The Good That Is Found In Waiting

So as many of you noticed, there was no post on Wednesday. That was semi-intentional and semi by complete forgetfulness on my part. What my Biblical Foundations class has been talking about is Faith and how part of faith is waiting. (See you had to wait a week for my blog.) We were going over the story of Abraham. In chapter 11 of Genesis, Abram was asked by God to leave his homeland of Ur and go into the land God had for him. God promised to Abram that he will have many descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky or the dust on the ground. Abram and his family went.
Now to have many descendants, first you need a child of your own. Abram and his wife Sara were well past that age for childbirth. As the story of Abram progresses, they get older and older, making it more and more impossible for them to have a child. 25 years had passed between Abram hearing the promise and God delivering. 25 years is a long time to wait, and you see in chapters 15-18, their belief turned to disbelief, to the point to where they were laughing at God. But God delivered on his promise, and they had a child together. Then in chapter 22, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son he waited 25 years for. Abraham obeyed knowing that God will provide, and God did by offering a lamb in the mountains.

In our discussion of faith, we defined it as trusting in God's word and obeying what he tells you while you wait for God to fulfill what he promised. Faith also doesn't happen overnight. It is a process. It took ten chapters for Abraham to gain the faith he needed to go and then sacrifice his son. As you go through life and trusting and obeying God, you also have the period of waiting. The waiting is the hardest part, but it is going to be worth it in the end, because God comes through on his promises.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for you love, and always keeping your promises. Help me in the time of waiting to have patience. Amen. 

Being to Light

I love to watch Disney's Tangled. My favorite scene from the movie is when all the lanterns are let go into the sky. I love the imagery of all the individual lights piercing through the darkness, in a hope of guiding the lost princess back home. After 18 years of doing this, the kingdom does bring the lost princess home because of the lights. Our Christian faith looks a lot like that. Each one of us is one of those lanterns, and our goal is to guide the lost people to Jesus. For in the Bible, Jesus explain how we are the light of the city on the hill. When we have Jesus, we have light in us, and we are able to shine through the darkness. It reminds me of the song, "This Little Light of Mine." The song's message is about letting out light that is found in Jesus shine in the darkness. We are light to guide people to Jesus, to guide them back home.
Jesus also made us live in community with each other, and the more lights there are, the brighter we are to guide people to Jesus. In the scene in Tangled, you, at first, see one light, which really isn't that bright, but once the whole kingdom has released their lanterns, they are surrounded by light. We are not supposed to do this by ourselves but as a community who are showing God's love for all. We are those lanterns in the sky guiding the lost to the Lord. You are guiding them back home, and in turn, they will use their light to guide more people back home.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for making us each a light in this world. Help me to shine to guide people to you, and to work together with the community of people you have given me to shine even brighter. Amen. 

God's Redemption Story

In my Biblical Foundations class, we are talking about God's redemptive plan through the Bible, especially in the book of Genesis. Genesis begins with God’s sovereignty and then proceeds with the fall of not just humanity, but the fall of the world. Before the flood, God makes sure that every animal that he has made according to their kind in the creation account was invited on the ark. After the flood, God makes a covenant with Noah, his sons, and all of Earth that he wouldn’t destroy life by a great flood. He then reestablishes his blessing on creation to fill the Earth and multiply. With Noah, God focuses on redeeming the whole world after he purified the Earth with the flood. With Abram, God focuses on specifically  redeeming humans, for they are the ones who caused the sins. With this overall theme, the rest of the Bible goes into detail on how God is redeeming what is his and setting his people free from the chains of sin. God moves his people to pagan countries and immerses them in their culture, to prove that up against their gods, he is the only God. Understanding God’s power in the creation of Earth is just the beginning of what God can do, and throughout the Bible, God shows people like Abraham, Paul, and his disciples, the true power of God, and how he is in control of everything that he has made and that he is bringing everything back to himself. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for redeeming us even after we turned away from you. I pray that I can see you love and grace and come running back towards you. Amen. 

Beauty of Winter

One thing I love about winter is the snow on the trees. So after one of the snow storms, I took my film camera and went outside and took pictures. I am showing some of my favorite pictures after I developed the film. I love how the snow is on the tip of the branches. This just reminds me of how God is an amazing creator in the works that he does. The way he places each snowflake so that together it creates a frost on the branch. So as you look through my pictures, I pray you reflect on God's beauty.

 Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your beauty in the work. Everything is in its place and together they create something beautiful. Amen, 

Power of Greed

So over the past week, I have watched all of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Because I like to watch movies, people recommended that I view the Pirates of the Caribbean. For some reason, I had a hard time understanding what was going on, partly because I couldn’t keep track of who was betraying who. Through all the betrayal, I was able to understand one thing. Greed was often at the core of the deception. In “At World’s End” there is a conversation between Barbossa and Jack Sparrow as they stare at a dead Kraken, and it goes,

“Barbossa: The world used to be a bigger place.
Jack Sparrow: World’s still the same. There’s just less in it.”

I find this to be interesting. As the population is growing, there is less stuff for one person to own. For example, if there are 882 pieces of Aztec gold and a crew of 9, then each person gets 98 pieces to spend. If the crew grows to 14 people, then everyone gets 63 pieces. The problem of greed is that a crew of 14 still thinks that they should get 98 pieces. When it becomes unavailable to get all of what you want, then some people will stop at nothing to get it. They lie, cheat, steal, betray. Whatever it requires getting what you want. That is why in like five minutes, everyone betrayed everyone, leaving me confused about what is going on.
In a world of a growing population of people, greed becomes a bigger problem.  Luke 12:15 says, “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’” I like this verse because it talks about how our lives are so much more than the things we own. When we die, all the things on Earth will stay on Earth. There are other things we can be doing with our time than worrying and scheming on how we are going to get our hands on more of material wealth. We can be helping others, learning, and serving God. Greed can easily overtake a person and their life as shown in Pirates of the Caribbean. So like the verse says, be on guard. Greed is a nasty thing, and it can tear a person apart.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the materials that you have given me. Help me not to be greedy, but to be grateful for what I have. Amen. 

Creation

So we were talking in my Biblical Foundations class, about creation. (Genisis 1-2) The teacher explained creation in a way I haven't heard before, and I want to share it with you.

So he laid out the six days of creation

Day One
Light/Darkness

Day Two
Waters above and below

Day Three
Land/Plants

Day Four
Moon/Sun/Stars

Day Five 
Birds/Fish

Day Six
Animals/Humans

The teacher explained that the first three days, we like God building a house. He was putting the walls and roof on his house. The last three days, God was making his house a home, by adding furniture, and accessories that make it feel like home. We all live in God's home that he created for us. It is cool to think that God didn't want us to live in any house, but he wanted us to live in his home. That is just the beginning of how much God loves us.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you  for loving us so much that you made a home for us. Help me to take care of what you have given me. Amen. 

Each is Different

This semester I am in a photography class. We are working with black and white photography. What I did to make this one, I placed a screwdriver on some photo paper and exposed it to light. I then developed the picture, and this is
what I got in return.






This is a project my brother did. He made 3D models of a screwdriver. He also made multiple ones and positioned them in the light. All of this is computer generated. We both had one object, a screwdriver, yet there are two different interpretations of the screwdriver. I wanted to show you this because my brother and I are extremely close. But we are each unique in how we show a screwdriver. Psalms 139:14 says, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well." God made us to be wonderfully made, but in our own way. No one version of our screwdriver is better than the other. They are both different. The same goes for us as people. We are all people; each one is different. That doesn't mean that someone is better than someone else. You both are just different. God loves both of you equally. 

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for making me to be wonderful in my own way. Help me to use my gifts to help and encourage people around me. Amen.