In Christ Alone

Church today was really good. Our pastor spoke of the impact death has on life. He said that for a Christian who has Christ in their life, death is merely a passageway on to true life, eternal life, life healed from pain and sorrow and sin. It is a path towards Christ, that place where we can be in a right standing with God. We have hope in the midst of death, regardless of how much it hurts and how bad we miss those who are gone, there is joy beneath it all.

I end up crying whenever I go to church, especially if we sing In Christ Alone. I sang that song in Athens, the day after I heard about eric’s death. We were in a Greek evangelical church, and it was all in greek, but when we sang that song we (wheaton students) sang it in english while the locals sang it in greek.

 

In Christ Alone"

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

 

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

 

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—

Here in the death of Christ I live.

 

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

 

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow'r of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand. 

These lyrics comfort me with the Truth, and yet they sting with the pain of those close to me whom He has called home. Weeping doesn’t go along well with singing, but even the fact that I can’t sing reminds me that I can’t do anything on my own, that I have to stand in Christ power and not on my own.

God has blessed me with good friends and family who help me through these days, who cry with me and abide with me even when I’m not very much fun; who let me know its ok if I’m not particularly jolly every day of the week. *Thank you Jesus for my dear sweet friends and family. Thank you.*

 

photo journal of the last three months.

Yeah yeah, I know its been a long time. sorry. So many big things have happened in the last 3 months that time for blog reflection has been scarce. Right now I'm sitting in my happy little apartment- we have 5 couches in it, so it has a very cozy feel. This morning I got up at 4:25 to go out to the river- despite not being on the crew team this year I've gone to practice twice this week to help the girls out. they needed a coxswain for the 8 girls boat, can you imagine me, the tallest one there, scrunching up to sit in stern? Its a funny picture, especially when the microphone doesn't work and i have to yell coherently to 8 novices. Its been really fun actually, and it makes me miss those early mornings when all the world was quiet, and our blades splashed into the pink water reflecting the sunrise. The point of all that was... that I'm sitting at home eating ramen noodles (stereotypical college student food) and using one of my chapel skips to blog and do some homework. 

This is our apartment when we were just moving in- ill have to get some pictures up of what it looks like now. 
I want to tell you about my apartment. Last year eight of us girls wanted to get a house together, but we weren't able to, so we split into two four-person apartments right across the hall from each other. Its really fun, I'm rooming with Emily and Elizabeth and Rachel are also in my apt. We usually keep the doors open, enabling us to roam freely through both apts. Its been so wonderful to have our own place to have people over, to study together, and to just abide together.  Each piece of decoration is from someone- the jerusalem star lights are mine, the quilt was made by elizabeth, the couch is from the mindrebo home, as well as a painting that Mrs M did for Ems. It just fits all of us quite nicely, and its a place I love coming home to. 

Well, Im going to get on with my studies... i have development psychology class in a  half hour. 

Shalom Y'all

I feel as though this blog is a testament to the times of rest... to the times that I can actually sit down and write about what is happening rather than doing what is happening. Right now I can sit and enjoy this short moment of rest before embarking on yet another journey for the summer.
This time I am going to the middle east to study abroad with Wheaton in the Holy Lands for 6 weeks. I leave tomorrow with 48 other people. I feel a little like Jaxon- about to jump into the ocean again.
Now I'm sitting with Elizabeth and Brittany in the Terrace apartments. We just finished 3 days of intensive study on Bible and Theology, and today we had two tests. After writing for three hours straight we were able to relax for the rest of the day. We saw Prince Caspian tonight, which I absolutely loved ... at least the first 3/4ths of it. It left me wishing so hard for the trees to move and the animals to talk.
Well, thanks to the faithful few of you who check this every once in a while, my apologies for not being as prompt as I would like.
I'd love to write while I'm gone, hopefully I'll get a chance. See you in 6 weeks- June 29.
Love to the fam, kiss the babies for me!

February Fun...

This February has brought lots of good things to my life. On the 5th, new precious memeber of the family was born to Kendall and Ricky: Penelope Jane.


On the 15th, I visited Kendall and Ricky in Virginia to meet Penny and spend some quality time with Jaxon. He and I had some good talks about displacement and not being the youngest in the family anymore. He really liked my phone.





On the 23rd I was able to see my big brother David! I went home to be with him and my parents for a short time of family bonding.
And now its the 28th, and I'm working hard to finish my homework before spring break, keeping in mind all the good things God has given to me.
Thank you God.

God is in the Desert.

My dear friend whom I have been so blessed to know better through this class,
I am so proud of you and amazed at how hard you have worked this quad. Your schedule overwhelms me just thinking about how busy you must be. What with your work, chorale, all your really hard classes, you are doing so much! Its so different living in the dorms too, having all those people always popping in to hang out and doing raids and being so socially active. Whew!
But the point of this is not to stress you out, but to encourage you. I felt so weird giving you advice how to live a less stressful life the other day at dinner; i am so not the one to ask! This semester God has blessed me with less stress, but i was thinking over it and was remembering how much i felt like i was floundering my spring semester sophomore year. This passage got me through so much.

Isaiah 41:8 But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

11 Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

I dont understand a whole lot about the old testament or anything, but i love that we, who are called the new israel, have been chosen and pulled from the ends of the earth, God calls us Friends, and God takes us by our right hand.

17 When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

This one i love too, the imagery is just beautiful. Just like in chapel, God makes a stream in the desert. God is in the desert.

So, I just had you on my mind and wanted to encourage you. Hope this helps.

New Start

I dont even feel like making excuses for not blogging in so long. What can I say, my blogging time is a privilege and gift, something I can only do when time allows.

Time isn't really allowing right now, its just that i am at the library trying to read Apollinaris' work on Christology and Nestorious' account on the incarnation. My brain is just about done for today, however the list of articles to read and papers to writes continues.
Reading is so difficult sometimes. I wish I could read and understand faster than I do now. Even though the ADD meds have drastically improved my past study/reading habits, sometimes I still get frustrated by how long it takes to read it all and understand it.

Today was a long day. I woke up early to take a test in physiology lab-it didn't go so well- and the rest of the day was spent in class, eating, studying, and talking with friends. I had an unusual amount of really good conversation today. I just love people, hearing from people what they think and feel, what they believe, what their faith is like. People are so interesting.

ok im going to try to write down my notes and perhaps find some inspiration here for my paper.
Apollonaris was......
Ok forget that idea. I'm going to get to bed. Too tired.