End of the week: What do you seek?

As I sit here in my beanbag I am trying to think of what to write. Surly I will talk about this first week back, but what will I include? What is it that we seek?

Tuesday is a free day for me because I have no classes. However, in the evening I go to WACC.

Wednesday started off early and went late as I have three classes on Wednesdays and am in them fro over 7 hours. Bible research seminar was a data dump. Torrey was an exciting experience. We discussed Aristotle with Dr. Jenson (this was the first time we’ve had him) and I don’t think I’ve contributed so much to a session. Truly that was one of our best sessions as we wrestled with the virtues and the magnanimous person. The icing on the cake was talking about Jesus and how would he be viewed by Aristotle. Though Aristotle would say that Christ was devaluing himself by becoming human, I think that if he fully understood he would have seen that Christ did the greatest action possible and gained the most glory and honor, thus being the most magnanimous person.

Accounting II was three hours of being stuck in the hottest room on Biola’s campus, but I’m in that class with Nick and Brandon, so that’s good. Sunshine had a Lost party in his room, so I got to watch it after everyone else.

Today we again discussed Aristotle and again I engaged more than I have in the past. Perhaps I am trying to make up for Monday when I didn’t speak in the Reynolds session. But we had Dr. Campbell today and established the school of Aristotle’s friendship (although afterwards our group sat at two tables in the caf, on accident of course). Earlier tonight I had a context lecture (Why we read what we read) and a floor meeting.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader By C.S. Lewis

But what is this “What do you seek” title? I was finishing Voyage of the Dawn Treader and at the end felt almost sad, yet it should have left me happy. I won’t ruin the ending of it, but it got me to thinking, what is the difference or similarities between Christ and Aslan? Why is reading Narnia so enjoyable, but the Bible can seem laborious? As with Aslan, we must remember that Aslan is not real, but he is a representation of someone who is very real. Aslan was really always there on the voyage of the Dawn treader and he never truly left them. His parting words in the book are what truly inspire us to turn from loving the character of Aslan to loving the person of Christ. But why does the Bible seem so hard to read? I confess that I enjoy studying the Bible, but reading it is another matter. I began to compare w

hy Narnia is so nice to read, how I can hardly put it down till I’ve finished it, then realized that I don’t read the Bible in the same way. With the Bible I am so eager to find some deep spiritual truth, some doctrinal revelation, some theological exposition that I forget about the enjoyment of reading it. Being able to read the Bible in its language of truth, letting the intellect rest and listening to the story that God has given us and basking in its beauty. This then is one way we possibly should read the Bible.

I decided to stray from my reading plan (it was bogging me down and I was at a point where I wasn’t in the middle of a book) and start with John. Before I tried to grasp every theological statement as much as I could, and there is place and time for that. This time, however, I just read it to enjoy the beauty of the Scriptures and the beauty of the message. I have never experienced John in that way before.

As I read my Torrey learning kicked in as I read John 1:38-39

And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”  He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

I began to wonder, “Why is the first thing in this Gospel?”. I began to look through commentaries, Greek, and other sources. This question is something that each Christian has to ask himself, “What do I seek? Do I seek myself? Do I seek that I get good grades, good friends, good reputation, or do I seek Christ who will provide for my needs?”. The disciples don’t answer the question fully, for why did they want to know where he was lodging? They were seeking more, but they couldn’t say what. Jesus tells them that they will see, but I wonder what he meant by that. Surely he meant they would see where he is lodging, but I believe that Christ has a deeper meaning than just that. Not only would they see where he lodged, but they would see what they truly sought and they would find the thing they were looking for, that is Christ. So when I read John I’ll look for, “Did they see what they were seeking and what was it?”.

One song that I listen to every time before I go to work at WACC is Living for Your Glory by Tim Hughes. In the ending lines he sings “Seeking first the kingdom/ Seeking first the kingdom of my Lord”. Isn’t that what we should be seeking in everything we do? All glory and power and might be to the Lord.

Oh, and I learned the Orthodox cross this week. That was cool.

Biola Semester 2: Day One

The first day of the semester has come and is drawing to a close. I got up at 7:00 am for my 8:00 am class, “Bible Research Seminar”, an upper division class “taught” by Talley, but not really. When I got there I was the youngest student there, but our teacher was also younger than we thought. Talley, one of the big names in Bible classes, is the professor on record, but we had a Talbot student, who was much younger, as our teacher. He’s taught this class before, so I’m excited for it. What caught me off guard was that I needed five books for that class (the most expensive one I already had), and I had reading due in them on Wednesday. As soon as class got out I headed over to chapel where we had our convocation for Spring semester. We were going to welcome in the 120 new Biola students, but only about 20 of them were there. That was awkward.

Immediately afterwords I had my first Torrey session, which happened to be with Dr. Reynolds. Sadly, one of our fellow chums, Robby, left Torrey, but we do have a new brother in our family! His name is Hasad and he’s from Newman. The discussion today was… odd. That’s really all I can say. With the end of Torrey I was done till Wednesday.

This semester I am reading alot of books.

All the books I get to read this semester for all my classes, minus the Bible and one other Torrey book.

I tried to get another of my Torrey books today, but the publisher hasn’t sent them to Biola yet, so many Morgan freshman don’t have it yet. To buy it outside of Biola costs $200 where as buying it at Biola is around $15. I got my Bible Research books, and they were pretty cheap (like $5 for some of them, totally $39).

Tonight I ate dinner with my floor and later I’m going to Wal-Mart to buy my new Torrey Notebook, then going to a lecture on Augustine. Augustine is probably one of my favorite writers because of his book Confessions. In it he talks about how all of life is vanity when it is not for Christ, even eating, playing games, and daily chores. So often we disassociate the ability of being Christian with some activities, like washing clothes, but Augustine would claim that you can and must do them for God. It opened my eyes when I read it in high school, although I didn’t absorb all it in at once. It’s taken months of pondering on this topic for me to begin to understand it. How are we to

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.-Mark 12:30

and yet still love one another? Jesus says in John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” He commands us to love others, so we love God more by loving others in love of Him. Then we can say that God shouldn’t be our number one, but be our only one. Family, friends, humanity, nothing is to have anyplace in our lives except when under our love for Christ, and that is when we can love them most fully, enabled by the Holy Spirit who is our helper (John 14:26). I am so glad I get to read Confessions this semester.

Emerson also has an all hall tonight, so that’ll be fun. By the grace of God Biola is going strong and a new semester has come, a time to grow, not only for Biola students, but for all of God’s children.

Biola Semester 2: Change once again

After six weeks at home, I’m finally back at Biola. I spent my break scanning papers from file cabinets to the Internet, labeling them with different information, with a total of over 40,000 pages. Needless to say, I was busy. After working and being around my family and Washington friends, it was about time I came back down to Biola, but this semester will be different from last.

First off, my floor is alot different. Four people moved off our floor: Robbie, Hoon, my neighbor Ben, and my dear friend Fernando. Those four will be missed alot. I did alot of stuff with Ben and I talked to Fernando for hours each day. With these four gone our floor drops from 20 to 16 people, with no new ones coming in so far. It’s going to be alot smaller in MOLE this semester, but we shall see what God wants to do.

Another change is my schedule. I have Tuesdays and Fridays off, but Wednesday is completely full and I have three Torrey classes a week instead of two! I’ll be reading even more than last semester, but atleast I know how to read these books now.

So, although this semester hasn’t even started, I’ve been able t have some fun. I flew in on Saturday night and was picked up by Cassie and we got back to Biola pretty quick. I hadn’t had dinner, so I was pretty hungry. Sunshine, Andy, Sam, Nolan, and I all got into my car (which I missed ALOT) and drove down to In-N-Out for some midnight snackage. It felt so good to get some food back in my stomach.

This morning (Sunday) I was planning on going to both WACC and Grace EVFree, but the times conflicted, so I just went back to WACC. It was nice being back, even one of the guys in my small group came up and said hi. After the Jr. High service Lance and I went to the main service and then the Morgans took me out to lunch. It pretty much made my day. We went to 3 alarm pizza, and it was pretty good. The whole family was there, so you can only imagine how much pizza it takes to feed 7 people.

The rest of the day has been pretty relaxed. I’ve been trying to reorganize my room, but it’s proving alot harder than I thought it would be. I’ve mostly been sitting in Sunshine and Andy’s room, which they’re reorganizing as well.

Tomorrow starts off at 8:00 with Bible Research Seminar, my first Bible class at Biola. Immediately after that is chapel then a Reynolds session for Torrey. It’s going to be so good to see everyone in my Torrey group again.

I know that God has alot in store for me this semester, along with the rest of Biola. I just pray that I won’t get so busy I can’t even stop, or that I don’t just give up.

Haiti: A few words

On Tuesday a 7.0 earthquake hit the nation of Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the word. The earthquake caused thousands of buildings to collapse. But worse than the buildings is the human suffering. The estimated death toll is in the hundreds of thousands, and more are suffering. The seaport is a mess, making relief impossible from that place. There is only one runway for airplanes to fly into. The nation didn’t have a great health system, and now what they had has been destroyed. No hospitals, no police, so shelter. Millions of people are sleeping outside for fear of collapsing buildings.
Looking at this we must pray, as prayer calls upon the power of God to act in supernatural ways. And what should we pray for? That the survivors of Haiti would be safe, protected, nurtured, and healed, both physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. That these people would be able to live both as they rebuild their lives and as God rebuilds their hearts. For water: that the survivors would have access to clean water to drink and to clean, as well as the spiritual water that is Christ. Pray for aid as the nations come in to help, that they would be guided by the Holy Spirit to save the most lives as possible. That logistically, things would run smoothly. For everyone affected that healing can begin soon, that mourning would have its proper time, that this would not be the end of things, but that life can continue, though it may never resume. There is so much to pray for, and I would never be able to list it all, but most importantly pray that God’s glory may be shown as this is the call of all creation and the purpose of man. Even in devastation, God’s glory must be shown as supreme and His plan cannot be over powered.
For a full report on Haiti, see TIME’s report.

looking through the dead bodies

Here’s a link to a page with images of the disaster
Here’s a link to a news report on it
Now, this IS a Biola blog, so what does this have to do with Biola? Patrick Robertson is that connecting factor*. He said that the Haitians made a deal with the devil a long time ago. While just hearing it makes you think this man is a wicked ole Christian (if you would call him that at that point), seeing what he said inspires a slightly different sense. I myself thought he was wicked until I watched it and realized that he isn’t so terrible after all, BUT if he is condemning them and saying it is God’s judgment (which I don’t think that’s what he is saying) he would be wrong… mostly. This is where Torrey comes in. See there is a battle between spiritalizing this and saying it was God’s judgment, and under spiritualizing it and saying it was only nature. These two views are extremes. In Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle outlines virtues and defines it as follows:

Virtue of character is a mean between two vices… one of excess and one of deficiency

To say that it was purely God’s purging is an extreme and not virtuous (although in the Bible and in the end times it will be correct, but only when indicated as so). Saying that it is merely nature is also not virtuous. It is a matter of both. First, sin is the cause of death. It is why the earth is falling apart, why there s war, hate, death, destruction, devastation, etc. To say otherwise would ascribe bad things to be from God to come upon man unjustly (if there was no sin). The Haitian people may have “made a pact with the devil” and this could have spiritual implications. We must not deny the spiritual realm and we must realize that it has alot of power, while also realizing that there is power in the physical realm as well. When this pact was made, a dark spiritual atmosphere may have settled upon the area. The war itself was dark spiritually. The reason America doesn’t see this darkness as much is because we pray at the beginning of all our meetings, government and otherwise**. Other nations do not have that protection as much. However, did this spiritual climate result in the earthquake? I would say no. To say all the people of Haiti were worshiping the devil is absurd, and the real number is something I have no knowledge of. The study about the spiritual climate is to state that there may be demons in the area, thus “cursed”. Now, I will come back to the spiritual part in a moment, but let us look at the physical.
The earth does act. Plates shift, volcanoes erupt, fires start, etc. We cannot deny that. Is a tree falling in the forest the act of God’s judgment, or does it even have spiritual value? No. This quake was in a very dangerous zone and was predicted to happen (though not as devastatingly bad). So part of this must be nature itself.
Now the two must come together, for God is in control of all things. In His perfect plan He is most glorified. Was the earthquake judgment? I think not, but I would say that it has spiritual value. Because of this tragedy, prayer is being showered over the nation of Haiti, releasing it from any dark climate that could have been there. Did they deserve it? About as much as we do, for we all deserve death. Should we argue over whose or whats fault it is? No, not if it slows down prayer and aid. We look into this to understand God more, not to blame a people. God’s love and compassion should flow through us, or else we are the spiritually dark ones. Pat Robertson may have condemned them, but then why is he sending so much aid? I think he was speaking to Christians so that we would realize that there is spiritual darkness there, as there is here as well, that we would remember to pray for release from it.
Now, to those who think that this was judgment on the people, shame on you. When God judges a people He destroys them. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. The nations in front of the Israelites going into Canaan were blotted out. And what’s more is that God used CLEARLY DIVINE ACTS to destroy them. Fire and Brimstone is not an everyday act. God will make it clear when He judges people, but this is more of an opportunity for us to bring glory to Him, the one who heals, restores, saves, and nurtures.
I know with this post I will probably have people who disagree with me, and that’s ok. Leave your comments at the bottom PLEASE. I do not think that my argument is a perfect and complete one (I’m even afraid of posting this a little bit). Remember though to pray for the people of Haiti.

*I do not know Pat or anything about him. My judgment is based on this comment alone, not on any previous knowledge of him.
**Chris made an important observation on a thing that I said. I said, “The reason America doesn’t see this darkness as much is because we pray at the beginning of all our meetings, government and otherwise”. Let me begin by saying that this observation is not my own, but that of a friend from another country. That being said, I do believe it true in the context of what was meant, which was not made clear. America is not a holy nation by any means, for the darkness of sin is as evident here as other places. What I meant was a more of a demonic presence. Americans don’t see as much demonic power (though there is certainly as much spiritual warfare). However, another reason for this might be is that Satan is crafty. In countries that have a more “superstitious” background (referring to any nation) will be more prone to see demonic activity because this will be the thing that distracts them from God. If there are “spirits” that they pray to, why bother praying to another God. In America it is opposite. Because people don’t believe in the supernatural, Satan will try to hide himself so as not to get American’s (or post Christian nations) thinking about the spiritual realm.
In all of this, my comment in that line was not the central point of the topic, and if I am still in error I am willing to remove it completely. I would rather pursue truth than pursue being seen as “right”.

On Singing in Worship

Have you ever thought about Christians and singing? They do it all the time, sometimes the songs don’t even have words, but just “Oh” and “Lalala”, yet these are the most emotional parts. At Biola we sometimes sing a song called With everything. Near the end, after the second chorus, they start singing “Oh” and people become very emotional. Even when they return to the words, the majority of the people in the crowd stay on the “oh”, and the same is true at Biola. So why is this? Shouldn’t we be focused on the words and what they mean, and what meaning could “Oh” have that glorifies God? Surely if a non-Christian came in they would think we were freaks, so what is going on in this moment?
Let’s back up a few steps. In church or Christian gatherings we come together in order to be fed. We like to think that it is only spiritual, but in fact all parts of man are to be fed. What are those parts? Plato says in Republic that man is made out of four parts: the appetitive, the spirited, the rational, and the just. The appetitive is related to the stomach, the desires, and is the biggest part mass wise. The spirited is the chest, the drive to do something, action. The rational is the mind, thinking, and logic. Justice is the keeping of the other three in it’s own business. For example, man should not be ruled by the appetitive, but the rational. The rational should be above the appetitive, but should not be the appetitive. (This took hundreds of pages to explain, so this is a very simple condensed version). The truth was that Plato got pretty close, if not dead on. C.S. Lewis, Paul, and much of Christian thought can relate to Plato. Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe quotes Plato directly. Christians use other terms though (and if you’re confused, this should make sense). When Jesus is asked what the greatest command is, he says,

“The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31

Lets focus on that first command. As you see it has four parts that we are to love the Lord with (I believe Lewis writes on this, but I haven’t read enough to be certain). Heart, soul, mind, and strength: the four parts we are to love with, and they contain all of a man. In comparison we can see that the heart, or emotions, could be connected to the appetitive, as we have a lot of emotions and they fit the characteristics of the class (again, read Plato to understand why, though I could be wrong). Strength would relate to the chest, or spirited; Mind to the rational; Soul to the just, as soul is the part that governs who we are. Now that we have these four laid out, let’s see what happens to the Christian in church.
When we go to church we go to get fed, but which parts are fed? The mind is fed by the wisdom and knowledge of the preaching; the spirit is fed by the Holy Spirit in teaching us and guiding us, giving the message power; the emotions/heart are fed in worship and possibly the body as well. Looking at music we can gain wisdom from it, but it is more of an emotional experience, something that needs to happen. When we sing we are able to enter an emotional connection with God and express our emotions to Him. This is where we are fed emotionally. When we leave the words behind and begin to sing music itself, we are no longer trying to feed the mind by thinking of the words, but we give over to the emotions to connect with God. That is why the “oh” is held onto so dearly. Raw emotion is expressed to God in a special way through music. The body can also be fed here as we raise our hands, tap our feet, sway to the music, dance, etc. Another thing about emotions is that they release hormones which our bodies need. Singing, with the emotions, helps release hormones so they aren’t built up. This is another point that is important to singing for worship.
Often times people will leave churches because they don’t like the music. This seems, and is, a selfish sounding reason. Others would say that you just need to stick it out. There is truth in both, but when it comes down to it the real question is are you being fed fully? If you cannot connect with the music, then the heart and body can feel left out of the service experience. Not to say that you can’t feel them ever (volunteering with kids, service projects, and the like feed the body, while tending to the needs of others can easily feed or exercise the emotions), but they are put out of rhythm with the others. When people leave a church because of the music they don’t go through this thought process. I am not saying that people should or should not leave a church because of music, but that each person must make sure they are fed fully, in all aspects.
In regards to the other two, the preacher must not only know his facts, but also be preaching with the Holy Spirit to be effective, and visa versa.
A little note to students, specifically high schoolers: make sure that you sing. I was giving Jacob F a bad time on Sunday, telling him that he needed to sing in order to release his hormones so that he wouldn’t be controlled by his body (my purpose was to make him as uncomfortable as possible, but there was some truth to it). So sing your heart out. As emotional teenagers it is the healthiest way to get your emotions out.

Since I’ve gotten out of Biola for break, ideas like these have been building in my head upon my education. I would write more often, but by the time I have the drive to do it and the Holy Spirit leading, I am too tired and am already in bed. Fortunately today I was able to write this before too late. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to write some more before I go back.

Finals and Finally Home

The culmination of all the learning done in a semester is a final. This year I had three finals: Accounting, Business Statistics, and Torrey Don Rags. Tuesday was the first day of my finals. At 8:00 am I had my Accounting final, which was alot tougher than I though it would be, but I probably still did well. At 11:15 I had my first Don Rags for Torrey. Let me explain: Don (the dean) rags (scold, rant, etc) the student. This is what I was thinking when I thought of Don Rags. It ended up not being too bad. They looked at my notebook (which I had full confidence in, and rightly so since I got full credit and the tutor was impressed), asked me discussion questions (which we’re hard, they asked an easy question), I got my paper back (only an 89%, but I can do better) and that was about it. I got marked down from the paper, one low session score (but overall I had a really good average for a freshman), and not having historical background. In the end I got, “an A with high marks”.
The next day I went to Disney Land with Nate, Derek, Justin, and Trevor. We went on a few rides in both parks and then headed back to Biola so Nate and I could prepare for our last final.

Nate and I at Disney Land

My final final was not incredibly hard, though it was long, and many people didn’t finish. We got to use cheat sheets so I had all the information I needed in order to do well.
That night I had to check in my car, check out of my room, and say goodbye to my friend who wasn’t coming back. I started my going down to Stewart to say goodbye to my friend Alex who wasn’t coming back next semester. We had business first year seminar together and he had been in Nick and Greg’s SOS group. We hung out alot when we had our first year sem class, but being on lower campus makes it harder to see him around all the time

Alex and I in the Library

. He’s going to Boise State next semester and he will be greatly missed.
Next thing was checking out of my room. I was trying to rearrange my room, but facilities couldn’t loft my bed till after i left, so my room was a mess. Eventually it was clean and I was ready to check out. I went over to Jason, who had been stuck in the R.A. office for 6 hours, and turned in my key. A few hours later I moved my car and campus safety picked up my key for that as well. My first semester at Biola was finally over and I was about to head to bed when I got a phone call that my ride to airport at 5:45 the next morning got sick. Fortunately Fernando had stayed behind in case such a thing happened to anybody, so he took us. I woke up late that morning, but we were able to get to the airport on time.
The flight up was longer than usual, but I sat next to Cassie and we talked about Torrey and the semester the whole time. Around 11:00 am we landed in Seattle and went our separate ways. I was finally home in Washington, but what is this idea of home? During Torrey this semester we have discussed several ideas, one of them being home. The Odyssey is the best example of this. Why did Odysseus want to leave the perfect island of Calypso in order to go to his home with his wife who wasn’t as pretty and a house full of enemies? Home is indeed where the heart is. It is the place that one can feel the most natural and is one’s natural place. Being at Biola so long has actually made me have two homes, one at Seattle and one at Biola. So frequently Biola students will call Biola home, and as Sunshine put it, “I like it that way”. We can take residence at a place, but home can not be made anywhere. That Biola has become a home to me and to so many others shows the security, community, and growth that goes on there. So write down below what your idea of home is. What makes a place home? Is it friends and family? If so, why would a vacation not be home if you are around family? What is the Form of home? (Forms are the things themselves, like the form of love is not the love between two people, but the idea and the thing of love itself, to put it in simple terms. Read Plato’s Republic to learn more)
On two other notes I have had two meetings of note, first being with Dr. Fred Sanders about the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Sanders, one of the Torrey tutors who has his masters in the Trinity (I think), explained to me a few things about the Holy Spirit. First, praying to any part of God is acceptable, but it is suggested to pray to the Father, as the Lord’s prayer is. It is not wrong to pray to the other parts, but there is no model given for them (although Stephen prays to Jesus as he is stoned). Second, the seven spirits of God mentioned in Revelation may refer to the Holy Spirit. Third, the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the finger of God (compare Matthew 12:28 and Luke 11:20). Fourth, the Holy Spirit could be part of the glory of God, in which case he does not need glory for he is glory. Fifth, the Holy Spirit could be a type of manifestation of the love between the Father and the Son while still being a person and full deity. He also recommended some books to read, but the library didn’t have them at the time.
Another meeting I had was with Jared Powell of WACC. We talked about the youth group and cleared some things up as well as dealing with issues. His love for the kids is so evident, and it encouraged me to work and pray for them. That night I spent extra time in prayer for them and it payed off. The Holy Spirit gave us peace and showed himself evident in some of the kids lives, while others resisted. It was a really good small group, and the last one I would have with them for a month and a half. God is good and I am so thankful that he sent me to Biola.

Quick Update: Nearing the End

The end of the semester is drawing closer every minute I sit here and study for my finals. Soon I’ll be going home for Christmas, so lots of things have been going on. This past week was full of things lie our “Deck the Halls broomball” where all of Emerson went out to play broomball together. It was an intense match. I went on a GYRAD with Robynne (Fernando also went, along with some other people I knew) and we played a big game of cops and ribbers, but we mostly played on a dangerous playground. This weekend I went to a WACC iceskating event and then to my small group’s Christmas party at one of the leader’s houses. Those kids are super energetic, but I love them. I finally starting to make connection with some of them. One of them I thought I would never be able to connect with, but it ends up that I’m the only person who can really get him into good conversation (probably because I do it one on one with him). Other kids still hardly acknowledge me as their leader. I only see them once more before I lave them for over a month.
A few nights ago I got to go look at Christmas lights with some of the girls on my sis floor. The neighborhood that we went to was DECKED OUT! There were houses that changed color, others that had tours, and others that I’m sure could be seen from space, or atleast an airplane.
Over the past week Biola was used to film a future Hallmark film that premiers in a few years. There were random things around campus, like this sign (which is in the middle of Biola), a bus stop in front of Emerson, and a giant orange bus. The film is said to come out next year on Hallmark and it’s called “The Student”. Watch out for it.
I know this post wasn’t filler with lots of Theological goodies, or organized thought, but hey, I have finals this week. Give me a break.

Christmas time is here

For many people the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving on Black Friday. For even more people it starts before this time. Regardless, now we are all celebrating Christmas through all different cultures, celebrating it together both as Christians and non Christians alike. It is an odd thing that although we are all different in such ways, we are all human and can come together to celebrate things such as Christmas, or any holiday.
Not much has happened since I’ve been back at Biola. I put up a Christmas tree in my room and went to the Biola tree lighting ceremony. The tree lighting ceremony was cool. We sang carols, listen to some people talk, and then the Biola Christmas tree was lit up.

Photo by Sara

The way it’s lit up is… unique. It flashes in different sections and then lights up all the way. After it was all lit up Ryan started melting wax onto his hand. We got alot of wax on it, probably enough to make atleast one candle. When he started he wondered if it would hurt when he took it off. There is a type of wax used for therapeutic means that feels good to take off. It’s kinda like a spa thing. Well, this wasn’t this type of wax. After and hour of melting wax and watching him hold fire in his hand, Ryan decided to take it off. It was painful. It tore off alot of skin….so it was funny.
One thing that was pretty cool was my trip to Disney land. As I turned my Torrey paper in (again), I heard my moms voice in my head saying, “You just turned your Torrey paper in. What are you going to do now?” So I went to Disney land. It was all decked out for Christmas as Brittany, Robbyne, and I went to ride Rodger Rabbit and the tea cups. Then we get our pictures taken with he princesses. When we got in line we saw that Belle was out, but after waiting awhile the princesses switched and Aurora was in her place. Now, if you remember what happened lat time, you would know why this was a disappointment. When we got to the front we asked who was out there, and the lady said, “Oh they’re changing out now. Belle, Ariel, and Jasmine”. YAH! So I finally got my picture taken with Belle.
We also got to watch Clue AND play the game! It was pretty awesome.
I’ve also gone on a GYRAD and went to a musical that my friend was in since I’ve been back to Biola.
Right now life is just a little hectic. Tonight I have to figure out how I’m going home (meaning I might not take my car up), I have missions conference stuff, Hebrews to read, Stats HW and project, figure out which Accounting class I want, say goodbye to a friend who can’t come back next semester, wash clothes (which is hard to do down here, although we just got new washers), work at WACC, finish my SOS application, and a zilllion other things! Life is busy, but at least the Lord has it in His hands.

Thanksgiving: Thoughts and My Life

Thanksgiving: A holiday that occurs once a year at the end of November that celebrates the harvest. Although today we don’t really notice the harvest, we still give thanks for what we have. And that’s the point we GIVE THANKS. A little note to focus on is the term “giving”. It is a transitive word, which means there is a subject, the the thanker, and the direct object or thing that receives the action, the thankee. When we give thanks, and in all things that we are thankful for, give the thanks to God. As Psalms 136:1-3 says,

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.

2 Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

These are not merely suggestions, but commands. It seems wrong to command someone to truly be thankful, but when someone realizes that the Lord is good, that His love endures forever, and that He is the God of gods, it becomes difficult to not give thanks to Him. When we begin to get a glimpse at the majesty of our Lord we can only give praise and thanks to Him for His greatness and power and the gift He has given us. We may not always feel like giving thanks, but we must remember that His love endures forever. That means that even when you don’t feel it or you don’t think you deserve it, His love is still there. Not only is it there, it is active in that it is enduring. It doesn’t just exist, but it is an active love. Although not explicitly seen in this verse, when reading the Bible and listening to the testimonies of believers, it is evident that His love is active. That is something to give thanks for
Happy Thanksgiving.

Since my last post about my life nothing huge has happened, but none the less life has happened and I am thankful for what has transpired. The night that I wrote “ so let it be” was not an easy night. A few hours before I wrote it I had gone to church and had a very disheartening small group. The kids were hyped up because we were taking a survey and we had no real talk with any of them. It was exhausting and made me question why I was there. When I got back I just shut down to the world and didn’t even go to my own small group. After some time, thankfully, the Holy Spirit guided me and brought me to a place where i could reflect on only a portion of what He has taught me. I am truly thankful for Him. The Holy Spirit not only brought me to himself in this time, but brought by one of the RA’s, Matt, in order to brighten up my night. He had no reason to come by because it wasn’t open hours that night. Just seeing that someone was coming around to check up on us and how we were doing (that’s what he told me) brought me joy. I am thankful for that occurrence. The next morning as I though of the kids at WACC I thought of how I missed them, even though I had seen them last night. I am so thankful for them and the Holy Spirit’s gift of them. This past Tuesday we had a really great small group time and the Holy Spirit lifted my spirit even more.
There are so many other things i can be thankful for. Going on a Gyrad with Stacy and Monica, going to Disneyland with Kaeighly and Brian, Torrey Bible sessions, and so much more.
One of the things I am most thankful for right now is being able to sit in my own room at home. Yes, my parents got me tickets to fly home on Wednesday morning so i could spend Thanksgiving with my family. I got to see my mom, dad, both sisters, brother-in-law, niece, grandma, Geoff, Mallory, and Danny already! I enjoyed a great feast and enjoyed sleeping in my own house. I have enjoyed rest and being at home, two ideas that have been focused on alot in Torrey sessions.
I am so thankful to God for giving me loving parents who are sending me to such a blessed place as Biola. It isn’t blessed because it is sacred ground or that God chose Biola like He chose Israel. No, it is because Biola is a place that is showered in prayer and we ask for the presence of the Lord to come and fill us with His Holy Spirit daily. It’s because we strive to place God on the throne. No, we don’t always succeed, but by God’s mercy we have continued to strive after Him for 101 years! Biola is what it is today because of God and His gracious blessings on His children. I thank the Lord for Biola as a place, community, and establishment. May the Lord bless you and show His light upon you. Pray that He may show you His blessings that He has already given you that you may turn around to Him in a spirit of Thanksgiving.

So Let It Be: A look at Prayer over my three months at Biola

Three months ago today I moved into Emerson and started this new journey at Biola. It’s not so much a new journey as it is a continuation of the journey to know God. I am in new surroundings, with new people, new challenges, new schedules, new activities, but I am still worshiping the same God, coming to know the same One who died to save me. But Biola is far different than home. I have always lived in the same area, went to the same church, went to the same school. Life at home was constant and unchanging, although not stagnant. Now, however, everything is different. I go to a new church, with a new preaching style, I work with a youth group whose dynamic is completely different from the one I grew up in and worked in. I’ve made new friends who are different from the ones at home. I go to a class that teaches in a completely different way than the classes I’ve had before. I have new people above me, I have new people below me, I have new people beside me, behind me, in front of me. There are some familiar faces, but they get lost in the sea of newness. So who else can be my constant other than God?
About a month ago Biola put on an event called the Torrey Bible Conference, named after R.A. Torrey. Everyone gets the three days off and goes to several sessions a day. The theme this year was suffering. A few months earlier the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team did a seminar at Biola, and Soul Care Ministry was formed after that. The purpose of Soul Care was (it’s reforming now) to help care and pray for people going through crisis. In light of this, Torrey Conference for me became more about prayer. Not only was I on prayer teams at the end of sessions, but I also signed up for blocks of time in the prayer room so someone would always be there. During this week God began to show me how to pray in a new way. He began to walk me through the Lord’s prayer in a much deeper way.

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.

The part that stuck out to me the most during Torrey conference was the first part.
“Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”
What a bold claim. We are claiming to be adopted sons and daughters of the LORD most high who sits in heaven. In our daily prayers we often say, “Dear God”, or “Dear Father”, or “Dear Father God” (when people say the third one they repeat it several times in their prayer. It becomes a form of “umm” and I feel looses its meaning when used that way. No one, when speaking with a friend or someone in authority goes, “Hey Bob Smith, what’s up Bob Smith. Oh Bob Smith, I’ve had a hard day Bob Smith. I was walking, Bob Smith, down the street, Bob Smith.” Now, I know there are alot of people who pray like this, and I am not trying to offend you, however, stop and think if you are saying it because you are stumbling over your words, OR if you are declaring it because you truly love calling upon the name of your Lord and Father because His name is full of Love, Mercy, Justice, and Power). But we should call upon our Father and realize that He is in heaven.
The big part that I’ve been drawn to focus on is “hallowed be Thy name.” When we pray we often say something like, “Dear God/ Father/ Father God thank you for this day. Please bless Bob Smith and help us see…” or we ask for forgiveness. How often do we recognize that God is God and give Him is due in prayer? Should we not start off with, “God our Father, who is in heaven, You alone are Holy. You alone are worthy of all praise, glory, honor, and worship. You are the creator, life-giver, life sustainer, blesser, healer, redeemer, Messiah, Christ, and all-powerful One. You are omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and most glorious in power and might”? How different would we pray if we were to go about this way!
And when we enter into prayer in a worshipful manner we must remember to pray by the power of the Holy Spirit for:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.- Romans 8:26

We must pray in the power of the Holy Spirit that He may give us the words.
Since Torrey Conference God has begun to move me to other parts.
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.We must learn how to pray God’s will to come and not our own. We often pray what we want to happen, and that doesn’t always line up with God’s plan. We need to pray that we would seek Hid will and His Kingdom in the way He wants it to be brought out, not how we want it to be. This is the section that I am currently trying to grasp.
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. I haven’t been led to fully grapple and wrestle with this part yet, but God has given me some insight. One question that comes up is, “Where do we give thanks?” Paul helps us with this dilemma.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.- Philippians 4:6-7

Our thanksgiving come when we ask for our daily bread.

And lastly, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory for ever. Amen.” We need to ask for deliverance from evil and realize that we are tempted. We also need to realize that this kingdom, that we are inheritors of, is indeed the Lord’s, along with all power and glory. With the final AMEN we are saying that we agree and “let it be”.
So let it be. As you continue in your prayer life begin to think about these things. How does Jesus want us to pray? Do we give enough reverence in prayer? What should prayer look like? How can I pray in a Spirit filled manner?*

Aside from great revelations from the Lord, school can be tough. Bible sessions in Torrey are unique. I’ve gotten to finally connect with my mentor.
Another thing that I have been wrestling with lately is the place of the Holy Spirit in heaven and in the Trinity. Believing in the Trinitarian God, I must say that He is equal in all the Lord’s attributes. However, if Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, who is seated on the throne, where is the holy Spirit? Praise is given to the Father by the Son and the Spirit. The Father glorifies the Son, as does the Spirit. But who glorifies the Spirit? I feel that this is a question that needs to be answered and has led me to grow much closer to the Spirit in my searching. I will soon be having a meeting with a Torrey tutor to discuss this very topic. Along with that which parts of the Trinity do we pray to, or to whom do we pray? Do we pray to the Trinitarian God Himself, or to different parts of the trinity?
God is so good that He wants us to know Him more by asking questions such as these. But we are not to stop, but to find the answer AND to grow closer to God. To not search for the truth makes one a lazy, uneducated, Christian who seems to not want to know God more (note, this is if the Spirit is laying these questions upon you and you brush them aside). On the other hand, to only learn the answer and not grow closer defeats the purpose all together! How the Lord wants us to know Him and who we are because of Him! May all glory and honor and power be to the one who is enthroned forever and ever, Amen!

*Note: I am not saying that quick prayers are wrong. When you talk to a friend you may not have tons of time to speak to them. The same is with god. However, we need to be conversing with Him on a regular basis, and this is where these principles apply.
Also this is not a comprehensive look at all there is about these parts nor of what I’ve learned. I didn’t even talk about spirit led prayer where the Spirit takes you to prayer in other areas in you life or for others. It is important to be conscience of the Spirit if He leads you to pray something. Pray through all things!