Straight From the Journal:Ireland Day 7-Teenagers and Ice Cream

A wonderful final lecture on Soli Deo Gloria! It was a great reminder that our service here is not to our own good, but our Father's. We are only here temporarily to help build His kingdom. At lunch, Jonny picked on me, as per the usual, but also thanked us for being a flexible, dependable group. It's relieving to know we are actually helpful and not a nuisance. Matt, Arrita and I went door-to-door again, but were relatively unsuccessful. Most people weren't home, and the people that were, weren't quite as poite in their declining to take a flyer. We nearly had a couple Gospel conversations, but they were with moms who were busy with children running around their feet. Aoibhin and I hit the trail for a quick break, and she was amazed at possums, not knowing that they "played dead". (Love ya, girl! Hopefully one day you'll get to visit me.) At home, Blake gave a good talk to the teenagers on the importance no the local church, and how it should affect our decisions. It was excellent (he's clearly meant to be a pastor). Most of the teenagers hadn't considered the subject. Even though they were pretty bashful, hopefully it got gears turning and encourage them to serve in a healthy church, even as adults.

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