Remember?
Haha… remember this?
I got 89%!!!
Holy Ground
“Moses has been tending sheep in this region for 40 years… How many times has he stood in this exact place? And now God tells him the ground is holy?
Has the ground been holy the whole time and Moses is just becoming aware of it for the first time? Do you and I walk on holy ground all the time, but we are moving so fast… that we miss it?”
[Rob Bell – Velvet Elvis]
So I was reading through Velvet Elvis today and came across this passage, which has got me thinking about last week (One Way) again.
Last week I was completley blown away with Gods’ faithfulness and power and holiness. It just hit me all over again and made me feel so small (which I am) in comparison to God. So heres what I’m thinking about… God moved in a huge way in school last week, and I really felt like I was standing on holy ground on Thursday evening especially.
Standing in the assembly hall. In the same place I’ve stood for the last 7 years.
And it was holy ground.
Has it always been holy ground? Am I only noticing it now? Why haven’t I noticed it before? And if it has always been holy ground, then how should my attitudes change when I’m standing there?
“Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it…” (read more)
Wow
Turn your gaze
To Heaven and raise
A joyous noise
The sound of salvation come
The sound of rescued ones
And all this for a king
Angels join to sing
‘All for Christ our King!’
Ohh praise Him!
Ohh praise Him!
He is Holy!
He is Holy!
God is amazing.
I forget that far too easily. This past week God has just blown me away again. I foget how big and how powerful and how far beyond my imagination He really is.
One Way was incredible… God really moved in school and just touched people with His love. I am so blessed to have been a part of it. Thank you Jesus. Watching Thursday evening unfold was just stunning – after Mitch spoke and the band started playing again, people who had made or wanted to make committments to Jesus started to move out of the main hall, into a different room to talk to someone. I dont think I have ever seen a more beautiful sight… kids (i say kids, theyre not that much younger than me) getting out of their seats in droves… Jesus thank you!
I cried.
“The sound of salvation come, The sound of rescued ones.”
I actually just stood at the back for a short time, and cried. Words don’t do it justice. Jesus reclaimed some ground that was lost. And now all I can do is stand back in awe, and sing, Ohh Praise Him!
Hmm…
I should post something now. But i’m tired. One Way was amazing last week. And I was away with my Exodus team at the weekend. So I’ll post some other day, soon. I promise.
One Way
Look what we’re doing in school this week…
You can find some more info and pictures here.
Snow
Pretty snow.
Ah ah ah
My eyes hurt today.
I was going to post that rather profound statement earlier, but alas, the school computer system decided not to let me on to the wordpress site. Much sorrow. I had been pleasantly suprised to be allowed on the site the other day to post, as usually the C2K network blocks blog sites, and then today… what?? Not letting me on??
So, randomness eh?! Tis fun. I took some pictures this morning of the snow etc round my house, which I was going to post, but I cant be bothered to go get my camera right now, so I think it shall wait until tomorrow!
Have a fun night kids!
Doctrine
“A set of flags and parameters that individual units of a side use to help decide what to do, typically to fill in details that are not specified explicitly by the units’ orders.”
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine tonight, and we got talking a little bit about doctrine. When I googled the word, I found the definition above. Which I kinda like! I’ve always had the belief that the doctrines of a church are not the most important thing about it, but when I found that definition I just thought… cool! I interpret it as meaning that the doctrines of a church etc are simply guidelines that we use to help us live out our faith practically, because God doesnt give us 100% answers on everything. Its like that verse in the Bible that talks about when the leaders of the church meet together to decide if the Gentiles had to be circumcised etc to be proper Christians… they came out saying ‘it seems good to us and to the Spirit…’… not a difinitive answers, just that it seemed right. I like it!
Shalom
“The goal here isn’t simply to not sin. Our purpose is to increase the shalom in this world…”
I’ve been thinking about this a bit. It’s so easy to fall into this trap, isn’t it? As a Christian, I can so easily focus in on simply not sinning. But to go beyond that, to do more than just not do bad, but to actively do good… I’m reminded of a quote I once heard, about how all that it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing. In other words, apathy allows evil to flourish. That’s what I take from it I guess.
But what does that actually look like in practice? How do I go about bringing peace to my world? Any ideas? Hmm. I’ll get back to you.
Velvet Elvis
“Because God has spoken, and everything else is commentary.”
So Ally lent me his Velvet Elvis book to have a read at, and wow. Rob Bell is a very gifted guy. I’m loving his insights into faith right now. The quote above is stuck in my mind, so I’m gonna be taking some time to figure out its impact on how I live.
The basic premise of Velvet Elvis is that faith is dynamic, not static. That we are constantly ‘repainting’ faith, because we are trying to understand better how to follow Jesus and what that looks like in action. It is understanding that methods change, that the principles (for example, church doctrines) we live by are someone’s interpretation of the Bible, and therefore could be wrong (i’m not saying they always are, but that they could be), and so they may change over time, as we understand the Bible more.
I guess thats why I love communities that let me ask questions. Because often the things I read in the Bible throw up more questions than answers. And so I question. For example, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). Fairly simple statement, right? But… How do you define love? What if my definition of love is different from someone else’s definition? Who decides who is wrong and who is right? And who says their decision is the right one? And what does it mean for God to be love?
You see what I mean? Thats why I’m excited about this book. Thanks for letting me quesition. Thanks for joining me on the journey. Let’s keep adding to the commentary.
After all, the Bible was meant for community.
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