Straight From the Journal: Ireland Day 2-Lazarus and Hurling

A shower and a full night's sleep left me very refreshed this morning. We dressed up and went to Carrigaline Baptist Church, which was about 50 people in the Carrigaline Community Center. Alyssa, Devan, Jess and I helped teach Sunday school. The memory verse was John 11:25, and I told the story of Christ raising Lazarus from the dead. We explained how we are spiritually dead before salvation, and they drew pictures of the story while I taught. We did, however, have about twice as long as I originally anticipated, and we were starting to loose attention towards the end. But, thankfully, the other girls came up with some one-the-spot- ideas for games. I will be sure to pray for an 11 year old in the class, who says she isn't quite ready to follow Jesus. Even though her parents are Christians, and have taught her their faith, she doesn't quite know what's holding her back. She says she'll think about it more when she's older, but hopefully the Lord will do a work in her, and won't let her put off the thoughts anymore.
We went to lunch at the pastor's house, and had a delicious meal. I love how much everyone loves tea. Before lunch, the pastor's niece entertained us in the little backyard garden. She is so funny, and helped us to understand Ireland a bit. But after lunch, we heard about a tragic death in the community, and out hearts broke for the family and friends. Loss is never easy.
Although we came home sad, the rest of the afternoon was relaxing; Ross taught me about hurling. It's "an ancient Celtic sport, like grass hockey in the air". Still don't understand it, but it's oddly cool to watch. We then went to a small church where Matt gave a short sermon, and then Alyssa, Blake and I were interviewed briefly about our call to ministry and future plans. We met some very kind people; Alfred and Barbara spoke to me about their friend who they're trying to witness to, and how they came to know Christ. Tomorrow we rise early to begin TIM (training in mission).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Letter to a High School Me

Dear Self, For starters, you definetly aren't the person you thought you were going to be. You aren't wealthy and super intelligent; ordering around the people who pick on you now. But you're gentler. That hard exterior is going to have to go, and it will. The masks you paint on to keep people from hurting you? Sorry. People will still be sinful, and you'll still get hurt, so go ahead and get used to showing the tender side underneath. And guess what? People actually like it. You'll turn into a big crybaby in a couple years, but people like knowing that you care passionately about others. There's no joy in hurting alone, or having a frozen heart (by the way, Disney is still awesome). God will provide. He won't let you down. Yes you're still going to feel lonely. In fact, the hurt and heartbreak that plagues you now will be a drop in the bucket compared to things coming. But know that you survive high school and college.  You're 23 now, and the 20...
Read more

Modesty, Ferraris, and Pearls

Image
For the typical Christian woman, we've listened to every speech about modesty. And we're kind of sick of hearing about it. Mostly because the typical speech about modesty includes the following reasons; you're worth more than that, you can cause men to stumble and lust. Now, these are both  correct reasons. They are all wonderful, true reasons. None of them get at the root of the issue, though. No one is telling young women (or women in general) why it is Biblical. When we instruct women to be modest for outward appearances, all we're doing is giving them a rule that they feel like they can never live up to. We don't want to follow the messages of today's society saying that we need to dress and look like this cookie-cutter idea of a woman in order to be physically desirable. On the other hand, simply reminding women to "cover-up" doesn't help either. Either way it becomes objectification because modesty is more than just appearance, it'...
Read more

For When Your Soul is Downcast

Image
This past year has held more challenges and change than I think I've ever had to deal with; at least in such a short period of time. My heavenly Father has seen fit to refine me in ways that seem impossible to deal with, in every shape and size. Once I read the book of Job and thought "Oh, you poor, poor man. Just hold onto God". Now I know that is much easier said than done, but it if there's anything that I want to emphasize in this blog it's that Christ is King, and He has never, ever left you. To steal the quote I saw moments ago from Charles Spurgeon: "I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.". Now, Spurgeon was certainly a much wiser and mature person than I am, but it rings true. No matter what grief this life can bring you, there is always hope in Jesus, and it always has a purpose. When we read the cherished Romans 8:28, we so often forget about verse 29, that explains to us the purpose of why everything will w...
Read more