Stephanie Ann

All settled!

2009-01-30T06:50:00.003-05:00

I am now moved into my permanent home here at the Villa. I'm in the attic and I have 4 girls that will be living with me. I am the dorm steward - AAAH!

Other than that I am working housekeeping with Ines. We'll be in charge of making sure all the scheduling and cleaning is done correctly. I am also one of Dave's TA's.

If anyone wants to mail me something my mailing address is:

Stephanie Amersek
c/o Calvary Chapel Bibelschule
Eiserfelder Strasse 275
57080 Siegen
Germany

Two of my four girls have arrived so far, but I will have to check the schedule to see when the other two are coming.
That's about all for now.

Not yet settled

2009-01-25T01:21:00.003-05:00

The pastor's conference was this past week. That means when I arrived on Thursday everyone was still immersed in serving the pastors. AWESOME!
That also means that I don't know where I am going to stay this semester. I am living with Nick and Jessie as well as Annie in the top apartment. I'm moving into my permanent home hopefully on Monday or Tuesday. I really want to move in. I am still living out of a suitcase and I just want to unpack and get settled.
Other than that I'm doing well! I am trying to catch up on the One Year Bible because I neglected it for the year to date. I'm up to about the 15th. Most likely this afternoon I'll get all caught up. We'll see ;)
I am very much looking forward to the students getting here next weekend.
There isn't much else going on at the moment so...I guess I'll update more later.
Later!

Leaving for Germany

2009-01-20T16:18:00.002-05:00

Right now I am sitting at my boyfriend's house just spending a lot of time with him before I leave. Tomorrow I fly to Germany for 11 months. I will be interning at the Bibelschule. I am still bittersweet about it. I know God has so much in store for me for this year and once I get to Germany I will be fine. But I'm going to miss Jeremy.

I hope to be a little more diligent in bloging once I get there - more time on my hands.

We'll see.

Talk to y'all once I'm on the other side of the pond ;)

YSIC

too long

2008-10-07T11:58:00.003-04:00

It seems like forever since I've posted. Actually, it's been about five months. How does time go by that quickly? At the moment I'm in Woodland, WA. What's new? First, as most of you know, I will be interning at the Bibelschule in Germany for 2009. Second, God has brought an amazing man into my life.

In that order.

So right now I'm sitting here keeping busy in a city I know nothing about.

Random. But so is everything that happens. Random in God's perfect timing and His perfect plan. Random to me but not to Him. That's where the trust comes in ;)

faith

2008-05-22T08:25:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon Martin asked me if I wanted to come and play a little football (that's soccer for you Yanks) before dinner at the Halle. I said sure. So I went over there and he and Roeloff took turns shooting on me as I attempted to keep goal. Martin shoots very hard. I was able to stop some, but a couple I didn't even attempt. At one point I stopped one with my right foot. The ball bounced off and was immediately followed by a shooting pain up my ankle, knee, and even into my thigh.

dang.

I couldn't put any weight on my foot at all. Martin helped me across the floor, through the net and down to a sitting position on the ledge, while I attempted to rest it a bit. Walking it off didn't help either. So basically I was in pain that afternoon. I walked back to the Villa - ok - I limped back to the Villa before dinner, and decided not to even attempt to walk back to the Halle to eat. So I stayed in the Cafe preparing a few things for breakfast. At this point Ben pokes his head in and asks if I would mind doing dishes for him since he was really not feeling well and wanted to go back to the apartments to sleep. I told him I would, and started working dishes when they were delivered to the Cafe. By the end of the night I was in tears with the amount of pain. It took me about 5 minutes to walk the 20 meters from the Cafe door to the Wohnung door.

Then was the excruciating part - climbing into my top bunk. None of my roommates were home, so I was on my own. I grabbed some paper towels and a water bottle in preparation for my getting up there. Once I made it up, I prayed.

And I continued to pray.

And weep.

God, how am I supposed to serve You here if I can't even walk?
Why was I so stupid that I tried to play sports as clumsy as I am?
Please take the pain...

There's a sign on the inside of the Wohnung that says something along the lines of "Faith is not believing that God can, but knowing that He will." I wanted to ask God to heal me. I couldn't bring myself to ask Him to.
Why?
Because I don't have enough faith. I kept going back and forth with myself. What if it is God's will to heal me? What if it isn't? Can I ask Him to do this or should I just wait it out?

Silly, I know.

I finally prayed that God would heal me. This morning I woke up with no pain, only stiffness in my right leg. I stretched that out this morning when I had 20 minutes off from my duties. My leg is 100%. I may even run on Saturday morning.

Faith.

I didn't even have a mustard seed last night and look what He gave me.

Germany

2008-05-18T08:46:00.002-04:00

Well I'm here all safe and sound in Germany. Flight was good...got a little sleep ;)
I went to first service today, the 9:30 one and only nodded off once. NO - it wasn't because of the message, I was just extremely tired. So far my trip has been absolutly amazing!!! I have seen so many old friends and it feels like I never left. I feel at home here. Completly. I went for a run, I'm staying in the Wohnung, it's just like old times. I've been told to 'relax today, this week is going to be crazy' so this is me 'relaxing.' I'm not used to it. I have NOTHING to do! I'm going to go to the 5:00 pm service tonight, mostly because I'll probably see a bunch of friends there. But it's not quite 3 yet.

I looked at the schedule for this week. I'm mostly setting up breakfast and cleaning the kitchen. I'll be doing the initial bed-making as well. And cleaning. A lot of cleaning. But I'm completly looking forward to it!

At this point I really don't have too much more to say - I've only been here a couple hours and I don't have any pictures yet. I'll be sure to post pictures when I take some....

Later yo.

Jehovah-Jireh

2008-04-19T06:54:00.004-04:00

Has God ever completely surprised you with how He provides? I honestly think that He has fun thinking up creative ways to give back to His children. Like, I got a rebate check in the mail this week that I completely forgot I sent for months ago. Then I get an award and bonus at work for doing an 'outstanding job' for one of our customers. I don't deserve it (I worked my tail off for a different customer, but that one wasn't as high profile) but I'll take the recognition where I can get it.

I mean, I'm trying to be a good steward with what God has given me at the moment. I am saving a lot of money. I am budgeting my resources so I can save a lot of money. Because I know that this job won't last forever. I know that I will have time ahead when I don't have a job, when I don't have an income, and I need to prepare for that time.

God will provide where He has led me. In Judges 9, there's a really cool illustration. Should a fig tree uproot itself and go to rule over the other trees? It could, but it would cease yielding fruit and would die because it was not where it was supposed to be. Why would I even consider uprooting myself from God's perfect will for my life to go and do what I want to do? Well, probably because I'm selfish and prideful and the chief of all sinners. But that's beside the point right now. God has given me a path for my life. I do not know any details. I know that right now I am working. Next year I am working. Eventually I will get married and raise a family. That's all I know. If I can allow the Holy Spirit to continue doing His perfect work in my life I will daily grow to be more and more like my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If I hinder God working in my life, and I can hinder Him, then I only hurt myself.

Random side note: I think it's interesting that I cannot help God to grow me, but I can hinder Him. He will not violate my free will. I guess the only way I help Him work in me is to keep myself from hindering Him...

All that being said, God loves to lavish His love on His children. I will never be worthy of that through my own works. Only through the blood of Christ am I counted worthy.

He will do exceeding abundantly above ALL that I ask or THINK according to His work through the Spirit in my life. Praise Him!

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Now playing: Calvary Chapel Siegen - Bis ans Ende der Welt
via FoxyTunes

Good Morning!

2008-04-05T07:27:00.003-04:00

I got up ridiculously early today. That means 1:45 am. Normally I sleep in until 4 on Saturdays, because I get up at 3 on a normal day...you're thinking "um, Stephanie, THAT's ridiculously early...."
I know.

I was up early because my work is cracking down on parking and a friend who works second shift needed to get two cars home this weekend. So when I got home from that, I went for a run. Longer than usual, but it was a REALLY good run.

Here's where everything gets so cool.

After breakfast I took a cup of tea out on my front porch to watch the sunrise. It's about 6 am at this point. There is a beautiful lake view from my porch, and as it has been wet out there was so much mist. As the sky began to lighten and I was listening to the birds chirping away, God just spoke to my heart. He reminded me that there is so much going on out there that has NOTHING to do with me and EVERYTHING to do with Him. I saw His creation in front of me, heard the birds all around, and then was blessed enough to watch five deer come out and have breakfast. Ah, this is the life!

I can't wait until I am back in Germany. I'll visit in about 6 weeks and then...well...if you don't know what comes after that then you'll have to ask me ;)

It is so good to know that I am in God's hands, in His plan, and that He is working through me daily. He is sanctifying me daily. Shaping me, renewing my heart, mind and spirit through His Spirit.

I can't wait until He calls us HOME.

Thank you, Lord, for Your peace, Your love, Your creation and that You have allowed us to enter into Your rest. Help me to conquer the land and destroy all the strongholds of the enemy. Help me to remember that it is only through Your strength that this will be done and that I must stay humble. Don't let me attack Ai in my own strength, Lord! Thank You for Your creation - praise You, Jesus!
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Now playing: Phil Wickham - Let My Words be Few
via FoxyTunes

whistle while you work

2008-03-14T12:20:00.001-04:00

So last night I got together with my friend Mary and we had dinner. I was so blessed! We talked about God, what He's doing in each of our lives, all all that good stuff. It was incredibly amazing to be able to share my struggles with someone.

I'm on my lunchbreak at work right now just reflecting on how God blesses us with the body of Christ. He really is good!

SO faithful

2008-02-28T18:19:00.004-05:00

God showed Himself so faithful yesterday at work! I had some personal things that were making my day drag on an on. It was only about 11 in the morning and I was DONE - ready to go home with 5 hours left before I could leave. Finally I prayed and asked God to comfort me. Guess what? He did!! Not only did He remind me of what I read that morning, Psalm 37, and comfort me with those words, but He gave me His peace! I pulled out my Bible and read the Psalm again, just to calm me down a little more. As soon as I finished my phone rang and it was someone saying rather shortly that I should have called this vendor already and why haven't I done that yet? I did not want to call because I've been hounding them but I picked up the phone and called Tom. The receptionist Sandy answered, she happens to be Tom's wife ;)
Tom's out doing an install, you can call his cell phone and he'll give you an update on those windows etc.
Then I said something off-handedly about God, I believe it was something along the lines of she'll be praising God when this situation is over, and it turns out she's an on fire Christian!! God used her to totally encourage me and bless me. ISN'T THE GOD WE SERVE SO FAITHFUL? Honestly, has He ever failed you? NO! never!!!

Praise the Lord!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be

Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have need Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside

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Now playing: Reilly - Come to Me
via FoxyTunes

New Bible

2008-02-25T19:52:00.002-05:00

Alright, so I bought a new Bible a couple weeks ago and it just came in the mail. I'm so excited!!! KJV pocket leather bound. I had a pocket ESV but a couple times while reading I had to run and grab my KJV Study from my room because I really needed to read it in KJV and --you understand! The really cool thing is that a page was cut wrong, so I'll be taking my scissors to it tomorrow morning and I'll have a ragged page at the beginning of 1 Corinthians. Oh well, I'm still happy! Re-do all my bookmarks and start underlining and all...YAY!

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Now playing: Rick Greene - Psalm 91
via FoxyTunes

So much going on

2008-02-17T08:45:00.002-05:00

Wow. I have been neglecting my blog. So what’s new with me? A lot. I am praying about some BIG changes in my life. And I know where God is leading me – at least for the moment. Please be praying that I would be faithful to the calling that God has placed on my life. More on that to follow.

Last Monday (February 11th) was a huge day in my life. I woke up with a verse stuck in my head. I know, how often does THAT happen?? Deuteronomy 6:11-12 “…when thou shalt have eaten and be full; then beware lest thou forget the LORD which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”
Ok, so that means God is going to give me something and wants me to remember Him afterwards. He’s warning me (1 Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”) ahead of time – so that like Nineveh in the book of Jonah I can repent and not face judgment. But what is He preparing me for? I know. But I’m not saying. Why? Because it is not something to spread around too soon. Let me tell you though, God is amazing and He is faithful. I mean, He got me a free eye exam this past week. Free. Faithful, I know. He’s amazing, isn’t He?

I just realized that I told you NOTHING on what is going on in my life right now, only hints of what is to come. Yet I am excited. Very excited.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
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.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

27/3/08 12:46 pm updated the lyrics 'cause Lazz said I had to ;)

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Now playing: Lothar Kosse - Heiliges Land
via FoxyTunes

Yes

2007-11-11T13:51:00.000-05:00

It has been a long time since I posted. As usual not much has changed. 'Cept my Wanderlust has increased. My friend John leaves for the Air Force tomorrow, and I'm really jealous of him. I feel like all my adventuring is behind me, and his is only beginning. Oh well. God knows what's best for me, right?
I was going to write more, maybe I'll update it later, but my friends just called to go shooting, so I have to leave right now. Yeah, maybe I'll add more later ;)

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Now playing: Phil Wickham - Give You My World
via FoxyTunes

Psalm 91

2007-09-03T11:50:00.000-04:00

1_He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty

How many times have I read that? Tons. How many times have I sung that? Even more. But on Friday August 31 this really hit me. I've said this before and I will say it again, there is going to be some major PERSONAL APPLICATION in what I am about to say, nothing to build a spiritual house on, so please don't think I'm coming out with new and/or strange doctrine.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High.... To me, at least on Friday, that means whoever dwells in the Tabernacle. Ok, so you walk into the Tabernacle/Temple, and what is directly on your right? The showbread. Twelve loaves of unleavened bread set there symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel. The bread is replaced weekly and the Priests eat the bread that comes off the table. Translation, Judism. The Jewish Scripture, their history, their relationship with God. And directly on your left as you enter? The lampstand. This is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and His ministry. Translation? His personal indwelling in the believer, the Church. His work in my life and my fellowship with other believers. Directly in front of you as you walk in? The alter of incense. Prayer, plain and simple. Let's bring it all together. He who makes a habit of studying the scripture, abiding in fellowship with the Holy Spirit and with other believers, and prays continually...

...will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 'Abide' is a fun word. It means so much. According to dictionary.com it means *clears throat*

1. to remain; continue; stay: Abide with me.
2. to have one's abode; dwell; reside: to abide in a small Scottish village.
3. to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship, etc.; last.
–verb (used with object)
4. to put up with; tolerate; stand: I can't abide dishonesty!
5. to endure, sustain, or withstand without yielding or submitting: to abide a vigorous onslaught.
6. to wait for; await: to abide the coming of the Lord.
7. to accept without opposition or question: to abide the verdict of the judges.
8. to pay the price or penalty of; suffer for.
—Verb phrase
9. abide by,
a. to act in accord with.
b. to submit to; agree to: to abide by the court's decision.
c. to remain steadfast or faithful to; keep: If you make a promise, abide by it.

See? big word. But that's not my favorite word in this sentence. My favorite is the word 'will.' Wait, you mean that whole 'how can I keep myself in accordince with God's will' question is as simple as dwelling in His Tabernacle? Yep. This verse states that if you dwell with God and in His Tabernacle you WILL abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Well that was simple!

Fear

2007-05-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

I was reading today in Hebrews and Hebrews 2:15 really jumped out at me. It states, with verse 14 for context: "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery ."
How does Satan keep men from coming to God? I thought of two very prominent ways: Pride and Fear. Yet in a way, pride is a form of fear. It is the fear of losing oneself and of appearing weak to others. Satan uses fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." That verse was POUNDED into my head in Germany, as it is one of pastor Nick's life verses. And then I thought about it. How often do I let fear control my life? How often do I listen to my fears of, oh, failure, rejection, inferiority etc. instead of the Spirit of God dwelling in me? The more I examine my life and my choices, the more I see how fear has infiltrated so much of my life. How many of your decisions are motivated by fear? Remember, God has not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.

Concert

2007-05-06T11:12:00.000-04:00

I went to the Shane and Shane concert last night, mostly to see Phil Wickham who was opening...let me just say the concert was AMAZING! Phil set the tone by finishing off a couple of his songs with well known worship songs and Shane and Shane took it to the next level with their own brand of worship. I was truly blessed. It was a perfect evening, even if the concert did start off an hour late. I think it was kind of funny that I was waiting at the door with about 50 other people 45 minutes before the show was supposed to start when the tour bus arrived - they had broken down (in a very literal sense) in Conneticut and were just arriving.

So this is me with Phil

Dreams

2007-04-25T14:07:00.000-04:00

I dream every night. Seriously! Every stinkin' night I have at least one dream that I remember all or at least fragments of. Last night the dream included a woman on TV speaking in German, and I was so happy to hear someone speaking German that it soothed me. I think that means I miss Germany. With my going back to Russia this summer, I find myself feeling like I'm going back to Germany. I'm picturing my friends in Russia as well as those I have in Germany. Right now the song "Satisfied" by Scott Cunningham is on, but I feel like the only way for me to be truly satisfied is to return to Germany. I'm still restless here. And I don't know what to do about it.

I'm still here.

2007-04-04T11:23:00.000-04:00

Things haven't changed much in the past month. I'm still unemployed. Still planning on going back to Russia. Still feeling desperatly like I'm supposed to be doing something that I'm not doing. Have you ever had something that you LOVE doing, where everytime you do that activity you just feel *right*? I've had that for about eight years. Yet I'm not pursuing that activity. Why? What am I scared of?

/randomness

What do you think?

2007-03-08T13:29:00.000-05:00

Yes or no? My problem exactly. How do you answer a question when you don't know what the question is? If you read my last post, you understand that I'm fairly restless right now. I feel like I'm wasting away and not reaching my potential for God. I feel like He's giving me opportunities but I can't hear Him and therefore don't know what those opportunities are. I guess that what this blog is all about is my desire to hear from God. Please pray? Thanks.
YSIC

Restless.

2007-03-01T14:46:00.000-05:00

I went to a movie last night, playing hookie from church. Hey, Chris wasn't teaching, no one was...I just needed to be alone....

So I saw "Amazing Grace" as I had heard it was excellent from numerous people. That includes the couple who was in front of me in line at the theater. I enjoyed the movie.

When I left, I felt restless. Like, here I am, sitting at home (while not looking for work) and doing essentially nothing, when I could be out doing something for God. Why am I in the States? And if I have to be in the States, why am I just looking for a job? I feel like I should be out there doing something. I dunno. What do you think?

Calvary Chapel Bible College

2007-02-19T08:43:00.000-05:00

I squeezed two years into 6 minutes and 40 seconds. So here it is.

Europe

2007-02-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

This is the post that I was supposed to write a month ago, sorry for the delay!

Europe. Here goes.

We left Germany on December 16th and went to Zürich. All I remember is that we couldn't figure out how to buy the Strassenbahn tickets and therefore it took a while to get to the Hostel. We walked around that night through a Christmas market and ate dinner at a place where I felt completly underdressed. Our first country, Switzerland, was the only one where we needed to change our Euros into something else - Swiss Franks. That really screwed me up just because I wasn't used to the money. I can't imagine how my mom felt as she was not even used to Euros.

The 17th took us to Geneva. The train ride was better than the city. We walked around the lake and then crossed over to the other side of the lake. We didn't do any museums or anything interesting, and since we were so close to France, no one spoke German. Communication was therefore primitive sign language and/or "Können Sie deutsch...English?"

The next morning we took an early trin to Bern and spent a few hours there. We just walked around, again. No museums or anything like that. Everything was closed, essentially. This was my mom's favorite city....

We took an earlier train to Milan than we were planning, and it worked out very well. We actually got to SEE the mountains as we went through them, and getting to the hostel was all but impossible once we got there. It was raining. All mom had was a square inch map with every 20th street on it and a bus number with no alighting point. At least I think we had that much. The train got in at 5:35pm and we got to the hostel at 9:30 pm. A lot of walking, asking for directions and random busses eventally got us there. My mom was convinced that there were people following us from the first bus stop. Paranoia. So we got in to the hostel and got our own room with its own shower. We were planning on leaving at 3 pm to go to Rome so we headed out early the next day. We dropped our bags at the train station and then went down to the metro to get us to the sights. While trying to figure out how to buy tickets, a man grabbed my arm and flashed a badge at me, while holding my pencil case. Yeah, a gypsy had gotten into my bag and stolen my pencil case. The cops had caught them (two tiny kids) and mom and I got a free ride downtown - exactly where we wanted to go. A police report was filed and we left. Fun stuff. That, however, had eaten away a lot of our sightseeing time so all we ended up seeing was the Cathedral. There is large copy of the police report at the bottom of this blog.

Rome was next. My favorite city - and we actually spent two days here. The first day was all the old archeological stuff - ruins, the Coliseum, stuff like that. The next day we went to Vatican city to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. No pictures allowed inside the actual chapel but we made do with what we could.

Late on the 21st we traveled to Florence. The people were VERY nice to us tourists, and even told us when we were about to get on the wrong bus. We went to Florence just to see Michaelangelo's David. No pictures allowed.... But the hostel was an old mansion so that was beautiful.

We got into Venice late that evening and walked around the city a little bit. The novelty wore off for me after a few minutes, but my mom absolutly loved it. We stayed in a hotel that night, as there were no open hostels during that part of the season. No museums here..only a lot of glass. The hotel had a thing where they set up a trip to Murano glass and we got to see actual glass blowing and stuff. It sounded exciting so mom and I signed up and went. We left early Saturday morning, that would be December 23. There was a grand total of 7 minutes and 34 seconds of glass blowing before the extreamly well dressed tour guide took us up to the glass show room to show us all what they are capable of. The glass was beautiful, and expensive. An inexpensive vase was 400 euros and the 'nice' ones were upwards of 2000 euros. We did the loop with our guide and then expected him to take us to the exit. Oh no, he expected us to buy something. So began the stand-off. He continued with the sales pitch "oh, if you find something you like we'll ship it to your house in America free of charge. If it ever breaks, we'll send you another one" and so on. So I found a really cheap vase that was made by someone just starting off. It was only 50 euros and I liked it and decided that I would get it. But he wanted to wrap it up and let me take it with me. I said thanks but no thanks and we sat some more, wondering how to get out of there. Finally I went to the restroom and came back and just asked him to show us the exit. He did, in a huff. Whenever I think of Murano glass, I emphasise the the first two syllables. "Moran." And they made this tree.

We spent and entire day traveling and made it to Paris late on Christmas Eve. That means that for Christmas Day we were in Paris. No crowds, and we didn't have to deal with the locals much at all. That was a plus. We did the normal tourist things, Notre Dame, Eifel Tower, we saw the outside of the Louvre as it was closed for the holiday, and the Arc de Triomphe.

We spent the 26th traveling to Vienna. We just walked around and eventually did a short little trolley ride around the city and then took off to Salzburg on the 27th.

Salzburg on the 28th was the most embarassing for me. My mom took me on the "Sound of Music Tour." We were on a bus of mostly Americans who had no qualms whatsoever of singing along to the soundtrack they were playing in the background. People who had been on the tour before (yes, aparantly once was NEVER enough) noticed discrepancies in things. "This wasn't the wedding church they took us to last time. Those aren't the trees the VonTrapps were hanging out of, at least they showed us different ones last time..." etc. After that, however, we had a wonderful time going up to the fortress in the center of the city. First you'll get to see some views from the Sound of Music, then some views from the fortress.

The house used for the back of the VonTrapp mansion.

This is supposedly the gazebo, although it's been relocated.

The fountain at the end of "Doe, a Deer"

A view from the fortress in the middle of the city.

Another view from the fortress.

Zürich

2006-12-17T02:32:00.000-05:00

Just a quick hello from Zürich, Switzerland! Only a few mintues of internet so I'll give details later.

I graduated!

2006-12-14T04:09:00.000-05:00

I graduated from college last night. I now have an associates degree in theology. And I did my graduation speech in German. That's all.

!!!!!!!!!

Stephanie

To liberals in this secular, nondenominational season

2006-12-08T04:14:00.000-05:00

To My Liberal Friends & Family:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

For my Conservative Friends and Family:

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may God bless you richly!

One word.

2006-11-20T14:37:00.000-05:00

Last week was speakers week. It's a time when we didn't have any classes and just went to two sessions daily with different pastors. It's a time when we are all supposed to be hearing from God. I have been frustrated lately because I haven't been hearing from Him. At all. I thought that speakers week would be a great time to change that. On Friday I woke up with a migrane. I think it was only my second or third one of my life. I wore my sunglasses to session and slept between them. After the second session (I left early because I was so nauseated) I went back to my room to try to sleep. I think the only way I can properly describe the state of my mind at that time is this: insane. I couldn't put two words together and my mind was racing all over the place -- and not making sense at the same time. I cried out to God, "I need to sleep, I can't sleep, I need You, help!"

And He spoke. One word.

Peace.

My mind instantly quieted and I was asleep in five minutes. This was my third nap that day, and the others had had no effect. This one, however, was my cure. I woke up at dinner time. I was hungry. I could walk without being dizzy and open my eyes without sunglasses. It was God.

Peace.

Claussen Pickles

2006-11-06T07:56:00.000-05:00

Who knows I love Claussen Pickles and am heartbroken that they don't have them (or any dill pickles for that matter) in Germany? My former roommate Jessica does, apparently. I didn't really like lunch today so I was sitting at a table eating a turkey, cheese, and salami sandwich when Jessica came over to me.

"You have something in the fridge, did you notice it?"
"The student fridge?" I replied, puzzled
"Yes. Actually, would you like me to get it for you, because I know you would really enjoy it right now"
"Um, Ok."

Jessica returned with a jar of Claussen Pickle spears. See, a bunch of people went to Kaiserlautern this weekend, to Ramstein AFB and visited the commissary. She was one of them. Jessica told me that she saw the pickles and thought of me and had to buy them for me. Praise God! It made my day, and I will enjoy snacking on them for a while. So thank You Jesus, and thank you Jessica!

First Flurry!

2006-11-02T04:04:00.000-05:00

Well while walking to devos this morning, we had our first snow flurry of the season.... The forcast does not show any snow in the next ten days, but it was exciting nonetheless. I can't wait to get home to PA. I miss the weather.

Leipzig. Wow, I'm almost getting tired of Leipzig blogs.

2006-10-28T06:04:00.000-04:00

Another Leipzig blog...

2006-10-25T15:04:00.000-04:00

Ok, I know I promised I'd write on Sunday, but we aren't allowed on the internet on Sundays and then I kinda got busy and...yeah...sorry. I'll have a slideshow up in a couple of days. I'm still waiting on the pictures from Jessie as we haven't traded ours yet. How was the outreach? Incredible.

To refresh, our team was 8 people

(left to right) Jessie, me, Irina, Nari, Joseph, Nic, Andrew (team leader), Jonathan.

It was a lot of different personalities all put together to create something that only God can create. We took the train from Siegen to Leipzig. We traveled for 9 hours, but only about 6 of those were actually on trains. Overall, the trip didn't seem that long or very tiring. That Saturday we basically became aquainted with the church and we slept. On Sunday we went to church, fellowshipped with the body and then went around the city. Because most of us were crazy Americans, we decided it would be a good idea to get some ice cream.

There are two Americans from Seattle who are missionaries in this church, Cary (Left) and Jake (right). All the guys stayed at their apartment.

They took us around the city and all, along with the pastor, Kurt.

The other guy we spent a lot of time with was Stephan, who works in the church. Jessie was staying with him and his wife. He didn't like having pictures taken of him so I always had to sneak them...

Anyway, so those are the people from the church. On Monday morning we started our ministry of handing out free coffee to people on the street. We were right next to the University so we got a lot of kids as well as adults. We did that every morning except Friday. We had a lot of good conversations with people and planted many seeds.

During the afternoons we held a kind of VBS for some kids. The first day we tried to hold it in a room but it didn't go over very well. Only two kids came. Starting on Tuesday we held it in the park. That was a lot better and more kids came. They would play football (soccer for you Yanks) with the kids and then during half time we would bring the kids up onto this hill. We sang, taught a short Bible lesson, and did a craft.

And the park was just stinkin' cool! I wish I had THIS when I was younger!

Or this!

We had an amazing time! There are a lot of stories to tell and a lot more pictures. You can check out all my pictures on my webshots (link on the left in my links section) and a slideshow will be coming soon - as soon as I exchange pictures with Jessie. I will leave you with this picture. I am proud of it. Jonathan is left and Jessie is right.

YSIC

Stephanie

Home from Leipzig

2006-10-21T15:08:00.000-04:00

I'm back safe and sound from Leipzig..so much to tell and NO time to do it! I'm tired tonight so I'm not going to write much. I'll give y'all an update asap, but right now I'm focusing on uploading my photos. They should be up by, oh, midnight my time. That's 6pm EST and 3pm PST. Hoffentlich.

later! I'll write more tomorrow!

Leaving for Leipzig

2006-10-13T14:57:00.000-04:00

Well I leave tomorrow morning bright and early for Leipzig. I will be back on October 21st, late in the afternoon. I will probably post something that day or the next. Pictures will probably be up within the week. Please, please, please pray for us!! I don't exactly know why but I feel like I am going to be majorly stretched during this week. And I don't feel prepared.

Thank you
YSIC
Stephanie

16 Things it took me over 50 years to learn...

2006-10-07T06:44:00.000-04:00

by Dave Barry, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. (This one is very important)

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Thought for the day: Men are like fine wine . . . They start out as grapes; and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

(I don't like #16 at all. I think that it is very offensive and degrading to men. It is also a MAJOR double standard. If this was said about a woman, we would never hear the end of it. I included it only because I am not the author and feel obligated to leave it for the integrety of the citation)

Leipzig

2006-10-06T18:25:00.000-04:00

Well then. As most of you SHOULD know, I'm going to Leipzig for a week. That's October 14-21. It is the school's "outreach week" and I'm going with a team of 8 people to this city in Eastern Germany. PRAY FOR US!! A couple days ago our team leader got an e-mail from the pastor asking us to do a VBSish thing for two hours a day, for five days. The kids will be ages 7-12...and we don't have much time to plan! This will be in the afternoons. In the mornings we will be reaching out to the college students. So..please pray for us?! The team members are: Andrew (team leader), Irina, Jessie, Nic, Jonathan, Joseph, Nari, and me. I'll be letting y'all know more when I do, as well as posting pictures and such after the trip.

thanks!
YSIC
Stephanie

What is this world coming to?

2006-10-04T13:35:00.000-04:00

Stupid people. And I don't throw that word around. BTW, my name on this board is "Steph8873" as opposed to my normal "Steph58873." When I signed up oh so many years ago I had a fun typo. Didn't notice until a couple weeks later. Does that make me stupid?

Goodbye!

2006-09-23T09:01:00.000-04:00

I have just ended a relationship that I have had for a year and a half. I learned so much from this relationship about my Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.
This is my official Fare-Well to Chuck Smith, as I have just finished Revelation 22 in my Chuck Tracks. Praise Jesus I am done!

searching...

2006-09-19T11:41:00.000-04:00

While listening to Chuck's right now, a thought crossed my mind. I'm in Hebrews 3....

Chuck was talking about the people being unwilling to accept God's promises and that they would never enter into His rest. I don't know why, but I just thought this: 'What if my spiritual life right now was the highest it will ever be?'

That thought made me think.

I am to be ever growing in God and getting to know Him better every day. But right now I'm immersed in the Word. I am hearing teachings ever day and living in a Christian community. What happens when I leave this place? When I go back to the 'real world?' I pray that I will continue to study His word and be faithful to the calling to which I was called. I don't want to be at my spiritual peak, so to speak.

Pray for me, that I will continue in the things of the Lord and that my relationship with Him will become more intimate day by day.

YSIC

Stephanie

Marksburg Castle

2006-09-18T16:02:00.000-04:00

Psalm 143

2006-09-15T15:32:00.000-04:00

[[A Psalm of David.]] Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, [and] in thy righteousness.

And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.

I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul [thirsteth] after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.

Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

Teach me to do thy will; for thou [art] my God: thy spirit [is] good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.

And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I [am] thy servant.

The word of God is ALIVE!!!! <--- that is all that I wrote in my journal for today. I decided to write the rest here.

Ok, confession time. Over the summer, I rarely did devotions. And since I came back here, again, rarely. Today is the first time in a week that I have opened my Bible on my own. And this is what God gave me. Psalm 143. It is exactly how I have been feeling -- especially today, but I have been feeling it to some deree for a while.

v_1 "[[A Psalm of David.]] Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, [and] in thy righteousness."

A king is writing this. A man after God's own heart is writing these words. He wrote them probably about 4 thousand years ago (no, I don't know the date of the Davidic reign so I could be way off) and yet, because he was inspired by the Holy Spirit and wrote down the words of God, this psalm speaks to my heart on a deep level tonight. I cry out to God, hear me! I love how David does not apply to his own worth to 'plead his case' before God. David doesn't say 'God, You know that I am a man after Your own heart. You see all the wonderful things that I do for You, how I am leading Your people in righteousness and in truth. So, answer me! Hear me!'

No.

David appeals to God's character. His attributes. 'Lord, because You are faithful, because You are righteous, hear me!' So often I find myself trying to relate to God on the basis of my works. It has become more obvious over the past few weeks that that is how I have tried to relate to God for a long time. It is like, I would see His grace in others and say 'wow, that's great, God, that You can still accept them as bad as they are. I'm so happy that You didn't have to use that much grace on me.' My response NOW to my thoughts at that time? 'What a shame.' What is God's grace? I don't know that I fully understand it. I don't know that I ever will fully understand it. I know that a year and a half ago, I started viewing myself through the grace of God. Kind of. I had been in sin for so long that I thought it was impossible for God to truly love me anymore. But He gave me grace, and I believed in that grace and accepted it.

But.

Then, for some reason (Satan + my flesh) I started becoming self-righteous. You know what that's like -- 'I'm better than this person because I never _____________.' (fill in blank with a horrible sin...) And then I started looking down on my brothers and sisters because they had at one point done something terrible. I forget that my measuring stick, my plumb line, is not other people -- not even other Christians. It is Christ Himself. That is who I am measured against. And we all fail miserably when measured against Him. Right now in my life, I feel like God is telling me to relate to Him based on what He has done, not on what I have done. So I ask Him to hear me, based on His faithfulness and His righteousness.

v_2 "And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified."

Here's what David wanted God to listen to - 'please don't send judgment on me. I know that no one will ever be justified in your sight, but I'm asking for mercy.' David basically says that he knows that God has every right to kill him on the spot for his transgressions, but he is asking God to be merciful. Again, this is where I am right now. 'Lord, please, don't send judgment right now. I heard You, I know that what I am doing and how I am living is sinful. Help me see myself and others through Your grace. Help me to not try and come to You with my inadequate offering of fruits and vegetables (cf Genesis 4) but to come to You sprinkled in the blood of Your Son.'

v_3,4 "For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate."

David is in distress and under attacks from Satan. I think it is interesting that David does say 'the' enemy as opposed to 'my' enemies, which we normally see in the Psalms. This is what makes me think he really is talking about Satan and a spiritual attack instead of a physical one. When I am not relating to God on correct terms, it is easier to fall away. And when I get to the outskirts of camp, it is easier for Satan to come and pluck me off. I really felt that today. I had no classes, so I just came back from devo's and did an hour and a half of M1 and then.... Nothing. I did no homework, nothing productive at all. In the afternoon I went and bought a backpack and did my laundry. But as I sat here on my bed playing online, I felt heavy. Restless, but lazy. No peace whatsoever. So I went down to the cafe to get a cup of (decaff) coffee. Robin was working coffee bar and thank God, she recognized that what I was experiencing was spiritual oppression. She prayed with me and I was going to come back up here and sing some worship and read my Bible, but I ended up playing online again. Still restless. So I put on some Chris Rice instrumental hymns to listen to. When "Fairest Lord Jesus" came on, I couldn't remember the lyrics, so I looked them up online. I started singing along with the song, and soon I had peace. Peace because I had put my eyes back where they belong -- on Him. Then I opened up my Bible and *Wham* Psalm 143. Now I'm writing this. David felt like he was already in hell, in darkness. But he trusted in God.

v_5 "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands."

David here is remembering the things that he used to do. The things that God has already done through him, in him, and for him. Ever wonder how the adult David rememberd Goliath? David mused on the work of God's hands. Muse means think. He ponders the work of God's hands. The things that God makes do not die. Ok, yes, they die, but they renew themselves. Hunh? Ok. Trees make more trees. Animals make more animals. Plants make more plants. Humans make more humans. The things that God makes are eternal, to some degree. The things that man makes are VERY temperal. Cars do not make more cars. Buildings do not make more buildings. Computers do not make more computers. Very simple. That is ONE way to prove God's superiority. But just one way. It is so much better for me to think about the things that God has made, and to ponder those things than the simple, silly everyday things that I tend to ponder. Much better.

v_6 "I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul [thirsteth] after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah."

David is reaching out to God. He truly is longing for God. I am kind of doing this. I am longing for the FEELING of being close to Him, but I forget the reality that, because I am His child, I AM close to Him. God gave us feelings, but we should never rely on them as a gas gauge. My feelings don't tell me where my relationship with God is. They tell me how I feel, and that is all. I need to be anchored in His Word to know about my relationship with God. This is what I am doing. I am honestly reaching out to God and asking Him to draw me closer to Him. But does my soul thirst for God? Do I wake up craving Him every morning? I get really thirsty at night. I'll drink about half a liter of water before I go to bed, and the other half as soon as I wake up. Unless I wake up in the middle of the night and drink it, that is. But I don't thirst for Him. And this is the one that David wants us to think about (Selah).

v_7 "Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit."

David is human. Thank God for that! He does not feel like God is listening to him right now. He feels like God is ignoring him. God never ignores His children, but it is comforting to know that others feel like that. Because I know that I feel that way sometimes. Again, my relationship is NOT built on feelings!!! But one really cool thing that David realizes here - those who do not have a relationship with God go to hell.

v_8 "Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee."

David asked God to show him His lovingkindness. In the morning. I think that is so significant! God should be the first thing in the day for me. I wake up and praise God for another day to worship Him. How often that is not the case! David trust's in God. That is such a small statement but I feel it is the root of all of my problems with God. I don't trust Him the way I should. I say that I trust Him for the basic needs of my life: food, clothing, water, air to breathe. But do I trust Him for the 'big' things in life: a husband, a career, a ministry, a family. To God, there is no difference. He is my Father and wants to bless me. Like I said, my 'problems' with God all stem from my lack of faith in Him, my lack of trust in Him. But David is asking God to show him how to walk. Why? Because he already gave his soul to God. Now he wants to know what to do, now that his life is no longer his own.

v_9 "Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me."

Again, David recognizes that God is the one who delivers him from his enemies. Here, though, David does say "my enemies" and so he is referring to the earthly, physical enemies.

v_10 "Teach me to do thy will; for thou [art] my God: thy spirit [is] good; lead me into the land of uprightness."

David obviously understands that he cannot teach himself in the ways of God. God must teach us. He must be the instructor in His ways. When I read God's Word, His Word is teaching me. When I listen to someone else teach, His Holy Spirit is teaching me. When I pray, I am asking the teacher one-on-one for help with my homework. I cannot teach myself in the things of the Lord. Only He can teach me. I need Him to lead me and guide me. When God leads, He leads me into the land of uprightness. God leads me to be holy, set apart for Him and to Him.

v_11 "Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble."

David asks God to quicken him - to make him alive - for His own glory. David askes God to glorify Himself. When God gives me strength or refreshes my spirit, He is bringing glory to Himself. Why? Because others see me, and know that there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that I could be that way on my own. Yet I am that way - I am joyful in a difficult situation. When they ask, and I tell them that God has given me the strength, He is glorified. Because God is righteous, he will bring our souls out of trouble. Not if He is chastening us or allowing us to go through trials to prove our faithfulness (so we will know where our loyalties lie), but He will not let us suffer beyond what we can bear.

v_12 "And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I [am] thy servant."

God is merciful. Right now, my enemies are my own flesh and my mind. They are keeping me from doing the things that God would have me do. I need God to cut off my enemies. I need God to refresh my mind and renew my spirit so that I can begin again in His love. I need God to refine me. But that includes trials, and fire, and dross. I must allow Him to place me in trials so that I will be refined. But more importantly, I MUST allow Him to draw off the dross. If I do not let Him do this final step, all is in vain. In my stubborness I try to hold onto the dross and say that it is a part of who I am. Maybe it was a part of the old me, but the new me is simply Christ. Because He is dwelling in me, I must allow Him to feel at home, to dwell in my heart. He will not feel at home with all the stuff I hold in here.

Lord, draw off the dross, burn the chaff, and teach me to know You. Teach me to draw close to You and to seek Your face. To crave Your presence and to desire to read Your Word. Jesus, I want to know you. Not just know about You, but to have a deep and personal relationship with You. Teach me!

Russia

2006-09-10T10:27:00.000-04:00

Congratulations Ela and Ludwig!!!

2006-08-05T17:33:00.000-04:00

I want to offer my congratulations to Ela and Lud. For those of you who don't know, they got married today. Seeing their relationship grow and mature has been a blessing for me. I praise God for their friendship. I was so happy that I was able to come back to Germany early for their wedding, and even more happy that they asked me to sing at the close of the ceremony.
On that note, I would like to thank Simon and Daniel for playing beautiful music while I sang. I will never be able to listen to "Treasure of Jesus" without thinking of them as well as Lud and Ela.

Ok...It's 11:30 and I'm tired. I wore my contacts today and my eyes were about to fall out they were so dry. I am going to go to sleep and upload pictures of the wedding tomorrow.

God is good.
YSIC

Ela's Bachelorette Party

2006-08-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

Watching Paint Dry

2006-08-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

I actually had a need to watch paint dry. Yesterday we (meaning Tara, Keith and I) painted a wall in the Villa. The paint was annoyingly spattering and didn't cover well at all, plus the rollers were..shall we say...difficult. So today I received the honor of putting a second coat on the wall to cover up the bad spots. However, in order to properly cover the wall this time, I had to SIT THERE and WATCH THE PAINT DRY two times before I had the wall even decently covered.

Maybe tomorrow I'll go watch the grass grow. Oh, never mind. I have a wedding to go to tomorrow...

tschuß!

Lady, Come Down!

2006-07-30T09:40:00.000-04:00

I leave for Germany tomorrow...

My mom and I got together tonight for a last minute movie/pig out session. And, I'm happy to say, we rented a movie that we had neither seen nor heard of. "The Importance of Being Earnest." I picked it out. Romantic comedy, rated PG. Utterly delightful! There was hardly a plot but the laughs were there and we agreed to add it to our collection the next time we see it for sale.

Germany. Tomorrow. Wow. This summer has definately flown by.... Lately I have been imagining myself walking down the street to get a doner instead of driving to Wawa for a snack. I guess that means I will be happy to be back in Germany.

For those of you who don't know, I graduate after this semester. My mom is coming to see me graduate and then we are going to travel around Europe for about 15 days...in the dead of winter. It will be an experience.

Anyways, keep in touch everyone! Skype me, e-mail me, Myspace me, etc. I'll try to keep in contact but I've never really been all that great at it. Another one of those things I should work on...

in HIM
Stephanie

"Lady, Come Down"
Rupert (as Algy): After you dear boy.
Colin (as Jack): Oh no after you.
Rupert: No, no, no, do go first I'm not really good at the high bits. I'm much better low
Colin: Oh we'll see...
Hm hm hm hmm
Rupert: 1 2. and!

Colin: The western wind is blowing fair
Across the dark Aegean Sea
Rupert: And at the secret marble stair
My Tyrian galley waits for thee

Together: Come down, the purple sail is spread
The watchman sleeps within the town
Oh leave thy lily flowerbed
Oh lady mine, come down

Chorus: Come down
Lady come down
Come down
Lady come down,
Oh Lady come down

She will not come I know her well
Of lover's vows she hath no care
And little good a man can tell
Of one so cruel and so fair

Colin: True love is but a woman's toy
They never know the lover's pain
Rupert: And I who loved as loves a boy
Must love in vain
Together: Must love in vain

Come down
Lady come down
Come down
Lady come down

Colin: I think your high notes may have damaged our chances old boy. You do want them to come down don't you?
Rupert: well she is never gonna come down if you're singing like that. You're completely out of tune
Colin: How dare you
Rupert: I'll take this bit
Colin: you leave this to me. You go and have a lie down old man
Rupert: no I'll take this bit
Colin: out of my way I'm coming through
Rupert: go easy, my dear fellow
Colin: COME DOOOOOWWWNNN

Come down
Lady come down (Rupert: You're over-doing it, less is more)
Come down
Lady come down

Colin: That wasn't so bad, was it?
Hmmmmhmhhhhmmmmm
Rupert: Maybe they're really not gonna come down.
D'you think we should go up?
Maybe we should go up.
Colin: Algy you're always talking nonsense.
Rupert: Well it's better than listening to it
Colin: Lady come down
Rupert: Doo bee doo bee doo bee doo bee doo

Take me out to the ball game

2006-07-22T04:03:00.000-04:00

One thing I DIDN'T tell my mom was that I really wanted to go to a baseball game while I was home. Doesn't matter, God knew. She called me yesterday morning to ask if I wanted to go to a Phillies game -- she had gotten free tickets. So last night we went. She had four tickets, but we didn't have enough time to find two other people to go. Luckily, while walking into the stadium we met with two scalpers who were more than happy to buy our tickets. $15 each.We had pizza before the game and then went to our wonderful seats. First base line.

Anyway, it was a great game, and I played with my new camera. I took three videos. One of Meat Loaf singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," one of a Phillies home run, and one of the big Liberty Bell made of lights ringing at the close of the game. Phillies won, 6-5 against the Atlanta Braves.

If you look closely, you can see the Philly skyline in the clouds. It was SO muggy...

And the Braves pitching to the Phillies.

five, six...pick up sticks

2006-07-20T13:50:00.000-04:00

Anyone here know that I am scared to death of tornadoes? No? Well, I am. We had a severe thunderstorm here on the 18th, and I was happy to make it through the night. I didn't see a tornado, but the sky was green and there was hail. So I go to work the next day and what do I see? The debris left by a tornado. Since insurance still had to look at it all (for my boss, of course) all we could do was some minor clean up. I picked up a LOT of sticks.

See?

Oh, but about halfway through the storm, there was a break. ABSOLUTLY beautiful! I'm not a photographer, but I tried my best.

This one is my favorite.

The damage at the Kennel? You can see that it definately WAS a tornado (ignore the fact that my boss Sam saw it) because of the way these trees are down. The big one is perpendicular to the smaller one. I thought wind blew things down the same way...must have been a more...cirular wind.

This is the bigger tree. That fence is five and a half feet high.

Here is the smaller one, and you can see the vines attached to the larger one in the foreground. This one was twisted off its' trunk.

This makes me want to move to, oh, I don't know, Germany. I think I'll leave in a couple of weeks....

Gone Fishin'

2006-07-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

My mom and I went to the beach this past weekend. Fun stuff. We met a lot of Russians, went fishing, and had one awesome day at the beach. I am still nursing my sunburn. Anyway, my mom caught a fish, a keeper...but I didn't catch ANYTHING!!! Here's mom with her fish. (It's in a bag 'cause that's where Anton put it while we finished fishing.)

Oh, and we had the worst pizza known to mankind. This is us mourning said pizza.

And the Ferris Wheel on the pier at the boardwalk.

Ephesians 3:17

2006-04-29T02:51:00.000-04:00

So my favorite passage is basically Ephesians 3:14-21. When I got to that a couple of days ago, I decided to take it one verse at a time to ensure that I had enough time to go through it. Today was verse 17. But Ill write the whole passage for context. Paul is finishing the INCREDIBLE position in Christ three chapter beginning of Ephesians with a prayer for the Ephesian Church.

"14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" KJV

The first word that caught my eye was faith. I had asked God a question in the Psalms today about how to do something and, well, that was the answer. Christ dwelling in me through my faith in Him. That is how you accomplish EVERYTHING in this life. Now I have studied this passage at length, as it is my favorite. But today, God proved that His word truly is ALIVE and breathing. How? He gave me more nuggets. The word "rooted" has its obvious biblical definitions. So does "grounded." Last summer I was doing a study on this passage, and I wrote this about this verse

"Paul is still praying for the Ephesians. BECAUSE they ARE rooted (as a tree is rooted) and grounded (as a building has a foundation) in love (agape)...
We are to be rooted in agape. When there is a dry spell in an area, the trees there grow their roots further down. When there is a dry spell in my Christian walk (i.e. I don't hear God's voice) I should be deepening my roots in His Word so that when He does speak, I soak up much more of it. Grounded speaks of laying a foundation in our lives. Christ is to be the cornerstone of our heart. Eph 2:20. Everything we build in our lives should be in respect to Him. When building a house, the construction workers lay the cornerstone first, and then use that as reference for the rest of the building. It is also the PUREST and the STRONGEST stone in the house. In my Spiritual walk I am to be weighing everything I see or learn against Christ and what I know about Him. Phi 4:8. In LOVE. We are to think of everything in the mindset of love, of agape love. Agape is the love that God has for us, so it is not fully understandable in our feeble human brains."

Ok, thats cool. But its completely intellectual and doesn't seem to have anything from the Holy Spirit there. So today, reading this verse for the thousandth time and putting God in a box again saying "God, I've worked this verse to death. Theres nothing more there." God responded with an "Oh, really? What about this?"
Yes, what I wrote last summer is true. But there's another aspect to being rooted and grounded. Specifically being rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. In verse three of Psalm one we read "And he [the righteous man] shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." KJV...Why will this tree stay green even during dry spells? Because it is drawing water from the river. So basically, the reason the tree stays fruitful is because its roots are ever drawing from the river. It is drinking water all the time. We are to be rooted in LOVE. That is, drawing our food and our strength from the LOVE of Christ that He planted in us. That love will nourish our entire being and bring forth fruit in our lives. It will travel throughout the entire tree and feed every cell, as Christs love should do for us.

"Grounded" in the Bible most often speaks of the foundation of a building, of setting those foundations. The Greek word here is themelioo. Yeah, I know. That clears everything up. This word means either to lay a foundation or to make stable or establish. This morning, God showed me another illustration of that word. Its not something to build a theological house on, as the original Greek does not imply this, but I thought it was really cool. Well, I guess I could stretch the second meaning to go with this but...ok Ill just say it. Lightning rods ground a building. So if the building gets struck by lightning than the charge hits the rod and goes harmlessly into the ground. If someone hurts me with word, deed, or even physically, I should allow that "lightning" to travel through my body and go harmlessly into love. Does that make sense? The charge passes through me without damaging me and falls into the pool of Love that Christ put there and is absorbed by the agape that He placed in my life. I thought that was such a cool illustration.

So we draw our strength from Jesus love and we let our hurts soak in it. They will dissolve, because love is a universal solvent.

So go, be rooted and grounded in love!

"The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." (Numbers 6:24-26 KJV)

Your sister in the Living Christ
Stephanie

I hit a car...

2006-04-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

Let me start off by saying that I haven't ridden a bike in God knows how long...last time I remember was in China. Five years ago. That being said, today I had to go to Wal-Mart. It is about a 30 minute walk there and another 30 minutes back. I had 1 hour 15 minutes before dinner, and HAD to go today (the stores are closed Friday, Sunday and Monday for Easter and I'll be away Saturday). So I'm at the light in front of the school and Jessica comes up with a bike and asks what I'm doing.
"I'm going to Wal-Mart"
"Do you want a bike?"
"Um...yeah, I guess so. How do you work the lock?"
She showed me and I was off. A little wobbly to begin with, but then again not bad for being out of practice. At the first intersection I realized that the brakes don't work. Ok, I'll just have to give myself plenty of time to stop then.
A little further down I see this car pull out in front of me (10 meters ahead of me) about to pull out into the street. I try to stop, to no avail, and then at the last minute try to go around the car. Because I am going slower than I should be going, I fall right over into the guy's car and...yeah.

He got out, looking very angry. "Es tut mir Leid" I said, hoping that my almost-but-not-quite-German would hold up. He looked VERY upset and proceeded to start looking at his car. Mustering up the best "pathetic-oh-so-sorry" look that I could, I just watched in horror as he found what he was looking for--a scratch on his headlight. "Was soll ich tun?" I said as his eyebrows fell to his chin. He said that normally, in this situation, he would get my address and a phone number and we would work something out. I kept looking pathetic and he went back to picking at the scratch in his light. About three minutes later, he looked at me and told me that it was ok, and that I could go. I left before he could change his mind.

phew! I almost had to pull out the I'm-a-student-and-don't-know-the-area card. But I don't know how to say all that in German.

For the Ladies: Women Only please!!

2006-03-22T14:59:00.000-05:00

If you are a male and you are reading this, beware: this blog contains my secret thoughts and is intended to encourage my sisters. I cannot stop you from reading this, but I would prefer that you didn't. If you insist on reading, please do not tell me that you read it, as I would be very embarrassed. But I feel that God wants me to write this for my sisters.

To all the single ladies out there:

I am one of you. For the past, oh, I'd say 10 years of my life, I have been searching for a husband. Yes, I started when I was twelve. Anyway, the past few years have been getting progressively more difficult for me, as some of my friends have been getting married, and having children, or hopelessly in love with that special someone. Then I went to "Calvary Chapel Bridal College" and things just seemed to get worse. The guys there were good, Christian men who loved the Lord (most of them). What am I to do? Anyway, so my quest for a husband has basically ruled my life for a while. All the while God was gently nudging me. Here is a typical conversation between me and God. Remember, I'm only human and I know it's not always what I should have said, but I'm trying to be honest here.

Me: "God, don't You love me? Don't You know that I want to get married? It's so hard to stand here and watch all these people get together when I'm standing on the sidelines!"

God: "Don't you realize that I have the absolute BEST in mind for you? All you need to do is let go, and trust Me!"

Me: "I know, but, come on, how will You ever find someone to love me? Look at all the other beautiful, talented, feminine, gentle women out there. Some of them are still single, so won't all the good guys flock to them? What's going to be left for me?"

God: "Let go, and trust Me. I have given you the desire for a husband. I have promised you that if you will take your joy in Me, than I will give you the desires of your heart. I have the perfect man chosen for you, and I am preparing him right now, just as I am preparing you."

Me: "Haven't I waited long enough? God, I'm 22 [you can put any age in here, they all work] and have never felt loved by any man. I feel so...unattractive...guys just don't like me. I don't get it! I feel so ugly, so...yeah, unattractive! Why couldn't You have made me skinnier or given me clear skin or a more feminine personality? Are You sure You meant to make me like this?"

God: "Not only did I "allow" you to be the way you are, I planned it out before I created the world. I love you. I made you just the way you are for My glory. Let go, and trust me."

Anyways, so these conversations go on and on, most of the time with God telling me to read Isaiah chapter 40 to remind me how BIG He really is, or Psalm 45 to remind me how He really feels about me. But I have basically struggled with that desire for a long time. Then on the thirteenth of this month, God really laid it on my heart to give some things up to Him. One of them was my desire for a husband. Not the "I want to get married someday" mentality, but the "meet a guy and pray, God, is this the one?" mentality. He also told me to give Him my thought life. Or, as I like to put it, the ideal life that I live in my head. It has been said before, but I'll reiterate for clarity. Guys generally struggle with their eyes. Girls struggle with their thoughts. I don't know if it is true for any of you, but I know that I have long struggled with that whole part of my life. I'll meet a guy and five minutes later, in my head, we'll already be married or whatever. Silly? Yes. Degrading to men? Absolutely. Am I ashamed about it? Definitely. For that reason, I know that it is sin. Anyway, I mentioned this because I feel that these two things are linked. BECAUSE I live in a fantasy world, I have a hard time waiting for a husband. Just as no real woman looks like the ad in the Magazine (come on, even the models have been air-brushed!), no guy will ever live up to the fantasy in my head. I gave my thought life to God, and He enabled me to leave it behind! I didn't think it was possible, but He did it! First, I asked Him to remind me when I was slipping into a indulgent thought, and He was faithful to do that. I was then able to recite scripture or pray, or try to distract myself. Now, He still reminds me when I begin moving in that direction, but the times are fewer and farther between. Once that was (essentially) under control, I realized something: I can wait. I can wait!

On the last night of our outreach (read the previous blog if you don't know what I'm talking about) we were at this woman Annerose's house. We had a blast, but at the end of the night, I don't remember how it happened, but it came up that I'm utterly single. She was joking about it, but I had to fight back tears. That's still a sensitive area for me, apparently. So, this morning, I was reading Ephesians one (Eph is my FAV book and I'm finally there in my quiet time!!!) and I stopped after verse 4.

Ephesians 1:1-4 KJV "Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"

Ok, so, that's my position in Christ. I know that. But, wait, verse four says "according as he hath chosen usbefore the foundation of the world."

God chose me.

Ok, I don't want to get into a "Calvinism vs. Armenianism" debate with y'all, but it says there that God chose me. Most of my "singleness pain" comes from the feeling that no man would ever choose to be with me instead of anyone else. But God, the God who created the heavens and the earth and the things that we have not seen in outer space and the things that we have not seen in our ocean's depths has chosen me. Me? Yes! He chose me to be His child. Why did He choose me? So that I could stand before Him holy and blameless in love. Not in a passing earthly love that is a shadow of things to come, but in the INCREDIBLE agape love that we can barely understand and only touch the tip of the iceberg when practicing. That is my encouraging thought. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "I want a man, a human being. Someone who will hold me, who I can share my life with and who will love me in return." Ok. Fair enough. Take Jesus. Man? Check. Human being? Already did that one, check. Will He hold you? Ask Him to. I remember asking God one night to hold me because I felt so alone. I remember that I felt warm all over, and totally at peace. Then I fell asleep within a matter of minutes. Can you share your life with Him? He is begging you to do so! Check Psalm 81:13. God is basically lamenting because His people did not listen to Him. That is Christ's heart for us. Does He love you in return? Girl, He loved you before you even knew who He was. My point is, Yes. I still want to get married some day. But if I live my life always waiting for the next big monument to happen, I'll miss the important stuff. Like everything. That is what Satan tries successfully to do to those in the world. It is always about the next mile post in your life. Driver's license. High School Graduation, College Graduation, First Job, Marriage, Children, Retirement...death? My goal in life: To know my Lord and Savior more and more every day. I can, and will wait until God's perfect timing brings me the man that God has created for me and me alone. I need to rest in the knowledge that God is God and He is on the throne.

Psalm 46:10-11 KJV "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."

Isaiah 54:5 KJV "For thy Maker is thine husband; The LORD of hosts is his name; And thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called"

Galatians 5:22-23 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

2006-03-13T02:52:00.000-05:00

Today I was in Galatians 5 for my quiet time. It was so cool! God totally told me to compare the fruit of the Spirit to the chapter on love, 1 Corinthians 13. Wouldn't you know itthey're parallel passages!

Galatians 5:22-23 KJV "But the fruit of the Spirit is love: joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law"

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 KJV "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

Ok, there should be a colon after love in Galatians, so I put it there. Also, the word "easily" in 1 Corinthians 13:5 is not there in the original text. That being said:

Galatians "joy" = 1 Corinthians "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth"

G "peace" = C "Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things"

G "longsuffering" = C "Charity suffereth long"

G "gentleness" = C "seeks not her own"

G "goodness" = C "and is kind" "Does not behave unseemly" "Thinks no evil"

G "faith" = C "Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things"

G "meekness" = C "charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up"

G "temperance" = "charity envieth not" "is not provoked"

One can then see, that the fruit of the Spirit is love. But than you can go to 1 Corinthians 13 and get a better description of what the fruit of the Spirit truly is!

It has been said before, and I think I'll repeat it. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible!

Luke 6:46-49

2006-03-11T04:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I was reading the post I just posted and remembered more clearly what Hannah and I were talking about. I brought out Luke 6:46-49 as being "anchored" in the Lord.

"46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
48 He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great" KJV

In Matthew, the "digged deep" part is not there (Matthew 7:24-27). For some reason, I always pictured this account as being the foolish house on the beach, and the wise house up on the hill by the beach on solid rock. But I don't think that is what this passage is saying. These houses were RIGHT next to each other! The one man dug down into the earth until he hit rock then built his house on that. The foolish man was too lazy to dig down and just built his house on the earth without digging to find a solid foundation. This is what we are called to do. The rock is Jesus Christ, as we follow expositional constancy.

We are called to dig into our faith and build our faith on Christ. We go through the doctrines of man and the things of the world and get to the point where we hit Jesus. Once we have found that solid, unchanging Rock, we can then begin building our relationship and our faith on Him. If we are lazy and just take what others say as truth and not be diligent like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), then we are going to falter when we are challenged. Not founded on Christ, the flooded stream beating on the house will collapse it immediately. We are to build on Christ, not our church, not our friends, not what our church tells us is true, but what we have found to be true according to His Word. PLEASE do not count on others to do your Bible study for you! Jesus wants YOU to know Him. He doesn't want there to be a middle man!

Christ wants to have an individual relationship with each and every one of us. The relationship that He has with me is different than the one He has with you. He has been showing me lately that I am not to compare myself to others. I used to look at a friend who obviously has a very close relationship with God and be jealous of them. Then I would look at someone who does not have as good a relationship with Christ and feel sorry for them. Talk about pride! God has been revealing His heart to me! I now look at a friend who has a not-so-good relationship with God and think "wow, God is going to do so much in their life! He has so much waiting for them! I am so excited for what they are going to experience soon!!" I see the person with the wonderful relationship with God and say "I am so excited that God is going to do that in my life!" It is incredible to think that He has an individual relationship with EVERYONE who knows Him!

So Groß ist der Herr!

YSIC
Stephanie

Saturday Morning and All is Well

2006-03-11T03:31:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I wrote anything. So I'm going to give a really boring blog that just tells you the few things I have been doing. Right now, it's 9:30 am and I'm waiting for brunch at 11. Yesterday I downloaded the past month's services at my home church (Calvary Chapel Chester Springs) and am listening to the last one now. I miss that place! Pastor Chris just said that when he puts a flashlight against his wife's pregnant stomach, the baby stops moving. Ok. Good to know.

I've been going through a MAJOR dry spell in my quiet time. I look back over the past few weeks in my journal, and there are only a few sentences per day. Sometimes the date is written and that is it. I used to do about a page a day. However, God gave me an oasis on Wednesday and just reminded me that my relationship with Him has nothing to do with what I am feeling, but what I know. I KNOW that He hears me. I KNOW that He loves me. I KNOW that He has a plan for my life. He is calling me to rest in that knowledge of Him. He wanted me to know that the more I open my heart to Him, the more He will fill it.

I was talking to my roommate Hannah about this Wednesday night. We were talking about how it is so important to remember that our relationship is not based on feelings. That God knew EXACTLY when I needed that oasis. Oh, and He told me on Wednesday when I was reading His Word that this was an oasis. I knew that He wants me to dig deeper into His word than I am used to so that when He begins to pour out His revelation on me again, my roots will be deeper. I think my theme song for this semester is "Anchored Deep." At the end of last semester, I remember it was the Monday before the end of school and the worship leader did that song. It really blessed me. I think that God wants me to realize the truth that is in that song. I keep coming back to it.

As far as other things..well...I feel totally at home here. I've made awesome friends, not to mention that I can hang out with Ela, Ludwig, Nada and Judith who I knew back from Cali. I am becoming more of a girl (GASP!). I don't know, I think that it has a lot to do with realizing who I am in Christ and that He brought me here. It is INCREDIBLE to know that I am in God's will right now! That He has led me here for this time in my life and that I obeyed His voice. Praise Him!

I think that's just about everything...so here's the lyrics to that song. Oh, and it's about 10:00 now. Half an hour to write a blog? I'm losing my touch.

Anchored Deep by Scott Cunningham

I know You're with me, I know You're here
I love Your presence, as I draw near
But my heart deceives me, my feelings lie
Yes they're always drifting, with the ocean's tide, with the ocean's tide

I'm anchored deep in Your great love
I'm anchored deep in who You are
I'm anchored deep in Your holy Word
I'm anchored deep in You my Lord

I hear You speaking, Your word is clear
My heart rejoices, as Your love casts out my fear
I'm moving forward, I'm pressing on
And nothing moves me, for You're the anchor to my soul, You're the anchor to my soul

I hear You calling, Lord here I am
Oh Lord please send me, with a message from Your hand
The fields are ready, the time is now
We need Your Spirit, oh Lord we need Your power, oh Lord we need Your power

Psalm 101

2006-03-06T06:11:00.000-05:00

"1 I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing.

2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me?

I will walk within my house with a perfect heart

3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:

I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me

4 A forward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person

5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off:

Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me:

He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

7 He that worketh deceit fshall not edwell within my house:

He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight

8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land;

That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD." KJV

When I read through that the first time, I was basically saying, "Ok, God, so...I'll just skip this Psalm and go to Ephesians, 'cause this has nothing for me." Of course, then God told me to ask Him to reveal it to me, and I reluctantly did because I thought that even God couldn't apply this to my life.

Oops, I guess I put God in a box again.

David is describing how to become Holy. To be set apart, and blameless.

(v_1) Check it out, first he is worshipping God. That means he is putting God first in his life. Not only that, but he names God Yahweh so he is worshipping the True and Living God only. He is singing, which is the gift that God has given him, so he is using his gifts and talents to worship God.

(v_2) He vows to behave well, and according to the law. Yet, the next thing he writes is asking God when He will come to him. That shows David's humility in knowing that he has no way of doing anything for God without God being with him and helping him. Next, David says that he will walk within his house with a perfect heart. He is following God even in private where no one can see him or keep him accountable except God Himself. So to David, it is a serious matter to follow God and he is not in it for the praise and adoration of man. It is not a show.

(v_3 4) He is humble enough to know his weaknesses and does not set any evil thing in front of his eyes, knowing that it could stumble him. He does not fellowship with those who would drag him down. Yes, he may be acquainted with them in such a way as to be a witness, but he does not 100% befriend them. Because of this, the evil things that they do will not find their way into David's heart. He believes that his heart is wicked enough and wants that wickedness to depart from him.

(v_5) David will not tolerate any sin in his own life and refuses to condone any sin in others' lives.

(v_6) He puts good things in front of his eyes instead of the evil. He focuses on them. He decided to surround himself with godly influences.

(v_7) Again, he will not allow bad influences to be a friend of his.

(v_8) He will destroy the wicked that will cause others to stumble and protect the things that God has given him.

This kind of reminds me of Philippians 4:8 where we are told to think upon all of these good things. First, however, through Philippians 4:6-7, we are told not to worry but to pray. Basically, take all the bad out of your head, pray about it, and then focus on the good things. This is how to be holy. He will renew our minds with the washing of the Word, but how will He wash us with the Word if we are never exposed to it?

Think about it.

YSIC

Wartburg

2006-02-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

Well, here's another picture blog. This one is of our trip to the Wartburg fortress...yep.

This one is of the actual castle.

This one is the whole group in front.

Nada, me, and Ela in front of the fortress.

The view from the top...

This is the room, and the desk where Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Greek to German in ten weeks.

And on a less spiritual note, my first döner.

Thanks to Ludwig for giving me his pictures...Tschuß!