Make Much

It's Thursday!
I cut my hair!
I'm excited for classes! :D
I'm stoked for the Lord!

Life is what you make of it.
Times'll come when you'll be able to say, "I hate life..." but don't :) instead, make the best of it. It's up to you to make much of that situation. Make the best of it.

So I'm excited for this upcoming semester :) I have 6 classes but that's not bringing me down a bit :D
I'm excited for what I'm going to learn, for the challenges to come, for the victory that's already mine, for meeting new people, for drinking more of the Lord's living water throughout the semester, for listening to awesome sermons on my ipod on my way to class or just be jammin' to Brooke Fraser and mouthing the words (or maybe just singing out loud ha ha ;) ), for drinking hot Starbucks chai in my 7:30 a.m. class, for looking at the mountains while I walk from the library to Columbine Hall and think of the beauties in life while I smile my way to class and look at my feet while my mind ponders on the sweetness of friends.

In the Lord, there is no limit. So why limit yourself? Nothing's impossible :)

I've completed my goal for winter break: I've read two books, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper and I have started to read Uncompromised Faith by S. Michael Craven. Although I am not even halfway through, the book is about "overcoming our culturalized Christianity," (that's the subtitle). It mainly meanders its way through how we live in a pluralistic society in which Christianity is sugar-coated and God is only spoken in vague ways; how faith lived out today has become a personal matter (which it shouldn't be: check Jesus out in the Word and see how private He was about the Father and what He came to the earth for ;) ). Uncompromised Faith has actually been a little hard to read because I find it hard to comprehend... not what it's saying but how things are being said (not a big deal... just how the author writes). But it's good to read it to:
1) see other's perspectives on how the world is coming down
2) relate to what's being said
3) really ask myself, "Am I compromising my faith in any way?"

On Merriam-webster.com "compromise" is defined as "something intermediate between or the blending qualities of two different things." Synonyms were, "accomodation, give-and-take, negotiation." And it's interesting to read this because it has nothing to do with a definite or clear-lined boundary of anything. It kind of reminds me of "lukewarm." There's blurriness in this picture; so now relate that to the faith. Is my faith set straight? Is it clearly defined in my life to the point that I can defend my faith (1 Peter 3:15)? A lot of people like to compromise, and I've found myself in that situation, where God is minimized to human perceptions and His authority is wrinkled into our brains so much so that everything, even our faith, becomes humanized. It's no longer something divine or purely from the Lord; it's spoiled and crooked. Therefore, one becomes blinded or just plain ignorant. "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6

How can a compromised faith be defeated? Dive deeper into the Lord. Study His word and LIVE IT. Pray, spend time with God. Nothing else is going to trample this worldly view of "faith."

It all comes down to a fact: your faith is true or it's not. I always ask the Lord to remind me to examine my faith! Here's a typed sermon from John MacArthur that I find very helpful (follow the link):

http://www.biblebb.com/files/mac/examine.htm

I totally encourage you to read it!

SOOOO I pray that this be my walk even through this semester at school! And continually at work.

Make much of Him  :)