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| "There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
~Nelson Mandella, 'A Long Walk to Freedom'
That's how I have felt (since the middle of the summer) that this school semester would be for me. Finding out how much Bryan has changed me, but more applicably how I am changing away from Bryan. I'm getting ready to move on...
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| "In Genesis 2 -
"adam" is invited to name creation. The desire to name the emerging church
could thus be part of our God-given ability to use language to describe
and understand. While “adam” named creation, yet no companion was found.
“Adam” remained incomplete. A certain humility is therefore intrinsic
to naming. To name is not an act of limitation, but an act of partiality,
part of a search for completeness."
--Steve Taylor, "A to Z of the Emerging Church"
http://www.emergingchurch.info/reflection/stevetaylor/index.htm
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| I did an Exegetical Paper today. Ephesians is quite a book. You should read the whole thing in one sitting some time--it won't take you long and it might just rock your world. Anyways, here's the "application" section of my paper. Thoughts that don't quite capture the whole thing, but I thought 14 pages might be a little much. 
In our world our struggle is not so much feeling inferior because
we are Gentiles in the church, but we struggle to grasp the equality and necessity of all people in
the church of Christ. Sometimes in our American world it’s very
easy to live for an extended period of time without coming in contact with
people who are very different from ourselves. When that happens we can slip
into a mode of thinking that’s very dangerous—that our church is the
church. We forget that our body of
Christ is not complete without people of all backgrounds, nationalities, and
cultures. It’s very comfortable to be
satisfied with our traditional way of thinking about things, our little rituals
and boxes, but God is so big that he cannot be adequately represented on earth
by one group of people. It takes us all
to form his body here on earth, and we would do well to live in that
truth. That means humility, most of
all. Any bit of his character we do
exhibit comes from his grace and power, and his grace and power flow through
those believers of a different stripe as easily as through ourselves. As we come into contact with beliefs,
values, or traditions that we are not comfortable with we should not
automatically dismiss them. We should
look deeply in the Word, settling for no less than God’s heart on the
matter. It wouldn’t be surprising if
God showed up and revealed more about himself to us through people who are
different.
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| Little children love being chased by Daddy. They run away, they look back and squeal when he catches them. Then they squirm out of his warm embrace and do it again. Why? They love to feel his strength envelop them. They love to know he's bigger and faster and that they can't get away. They love to know that he will come after them, that he's interested, that he loves them. They know it's no use to run and hide; if he wants them he can get them. Their Daddy can tell us a little about our Daddy, I think...
Psalm 139
1O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
5You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
12Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day
Darkness and light are alike to You.
13For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother's womb.
14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
17How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand
When I awake, I am still with You.
(discussion inspired by Dr. Jones)
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| "The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand."
~Psalm 37:23-24
"I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord'
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord."
~Psalm 27:13-14
"Holy Church in her sacraments and her hierarchial appointments, will remain, even to the end of the world, after all but a symbol of those heavenly facts which fill eternithy. Her mysteries are but the expression in human language of thruths to which the human mind is unequal."
~John Henry Cardinal Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua
"'For oh,' say the children, 'we are weary,
And we cannot run or leap;
If we cared for any meadows, it were merely
To drop down in them and sleep.'"
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning, "The Cry of the Children"
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