True Religion

I don't think of myself as an admirable person. I am very aware of my many flaws, very aware of my sinful tendencies, and very aware of that I am not nearly as spiritual as those around me. In the community in which I live, I go day in and day out with great Christian people. I feel very uncomfortable most of time.

Everyday I wonder if what I'm doing is what God wants. I still don't know. Everyday I fight with myself to make sure I'm not taking the easy way out, everyday I fight not to be selfish, everyday I fight myself to love other people, to not feel forgotten, to draw from the Word and somehow, in this, become more spiritual. I fail everyday.

Once upon a time I met a man named G.Q. G.Q. was an honest man- very bright, honest man, he knew a lot about a lot of things, and he especially liked learning about old, religious guys. They were his specialty. He studied these old, religious guys a lot. He studied their family, their schooling, anyone who interacted with them, and....their writings. As a matter of fact, he made me study their writing too. And boy, have I been thankful...

What is true religion? Is it having a grip on yourself and what you're doing with your life? Is it the spiritual aura that one lets off (or doesn't) when they walk into a room? Is it having Bible verses come to mind? Is it being jazzed up for Jesus, having peace before God, having your hair catch on fire? Is it being able to praise or having an appearance of love? Yes? No. No. No....No.

We cannot rightfully judge our spiritual standing based on these things. All of these can be manipulated [by us!] and we cannot really base this judgment on it. It can't be certain...I know I don't trust myself.

True religion is God's work. It's out of our capacity to control and manipulate. It can't be self-generated. It must be in God and towards God. It's one that sees God as He is-God centered-ness. True religion is loving God and neighbor. Only he can initiate that in us.

Hypocrites love to glory in themselves- in their experiences- loving to talk about themselves rather than God. Martin Luther call this the curve of the self into the self. Christianity is and inside out, theocentric kind of deal.

Our job is to read the word and wait. Assurance comes from practice. Over time we will be more sure that we really do love God. The thorn in the flesh will be there right along with us. Giving an increasing awareness of our sinfulness- humbling us, but the elect will persevere.

You're not a Christian because you feel like one. You don't always.

Thoughts on Colossians

Colossians 1:3-14, "We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints because of the hope you have laid up in heaven.............and so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.....He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. "

Phew...

Paul, ol Paul, he is just so darn godly and ....sets such a good example...all the time. Come on, Paul! He never leaves any room to wiggle. He's generally pretty cut and dry. Doesn't leave you hangin'. Doesn't leave you in suspense. Just lays it out there.

One of my favorite doctrines in all of Protestant doctrinal land is the doctrine of adoption. I looooove adoption. I love all the comes along with adoption. Not that I don't love justification and sanctification and the others just as much, it's just that adoption makes me feel all warm and happy on the inside and I'm a girl, so I'm allowed to do that. :-) I love knowing that God views me as his daughter. I love knowing that his love is unconditional. I love knowing that he's never going to toss me out on the curb like he should everyday. And I love knowing that I have brothers and sisters that he loves just the same and who I get to be with on earth and fellowship and grow with and serve with and love. I love that I'm able to make friends with people who I have nothing in this whole wide world in common with besides Jesus and can have wonderful, deep, sincere, lasting, real relationships with. I love it. There's nothing like it.

In this passage, Paul is getting a little into this stuff. When I think about this passage, I picture Paul, hanging out where ever he happens to be at the time, writing letters to churches in different cities, being faithful to the job that God gave him, and someone coming up to him one day and saying, "Hey Paul. You hear about the Colossians?" Then Paul replies, "Nah. What happened?" "It's great news! It's amazing! The Colossians received Jesus' Gospel! They've come to faith! And you know what? They really have a love for the saints. It's awesome." Now Paul, extatic about all he just heard, jumps up and down, raises the roof, lets out some "woo hoos" and praises God for the Colossians' faith. Then he commits to praying for them. He prays that they'll grow in spiritual understanding, increase in their knowledge of God, bear good fruit, walk worthy of the calling for which they were called and be thanking God for what he did for them.

This is family at it's best. This is love. This is an example that we can follow and it is very practical. When I think of the people that God has put me with in this phase of life, there are a select few things that I deep down wish for them. 1. That they'll grow in spiritual understand and knowledge for God. 2. That they'll bear good fruit. 3. That they'll walk worthy of the calling they were given. 4. That they'll love God, be passionate about Him, and live in gratitute. I hope that they wish the same for me too. These are the essentials. Cut and dry, this is what life's all about. What better service can we do for our brothers in sisters than to ask for this things for them? Scripture affirms that prayers are answered only after they've been asked.

We can follow in the footstep of ol' Paul and commit to praying for the growth of our family. We can be committed to investing in our brothers and sisters and being a part of these things coming out. We can watch the beauty unfold and there's few things greater.

In for the long haul

Have you ever thought about how many people you have been in relationship with during your life? A lot. Every time I come home I run into someone who I hadn't even thought of in years. This weekend was Lucas Davilla. While walking out of the store Thanksgiving morning, a big tattooed kid jumped out of the drivers seat of a car in the parking lot. After a warm greeting of "Hey! I know this (fill in with choice words :-) ). Give a brotha some love!!" and I did a little catching up with him. I worked with him for 2 years in high. During those two years I spent more time with him than my family and any of my friends. He was a punk, but I liked him. We spent many evenings discussing how awful it would be if your body happened to get sent through the pizza oven and many evenings watching him see what different kinds of kitchen utensils he could stick through his gauged earlobes-among other things. Two years was spent building a relationship with Lucas and then one day it was all gone and not thought of for years.

He was just one. Most relationships are like ...grass. They are there one day, then wither away. New ones come. We don't notice it and most times, it's no big deal. Relationships are in a constant flux as we go through different phases of life. I have noticed, however, that there is one kind of relationship that just does not work like this. If there is a flop in the bond somewhere, the relationship just doesn't end. It can't be replaced by another person. It cannot just be left in the dark. It's different.

When God created each individual person, he placed them in this inescapable, relational unit with people who have an unbreakable attachment to them. The Fam. There is nothing like it. I have never met a person who has not gone an extended period of time without thought of their mom or without though of their dad or their brothers and sister. My dad's mom died 30 years ago and he still thinks about her all the time. My little guy that I've been watching for 3 yrs will grow up, having never met his birth parents and having a one in a billion chance of coming across them some day, and wonder why they left him dumpster when he was born. We can't get out of them. We can't get rid of them. We can't forget them. They're our family. They're a blessing. Make the most of them. If they're a good one- praise God and enjoy. If they aren't so much, make the most of it. It's hard. It takes time. It takes work. It's worth the work. It's worth the time. It's the only one you'll get.

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was, and is, and is to come. With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings. You are my everything and I will adore you."

As the words of Isaiah 6 are reflected in the song above and as the song proceeds in exalting God almighty and leading the singer into an area of vertical worship perse..... a sense of purpose fills in. The authors choice of words in the creation of this song encompass the entirety of man's purpose in life. Saying that the ENTIRETY of man's purpose in life are reflected in these words seems a bit risky, right? Nope. It's all there. Whoever can sing this song with a genuine heart and live it...has it all together. God is the definition of holy. God is worthy of all our praise and adoration. We must adore and worship God. That's really all there is to it. Infatuation with the King of the universe. Not to say that other things don't play out as a result, because they do, but this is the essence of it all.

It is beautiful to see how this plays out. The diversity of the body of Christ is so huge and the means by which God's children worship and adore is simply beautiful. Song, art, writing, living, preaching, many more, but all worship. All as equally glorifying.

This is really all that matters. Other things we may think are important and deserve attention and fuss really aren't. Nothing is as big of a deal as we make it. Worship is what's truly important. Are we worshipping? Are we leading others to worship and adore? Hmm?

So...

I dont think the blogging is going to work this summer. I was hoping to be able to upload pictures and stuff, but alas, there is no wifi and the computer wont read my jump drive. So...to make up for it...if you would like updates, I will be emailing them at the end of every week. So just leave me your email address in a comment and I will send them to you.

Thanks!

27 hours...

... and we'll be on our way.

Well, I lied...

...the next post Isn't going to be from Japan. It's made from Moody. I'm sitting here on my bed in my packed dorm room, roommateless, and thinking "wow, this is the first time that I'm going to be away from Moody for more than a week or so since the summer of my freshman year." The work has always been here so this is where I've been. My good friend and summer RA just inspected my room (and it is clean enough to eat off of may I add!), signed my departure slip and we said our goodbyes...and I was sad. I do love her a lot and I'm going to miss her. Then I thought back to my summer roommate of two short weeks and thought of all fun we had during our time together, all the great conversations we had before we went to bed and I was thinking of how I miss her too. This got me thinking to two phone conversations that I had earlier in the week with two people who I love and who are very special to me and a hard goodbye that I had to make on Saturday and I thought of how much I've missed these people since I saw them last. I really do miss them deeply.

I'm fascinated with the doctrine of adoption. To think that God not only make provision for our sin, has declared us as righteous in His eyes, gives us the promise of eternal life in Heaven, loves us with an unending love, but also has adopted us into His family.

Galatian 4:4-6 "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

Looking into the concept of adoption in Bible times and even today brings light to this topic. When one is adopted, they are specifically chosen by their new parents and are made like these parents' own child. They received all the rights and benefits of being in this family on a legal standpoint and a love one as well. It's really a beautiful picture.

Then to think this is what we have with God. He has chosen His children specifically and brought them into His family. Children of God received the love and affection of the Father, the Father's inheritance, the discipline of the Father, and many brothers and sisters as well.

Why do I want to be with all these people and others you ask? All the girls that I mentioned above are part of my family. We have the most important thing in the world in common and this is what our relationship consists of. Ephesians 4:15-16 says that when the body of Christ is functioning properly it builds itself up in love. I am blessed to be a part of this body and this family; to have been built up by some many different people in love. I'm thankful that this family confronts me on my character, challenges me to think deeply, has forgiven me quickly, stretches me, and has been a means that God has used to grow me up in Him. I love it.

I also think it's cool how when you meet another Christian you automatically have an instant connection with them. You have the family feel right from the start.

I'm excited to see this in Japan. I'm looking forward to meeting my family there, serving alongside them, and seeing Eph. 4:15-16. Family, one of God's many blessings.

6 days.

The Best Day and a Week from Tomorrow.

This day was the best day of my whole summer so far. I know there haven't been too many, but it was a great day nontheless. My roommate of the past 3 years and one of my closest friends for the past 7 was married. One of the most beautiful weddings I've been to and it was for two of the best people I know. It was such a joyful day!

We are leaving a week from tomorrow! It's hard to believe it's already here. The wedding always seemed so far off and now that it's over Japan is creeping on us quickly! Anna and I had a prep talk last week and it looks like we have just about everything we are going to need.

I just want to thank all of you again who have supported me and who are going to be praying for me this summer. I couldn't be doing this without you and you are all a huge blessing.

The next post will probably be made from Japan!

Melissa

15 DAYS

Here we are...waiting for 15 days to pass...

It's coming fast!

- It is official. Anna and I will be working together this summer. We'll even be living together in our own little house about a 15min walk from the church. This I am excited for.

- We're pretty much all set to go...just need to wait...and then go.

- But first, we each have to make it through a wedding. Anna's brother's and my Carrie's.

FYI- Don't watch the movie Taken with your parents before leaving to go overseas. It makes them nervous.

25 Days.....

....and we'll be on our way.

Praise God that....

- Anna and I have all our financials support in
- We have double/triped/ who knows our prayer support goals
- We all have plane tickets
- We have curriculum and other teaching resources
- We are still alive after finals
- We do not have swine flu! - which Japan is doing some serious screening for in the airports

I know that sometimes we pray for things and it is easy to overlook how often God answers our prayers. These things here are not hugely critical things, but they are good. Scripture says that all good and perfect things come from above. All of them. Look at all the good in your life; any good thing you have done...Praise Him!

Please pray this week...
- For Janet from WorldVenture who will be meeting with the pastors from the Japanese churches in the next few days. They're going to be working on our internship details together and hopefully getting a final location for Anna (I personally am praying that she'll be with me...but that's just me). It's pretty important that she gets her placement soon so she can turn in all her paperwork to the school and get the rest of her planning done.

- Pray that God will be preparing Park, Anna, and I for the task we have this summer, for our students, and that we would be able to work effectively alongside the Japanese chuch.

Thanks!

Melissa

A Sense of Completion

Class is done. Thank goodness.

This has been one of the most challenging semesters I've had at Moody so far. The work load was just intense. I don't mind this much. I enjoy school and I really enjoy what I've been studying and learning, but it takes up a lot of time. I'd much rather cut out a little of the work and have a built in coffee date every week with my girls so I can keep up with how they're doing and have fellowship with them. This would be Melissa's ideal world :-) Guess you just have to make due with what you get.

This week the Lord conventiently brought in the rest of the support for Japan in time for me to ship it all off to Colorado. His timing is beautiful. Thanks to all of you have have prayed over this matter the last few months! I cannot even fully express my gratitude for you.

A lot of the Japan planning has been coming to a close. I have all my support and I believe Anna is close if not fully supported. The two of us met this week with our beloved TESOL prof, Mr. C, and he helped us draw out a game plan to teach from for the summer and even let us borrow some of his curriculum. What a guy! We're still unsure of Anna's location for the summer (the last we heard it seemed that there would be a chance that we'd be together, but we'll see) and we still don't have plane tickets yet. After all this gets set, we should be good to go! Just have to take some finals, get my roommate married, and then we're off!

I've been thankful for some extra babysitting time the last few weeks. This is summer is going to be my longest time away from the little man and I've been realizing how much I'm going to miss him! These are a few pictures from the last few days.

You've never seen a cuter Cambodian boy, have you?

Melissa

A New Source of Protein....

I entered my Intercultural Communication class today with a stomch full from SDR tacos and still plenty of coffee left over from the morning to find that my professor had brought us a little snack. As she spooned a few little brown balls into our mouths, she restrained from telling us what this little things were. As a class we chewed and talked about what we thought these things were. They had a very unique taste and we all agreed that they tasted a bit like a lake. We all finished chewing and the true identity of these brown balls were revealed. They were in fact silk worms, a common snack in some parts of China. Now I know that I can indeed stomach a silk worm if ever offered one.

I got all my paperwork and a schedule back from Japan this week. The plans turned out to be a bit different than I thought, but I'm excited. I'm going to be teaching Enghlish as an outreach for the Kaminoyama Bible Baptist Church in Kaminoyama Yamagata Japan. Also unlike I was expecting, I'll be going there alone. We weren't going to be able to get the required 72 hours of teaching time in for the three of us in one location, so we had to split up. Park is going to be teaching in a church right near Tokyo. I'm going to be in Kaminoyama which is a few hours northeast of Tokyo, and they still don't have a location for Anna yet. Pray that they will be able to get a location for her soon! I'm still hoping that they'll work out a way to have us in the same place, but we'll see...

I'm pretty excited about what I'm going to be doing at the church. The church currently is running a kindergarten class so I will be teaching them some English and the church is soon going to open registration for summer ESL classes. This is a way for the church to be involved with people in the community. I've been thinking a bit about my role and what my teaching is actually going to do in the long run and it made me see how important of a job it is. For the beginning at least, I'm going to be the representative of the church that these students will interact with. I'm only going to be there for two months. Right now I'm praying that God will use me as a means to connect my students with the local church in Kaminoyama and also that my Christian witness will be stong in my teaching and that I will be the aroma of Jesus Christ to my students.

I'm currently have over three times my goal in prayer support and I'm at 80% in my financial support...I'm psyched about this. It's all due May 10th. Please pray that the last 20% comes in on time. This is my first time going on a mission trip and it really has been a blessing to see the body of Christ come around me in prayer and support. I've been truly encouraged in the process and I feel as if I'm being sent off really well. Thanks!!!

Melissa

*Side note prayer request-I need to have the money for my first two school bill payments for July and August in my bank account before I leave so I'm looking for a little extra work to show up before then.

Please Pray!

We had a change of plans with some of the plans in Japan. The trip coordinators in Japan are working hard to get locations and teaching hours finalized for us. Please pray that God will give them guidance and that the plans will be set. We should have all our info by the end of the week!

Melissa

My Class

This is my English class at the Indo American Center. They're a good group of people. They're mostly from India, Pakistan, and Nepal (except the white girl in front...she's Ula my teaching partner) and they're in the highest level of English classes. We're working a lot now on refining their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. It's been a blast getting to know them this semester and I'm looking forward to being with them in the fall as well.

On another note...

Now is the time where my advisors at Moody are really wanting all of the details of our internships hammered out. We've been doing a lot of paperwork and stuff, but we're still missing a lot of the information they want on our internships. We still don't have dates, tickets, exact location and cirriculum set in stone yet. Theres a lot of ideas, but nothing quite certain. My teammates and I are in a period of waiting since WorldVenture is still waiting to hear from the field about all of this...and then the information will stream through quite a few people before it gets to us. Please be in prayer over this.

Also, praise the Lord! I got a large gift toward my trip this weekend and it put me at having 60% of my financial needs met! I am psyched about this. I still have a ways to go and only 19 days to get there. Please pray for this too.

Also, please pray that the Lord will be preparing us for this summer- that we will love well, teach well, and that we will be faithful in the duties He has given us.

Thanks,

Melissa

Time

4 weeks left of school. It's hard to believe....it's also hard to believe how much there is to do in those 4 weeks.

6 weeks from Saturday I'll be standing next to my best friend watching her get married.

56 days -If all goes according to plan, I 'll be getting a plane in 56 days to fly to Asia.

It is going to be an wonderfully eventful 2 months. Difficult and emotionally challenging may I add, but wonderful.

We're kind of at a standstill with the internship stuff. Haven't gotten tickets yet. Don't have dates, teaching sites/contexts, etc set in stone yet. Just waiting.

If you would, could you pray for these things? It would be nice to have things lined up soon so we can work on preparing.

Also, by May 10th Anna, Park, and I need to have 100% of our support in. I'm currently at 31%. Three weeks will fly by. Could you pray for this too?

We know it's all in the Lord's hands.

Thanks and blessings,

Melissa

WooHoo!

Just a week ago I was surprised to hear that I needed to raise $1000 dollars by about now and I was amazed to see how the Lord provided just shy of that amount by today. It was incredible. All throughout the week I had a variety of different people talk to me about my internship and then say that they wanted to support me prayerfully and financially. I even have one person tell me that they had been saving since the beginning of the school year for it. I was so encouraged this week to see God's work through the body of Christ and I feel blessed by all the support I'm going to have when we leave. Also, I had a goal of having two people pray for me every day of the week while I'm goin and I have almost double the prayer support that I'm looking for! Praise God!

Please be in prayer for....

The rest of the $3500 each of us need to raise to come in.

That we would know what level of student we will be teaching so we can plan accordingly and get the supplies we need before we leave. This may not seem too important, but it really is!

We will probably be buying plane tickets this week...it would be nice if we could find some cheap ones!

That the Lord will be preparing Anna, Park, and I for what He has for us this summer

Thanks!

Melissa

A New Update

This past Thursday our Missions coaches from WorldVenture were hanging out at Moody so Anna, Park, and I were able to meet up with them. It was a really good time and we were actually able to call the missions coordinator in Japan with them and get a lot of info on the trip and what were're going to be doing over there. We felt very informed when we left. I'll post that info once it's all solidified, but I do have one prayer request. World Venture is asking that each of us have $1,000 in our accounts at the end of the week so we can purchase plane tickets. I was a little surprised at the short amount of time we have, but I do know that God is sovereign over even every penny that floats around this world...so pray that they end up in our accounts! Thanks and I'll keep ya posted as I get informed.

Melissa

Internship Update

I finally got my prayer letters typed up and sent out this weekend! It's actually starting feel like we're making some progress on getting things set up and ready to go. I was surprised even today to see the Lord working through the process and seeing prayer partners and support coming in already. I still don't have information on the "when, where exactly, how much, how long exactly," but I'll pass the word on when I get it. The missionaries on the field on hard at work setting it all up for the 3 of us going. In the meantime, however, if you think of me could you pray for

1. The logistics and finances for our trip to come together
2. That Park, Anna, and I would be able to finish the semester strong and be all ready to go early June
3. For the missionaries we'll be serving with (because they're going to have to put up with the the three of us alll summer :-) and for those who we'll be meeting and making friends with...that God would be softening they're hearts even now.

Thanks!

Things are coming along...

This is my first post ever! How exciting. Today I got my first email from my Japan trip coordinator and I'm getting very excited about the trip! I'm just finishing up my prayer letter now and hope to have them all mailed out by the end of the week!