Shenanigans

Hi everyone!

As per the title of this post, you would be pleased to know that we have been getting up to a few shenanigans - pretty much expressly so that we have some fun things to update you all on. :)

Things have been going well - we are so blessed! And very thankful for everything that God has provided us with over here. Especially at the moment, we are very thankful for a toasty warm home - the temperatures have plummeted over here, so it is now boot, scarf, hat and glove weather already. There was even a bit of snow the other day - however it was a little more sleety, didn't settle on the ground at all. All the trees have been changing gorgeous colours, so last week Josh and I went for a walk and took a couple of pictures. 

This is just down the road from our apartment.

We also went with some friends last Saturday on a fall outing to a farm kinda place where they had a bunch of interesting animals, a pumpkin field and a corn maze. : )  

Yes, there was a camel in the middle of the Illinois countryside, random but true.
And he really liked Josh. I think he liked having someone who he could look in the eye. 

Oh yeah, and a tortoise. 

So that's an update on some of our shenanigans! Josh has finished his exams for the time being - and received one of his grades back yesterday - which he passed with flying colours! We are very thankful!

Hi all!

Heya everyone,

Things are continuing to chug along for us here. There isn't too much to report to be honest. We were blest to have the opportunity to house sit last week - which is always quite nice, it felt a little like a holiday for us, and a bit of a change of scenery so that was pretty fun. 

Josh has continued to have exams - last week he had Church History, and felt that it went pretty well. I think that he still has a few more over the next couple of weeks. It's in some respects nice that they are spread out a bit so he can really sink his teeth into studying for each exam. 

I know that I always seem to talk about the weather - haha - but it's continuing to cool down over here, and I am really enjoying it! All the trees are starting to change colour and they are so pretty. And it is super nice to step outside and there is a real chill in the air. This morning it was 7 degrees (celsius) when Josh left - and I checked the weather report and it is due to get down to 2 degrees later in the week! :D Exciting. Haha we'll see how long that excitement lasts for. 

I have been continuing to teach art classes to the homeschooling kids and it has been a lot of fun. We have been learning a bit about animation, so last week we made Thaumatropes. I even did a video to show you! :D So that was pretty fun. :)

I was reading my devotional today - currently I'm using two, haha they are both really good! One is called The Quiet Place, by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and the other is called 'At the Feet of Jesus' by Joanna Weaver. They are both very good I'd recommend them. Today the one from Joanna Weaver's really struck me, so I thought that I'd share it with you here:

"One of the most powerful testimonies I've ever heard came from David Ring, and evangelist born with cerebral palsy. "Why Mama?" David used to ask his mother when school kids teased him. "Why did I have to be born this way?" Although exceptionally bright, he was caught in a body that wouldn't do his bidding and was constantly tripped up by a stuttering tongue. 
God gave that sweet mother incredible wisdom as she taught her son that perhaps why wasn't the best question after all. 
"Asking why is like going to a well with a bucket and coming up empty every time," she told him. Instead, she said, the question should be, "What can I become?"
What a powerful, life-changing concept for all of us, especially when we're trapped and tripped up by the whys of life. Because when it comes right down to it, life is full of questions that don't have adequate answers.
Such questions haunted my young friend Tom. Though he loved Jesus, he struggled with the whys of his difficult life. 
But one day he showed me his Bible and a verse he'd underlined. "Now I know why my life is the way it is," Tom said. Pointing to the story of the man who had been born blind, Tom read John 9:3 aloud: "This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
Oh that we all might have a vision to see beyond the misery of what is to the miracle of what we can become."   ~Joanna Weaver, 'At the Feet of Jesus'

This message really struck me. My Nana lived most of her life struggling with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Although the pain she experienced from this crippling disease must have caused her more pain than she ever let on, she allowed God to use her epic ways. Her testimony to others was that she handed over her life to Him, despite the pain, despite being seemingly so physically restricted, I saw that God used her so amazingly. Especially in being a blessing to other people and caring for them. What an awesome witness of what God is capable of doing with us in spite of our weaknesses. 

Although no where near as debilitating as what my Nana faced - Josh and I have had to come to terms over the past 8 years with not being able to have children. And too often I found myself asking why on earth God would withhold this blessing from us. However, what we instead have to learn, is that "this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in our lives". I hope that will be the case! Because in writing that, it's amazing to think of what an honour it is to be called to that. :) But we are works in progress, I can't begin to tell you how long it has taken me to get to the point where I acknowledge that. Hopefully God will continue to gently teach me more and more every day - like He already has been. I'm very thankful to Him for His patience with me! I'm sure we all have burdens like this that we are struggling to bear. I hope that you can learn to find a similar perspective to this - because it really is liberating. I assure you. :)

Well, that is all for now - hopefully will get to take some autumn photos for you over the next week and see if I can get them posted up. Take care everyone!

Update Time

I'm not very good at blogging.

It should be obvious by the fact that I haven't actually posted anything in the past 2 months. It would also be obvious had you observed me delete my opening sentence four times before I just gave up and changed tack. My words never seem eloquent. I have to avoid re-reading them because I tend to delete everything I write on second glance. Pardon me for any spelling mistakes you may see - I no longer proof-read my work.

I have been humbled recently by realising just how little of my progress has anything to do with me. Had I relied on my own strength these past two months I would know a lot less than I do now. I am becoming more and more frustrated by my own lack of wisdom and understanding and yet, the more that happens, the more I am forced to rely on the Lord for His strength and His wisdom. It is really quite a strange process.

One of the tensions 'us seminary students' tend to struggle with is how to work out our faith while also trusting in the Lord and not leaning on our own understanding. We are called to be students and to wrestle with theology and all the -isms which accompany it. Yet our hope is not to be found in our intelligence (or lack thereof) but instead on the Christ. Our foundation is him.

When we consider how we might be useful in the Lord's hands; when we dream dreams and plan plans; when we lay foundations and raise walls, we must ensure that all this is done in His strength.

You see, it becomes a bitter-sweet balance. When you ask the question 'how can we reach more people as a church?' or 'how can I become a better speaker?' you tend to immediately take things into your own hands. The programs you come up with may be good. The techniques you use may also be great. But the bottom line is that nothing you do, no matter how fantastic and ground-breaking the idea may be, will bear any fruit unless God decides to make the seed grow. Yet you can't just sit on your hands either because to do so would be dishonouring to Him who actually gave us a purpose in the first place.

Should we as Christians aspire to great things? Definitely! The Lord calls us to make disciples of all nations. How is that not a great aspiration?? Seems to me that, as far as goals go, that one kinda surpasses anything that I've considered doing - I find it hard even imagining how that is possible. Yet in the Lord all things are possible. I guess that is the key here though isn't it. The focus is on the Lord not on us.

We should take care in our work; pursue excellence in all the tasks we do; build buildings and develop programs which testify to the world that we value our Lord. Second best is not good enough for Him - and even our best is only good enough because He makes it so.

Having told you all that I'm not great at blogging I would like to at the very least give you all a taste of some of the great things I have and will be reading and interacting with over my time here at seminary. I will endeavor to be more frequent with the posts but they will tend to be excerpts from my reading with short comments regarding why I think they're great or interesting.

Below is a short excerpt from Spurgeon which my pastor emailed through to meditate on.

Enjoy:

(Josh)




C. H. Spurgeon
The Mighty Magnet

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32)

Come, ye workers, be encouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior; for this is the greatest "draw" that was ever yet manifested among men. What drew you to Christ but Christ? What draws you to Him now but His own blessed self? If you have been drawn to religion by anything else, you will soon be drawn away from it; but Jesus has held you and will hold you even to the end. Why, then, doubt His power to draw other? Go with the name of Jesus to those who have hitherto been stubborn and see if it does not draw them.

No sort of man is beyond this drawing power. Old and young, rich and poor, ignorant and leaned, depraved or amiable—all men shall feel the attractive force. Jesus is the one magnet. Let us not think of any other. Music will not draw to Jesus, neither will eloquence, logic, ceremonial, or noise. Jesus Himself must draw men to Himself; and Jesus is quite equal to the work in every case. Be not tempted by the quackeries of the day; but as workers for the Lord work in His own way, and draw with the Lord's own cords. Draw to Christ, and draw by Christ, for then Christ will draw by you.

My seminary on the left-hand-side next to a bean field.

You can seem me taking the photo between the shadows!