Sunday stuff
Here are some thoughts from this morning, as usual.
I wrote a blog entry recently on freedom. But after reading Galatians 5:13, I relize that the freedom we have is slightly different from the freedom I had in mind.
The freedom we have is to SERVE in LOVE. That's what we're called to.
Then I thought about something else that I have been thinking about lately.
I have observed an attitude among my peers that we are in college to prepare ourselves to serve.
And that's true. But it's also very untrue.
It's true. God has us in college to stuff into our pointy heads whatever it is He wants in there- flight stuffs, english stuffs, business stuffs, et al.
But that's also a very untrue. God has us in college to SERVE NOW. And it's not like there's no need in Longview, either.
And further, a lot of people seem to think they don't have time to serve now. Not while they're maintaining their 4.0.
But I don't believe that. I don't believe the idea that God called us to serve HIM WHOLEHEARTEDLY TODAY, only to not give us enough time to do it.
That's ludacrous.
Other thoughts I had today...
This year, I needed someone near me who loved me. I needed someone near me that had faith in me. I needed someone near me that would actually be disappointed in me when I let them down.
And I had it. For the first time in four years, I had a small number of people that were all of those things.
Benjamin is all of those things, but he's far away enough that I can avoid being accountable to him. If I don't want to talk about something with him, all I have to do is not bring it up!
Not that I don't trust him, nor that I trust him less than any of my other close friends. Simply that when there's something I don't want to admit, I don't HAVE to!!!
Anyhow.
Another thought.
David was talking about his recent visit with Mary McNeill. She's in really bad shape. Maybe she'll be like this for the rest of her years... who knows.
But you know what she said?
She said, on that day, that God had allowed her to live another day.
Wow.
I don't do that.
I need someone to show me that. In the down times, I need someone to remind me, "yeah, but you're still alive, and that's a good thing whether you are being selfish or not... so quit your complaining."
As far as Presbyterian beliefs about covenant theology and stuff...
I kinda got stuck at the whole infant subject. I'm not sure I understood what the main idea was. Maybe I should ask for a recap.
But regarding covenenants and such, it's not that I don't believe God COULD deal with us using covenants, it's simply that I'm not sure that He DID.
See the difference?
Certainly, we're under the New Covenant, no argument there. But these other covenants... they're kinda new to me. And so, I'm not quite sure of their validity.
And then another question I have is does it matter?
Am I somehow limiting my relationship with the Lord by not subscribing to the covenant line of thinking?
Whew. Sigh.
Anyhow.
I bought my ticket to Alaska yesterday. That was probably a bad idea. We'll see.
So in pastor's sermon on beign a good parent today, he listed three ways that your children need to be nurtured. Those were: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
My question now is does this apply to our FRIENDSHIPS as well?
I think it does, but that it must be done in different ways.
Our friends need physical nurturing sometimes. You know, sometimes, a buddy will fall on hard times, and need help, for example. In more normal times, your friend might need a favor done, or you simply might just do something nice for them, like take them to lunch.
Our friends need emotional nuturing sometimes. That's something that I TRY to be good at. I know I seem way shallow sometimes when I listen to my friends' problems. But when I give you a simple solution to a complex problem, it's not because I am shallow, it's because I want you to be happy again. But, more than that, our friends need our emotional support. If a man doesn't feel like he has people that would back him up, he loses confidence, seems like.
Finally, our friends need spiritual nurturing. Benjamin and Mark challenge me spiritually, and as a result, I grow. I may not like it sometimes. I may get aggravated with it sometimes. But I end up growing. Whether I agree with them or not.
So yeah, I think that the list applies to friendships. Maybe nurturing isn't the right word in the context of friendship. Because the word implies something you do for someone who is less capable than you, as a nurse nutrures an infant. But you get the idea.
Thoughts?
I wrote a blog entry recently on freedom. But after reading Galatians 5:13, I relize that the freedom we have is slightly different from the freedom I had in mind.
The freedom we have is to SERVE in LOVE. That's what we're called to.
Then I thought about something else that I have been thinking about lately.
I have observed an attitude among my peers that we are in college to prepare ourselves to serve.
And that's true. But it's also very untrue.
It's true. God has us in college to stuff into our pointy heads whatever it is He wants in there- flight stuffs, english stuffs, business stuffs, et al.
But that's also a very untrue. God has us in college to SERVE NOW. And it's not like there's no need in Longview, either.
And further, a lot of people seem to think they don't have time to serve now. Not while they're maintaining their 4.0.
But I don't believe that. I don't believe the idea that God called us to serve HIM WHOLEHEARTEDLY TODAY, only to not give us enough time to do it.
That's ludacrous.
Other thoughts I had today...
This year, I needed someone near me who loved me. I needed someone near me that had faith in me. I needed someone near me that would actually be disappointed in me when I let them down.
And I had it. For the first time in four years, I had a small number of people that were all of those things.
Benjamin is all of those things, but he's far away enough that I can avoid being accountable to him. If I don't want to talk about something with him, all I have to do is not bring it up!
Not that I don't trust him, nor that I trust him less than any of my other close friends. Simply that when there's something I don't want to admit, I don't HAVE to!!!
Anyhow.
Another thought.
David was talking about his recent visit with Mary McNeill. She's in really bad shape. Maybe she'll be like this for the rest of her years... who knows.
But you know what she said?
She said, on that day, that God had allowed her to live another day.
Wow.
I don't do that.
I need someone to show me that. In the down times, I need someone to remind me, "yeah, but you're still alive, and that's a good thing whether you are being selfish or not... so quit your complaining."
As far as Presbyterian beliefs about covenant theology and stuff...
I kinda got stuck at the whole infant subject. I'm not sure I understood what the main idea was. Maybe I should ask for a recap.
But regarding covenenants and such, it's not that I don't believe God COULD deal with us using covenants, it's simply that I'm not sure that He DID.
See the difference?
Certainly, we're under the New Covenant, no argument there. But these other covenants... they're kinda new to me. And so, I'm not quite sure of their validity.
And then another question I have is does it matter?
Am I somehow limiting my relationship with the Lord by not subscribing to the covenant line of thinking?
Whew. Sigh.
Anyhow.
I bought my ticket to Alaska yesterday. That was probably a bad idea. We'll see.
So in pastor's sermon on beign a good parent today, he listed three ways that your children need to be nurtured. Those were: physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
My question now is does this apply to our FRIENDSHIPS as well?
I think it does, but that it must be done in different ways.
Our friends need physical nurturing sometimes. You know, sometimes, a buddy will fall on hard times, and need help, for example. In more normal times, your friend might need a favor done, or you simply might just do something nice for them, like take them to lunch.
Our friends need emotional nuturing sometimes. That's something that I TRY to be good at. I know I seem way shallow sometimes when I listen to my friends' problems. But when I give you a simple solution to a complex problem, it's not because I am shallow, it's because I want you to be happy again. But, more than that, our friends need our emotional support. If a man doesn't feel like he has people that would back him up, he loses confidence, seems like.
Finally, our friends need spiritual nurturing. Benjamin and Mark challenge me spiritually, and as a result, I grow. I may not like it sometimes. I may get aggravated with it sometimes. But I end up growing. Whether I agree with them or not.
So yeah, I think that the list applies to friendships. Maybe nurturing isn't the right word in the context of friendship. Because the word implies something you do for someone who is less capable than you, as a nurse nutrures an infant. But you get the idea.
Thoughts?
posted by Elmo at 3:24 PM
2 Comments:
yeah, i put the teacher-spin on that sermon, since being a biological parent isn't yet my thing.
that i'm preparing the kids to leave and fly airplanes outside school is a heavier responsibility.
i figured out one thing...nurturing goes only so far with students. to most, it means license to slack.
but nurturing (or whatever other word I came up wiht ) isn't really license to slack, is it?
I don't know... I can see how it would turn into that.
But it shouldn't be.
That's not really nurturing.
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