hello

just incase you forgot, the Fonz sends his greetings!!!!!!! smile, you're loved!

GOD IS SOOOOOOOOOO COOL!!!!!!

this post may be a little lengthy, but so be it.  i've been reading this book called "Eternity in Their Hearts" by Don Richardson.  it's a bit wordy in some places, but once you get into it, it's really really good.  i like it a lot, anyway, this part talks about how the Chinese in their very own writing system tells the Gospel story, and i'd like to share it with you, and so we begin:

early missionaries to China faced a formidable obstacle.  they had to learn the Chinese writing system.  as Westerners, accustomed to writing with European alphabets of approximately 26 letters, they gasped!  Chinese writing, they found, used a system based on 214 symbols called "radicals."

they gasped again when they learned that these 214 radicals-enigmatic enough in themselves-combine to form between 30,000 to 50,000 ideographs.

it was enough to make even the most patient saint gripe!  why on earth would the sovereign God permits any people to develop a writing system so "radical"?  didn't it matter to God that Chinese writing placed an almost impassable barrier in the way of communicating the gospel to one-quarter of mankind?

one day, however, one of the missionaries stopped complaining.  he was studying a particular Chinese ideograph, the one which means "righteous."  he noticed that it contained an upper and lower part.  the upper part was simply the Chinese symbol for a lamb.  Directly under the lamb was a second symbol, the first person pronoun I.  Suddenly her discerned an amazingly well-coded message hidden within the ideograph: i under the lam am righteous!

it was nothing less than the heart of the gospel he had crossed the ocean to preach!  Chinese were startled when he called their attention to the hidden message.  they had never noticed it, but once he pointed it out, they saw it clearly.  when he asked, "which Lamb must we be 'under' to be righteous?" they had no answer.  with consummate delight he told them of "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" (Rev 13:8), the same "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

he shared his discovery with fellow missionaries and soon they in turn began uncovering still other spiritual messages encoded within the 4,000 year old ideographs!  Chinese language study suddenly became the most exciting adventure they had ever experienced!

another example: the Chinese symbol for a boat embodies a vessel with eight people inside it.  eight people?  Noah's ark bore exactly eight people to safety.

the radical meaning "man" is a figure shaped like an upside down y.  the ideograph meaning tree is a cross with the symbol for man superimposed upon it!  and the symbol for come calls for two other smaller symbols for man to stand on either side of the tree with the greater man superimposed upon it.  some students of Chinese writing claim that the two smaller human figures collectively mean mankind.  if so, the ideograph meaning come seems to carry a code that says: "mankind come to the man on the tree."

for careful study of several other spiritually pregnant Chinese ideographs, i refer readers to C.H. Kang and E. R. Nelson's recent book on the subject, listed in our bibliography.  not all researches agree on the exact interpretation of each and every symbol.  nevertheless, Chinese people themselves (and many Japanese, for Japan uses virtually the same writing system) have been intrigued by interpretations which missionaries have suggested to them.  even when theories are non-conclusive, the mere discussion of them may be sufficient to communicate spiritual truth to unbelievers.

i have found in my research that many Chinese and Japaneses pastors themselves consider the use of these various symbols a valid entree to the minds of their own people.  

One missionary, returned from China, told of a Chinese solder who approached him, bristling with hostility.  the missionary sketched some of the aforementioned symbols on a pad and pointed out their "hidden" meanings.  the soldier's eyes opened wide.  "I was told," he exclaimed, "that Christianity was a foreign devil's religion!  now you show me that the wiring system of my own country preaches it!"

the book mentioned earlier about the ideographs by Kang and Nelso is called "the discovery of Genesis"

fundamentals

first of all, i want to let everyone know that my best friend and her husband are going to have a baby.  it won't be for a while yet, but we are all so excited for her.  she told the ladies tonight and they were all happy for her.  some even cried.  so it's great news.

now, onto the blogging part.  i haven't written much lately, but i'm sure i'll make up for it tonight.  

a couple of weeks ago i was at Saturday night prayer and Pastor called all of us around and asked that we would pray for the ministry, and that all that aspire to come here know that they come here to die to themselves, and he reminded us that the Bible says that we are not our own, but we were bought with a price, and the life that i live is no longer mine, but is lived through Christ.  just basic Christianity.  and i was standing there and i was like "Oh God, how could i forget something as fundamental as that?!?!"  that was why i was having a hard time, i thought my life was my own, and it's not!!!!!!!!!!!!  how foolish of me.  so many things are like that, we forget what 2+2 is b/c we are worried about calculus!  it made perfect sense.  now i'm not saying it's easy, but i am saying it's simple.  

God is so cool.  the other night i was reading in the book of John and i saw this verse, and i thought hummmm, i've never seen that before, and when that happens, i always tend to blame it on "I'm reading out of a different translation."  but regardless, i saw this verse and it simply says:

REMAIN IN MY LOVE.  IF YOU KEEP MY COMMANDS YOU WILL REMAIN IN MY LOVE, JUST AS I HAVE KEPT MY FAHTER'S COMMANDS AND REMAIN IN HIS LOVE.

there it is, a command and how to fulfill the command.  if you want to remain in God's love, you just have to keep His commands.  am i saying it's easy??? NO!!!! but it is simple.  many times we just have to open our eyes to see the answer.  so often it's right after the question.  try it, it has happened over and over and over for me.

later...

p.s. a piece of useless information, the word own also spells won and now!!!!!  3 words for the same 3 letters....

My first class <3

this is it!!!!!!!!  i've found it, my first class and i'm totally excited about it.  my friend Dar and i deliberated on it for about 1/2 hour, take a "nessicary evil" class, or one that would be fun and interesting... Dar is a very logical person, so when she presented the fun class side, i took it, and we found this....

This is a course that contains some of the most vital content of the entire DLP core class

list. It provides the student with an understanding of the major world religions and

worldviews, as well as a strong defense of Christianity.

Regardless of the spiritual caliber of the student, all students have the ability to succeed

in the course – believers in Jesus Christ or a ‘seeker’ will be strengthened by this course,

and non-believer will gain an understanding of the gospel. Students frequently comment

that this was the best class of their college experience to date, and would recommend it

highly.

This is a well-organized course that was designed with the student in mind. All due dates

and schedules allow for students to work at an even pace without large assignments

stacking against each other.

The student has the ability to interact with classmates not only on a scholastic level but

also to seek advice and prayer on a personal level that make a true sense of community in

the course.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

An overview of the major worldviews, including their history and current relations with

other religions and philosophies, their influence, when applicable, on historical forces

(cultural, social, political, and economic), and the effects of worldviews on behavior.

Common critiques to each worldview will be included and analyzed from various schools

such as historicism and existentialism. The issue of absolutes, the existence of God, and

how people view revelation

from God will be emphasized with several worldviews.

RATIONALE

The purpose of this course is to provide academic instruction on the importance of and

ability to communicate God’s truth. In order to accomplish this, one must (1) understand

the essentials of Christian truth, (2) understand the historical opponents to Christianity

and truth, and (3) present a biblical, logical and reasonable defense of Christianity.

Especially in our present culture of pluralistic spiritualism, we must be fully prepared to

present a cohesive answer to those ultimate questions of life, as the Apostle Paul states, to

“know how you should respond to each person” who asks us about such things”

Colossians 4:6 (NASB).

The Contemporary Worldviews course is designed, therefore, to deepen and broaden the

student’s understanding of the core fundamentals of the Christian worldview, and to

equip them to present that view in contrast with other, competing worldviews. The goal is

to enable students to think more clearly and critically about Christianity and truth, so that

they may become more effective witnesses and participate more constructively in the

larger socio-cultural debate. The study of worldview constitutes a window through which

we can view the nature of man and his conduct. Knowledge of worldviews is

commensurate with acquiring a powerful form of wisdom, that characterized the sons of

Issachar, “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what

Israel should do ”1 Chronicles 12:32 (NASB).

something constructive

well, it's Friday the 13th and the house is totally empty except the 3 staff here.  all the ladies are working.  what a great oppertunity to be grading some homework, or reading, but here i am, blogging.  it's just so much more fun than doing something a little more worth while.  maybe after a bit :)

yesterday i went to the eye doctor (a new fav. past time of mine...lol) anyway, all of the sudden she went like super melodramtaic!!!!!!!  it was great.  it was almost like a gico commercial with the cavemen.  anyway, here is the warning i walked away with: so many people think being an eye doctor (i'm not even going to try to attempt to spell it) is all about which looks better one or two, tell me when they line up, which line can you read, tell me when you see my fingers.  she even pointed out the fact that she has a blister from it, and sometimes being an eye doctor hurts.  i told her my younger brother's new asperation in life is to be an eye doctor.  she said "do me a favor and warn him about the blisters, he can get blisters."  we were all in an uproar because it was so great!

okay on a side note. i got my college transcripts from Carl Sandburg College yesterday.  and boy, i knew i didn't do very good, but i did horrible in college!!!  i'm so glad that Liberty took me on and didn't count me as a lost case!  my GPA was absolutly horrible.  i remember doing not so good, but this was all C's and below!!! oh my goodness, was that an eye opener.  they say that when people get saved their intelengece increases by like 70% and i'm in full agreement.  but it did not say that all the sudden you can spell!!!

well, now that i've played for a few moments, it's back to the old grind stone...

finally

so, i got great news today.... i GOT ACCEPTED TO LIBERTY!!!!!!!!  i'm so excited.  i won't start until the fall though.  need to get through the busy season.  i even got a credit for a class that i never completed.  so that is pretty cool, and i've been on the search for Microsoft Office 2007 and my step-mom has one, so i don't have to pay for it.  it's great!  sorry this is so short.  more later.

triubute

MISS YOU G-MA

death, taxes and scaring geese

so, as you can tell, i'm trying a  different look for a while.  seems to match the theme of the day.  got a new hair cut, re arranged my room.  change is good.  so, this week has actually been quite eventful.  

i'll start with the taxes.  ahhh, yes, it's that wonderful time of the year where we get those lovely w-2's that tell us how much we made.  i'm always excited to get mine so i can see how much i can get back.  anyway, i know not everyone is that fortunate.  i'm also in charge of doing the ladies taxes, but it's real simple, there's this great super easy web site we go to.  well for some reason i couldn't create any new users, and it kept saying this error thing.  so i waited and waited and tried again and again to see if it would work.  i even had one of my smart friends trying to figure this thing out, but to no avail.  so finally out of desperation, i tried the "chat with us now" thing.  i thought ok, it can't be that bad.... i was put on hold for an hour and a half with a chat session....ughhhhhh..... i kept getting the same messages that you would get on the phone, except i didn't have the bad music and it was in pretty red typing.  so finally someone comes on and asks me to "please hold for one moment while i read your question."  so the guy tries to tell me to try again in a little bit.  i told him i've been getting the same message for the last 4 days.  and finally he gave me another link.  i was so happy, the nice guy from turbo tax was my hero for the day.  so i learned a lesson about patience, it was great, i think we can always use those, but i don't think we ever look for them.

so i called Liberty today to find out about my application and it turns out i never got mine submitted.  so i had to fill out another one, i should know within the next week if i'm accepted or not.  one of my old friends (we aren't really friends anymore, just acquaintances) told me to make sure i check with her before i buy any books b/c her and her husband both attend there, so that should make it a little cheaper.

so now for the "Scaring geese" part of my title.  it seems that Heartland has become a nesting place for 500 Canadian geese.  and they are almost always along the bank of the lake when i'm going somewhere, i like to try to scare them.  not to be mean or anything, but just because it's funny.  very rarely do i ever scare them.  last Sunday when i was taking the ladies to work i tried honking the horn (which never scares them anyway) and the horn wouldn't honk, so i yelled at them.  the ladies didn't know what to think of that, but they did think it was pretty funny though.

well, that's a wrap, until next time...