Morning Devotional: "Knowledge Puffeth up, Charity Edifyth"

Don't get thrown off by the "eth" that makes this devotional sound like super 1800's.. it is however a super encouraging letter from the author referring to the verse from 1 Corinthians 8 "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." Every Friday morning we have a woman's prayer and we read from a devotional to start. This morning we read from a book called "Let Go" by Fenelon an accumulation of letters answering people's questions. I hope you are blessed by it too:
"It is not at all surprising that you have a strong ambition to move ahead in spiritual things, and to be closely acquainted with well-known Christians. It is very flattering to self when it can gain some esteem by being very religious, and it eagerly seeks such esteem. Oh, how careful we need to be about our motives! The progress we are making in the Christian life and the celebrated Christian friends we are making may be all wrongly motivated if we are simply gratifying self. Our aim should be to die to the flattering delights of self-love. Our aim should be, not greatness, but humility. We must learn to love personal obscurity and contempt, so that our only concern is to glorify God.
We can listen to endless sermons about Christian growth, and become perfectly familiar with the language, and yet be as far from its attainment as ever. Our great aim should be deaf to self, to listen quietly to God, to renounce every bit of pride and to devote ourselves to living. Let's learn to talk less and do more without caring whether anyone sees us or not.
God can teach more than ever the most experienced Christians know. He can teach you better than all the books that the world has ever seen. But be careful about your motives in this eager chase after knowledge. You are aware, aren't you, that all we need is to be poor in spirit, and to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Although being a know-it-all makes us feel important, what is really needed to strengthen Christian character is love. So don't be satisfied with anything less than love. You certainly don't think it possible that the love of God and the dethroning of self can only be reached through the acquisition of knowledge. You already have more knowledge that you can use. You would do better to put into practice what you already know. Oh how we deceive ourselves when we suppose that we are growing in grace because our vain curiosity is being gratified by the enlightenment of our intellect! We need to be humble, and understand that we cannot receive God's gifts from man. The love of God comes to us only from Jesus.

This incite blessed me so much to meditate on being that vessel for God's glory. John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease."

dad and Justin in Murrieta!

Last weekend for Labor Day weekend my dad and brother drove down to come visit. Andrew and I felt so loved that they took time away and came to hang out on campus with us. It went so quick but it also makes San Jose and Murrieta feel so close when we know they are a drive away. It's out turn next to go up and visit them! (maybe Thanksgiving?)
Since Andrew and I are both carless, my dad wanted to bless me with a bike for an early Christmas present, so we went to Walmart to pick one out. The last bike experience I had was in Peru when I ran into a tree because I forgot the breaks were on the handlebars and not by backpedaling. It was an eventful day trying to re-remember how to ride a bike after we got it, and a day full of laughter in facing my fears again. Just last night I finally rode my bike on campus and am starting to get the hang of it again. :) Now my prayer is to get a job soon since I have some transportation!

Fall 2010 Semester begins!

Students are here, the campus is filled and classes are in full motion. It has been so sweet getting to see friends from previous semesters and see a fresh variety of returning students and first semester students. Michelle, a dear friend from our first semester together in Peru is attending her last semester here for graduation! So sweet that we have been able to start together in Peru and finish together in Murrieta. I'm on my fifth ( or.. forth and a quarter) semester taking Acts, History of Redemption/Theology, and Intern class, finishing up on the classes I couldn't take while in Israel while beginning an internship under the dean of women. It has been such a blessing to be back on campus and be able to experience another semester here at Murrieta. I will miss Israel this semester, but such a blessing to be near Andrew's and my family to be able to see them often. This weekend my dad and brother will be driving down to visit and be able to have time away to relax. I'm so excited to see them and to have them get to experience the Murrieta Bible College experience! :)

knock knock.. Housekeeping

Time for a catchup. Today I sat down and started looking at pictures from Israel. Pictures have become almost like a photo journal in remembering what I was thinking at certain moments and what season I was in.. smells and songs seem to have the same effect. It was a cool reminder to look at where the Lord has moved in my life over the last few years, let alone the last few months. Every time I sit and remember His faithfulness I am blessed, and tonight was just that.
Summer is coming to an end and students are coming soon. :) Summer is flying on by! After leaving Israel, I had a quick few hour stop in San Jose before moving to southern California where I began my job at the conference center at the Bible College. I get to work in housekeeping, where our highlight of the day consists of driving the golf carts around campus and a daily competition of who could find the most fallen change on the floor by the end of each retreat. There are the occasional pillow fights and games we can sneak in, but the biggest blessing of all has been this last retreat from "Joni and Friends," a week long retreat for handicap and special needs friends. My heart melted as one morning we were doing our daily activity of cleaning and one of the boys from the retreat found joy in borrowing our vacuum to vacuum the floor himself. It was one of those contagious joyful moments where I think of how our heavenly Father would be thrilled to see the joy of his son. I think that's what the Lord has been teaching me this summer... what brings joy to Him. It's such a beautiful thing that the Lord enables us to be able to serve Him, but the most beautiful thing to Him is not our service but our heart behind it. I know the Lord was pleased in seeing this retreater's service because He saw right through to his heart.
"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams." 1 Samuel 15:22
God delights in seeing the motivation in our heart. It was another reminder that as a Father His first priority isn't for us to serve, but that we would have relationship with Him and enjoy intimacy with Him. What a sweet thing that we can bring a smile to the face of God by delighting ourselves in Him!

Blessed with the surprise lilies to Israel:)

Meet Andrew, this amazing blessing in my life! Such a gift! A man whose shown me more about the Lord through His vibrant passion for worship and sharing the love of Christ with others, his character has grown me, and his friendship has pointed me back to Christ in a deeper intimate way. We met last semester at Murrieta at a conference and started hanging out after a missions trip together to Mexico. At the end of the semester during the break I went to Peru and he blessed me by pursuing a friendship and starting a prayer group for the trip there. His story might be a little different.. but continuing to pursue in friendship, months later after getting the 'yes' from my dad to pursue a relationship, he then asked me to pursue a relationship. I've gotten to see this whole thing unfold and so blessed to be able to work with him this summer at the Bible College conference center in Murrieta, and then even more excited about recent news that we both got offered the opportunity to intern next semester at the Bible College! So excited!

Galilee round 2, Jordan round 2, Nazareth round 1

The last weekend Dave was here at the end of the Joshua class, we went as a group up to Nazareth for a tour, to the Jordan to swim-covering every body of water in Israel, and back to the Sea of Galilee. Fukiko and Hondo got baptized by Dave in the Jordan where Jesus got baptized, and all four of Ernest's kids got baptized by him. In the morning we took a boat at sunrise out on the galilee and read the account where Jesus walked out on water. This story has been a key verse in my testimony.. it says that when Peter told Jesus to call him out on the water and Jesus told him to come, Peter began to walk toward his Lord, "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord save me'" Matthew 14:30. When Peter's eyes got off of Jesus and saw the 'wind' (something that can't even be seen) he became fearful and sank. It produced a cry in him and a realization that Jesus was the only one who could save him. I think of this story and think of the 'winds' in my life that got my eyes off the Lord and brought me to that cry. He is faithful! How great that our trials can bring us to that point where we can cry out in revelation, "Lord you are faithful!" They get us not focusing on our own strength and own dependency and they turn our eyes back to the One who can save. I encourage you to remember your salvation, what the Lord has saved you from! Today is a day to celebrate His salvation!
"In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears" Psalm 18:6 In the midst of angels crying out Holy Holy Holy, He hears your voice, He knows your cry like a mother knows the cry of her child, and He responds!

Life of David class

For our last class, Ryan flew out here and took us to the Valley of Elah to study 1 Samuel 17 where David fought Goliath, and to En Gedi to see the caves and waterfalls where David hid from Saul. This class was such a blessing because as we studied through 1 and 2 Samuel in the mornings, the afternoons we would break off individually and study some of the Psalms David wrote and come back together and discuss it.
For our last paper of the semester, we did a study on Psalm 139. It was such a blessing to study the Psalms and to understand more of why David was called a man after God's own heart... He was a man not after his own glory or fame, but a man whose passion was to bring glory to the Lord. Even after hiding out from Saul who wanted to kill him, waiting years to be king, standing face to face with a giant, seeing the depth of the separation of his own sin, and seeing the effect of sin in his family, David's heart was shown to be a man who intimately knew the Lord and knew the ways He thought of him. He knew was it meant to be forgiven and what it meant to stand int he victory that was declared to him. It has been a theme this semester... when I know how much God loves me and how He thinks of me, I too desire to bring Him glory because He is Holy! In His word is where we find that victory that He as promised. He promises to never leave or forsake us. Stand on the promises of His word... seek them out and make them your own!
"How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you." Psalm 139: 17,18
God's crazy about you.. and He doesn't ever stop thinking good thoughts about you! Oh wow!