Delicious Muffins and other Thoughts about Delightful Nourishment

On my way to math class I had the realization that it was Monday.  Upon realizing this I also remembered that I needed to post a blog.  And so upon arriving to math class an hour early I sat down in the hallway AND.........no ideas came.  Then someone started messaging me and I asked them for an adjective and a noun with the decision that I would blog about whatever he messaged me.  He graciously gave me a noun and an adjective that went together, "Delicious Muffin."

I eat a muffin almost everyday for breakfast.  Sometimes it's a blueberry muffin and other days it's a chocolate-chocolate chip muffin.  Both kinds of muffins are delicious.  However, after nearly a semester of eating nothing but muffins for breakfast, they've become routine.  I easily and unappreciatedly eat my muffin without realizing it's full yummifulness.  I can also become like that in my daily devotionals.  It's very easy to just read a chapter in my devotional book and Bible before I go to bed and not stop to think about it.

But that isn't what God wants me to do.  He wants me to sit down and think about what I'm doing.  He wants me to talk to Him throughout the day.  He asks that I not just read the Bible, but study the Bible as well.  He wants me sit down and think about what I'm reading and why I'm reading it.  It's easy to just read my Bible just like it's easy to eat a muffin, but that muffin has to be digested, and so does the Bible if I actually want to be spiritually nourished.

You see, although digestion isn't a conscious effort, it's still a relatively complicated process that happens in your body.  After you chew(when your teeth crush and break the food to increase surface area to allow your saliva to begin breaking down starch into sugar) you swallow.  Swallowing involves peristalsis, which is a muscular movement allowing you to swallow water while standing on your head (Try it if you want!  I did when I first learned about this....albeit, the librarian thought I was a bit crazy afterwards...).  So in your saliva there are enzymes to break down starch to sugar which is then swallowed with peristalsis and the bolus (the ball of food) is then passed to the stomach!  Then in the stomach the food is broken down farther with gastric acid (composed mostly of Hydrochloric acid).  That sounds simple, right??  But wait!!   When your bolus hits your stomach, there isn't a ton of gastric acid already there.  Why? Because if your body constantly produced Gastric acid you would have the insanely annoying stomach ulcers.  Basically, when your stomach registers that there is food in it, the stomach sends a signal to your body to release the hormone "gastrin" which then tells your body that it's time to produce Gastric acid!  Whew!!  This is complicated and we haven't even absorbed any nutrients yet!

Okay, for the sake of keeping this blog a decent length, I'm going to stop where I am, because I think you get the point.  Digestion can be complicated.  That being said, it happens naturally.  Processing what you're doing when your do a daily Bible reading doesn't come nearly as naturally(at least not for me).  I really have to focus to think about what I'm reading.  Because, afterall, if I am not thinking about, learning about, and letting God convict me through what I'm reading, why am I reading it at all?  From here, I will make it a goal to "digest" my Bible reading.

Living in Reckless Abandonment for Jesucristo,

Jo

P.S. If a blog doesn't happen next week, it's because it's finals week for me.  Enjoy your week!
P.P.S.  Also, if you want more about the digestive system, I recommend a quick google search...I had to in order to remember some of this! :P

What It's all About

I love listening to Pentatonix.  They are a pretty great group to listen to with a semi-unique sound.  With that said, when I listened to this song it really bothered me.  I don't know how much they changed the lyrics compared to other versions of the song because I don't normally listen to a whole lot of Christmas music.  I really hate to pick media apart and this song isn't going to stop me from listening to Pentatonix because I still love their music.  However, while listening to this song I noticed that a huge piece of Christmas  was left out.  Even in their video when they talked individually about what Christmas means, they only mentioned it once.

What was it?

Christmas is someone's birthday.  Christmas is Jesus' birthday.  His birthday is significant for a wide range of reasons.  One of these would be the fulfilling of prophecy.  He was born of a virgin which was prophesied in Isaiah 7:14.  He was born in Bethlehem, which was foretold in Micah 5:2.  Clearly, Jesus, who came with humble beginnings, was the prophesied messiah.  THAT is what Christmas is about for me.  Christmas is about my messiah, my savior, my shepherd, coming to live in this dirty, sinful Earth, so that he could die as the perfect sacrifice as an adult.

As if being born in a barn wasn't humiliating enough for the Son of God, he proceeded to live his life in servant hood and die a willing death for the world's sins even though he had lived a perfect life.  I don't know about you, but I think that my Savior's birth is pretty fanflippingtastically amazing and should be celebrated more than just once a year.  We should be celebrating it every day of our lives.
We should want to show others his love whenever we see them.  We should want to be servants to others around us so that they can experience his love.

Please know that I'm not saying we shouldn't be grateful for gifts and family and snow.  I just think that Christmas is about something much deeper than any of that.  My family can actually tell you that I haven't been super excited for Christmas these past few years, and it really comes down to what Christmas is about.  I am tired of seeing commercials with Santa and toys to buy.  I don't want to decorate a tree that is going to have to be undecorated in a couple of months or buy a toy that will only be broken in an hour.  I want to celebrate the birth of my Savior.  I want to tell others about the significance of his birth, the greater significance of his death, and the Amazing Splendiferousness of his resurrection.

Living in Reckless Abandonment for Jesucristo,

Jo

Pumpkins at 2am

A few weeks ago I had fall break.  The first night that I was back in my hometown, I didn't sleep in my own bed.  Instead, I stayed at my friend's house.  There were a few of us there and we had spent the evening at a corn maze.  Then, after getting back the friend's house, we decided that we needed to do something else with the rest of our night.

We decided to go buy pumpkins.  As it was fall and Halloween had not yet passed we decided that jack-o-lanterns would be the most logical thing to make from our newly-purchased pumpkins.  Of course after we bought them and carved them we needed some place to put them.  We could have put them on my friend's porch, but my friend was headed back to her college the next day, so she wouldn't even be able to enjoy them.  As such, we decided that the best thing to do with our pumpkins was to let someone else enjoy them.  And so, after we had pulled out all of the gook from the inside of the pumpkins and carved a variety of things into our pumpkins, we walked across town with them and left them on the porch of our high school guidance counselor's house.

Something to note is that my hometown is very small.  After it is dark no one really is really around town, so 3 teenage women walking across town carrying carved pumpkins is relatively conspicuous and inconspicuous at the same time.  This is sort of the same concept as a tree falling in the woods making noise if no one is around to hear it.  Basically, if 3 girls are walking around town with carved pumpkins, are they conspicuous? Yes.  But what if no one is there to observe their conspicuousness?  Are they still conspicuous?  I think they are and here is why:

When my guidance counselor looked at her porch the next time, it was going to be very obvious what we had done.  Her small porch was going to be a billboard of the "mischief" that my friends and I had taken part in that night.

But I think that is how we should live our lives.  And no, I don't mean that you should leave pumpkins everywhere you go.  I mean leave a trace of yourself everywhere you've been.  Or more accurately, leave a trace of the light of Jesus everywhere you go.  If you only serve God when people are watching, they'll recognize you as a nice person.  But if you continue serving even when other people aren't around, the world will want to know who is performing these acts of servant hood, and if we're honest with ourselves the answer isn't a person.  It's God.  God will use your talents as a tool to serve others.  And that, is pretty amazing.

Also, here our pumpkins: pumpkin pie, odd face, and a kitty :)

On a separate note, the likelihood of a blog being posted for the next week is slim.  I have 3 exams split between Monday and Tuesday.  As for the week after that, a blog might happen on Tuesday, but I will not make any promises, as I have an exam on Monday.

My Window

I'm not the greatest at poetry, but I spontaneously wrote a poem while avoiding homework and decided to share this unrevised work with you as it is close to the time of week when I blog, and it has some nice parallels.

My Window

During the day, my window is broken.
During the day, my window is cracked.
It is ugly.
Grotesque and hideous, it hides the outdoors from my eyes.
I cannot see the trees through my window.
What good is a window through which one cannot see?
It has no purpose.
You cannot see the beauty beyond.
Twilight comes.
The sun begins to set.
Daylight flares through the cracked pane.
Sunshine streaks the window, illuminating every flaw.
Suddenly, unexpectedly, there is beauty in every blemish.
A spider web of light is refracted throughout the expanse of plasic.
The luminescent design spills into the room.
This beauty is not new.
The beauty always was.
'Twas invisible.
'Twas disguised as something ugly.
But really, the sun has shown me something that always was.
The sun has shown me perfect and unquestionable artistry.
The rays burst through the plastic.
The tree's leaves now glow outside.
I see the beauty outside.
I see the beauty of my window.
The plastic's formerly horrid pattern is cast upon the floor in an alluring splash of daylight.
The beauty shines about the room.
I stand in awe.
My window.
Fractured and Phenomenally Beautiful.



I have one window in my room.  The bottom pane is cracked and flawed.  While studying around dusk today, I turned and looked at my window (not through the window, as I was level with the bottom pane and it's not the clearest thing to look through because of its cracks).  The bottom pane has been cracked since I moved in.  I never really took the time to notice my window, because I just tried to not look through the bottom pane.  However, today, I had my curtains open and was amazed at the power of the sun/son.  He took the gross-looking window pane/pain and turned it into something that was not only beautiful, but could cast an entirely new and more elegant pattern of light throughout the room.  Because that window pane is cracked, it is weaker than the other window panes.  But it can do something that the other two sections of my window can't .  It shows the Son's power and light in ways that I never would have expected.

Living in Reckless Abandonment for Jesucristo,

Jo

Light

Two things before this blog actually begins:
1.  It almost didn't happen.
                   I started to do my Chemistry homework and it turns out I've already completed it.  I don't remember what it covered, but it's done, so I have the time to blog.
2.  Parts of this blog were written last year for a writing assignment that I was given.

At my old elementary school, in fourth grade, you have a homeroom teacher and a reading teacher.  Because of this, for about thirty minutes or an hour each day each student leaves their homeroom teacher's classroom and goes to their reading class. My reading teacher was a fantastic teacher.  She kept us busy reading to us, having us read, assigning interesting projects, and performing skits and plays for the school.  She taught in such a way that you almost didn't realize that you were learning.

Not only was she a great reading teacher because we were always doing and learning something in her reading class, but she also taught my class at "Crusaders Club."  Crusaders Club is a program that happens every Thursday night at the Baptist church in my hometown.  My teacher would patiently teach the small class Bible stories and how to memorize verses.  She would also share stories about missionaries who lived all the way around the world.  To be able to see how my reading teacher acted outside of school and how my Crusaders Club teacher acted in school was a great privilege for me.

She knew how to lead students through their coursework so that they would be motivated.  What she taught me in Crusaders Club through her words has been useful in my life.  What she taught me at school, through her actions, has been invaluable in my life.  At Crusaders, she taught me the facts of the Bible and told me stories of great Christina people.  But in school, while she was teaching me new words and themes in books, I got to watch a great Christian woman live her life as a woman of great faith, great compassion, and great love.  I got to learn how a great Christian woman lights up the world around her with the love of Jesus.

Throughout my life, I've been exposed to some pretty amazing teachers.  They have taught me much more than how to read and how to add numbers.  They have lived out their faith in the classroom.  They didn't preach about it or talk about it in the schoolroom, but I could tell.  They lived their lives in a way that was different then the rest of the world.  They lived their lives to show the love of Jesus.  (Thanks to all my amazing teachers!!)

Now as I look back on those years I have to wonder, "How much I of what I learned am I applying to my life?  Can others see that there is something different about me?  Am I truly living my life as a light, pointed towards Christ?

You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:4-16

Week Eight

I am now in week eight of my college career.  It does not feel like I have been in college for two months, but I have.  It doesn't feel like am halfway through my first semester, but I am.  It does not feel like I should have a routine, but I do.

There are times in life when things do not feel real, but they are.  About a month ago was the yearlong anniversary of the death of Danny Zaragoza, a little boy who lived in Mexico.  A year ago he went to be with Jesus in heaven.  It does not feel like a year has passed since I heard about his death on a Sunday morning.  It still does not feel like I have grieved properly for him.  How do you grieve for a child's death?  How do you adjust to not having him around when he already wasn't nearby?  I feel that the first time I visit his family, I will still expect to see him.  Instead, I will see a family, scarred from the hurt of losing a brother and a son, but healing with the Lord's help.

Truthfully, that is what I need to depend on in my extended grieving for Danny.  The Lord.  The Lord can heal my heart.  The Lord can help me grow to be where I need to be as a pseudo-adult a quarter of the way through her freshman year of college.  The Lord can help me form my routine so that I have time to give to him and time to give to my studies.  The Lord will be with me. :)

If you would like to read Danny's mom's blog about what his family did to celebrate the one year anniversary of Danny moving in with Jesus, click here. 

But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.  I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.  I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.  I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

Psalms 3:3-6

Pancakes at 2am

First and foremost: An apology.  I'm sorry that I did not blog last week.  Quite simply, I had homework and needed a break.  The blog hit the back burner.

This weekend I got 18 hours of sleep.  It was glorious.  However, it is not this weekend, but the weekend before that that I would like to blog about.  I have gotten involved with a ministry here that does various things on campus.  On homecoming weekend, they decided to serve free pancakes.  Apparently, most people on college campuses are not morning people.  (I knew that beforehand, it's just a bit more exaggerated than I had anticipated).  Because most people are up late at night, the most logical time to serve pancakes is not on a Saturday morning.  Basically, they decided to serve pancakes from 10:00pm on Friday until 2:00am on Saturday.  I decided to help out with this, even though I'm typically not a late night person.  I wake up before around 6:15-6:30 most days of the week.

I really enjoyed being able to help out with this unique ministry.  My group started by walking around campus handing out flyers to let people know about the free pancakes.  After that, around midnight, we went back to the house where we ate some pancakes and socialized with the people that had come to get pancakes.  We let them know who was behind the pancakes and informed them about other events that the ministry has.  We did this for about an hour and then went into the building where we prayed for the event for the last hour.  I had anticipated feeling completely exhausted by that time, but I didn't.

To be honest, this was an event that wasn't something I would normally do.  It's not that I don't like pancakes.  It's more that I am one of the few college students who actually wakes up on Saturday morning most of the time.  In reality though, doing it when it was most logical and convenient for me would not have been nearly as effective.  They give out the pancakes late at night because they know that that is when they will be in demand.  Because they match the demand, they can have a much greater impact.

What I'm really trying to say is, you don't want to be of the world, because then you make no impact.  However you do want to be in the world, because that is when the real impact can be made.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 Living in Reckless Abandonment for Jesucristo, Jo