by emma | Sep 29, 2006 | Faith
“…so we seek God and find God and then live in a constant battle to keep God…”
My friend wrote those comments in the middle of a blog post about 8 months ago… I happened to come across the post again recently, and these words have been haunting me ever since!
I love the whole searching nature of my faith… yes, it makes it harder sometimes than just being able to easily accept anything I am told, but it also makes it more real and more personal (and means I think about things for myself so do not end up joining a cult or something!).
Several authors I respect talk of this questioning nature. Don Miller for one. How about the entire book ‘Searching For God Knows What’? Rob Bell… ‘Velvet Elvis’… Rob Brendle ‘In The Meantime’… to name a few.
Questioning leads to reinterpretation. It allows us to grapple and wrestle with our faith, to really understand things better. After all, Jacob ‘wrestled with a man’ and came away limping… I love the symbolism in that, that wrestling/talking/meeting with God (or an angel) leaves scars, leaves us marked for life. Picture this… Jacob meets some friends a few days after this encounter with “the man”, and he’s limping… and they’re all thinking, “what kind of trouble have you got yourself into now Jacob?” How would they respond when they find out, actually, I was wrestling with God??
What marks do I have from the times I’ve wrestled with God? Do I have enough? Do they show? Are they supposed to show? Are you supposed to know that I’ve been with “the man”?
Pondering…
by emma | Sep 27, 2006 | Faith
“This really is the day of God’s favour… It’s just that we never thought it would feel like this, did we?”
[Red Moon Rising]
You would think by now that I would have learnt to expect the unexpected with God, wouldn’t you? That when I’m finding it hard (or easy) I wouldn’t assume that somethings wrong, or that it should be easier (harder)… because God often does things the complete opposite of how I would like or expect it. God is constantly looking out for me, regardless of how I feel at any particular point in time. Glasgow is a funny place to be. It is wonderful in oh so many ways, and yet a part of me misses home. More so misses my close friends. Building deep friendships takes time. It can’t be fast-tracked. Here goes…
by emma | Sep 25, 2006 | Words
“If he followed me around throughout my day, every day of my life, would he feel cherished and adored, ennobled and respected by me as he watched me interact with other guys?”
If I’m not enough without it, will I be enough with it?
by emma | Sep 23, 2006 | Photography, Uni
So today I took part in the underground treasure hunt that Glasgow uni C.U. organised… rather fun despite the small turnout! We got the tube different places around the city/uni, and had to find people in fancy-dress, where we then proceeded to carry out a task to receive their signature. Above is us meeting Batwoman, and creating a human pyramid while singing the Batman theme tune.
Pirate Pete… he made us juggle.
Dave as a spy… we had to accompany him along the road for a short period of time, trying not to draw attention to ourselves, despite the fact that he was shouting ‘Go! Go! Go! Don’t look suspicious!’ On an interesting side-note, Dave also did maths and computer science for the first two years of his degree… fun guy!
Ah yes… better not asking!
And so completes another day in Glasgow…
by emma | Sep 23, 2006 | Everything Else
Sorry for the lack of postage over the last few days, been keeping myself busy over here! Thursday morning (wow thats only yesterday, feels like longer ago) I had to enrol at university at 9am, so I spent a few hours down around campus (my halls are a 20/25 min walk away) to have a nosy and see where things where. While I was doing this I stumbled into the Hunterian Art Gallery, and actually suprised myself by how much I enjoyed it! There was a sneak preview of a ‘dramatic monologue’ on which I caught, entitled ‘When The Moon Was Overhead.’ It is about the art/life of Francis Macdonald McNair, and was really good actually! If you’re in the Glasgow area I recommend you check it out, being performed at the Hunterian on Sundays at 3pm.
I also discovered how much I love the art of James McNeill Whistler. You’ve possibly heard of his most famous painting (I think) entitled ‘Whistler’s Mother’ (as featured in Mr Bean, of all places). They have quite a lot of his work in the Hunterian, so it was really cool to walk around and see some stuff I’d never seen before. Quite chauffed that I’m enjoying the more ‘cultural’ side of Glasgow as well.
Right I really should head off to bed here, keeping the most ridiculous hours these days! Goodnight all…
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