a little bit of catching up to do....

I had this eager ambition to blog after every book of the Bible that I've been studying but in two weeks we went through six books and that just flew out the window. However, after my nose in the book of Romans this last week, I realized I need to blog something otherwise I will get snowballed under and lose sight of the reason I wanted to do this in the first place: to process and share the revelation which I've been blessed to receive in this season.

To start, a few photos from last weekend:


A group of us went hiking up a nearby mountain. I climbed this same one last year when I was in Taiwan and I'm so pleased to say I'm in MUCH BETTER shape this year than I was last year. I've been able to go running about 3x a week and have been doing yoga on my roof in the mornings. The day was beautiful and so life-giving. The next day we had "base fun day" at the beach (where I didn't get any photos...sorry) and I spent the day playing volleyball, playing rugby with a bunch of hard-core women, and trying my hand at surfing (which resulted in a gnarly bruise on my right thigh from the surfboard smashing into my leg)...oh yeah, and the best tan I've had in years.

But, all that being said, my head has been buried in the word and my face has been consistently tear-stained. I love what God is doing in my heart as he peels away layer after layer of brokenness, guilt, condemnation and wrong-thinking, replacing it with healing, freedom, love and truth.

So, here is the brief synopsis of what's been impacting me:
Philippians: God has been hammering at the issue of pride in my life and this book dealt another swift blow to it. The Philippians took a lot of pride in who they were as Roman citizens and their status. But, our pride should come from nowhere except in Christ. Paul curses in this book...do you know where?

Colossians: For some reason, I struggled just getting the work done for this book, getting hit with a wave of overwhelming perfectionism. Then 2/3 of the way through my work I realized, that's the whole message of Colossians! Christ is ALL we need. It's not about what we've done, what we know, what we can accomplish or even how spiritual we are. I don't have to live like I owe God anything.

Philemon: This small book brought up a mighty work in my life. I showed up in class that day as Miss Grumpy Pants, angry about some personal stuff in my life. I vented to a staff member who just smiled and hugged me. Then the lecture was as if the teacher had just eaves-dropped on said conversation. I wept all through class, went for the most intense run I've had for awhile, and made steps to bring about reconciliation and repentance in two areas of my life. Don't discount a SINGLE PAGE of the Bible, because this one little page, little Philemon exposed some deep things in my heart by the Holy Spirit.

1 & 2 Thessalonians: Our staff put on a great production with a skit helping understand the "Man of Lawlessness." But, one thing I was struck by was that these books were written to new believers--6 months to a year after Paul had preached to the Thessalonians, and he is talking about the return of Christ and suffering for the gospel. How often are these things we use in discipleship for new believers? But, one thing I was struck by is Paul's encouragement not to grow weary in doing good and to allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. That can be hard work, believe me, but so worth it.

1 Timothy: I thoroughly enjoyed this book!!! Paul is writing to Timothy while he is in Ephesus telling him to stay on, confront the false teaching and to disciple the believers and train up leaders in the church that was having some major issues. He encourages Timothy to persevere and that God will enable him to do such a great task. I found myself in Timothy's shoes in light of my last year in Af. and wishing I had had someone like Paul to write to me and encourage me like he did Timothy. When people were saying "you just gotta pray more" or "maybe it's a sign you should leave" I needed someone to say "this is God's work, he will do it." And "you are able to do what God has called you, through the power of God alone, not yourself." For my final application, I wrote a letter to Paul as if he had written 1 Timothy to me. Very good debriefing time!

Romans: Oh Romans. That pinnacle of theological thought. Predestination, the sovereignty of God and free will of man, justification by faith alone, Jews and Gentiles, the elect, etc. My head was wrapped around all this, all week. But then as I was finishing my final chapter, thinking I could just turn my theological brain off because it was mostly the greetings to those in Rome, I had this revelation: Paul ends the book in the same way he begins. He summarizes the theology of the whole book (and well, all of his letters and minstry) (see Romans 1:1-6 and 16:25-27). He basically is saying:
1. the gospel has been revealed through all of Scripture
2. the gospel is Jesus Christ and salvation through him alone
3. it is for all nations (all peoples)
4. It was given by the power and command of God
That's it. All that theological stuff in between fleshes out these things. The gospel is that simple, and it's that complex. If I can just believe, preach and live out these things, this is what God's purpose has always been and is today. This is the purpose of my life. And now I'm in 1 Corinthians and it makes so much sense that Paul is saying "I resolved to know nothing but Christ and him crucified", because this is the heartbeat of God himself. So in Romans...keep it simple. The gospel. Given for all people. Salvation through Christ. By the power and command of God. Amen.

Okay...if you are still reading, bless you my friend. I will release you to get on with life. But, if anything, these posts are a good time of reflection for me, and it is my blog after all.

I'm also getting involved in ministry here with the English club at the local university. I went out with some of the students last week to hang out and share life (and some stinky tofu...a Taiwanese specialty). Maybe I'll take some photos with the English club this next week. We had a discussion of Lady Gaga and her use of sexuality in her videos. Quite different from my discussions in Af-stan, that's for sure.