true hope

I'm still studying and here are some more excerpts from my notes. Amazing!!!

At Christ’s Return – Complete Restoration of God’s Image

The amazing promise of the New Testament is that just as we have been like Adam (subject to death and sin), we shall also be like Christ (morally pure, never subject to death again): “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor 15:49). The full measure of our creation in the image of God is not seen in the life of Adam who sinned, nor is it seen in our lives now, for we are imperfect. But the New Testament emphasizes that God’s purpose for creating man in his image was completely realized in the person of Jesus Christ. He himself “in the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4 NASB); “He is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15).

In Christ we see human likeness to God as it was intended to be, and it should cause us to rejoice that God has predestined us “to be conformed to the image of his son” (Rom 8:29, 1 Cor 15:49): “When he appears we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).

I so long to be complete and to really be like him.

(from page 445 of Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology)

what is our purpose in life?

I am presently studying for a seminary class I am taking and graciously the Lord is meeting me in the midst of it to remind me of who he is and what he things of me. Here are some of the notes I just wrote down.

Why was man created?

God did not need to create man, yet he created us for his own glory and we do bring him joy (he delights in us). The trinity was complete, with perfect love and fellowship.

We were created for God’s own glory.

Isaiah 43:1-7 – “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Ephesians 1:3-12 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

This fact (being created for God’s own glory) is a fact that guarantees that our lives are significant. When we first realize that God did not need to create and does not need us for anything… Scripture tells us that we were created to glorify God, indicating that we are important to God himself. This is the final definition of genuine importance or significance to our lives: If we are truly important to God for all eternity, then what greater measure of importance or significance could we want?

What is our purpose in life?

To Glorify God! To enjoy God and take delight in him and in our relationship to him.

John 10:10 - “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Psalm 16:10 – “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 27:4 – “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

Psalm 73:25-26 – “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Fullness of joy is found in knowing God and delighting in the excellence of his character.

As we glorify God and enjoy him, Scripture tells us that he rejoices in us.

Isaiah 62:5 – “For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

Zephaniah 3:17-18 – “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.”

I love these verses. It is so good to be reminded of what is true and of who I am because of who God is.

being known, or unknown

I am finding that one of the hardest things about being in the States, but here in Florida, in Orlando, is the fact that I am somewhat unknown to people here. Yes, I know a lot of people, but none of them know me WELL, none of them are really close friends. And that is hard, hard not to really feel known, at least by anyone present in flesh and bone.

I have good friends just a call away, but somehow that feels different. I can't jump in the car or on the metro to go see them, or at least not with frequency nor in any kind of quick time frame. I can't just stop by.

Yes, the Lord is VERY present and, yes, this is a great time to draw near to him, but he has created us to be known and to be in relationships. So, when I am tired, a bit emotional, and haven't had much time to process life, I miss my good friends and I long to be married, to have someone who more or less goes where I go (and I with him), someone who when I am a bit strange or emotional might get frustrated with me, but also loves me and can speak truth and grace to me, someone who moves when I move and who knows my past and present and I his....

I just talked to one of my roommates about this, some of the things that at time are less than pleasant sides of singleness.

mansos y humildes

Not too long ago I began studying Matthew 5, or the sermon on the mount, where Jesus teaches the multitudes some pretty radical things.

"Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

This is just the first part, what is commonly known as the Beatitudes and it is deep. Today, I was looking at verse 5, which says, "Blessed are the meek (or humble), for they shall inherit the earth." To understand better what is all here I looked up the word translated meek or humble in the original text, in the greek. Thanks to the internet, looking it up in Vine's Expository Dictionary was super easy. What I found there seemed share-worthy.

The word used is "praus" in the greek. Según Vine's praus, an adjective, means "gentle, mild, meek." It comes from the noun, prautes or praotes.

Vine's states that it consists not in a person's "outward behaviour only; nor yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as little in his mere natural disposition. Rather it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word tapeinophrosune [humility]...

it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect...

In Ga. 5:23 it is associated with enkrateia, "self-control." The meaning of prautes "is not readily expressed in English, for the terms meekness, mildness, commonly used, suggest weakness and pusillanimity to a greater or less extent, whereas prautes does nothing of the kind. ... prautes describes a condition of mind and heart,... It must be clearly understood, therefore, that the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power.

The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was 'meek' because he had the infinite resources of God at His command. Described negatively, meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest; it is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all."

As I read these definitions without going much further, I find myself both convicted and in awe of God. It speaks of God, who was meek & humble "because he had the infinite resources of God at his command." Isaiah 53 gives an image of Jesus that speaks to this,

"For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (emphasis mine, Isaiah 53)

And then in John 1:1-5,9-14 it is written, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

where i'm living (for june)

for the month of june, during xtrack (the cross-cultural training i am helping with), i am living in kissimmee, florida, a suburb of orlando and an extremely diverse part of the US (fairly unlike where i grew up). i hear more spanish and tagalog (the language spoken in the philipines) and several other languages than english. this doesn't exactly help me in readjusting culturally, as i never know what language to speak nor where exactly i am (in what country). but it is fun.

i've found a great place to get tacos (taqueria), a good sushi place, i've tried filipeno food, am getting to know some people at a local coffee shop, and have found some places to go running (and to get out into the more rural area).

not to mention the fun people i get to be around and the endless opportunities to hang out. definitely something that ministers to me as an extrovert. volleyball, soccer, watching arrested development, tacos, water polo, watching european football & the european football tournament (in which spain is doing well -- woohoo!),...

unmet expectations

It is really a crazy thing. I am a fairly laid back person and in Spain it takes a lot for me to become frustrated with the culture. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally I at least like to think that I am fairly easy-going.

But, since arriving back to the States, it seems that my expectations are much, much higher and somehow things just haven't worked as smoothly as I expect. My roommate and I were talking about it today and the fact that we have probably idealized the "perfect" customer service found in the US.

Since I have been back it seems more often than not that customer service people or employees at various places have been somewhat rude, not just not helpful but downright rude. And since moving into the condo we're living in for a few weeks, it took a week and a half until we could get our internet & wifi to work, we now have a fuse fully blown and they don't want to call an electrician (so we have to move), our key was given to someone who lived in a different building (by mistake), and things just don't go fully smoothly.

As I write this all out, it seems obvious that life is full of little disruptions and bumps in the road, but in my mind, things go smoothly and without disruption in the US. It is only overseas that I have to have low expectations. :-) And presently I am a bit like a fish out of water in my own country. :-) The one thing that helps me feel a bit more normal about having emotions a bit out of proportion with what is going on is some of the stuff we've been discussing in this cross-cultural training I am helping with here in Florida. When we change environments (and particularly countries - even in moving back home for a time, or to another location in the US) we are kind of like a plant left out of soil or water for awhile. We have exposed roots. And thus we wilt a bit and feel unsettled. And even if we are loosely put into soil, it takes a bit of time to re-adapt. So it is normal, I am normal, just desiring normality a little more than normal.

Hmmm... if I look at the positive side, I guess this is/will be good for my growth and learning (about myself, God, life,...).

our little walk & jerry

I got back from Charlotte about 16:00 and gobbled up some long overdue lunch. After going to visit some neighbors my roommate Erica and I set out on a little walk... or so we thought. We went the way I've begun to run, which is a few miles long and decided to take Neptune Road to see if it was a shortcut home. We walked and, as were were deep in conversation, we continued to walk. and to walk and to walk. We were talking about our homes overseas, life there, students, people's openness to the gospel, life and lo que sea.

After awhile and at least an hour and a half later Erica asked me if I thought this road was going to hit highway 192 and take us home or not. It also occurred to us that neither one of us had a phone nor money with us, just my keys (including car keys, which at this point were completely useless). We talked about just cross-countrying it, but due to the many nice man-eating fauna of florida and the many marsh lakes filled with water moccasins and supposed gators (or so we've been told), we opted out of swimming the swamps or trekking cross-country. We walked a bit more passed MANY dead end roads and two roads we were sure would veer to the right, but to our chagrin actually went left.

At this point Erica asked what I thought about going up to a random house and asking for directions (and hoping they might actually give us a ride home). So we approached a house and then saw some nearby people in their yard and headed over there. We didn't make it to the people that we had seen (they disappeared in the time it took us to get there), but we did find a guy (jerry) who was helping his great aunt out of the car. So we asked for directions and he said it was at least three miles to highway 192 (not to mention the trek from there). So we took off and walked a ways. Granted we were tired, but his 2-3 miles seemed much farther than that. We asked a random guy on a bike, who was not totally there and gave us directions to some major highways that went in the opposite directions and would take us north instead of south. About the time we were going to say goodbye to him, a truck pulled up, honked and parked a little ways up from us. He asked if it was a friend and I thought (I sure hope so).

We walked up and sure enough it was Jerry, our newfound friend from Mexico City. He offered us a ride home and we jumped into his truck. It was definitely at least 5-7 miles back and he told us that if we want a good time to give him a call. :-) He offered to buy us a drink or dinner, but we got him to just take us close to where we're staying. But we do now know a bit more of Kissimmee, Florida, where we will be for the next few weeks. Fun times.

Completely Random

I just wanted to write that as of late, on this blog I am completely sporadic and random. I have some things I was going to post, but always when I have no internet access. So, just know there is much more happening and on my mind than what seems to land on this blog. In all reality this will probably be the case for the next couple months. :-)

Driving to Orlando, FL

So, I did have a little road trip, but it was quite different from what I previously had thought it would be. The night before I left, if finally hit me that gas prices are crazy expensive and that it would be better to see a few people I hadn't planned on the way instead of trying to pack it all in on the way back, knowing I also had to be in Kansas soon after.

So, I didn't go to Louisiana nor to Mississippi, but went straight east to Atlanta, which by the way took about three hours longer than mapquest had said. (And the only time I stopped was to fill up for gas, once for coffee, and maybe once to go to the bathroom.) I stayed in an amazingly cool apartment on the 29th floor of a skyscraper in the downtown Atlanta with an amazing view of the city and surrounding areas and with a very nice porch and a million windows. I saw Macy and her husband Rick.

The next day I took off for Panama City, where I stayed with Angélica, from Madrid, her husband Dan, and their cute son Noah. I didn't actually see the beach, but did see the port and got to speak some nice Spain spanish. Also we watched Invincible, which by the way is a great movie! (It's about a guy who tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles at open tryouts and got on the team. Pretty great story!)

Then I took off for Kissimmee, close to Orlando, FL, where I am now and will be for the next month.

Cultural Moments

So, there have only been a few strange cultural moments so far where I've thought, "What am I supposed to do in this kind of situation? Agh, I don't quite remember..."

Some of it has just been not remembering English words or realizing I have just either spoken in Spanish to someone who knows no Spanish, or used a phrase that is not English... or mixed idioms from Spanish, English, and who knows what.

For instance... there is something you say when a situation can change "in the blink of an eye" or whatever that goes something like... it's balanced on the edge of a sword or knife or something like that, yet I still can't quite remember how it goes and tried to say it the other night talking to some friends and messed it completely up. :-) And I think there was some other kind of thing I said the other day that sounded fairly illogical or completely unintelligable.

Other moments include the other night at some friends of my friend Becky's house. She introduced me to one of her friends and I paused not knowing quite what to do. I almost gave him the 2 spanish kisses, but paused and thought, "What do I do here? Besitos? No. Um.... um.... it's something else... oh yeah, shake his hand (helped by him putting out his hand). It really was a bit awkward, so I then laughed and told them how incredibly confused I had been for a moment. Craziness... when you can't remember what is normal in your OWN, native culture.

Some other oddities have been... in the line at the grocery store or at Target when they expect me to know what to do if I'm paying with a credit card. It's not hard, but I tend to just look at the lady a bit clueless or like a deer caught in the headlights. And the lady acts like I'm a complete freak. Oh well...

... in the produce section of the store I feel completely wrong picking up the fruit with my bare hands and inevitably want to look for the plastic gloves that don't exist. And then I want to look for the machine to weigh them or a person to weigh them and give me a sticker with the price, which again don't exist.

... my first day driving, after about two years of not doing so, and I might add a bit jet lagged. So I got in the car to go on a few errands. I made a wrong turn and had to turn around, so I got off the highway, stopped at the red light, looked both ways and then went straight through the red light. Halfway through the intersection, which fortunately had no cars in it, I realized what was happening and thought, "WHAT am I doing???!!! I just ran a red light!" I obviously continued through it and then came to a green light, which I then stopped momentarily and then realized again that I was a bit messed up. Since then I have stopped at several green lights, but haven't run through another red one.

So, other than my urge to speak spanish way too often and not remembering english words, these are the main cultural blunders I've had thusfar.