06.30.2006

See ALL of Genesis 1

Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it...

Hello everyone!

How have you all been? My training has been going well, and I'm enjoying the people I'm meeting as well as the stuff I'm learning. There have been a few good conversations and discussions, and of course I'd love to share everything under the sun about it all. But, to be merciful to you and your time, I'll spare you for now. I do wish to share a nugget of what I learned about this week, though.
Some time ago, a friend of mine tossed a wrench in my way of thinking about God's view of our lives and how we operate in them. Many of you may even remember the side comment I made regarding my opinions about a math exam I had. I half-joked that mathematics didn't matter so much because they wouldn't be in heaven - mostly because I didn't have a knack for it. Now, anyway, this friend of mine basically asked me that, "...if math doesn't matter in heaven, then why would art matter in heaven?" Being the artsy person I am, the challenge presented to my thinking was indeed a big one. Over time I've slowly been figuring out what that challenge meant, and all the scattered pieces are starting to come together.
This is essentially what my friend was asking me, "If the -X- part of creation doesn't matter to God, why did He make it? Why does it make the -Y- any more important to Him? Didn't He create all things?" ... So, didn't God create all things? Could it be that the God who created Art be the same God that created Math? Say it isn't so!
But it is so. One of the books I read about a year ago put it aptly: God doesn't make junk (Art & Soul). There are many ways that can be taken.... in this sense, it is in regards to created things. In another sense, it relates directly to us and our body image - but I won't go there this time around....
Now from this point, I hope that in this email I do not overstep my bounds. I encourage someone to let me know if they think it does.

We as Christians stand in a state that requires a filtering system as we look at the fallen world of Man and creation. The metaphor of a sift to Christianity was offered in looking at this. When you think of a sift (such as a flour sifter), it normally has these wires that help to catch any impurities from the thing you are sifting. A sifter is pretty ineffective if it only has two wires, but it works very effectively if it has multiple wires throughout it (this was used to show difference between an immature Christian and a mature Christian)... But, equally ineffective is a sifter in which only one HALF of it is threaded with wires. You might be catching some things, but there's still a bunch of garbage coming through while trying to sift. It's not functioning in a way that a sifter is supposed to function. When we look at life, I think it is our human tendancy to pick out the things we think are good and stick with them, and then point at the things that we consider 'bad' and avoid them like the plague (things that aren't inherently sinful in and of themselves), or consider some activities holier than other activities. Example: being a missionary is much more 'holy' or 'pious' than being a scientist. But aren't we all called to be missionaries no matter what our official job is?

Or, another way of putting it is that we have the tendancy to seperate our Church/Religious-Life from the Rest-of-Our-Life. But, didn't the Lord create our 'church' life as well as our 'normal' life? Rather than splitting ourselves into two persons and personalities, why not live our ENTIRE lives to God, and not just pieces of it? Aren't both aspects of life equally important to God? There are many more things I would like to speak about this, but again I don't want to overstep my own boundaries. But I do wish to encourage you all to think about these kinds of things.. what is our relationship to creation? Is all of creation 'good?' Where does corruption and sin fit into this? I implore you to be men and women who think about their faith and investigate Scripture as the way of understanding anything I talk about in my Weekly Thing.

I pray that each of us would continue to search God and His word for answers and understanding... I also pray that the Lord would be continually working in each of us, continually shaping and changing our lives and our minds to be more like that of Jesus. I ask that we take in God's creation and praise Him for making it good, despite the fact that now it looks bad because of the devesation of sin. I pray that the Lord would continue to encourage us to live holistically, allowing His Holy Spirit to premeate ALL aspects of our lives, whether 'religious,' political, economical, etc. - all aspects - and that He would be working in those areas of our lives. I also pray that the Spirit would be working in our lives to be children who have discernment and that the Lord would mature us further and further in our faith.

In love and in Him,
your sister,
Yvonne

P.S. I realize that this week's email is more of a self-reflection, faith-evaluation sort of email... but you know, sometimes we need those kinds of opportunities to establish an opportunity for you to internally/intelligently reflect on your faith. Do we think that certain things/actions/words are holier to God than others?

06.24.2006

Romans 7:24,25
Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Romans 8:5-7, 9
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.
...You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you

Hello everyone!

Greetings from CCO-training! How are you all doing? As usual, I hope and pray that all is going well for you, and that the Lord is teaching you many things... I myself have gone through my first week of training, and it has been fabulous. We've gone through the basics (orientation) and I've already learned a lot. Praise the Lord that I've been able to be diligent about my reading assignments! Yes, I did not escape homework by graduating.

Today at training, we had a scheduled time set aside to commune with God, which was such a breath of fresh air. We were free to wander around campus for three hours and the curiousity within me celebrated by poking around the back of a building where there were lots of rocks, a dumpster, and trees. I bring this up because of the image it brought to mind.... Out of the rocks, the trees grew, with roots curling all around and into empty pockets to reach soil. Something that was not alive (the rocks) was surrounded and literally being consumbed by that which was alive (the trees, grass, and such). With us, we have something that isn't alive (the sinful nature) being consumed by what is alive and gives us life (the Holy Spirit). We can be encouraged by this because, if we truly hold onto Christ as our Savior and rely on Him for the air we breathe, God is there when we're struggling or being tempted, or when we face persecution. We can come and really ask Him to give us the strength to fight temptation and to hold onto our faith when we face opposition or when we're discouraged. No joke! We can go to God and admit when we're struggling. His Spirit will move in us to want the things of holiness... Our prayer ought to be that the Lord would make it our attitude to be willing to this kind of change and humility.

I will keep this week's email short. I encourage you to take a walk through Romans.
I pray that each of us would learn more about being submissive to Christ and open to His Spirit, and how He would work in our lives to change us. I pray that we be men and women of God who desire holiness--that is, who desire to be like Christ in our words and in our actions so that others can see us and be curious. I ask that our Father would be continually teaching us, and that we continually be open to His teaching in all circumstances.

In love and in Christ,
your sister,
Yvonne

06.17.2006

Ephesians 2:8,9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Philippians 1:6
...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Psalm 139:23,24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Hello everyone,

How are you all doing? I hope the Lord has been teaching you many things this past week, whatever those things may be.
And me? Well, in a bit over 24 hours, your little weekly-writer well be at TRAINING with the CCO for five weeks! When I woke up this morning, it struck me that this whole college ministry thing is actually happening, that I'm really heading out tomorrow morning. How crazy is that? ... Let me tell you.

It was about four and a half years ago that I became a Christian. Before that, I was this girl that hated Christianity and discouraged friends from being Christian if they were thinking about it. Where we presently stand, I love the Lord and I want to share the Gospel. There's a huge difference between now and then! And I cannot make any claim that it was all because I tried really hard to get here. This is and has been God's work in me. The same stands for every one of us because our faith isn't even our own - that is, it doesn't originate in us. We ask for it, much like a father asked Jesus to help him believe in Mark (9:14-25). It's given to us just like the air that we breathe.. Anything good in us is Christ's accomplishments: He's given us talents and abilities to do the things we do, and He's give us any success that came out of those talents and abilities. Of course, we get in the way of what God's doing... probably countless times, right?

One of the key things that I feel as though I learned while at college was that God doesn't give up on us. Sounds like a generic phrase, I know, but let me elaborate: God doesn't leave us incomplete. We come to Him as broken individuals, but we aren't left that way. Provided we are open to the way Christ changes us, we will indeed change and healed and "fixed." If we aren't open, it just means that the process is slowed down to the speed of a sloth (which could mean we'll grow some nasty mold in the midsts of our stubborness). If I may also point out, we're always going to be in the process of change... the point of completion is beyond this life and this world. Much like many websites on the internet, we're always going to be 'Under Construction.'
In light of that, there's one more thing I'd like to say. I think often times, we get this crazy notion that we can't approach the Almighty because we've got our threads pulled and our stuffing is coming out. We feel like we need to be 'everything-is-okay' in order to be standing with Christ, the perfect child that does everything right. I believe that our Father is pleased more when we go to Him knowing that we're screwed up and we need His help through life.

Mark 2:17 - "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

I pray that each of us, as children of God, would be challenged by His Holy Spirit... that He would continue working in us so that we would be open to change and willing to discard that which is ungodly. I ask that He would give us a desire to ask for change, to ask for an internal revolution. I pray that we will join together in praising the Lord for what He's done in each of us, and pour out gratitude in knowing that Christ will not leave us incomplete.

In love and in Him,
your sister,

Yvonne

6-9-2006

2 Samuel 22:7
In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.

Habakkuk 3:17,18
Though the fig tree does not bud and ther eare no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fials and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.


Hello everyone,

How is everyone? I hope all of you are doing well and are being strengthened by our Lord daily. As most of you may know, I've been going through the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament, and a few days ago I finished Habakkuk. Basically, the gist of this book is that Habakkuk asks the Lord WHY so many terrible things are going on and He seems to be doing nothing. The Lord answers, and in the end Habakkuk trusts that the Creator of all things knows what He's doing. That's a VERY brief explanation.
I think what strikes me the most is this prophet's opening words to God: "How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, 'Violence!' but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?" (Hab 1:2,3) How many of us have cried out in this way, or at least wanted to, because of all the things that go on in our lives and in the world? How many of us go through rough spots and question, "How long is this going to last??"
U2 asks the question in Sunday Bloody Sunday, and also in 40 (from Psalm 40). Many other musical artists do the same in different ways.
In looking through Psalms, an observer can quickly pick up on the fact that the psalmists were also perplexed and asked, "How long?"
We've all asked the same question somewhere in the depths of our souls. And, as demonstrated by all of these figures in the Bible, we certainly are free to ask God that question! I think that we as believers today have this idea that to ask 'why' or 'how long' is somehow a crack in our faith... so we're afraid to ask. We're afraid to be upset and we're afraid to express that to a God that already knows we're upset. But you know what, when we do cry out to Him, He does hear us.

The Lord Almighty is a God who hears us. If you don't catch what I'm saying, I'll say it again: God is a God who HEARS us. Why? Because He is our Father, and He cares for and loves each of us in such a way that you and I could never imagine.. Your muffled cries and anguishes about the state of things - either worldly or in your personal life - is not outside of God's earshot and I would wager to say that He wants us to bring our cries to Him. Although the answer to 'how long?' may never be revealed to us, we can rely on the fact that there will come a time when God will make all things right when Christ comes back. Even now in our present age, we can lean on Him and know that He will take care of everything in His timing. The world can't run on our timetable, as much as we'd like it to, and you and I need to focus on being faithful followers to mend where we are needed and where we can be used for God's glory. Even in the midst of our troubles and distress, we are to praise the Lord for all that He is doing. Hard to do? You betchya... but it's worth it.

I pray that each of us would not be hesitant in presenting our distress to the Lord, and be willing to be calmed by His Spirit. I pray that we wouild be patient in knowing that God hears our prayers, no matter how little or how small... and also that we would be taught to trust God. I pray that we He would help us to wait patiently for the Lord to do what He needs to do. Also, I ask that the Holy Spirit would work in each of us daily, refining us to be more and more like Christ as He teaches us to shed the layers of lies we have believed for so long.

In love and in Him,
your sister,
Yvonne

P.S. I apologize if some things do not make sense... it's nearly 2:00 in the morning and I wanted to finish this up before going to bed. Also, I may be coming back to this later to make some adjustments.

6-2-2006

Romans 12:4,5
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Ephesians 4:2-6 + 13-16
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Hello everyone!

How are you all? I hope and pray that all is well, and also that our Father is teaching you many things as the summer months have officially been in full swing.
I recently just finished a book called the Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis… one that I would definitely recommend all of you read if you have the chance. In one of the last sections of the book, Lewis speaks about membership and church membership. But one thing that I wasn’t quite expecting was to find a definition of the word ‘member.’
In the book, Lewis points out to the reader that we think of members as individual units that are less important than the higher-ups in an organization, and those members can easily function apart from each other. Originally, the term member was used when speaking about body parts and organs of the body. A member is a smaller part of a larger whole, where one ‘member’ is just as important and functional as any other ‘member’ within the body… in different ways. There are our hands that operate in much different ways than veins or arteries¸ but each are important in the tasks that they do. Or, there’s the wind pipe and the esophagus, close in proximity but certainly having different functions, and yet still a part of a larger organism. Even further and beyond the idea of ‘members,’ there are red blood cells and white blood cells; DNA and RNA. But I shall stop there.

Many, if not all of you are familiar with the idea of being a member of a church, a local body. Some, well, you might not be so keen on the idea of it all, but here’s something to keep in mind: a finger cannot survive on its own- a hand cannot survive on its own. In order to function as it was designed to function and in order to survive at all, it must be connected to a body. So it is with you and I: we are designed to be a functioning part of a local body of believers – a church – whose Head is Christ. If we aren’t? Well, our faith will suffer in the long run. Undeniably.
The people in the church are probably going to be different than you are. There are going to be those who like different things and then those who like similar things, or think a bit differently or talk differently because we all come from different walks of life. And this is no reason to neglect the local church! The thing that unites us all is the Head, that is Christ, and our purpose in glorifying God in all that we do… the only reason to separate from a local church is if that church is preaching heresies.
We are individuals designed to be members of something bigger, something beyond ourselves. And dare I say it, something that’s beyond our selfish desires, preferences, and biases, and that it ought to be a church that is solid in Biblical teaching.

I pray that each of us would be convicted in regards to our brothers and sisters, that we would not neglect or ignore them, as are as much a part of ourselves as we are all under Christ… and I also pray that we would find comfort in knowing that we DO belong to a body. I ask that the Holy Spirit would move the hearts of those who find it difficult to belong to a church body and help them to long for fellowship with other believers. I also pray that our churches would always submit to the headship of Christ. I ask that He help us in utilizing our skills and abilities to build up our brothers and sisters, so that we may be active parts of the body, universally and locally. May the Lord always be changing our hearts and our attitudes so that we may become more and more Christ-like.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

An Introduction

Hello to.. well.. anyone out there who happens to be paying attention.
The purpose and intention of this Blog is solely to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ in their faith-walks on a weekly basis. It's basically a compilation of my experiences, observances, and thoughts intertwined with Scripture and the Christian books I pick up along the way. There are many times in which I come back to the same subjects which indicates the things I tend to think about more than I do other things.
It all started about three years ago and has been running as an email newsletter of sorts. More recently I have been posting on my Live Journal, my Xanga, and also on my DeviantArt account... basically, it's everywhere I end up electronically. Why do I do it? I don't know exactly, I just know that I enjoy doing it. Christians are also taught to encourage one another: Hebrews 3:13, "...encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's decietfulness." (NIV) This is my attempt to do it on a fairly regular basis.. it is also a weekly reminder to myself. Keeps me focused, etc. It is my earnest prayer that the Lord would use this in the lives of those who read it and that He will use it for His glory.

To the right, I will begin listing books that I have found myself quoting or using some idea from in past Weekly Things, and the ones that I will eventually use as life goes on. Hopefully others will read them and find them as useful as I have in my walk with Jesus.