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chavala2
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Name: Sofia
Interests: Some stuff I like includes: reading--anything from CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein, to Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, to John Donne, Tennyson and Milton, to Elizabeth Eliot-- having fun w/ friends, eating, vollyball, chai tea, hazelnut coffee (at panera--mmmm!), Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Chris Rice, Andrew Peterson, Handel's Messiah, Celtic music, Telecast, RiverTribe, Caedmon's Call, "Fiddler on the Roof", walks in the woods, the word "twilight", friendly hugs, Fall...this list could go on...and on...
Expertise: Procrastination...I encourage everyone to try it tomorrow! (or maybe the day after)
...Inadvertantly injuring myself...
Making people laugh--usually while engaging in one of the above
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  chavala2
Member Since:
5/11/2005
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| Acts 20:24However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
[I'm learning to pray for this--to have that passion] | | |
| Passover in retrospectLast night our housechurch came together for a meal that commemorated not only Easter, but the way that God was pointing to the coming, death, and resurrection of His Son through the Passover celebration. As a result, I think that this song stood out more to me:
Our enemy, our captor, is no pharaoh on the Nile
Our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand
Our ankles bear no calluses from chains, yet Lord, we're bound
Imprisoned here, we dwell in our own land
Deliver us, deliver us
Oh Yahweh, hear our cry
And gather us beneath your wings tonight
Our sins they are more numerous than all the lambs we slay
These shackles they were made with our own hands
Our toil is our atonement and our freedom yours to give
So Yahweh, break your silence if you can
Chorus
'Jerusalem, Jerusalem
How often I have longed
To gather you beneath my gentle wings'
(Deliver Us, Andrew Peterson)
The first two verses are from the perspective of the Israelites in the interim when it seemed like God was silent. And yet how much more could it be the whole cry of sinful humanity, yearning for a Savior? God's answer was Jesus. The last verse is Jesus's words as He mourned over Jerusalem (Luke 13:34). God broke the silence with the Ultimate Lamb--the Ultimate Sacrifice for Jews and the rest of humanity alike. A much greater Exodus was accomplished as a result.
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| Realizations
Depth of insight into the Word is not as important as seeing the truth of God's Word slowly become an integral part of my life. | | |
| Awkwardness is...... watching your male Arabic students laugh after another student explains "Baby Boom" as the sharp increase in the number of babies born after the men came back from WW II. | | |
| So...I'm starting to think that often I (or maybe other people--not just me??) want to be blessed (with a job, with a spouse, with a better house, with a dog...etc), but at the same time am hit with the fact that blessings are not necessarily freebies. I don't think God says, "Here you go: now just sit back and enjoy." I think it's more along the lines of "Enjoy it and learn the responsibility that comes with the blessing." Case in point: my job. I few weeks ago I started my first full-time job. It is truly a God-orchestrated blessing, both financially and experience-wise. I'm finally back to teaching ESL. But what have I been doing for the past week? Complaining. Complaining: that I have a job that goes home with me; that planning for daily classes is overwhelming; that it is more work than I expected; that I'm tired; that it's not as easy teaching new stuff as it is teaching stuff where I had experience and was comfortable in my role. All ideas that have been on "repeat" in my head for the past weeks. It's quite pathetic how long this list could be. I have not really been content or really been grateful. In sum: I've been frustrated that blessings require hard work. Instead I need to accept the blessing and the responsibility, trusting that doing so will cause growth and that too will turn out to be a blessing. | | |
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