More praise!!

At the end of yesterday's blog, I shared how I was still unsure about how I was going to get from Chicago to Kalamazoo on Christmas eve (it was beginning to feel like a remake of Home Alone!). Well, God answered my prayers in a big way, just like I knew He would!!

A friend of mine, from home, happens to live in Chicago, and happens to be traveling home on Christmas eve! Praise the Lord for His sovereignty and for the way He takes care of His children.

I'm feeling very blessed. (even more so when I think about all the money we save on not paying for a Christmas eve flight!)

I hope seeing God work in my life encourages you to look for how He works in your own. Because, my friends, He is working.

Praise and Relief (a bit)

So, one praise for the day is that I didn't get hurt when a car side-swiped me on my scooter. It was turning right and didn't bother to slow down or check for smaller vehicles in the way. I was a bit at fault...I saw its blinkers and didn't move (because I assumed the driver would check...silly me!). But nothing was damaged and no one was hurt. Phew! It's my goal to be more cautious from now on (I am admittedly a kinda-reckless scooter driver...but only when I'm riding solo!)

Had another snafu with my flight. United changed my flights (hmm...similar story to last year!), but the problem this time is that it interfered with my Chicago-Kalamazoo flight via American Eagle. With the changed times, I was left with only 30 minutes to claim my bags, change terminals, check-in, and board. Not happening. After a bit of research on orbitz.com, I was nervous my ticket was non-refundable. After praying about it, I called their customer service and she gave me a 100% refund on my ticket. I was shocked and so happy, I thanked her about a hundred times. After the call, I was in tears of relief. And then a minute later I hear from my computer, "um...Miss Walker?" HA! I had forgotten to hang up the skype call and she had heard my sniffles and sighs of relief! Hahaha. Whoops!

Still don't have it all figured out as to how I'm getting from Chicago to Kalamazoo on Christmas Eve, but I'm trusting it will all work out. It has this far!! I just love watching how God takes care of me. Even if things had not gone this well, I know something good would have come of it. That's the kind of God I have.

Slacker

I realize I've been a terrible blogger lately. The semester got away from me, and before I knew it a month had passed since my last (lame) post. Let me give you brief update on things since October.

*Went to Beijing for about a week. Had a company-wide conference there, and then spent some time sight-seeing. One of my professors from Cedarville was at our conference, which was super-cool! Plus, there was a Children's Lit track, which made the whole thing awesome. Finally saw the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square at night, and generally bummed around.

*My class went from 18 to 17. We discovered one student had accidentally been put in 1st instead of Kindergarten. Whoops. She's with her peers now, doing well.

*My online course for my master's degree is busy. It's Research in Children's Literature. Blech. It's been fairly interesting, but not so much that I'm really excited to do the work. 2 more weeks and then it's over, and I'm hitting the pause button my degree. I'll have a Certificate in Children's Literature, so I at least have something to show for my work!!

*We got a new kitten. Captain Chino Briyaqn Von Bootsensteve. He's cute when he purrs (which is often), but he's got some super-annoying tendencies. i.e. digging in the trash and carrying it all over the house.

*Ran my first organized run/race this morning--Chengdu's first annual Turkey Trot. It was almost 5k (measuring was a teeny bit off), and I did it in about 30 minutes. I was proud of myself.

*I'm healthy for my 2nd Thanksgiving in a row!! My first three here in China I was sick. I was beginning to think I'm allergic to Thanksgiving. Ate too much, watched some football highlights, and enjoyed time with my huge Chengdu family.

*Arcades have their own universal language. I LOVE ARCADING. It's super-fun, and today I went to one for the first time in China. I rock at racing games, I'm pretty good at shooting games, and with time I could kick some butt on the percussion master game. AND, there's a Karaoke Booth. Awe.some.

See why I haven't blogged much? There's so much to say, I get overwhelmed.

But to my "dedicated" readers, I do often think of what I could write about in my blog...it just usually comes to me as I'm brushing my teeth and don't have time to blog that second. I'll try to do better.

Happy Thanksgiving! In Chinese, it's 感恩节快乐 and you pronounce it kinda like this: "gahn un jeeyeh kwai luh" Now you can show off at your Thanksgiving parties. 

Unused Miles?

This feels like a lame place to ask, but do any of you have unused frequent flyer miles sitting around? I'm looking to fly home at Christmas, and it's a bit pricey.

Please leave a comment if you do, and I'll get in touch with you to work it out.

Thanks in advance!!

Accidental Theology

So, my class memory verse for the week is Galatians 6:9 "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." In unpacking what it means, we've had some good discussions this week.

One of my most favorite lessons from this verse, though, was when one student accidentally recited it like this: "Let us not become weird in doing good..." I laughed to myself, but thought about how true this is! Sometimes, when we do good things for our own sake or of our own effort, we get weird. Cranky, exhausted, bitter, selfish.

Let us not become weird, my friends!

*placeholder*

The Lord has been trying to force the idea of surrender down my throat lately, and I've been consciously resistant...mostly because I haven't thought it all the way through yet.

But I needed to put this much on here, so I'd have some accountability on actually writing about it at some later point.

Growing Pains!

Got an email today that I am getting another new student tomorrow! That puts us to 18 students, from Korea, China, United States, Japan, and England. Makes for interesting dynamics, that's for sure!

I know for those who teach/have taught in the States, 18 sounds ideal. And I'm sure I will come to appreciate a class that size...but I have been so spoiled with small class sizes that I have come really love it!! I'm still adjusting mentally to the different energy it takes to plan for and teach 18 kids, and I am not thrilled about the amount of time it takes to GRADE!! I am definitely becoming choosier about what I actually grade and record.

Praise the Lord, though, for a growing school! Growth is the kind of problem a school WANTS to have!

September and Autumn

Autumn is my absolute favorite season of the year. I love the crispness of the air and the leaves, I love pumpkin, cinnamon, chai flavors of anything. I love wearing long sleeves and the wind blowing. Hay rides and pumpkin carving and campfires just make me smile.

But alas. I live in southern China. In my attempt to bring a mid-west Autumn to my classroom, I decorate the windows with colored leaves and read them books about squirrels and scarecrows and pumpkins. We talk about the seasons changing, but it's still not the same. Today I had a laughable moment with a student who has always lived in more southern parts of Asia.

We were reading a book simply called "Fall", and it's about the different colors things change when it's Fall. At one point, it was talking about how frost makes things look white. I asked her what she thought 'frost' meant, and she wasn't sure. When I told her to use the picture (which had snowflakes) as a clue, she stared, and thought, and looked, and said, "I don't know what that is!"

My poor children, who live in such a climate that falling leaves and snow are foreign concepts.

Another laughable moment of the day was when one of my students wrote the date today. He wrote: 9-1=8...whoops. I guess I've hammered math facts into him a bit too much.

Last one for the day (my kids made me smile a lot today). In Bible class, we were talking about Cain & Abel and why Abel's sacrifice was acceptable. I asked if anyone knew why we don't have to make sacrifices anymore, and many of them had ideas. My favorite one was "Because it's GROSS!" We all giggled for a while at that one, and then one of the others raised her hand with the right answer--because Jesus died. Praise the Lord for our Lamb of God!

this darn mouth

For most of my life (since I could talk, I'm sure), my mouth has gotten me into trouble. I have worked hard over the years to be more disciplined in what and how much I say, but as James says, "no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

My poisonous tongue became a source of conviction for me twice over this past weekend.

First, I was riding my scooter on my way to Fellowship on Sunday morning. I was singing a praise song to get my heart prepared for the service when I came up behind a bicyclist who was not only riding slowly, but also not really on either side of the path, making it very difficult to pass her. I honked my horn (she didn't move), I laid on my horn a bit more (still nothing from her), and then finally as I squeezed past I yelled at her, "MOVE!" Without missing a beat I started singing again, "It's all about you, Jesus!" But before I could finish the phrase, I had to stop.

"Really, Catie?" the Holy Spirit said to my heart. "Really? You can scream impatiently at a stranger and sing praise to me all in the same breath?" I was totally convicted. I might not be the only foreigner she crosses paths with, but I am sure to be the one she remembers...not fondly, either. What if I am the only picture of Christ she ever sees? What a terrible reflection of Him I was in that moment. I was reminded of the verse, "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." When I took time to think about what flows out of my mouth, it broke me to think what must be filling my heart.

The second also came on Sunday, when I was thinking about my students. This moment makes my blog live up to it's name: "Teaching to Learn". This last week at school was a frustrating one for me. I felt like the good beginning we had was slipping away, and I was getting irritated with my students. I know there were moments where I spoke in ways that were not gracious or compassionate or loving. There were words said which were not ones Christ Himself would have spoken. And again I was utterly convicted.

There is nothing more humbling than apologizing to a group of fifteen 6-7-year-olds. But I knew that is what I needed to do, and I knew that was the only way to right what I had done wrong. If I did not set a good example last week in my attitude and the words I spoke, I needed to set a good example this week in making amends, admitting I was wrong, and seeking to improve.

I leave you with one of my life verses, Psalm 19:14
"May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."

Inspiration without direction

I just watched the movie "Julie & Julia" with some wonderful friends, and I find myself feeling rather motivated to be a better blogger. Julie was a faithful blogger, blogging daily about the recipes she was cooking from Julia Child's book. I want to be a more faithful blogger. I have 15 readers (almost double what I had 2 months ago!), and I would love to have a blog which interests more to become followers. I certainly have plenty to say.

But what will my topic be? So far, it's just been whatever sits on my brain long enough or happens to be in my mind when I sit down to write. There's no direction. There's no goal. There's no purpose. I just write whatever is the current whim, and hope someone reads it. I rejoice if someone comments! I jump for joy (internally) when I see I have a new follower!

So here I am. Filled with inspiration and desire, but lacking the direction.

You'll just have to keep coming back to see where I go next.

1st Grade Round 2

I am in my 5th year at my school here in China, but only my second year teaching 1st grade. Last year, I had a whopping total of 5 students at the beginning of the year. This year, I already have 16 with at least one more potential student! With 9 boys and 7 girls, they keep me on my toes! I am excited about working with them...I am sure that we will have lots of fun and learn lots of things! It does take some mental adjustment, though. With 5, we were like a little family. With 16...we're like a giant crazy family. After the first 6 days of school, I felt like we had been through 6 weeks!

Praise the Lord, though, for a growing school and a great group of kiddos!

Brain Tired

I've tried to explain to some why it's so much more tiring to live in China than in the States. Today I have a perfect example of why.

I spent the entire 10/15-minute scooter ride home figuring out what I was going to say at the restaurant to order my dinner.

Step 1: Figure out what I want to say, in English.
Step 2: Re-arrange it into Chinese grammar.
Step 3: Translate it into Chinese. Try to remember the words for things you don't often use.
Step 4: Practice saying it in your head to see if it makes sense.
Step 5: Practice saying it out loud to see if it's understandable.
Step 6: Go for it!

self-reflection

Deep thought for the night.

I'm pretty sure that I come off as a bubbly, loud, sometimes obnoxious person.

But that's not all I am. I go much deeper. So why don't I often show this deeper side?

I think I'm afraid that my seriousness is the part of me no one will take seriously.

1111

Just checked my stats on my blog (I kind of do that a lot...) and noticed that I have 1,111 page hits in my all-time history.

Just thought I'd document this momentous occasion.

;)

Since I Been Gone

There are a few random things running through my mind, and so this will be a rather disjointed post. 

I arrived back in Chengdu on Sunday afternoon, after about 34 hours of travel. Ick. It wasn't terrible, but I can't highly recommend spending 9 hours in the Beijing airport. But my luggage and I made it safe and sound.

Jet lag this time around has meant not sleeping through the night. I woke up 4-5 hours after falling asleep, stayed awake for a couple of hours, and then fell back to sleep. Last night was the first full night of sleep, which was a good start to the new school year!

In China, our fruit is all seasonal. Strawberries are in season during February, and a long time ago I froze a bunch of strawberries with the intention of making smoothies in the summer. (Who craves smoothies in February?!) I decided to make one the day after arriving back in China, and received an un-welcome-back surprise when I opened my blender. It was moldy. And had a cockroach leg stuck to the bottom of it, as you can see here:

After soaking in bleach and being scrubbed, it was as good as new and I enjoyed a strawberry-peach-yogurt smoothie and a good book. Very refreshing!

When I opened my iTunes tonight, I randomly chose to start with a BarlowGirl song called "Here's My Life." The lyrics are very poignant, especially for where I am at in life.  Be blessed!

Once again I said my goodbyes
To those who I love most
My heart feels that familiar pain
As I long for home
'Cause this road is hard
When I feel so far

God I'm crying out tonight
'Cause I've given You my life
But I'm tired and I'm missing what's behind
So once more here's my life

On the day that You called my name
All that I knew changed
I found when I said yes that I'd never be the same
Though the call is hard
You are worth it all

Even when the tears are falling
When I find I fear the calling
You remind me
Words You've spoken over my life
Promises I've yet to see
You comfort me

Heading Back

As I head back to China for a 5th year, I've been thinking a lot about what to share on my blog. It hit me that, other than pictures on facebook and a few lunches with people who pursue it, I haven't adequately shared about my life in China.

So, my faithful followers (I'm up to an official 10 now!), what would you like to know? Ask me questions, or give me an area of life about which you would like to know more, and I shall do my best to answer you and give you a better idea of what I'm doing and how I do it in China.

What are you most curious about? Leave a comment!

Woman, Cover Thyself!

About most things in life, I have an opinion. And like many people, there are a few subjects which are my "soapboxes". Modesty is one of them. Growing up, I remember my mother training me how to buy clothes which actually fit my body as well as covered it. I remember hating when she would make me show her every item I tried on, but looking back on it now, I am so grateful that she forced me to do that. As an adult, I know how to dress modestly and I understand the reasons for dressing modestly. Modesty is not just a matter of clothing. It is a matter of the heart. A heart that belongs to Christ will reflect Christ in every area of life. Modesty should be a lifestyle.

Now, I tend to get wordy in my soapboxing, so I'm just going to choose bits and pieces from a podcast by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. She expands on one aspect of modesty, using 1 Timothy 2:9-10.

"[Paul] talks to women about their appearance or their attire, and then he talks to them about their attitudes, and then he talks to them about their actions. He says that the way these women dress is a reflection of their heart and their character. And if they have right attitudes, that will produce a right appearance. But what I think he is saying is, "You can't separate the inward from the outward."

We say that "God looks on the heart. That means the way I dress doesn't matter." No, because God looks on the heart. The way we dress does matter. Because the way we dress is intended to be a reflection of our hearts.

So Paul says, let's read these two verses, 1 Timothy 2:9 and 10, "Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel . . ." That's their appearance. Now their attitudes, ". . . with modesty and self-control.""

The program is Revive Our Hearts, and the title of the cast is "A Woman's Influence in the Church". For more of Nancy on the issue of modesty, you can click here. 

Pardon my Hiatus.

It amazes me how I can swing from nothing to do to uberbusy. (side note: did you know that "uber" is a prefix, and thus can be stuck on the front of a word to denote a supreme or outstanding example of something? No hyphen or dash necessary.)

I spent the last 9 days or so on vacation to Chincoteague Island, off the coast of Virginia. Spent some good quality time with my sister and her family, and got some good tan on my poor white self. This is the most sun I've gotten in the last...oh, you know...2 years. Needless to say, the sun doesn't shine too much in my fair city of Chengdu.

A few quick thoughts from the mind of Catie, before the Koffee Klutch closes. (another side note: I really hate businesses who spell things wrong on purpose. It's just tacky. But they have free internet and $1.38 bottomless cup of coffee, so I don't complain too much. Plus the owner calls me 'hun' and I have a 'usual' order.)

The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately about not judging people. I found myself making all kinds of assumptions and judgments of people when I got home, all because I viewed their lives as simple and sheltered compared to my own. Thank Goodness for the Holy Spirit and his conviction--He smacked me in the face with my own stupid assumptions and helped open my eyes to see that while the struggles people have here in small-town America are different from my own, they are no less difficult. Reminds me of the song by Brandon Heath "Give Me Your Eyes".

I saw Transformers: Dark of the Moon last week, and Cars: 2 this week. Both were really good! Transformers 3 definitely outdid #2--the plot improved and the new Megan Fox is WAY better. She manages to run in heals and keep her white clothes clean the whole movie, but at least she's fully clothed. Cars: 2 had me laughing out loud so much, I'm pretty sure I began to annoy the people around me. I think I found some of the humor related to being in Tokyo funnier because the culture shock of going to Asia is relevant for me.

I gave my first English name to a sweet girl named Chen Li Ping at the Bamboo House on Saturday. I named her "Lily". I was so excited to be in a Chinese restaurant with Chinese people, so I asked her where she was from. I was surprised to discover that she had VERY little English, so I had to bust out my Chinese. I got her QQ #, which means I'm going to have to learn to navigate QQ (a Chinese IM/social networking site) when I get back to China.

I leave you with one of my favorite things about summer: sunsets. 

Story of my life.

I think we can all admit that none of us is perfect. (at least, it's easy enough for me to admit that you are not perfect!) Each and every person has, I think, something that takes a lifetime to learn. Perhaps you learn it once, but in time you forget and God teaches it to you again. And again. And again.

Welcome to my life.

One of the lessons God has needed to re-teach me lately is that of waiting. Patience is not my strong-suit. In college, 75% of the reason I ate breakfast for almost every meal was because I hate waiting in lines. I'll eat cold pizza because I hate waiting for it to reheat. I can get irritated if the phone rings 3 or 4 times before someone finally picks it up.

Those are all silly things, but in my life they signify a deeper lack of patience. And that lack of patience comes from a lack of trust in my Sovereign, Good, and Holy Father. I struggle to trust that He has not forgotten me, or that He really does know what He's doing. I KNOW He has not forgotten me, and I KNOW that His plan is not just going to be amazing, but that it is amazing right now. But actually living that out is the real challenge.

Some of you know that my life verse has been Isaiah 40:31. "...But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings likes eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

At Ladies Days this year, Angela Thomas spoke on this verse and gave me a new perspective on things. Hoping in the Lord is active--I must put my hope in Him. My problem is that I tend to pick it back up, like a child who is trying to get dad to read her a book. She puts it in his lap, and when he doesn't immediately pick it (and her) up to read it, she picks it up and puts it higher in his lap. Over and over, until he finally pays her the attention she's seeking. That's me. I put my hope at His feet, but when I begin to worry and wonder about the future again, that's me picking it back up. And putting it back at His feet. And picking it back up. So here I am, putting it back again.

Through sermons and Sunday school lessons and such, God has brought a few other relevant verses to my attention. I'll leave you with those.

Lamentations 3:24-26
"I say to myself, 'The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.' The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

Psalm 37:3-7a
"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him."

Kicks and Giggles

I really like to laugh. I think "play" should be the 6th love language. People who laugh together will be friends for a lifetime. So, I thought I'd share a few things (including a few blogs!) which make me laugh.

warning: some of these things may include ridiculous and/or stupid humor.

1. Wiggle face pictures

  2. MadTV's Stuart sketches

3. Anything highlighting the stupid things people do

• Brian Regan, Bill Cosby, and Ellen DeGeneres
• the blog, Photoshop Disasters
• Sarah Haskins' videos in the series, "Target Women"

 4. Quirky perspectives on things, like Terry Border's Bent Objects blog. This week he celebrated his own made-up holiday called "SOSAD" (Strangely Orange Snack Appreciation Day)

Hope you giggled with me. :)

Jehova Jireh

My Provider!

The last few months, God has been teaching me ever-so-subtly that He is enough. When I was in a relationship, He reminded me that regardless of the presence of a man in my life, He alone is enough. This was easy enough for me to say (of course God is enough--He's God!), but not until I actually began to put it into practice did I realize how hard it is to believe it. But, as usual, God has proven Himself faithful.

In the last few weeks, I have made conscious effort to be satisfied in God and in His plan for my life. He has surprised me at every turn with glimpses of Himself in my everyday life. I turned on the radio and heard songs like Laura Story's Blessings:

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

I went out to Gull Lake Ministries to volunteer for Ladies Days, and He gave the speaker (Angela Thomas) some words meant specifically for my heart about surrendering my hope to Him. He also surrounded me with some of the sweetest, funniest ladies I've ever met. Throughout the week, I could literally feel Him pouring into me, filling me with His sweet presence.

His peace truly is beyond human understanding. I wouldn't want it any other way!

I leave you with song lyrics which paraphrase some of Psalm 119
"Lord I come into the light and listen as your Word shines it rays of Truth. Let your law be my desire, your might my soul inspire, swift to hear and do."

Be blessed!

Adjustment Bureau

Note: "bureau" is a difficult word to spell.

On the plane home from China this time around, I spent most of my time listening to Dracula and cross-stitching. When I finished the book and had almost killed my iPod, I started paying attention to the movies to see if anything was worth watching. First up: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son. Wow. Dozed through that.

Eventually it came to "The Adjustment Bureau" with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. I had never heard of it, but it looked interesting, so I watched. It's like a romantic action blur...romanction? That alone made it unique to me. But then I started analyzing it and pondering the worldview of the movie. It is about the presence of angels in our world, and their place in keeping us stupid humans in the will of God. One of them tells Matt Damon's character that we used to have free will, but we didn't know what to do with it and ended up almost ruining the entire world. Matt Damon's character has gone "off book" and so the angels spend the whole movie trying to keep him away from the woman, which of course makes him want to be with her all the more. In the end, he tries to get all the way to God to plead his case to keep the woman in his life. It ends with God re-writing His will to let the two stay together. Aw, for cute! He fought for her and won! The prince and his princess get to be together, happily ever after!

Wait, what?

The worldview of this movie is one where God is some High Power which sits on High, uninvolved, waiting for his puny stupid creations to mess up. He took away our free will because we couldn't handle the freedom to make our own choices, and sends his angels to make sure we follow the book. Also according to this worldview, if we fight it enough, God will change His will to give us our way.

I am not about to claim that I understand God. His ways and thoughts are higher! (Isaiah 40) But there are some Truths which cannot be denied. One is that yes, God has a will--a plan--for each of our lives. In fact, that plan was written by Him long before each of us existed. That plan is one for His glory and our good. The other Truth is that humans were indeed created with free will. Each and every one of us has the ability to make choices for our own lives. We can choose to walk in the path God has set before us, and in so doing choose the best life we could possibly imagine. We can also choose to walk away from God, and in so doing write our own life story. But let me give you this guarantee: the life you would write for yourself may be wonderful for awhile, but it will end in misery. Not because God wants you to be miserable, but He will allow you to live in sin if you so choose. He will continue to pursue your heart until the end, but if you continue to choose to live for yourself instead of for Him, then the consequences are all yours to bear.

Summary: Predestination and Free Will are both True. Choose Jesus.

Long Time, Much to Say!

To my 8 followers, I say a big "SORRY!" for not having updated my blog in 4 months! Yikes. My bad.

Rather than summarize all the wonderful things that have happened in the past 4 months, I'll just pick up where I am today.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have been praying that God would continue to work in my heart and make me more like Him. He has carried that through and done some amazing things. He has humbled me in conviction and confession with a wonderfully graceful accountability partner. He brought me to a place where I could step out of guilt and shame over a long-held sin and into the freedom for which He redeemed me! It was a painful, humiliating, but wonderful process. I praise Him for not being finished with me yet!

In this spiritually and emotionally raw time, He continues to work in other areas to draw me to my knees before Him. He has put a trial in my life, but He has also filled me with an incredible peace. And in a time of prayer this evening He brought me to 2 Peter 1:1-11. I pray you are blessed as I share that with you:

"To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received

a faith as precious as ours: (that's me!)
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God

and of Jesus our Lord. (it's mine!)

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins (that was me last week). 

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, (NEVER!) and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 

That is chock-full of amazing truths to cling to, and I just praise the Lord for bringing Truth. For being Truth.

Speaking of Truth, I am also thankful for some specific people this week. My mother and two good friends, after I shared with them my issues of late, pointed me straight to Truth. What a blessing!

Also, as I look back on my walk of faith, I am grateful for the ministries of two women. Beth Moore (Living Proof Ministries and Lifeway Publishing) and Nancy Leigh DeMoss (Revive Our Hearts) have been instrumental in bringing my heart closer to the Lord. Check out their Bible studies, devotionals, books, and pod casts!

Praise the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness!

Starry Hosts

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the worlds." 

~Psalm 19:1-3

Of all created things, nothing takes my breath away like stars. When I stand looking to the heavens and see the majesty of the stars, it's like I can reach up and touch the glory of my Lord.

Living in China, I don't get to see stars very often. The cities are too big, too bright, and too polluted to allow much starlight through. This past week, though, was a blessed week with multiple occasions of seeing stars! While in Beijing, the skies were clear enough to see Orion every night. While on the plane headed back to Chengdu, I saw the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia, along with hundreds of others whose constellations I don't know. It was breathtaking, and left me speechless with praise for my great God.

 

"He speaks to the sun and it does not shine; he seals off the light of the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." 

~Job 9:7-10

Crossover: Quality and Confusion

American Idol, 2008. Early on I picked him as a fave. He had a smooth voice and a humble attitude, plus he had dreadlocks. Not many guys can pull that off without looking mangy! Though many people judged him as a pothead because of his laid-back attitude, I suspected it was the presence of the Holy Spirit and His peace pouring out. Even though Jason Castro didn't win that season (he came in 4th), I eagerly anticipated his music hitting the mainstream. I didn't care under what genre it came out, I just loved his voice and the quality of his music.

Shortly after the season ended, I did some good ol' Google research and discovered that, in fact, Jason Castro is a believer. And not one ashamed to tell his story. 

This year, I was SO happy when in April he finally released a self-titled pop album with summer-cool hits like "Let's Just Fall In Love Again". The album, as expected, is full of fun, catchy, and clean music.

But did you know that in November, he released another album to the Christian market? It's called "Who I Am". You can read a bit about it here. Important thing to note: half the songs on this album are identical to those on his 'pop' album.

I'm having a difficult time landing on an opinion about this. I'm thrilled he crossed over into the Christian music scene. Christian music is in dire need of quality artists who make quality music. However, I'm a little confused. What makes the second album more "Christian" than the first, if the songs are almost all the same? And why does the simple change of genre label make the second album more appealing or appropriate for Christians who might buy his music? Are that many Christians so...legalistic that they can't purchase music unless it comes with a 'Christian' tag? If so, I must say that was a smart move on Castro's label.

What are your thoughts?