I hope to get back to regular blogging this week, as I get back into a normal routine. The events of the last few weeks have had me thinking (what else can I do when I still sound like a toad?)…

Three years ago, I wrote a post about lessons I’m still learning. Well, these are lessons that I’m learning now (in no particular order)…

• I don’t have what it takes to do it all. On my own, I don’t even have what it takes to do what I’m supposed to do.

• Sanctification is a life-long process.

• Life is messier than I thought 5 years ago.

• God is bigger, more merciful, and has better plans than I thought 5 years ago.

• Baking can actually be fun. It can be cheap and healthy, too.

• Food has more control over me than I’d like to admit.

• A successful day is not measured by a completed to-do list.

• Life without caffeine (or at least not much of it) is not difficult.

• I have a whole lot more to learn.

Photo by shutterhacks

I’d love to spend a life dedicated to becoming an expert in everything. =) If I *had* to choose one subject I’d choose…

Literature? That’s the first thing that came to mind.  It’s silly to think that I didn’t take even ONE English class in college.

This is too hard!  I like to learn about everything!   Many parts of history, culture, and politics interest me, so I would probably pick one of those.  Basically, I’m not answering this question because I think it’d be so hard to focus in one just one thing.

2.  Where’s the nearest swimmable body of water?

Well, I don’t think there are any that I’d actually consider swimmable in at least 500 miles, considering it’s January!  Though, I suppose the (heated!) indoor public pools count, and there are 3 here in Raleigh.

3.  Do you like to keep your books organized?

Of course! I have all of my fiction books organized alphabetically by author’s last name.  Non-fiction books are organized loosely by category (with a large “everything else” category), with a whole shelf of TBR non-fiction books.

4.  If there is such a thing as Judgment Day, what do you think it will be like?

Yes, I think Judgment Day is coming. I believe what the Bible says is true…but don’t ask me to give a play-by-play of that day.  The Bible is clear that we will all face the Judge, but the details aren’t all so clear.  I think God has told us what He wants us to know, and speculating on the end times can be a distraction from what God has called us to do hear and now (once again, that is clear).

5.  What are you listening to right now?

I’m listening to The Millennials: Connecting to America’s Largest Generation by Thom S. Rainer and Jess Rainer.  I’m doing a review on the audiobook for AudioFile magazine.  Normally, I can’t listen to an audiobook while writing a blog post, but doing a silly blog post goes well with listening to a nonfiction book.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

This morning’s time with God was so intense. My emotional level was about a 9. I felt like I had just woken up from a dream, totally disoriented as to what was really going on. Things are changing in my life, but that’s okay. It is during times like these that I’m tempted to let my emotions get the best of me. Not that I should ignore my emotions either, but they certainly do not deserve the driver’s seat. The shakiness of everything else should point me to cling to The Rock who never changes and will always be a refuge for me. (Psalm 71:3)

A convicting word about how we participate in worship services:

The Lord speaks to His prophet, Ezekiel: “So My people come to you in crowds, sit in front of you, and hear your words, but they don’t obey them. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue unjust gain. Yes, to them you are like a singer of love songs who has a beautiful voice and plays skillfully on an instrument. They hear your words, but they don’t obey them.” – Ezekiel 33:31-32 HCSB

Monday April 17, 2006 – I’ve Heard This Already

“I’ve heard this already.” That’s what I heard come out of a particularly ornery 5-year-old’s mouth as we were sitting in Sunday School on Easter. The teacher was teaching from Matthew 28, about Jesus’s resurrection. The fact that this boy treated the lesson like storytime wasn’t surprising; a lot of kids do. But it made me think about how much we grown-ups do, too.

Are we happy when we hear a sermon on a familar passage? Do we think, “Here we go again, the same old story”? I have to admit that I do sometimes have this attitude when I approach Scripture. It’s hard not to, actually, when our first thought is entertainment or fresh revelation. God can, and will, provide “fresh” insights even from familiar texts, but that cannot be our aim. We read, study, and listen to the Bible because it is God’s Word as He revealed it to us. We know Him better because of it, and we grow in our relationship because we know Him better. We allow His Word to act as a mirror and reflect our true self and reveal our hidden desires. We change according to what we read, in order to gain greater fellowship with the Father and with fellow believers. (James 1, 2 Timothy 3:16)

I hope that this post has been an encouragement to you in some way. I want to take this lesson to heart!

The teacher that I want to highlight today is the primary person responsible for my desire to be a math teacher one day.  Her name is Mrs. Reeves, and she was one of my high school math teachers (I’m thinking it was Algebra III..but that hardly matters).

Math was always a subject I enjoyed, but since it’s something that comes easily to me, I wouldn’t usually try very hard.  There’s a reason why the only F I’ve gotten on a test was in a math class…I tend to take pride in my grasp of the subject, and as we know, pride comes before a fall.

But Mrs. Reeves wouldn’t let me get away with it.  I remember one time getting an extra credit question on an exam marked wrong, even though I had the correct answer.  I wasn’t too happy with that.  I certainly didn’t need the boost to my grade, but that wasn’t the point…I wanted to be right.

When I approached her about the issue, she told me she marked it wrong as I hadn’t used the method we had learned in that chapter to solve the problem.  She told me to solve it this way, and she’d give me back that point. (And yes, I did and she gave me that point.)

By challenging me, she was helping me to not only practice the skills I was learning in her class, but also to improve my problem-solving skills, something that would outlast my academic career.

Mrs. Reeves worked hard to reach all kinds of students.  We had to do in-class labs (I’ve never enjoyed group work or hands-on things, but I know many kids do).  She shared with us creative ways to remember mathematical rules (like a man (Y) can have more than one woman (X), but a woman can have only one man…this is the definition of functions, but a poor rule of society).  She showed us practical applications of the math we’re learning by graphically showing us the distribution of grades.

I’m thankful for Mrs. Reeves and all the other excellent teachers I’ve had over the years.  I hope to be among their ranks some day.

“The time today’s singles have available for spiritual service is the same time the leisure and etnertainment industry demands from them.” – Get Married by Candice Watters, p. 34

“You and I do not have to be lost in the middle of our own stories.” – How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp

“Why aren’t you married?”
….”But because I often lack a good, pithy answer to one of life’s mysteries, it feels like a tabloid reporter’s inquiry to unocver waht’s really wrong with me.” – Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley, p. 19

“A recent survey said more people under age 30 believe in flying saucers than believe they will receive a dime of Social Insecurity.” – Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, p. 156

“…we naturally conclude that human beings are inexpressibly complex creatures in whom great good and great evil often cohabit, sometimes in separate and well-insulated rooms and sometimes in an intimacy so deep and twisted and twined that we never get to see the one moral quality without the other.” – Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: a Breviary of Sin by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., p. 81

“Well, if not gold, there must be something else that interest you.”
“Learning.”
“Learning what? You already know so much.”
“I have everything to learn!” – Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, p. 232

“The wealthy person who is ruled by his stuff is no more free than the debt-ridden consumer we have picked on thorughout the book.” – Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, p. 220

“I suppose some women really do prefer career to family. But I wasn’t one of them.” – Get Married by Candice Watters, p. 14

“There should not be the sacrifice of oneself for another, because we were all created equally.” – Green by D. Malone, p. ix

“The dangers of premarital sex had been burned into my soul. And indeed, before the contraceptive pill, it was a risky enterprise for girls. But all that had clearly changed.” – The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong, p. 10

“Guilt, I was told, usually sprang from misplaced pride, it might simply be chagrin that you were not as wonderful as you hoped.” – The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong, p. 51

I obviously love to learn, which is why I read so much.  Even still, there are times when I enjoy learning more than others.  And this is one of them.

Of the five books I’m reading now (I read across 5 categories: current (since 1950) fiction, classic fiction, biography, spiritual growth, and other nonfiction), all 5 are hard to put down.  I’m enjoying them, and learning, and pondering about many different things, posts to come.  The thought of continuing my formal studies is appealing, until I realize that higher degrees get more specific, not more broad.  There’s not one thing that I want to learn everything about, but there are plenty of things I want to learn a little about.  I want to be well-rounded, not an expert (except maybe in learning).

If I had to choose ONE area to study, I’m not sure what I’d choose.  Nineteenth-century literature, perhaps?  What about you?

Photo by victoriapeckham

1. The longer I allow a sin in my life, the more comfortable I will be with it (illustration: the spider in my bathroom).

2. It’s all to easy to take pride in what I can do, but I should rather boast in Christ (this is also what God was teaching me through Power Camp and at the end of last spring’s semester).

3. Emotions are normal and don’t have to dictate how I behave.

4. I need God daily (illustration: straightening my hair).

5. God blesses me again and again, providing for all my needs (as demonstrated through the fire).

6. God gives me enough time to do everything He wants me to do, it just might not be everything I want to do (learned over and over and over again!).

7. It’s okay to cry…for the right reasons.

8. Being a woman is a great thing.

9. Our Hope lies in Christ alone…not in a candidate or an outcome of a political race.

10. Technology is great…but should not be used without evaluation (this article is what led me to write this paper).

11. We can trust in our Savior who knows what we are going through…because He’s been there (illustration: children who have been blindfolded lead the blind better).

12. My political views should be shaped by my worldview.

13. It’s not about me!

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