Sharing Connections

Theology On Fire is a thought-provoking blog authored by a good friend of mine. Stephen is a talented writer, and he truly gets into the heart of Christianity, and more specifically, reformed theology. Take a moment to check it out. Even if you do not claim Calvinism, it is still very much worth the read.

Understanding the World as We Know It

       Last night, a friend and I had a very interesting theological/philosophical discussion on several topics. The conclusion to that discussion was something along these lines.

       If Evolution were true and accurate, and if everything merely came about through an accidental happening in the universe, then everything, by nature is an accident. There are no moral absolutes (to include murder, rape, genocide, etc). Everything survives depending on how strong it is. Anything that anyone can do to survive, they may. Therefore everything should be just as it is supposed to be. Rules and “morals” therefore are only applicable to oneself which means government should have no power over any individual. There are no rules and laws to break because one only answers to oneself concerning what he feels he must do to survive.

        All that said, the conclusion we ought to be able to draw from this is simply: The world is just as it is made to be. There is nothing wrong with it and we have absolutely nothing to be concerned about. There is nothing to “fix” because it isn’t supposed to be perfect. World hunger isn’t an issue because it is simply nature’s way of killing off the weak; to make a place for the strong. The sadistic murderer isn’t really bad. He simply wishes to remove any obstacles from his path.

        Why then, if this is the case, do we all yearn for something better, as though we know it is not supposed to be this way? We should be satisfied in the way we live, but are we? Do we just sit around and think “The world is fine?” Of course not. We are doing everything we can to try to make the world a better place. But what is a better place? How do we have knowledge of such a thing if it isn’t meant to exist?

         But if we consider--just for a moment--starting with a world already perfect in it’s design. A world where there is no hunger, where there is no pain or death or sadness, but where we have everything we desire. We thrive in our existence; we worry about nothing. It is then that we can know what perfect truly means, and we can know how it should be and we truly understand what it takes to return to such a place. Sin and death and heartache and pain enter into our beautiful world when we sin.

        But yet, even when all that is here, we have an element that keeps us going. We have hope because we know there is a better way, and we desire something that can and will once again be.

We understand that there is a way to fix things because we know how they are supposed to be. We have morals and rules that we live by in our slight attempt to perfect a world that we have brought into destruction. We understand that murder and rape and genocide and theft and cruelty and dishonesty is all wrong. We understand that those things shouldn’t exist because they hurt people and hurt shouldn’t exist.

        And so we yearn for the day when the world will be returned to it full glory. When there will be no anger, hurt, or sorrow. When we will stand in Glory with our Maker. That day will come and He will Triumph over evil and death and those who fight His good Fight now will one day stand at His side forever. And He will reign the world as it ought to be forever and ever. Amen.

That's all the critical thinking I can stand at the moment. Thanks for reading!
Yours,
Savannah

James

        Today I began a one-week study of the book of James.
        James is all about self-control. If he came back to life and followed me around for a day and did an analysis of my habits, I'm pretty sure the recap would go something like this:

        James: Girl, you need some control!
        Me: *flashes large smile* What do you mean? I'm controlled.
         James: I mean, you need to stop freaking out at every tiny thing. I mean, that episode with your brother? You thopped him over the head with your Bible because he wouldn't quiet down during your morning devotion. And what about when Emma came in your room? You screamed at her to get out before she even stepped in the door. Oh, and what about the..."
         Me: Oh. Yeah. But they have been bugging me all day long!
         James: What's that got to do with anything? And what about saying all those little words that your mother disapproves of? You know, gosh and sucks and stuff like that?"
        Me: *ducks head* You heard that, too, huh?
        James: I'll graciously not get into what you probably think in your head.
        Me: *cringes*

         So, I guess I've got a lot to learn.
         Self-control goes beyond simple actions. Self-control manifests itself in your actions, your body-language, your speech, your tone, your thoughts, everything.
        One verse that struck me especially was James 1:26-27, which says, "If anyone thinks of himself as religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
In other words, "If you think you're a good person, but you don't control what comes out of your mouth, you're lying to yourself and therefor to your heavenly Father. We are commanded to defy the world and show mercy." That is the fruit of religion.
         That is a good way, also, to know if you've truly put your trust in Christ as Lord.
It is not enough to sit on our rear ends and be lazy. That's another thing that James calls us to think on. James 1:22 &25 But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
          Friends, it is not enough to hear only. We are called to action. What better way to prepare for Spiritual Warfare than to carry out God's commands? This is our defense. Our preparation is our training in Righteousness. A man (or woman) cannot go into battle if he's out of practice. It would be foolish to try. What good is armor if you can't use the weapons. The Shield of Faith, Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Righteousness, and the Helmet of Salvation don't do much good if you don't know how to put the Sword of the Spirit to proper use.
        Battle terminology and tactics do not come naturally. We have to learn them. Practice makes perfect, right? Not always. You will never reach perfection on this earth, but this is the process of sanctification. Gloryfication can't occur without sanctification, just as justification must come before sanctification.
I'd definitely recommend working through James, though, I'll warn you: he's not afraid of stepping on toes. :) 

"Keep The Peace."

 (I posted this on another social media site, and decided to post it here, also.)

I just finished Flashpoint, Season One. I'm literally crying as I reflect on the last 40 minutes of Season One. I don't know how similar this show is to real-life as far as in the police field, but I know that the parallels to the real-life world are sharp. And it's not something that we can just take a quick glance at and be done with. It's something that we have to process. Something we have to analyze and work at. And we'll never get it right.
Another thing. When people try to play God, when they try to make everything work out aside from God's unchanging perfect plan, things go very, very wrong. We can't control each others' actions or reactions. We can't control what they think, what they say, or what they do. But we can control how WE act. What WE say, what WE think, what WE do. It's our choice as to what happens regarding our own selves. 
God has a plan and a purpose, and when we don't follow that plan, when we take things into our own hands, it gets messy. We were made to glorify him and enjoy him. We don't do that as we should.
This is what I think of when I watch these shows. This is how it is, not how it should be, and not what God wants from us. The policemen and women in Flashpoint do their utmost to control their own action. As they walk out of the station, on EVERY call, Greg says, "Keep the peace." Every time. And that is what they do to the absolute best of their ability. And that is what WE should do, to the best of our ability. We should keep the peace, control our own actions, and do what we know and what we believe God is calling us to do in every circumstance. All the time.

AGAINST THE FLOW... (year 3)...

....WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!


Why in the world did it take me sixteen years to figure out that it is enjoyable to sit by oneself for an hour and do nothing?
Because, honestly, I did that.


I hung out with me. That may sound sorta normal if you are an introvert or if you are an only child or only have a couple of siblings. But hey, coming from that crazy teenage blogger that has five younger siblings who always wants to be doing stuff and never can find time to do more stuff? Ha. Ha. RIGHT. 

Y'all, I'm serious. On average, I maybe stay home by myself with no one around maybe once ever three months.
I don't really like being home alone because, I'll be frank here, it kinda makes me nervous.

But I love being out in the middle of nowhere and sit in a soccer field and just do nothing but think. And I learned that this weekend.
I learned a lot over ATF, actually.

I learned that I tend to idolize my relationships. We studied through the sixth chapter of Matthew, and I learned a few things about me that I never really thought about.

I have a serious tendency to use all of my time doing things. I dont like being alone (as a general rule) and I want to be relatively active.
I love having time to think, but I've always just done that at night, or when I'm writing.
But I have discovered that I love to sit and think. Or hold tightly to a backpack full of books and swing around  in a circle until I'm too dizzy to do anything. (<--That's as much fun as sitting doing nothing.)


We had a great time.

I climbed the fire tower with some awesome people. I laughed until my chest hurt. I got hypothermia. No, just kidding on that one, but my fingers did get numb from the cold while we were on the firetower at night. It was COLD. Like, 30-somthing.
I had some really intriguing conversations.
I met new people.
I got reaquainted with old people....not OLD people, but people I've "known" (been acquaintances with) awhile and just never really took the time to really get to know.

I did not kayak. I hate that. Just never got around to it.
And I never went to hammock island. Which stinks.

Collin was there and he played the ukelele for us the first night. Didn't see as much of him this time as the past two years.... I was with a widely different group than I normally am.

World Cup (it's a soccer-game-type thing) is ridiculously fun. :D I had no clue soccer could be so much fun....or that I could be so bad at it.

Climbing trees is NOT my thing.

And I probably should go. I have some things I have to do. Check y'all later!

Bible Studies

So, I have  been studying through Psalm 51 over the past few days. I do not have a bible-devotional book that I am going through at the moment, so I looked over some of my notes from ATF this past spring, and found a note mentioning Psalm 51.

If you aren't familiar with this psalm, it is basically David's response in prayer to the Lord after he had been confronted by Nathan after David had taken Bathsheba and killed her husband.
This Psalm sings confession, repentance, and restoration. It starts out with David....well, I'll post it here, and then dive into it.
PSALM 51
Have mercy on me, O God,
    according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash away all my iniquity
    and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
    and justified when you judge.
⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
    you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins
    and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence  
  or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    so that sinners will turn back to you.¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
    you who are God my Savior,
    and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵ Open my lips, Lord,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷ My sacrifice, O God, is^[b] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸ May it please you to prosper Zion,
    to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
    in burnt offerings offered whole;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

So, it basically begins with David begging God's forgiveness. He admits his wrongdoing, and acknowledges the fact that he is a sinner. He then repents. 

Repentance is not just saying " I'm sorry. " Repentance is admitting that you were wrong, apologizing for that wrong, and TURNING from that wrong to pursue Christ.
David says, "Cleanse me with Hyssop". Hyssop was a type of mint-y plant that was used for making something clean/presentable. 

He then goes on to say that God is good. He acknowleges that God is Soveriegn and Merciful. The Lord delights in praise and adoration. "Restore me to the Joy of your Salvation, and grant me a willing Spirit, to sustain me."

As far as the offering goes, that can simply be an offering of yourself! Christ paid your debts. All you have to do is accept the forgiveness. But that also means you are offering yourself to the Lord for all eternity. This is the best thing you will ever do. Ever. :)

I'd like to also mention that David mentions the Holy Spirit

 Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.

"Do not...take your Holy Spirit from me" does NOT refer to loosing one's salvation. Once you are in Christ's hands, he will not let you go. Ever. But when you are in sin, your "conscience", as some may say, will "guide you". Your guilt will stand. But if you ignore that long enough, you will become "immune" to it. You will get so used to it, or OK with it, that it will no longer affect you. (see my post from ATF 2014) I am speaking from personal experience. I am sure you all can relate with your own experiences.

Just like with the Israelites when Samson "messed with their peace" with sin, you may just need someone to mess with your comfort.  

I would highly encourage you all to take time to pray through Psalm 51. Any time you need a prayer for repentance, this is definitely a good one to go to! It is not the only one, but it is a very good place to start! :-)

P.S. The participation outcome of the 1-K Word Dash was minimal. The contest is canceled. :D

POPC Youth Mission Trip--Summer 2014

So, I beleive I mentioned having gone on a mission trip? (If not, I am saying it now.)

Here is a video of our trip.  We were at Camp ASCCA, which is a camp in Lake Martin Alabama designed specially for those with special needs. ....dont ask me what "A.S.C.C.A" stands for, because I do not know. :)  So, JAF Jackson (Joni and Friends) is our local Joni and Friends headquarters, and they ran the camp itself. (See JoniAndFriends.org for more about Joni Eareckson Tada) .....
Anyway. So our camp was in Alabama and it was our job as STMs (Short term missionaries) to give these (amazing) parents and siblings a break by watching/hanging out with their kids so that they could relax and have some personal time.
You can see a bit of what we did in the video.
I have never felt so much joy as I did last week. I use the term "joy" for a reason. You see, the original definition of "joy" is as follows: A feeling or emotion of satifaction or pleasure in the midst of a hardship. (Being happy/satisfied even when it's hard). I can tell you first hand. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was Physically taxing to keep an eye on someone at all times. It was physically draining to have to walk with that person at all times of the day and making sure that they had what they needed before seeing to my own needs. It was mentally taxing to have to really truly strive to understand what was trying to be communicated, seeing as how the girl I was with has a very difficult time enunciating her words because she is deaf. (She taught me a LOT of sign language, though, which was so much fun) It was hard to make her understand what I was trying to say as well.
But we had fun.
Another thing that I can say with no shadow of a doubt is that I'd have not made it without leaning on Christ for every ounce of strength I had to have. About half way through the second day, I realized that there was absolutely no possible way for me to make it through the end of the week without constantly asking God for his strength, humility, and patience. I am NOT a patient person. (I may not be quick tempered, but I am CERTAINLY not patient.) If you have ever spent more than a few minutes with someone who has a disability, then you know it takes patience to work with them. I learned that through and through this last week.
So, having read this, please watch the video, and I would highly recommend looking into attending a JAF Family Retreat. It is so worth it.

Okay, well, sorry about this, but it seems that I can't post the video directly on my blog since it's unlisted... but Here's the link! :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-FzCs5xuIM&feature=youtu.be
I can assure you that you will be blessed by it. :)

I hope you have a blessed day!
In Christ's Love,
Savannah

Against the Flow ...YEAR 2 !!! :-)

So, this past March, we had ATF again!!!! If you wish to know about what we did, just read the post from last year!!! We did much of the same things, just maybe in a different order. One thing I did do new was climb the Fire Tower (which is 100 feet high.) My knees shook all the way to the top. I had to stop at least 10 times on the way up because I was shaking so much. We had SO much fun. :-) Kennedy, Rebekah, and I hung out with our friend, Collin, again, only this time his youth group had doubled (litterally, it now has two people instead of just one :-) and we hung out with him and his friends again. :-D Much looking foreward to next year, as this is still my favorite youth retreat. :-)
 We learned so much on this trip in regards to our Faith as well. We studied through the book of Judges, which, by the way, is an amazing book to read through, and would highly recommend reading through all the while considering Israel's comfort with the sin they were living in and being "Okay" with. You see, Israel got to where they were comfortable with their misbehavior, and needed someone (Samson) to mess with that comfortable-ness. God used Samson to convict Israel of their evil hearts and actions and through him brought the Israelites back to Himself.

That's a brief wrap-up from that amazing weekend in March. I will post more tomorrow or Monday.
<3 ! See ya!!

Against The Flow.

   I just had the best weekend of my life. I went to a youth retreat at Twin Lakes.
   It was a gorgeous place. I have a six-page summary on notebook paper. I will pick out the most interesting stuff to put on my blog. (ATF is a group of Presbyterian Church youth groups that get together every spring for a weekend retreat.)

      Friday Evening

   Got to Twin Lakes. Settled in. Planned to hang out with Rebecca and Kennedy (Kennedy is a girl:)) Went to worship. Shortly after worship met Collin. Collin was the only person in his Youth group and didn't know anyone. Made plans to  meet him at breakfast Saturday morning. Added another friend to our group. Went to bed. The girls in my cabin played truth or dare. I didn't get involved after the first girl picked "truth." Went to sleep.

Saturday 

  Woke up and took a shower. Met Collin and Kennedy at breakfast. Talked about morning plans over eggs, hash-browns and sausage. Went to worship and small groups. Went to the Swings which went like 30 feet into the air... or higher. We decided to go Canoeing. Piled 4 people into one canoe built for no more than 3 people. Got sick of that within 10 minutes. Went to the tree-house. Talked about big rifles and the Navy and Marines. Played volleyball. Lost the ball in the lake. Got the ball out of the lake for the second time and gave up. Went to the pavilion. Too loud there. Made plans to play spotlight tag that evening with another friend. Crossed the bridge to hammock Island. We all rolled down the Hill. Went to the tree-house again. Went Kayaking. Talked about hunting... which only Collin and Kennedy knew what we were talking about. Rebecca and her friend had no idea what we were talking about so we changed the subject. :)  Me and Kennedy and Collin talked about dreading highschool next year. Went to lunch. Talked about afternoon plans over burgers. Got a soda.Went to swing again. Almost threw up from going so fast. Went to the pier. Stuck my feet in.... my feet were numb within 10 seconds. The water was COLD!!!! Talked about preachers' kids. Collin's dad is a (preacher) and high expectations. Went back to the tree-house. Went to "happy hill" which should really be "UN happy hill". It started raining. Got wet. Went to the worship room. Talked about favorite Scripture and Prayed for a nice night. It stopped raining. Went to supper. Went to evening worship. Went to small groups. Went to put my Bible up. Decided that this had been the best day of my life. Went to the talent show thing-a-ma-jigger. 8th grade boys won 1st place. my group (8th grade girls won 2nd place. and 7th grade boys won 3rd place. Went outside. it was raining and we got all wet. The rain stopped, but it was too wet to play spotlight tag. We were just walking along talking about the day when 3 freaked-out girls ran up to us saying that one of the guys from my Sunday school class was hurt pretty badly. When we got to the basket ball court, he was for the most part ok... possibly a slight concussion... thankfully no stitches were needed.This got the conversation about personal injuries started..... rather an interesting topic. Talked about Marines and the Navy and the Airforce and World War II again. Said goodnight and went to bed. Thought about the day and prayed that everyone I met would be back next year.

Sunday Morning

  Went to breakfast. Went to worship. Hung around till it was time to leave. Said goodbye to all the people I met. Hoping everyone would be back next year.  Rode home... if you know me personally, you probably know that I am never quiet. Well, I was silent on the way back to our church. Had too much to process and think about I guess. Got back to the church. Went home and took a very much needed nap.  

   Maybe you can see why this was the best weekend of my life. Gotta run... Blog later! :-)