I Got Distracted From My Homework...

I love not having to worry about finances. I love that I literally have to make up stuff for my budgeting in my Money Management class, ‘cause I cannot tell you where all my income comes in from. I love that when I pray, things happen as a direct result of it. I love that my spirit is edified when I speak in a language I don’t understand, but am able to speak at any given time. I love that I can get just as hungry for the Word as for food. I love that we aren’t limited to this existence. I love that exciting shows and cartoons with superpowers in them aren’t THAT far-fetched in the kingdom of God. I love that a person can tell me their problems, and God can tell me how to solve them. I love that I can never have the need to stop showing love in order to meet a need. I love that God talks to me. I love that I can have a dependency on a force that I can’t comprehend. I love water. I love my hands, and how I didn’t have to TRY to give good massages. My hands do the work for me. I love that I don’t need to drink or get high in order to have those experiences. Anointing has a much better high.

What was it like? Jesus died. Imagine if this God that we pray to, this almighty all-knowing glorious thing, what if all of it DIED. For three days, the Word which was made flesh was silent. For three days, the Word returned void. What if the thing that kept our earth in motion, the keeper, maker, and developer of our world was simply gone? The trust you and I have that somehow, SOME way, life would achieve stability again, it would all be gone. This HAPPENED! The disciples experienced this. The world experienced it, for three dreadful days! It was undeniable too. There were earthquakes, rocks splitting, and even people raised from the dead nearby. Life was powerfully fragmented away from Jesus. Shrapnel of it MADE THINGS HAPPEN! And this was just His death. The thousands of followers of Jesus could not possibly have understood the spiritual implications. Even the apostles, who had been told almost EXACTLY what would happen, surely could not grasp it. First the hopelessness in trying to stop their Teacher from being crucified, tortured and killed before their eyes. Then, after the powerful death of the greatest being ever to walk upon this earth, stillness. Everything was still. Life grudgingly went on, but like those allergy medicine commercials, with a strip of gray covering everything…all was quiet…until His tomb was found unoccupied. Three days after His death, much hope had disappeared. But this was unexpected. Joy flickered, but hesitantly. All of a sudden, there was that speck of hope. Then they met Him. Everyone was overjoyed! The Teacher, and, as they soon came to learn, their Savior, had returned! Thomas was skeptical, and rightly so, but once he felt the scars, he knew the truth for himself. He had risen, and now that He had defied death, He would set up His kingdom! But wait, He had a different plan. He claimed that there was one greater than He. Greater than the Teacher? In a few months, which passed by ever so quickly, Jesus flew into Heaven, just as the Spirit had flown down to Him upon His baptism.

Faith...Good Stuff

This past weekend, I relaxed. That's basically what happened. I also made a lot of progress with my One. Her best friend left her at the Dart rail and was a jerk to her, and this somehow got her back to God. I think she's gonna be committed.

Tonight, we had a YFN weekend squeezed into a night, complete with Pastor Jaycee and Regeneration. High expectations? Always. Trish cut my hair before service, 'cause we both hate my rat-tail. She did awesome. Props to her.

I'm gonna just spill a few things God told me. First off, in my Bible reading beforehand, I was in Luke 4:32+36. It talked about how Jesus was teaching at the temple. It says twice that "the people were amazed at his teaching". "Why?" thought I. To start with, they were amazed because He spoke with authority. He knew His capabilities, 'cause He had been filled with the Holy Spirit. In verse 36, the people are amazed again. This time, it's after He casts out a demon. His teachings are now amazing not only 'cause of His authority, but because He's got power to back it up.

I went for the alter call to have my faith-to-faith-to-faith strengthened, 'cause I was at the point that I didn't believe I would get accepted into any university, or that the things I had been obeying God with were gonna really have His ideal end result. I had a huge amount of doubt 'cause of Boston University, 'cause I had spoken it out in faith and felt like God had told me to go there. Then that whole deal fell through, my desire to go there with it. I was afraid to have faith that I would be accepted anywhere, lest I have a similar let-down happen again. But then God reminded me of something Pastor Benny Perez said. It's better to have faith in something and go down believing than to be doubting or uncertain about it. I think it's true. So I have faith that I'm going to UT.

During worship, I started thinking of an equation in Physics (don't worry, it relates). Energy is the ability to do work. Work requires displacement, or moving something to a new location. Power is a combination of all of these. It's the rate at which work happens. So, when Jesus worked in power, and when we work in power, it's energy causing a movement really quickly. When the apostles did deeds of power in Acts, their numbers grew by thousands. You know why? 'Cause the power of Jesus is a huge amount of energy moving hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. It's science.

He also wants me to rewrite the angry letter I had written to Mr. Harber, apologizing for holding bitterness towards him, and making my points in a more kindly manner.