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Friday, October 03, 2008

United in Christ

I was listening to this sermon by Thabiti Anyabwile called "Bearing the Image" which he preached at Together for the Gospel 2008. I was really encouraged about what he had to say about the difference between "race" and "ethnicity" and how since we are biological descendants from Adam, we all share the same sin and are in need of the same grace and redemption. To say that we are different biologically is to negate the grace of God in saying that we are not a part of Mankind as stated in the Word.

An illustration that really spoke to me included a social illustration to demonstrate how we gravitate toward people who we perceive are like us:

"Picture two tables in a lunch room. You're coming in by yourself. The table on your left include some group of people not like yourself, some ethnic other. The table on the right include a group of people ethnically like you. What do you think instinctively you do? Gravitate toward those people who you perceive to be like you. What's the calculus behind this gravitation? What leads that impulse? We go into a room and at the speed of thought we think: 'Not like me. Like me. Like me, therefore safe. Like me and safe, therefore some benefits to be gained. Like me and safe, some benefits to be gained, and therefore the likelihood of joy and peace and commonality.'

There's an opposite calculus going on, too: 'Not like me, not safe, no benefit to be gained, no joy to share.' It happens at the speed of thought...What we want to replace that with is, that we want to walk into a room with an ethnic group here and here, and say 'Descendants of Adam, like me. Made in the image of God, like me. Fallen sinners, like me.' It's the emphasis on the 'like me' is the heritage we share in Adam begins to lay on our feet the bridge to cross over to others...

This is what is available to the Christian: we walk into a room and say, 'Descendants of Adam, like me. Made in the image of God, like me. Fallen and in need of grace like me', and when we find that these folks are Christian, we say, 'United in Christ, like me. Sharing the Spirit, like me. Having the received the promises of life and everlasting joy. Like me.'"

He also said that we are to judge each other by our character, but learning about character is inefficient and takes a lot of time. But in order to do so, to get to the point where we can judge character, we must get pass this thing called "race".

Monday, September 08, 2008

Art show: what do you think?

Hi all, there's this USC grad school art show event, and I thought it would be fun to submit a photo. Here are my favorites. Which one do you think I should turn in??

1) Man fixing up the wall in The Forbidden City

2) My friend, Peggy in Georgetown

3) Arlington Cemetery: Tomb of the Unknowns

4) Capitol Building

5) Boston Sunset

6) A couple walking

7) Man playing an instrument in Vietnam

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Why is it so hard to find a church? There are too many choices. Too many friendly people. Not enough Sundays. AHH!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Grad School Week 1

I feel almost exactly the same as when I first moved to DC, except I'm more prepared for it because of the experience. It's really disheartening to see how godless this world is and how many people don't know the Lord or have such poor understanding of what it means to follow Christ as Lord and Savior.

I struggle a lot with balancing truth and grace, but when I'm thrown into a new situation where I am one of a few Christians around, I understand why I hold so close to truth and to the Word. So many people have such misconceptions of who God is, and it's because they are so eager to embrace Spirit (as is common in our post-modern world) without Truth. Both are needed, but one without the other is truly detrimental. Praise God though! I met this amazing woman of God in my class, and it's always such a relief and blessing to talk to her and share the same experiences. God's been good in placing great Christians in my life stage to help share the burden of ministering to our non-Christian friends, in DC it was Tony and Steph, and here it's Lauren. I don't know what I would do without encouragement from fellow believers.

God seems to be throwing everything my way that I've tried to run from. It's quite the challenge, but I'm grateful for growth -- it's what I've been praying for after all. God's been putting things in my life that are so specific to the areas that I need to improve in, among which are extending grace to others and pushing back my tendency toward legalism, loving my family and all the problems that we have, praying for them and for my non-Christian friends, learning to live in such a way as to glorify Christ to those who interact with me, and to live less selfishly, because I'm older now and I need to embrace the responsibilities that I have instead of running from them.

On a less serious note, I am expanding my horizons. I have lots of Caucasian friends now! Woo hoo! I'm no longer afraid to talk to them. HAHA. It's quite an accomplishment for me, personally. =) I have found that running, organic food, Trader Joe's, and Arrested Development are all hot topics of conversation.

Being around other PA students who have shared the same career seeking experiences with me has really solidified my decision to go to PA school and denounced any notion of regret about not getting into med school.

I'm getting all my equipment, scrubs and lab coat soon. YAY! I'm really excited to start doing more practical things. Anyone want a free, yet amateur check-up from someone who can pretend like she knows what she's doing when in reality she has no clue? I promise I won't hurt you. Well, some of you.

Monday, August 25, 2008

A situation almost deserving a dying awkward turtle.

So I checked out IBC, a church in Santa Monica this past Sunday with James (who happened to be visiting his parentals), and as we were walking out this one guy was like, "So, are you guys married? Or dating?" And we both were like, "NO." I said, "Well, I'm in grad school and he's still in college." And the guy said, "Well, that's okay."

Um. That would've been bad if it were someone else besides James. And I've been given a lot of advice about how it's "okay" to date younger guys. Natalie's mom being one of them. HAHAHAHA. Maybe all the ones my age and older are already taken?