i really appreciate the videos and graphic design here. they are really memorable for a visual learner like me. i guess i can't describe as much as i thought on here. that's all.
people--feeling like paul
it is so good to reunite with my brothers and sisters again. some i haven't seen in years. today, i sat with tim brown, kent, and bojan (kind of), all from SLT'05. i've kept in touch with tim fairly well. i've also reunited with 4/8 of my SLT family group--melodie, stacey, and sam. they are all great women, and they have a lot to look forward to as they've finished classes (jealous) and are starting internships with CARE international and community development programs. i went to jess fick's seminar on women & evangelism (she is great), and afterwards ran into U of Illinois people--ginny, who is also applying for staff, and naomi, whom i met in oct. of my freshman year through ITASA. also caught a bit of ray deng, who was in between seminars as well.
i have yet to catch up with calvin, connie (both u of I), and the three others from my home church. praise God for these people in my life.
Friday, December 29, 2006
live a life worthy of the calling
urbana was overwhelming at first. everywhere--students. riding on the metrolink, migrating to the rams-dome, roaming the streets of st. louis for food, packing hooters since there was nothing else open the first night...
i couldn't quite imagine what urbana would look like. it looks like the video (blue lights, everything) but only better. 22,000 students, though overwhelming, can look quite beautiful when they all look, sound, act, dress, and worship differently.
"do not despair!"
my usual state of mind is one of despair. something annoys me, then it annoys me daily, then it practically consumes me. but i am reminded of God's praiseworthy grace so that it need not be so. i came in asking a lot of questions. how come only ~5 companies control almost all of the media in the u.s.? how can i deal with the hopelessness that environmental degradation presents? how is it that i can choose from 7 meats during christmas dinner while another woman in sri lanka is thankful for a bowl of porridge? how come we are so spoiled that we flush drinkable, clean water down the toilet?
yet Christ sits above all powers and principalities in this world. He has ultimate control; the rest is under his feet. yet, He makes it so that we make the body of Christ full--we are not just useless limbs. He uses us, mobilizes us to pursue the true and right Kingdom.
one of my thoughts as i watched the introductory "calling" video was that i don't think my calling is to be a chemist, doctor, or businessperson. i think i want to mobilize people--to use my gifts in leadership to do so.
getting your knees wet
one important thing about urbana is that it will be life-changing. another important thing to note is that it's not necessary to remember every detail of what so-and-so said, or to remember exactly what i shared on such-and-such night. it's to know that God was present at that time, and that He called me to a greater purpose. in a story that jim tebbe told about a class he took, he talked about how he his professor made everyone go on a field trip to see a monument about the american foreign mission movement on the campus of williams college. he didn't remember who he was with, what he talked about that day, or even what the class was really about, but he remembered kneeling at the monument (as he was told by his prof), smelling the damp air, and getting his knees wet. that's what urbana is going to be. it's me, going to this large, overwhelming conferece, not knowing everyone and not remembering everything, but getting my knees wet.
what i hope
on the first night, we were asked in our family group (sophia, betsy, melissa, crystal) to share what we hoped God would do during urbana. "Lord, I want you to reveal to me a specific
calling, whether it be for the near future or for 30 years from now; to compel me to make a commitment, perhaps publicly, to serve You in that way."
slum communities
one really great thing about the slum communities track is that they have to live as if they were in a slum to experience solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world who have little to nothing. sara and louann only have one dirty 5 gallon bucket of water to use for the whole week (bathing, brushing teeth, etc.) this is to experience what its like to have little water, and to recognize the value of clean (and available) water.
i couldn't quite imagine what urbana would look like. it looks like the video (blue lights, everything) but only better. 22,000 students, though overwhelming, can look quite beautiful when they all look, sound, act, dress, and worship differently.
"do not despair!"
my usual state of mind is one of despair. something annoys me, then it annoys me daily, then it practically consumes me. but i am reminded of God's praiseworthy grace so that it need not be so. i came in asking a lot of questions. how come only ~5 companies control almost all of the media in the u.s.? how can i deal with the hopelessness that environmental degradation presents? how is it that i can choose from 7 meats during christmas dinner while another woman in sri lanka is thankful for a bowl of porridge? how come we are so spoiled that we flush drinkable, clean water down the toilet?
yet Christ sits above all powers and principalities in this world. He has ultimate control; the rest is under his feet. yet, He makes it so that we make the body of Christ full--we are not just useless limbs. He uses us, mobilizes us to pursue the true and right Kingdom.
one of my thoughts as i watched the introductory "calling" video was that i don't think my calling is to be a chemist, doctor, or businessperson. i think i want to mobilize people--to use my gifts in leadership to do so.
getting your knees wet
one important thing about urbana is that it will be life-changing. another important thing to note is that it's not necessary to remember every detail of what so-and-so said, or to remember exactly what i shared on such-and-such night. it's to know that God was present at that time, and that He called me to a greater purpose. in a story that jim tebbe told about a class he took, he talked about how he his professor made everyone go on a field trip to see a monument about the american foreign mission movement on the campus of williams college. he didn't remember who he was with, what he talked about that day, or even what the class was really about, but he remembered kneeling at the monument (as he was told by his prof), smelling the damp air, and getting his knees wet. that's what urbana is going to be. it's me, going to this large, overwhelming conferece, not knowing everyone and not remembering everything, but getting my knees wet.
what i hope
on the first night, we were asked in our family group (sophia, betsy, melissa, crystal) to share what we hoped God would do during urbana. "Lord, I want you to reveal to me a specific
calling, whether it be for the near future or for 30 years from now; to compel me to make a commitment, perhaps publicly, to serve You in that way."
slum communities
one really great thing about the slum communities track is that they have to live as if they were in a slum to experience solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world who have little to nothing. sara and louann only have one dirty 5 gallon bucket of water to use for the whole week (bathing, brushing teeth, etc.) this is to experience what its like to have little water, and to recognize the value of clean (and available) water.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
it draws near
"The university is the clear-cut fulcrum with which to move the world. The problem here is for the church to realize that no greater service can it render both itself and the cause of the gospel, with which it is entrusted, than to try to recapture the universities for Christ on whom they were all originally founded….More potently than by any other means, change the university and you change the world." - Charles Habib Malik
My Urbana announcement to my home church:
My Urbana announcement to my home church:
It has been said that if you "change the university, you change the world.” This Wednesday, 22,000 university students will come together for five days in St. Louis for the 21st Urbana student missions conference. There, students will be making decisions that will impact their college—and the world—for Christ. They will be discerning God’s calling through speakers, small groups, prayer, and seminars that include topics such as Mission through the Lens of AIDS, An Asian Perspective on Missions, and The Workplace & Academia. They will leave, hopefully, with a better and broader understanding of how to serve God with their whole lives—on how to bring His justice and mercy to wherever they are sent, whether in the U.S. or abroad.
As Christmas draws near, we think about how Jesus was sent by his Father to live on earth as Christ incarnate, God in the flesh. In turn, we remember his commission in John 20: “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
Please pray that these things would be true for the 3 RCCC students that are going to Urbana. Thank you.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
it won't be anonymous
people nowadays love being anonymous. maybe it has always been that way. though its rather dangerous and risky to vulnerably write personally on the internet about touchy topics, i think i want it to be read, and i think i want it to have a name and a place. i think jo and ann arbor are sufficient.
after spending time with la talking about our parents, our high school relationships, and who we used to be, i'm finding that digging through those areas of my life are bringing me a step closer towards acceptance and forgiveness for past grievances. (how much it is that we grieve!) i believe i was ashamed to be a woman, though at the time i might not have admitted it. look at past entries in my blog; look at the ideologies that seeped and sunk into me when i should have celebrated who i was as a child of God. the consequences have even affected my physical self... look at my posture.
i read a good article from the urbana website about the damage of pornography. sometimes i wonder why it even exists, and then sometimes i buy into the message and ideology of our culture. i think it makes me even more ashamed of my self and body.
"Free-speech advocates cast pornography as the harmless and artistic appreciation of the female body and even as liberation for women. A simple listing of popular porn DVD titles alone – unworthy of being printed here – should sufficiently put such fantasies to rest. Porn today is far more intense, far more accessible, far more violent, and, yes, far more chauvinistic than anything we’ve had before, and we as a society are in denial.
this makes me very sad, and indignant. i wish that men and women would learn. and then i wish that i would repent of any such sin.
http://www.urbana.org/resources.biblio.detail.cfm?RecordId=783
after spending time with la talking about our parents, our high school relationships, and who we used to be, i'm finding that digging through those areas of my life are bringing me a step closer towards acceptance and forgiveness for past grievances. (how much it is that we grieve!) i believe i was ashamed to be a woman, though at the time i might not have admitted it. look at past entries in my blog; look at the ideologies that seeped and sunk into me when i should have celebrated who i was as a child of God. the consequences have even affected my physical self... look at my posture.
i read a good article from the urbana website about the damage of pornography. sometimes i wonder why it even exists, and then sometimes i buy into the message and ideology of our culture. i think it makes me even more ashamed of my self and body.
"Free-speech advocates cast pornography as the harmless and artistic appreciation of the female body and even as liberation for women. A simple listing of popular porn DVD titles alone – unworthy of being printed here – should sufficiently put such fantasies to rest. Porn today is far more intense, far more accessible, far more violent, and, yes, far more chauvinistic than anything we’ve had before, and we as a society are in denial.
Let it be said loud and clear: pornography is not harmless entertainment. It warps people’s perception of reality, makes men less compassionate toward women, damages people’s ability to relate to others, and isolates people from each other. It’s all out there in the scientific literature, should anyone care to read up on the facts.
Early studies of pornography’s impact on consumers were so conclusive in measuring real psychological damage to the research subjects – and this in the far more benign pornographic climate of the pre-internet days – that researchers have a hard time getting new research past ethics boards. Who is going to fund research with human subjects that is certain to damage the subjects for life?
Porn is not a laughing matter. It is the objectification of women and increasingly children. It damages user and used alike. Pornography damages our prospects at normal relationships, short-circuits boys’ and men’s emotional skills, and devastates girls’ and women’s self-images. The truth is out there, should we care to learn."
this makes me very sad, and indignant. i wish that men and women would learn. and then i wish that i would repent of any such sin.
http://www.urbana.org/resources.biblio.detail.cfm?RecordId=783
Monday, May 15, 2006
exude
as i begin to read The Beloved Community, waves of joy overcome my whole being. memories resurface: in the past, when i would tire of the issue of race, my motivation to continue the crusade (for that's really what it felt like...) would come from historical counts of racism, violence, shame, and fear. what a supply for anger and mistrust! now my motivation to pursue justice and mercy comes from Love, in the purest sense of the word (God, who is Love), it beckons me to chase after His Kingdom and beloved community. this is what it feels like to be pursuing what is good and right, to be motivated by something that screams that God is good, His Will is good, and His Word is good. when i desire to be sent, to get up and go. by grace and in grace, i love and worship Him all the more.