We met for church today, even though church was canceled. It was very much a blessing. Jacob Zoller shared some of the things that God had been laying on his heart, and they were a huge confirmation, as they were many of the same things God has been laying on my heart regarding holiness and purity and the standard to which we are called in our ministry to the world. Unsurprisingly, that call to holiness came under attack even in the rest of the day. In some instances, I saw victory. In others, I saw failure. Yet I am not discouraged, though I am increasingly sickened and revolted by the depravity of my own sin nature. I long for the day when I am perfected, when God is truly glorified in all that I do. That day has not yet come - indeed, it is still far off, as this world measures time. But in the eyes of God, it is but a moment away, and then for eternity I will be serving Him in perfection with all I do as I live for Him. That's worth looking forward to.
I hung out for quite a while with Steph, Valerie, Obadiah, and K Lai today. Awesome crowd. Spending time with K Lai inspired me to keep working on the guitar; I'd love to be able to play as well as he does some day. It also inspired me to start working on a song. Steph will probably kill me when she reads the text of the song, which is why it'll be a while - if ever - before she sees it. But there are things in my heart that can only be expressed through poem and music, and the guitar is perhaps ideal as a vehicle for conveying this particular message. It should be interesting.
In other personal news, I actually have a piano in my room this semester, which is positively amazing. My thanks are directed to Stephen Carradini, a fabulous fellow. He brought his old (ancient!) Yamaha Clavinova up, but didn't really want to cram it in his room again. In his generosity, he offered to put it in my room for the semester. Already I can see that my life is going to be significantly richer musically for having it (indeed, it already has been), and I can't begin to express how grateful I am to God for having provided this way and to Stephen for being so generous as to loan me an electronic piano for a semester. I am almost infinitely more alive when I have the outlet to freely express myself musically, as I now do. It's an outlet for worship; it's an instrument for composing; and it's an opportunity to spend time with others, "jamming," from time to time.
I'm very much ready to start classes on Tuesday. I also have a job interview on Tuesday afternoon, for a position here on campus doing clerical work. It could be very much a blessing and an answer to prayer for provision from God, which is very much needed right now (as I've mentioned before). Your prayers would be very much appreciated.
In other news, I'm not sure I'm going to sleep tonight. I may sleep a bit today instead. I'm in something of an odd mood, and between working on this song and wanting to really spend some time studying the Word, I want to just keep going. In the meantime, I pray our Lord bless you all and keep you in His perfect peace. Grow always in the knowledge of Him and His truth!
- Chris
I hung out for quite a while with Steph, Valerie, Obadiah, and K Lai today. Awesome crowd. Spending time with K Lai inspired me to keep working on the guitar; I'd love to be able to play as well as he does some day. It also inspired me to start working on a song. Steph will probably kill me when she reads the text of the song, which is why it'll be a while - if ever - before she sees it. But there are things in my heart that can only be expressed through poem and music, and the guitar is perhaps ideal as a vehicle for conveying this particular message. It should be interesting.
In other personal news, I actually have a piano in my room this semester, which is positively amazing. My thanks are directed to Stephen Carradini, a fabulous fellow. He brought his old (ancient!) Yamaha Clavinova up, but didn't really want to cram it in his room again. In his generosity, he offered to put it in my room for the semester. Already I can see that my life is going to be significantly richer musically for having it (indeed, it already has been), and I can't begin to express how grateful I am to God for having provided this way and to Stephen for being so generous as to loan me an electronic piano for a semester. I am almost infinitely more alive when I have the outlet to freely express myself musically, as I now do. It's an outlet for worship; it's an instrument for composing; and it's an opportunity to spend time with others, "jamming," from time to time.
I'm very much ready to start classes on Tuesday. I also have a job interview on Tuesday afternoon, for a position here on campus doing clerical work. It could be very much a blessing and an answer to prayer for provision from God, which is very much needed right now (as I've mentioned before). Your prayers would be very much appreciated.
In other news, I'm not sure I'm going to sleep tonight. I may sleep a bit today instead. I'm in something of an odd mood, and between working on this song and wanting to really spend some time studying the Word, I want to just keep going. In the meantime, I pray our Lord bless you all and keep you in His perfect peace. Grow always in the knowledge of Him and His truth!
- Chris
I understand what you mean by feeling more alive when you're able to express your feelings through music. The only way I can study for a big test is to transcribe those equations or study questions into music. Weird, I know, but it helps me immensely. Maybe you should take up the violin...it's a whole lot easier to carry around ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments and I do hope you are able to visit Israel someday. It's truly incredible to be able to walk where Jesus walked (although we kind of "ran where Jesus walked" because there was so much to see in the short amount of time we were there, lol).
Your parents aren't worried. Concerned maybe at times, but totally and completely assured that you are in God's awesomely capable hands and that Jeremiah 29:11 is absolutely true.
ReplyDeleteI know what God spoke over you when you were a baby: "You are destined..."
Now we wait to see what that destiny looks like, but our Father already knows. :P