PSA (Public Service Announcement)...
Can ya tell I've been bored today? This is like the fourth time I've posted! Anyway, just wanted to make a "public service announcement" of sorts. I'm putting in a plug for Anastasia and all the great things going on there. First of all, tomorrow is The Edge at 8:00 pm. It's absolutely incredible and everyone who can come should. If you live around St. Auggie and are looking for a church, Sunday's contemporary service is at 9:30 followed by a Bible study time ("Sunday school") at 10:45. The college and career class is really growing and God is doing huge things. (Also, the same contemporary service is held every Saturday night at 6:00 pm) Wednesday nights is Fusion at 9:15 pm, and that's super awesome. This Sunday is the welcome back banquet for the college and career class, so we get a free meal after Bible study. Wednesday is the official Fusion kick-off, and food will be provided by Groovie Smoothie!! (How cool is that?!)
There was something else I was going to write about, but I've forgotten what it was. If I remember, I'll add an update to this post. I think coming back to school has fried my brain... I've forgotten so many things this week!
Okay, I'm off to get ready for a house party at "pink nasty".... that's the name of the house. Interesting, huh? Later.
Sep 5, 2003
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.
--English Proverb
(from Laura's post at BEEN THERE, STILL THERE)
--English Proverb
(from Laura's post at BEEN THERE, STILL THERE)
"Come, Thou Fount"
Come, Thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy praise.
Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.
...Jesus sought me when a stranger wand'ring from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.
Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wand'ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, Oh take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
Here's my heart, Oh take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
(I omitted the first two lines of the second verse because they use language that none of us today understand. When I figure out what the lines mean, I will post them with an explanation.)
"God is Bigger" or "My Glorious" (not sure of the real title)
GOD is BIGGER than the AIR I breath, the WORLD we'll leave,
GOD will SAVE the day, and ALL will say "my GLORIOUS, my GLORIOUS"
And all You ever do is change the old for new
People, we believe that...
GOD is BIGGER than the AIR I breath, the WORLD we'll leave,
GOD will SAVE the day, and ALL will say "my GLORIOUS, my GLORIOUS"
[emphasis added especially for you, Allison!]
Come, Thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy praise.
Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.
...Jesus sought me when a stranger wand'ring from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.
Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wand'ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, Oh take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
Here's my heart, Oh take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.
(I omitted the first two lines of the second verse because they use language that none of us today understand. When I figure out what the lines mean, I will post them with an explanation.)
"God is Bigger" or "My Glorious" (not sure of the real title)
GOD is BIGGER than the AIR I breath, the WORLD we'll leave,
GOD will SAVE the day, and ALL will say "my GLORIOUS, my GLORIOUS"
And all You ever do is change the old for new
People, we believe that...
GOD is BIGGER than the AIR I breath, the WORLD we'll leave,
GOD will SAVE the day, and ALL will say "my GLORIOUS, my GLORIOUS"
[emphasis added especially for you, Allison!]
I was reminded tonight how blessed I am. God has provided such an awesome fellowship of believers for me to be a part of while I'm at college. I met a bunch of new people tonight at "Praise and Prayer in the Palm Garden" which is totally the coolest thing ever. We all just sit out on the sidewalk in the palm garden and Dave plays his guitar and we all sing worship songs and pray. I'm so thankful for the Christian community that God allows me to be a part of here.
"Beautiful Savior, wonderful King..."
update: see Laci's post about "praise and prayer."
"Beautiful Savior, wonderful King..."
update: see Laci's post about "praise and prayer."
Sep 4, 2003
Random journal entry from this summer...
Tuesday, July 1, 2003
I was reading from The Four Loves because I finally decided to finish those last few pages. I stopped for a moment to journal because of the profound part I came across. The book talks about Need-loves and Gift-loves, where in Need-love you love someone or something because you need it and Gift-love is unmotivated and undeserved love, like loving criminals or loving those who don't quite appeal to you. The book mentions how although Gift-love is the higher form of love, if received, we are insulted by it. How true! We want to be loved (I want to be loved). Yet I have said before that I want to be needed. I have also said I despise "pity" friends, which while that is different than Gift-love, it still says that I want people to love me BECAUSE of me, not DESPITE me. I am glad, however, that God loves me despite me, yet at times I act as though He should love me because of me.
We need to get over ourselves and quit thinking we're so loveable! Quite honestly, we're often very unloveable! We make stupid choices that hurt other people, or we just aren't "God's gift to the universe" like we sometimes think we are! I'm glad God loves me dispite myself, and I'm glad He allows us humans to have the capacity to love that way, as well. We're not always so good at it, but He has enabled us to do it. We need to put God's kind of love into action in every way possible.
Random enough? I think so. Maybe it made some sense anyway! Later.
Tuesday, July 1, 2003
I was reading from The Four Loves because I finally decided to finish those last few pages. I stopped for a moment to journal because of the profound part I came across. The book talks about Need-loves and Gift-loves, where in Need-love you love someone or something because you need it and Gift-love is unmotivated and undeserved love, like loving criminals or loving those who don't quite appeal to you. The book mentions how although Gift-love is the higher form of love, if received, we are insulted by it. How true! We want to be loved (I want to be loved). Yet I have said before that I want to be needed. I have also said I despise "pity" friends, which while that is different than Gift-love, it still says that I want people to love me BECAUSE of me, not DESPITE me. I am glad, however, that God loves me despite me, yet at times I act as though He should love me because of me.
We need to get over ourselves and quit thinking we're so loveable! Quite honestly, we're often very unloveable! We make stupid choices that hurt other people, or we just aren't "God's gift to the universe" like we sometimes think we are! I'm glad God loves me dispite myself, and I'm glad He allows us humans to have the capacity to love that way, as well. We're not always so good at it, but He has enabled us to do it. We need to put God's kind of love into action in every way possible.
Random enough? I think so. Maybe it made some sense anyway! Later.
GOOD NEWS...
Get this... I went to my 8am class this morning and there was only me and one other girl. Our professor never showed up--Dr. Finnegan--which isn't like her at all, so we went upstairs to the education department to figure out what was going on. We spoke to Dr. Williams and he was like, "hmmm... something sounds kinda funny about that... let me check the course schedule... Oh! she is scheduled for another class at the same time in the Library. You should go talk to her when that class gets out." So Jennifer beat me over to the Library later on, so she spoke with Dr. Finnegan. Turns out that we've already completed the course requirements for that class because of a class we took last semester, so we automatically get an A and we don't have to come to class!!! How hot is that?! I'm so excited!
Get this... I went to my 8am class this morning and there was only me and one other girl. Our professor never showed up--Dr. Finnegan--which isn't like her at all, so we went upstairs to the education department to figure out what was going on. We spoke to Dr. Williams and he was like, "hmmm... something sounds kinda funny about that... let me check the course schedule... Oh! she is scheduled for another class at the same time in the Library. You should go talk to her when that class gets out." So Jennifer beat me over to the Library later on, so she spoke with Dr. Finnegan. Turns out that we've already completed the course requirements for that class because of a class we took last semester, so we automatically get an A and we don't have to come to class!!! How hot is that?! I'm so excited!
Good day, good day. Why bother easing into things?... let's schedule Megan for 4 classes her first day rather than 1 or 2 like everybody else! It's all good, though. Only 2 tomorrow. And today's went well. Some better than expected, so that's always cool. I'm begining to "classify" professors: I've decided psychology professors are a bit eccentric and like to tell LOTS of stories, professors of education courses are rather picky about rules, and professors of deaf education courses are all-buisness. And don't get me started on philosophy.... I'm in my first philosophy class and I can tell it will be very interesting to say the least.
Other random things: I got Laci interested in blogging and today she finally started her own! I'm really excited! Be sure to read there frequently once she's up and running. She's a writer at heart, so I know it'll be good. Tonight I got to go back to Fusion at Anastasia, which was really awesome. It has really taken off over the summer and I'm really excited to get to be a part of it. The best word to describe it is atmosphere. That's the awesome part about it. It's really laid back and casual--we all sit around on the floor and bean bags and whatever--and there's all these sweet candles and lamps and stuff on top of little black pedistal and the overhead lights are all out (therefore just the lamps and candles light the room). Jill, Phil, and Joe do the music, but not so much in like a "leading the music" sort of way; more like "keep us on the same track" during the songs. Fusion has grown so much while I was away. I'm really, really excited to see where God will take it next. Already I can tell that there are people coming who are not the typical "church crowd" which is totally awesome. I think the casualty of it makes people feel welcome and comfortable.
Here's a random journal entry from last night.
Life is funny, isn't it? You start thinking you've got things figured out--a few things at least. But then suddenly one day you realize you don't have anything figured out at all. You don't have a clue. How startling! But then--gloriously--you realize that those dearest to you don't have a clue either! They're just as baffled and confused as you are! You share your confusion with one another and somehow draw comfort from your dear friend's equal level of un-understanding of life. How fabulous it is to be confused together! What a comfort! What reassurance! Although you and I are just as confused as each other, we can tell each other what we each need to hear and the words of another somehow sound truer than our own. "It's okay. God is in control. There's a purpose to this mess. It will all make sense in the end." Why do those words not seem as true from our own mouths? Maybe it's so we will know we are not self-sufficient... we need friends. We need godly advice. We are not islands. Thanks for the confusion, God! It draws me closer to the ones who are most important to me, and ultimately closer to You!
I don't know if that really made any sense to anyone but me, but maybe it did.
I've gotten on a journaling kick. I now have three different journals, all for different purposes. My newest has quickly become my favorite, mostly because it's new, but also because its purpose seems more important than the others. It's my journal for "God stuff" for lack of a better term. I journal during my devotions, during Bible studies like Fusion, I take down prayer requests that others tell me or that I think of. I'm really loving it. I was going to start one anyway, but my enthusiasm for it was strengthened by Marti last week. She has become a serious journaler and I can see how important it has been to her life this year. I really hope I can use it to keep track of my growth, struggles, and everything else important to me throughout this year, and I hope I can look back over it and see where I've been or what I've learned. I'm excited for what's to come.
Thought for the night from Fusion: Even when circumstances change, God does not change and is still worthy of our highest praise. This was never said directly tonight, but it's what I gained. We sang a song called "Blessed be Your name" which talks about this. It says: Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow, blessed be Your name. Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name. Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise. In the darkness I'll cry out, 'Lord, blessed be Your name.' Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will chose to say 'Blessed be Your name.'
That's it for tonight. The morning is coming quickly! Later.
quick update: I just read the "verse of the day" which fits PERFECTLY! It says, "Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise."
Nehemiah 9:5/NIV
g'night
Other random things: I got Laci interested in blogging and today she finally started her own! I'm really excited! Be sure to read there frequently once she's up and running. She's a writer at heart, so I know it'll be good. Tonight I got to go back to Fusion at Anastasia, which was really awesome. It has really taken off over the summer and I'm really excited to get to be a part of it. The best word to describe it is atmosphere. That's the awesome part about it. It's really laid back and casual--we all sit around on the floor and bean bags and whatever--and there's all these sweet candles and lamps and stuff on top of little black pedistal and the overhead lights are all out (therefore just the lamps and candles light the room). Jill, Phil, and Joe do the music, but not so much in like a "leading the music" sort of way; more like "keep us on the same track" during the songs. Fusion has grown so much while I was away. I'm really, really excited to see where God will take it next. Already I can tell that there are people coming who are not the typical "church crowd" which is totally awesome. I think the casualty of it makes people feel welcome and comfortable.
Here's a random journal entry from last night.
Life is funny, isn't it? You start thinking you've got things figured out--a few things at least. But then suddenly one day you realize you don't have anything figured out at all. You don't have a clue. How startling! But then--gloriously--you realize that those dearest to you don't have a clue either! They're just as baffled and confused as you are! You share your confusion with one another and somehow draw comfort from your dear friend's equal level of un-understanding of life. How fabulous it is to be confused together! What a comfort! What reassurance! Although you and I are just as confused as each other, we can tell each other what we each need to hear and the words of another somehow sound truer than our own. "It's okay. God is in control. There's a purpose to this mess. It will all make sense in the end." Why do those words not seem as true from our own mouths? Maybe it's so we will know we are not self-sufficient... we need friends. We need godly advice. We are not islands. Thanks for the confusion, God! It draws me closer to the ones who are most important to me, and ultimately closer to You!
I don't know if that really made any sense to anyone but me, but maybe it did.
I've gotten on a journaling kick. I now have three different journals, all for different purposes. My newest has quickly become my favorite, mostly because it's new, but also because its purpose seems more important than the others. It's my journal for "God stuff" for lack of a better term. I journal during my devotions, during Bible studies like Fusion, I take down prayer requests that others tell me or that I think of. I'm really loving it. I was going to start one anyway, but my enthusiasm for it was strengthened by Marti last week. She has become a serious journaler and I can see how important it has been to her life this year. I really hope I can use it to keep track of my growth, struggles, and everything else important to me throughout this year, and I hope I can look back over it and see where I've been or what I've learned. I'm excited for what's to come.
Thought for the night from Fusion: Even when circumstances change, God does not change and is still worthy of our highest praise. This was never said directly tonight, but it's what I gained. We sang a song called "Blessed be Your name" which talks about this. It says: Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow, blessed be Your name. Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be Your name. Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise. In the darkness I'll cry out, 'Lord, blessed be Your name.' Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord, blessed be Your glorious name. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will chose to say 'Blessed be Your name.'
That's it for tonight. The morning is coming quickly! Later.
quick update: I just read the "verse of the day" which fits PERFECTLY! It says, "Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise."
Nehemiah 9:5/NIV
g'night
Sep 2, 2003
Wow! What a week! I had so much fun. Allison and I stayed with Rex and Marti and family from Tuesday till Friday afternoon. (For those who don't know, Rex is our old youth pastor.) We had such a blast. It was good to be a part of their lives for a week. All of them are doing well. The kids are growing up (sniff!). Rex's furniture business is awesome! We went by the shop a few times, and also got to go to a consultation type meeting with Marti to a customer's home. The homes there are incredible! Anyway, most of the week we more or less participated in their normal day-to-day lives, nothing out of the ordinary, but it was really great. Friday, Allison and I headed over to Birmingham and stayed with Lydia S. in her dorm. Her roommate Kate is wonderful. Samford's campus is BEAUTIFUL!! Lyd's friends are pretty cool. Everything was really great. On the way home, Allie and me had a great little worship session with David Crowder, among others. It was a great trip.
Things I have enjoyed this week:
fireflies: we don't have those in Florida. They're amazing. God's really cool for making them!
beautiful weather: no daily afternopn thundershowers! It was great! The best was on Friday morning at the pool with the kids. Perfect.
good company and fellowship: I can't begin to express how much I've enjoyed all the people I've been around this week. Rex, Marti, their kids, the Dills, Allison, Lydia, Kate, Lyd and Kate's friends... it was all wonderful.
beautiful scenery: the hills are so georgous! Florida is so flat!
rainbows: one during the week and two on the trip home. Awesome reminders of the promises of God.
This is by no means a complete list of what I enjoyed this week. There are very few things I can think of that I did not enjoy. I had an absolutely awesome time. God blessed me so much this week. I'm sure I'll post about random things that happened on the trip as they come to me.
Back in the "Sunshine State": We got home on Sunday night (rather than Monday, as planned) which was good. Monday was spent running around doing laundry and last minute things to move on Tuesday (today). This morning was a little hectic, but I am now successfully moved-in in my dorm. Life is back to normal, whatever that means! Yay for high-speed internet in the dorms! For once, I am sitting at my own desk and working online. It's so exciting! What was not so exciting was string up a 50-foot cord from the plug on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM to my computer. I did a pretty good job of it though. I even rounded two corners and two door frames. All is well now. As for finishing unpacking my clothes.... well, I'll get to that eventually! That's about all the news for today. Later.
Things I have enjoyed this week:
fireflies: we don't have those in Florida. They're amazing. God's really cool for making them!
beautiful weather: no daily afternopn thundershowers! It was great! The best was on Friday morning at the pool with the kids. Perfect.
good company and fellowship: I can't begin to express how much I've enjoyed all the people I've been around this week. Rex, Marti, their kids, the Dills, Allison, Lydia, Kate, Lyd and Kate's friends... it was all wonderful.
beautiful scenery: the hills are so georgous! Florida is so flat!
rainbows: one during the week and two on the trip home. Awesome reminders of the promises of God.
This is by no means a complete list of what I enjoyed this week. There are very few things I can think of that I did not enjoy. I had an absolutely awesome time. God blessed me so much this week. I'm sure I'll post about random things that happened on the trip as they come to me.
Back in the "Sunshine State": We got home on Sunday night (rather than Monday, as planned) which was good. Monday was spent running around doing laundry and last minute things to move on Tuesday (today). This morning was a little hectic, but I am now successfully moved-in in my dorm. Life is back to normal, whatever that means! Yay for high-speed internet in the dorms! For once, I am sitting at my own desk and working online. It's so exciting! What was not so exciting was string up a 50-foot cord from the plug on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM to my computer. I did a pretty good job of it though. I even rounded two corners and two door frames. All is well now. As for finishing unpacking my clothes.... well, I'll get to that eventually! That's about all the news for today. Later.
