If I'm perfect, then how could anyone reject me? Surprise, surprise, it didn't work. Some people still reject you.
Someone was praying for me tonight, and they said something that seems obvious, but for whatever reason didn't sink in. Jesus is the only one that lived a perfect life. I'm not called to live a perfect life. I'm not called to be Jesus. I'm just called to follow Jesus, and do my best apply His teachings to my life.
Please pray for me in this area. Pray that God will build up a confidence in me to live as the person God created me to be, with no regrets or apologies.
I like this quote from John Eldredge, "Let people feel the weight of who you are and let them deal with it."
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Numbers 22-24
Fiona: He talks!
Shrek: Yeah, it's getting him to shut up that's the trick.
In case you couldn't guess, the story in Numbers is the one with the talking donkey. Technically, the donkey is in chapter 22 only, but I like the full story. Balaam and Balak crack me up.
Balak: "Will you please curse these people?"
Balaam: "Lemme ask God."
God: "Nope. Bless 'em."
Balaam: "Bless, bless, bless."
Balak: "Gah!"
Me: *lol'ing
Or what about the part when his donkey starts to talk?
Donkey: "Why do you keep whacking me?"
Normal response: "Holy Toledo! A talking donkey."
Balaam's response: "You hurt me! I want to KILL YOU!"
Hahaha, take a chill pill buddy.
What do you guys think of Balaam? I like him.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Time
Me: "Hey, you're heading home this weekend right?"
Friend: "Yep, it's only a few hours away."
Me: "Are you going to raise some support?"
Friend: "Yeah, that's the idea. I'm going to talk in front of my church."
Me: "I'll pray for you. What time are you presenting?"
Friend: "10:30."
Me: "Cool. I'll pray before then."
Friend: "Good, because it doesn't really matter if you pray after."
I don't remember the exact conversation, but this is basically what was said. Then I was thinking. If God exists outside of time, and can see the beginning and the end simultaneously, then can we pray for things that already happened? Does it make sense to pray for things that already happened?
What if there's a car wreck on Monday, and I find out everyone is safe, and then I pray for everyone's safety? What if I was the only one that prayed, and they were only safe because God saw my prayer on Tuesday, and honored it on Monday?
Friend: "Yep, it's only a few hours away."
Me: "Are you going to raise some support?"
Friend: "Yeah, that's the idea. I'm going to talk in front of my church."
Me: "I'll pray for you. What time are you presenting?"
Friend: "10:30."
Me: "Cool. I'll pray before then."
Friend: "Good, because it doesn't really matter if you pray after."
I don't remember the exact conversation, but this is basically what was said. Then I was thinking. If God exists outside of time, and can see the beginning and the end simultaneously, then can we pray for things that already happened? Does it make sense to pray for things that already happened?
What if there's a car wreck on Monday, and I find out everyone is safe, and then I pray for everyone's safety? What if I was the only one that prayed, and they were only safe because God saw my prayer on Tuesday, and honored it on Monday?
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Pray
Please keep praying for us over here. We covet your prayers.
There has not been a time during this entire DTS where everyone has been healthy. Everyone here, including me, has been sick at some point. (I had a migrane after playing basketball a few weeks ago, and for those that don't know about my migranes, they're the end of the world for me. I feel like dying whenever I get them.)
One student even admitted to me that they feel like they should just go home. That's how bad it's gotten for them! hnvtbiojewaui! Pray!
We are learning so much! We are all so excited to go to India and Thailand! God is moving over here! Going home is not something that God wants right now! Please pray for us!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Name
I decided today that I really like my name. Michael Joseph Petty.
Before today, I liked it simply because it was attached to me. I like me, so I liked my name. But today, I looked at each part and their meanings.
Michael: Who is like God.
The angel Michael was a mighty warrior in Heaven's army. Those are my aims: to be like Jesus, and to be a mighty warrior in Heaven's army.
Joseph: God will increase.
I didn't know this was the meaning until I looked it up just now. When I was thinking about my name earlier, I was thinking of the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. It's one of my favorite Bible stories. Everywhere Joseph went, people kept putting him in charge, and God blessed everything he was in charge of: Potipher's house, the jail, even all of Egypt. He went through some hard times, but at the end he was second only to Pharaoh.
Petty - adj - of small importance; trivial.
It's hard to be prideful when your last name is Petty. :) And yet, the last and the trivial shall be first in the kingdom of Heaven. :)
What do your names mean?
Before today, I liked it simply because it was attached to me. I like me, so I liked my name. But today, I looked at each part and their meanings.
Michael: Who is like God.
The angel Michael was a mighty warrior in Heaven's army. Those are my aims: to be like Jesus, and to be a mighty warrior in Heaven's army.
Joseph: God will increase.
I didn't know this was the meaning until I looked it up just now. When I was thinking about my name earlier, I was thinking of the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. It's one of my favorite Bible stories. Everywhere Joseph went, people kept putting him in charge, and God blessed everything he was in charge of: Potipher's house, the jail, even all of Egypt. He went through some hard times, but at the end he was second only to Pharaoh.
Petty - adj - of small importance; trivial.
It's hard to be prideful when your last name is Petty. :) And yet, the last and the trivial shall be first in the kingdom of Heaven. :)
What do your names mean?
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Finances
I told you all about how God provided the finances for the lecture phase of this DTS.
2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured itout. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
Now we're trying to pay for the outreach phase. We need 9,000 Euros. We took an offering today like the last time, but I don't know how much we raised. Today in class we talked about the story in 2 Kings 4:1-7
2 Kings 4:1-7 (New King James Version)
Elisha and the Widow’s Oil
1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured itout. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
Of course everyone in the room saw the correlation between our little offering jar and the widow's oil jar. We put a little in, but with God, so much can be poured out! Please pray for these funds to be raised so that we may glorify God and His awesome power.
Timmy is going to her home town this weekend to try and raise some more funds for her portion of the outreach cost. Please pray for her. Pray that the Holy Spirit would go before her and prepare the hearts of all of the people that she will talk to.
We already took the offering, but I still need to pray about whether I should give or not. God really challenged me to give more than I thought I could afford in the last offering. So I did. Then I stressed for a few weeks about my finances. God had told me He would provide, but I was still stressing.
Then in my daily Bible reading, I came across Numbers 11:23
23 The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”
All of a sudden, I had a need to do my taxes. It took me over an hour to go through TurboTax, but at the end, my refund was $50 more than what I gave in that offering. God had covered it all. I've never gotten a refund like that before. In fact, TurboTax had this feature that let me compare last year's taxes to this year's taxes. Last year, I owed the government money. I have no idea how I got such a large refund. (Send me a private message if you want to know exact numbers. Let me just say that I'm not talking about donating $50 and getting a $100 refund.)
I remember when Stacey wrote on the board how much we needed to raise and thinking, "Wow, that is a lot bigger than last time." Then I pictured God. He was also watching Stacey write the number. Then He leaned over and whispered to me, "Watch what I'm about to do."
I'm excited to see how God will provide, but please pray for us.
PS, if you would like to donate, I'll give you the contact info for the leaders here. However, don't feel like you need to.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Creative Worship
I meant to post this yesterday, but I did my taxes instead. :)
On Monday, instead of pulling out the guitars and the sheet music, a few of us were asked to do some presentations. The subject: Creative Worship. The time from 9-10 was still dedicated to worshipping, but we were encouraged to be creative about it. Singing songs is not the only way to worship God.
When people presented, there were so many good ideas, and different ways to worship; two of which made me homesick.
The first person to present showed a Youtube video of some cool math equations.
The second person said they enjoyed going to the beach back home, and they showed a video of a peaceful beach.
Math & Beach?! I'm homesick for the first time since coming here!
Eventually it got to be my turn. I didn't feel like I had a ton of time to say everything I wanted to say, so I presented the short version of my creative worship to my classmates. Here's the long version.
Maybe it's just me, but I think that in order to properly worship God, you need to have a proper perspective on Him. So my creative worship is to appreciate how big God is, and how clever He is. I know you already have some ideas in your head about this, but let me share with you what's in my head.
Now, first question: When you think of God, does He blow your mind? If He doesn't, then I want to try and help you get there. Maybe you put Him in a box and carry Him around with you. (I do this from time to time.) Every once and a while, when you need something, you can let Him out, but then once you have what you need then it's back into the box with God.
Oh! And if you're a "good" Christian you'll even poke some holes in the box so that God can breathe. Maybe you'll even throw in some leaves and sticks so he can climb around on them. You wouldn't want God to be bored, would you? Instead of a cardboard box, you might even go to the fancy "Christian" box store and pick out a nice one. Nothing but the best for your God, right?
Haha, except God is not a pet frog. (Note to self: get a pet frog.) God is infinite! Okay, as a math major, I know a little bit about infinity. I've taken different classes that have studied infinity. Normally, when you think of infinity, you think of the numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4... all the way up to infinity.
Did you know that there is also an infinite amount of numbers between 0 and 1? Don't believe me? Let's start naming them: .5, .55, .555, .5555... I could go on forever just adding 5's. Each would be a different number. There are actually more numbers between 0 and 1 then there are if you start at 0 and count upwards. If that doesn't sound rational, then you're right! (Math joke for the math nerds that understand irrational numbers. :) )
Let's take another look at the number line with this new fact in mind: 0, infinity, 1, infinity, 2, infinity, 3, infinity, 4... There is an infinite amount of numbers inbetween each of them.
Does this remind you of anything? What about when someone asks how an infinite God can live in a finite being? Zero to one is finite, and yet within that space exists infinity! Is your mind blown yet? Because I have more.
Draw a line. This is length. It goes infinitely in both directions. Draw another one perpendicular to that one. This is height. It also goes infinitely in both directions. Draw one more line for depth, and you've defined a three dimensional space. We exist in three dimensions, so it's easy for us to understand this.
There are three lines. Each of them is independent of the others. You can move along the length without moving up the height or down the depth. Likewise for the others. Each of them is also infinite. You can move along one line forever, even out into space. And yet, working together they create something so much more! Three dimensional space!
Does this remind you of anything? What about the Trinity? Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Each infinite. Each independent. Yet, working together they create something so much more! Three lines, one space! Three in one! How about now, am I blowing your mind yet? I have more. :)
Take a look at this video.
Things as simple as a seashell, and a sunflower, and the wings of a dragonfly have complex mathematical concepts hidden within them! You think that happens by accident? Or do you see a bit of the Creator within the creation?
I have a couple more things I want to throw at you. :)
Starting with this two part video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySBaYMESb8o&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
God is not restrained by time. Yes? I have even heard someone say that God exists outside of time. Do you ever think about that? If time is the fourth dimension, does that mean that God exists in a dimension that's higher than the fourth dimension? That's what I think.
I'm in three dimensions. I exist outside of two dimensional objects. If I take a piece of paper, I can put two fingers in two different spots. According to that paper, I'm in two places at once. If God is omnipresent, then doesn't that make more sense if he's a higher dimensional being?
A teacher here at the DTS told us that "God is bigger than your imagination." That statement blew my mind. I wanted to stop him and explain to him the size of my imagination. I can imagine up to the 10th dimension! But I stopped myself, and started to process the truth of that statement. The Creator is bigger than the creation. If I make a sculpture, am I bigger than that sculpture's imagination? You bet I am! That sculpture doesn't even have an imagination! Likewise, God must be bigger than our imaginations! That means that God is bigger than 10 dimensional beings! Do you know how big that is??
Is there anything too hard for a God of that size? Are any of your problems or worries too tough for a God of that size to handle? Is there anything that a God of that size can't provide for you in your time of need?
First let God blow your mind, then worship Him.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
11 Hour Wedding Adventure
We left at 11:30 in the morning, and got back at 10:30 at night. 11 hour wedding. It was very fun.
We get to the church about 20 minutes before the wedding at noon. The church is one of those old Eastern European cathedral type churches. So amazing! (Pictures on Facebook are being uploaded as I type this.) The DTS students and staff are assigned to sit up in the balcony so that we don't disturb anyone with all of the translations that we need to do. The service was in Hungarian, which was translated into Romanian, via a microphone that sent the signal by radio, which you could tune into with any portable radio. You with me so far? Then the Romanians could listen to the translation with their headsets, and translate it to English for anyone that wanted the translation. I wasn't near anyone that was translating into English so I don't know what was being said, but it's a wedding, we all know the words to a wedding.
They sang some worship songs, they had communion, a few assigned people came up and prayed prayers, they read their vows, they read scripture. It was very nice. It took about 3 hours, I think.
Then we all went outside and lined up and congratulated the groom and bride, which didn't take as long as I thought with 200 guests. After that, we hopped into some cabs and drove to the reception.
We were the first ones there, so I got lots of pictures of the set up before everyone arrived. It was very nice. Wine and tulips and appetizers were already waiting for people. We started chowing down on the appetizers. Different meats, different cheeses, a dozen different types of cookies, a tomato, meat balls, chicken, and cake. Okay, I'm full. But those were just the appetizers! We still have 8 hours of food to eat!
In between courses there was dancing. Line dancing, a human tunnel, the macarena, the limbo, a conga line, as well as normal "shake what the Lord gave ya" dancing.
Next course: shredded cabbage with salts and spices and a slice of tomato. I took a couple bites, but was still very full from the appetizers.
Back to dancing. I didn't dance everytime people went out, but I tried to go out a couple times. (I'm sorry, but I can't dance to every single song I hear.)
Next course: Okay, I don't know the real word for this, so let me try to explain it. Imagine a mozzarella stick that is three times as wide as normal. Now stick some slices of ham inside. That's what we ate. It was very good, but I had to restrain myself because it was soooo much cheese. If I eat too much cheese I'll go comatose.
Back to dancing...
This is the point when we tried to "steal the bride." It is a Romanian custom at weddings for some men to kidnap the bride away from the wedding and force the groom to do funny things to get her back. We had talked to Isti (pronounced Ish-tee) beforehand, and he knew we were going to try and do this at some point.
The plan was to distract someone (the groom?) and lead the bride outside into the get away car. I wasn't exactly clear on the details, or why the bride was going to come willingly away from her wedding day. The trouble was that no one had their driver's license on them...except me. :) Hello Mike. Welcome to being a get away driver, a.k.a. the gateway drug to all crime in the world. (P.S. If you want to join my crime syndicate that I'm starting, let me know.)
Two of my friends told me to wait downstairs, so I did. They went off to find the bride. I waited for a few minutes, but they came down and told me that we couldn't steal her right now. Okay, if you say so.
Next course: This is the main course. A chicken leg and wing, pork, potatoes, and rice with gravy. The chicken was soooo good, and the rice with the gravy was sooo good. The pork was pretty good, and the potatoes were pretty good, but neither was amazing enough that I was willing to go in to "gastrointestinal oblivion" to eat them. (If I may coin the phrase of a friend.)
If you guessed more dancing would follow, you'd be right. This was also when we made our second attempt to steal the bride. She was away from the party in the bathroom. Perfect! We head down there and wait for her to come out. When she does, she has a body guard (the bridesmaid), and a cute little girl. We consider stealing all three, but decide against it. We're theives with morals, apparently.
Back to dancing, and talking, and taking photos. A few minutes later we make our third attempt. This time it works and we get the bride outside and start heading for the car, except....ummmm....we can't find it. It's a few degrees above freezing. None of the guys have their jackets, and the girl is in a wedding dress, not the warmest attire. Luckily the car has a remote unlock system that I can keep pressing until we get close enough to make the headlights flash.
We find the car and jump inside. It's a stick. No worries. I know how to drive these. I try to put it into reverse. It doesn't go into reverse. I put it into each of the other five gears to make sure that each of them works. They do. Not reverse. I can't back out of the parking space we're in if we can't go into reverse. Hmmm.
I let my co-pilot try, and he does something and gets it into reverse. Yay! And we're off! I'm officially a get away driver! I wanna drive fast! I wanna break the law! Catch me if you can coppers!! You'll never take me alive!!! But I also want to be careful! We were in Paul's car one day after it came out of the shop. He got in a few wrecks and it took 6 months for the insurance to pay to fix it, and add another week in the shop, and now his car is finally in good shape again. I really really didn't want to wreck it.
We start driving down the road. I ask where we're going, but begin to notice that I can't see my gauges very well. Woops! My lights weren't on! There are street lights and other things, so I can see pretty well, but other cars can't see me very well. I start to look for the lights as non-chalantly as I can without bringing attention to the rest of the passengers that we're driving without our headlights on.
I find the blinkers. I find the windshield wipers. No headlights. Oooo! I found the high beams! But they don't stay on. You have to hold them to get them to stay. I hold them until we pull into a nearby parking lot and talk on the phone with the groom from the wedding. The bride was a good sport about everything and even pretended to scream like she was a real hostage. :)
We sat here for a minute or two. Thankfully, in that minute I found the real lights, and I learned how to put the car into reverse. Just underneath the nob to the manual transmission is a disc. Lift up on the disc and then you can put the car into reverse. I suppose that is so you don't accidentally throw the car into reverse when you're on the road, but is that really a big problem? I don't know the statistics, but are there a lot of drivers that accidentally throw their car into reverse while they're driving down the road? There must be, or car companies wouldn't need to design this safety feature.
So after sitting in the parking lot for a minute we head back. I'm driving kind of slow, but I have a tailgating friend riding my bumper. He drives a bigger car than me, so he probably thinks he could take me in a fight, but he doesn't know that I fight dirty. :-p I keep driving and he pulls into oncoming traffic and speeds around me cutting me off as he gets back into the correct lane. Bye friend! I'll miss you! (I didn't know which font was the most sarcastic, so I just italicised it. :) )
We get back to the wedding and head inside. In order for the groom to get his bride back, he has to sing to her on his knees. The crowd loves it, and from what I heard later (it was in Romanian when he sang it), he didn't know all the words to the song, so he had to make some up.
Then we had more dancing and some cake, which wasn't the best cake in the world, but it was still good enough that I made some room for it in my overstuffed tummy. Then we went home, and I went to bed.
We get to the church about 20 minutes before the wedding at noon. The church is one of those old Eastern European cathedral type churches. So amazing! (Pictures on Facebook are being uploaded as I type this.) The DTS students and staff are assigned to sit up in the balcony so that we don't disturb anyone with all of the translations that we need to do. The service was in Hungarian, which was translated into Romanian, via a microphone that sent the signal by radio, which you could tune into with any portable radio. You with me so far? Then the Romanians could listen to the translation with their headsets, and translate it to English for anyone that wanted the translation. I wasn't near anyone that was translating into English so I don't know what was being said, but it's a wedding, we all know the words to a wedding.
They sang some worship songs, they had communion, a few assigned people came up and prayed prayers, they read their vows, they read scripture. It was very nice. It took about 3 hours, I think.
Then we all went outside and lined up and congratulated the groom and bride, which didn't take as long as I thought with 200 guests. After that, we hopped into some cabs and drove to the reception.
We were the first ones there, so I got lots of pictures of the set up before everyone arrived. It was very nice. Wine and tulips and appetizers were already waiting for people. We started chowing down on the appetizers. Different meats, different cheeses, a dozen different types of cookies, a tomato, meat balls, chicken, and cake. Okay, I'm full. But those were just the appetizers! We still have 8 hours of food to eat!
In between courses there was dancing. Line dancing, a human tunnel, the macarena, the limbo, a conga line, as well as normal "shake what the Lord gave ya" dancing.
Next course: shredded cabbage with salts and spices and a slice of tomato. I took a couple bites, but was still very full from the appetizers.
Back to dancing. I didn't dance everytime people went out, but I tried to go out a couple times. (I'm sorry, but I can't dance to every single song I hear.)
Next course: Okay, I don't know the real word for this, so let me try to explain it. Imagine a mozzarella stick that is three times as wide as normal. Now stick some slices of ham inside. That's what we ate. It was very good, but I had to restrain myself because it was soooo much cheese. If I eat too much cheese I'll go comatose.
Back to dancing...
This is the point when we tried to "steal the bride." It is a Romanian custom at weddings for some men to kidnap the bride away from the wedding and force the groom to do funny things to get her back. We had talked to Isti (pronounced Ish-tee) beforehand, and he knew we were going to try and do this at some point.
The plan was to distract someone (the groom?) and lead the bride outside into the get away car. I wasn't exactly clear on the details, or why the bride was going to come willingly away from her wedding day. The trouble was that no one had their driver's license on them...except me. :) Hello Mike. Welcome to being a get away driver, a.k.a. the gateway drug to all crime in the world. (P.S. If you want to join my crime syndicate that I'm starting, let me know.)
Two of my friends told me to wait downstairs, so I did. They went off to find the bride. I waited for a few minutes, but they came down and told me that we couldn't steal her right now. Okay, if you say so.
Next course: This is the main course. A chicken leg and wing, pork, potatoes, and rice with gravy. The chicken was soooo good, and the rice with the gravy was sooo good. The pork was pretty good, and the potatoes were pretty good, but neither was amazing enough that I was willing to go in to "gastrointestinal oblivion" to eat them. (If I may coin the phrase of a friend.)
If you guessed more dancing would follow, you'd be right. This was also when we made our second attempt to steal the bride. She was away from the party in the bathroom. Perfect! We head down there and wait for her to come out. When she does, she has a body guard (the bridesmaid), and a cute little girl. We consider stealing all three, but decide against it. We're theives with morals, apparently.
Back to dancing, and talking, and taking photos. A few minutes later we make our third attempt. This time it works and we get the bride outside and start heading for the car, except....ummmm....we can't find it. It's a few degrees above freezing. None of the guys have their jackets, and the girl is in a wedding dress, not the warmest attire. Luckily the car has a remote unlock system that I can keep pressing until we get close enough to make the headlights flash.
We find the car and jump inside. It's a stick. No worries. I know how to drive these. I try to put it into reverse. It doesn't go into reverse. I put it into each of the other five gears to make sure that each of them works. They do. Not reverse. I can't back out of the parking space we're in if we can't go into reverse. Hmmm.
I let my co-pilot try, and he does something and gets it into reverse. Yay! And we're off! I'm officially a get away driver! I wanna drive fast! I wanna break the law! Catch me if you can coppers!! You'll never take me alive!!! But I also want to be careful! We were in Paul's car one day after it came out of the shop. He got in a few wrecks and it took 6 months for the insurance to pay to fix it, and add another week in the shop, and now his car is finally in good shape again. I really really didn't want to wreck it.
We start driving down the road. I ask where we're going, but begin to notice that I can't see my gauges very well. Woops! My lights weren't on! There are street lights and other things, so I can see pretty well, but other cars can't see me very well. I start to look for the lights as non-chalantly as I can without bringing attention to the rest of the passengers that we're driving without our headlights on.
I find the blinkers. I find the windshield wipers. No headlights. Oooo! I found the high beams! But they don't stay on. You have to hold them to get them to stay. I hold them until we pull into a nearby parking lot and talk on the phone with the groom from the wedding. The bride was a good sport about everything and even pretended to scream like she was a real hostage. :)
We sat here for a minute or two. Thankfully, in that minute I found the real lights, and I learned how to put the car into reverse. Just underneath the nob to the manual transmission is a disc. Lift up on the disc and then you can put the car into reverse. I suppose that is so you don't accidentally throw the car into reverse when you're on the road, but is that really a big problem? I don't know the statistics, but are there a lot of drivers that accidentally throw their car into reverse while they're driving down the road? There must be, or car companies wouldn't need to design this safety feature.
So after sitting in the parking lot for a minute we head back. I'm driving kind of slow, but I have a tailgating friend riding my bumper. He drives a bigger car than me, so he probably thinks he could take me in a fight, but he doesn't know that I fight dirty. :-p I keep driving and he pulls into oncoming traffic and speeds around me cutting me off as he gets back into the correct lane. Bye friend! I'll miss you! (I didn't know which font was the most sarcastic, so I just italicised it. :) )
We get back to the wedding and head inside. In order for the groom to get his bride back, he has to sing to her on his knees. The crowd loves it, and from what I heard later (it was in Romanian when he sang it), he didn't know all the words to the song, so he had to make some up.
Then we had more dancing and some cake, which wasn't the best cake in the world, but it was still good enough that I made some room for it in my overstuffed tummy. Then we went home, and I went to bed.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Prayer Requests
I have a couple of prayer requests.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=7K6W6GNX
a) Please pray for the health of everyone at the base. I don't think we've all been healthy since we've been here. Someone has always been sick. Two people yesterday (one staff and one student) caught the stomach bug that has been going around. Ug, not fun.
Hopefully we'll all be healthy enough today to go to a wedding between two of the students here. :D (They came to the DTS already engaged, so it's not anything crazy like they met here and are getting married after two months.)
b) House of Joy.
I should have blogged about this a long time ago. Next to the main building, they are constructing a second building. The foundation, walls, roof, windows and doors are all constructed, but they haven't turned on the gas yet, so they can't heat the house, so they can't do the floors and the rest of the construction.
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=7K6W6GNX
The House of Joy is a place where single mothers that don't want to abort their babies, but can't afford to raise them can come and live for a year or so and get support, and counseling. Some of them have been beaten. Some of them have been rejected by their families. It's such a great ministry, and I wish I could explain it better.
They need so much prayer. The construction is stalled at the moment because of a lack of funds. The funds that they do have aren't exactly being used at the moment. They hired some construction workers, but the workers aren't doing their jobs. It's too cold in the winter or something.
Please pray for the finances.
Please pray for the construction workers.
Please pray for the girls that are staying at other Houses of Joy, and who will stay at this one.
Please pray for the staff that they would have an abundance of wisdom and love for these girls.
They need so much prayer. The construction is stalled at the moment because of a lack of funds. The funds that they do have aren't exactly being used at the moment. They hired some construction workers, but the workers aren't doing their jobs. It's too cold in the winter or something.
Please pray for the finances.
Please pray for the construction workers.
Please pray for the girls that are staying at other Houses of Joy, and who will stay at this one.
Please pray for the staff that they would have an abundance of wisdom and love for these girls.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Interview
So a friend here is putting together a video. On the video she wants to interview some staff and students and get their perspective. When I asked about the topic, she told me, "What has God done in your life during your DTS?"
Woah. Big question.
We've been here for nearly 8 weeks. 55 days. Around 160 hours of teachings on more than a dozen topics. We've done a prayer tour of the city. We've evangelized. We've done between 50 and 100 hours of work duties, depending on if your work duty takes an hour a day or two hours a day. We've studied India. We've studied Thailand. We took a tour of the House of Joy. We've laughed. We've cried. We've eaten together. We've prayed together.
And we still have another month before outreach.
What has God done?? So many things!!
The theme for my DTS has been "lay it on the altar." I believe I've mentioned this. If I were to go around and ask the other people, I'm willing to bet they'd have themes as well. Take my friend that is putting together the video. She has had nothing but illness while she has been here. Everything from insomnia, to a stomach virus, to kidney stones, to who knows what else. Yet, here is a quote from her blog that she posted today.
I never imagined that I would reach this point;
the weaker I feel in my physical body, the more my Spirit rises above in strength. This is both comforting and liberating.
http://brook-lend.blogspot.com/
Her theme is (whether she knows it or not) 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I have absolutely no idea what it means to be strong when you're weak, but I'll bet she does. She's living it.
There are 13 students here. Every one of them has a theme. I don't know what they all are, but God does. What's your theme? What has God been doing in your life?
Now I need to go read Isaiah some more. God keeps bringing me back to Isaiah. I don't know why yet.
Woah. Big question.
We've been here for nearly 8 weeks. 55 days. Around 160 hours of teachings on more than a dozen topics. We've done a prayer tour of the city. We've evangelized. We've done between 50 and 100 hours of work duties, depending on if your work duty takes an hour a day or two hours a day. We've studied India. We've studied Thailand. We took a tour of the House of Joy. We've laughed. We've cried. We've eaten together. We've prayed together.
And we still have another month before outreach.
What has God done?? So many things!!
The theme for my DTS has been "lay it on the altar." I believe I've mentioned this. If I were to go around and ask the other people, I'm willing to bet they'd have themes as well. Take my friend that is putting together the video. She has had nothing but illness while she has been here. Everything from insomnia, to a stomach virus, to kidney stones, to who knows what else. Yet, here is a quote from her blog that she posted today.
I never imagined that I would reach this point;
the weaker I feel in my physical body, the more my Spirit rises above in strength. This is both comforting and liberating.
http://brook-lend.blogspot.com/
Her theme is (whether she knows it or not) 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
I have absolutely no idea what it means to be strong when you're weak, but I'll bet she does. She's living it.
There are 13 students here. Every one of them has a theme. I don't know what they all are, but God does. What's your theme? What has God been doing in your life?
Now I need to go read Isaiah some more. God keeps bringing me back to Isaiah. I don't know why yet.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Relationships
This is what we're learning about this week. It's been good, and most of it I already knew, but there has also been new stuff as well.
If there's one thing that has stood out more than the rest it's the six principles that Paul gave that you need to do before dating, specifically the first one.
Give up your rights to sex and marriage.
The idea behind this is that you need to find your satisfaction in God. If you're not satisfied when you're single, then you're not going to be satisfied in a relationship. Please pray for me in this area! I haven't been satisfied with being single since my first crush in the second grade. (Her name was Stephanie.)
God is certainly working with me in this area, but I'm not there yet.
(As a writing assignment this week we were asked to write down the things we wanted our future spouse to be. I wrote: tangible.) :-p
If there's one thing that has stood out more than the rest it's the six principles that Paul gave that you need to do before dating, specifically the first one.
Give up your rights to sex and marriage.
The idea behind this is that you need to find your satisfaction in God. If you're not satisfied when you're single, then you're not going to be satisfied in a relationship. Please pray for me in this area! I haven't been satisfied with being single since my first crush in the second grade. (Her name was Stephanie.)
God is certainly working with me in this area, but I'm not there yet.
(As a writing assignment this week we were asked to write down the things we wanted our future spouse to be. I wrote: tangible.) :-p
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