Planks

Aren't we all just walking around with logs in our eyes?

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
(Matthew 7:1-5)

Over-Spiritualizing

After thinking about yesterdays post a little, I realized that it may seem base of me to ask God to help me understand my homework.  At least, I used to think that... as if one was trying to "over-spiritualize" everything.  But I don't know that you can do that*.  In the past it was my stubbornness (aka. pride) that kept me from asking God for help.  Now I've realized that he is the God of the Universe, and if he decides it is a good thing, then he will do it.  I will not have something if I do not ask for it--so why not ask?

Jeremiah 32:27 (New International Version)

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?"



*I will say, though, that it is easy for us to project our feelings on God, which may be seen as "over-spiritualizing" something.  For example:  "I just didn't have peace about it..."  The problem with that is that God's peace is not circumstantial.  If someone's afraid or they just don't want to do something, then they should just admit it instead of blaming God.

Mayim Hayim

There have been plenty of God sightings lately.  But not plenty of time.  Here's a couple of them.

• Wednesday, Feb. 24th -- I asked God for wisdom to understand my homework (which I was having a really hard time with)... and he gave it to me!  Which leads to the next God sighting...
• Thursday,  Feb. 25th -- Usually Thursday nights are late for me, because the homework due Friday takes a long time to complete (diagrams drawn w/ a straight edge, engineering lettering, etc).  BUT, last Thursday I was done by 4:30pm, so Nathan and I had the whole evening to spend together.  He let me choose our "adventure" and so we baked pumpkin scones!
• Friday, Feb. 26th -- I got to spend the weekend at home and refresh a little bit... baked a lot of pumpkin goodness including:  pumpkin-pecan pie, pumpkin honey-wheat bread and pumpkin apple butter... the WiFi did not work at my house, so I couldn't do homework (which was great!).

Lately, it's been "ask not, have not" and I have remembered Marty speaking to us in Israel.  He told us that God wants to flood our lives with living water, but he is a gentleman and will give us only what we ask for.  "Mayim Hayim" is hebrew for "Living Water".  Marty would say, "Mayim Hayim... how much to do you want?"

So, that's my question, as I continue to look for evidence of the God of the Universe at work.  Mayim Hayim... how much do I want?

New Purpose... God Sightings

I have a hard time blogging sometimes.  Posting is pretty sporadic, mostly because I don't feel like I have much to say.  I think I've finally found something I actually want to talk about.

When we were in Israel, our American tour guide, Marty, began each day with a devotional time that consisted of prayer and reports about big things that happened the day before, aka. God sightings.  It's when the "unexplainable" happens... something that you know only God could have done.

God does big things for me every day.  I thought it would be cool to share them with you.  So, here's a recap of the week:

Monday

• During lunch had a faith discussion with some of my engineering friends.  We shared parts of our stories and talked a little about theology--one of my favorite topics.  (NEVER would have thought this would happen... oh, my little faith)
• Sold books on Amazon and made bank.

Tuesday

• Mom informed me that because of special discounts this month, we got my designer wedding dress for 50% off. 

Thursday

• Stayed calm during my Circuits exam.
• Car died in a parking lot across town.  God gave Nathan's dad wisdom to know how to make it work again.  Cost me $3.75 to get it running.

Today (Friday)

• Stayed calm during my Mechanics of Materials exam.
• Wrote a program that worked in C-programming!!!
• While sitting at the desk, I overhear a conversation about faith.  One person asking another about their recent (as in the last few months) belief in Christianity.  Person #2 explains.  Person#1 begins to talk about their faith.  Another person pipes into the faith discussion.  I am sitting in awe, witnessing an unbeliever ask a believer to share their testimony.  I pipe in when person #1 is talking about their beliefs.  Apologize for being rude, but am kindly invited to join convo as we discuss different beliefs about God.

I hope that you're encouraged as you read these stories.  I'm reading them over and thinking, HOW did that even happen...  When God shows up, crazy things happen.  Seriously.

I pray that God will open your eyes to see how he's working in your life.

Professors Say the Darndest Things/A Day in the Life

Today was an eventful day that provided much blogging material.

I am in a C programming class this semester.  It's fabulous (and by "fabulous" I mean I leave most lectures fabulously and completely confused).  One thing I really enjoy about this class is the poetic language my professor uses to describe a computer program.  Seriously.  Today, for example:
(After discussing the capabilities and possible shortcomings of a program)
"Hmm... yes, this program is quite robust.  It's really robust."
Robust, he said.  Like the Italian salad dressing my dad likes.  Robust.  Salad dressings and computer programs.  This is the life of an engineer.

Speaking of this class, I had an interesting discussion with some fellow engineers on the way home.  I mentioned that I heard some of the guys in this class confess they are completely confused most of the time, and somehow that made me feel better.  Then I realized how terrible that is.
"Yeah, other people's pain is somehow comforting," my friend C-- replied.  We all paused and let that sink in.
"Such is the life of an engineer," my other friend commented.


Prior to this class, I had another exciting event.  I was walking to the math building when suddenly the sirens started blaring.  I kept waiting for them to dip down in frequency, reasurring me that it was merely a fire somewhere (merely a fire???).  As I walked out of the engineering building I glanced at the tornado warning sign, describing safety procedures when you hear a single-tone three-minute blast.  My stomach sank to my knees as I walked out into the overcast afternoon, checking other's faces, searching for a sign of apprehensiveness.  There was none.  Am I only hearing things?  Are my ears clogged and I'm hearing a dog-whislte?  It was unreal to wonder at the serene setting, like a calm before the storm... or, I guess, actually a calm before a storm.  I quickened my pace, hoping the teacher would announce emergency procedures when I got to lecture.  I sat down by my friend T--, and (in a forced casual voice) asked if he'd heard the sirens. 
"Oh yeah.  First monday sirens.  They're so loud--make my ears ring."  I let out a sigh--no tornado after all.

This got me thinking about what Jesus says about the world.  Without Him, we are all in imminent danger.  At any moment we could be taken from our meaningless* activities to face judgement from the only one who gets to say how a life should be lived, and we'll have to account for all of our offenses to the God of the universe**.  Some of us know the truth, we hear the sirens.  And we watch those around us carry on as though everything is fine.  We should do something about this.

*more on this later.
**That is, if we are not covered by the blood of Christ, which provides us with a clean slate.