Hebrews 3

[Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to, trust in, and rely on Him], leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God.

But instead warn (admonish, urge, and encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called Today, that none of you may be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [by the fraudulence, the stratagem, the trickery which the delusive glamor of his sin may play on him].

For we have become fellows with Christ (the Messiah) and share in all He has for us, if only we hold our first newborn confidence and original assured expectation [in virtue of which we are believers] firm and unshaken to the end.
[[Hebrews 3:12-14, Amplified]]

As verse 14 says, "have become fellows with Christ" (or "partakers" in the NKJ). The underlying meaning is that we become first of all, finished, then found and, lastly, fulfilled. What an amazing concept! We are fully completed in Christ and in Christ alone, needing no man nor thing to do so. Praise God that we need not rely on men or things to redeem and complete us. (Laura gets credit for the Hebrews 3 thing... she's smart like that).

So many of my sisters lately have been hurting and it breaks my heart. I just keep praying because I know God hears me and weighs my petitions according to His will.

Lord, I pray for my sister -
I pray for her heart and her mind.
I pray she would take heed and listen
when You tell her to bind

All the forces of life that deceive her,
the thoughts and the hurts inside.
I pray You would protect and keep her -
I pray You would show her Your life.

Lord, I pray for my sister -
I pray that her eyes might see
just how much she is infinitely worth
to Christ and to a mere mortal like me.

When your parents are gone...

...it's just a little weird. Granted, it's not like I've found strange items hidden around the house or anything.

It's just quiet. And lonely, even with Laura here (especially because she's asleep now). I miss the noise and the bustle that is dorm life in Fort Collins. I miss going to the Rock and church and hanging around when classes aren't in session.

Instead, I watch TV (and not good TV, either). I eat (a lot). I crochet. I cut out squares of fabric for a quilt I'm not yet motivated to make. I put off my homework and put of my homework and put it off...

I'm lazy and I don't like it when things aren't exactly as I want them to be.

But God is here, too. Perhaps He could be even more prevalent to me with the silence that is only broken by the dogs barking and the humidifier humidifying, but that takes me sitting down with Him in mind.

And I haven't yet brought myself to that place. Fatigue and being sick are merely excuses - they don't excuse anything. But I'm going to go try after I make sure the house is locked up and the dogs are set for the night.

Tomorrow? Homework. Tonight? My best attempts at sitting at my Savior's feet and His success in bringing me to Him. Amen.

Mood: Sick and Tired Listening to: Empty house sounds
Reading: Colossians 3; Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity

Living from Home

It's more than strange to be living (mostly) at home for a month. Living alone at home is even more strange.

But it's wonderful for my music because I have access to quiet and to a grand piano at all times.

Oh... and I get to make my own food.

Living at home has its perks, but it's lonely. There's no one here to share my time with or to distract me while I'm trying to do homework. Instead, I figure out just how annoying I am because I distract me while I'm trying to do homework with all sorts of junk that I normally don't have the time to do (being distracted by others does that).

I did manage to procrastinate by baking butterscotch brownies and watching the Food Network, but it's not the same when there's no one else here. Bummer.

I'm going to go and try not to procrastinate any more. I just have too much to do still. I've been reading all weekend, it seems, but there's still a lot to do.

Mood: Bummed Listening to: A quiet house
Reading: Media Ethics

Car rides and the immanence of God

We are made in the image of God and we're stuck with that, so we better get used to the idea that we cannot be satisfied by anything other than by God. Otherwise, we are forever crying: "Ever me wanteth."

Satisfaction is found in God and in God alone. I thank God for A.W. Tozer, who spent his life speaking to people about who God is and what that means for their lives - and who now is sitting in the presence of God, seeing clearly what he saw "through a glass darkly" while he was still here.

Praise God for the men who serve Him.

Mood: Sleepy and missing Fort Collins, but glad to be home
Listening to: A.W. Tozer, "God's Immanence and Immensity"
Reading: Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity

This is my baby brother...

...who needs to cut his hair.

My week is almost over. How exciting!

As the croc says, "What a stoopid holiday."

As most people that know me know, I love Pearls Before Swine, a comic strip drawn by Stephan Pastis. The past two days, his way of celebrating Valentine's Day has been with the always-entertaining attempts by the crocodiles to kill Zebra. How does that work, you might ask.

Check it out for yourself.

But back to the holiday... it really is horrible, even for people who are involved with a "special someone". It's just ridiculous... there's too much pressure. It makes me feel sorry for men everywhere when the red and pink go up at WalMart just after Christmas stuff comes down every year.

Which brings me to my true source of bitterness: red and pink. Why does everything have to be red and pink, and why do I always have to feel horrible when I do something for someone on Valentine's Day and its not done in pink or red? What kind of holiday is that? It's color-related peer pressure and it's "stoopid".

So there!

Anyway, I'm in class right now. I just got back my first article for my magazine writing class and I did really well. I didn't know if the organization or the style in which I wrote it would fly, but my professor really liked it. And I managed to maintain my objectivity on a topic I'm pretty fired up about most of the time (which is true about my view on the Collegian just about every single day that I bother to actually read it).

I have to get going, though... and think of something creative to do. Or maybe I'll read until my next class starts in ten minutes.

All I know is that I hope I can get out of here early enough to get back to the dorm, iron my dress (because I'm being forced to wear one tonight), shave my legs, and obscure my natural beauty with makeup and a curling iron.

Right. I may not be single, but I agree with the croc.

"You Are Mine"

Everyone has their obsession -
consuming thoughts, consuming time.
They hold high their prized possession
that defines the meaning of their lives

You are mine.

There are objects of affection
that can mesmerize the soul.
There is always one addiction
that just cannot be controlled.

You are mine.

©2006 Mute Math

Five months

Funny how five months is a long time, but it's not. Kind of crazy, no? Back to the grindstone... promise. 'Night.

A stellar combination...

Mute Math and procrastinating. If only that got me good grades.

The concert last night was amazing - Mute Math has so much energy and they deliver a live show like no other band I've ever seen live. And the new album is incredible. "You Are Mine" is... what I hope to have ring true in my life regarding Christ.

I got to see Laura and my parents, as well, which was nice.

But now I'm back in the Fort with a paper and a story to write... not to mention a test to study for.

And no motivation. Definite lack of motivation.

Oh well... It's off to work I go.

Mood: Unmotivated Listening to:Mute Math, MuteMath
Reading: Interview Notes, old issue of the Collegian (blech!)

Guitar picks and obedience

There is such a simple beauty in obedience, especially when it's hard and especially when it's uncomfortable.

There is such a simple beauty in discipline, especially when there are other things we would rather be doing and especially when we hate routine.

There is such a simple beauty in crafting, especially when it works and even more so when it doesn't.

There is such a simple beauty in patience, especially when it is painful and especially when it takes more energy than we would like to give.

There is such a simple beauty in following the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

Mood: Peaceful Listening to: The stillness of my room
Reading: Lyrics that need revising (again)