UofA

The University of Arizona.

362 acre campus

29,070 Undergratuate Students

6,569 Freshman students enrolled

5,804 Students live on campus.

Pray for my school.

Isaiah Dump

I'm really liking these massive verse dumps. Less typing for me. Seemingly longer posts. A+ in time efficiency :)

I've been reading through Isaiah for the last several months. I try to pick a couple of verses from each chapter that best summarize the main thought. Here's my reflections from Isaiah 24-35.

24:5-6 Universal Judgement
5 The earth is defiled by its people;

they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up,
and very few are left.

25:8-9 Praise for the Future Kingdom
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

9 In that day they will say,
"Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the LORD, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."

26:1-2 Salvation comes from the Lord
1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
God makes salvation
its walls and ramparts.

2 Open the gates
that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.

27:6,9 Israel Delivered from Idols

6 In days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will bud and blossom
and fill all the world with fruit.

9 By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be atoned for,
and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones
to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles ^[b] or incense altars
will be left standing.

28:13 Consequence of the Egyptian Temptation

13 So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:
Do and do, do and do,
rule on rule, rule on rule;
a little here, a little there—
so that they will go and fall backward,
be injured and snared and captured.

29:16 A Rebellious People

16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
"He did not make me"?
Can the pot say of the potter,
"He knows nothing"?

30:15 Israel Refuses to Trust in God

15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.

31:3 Consequences of Trusting in Egypt

3 But the Egyptians are men and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand,
he who helps will stumble,
he who is helped will fall;
both will perish together.

32:17 Effects of Righteousness

17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

33:5-6 The Fear of the Lord

5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. ^[a]

^{34:? Lost more destruction}

35:3-4 Redeemed Mankind

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;

4 say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you."

I spent about a month on these 12 chapters. Aside from a lot of vengeance I was consistently struck with how Israel was determined to place faith in everything other than the Lord. Things like Egypt, themselves, their plans, idols, their military, treaties, you name it. God beckons them again and again to place trust in Him, and only through that are they assured what they truly longed for: quietness, peace, comfort, rest, repentance, trust, and security. I love that God won't allow us to settle for a counterfeit source of security and rest.

Hope

Some thougths on Hope.

4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Rom 15:4)

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, 
       and in his word I put my hope.

 7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, 
       for with the LORD is unfailing love 
       and with him is full redemption. (Ps 130:5,7)

23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Rom 8:23-25)

23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Heb 10:23)

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. (Heb 4:14)

Biblical hope is rooted in the Scriptures

Directed towards the Lord who offers unfailing love and full redemption

Securely believes one day our bodies will be fully transformed by the power of the Spirit

Thanks entirely to Jesus, the Great High Priest, who has gone before us.

What I do with my life

When told that I work for a rain gutter company in Arizona, the nearly predictable response is, "Arizona gets rain??"  Well, not much.  But here's some pics of what I do:

My company

Stylish work gear! (UV protection, too!)

In my profession you get to hang out on roofs a lot.

This is a gutter.  Funny story about this one in particular...  Turns out this color gutter has two sides, each a different color (both variations of red).  And as luck would have it, after running our 70feet of red I was told that we needed rosewood, the other color.  Major whoops.  Guess we'll come back to this job tomorrow...

We use ladders alot. Sometimes the metal is hot and burns my shins

I didn't realize until I started working this job that I actually am afraid of heights.  I hate them. Go figure... Probably the only thing I hate more than heights are extention ladders. Especially when you have to stand them almost vertical to reach what you need to.  I can't deny the beautiful view though. Tucson has a lot of them.

And there you go!  A day in the life of a gutter-guy.