Manic Monday

Hello all,

Ok, so I wouldn't actually call today "manic", but I was pretty busy running around, making sure I have things ready - because I'm leaving for California on Wednesday! Woohoo!!! Haha, I'm quite excited.

In other exciting news, I finally checked out a church yesterday! It's called New Hope Community Church. It's non-denominational, and it's new enough that they don't have they're own building, which I found endearing because Harvest didn't have its own building when I first started attending, either. The people there were really nice and welcoming, though honestly, it was a little weird not being surrounded by college students. (But obviously, I'm not going to find a college-oriented church community up here.) The service itself was really interesting though, as the pastor talked about "Cures for a Troubled Heart" based from John 14:12-20. He said that within these verses, there are five promises from Jesus that will heal our hearts. It was really enlightening to look at this passage with fresh eyes. I think what stuck out to me most was v. 12:

I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

I'd always been confused by the second part of this verse, because how are we supposed to do greater things than Jesus? The pastor explained it, though, as meaning that after Jesus' death, His disciples would spread the Word to a greater number of people and places than Jesus personally had ever been able to reach. I guess this makes sense. What really struck me, though, was what he said about God using us to do these works: that God uses our weaknesses and uses us in our times of weakness. On the surface, we tend to think that it'd be "better" (in our opinion) if God used us in our power to do great things, because we would look better. However, that's exactly the problem - WE would look good, and many people would mistake God's grace and His work for our own human capabilities. So really, it makes perfect sense that God would use us in our weakness so that He is clearly displayed, not us.

So, yeah. I thought that was interesting. I'm still not entirely sure if this is the church I'll go to regularly when I get back or if I'll check out other churches. I did like it, though.

Other updates: Still behind in the BRP, but getting closer to being caught up. I've been reading a lot, spending a lot of time with my friends and family, discovering new music, and watching entirely too much tv. Starting Wednesday, I'll be in California for about 2 weeks, so I'm really hoping that I'll be able to post on here for the next two Mondays, but I don't make any promises.

Okay, I hope your weeks are off to great starts!!!!!!

Love you all,
Shelby