Let Us Worship

Okay, Fridays are NOT supposed to be this hectic...right? ...in fact, what happened to a restful Sabbath? My gracious! So much to get done for the Sabbath...Mer.cy. Some things need to change, because I can not be running around so much on Fridays to get ready for the Sabbath! Maybe I should start preparing for the Sabbath once the sun goes down on the Sabbath...ummmm. (Yea we talked about this in SS once...)

Anyways, just wanted to share this song. I started my day with it. Very awesome.

Dear Tye Tribbett,

I'd love to meet you one day!! :)

man, I love powerful sermons.....

Last week, I checked out the Spanish church. The message focused on how it is essential that we worship God the way He wants us to, not our way(powerful powerful)! The pastor started from the sacrifices of Cain and Abel and all the way to the New Testament...I promise I will take sometime in the future to summarize it...I have to!!

Today, I checked out the French church....powerful message too...(man. I love sermons if you can't tell.....:)) Buuuuuuuuut before I get there, I HAVE to share the message from vespers last night =)!

At first I was so caught up in how much work I had to do for this upcoming week, that I began to lose motivation and didn't want to go to vespers. Instead, I wanted to stay at the apartment and spend time alone....(lol I know.. when a person is in the process of losing movitation, s(he) should go hang with people so to forget the problem.. and not stay home and dwell on it!! it makes it worse...). Anyways, but my friend called me to pick her up and attend vespers with her. I couldn't say no since I promised earlier that I would go...So I did. It was awesome!!

The Word was given by a student. I am trying to make this blog entry as short as possible. I would always use the names "Jesus" "Saviour" "Lord" so interchangeably that I never paused to think about the meaning of either one of them until....last night. Since I don't have my Bible near me, I can't recall the verse but to sum it up: We often think of Jesus as our Saviour because He came and died for us to save us, but not necessarily as our "Lord" so much. Yes, we're thankful that He saved us, but for many, we feel like we don't need to listen to Him and His  Word...as one with Authority and POWER. Check out the definition of "lord." Jesus is BOTH our SAVIOR AND LORD. We shouldn't look at Him as one and not the other, or the other without the one because we'd be stripping Him of either His sacrifice for us or His authority. Catch my drift? ....if you do, how true is that!?! Before, when I think of the Word, automatically I think of GOD, not necessarily Jesus though I would acknowledge Him as the living Word--an example for us!! (even though He clearly states that He is the Word of Life).... I would subconsciously put Him a little lower than God the Father (well more like I think of Him MORE as a SAVIOR than "our Lord", because you know...God is the Father....Isn't it funny? [We humans can't live without categorizing, organizing things in hierarchies, huh?] I mean think about it: when we pray we pray to the "our Heavenly Father"... We pray expecting Him to grant our wishes THROUGH the Son. But you know, the Son has as much power as the Father...After all, He IS our Judge...right? Well, you don't realize that you're doing something until you're called on it! Couldn't believe that...mind you, I've read the New Testament like a bijillion times...wow. Simple things like that, we tend to take for granted since we've heard/read it so many times, right!?!

But anyways, back to today. So I went to the French church and the pastor focused on this verse: 1 Chronicles 4:10! [Prayer of Jabez] Four main points to summarize:

• Petition: Come to God in prayer and talk to Him like a friend, a father.  

• Benediction (Blessing): Ask God to bless you!! there's nothing wrong with asking God to bless you!!  

• Augmentation: Don't be afraid to ask GOD for things...He told you you can ask and it shall be given unto you!! (as long as you're doing His will, and it is His will...He will shower you with blessings!)

• Protection: Sometimes when we get more, we get carried away (pride, egotism, selfishness etc) so ask Him that He will protect you from evil as you ENJOY His blessings. 

Now that you know I love powerful sermons/messages...if you'd like to share powerful words with me..feel free!!.

Check this: I love this song.

Yay!

First week of school last week really did put things back into perspective! The workload is crazyyyyy but do-able. It's always good to have conversations with the second-year students or w/those who've had some prior experiences. It's going to be A SEMESTER....so I ask that if you're reading this to pray for me!!

Fellowship [w/Potluck/get-together] (all day Sabbath) + Adventure [w/friends, calls, songs--mercy!--lol, texts..thank you!] (Sunday) = fantastic first school weekend. Wouldn't trade that one for anything.

And so begins the second week....homework all day today since I did nothing academic-related Saturday night and Sunday all day...but I'm not complaining...when celebration calls you answer, right? right!! ha ha ha. anyways, yes yes keep me in your prayers!! :)

huge [generational] gap

Yesterday was Sabbath. yay! =) I had a great Sabbath yesterday. It is kind of cool that since the campus' main church has two services every Sabbath, I don't have to wake up super early in the morning. I can just catch the 10 o'clock Sabbath school and 11:20 worship service :).

The past couple of Sabbaths, my friends have introduced me to the Sabbath school of their preference. So far it's been good. It's been focusing on a DVD series on relationships for college-age students and married couples. All we do is come to the Sabbath school, and after a brief introduction and prayer, we watch the DVD. I am not going to lie. It's been really good so far, although I do miss the discussion side of Sabbath School. The guy is hilarious. It seems as if the main theme in all the churches I have been to this year has been relationships. But then again, everything is based on relationships, right? So that's good. It's really cool listening to others' different perspectives on that.

After church fellowship, I went over to their house to hang out {as it has been the case since I've been here.[ummm ummmmm delicious food always awaits lol]. During my stay, I (along with friends) received an intensive, serious lecture on texting and using the computer...and what our generation has become. Boy, my mom has tried to express her frustration with my sisters and I texting so often or always being on the phone or a computer, but I've never had it given to me so badly. lol. Even though the way the conversation was presented to us was hilarious, and we were laughing our way through it while trying to play it down, the truth and the reality is....it is a huge problem. No matter how much we try to downplay the concern by suggesting our parents to stop complaining and get "in" the texting business, etc...it is still a huge problem. Don't drink and drive. Don't talk on the phone while driving. Now we can add, no texting while driving. I can remember not being able to really enjoy serious time with a friend when hanging out because I was either interrupted by a text or was having a full blown texting "conversation".

Texting has replaced meaningful conversations, it has undermined person-to-person quality time. I remember seriously being home with my family and findind myself either constantly checking my email on the computer waiting a response from somebody about something, or online checking out this or that (whether it's news or other). By the time I am done with that, it'll be 4 or 5 hours later. Forget TV. I can't even remember the last time I turned on the TV myself (before I came here) to watch something. Then when I'd be done with that, or even while doing that, I'd check my phone and realize that I have new texts or I'd feel like I need to text someone about something. Before you know it, the day's over. What happened to quality and laid back time with family without any outside distraction? I have no idea.

But no matter how much I was downplaying the effect of technology on our generation, when I put myself on the receiving end, I'd have to agree. I, too, can get seriously frustrated when I am trying to have a conversation or spend time with my little sisters and get "rudely" interrupted (hey! stop texting my sisters while I am trying to spend time with them!! hahaha lol) by these new means of communication. So, as I walked out of their house that day (aka yesterday), I made a promise to myself to go back to the old days when quality time with others truly meant "quality time with someone." NOT saying that I am giving up texting (ooh nooo.) or the computer, but what I am saying is re-learning how to focus on the task at hand and also when spending time with others to show respect by giving undivided attention (ummmmmmm unless they start texting back and having a full texting convo ...I'm just saying...=))

I've learned throughout my life that, whether or not you like someone, or you like something, it's always good to listen to advice or what others have to say about a certain topic. Chances are you'll learn something new. Proverbs 19:20 ---> "Let your ear be open to suggestion and take teaching, so that at the end you may be wise." (Bible in Basic English) When I finally decide to tell my mom about this decision, I know she'll be thrilled!! Happy Sunday!!