11/03/09 - 11/04/09

11/03/09: New thoughts
What a long day... I woke up at 6:30 a.m. for prayer meeting and decided to actually go to all my classes today, for the first time since the first week! Praise God for discipline to do so. Hopefully, I will be able to continue the trend this week. I read a few more chapters of Numbers and was humbled: "The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you." Numbers 11:23. Our God is so incredible. Who are we to limit Him with our finite human minds? Nothing is impossible and impossible is nothing to Him. Crazy. SO. God gave me two inspirations today.
1) I'm a highly negative person. When something bad happens, I'm so quick to think, "What is God punishing me for?" rather than, "What is God trying to teach me through this struggle?" I understand God's justice very well but I still find trouble reminding myself of His impossible love. Being able to remember God's love constantly at work in my life is something I need to continue praying for.
2) I was reading a blog by Pastor John Piper about his day off at Barnes and Noble (You can find it here). He talks about two different books (Letter to a Christian Nation and The Thirteenth Tale) and their postmodern ways of thinking. I've also been researching Richard Dawkins lately and have been following Ray Comforts' blog, which receives many negative comments from atheists and evolutionists all over the world. All these things reminded me of a verse:
Matthew 13:13-15
"This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.'"
Then I started thinking. I've struggled with science and its big claims against Christianity. I was, and still am, a logical person. I like to think things through and I like to have a straight and precise answer to give when I'm asked questions about the things I believe in. For a long time, I avoided admitting this debate that was raging within myself. I thought it was a battle that couldn't be won, something that seemed to clearly trump Christianity. But, only by the supreme grace of God, I was lifted out of my sin and was able to see that it was complete and utter foolishness.
Romans 1:18-21 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." God is "plain to them." "His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived." How has He revealed himself to us? "In the things that have been made." The earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans, the mountains... all things have been created by God and He has shown us that He exists through these things. EVERYONE is without excuse.
When I had this realization today, I couldn't suppress my gratitude toward my Savior. If Jesus hadn't reached out to me and pulled me toward him, I would never have reached a conclusion like this. Our limited human minds, with our infinitely finite (haha oxymoron) science, believe we understand so much when, in reality, we know so little. Pastor Jonas gave me a little analogy to help explain how we can never fully comprehend God's vast wisdom. When you see a pair of skew (see here if you don't know what skew lines are) lines from a two dimensional plane, they look like they intersect. However, from the three dimensional plane, they obviously do not intersect and never will. If I, from the three dimensional plane, try to tell you that the lines do not intersect, you're never going to believe me! In the same way, how can we even hope to understand a God that exists outside of time, history, space, and the material world?
Lord, please forgive this insignificant mind for even daring to think that I know better than you. I pray that you help me to continue to accept your loving mercy and grace as the greatest gifts any human being could receive and live in constant awe of your incomparable providence for choosing to save a sinful soul such as mine. Amen.
Things I need to work on: Too many to list.

11/04/09: Recomm leaders meeting?
I was the only one who came out to Recomm today...
Nevertheless, it was a fun day to just chill with the other leaders. We ate at Curry House then headed to Yogurtland for dessert. They are cool peoples. We prayed for our Recomm back at Emily's place and went home afterward. Emily has a cute, stuffed bunny rabbit from build-a-bear. Yaaay. She told me that her parents like to follow Eric's blog and one day that asked her, "Hey who's 'Eem-ah-bom'?" Hahahahahaha they noticed I (with my screen name Immabum) commented a lot on his posts and wanted to know. I thought that was hilarious haha. I ended up chatting with my roommate for a long time last night about stupid stuff and I missed all my classes today except the one that mattered hehe. Got to keep working on the "going to class" thing. I pray that our Recomm will NOT die and that God would give me the boldness to reach out to people I wouldn't expect would want to come to Recomm. No one's heart is capable of resisting God's purpose. Amen.
Things I need to work on: Get up early and GET YOUR BUTT TO CLASS.