Deep thoughts from an exceptional night's experience
RUF was wonderful tonight. It's been two weeks since I've seen all these people that I really love as my brothers and sisters in Christ, and it was so exciting to catch up with them again. It's amazing the number of people that God has given to me through RUF. The hymns we sang were some of my favorites, including "The Church's One Foundation" with some of the most uplifting words of any hymn ever written.
The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish
Is with her to the end
...
'Mid toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore
Till, with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest
And the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.
It doesn't get much better than that.
Les's sermon was very good tonight. I didn't quite know how he would discuss the story of Mary breaking the vile of expensive perfume to anoint Jesus, but I loved what he took out of it. He talked about how the gift might have been considered extravagant and seemingly wasteful, but the gift was not as much the perfume but her consuming love for the Lord. She gave so much of what she had to Him to express her love, which was the greatest gift she could give. I don't think I give enough. I don't tithe like I should. I don't sing in church enough. I am going to try to start praying for the gift of generosity, especially with my money. I'm such a tightwad!
So after RUF a bunch of folks had a birthday party for one of my good high school friends, Jay Roberson, who is a senior. I cannot tell you how much I loved spending time with my RUF friends, especially the upperclassmen. As much as I love my Honors College buds, I can get really, really uncomfortable around them, and I just don't have that with the RUF folks. I'm going to be perfectly frank: over spring break I was tempted constantly and there were so many secular slaps in my face. Dylan was constantly smoking, Mark insisted on drinking that stupid beer in front of me, and there was definitely cursing among the guys. As much as I love the girls, there were too many guy issues present. I need a break from all this boy craziness, and that's totally what I got tonight. I was surrounded by guys that I would marry - they don't drink, smoke, or cuss, but they are so much fun to be around and truly love the Lord. I loose sight of the wonderful men that God has created and in my sinfulness sometimes lower my standards in the desire for what the world calls "love". Nights like tonight just remind me that God created my Dad, Les Newsome, Sam Smith, and other men that I really admire, and that He has created a man like them to someday be my husband.
And the girls, what can I say? They are the most welcoming, goofy, insightful role models for me - they are too much fun to be around, but they don't live by the world's standards of what's cool or "normal". They are such amazing Christians, and their love for me overwhelms me. I'm so excited to be roomming next to Becca, because I know she and Deanna will keep me focused on God's standards, not man's. I am so grateful to Christ for giving me Becca, Vanessa, Carrie, Caroline, Emily, Bethann, and everyone else.
So tonight's journal is pretty deep, but I just wanted to share with whichever brave soul is reading this that I am not going to allow myself to be held to the world's standards, because as the old country song says, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passin' through...and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."
Roger, over and out.
The church shall never perish!
Her dear Lord to defend,
To guide, sustain, and cherish
Is with her to the end
...
'Mid toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore
Till, with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest
And the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.
It doesn't get much better than that.
Les's sermon was very good tonight. I didn't quite know how he would discuss the story of Mary breaking the vile of expensive perfume to anoint Jesus, but I loved what he took out of it. He talked about how the gift might have been considered extravagant and seemingly wasteful, but the gift was not as much the perfume but her consuming love for the Lord. She gave so much of what she had to Him to express her love, which was the greatest gift she could give. I don't think I give enough. I don't tithe like I should. I don't sing in church enough. I am going to try to start praying for the gift of generosity, especially with my money. I'm such a tightwad!
So after RUF a bunch of folks had a birthday party for one of my good high school friends, Jay Roberson, who is a senior. I cannot tell you how much I loved spending time with my RUF friends, especially the upperclassmen. As much as I love my Honors College buds, I can get really, really uncomfortable around them, and I just don't have that with the RUF folks. I'm going to be perfectly frank: over spring break I was tempted constantly and there were so many secular slaps in my face. Dylan was constantly smoking, Mark insisted on drinking that stupid beer in front of me, and there was definitely cursing among the guys. As much as I love the girls, there were too many guy issues present. I need a break from all this boy craziness, and that's totally what I got tonight. I was surrounded by guys that I would marry - they don't drink, smoke, or cuss, but they are so much fun to be around and truly love the Lord. I loose sight of the wonderful men that God has created and in my sinfulness sometimes lower my standards in the desire for what the world calls "love". Nights like tonight just remind me that God created my Dad, Les Newsome, Sam Smith, and other men that I really admire, and that He has created a man like them to someday be my husband.
And the girls, what can I say? They are the most welcoming, goofy, insightful role models for me - they are too much fun to be around, but they don't live by the world's standards of what's cool or "normal". They are such amazing Christians, and their love for me overwhelms me. I'm so excited to be roomming next to Becca, because I know she and Deanna will keep me focused on God's standards, not man's. I am so grateful to Christ for giving me Becca, Vanessa, Carrie, Caroline, Emily, Bethann, and everyone else.
So tonight's journal is pretty deep, but I just wanted to share with whichever brave soul is reading this that I am not going to allow myself to be held to the world's standards, because as the old country song says, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passin' through...and I can't feel at home in this world anymore."
Roger, over and out.