its been a while once again
a lot has gone on since i last updated i do believe. school started and all that glorious brewhaha. real quick ill say--- i like my intro to Islam class and my Orthodox Christianity class, but my New Testament class is horrible. the prof is an ex-Christian who is bent on making us think that Christianity is made up. the class is barely even about the New Testament. it makes me sad bc im sure there are ppl in teh class who actually wanted to learn but dont know enough to realize htat htis guy is full of crap. so if youre a Penn Stater def dont take a religious studies class with Petersen.
Tomorrow at church (ive been regularly attending Holy Trinity Orthodox Church this year) I am officially enrolled as a catechumen. This is basicaly the process of learning about the faith and what not that one must go through in order to become Orthodox, but I may leave at any time if I find something I cannot accept. So anyhoo, Im really excited about this. Its funny, bc like a year ago when I first went to the Orthodox church i was like "Im never going there again, thats way too Catholic for me", but then i actually learned about them (and the Catholic church) and realized that they really do know what theyre talking about, and i now recognize the Orthodox Church as the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The Lord certainly works in mysterious ways, does He not? Whereas i once thought the traditions of the Catholics and Orthodox were pointless and dead, I now find myself quite excited to become a part of such a beautiful, unbroken Tradition that has kept God's Word consistent since the day of Pentecost. Booyah! If im ready in time I guess Ill be baptized on Pascha (Easter) this coming year! hooopefully my parents will come for it.
So i have to give a shout out to Gary, the Willard Preacher on this one. I never even heard of Orthodox before him and I thought he was crazy when it came to his views on denominations, but hten I actually took some time and listened to him, adn did my own research and realized he was right. Thanks Gary! i know a lot of Christian students out there disapprove of what Gary is doing at Willard but I must say, just since last semester I have seen great fruits come out of his ministry. Both my friend Shane and I are becoming catechumens tomorrow, and several other kids have started regularly hanging around Willard and coming to OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) and there are several regular arguers/debaters who stick around almost every day who we (Gary and his faithful disciples haha) have great opportunities to witness to. Gary really gets people thinking and a lot of those ppl who stick around to argue bc they think hes insane end up respecting him, whether they come to agree or not. Just in the past 3 weeks i have made several new friends out there and had opportunities to invite them to dinner and/or OCF and what not, and theres pleeeenty of time left to talk to those who disagree. sure Gary says some ridiculous things, but he gets people thinking and it gets the message out. and if someone is turned off to Christianity just by Gary, then they werent interested anyways. He's also a really good example of just trusting in God to get by.... preaching at Willard is his job. thats it. he gets by on donations from month to month. he has raised a really great family on faith, and Im glad he's out there serving God.
on another note: the album Moondance by Van Morrison is the best ever, and Into the Mystic is the best song. This album is peeeeeeerfect for absolutely any occasion, any emotion, any season, any anything. its sweet!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Tomorrow at church (ive been regularly attending Holy Trinity Orthodox Church this year) I am officially enrolled as a catechumen. This is basicaly the process of learning about the faith and what not that one must go through in order to become Orthodox, but I may leave at any time if I find something I cannot accept. So anyhoo, Im really excited about this. Its funny, bc like a year ago when I first went to the Orthodox church i was like "Im never going there again, thats way too Catholic for me", but then i actually learned about them (and the Catholic church) and realized that they really do know what theyre talking about, and i now recognize the Orthodox Church as the One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The Lord certainly works in mysterious ways, does He not? Whereas i once thought the traditions of the Catholics and Orthodox were pointless and dead, I now find myself quite excited to become a part of such a beautiful, unbroken Tradition that has kept God's Word consistent since the day of Pentecost. Booyah! If im ready in time I guess Ill be baptized on Pascha (Easter) this coming year! hooopefully my parents will come for it.
So i have to give a shout out to Gary, the Willard Preacher on this one. I never even heard of Orthodox before him and I thought he was crazy when it came to his views on denominations, but hten I actually took some time and listened to him, adn did my own research and realized he was right. Thanks Gary! i know a lot of Christian students out there disapprove of what Gary is doing at Willard but I must say, just since last semester I have seen great fruits come out of his ministry. Both my friend Shane and I are becoming catechumens tomorrow, and several other kids have started regularly hanging around Willard and coming to OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) and there are several regular arguers/debaters who stick around almost every day who we (Gary and his faithful disciples haha) have great opportunities to witness to. Gary really gets people thinking and a lot of those ppl who stick around to argue bc they think hes insane end up respecting him, whether they come to agree or not. Just in the past 3 weeks i have made several new friends out there and had opportunities to invite them to dinner and/or OCF and what not, and theres pleeeenty of time left to talk to those who disagree. sure Gary says some ridiculous things, but he gets people thinking and it gets the message out. and if someone is turned off to Christianity just by Gary, then they werent interested anyways. He's also a really good example of just trusting in God to get by.... preaching at Willard is his job. thats it. he gets by on donations from month to month. he has raised a really great family on faith, and Im glad he's out there serving God.
on another note: the album Moondance by Van Morrison is the best ever, and Into the Mystic is the best song. This album is peeeeeeerfect for absolutely any occasion, any emotion, any season, any anything. its sweet!
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.