A few words about rest

Refuge.  Peace. Calm. Shelter. Protection. Strong Tower. Shade. Relief. Quietness. Confidence. Security. 

My favorites are Relief and Confidence.  What's yours?

9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;10for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them.

 4 You have been a refuge for the poor, 
       a refuge for the needy in his distress, 
       a shelter from the storm 
       and a shade from the heat. 
       For the breath of the ruthless 
       is like a storm driving against a wall

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

 18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, 
       in secure homes, 
       in undisturbed places of rest.

 19 Though hail flattens the forest 
       and the city is leveled completely,

 20 how blessed you will be, 
       sowing your seed by every stream, 
       and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; 
       the righteous run to it and are safe.

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.

 3 You will keep in perfect peace 
       him whose mind is steadfast, 
       because he trusts in you.

 4 Trust in the LORD forever, 
       for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 

Google rocks my world

Two reasons this is a great week for the world.

1. Google released its web browser named Google Chrome.  It's awesome.  Significantly faster and simplier than both Internet Explorer and Firefox.  So innovative you merely need to think it and Google makes it happen.

http://www.google.com/chrome

2. Google also released the third rendition of Picasa, the simplest and most awesomest picture organizer ever.  Now with more photo editing options than ever.

http://www.google.com/picasa/

Yahweh Shalom

We are one week into the school year here at the UofA. Last week was a crazy time of Bible Study recruitment, catching up with friends, and figuring out what on earth my roles are this year. I've never lived off campus before, and always seen the University as my "home," but this year having graduated and living off campus things are a bit different. Instead of me being exhausted trying to balance school and social life and freshman recruitment I watch all of my friends struggle through balancing these priorities and running all over the place. And the current state of their lives is very much like mine consistently was the first week of school: exhausted and drained.

Surely there is a better way to survive freshman recruitment than this.

I was encouraged this week by a sermon from my paster on the name of God Yahweh Shalom, from the call of Gideon in Judges. God says of himself he is peace. The word Shalom doesn't simply mean tranquility but also completeness, wholeness, justice, etc. I feel like my mind has been racing the last couple of nights reviewing all the problems we are up against this year in Navs and in the lives of my friends. It is encouraging to remember that God is my peace and Sovereign over our lives. He works in us even when we fail.

To Lim Tin

Safeway-the grocery store closest to my house-is offering 10 cents off gas prices for every $100 you spend in the store, as I'm sure they do across the country. Little known fact, however, is that I believe you can compound the savings, meaning if you spend $200 you receive 20 cents off every gallon of gas you pump, so long as you use it in the calendar quarter. Safeway also is the seller of gift cards to virtually every store in the Tucson area. Said giftcards count towards your $100 of purchases...

So what if, needing to buy a computer, clothes, food, and whatever other merchandise you need to purchase, you instead buy giftcards from safeway to the individual vendors, thus quickly accumulating thousands of dollars on your safeway card, causing you to be eligible for, say, $3.00 off your next purchase of gas per gallon. This brings your total cost per gallon to roughly $0.48 (price as of 4:15pm sunday as I'm looking out the window of starbucks at the safeway across the street). The pump shuts off after $100 on your credit card, meaning you could pump a total of 208 gallons of gas before the auto shut off. So take your closest fourteen friends (provided they have gas tanks roughly 15 gallons in size), and line them up behind your car charging them half of what you save with your discount. Benefits: you earn $289 of free money ($1156 annually I might add) and your friends get crazy cheap gas. Cons: You're banned from shopping at safeway for life.

Anyone in?

---------------------

In other news, I was meditating on Eph 5:25-27 and stumped when pondering to what benefit did Christ received for himself by his unconditional love towards us. Thoughts?

Free Book

Apologies for the title being slightly misleading. It should probably read "I received a free book," not interpreted "I am going to give away a free book." :)

Every so often I receive Navigators corporate emails which are usually handeled in much the same way campus Navs emails are handled. As an incentive to read the corporate emails, however, a note was posted at the bottom saying the first person to respond will receive a free book called "Making Disciples." Turns out I won.

Here's some great insight from the book on the chapter I was reading today about how to motivate Christians to become disciples:
-Motivation is defined as the force, either external or internal, which stimulates the spirit, soul, or body to respond.
-We motivate others not for personal glory or power, but for that person's highest good and the glory of God
-The individual whom we work with is on infinite worth in the Kingdom.
-The disciple must feel certain we care for them whether they sink or swim
-Let the person learn from his misteaks (Matt 14:23-31)
-Get the person in over his head to create a need inside of them (example: Jesus taught about having the "faith of a mustard seed," then just after that told them to cross the lake in a boat, whereupon a storm freaked them out. After Jesus woke up at told them "have you no faith?" I bet his words from earlier that day sunk in much better).
-We need to make the disciples as independent from the disciplee as possible.
-People may not do what we expect, but are usually more likely to do what we inspect (work related)
-To motivate effectively we must understand people and have the willpower to force ourselves to do what we have determined should be done.
-We will never motivate others until we pray for them, their goals, objectives, and their needs.

A closing thought is Romans 15:30:

I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

Pray hard this year for what God will be doing at the UofA. Pray for the guys in my study. There names are: Micah, Daniel, Jon, Reed, David, and Enrique. Pray Joshua 14:8 for them, that they would grow into men who wholeheartedly follow after and obey God.

Day... 2? Psalm 61:2

Well so much for the consistency idea... Just goes to show you that no amount of motivation is enough for something you really don't like doing. Like blogging. :)

Psalm 61:2 says:
From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Have you ever come across a verse that God brings up so many times that you realize you've memorized the verse without even trying? This is one of those verses for me.

God first put this verse on my heart half-way through my final semester at UofA as I was furiously job hunting. Through this verse I heard God promise to me that He would take me to a place I could never get to myself. I did not want (and still do now want) any ordinary job that I could claim I acquired myself through sheer talent. My faith is in God to provide something to lead somewhere I could never have gotten to myself.

Over the last several months the first half of the verse has become ever more real to me. I call as my heart grows faint. Maybe God won't come through and I will be left installing rain gutters for the next several years. Maybe installing rain gutters, working part time on campus, and laying a good foundation for my first year of marriage will be to much. Maybe Ariel and I won't be able to pay back our student loans after two years like we are praying for. Maybe we'll never make it to Japan to labor among the lost there.

And so I will call to my God increasingly louder, as if from the ends of the earth. I will continue to have confidence that He will never forget about his children. Lord, by faith would you lead me somewhere I could never get to on my own, both during this season of life and every season that follows.

Day 1 - Heb 11:1

Today begins my two week adventure to post a blog update everyday. The theme will be FAITH, because I believe God has been teaching me a lot about that lately.

I will start with Hebrews 11:1, because it is the best place to start with faith, and has continued to speak to me many a time.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith requires me to answer "yes" to two questions found in Heb. 11:6: Is God good, and is He near. I used to ask God to grow me in faith. But now coming to the end of a summer where God has done just that I believe instead that no one truly wants to grow in faith. A lot of people say they do. But when it comes down to it who wants to willingly enter into a place of trusting that what we hope for will come to be. We cannot see it, but are called to cling to it with certainty.

I do want to grow in faith. So far I have applied to more than 30 positions and have not received so much as an interview. I have visited two career advisers, allowed them to pick apart my resume, reworked my "system", and continued to move into rejection and failure. Though God has blessed fundraising, it too is not without obstacles that are out of my control.

Having faith with my finances is believing that, although there is no way I can envision Ariel and I being debt free in two years, I can be sure that the Lord can do this, and certain he will act on his promises.