I think it is some of the rather random and spontaneous things from college that I will end up remembering as some of the most amazing times.

There were the hilarious moments of completely unplanned fun, like when I was in a room with a bunch of the girls from my floor and we skyped with StrongJoy and Raora. Or the night very early on in the year when Martie and I were "doing Bible homework" which somehow or another turned into sitting ON a table in the lounge and talking until what we considered all hours... (which being in those first couple of weeks probably means... midnight...)

There were the things which I had to be dragged along to because I was busy being an honours student and obsessing over getting my homework done. The greatest example of this was the Power Outage Outing. For a college which doesn't cancel for a few solid inches of ice, at least they cancel when all the power went out... and boy, did we take advantage of that. It was a very adventurous day -- a bus ride, Applebee's, and... WAL*MART!

And then... there were... a few things which I thought I was probably certifiably insane to do. For example, if you are rather tired and not getting anything like enough sleep, and a friend volunteers to take you along to help out at a lock in, you should definitely go, right?

Well, I went. And it was exhausting (duh) but it made some amazing memories. At least I think they were amazing... but considering the sort of things we were laughing at by three and four in the morning...

Other various memories which live on... (if you want more explanation, ask... it MAY be forthcoming.)

~Walking Janeen back to her house with Ketter, Jason, Alli, and Rebekah after the Dag party (which was wonderful in itself). I remember discussions about being homeschooled, communication, the direction of the Dag group in years to come... and singing We Are the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

~Going with a group of girls from my floor over to the guys' room. Especially before the Valentine's Day party at Alicia's. Especially the part where we got bored of waiting and Tony's RA badge ended up stuck to the ceiling...

~Speaking of those girls and the guys' room, there was the time when I was over "watching" something in the guys' room (and being mostly asleep on the floor in preference to whatever kung fu was running...), the girls needed translation help with Hebrew. They didn't know what room I was in, so randomly picked a floor and began running through it yelling, "ANNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" It was an experience not to be missed...

~Rebekah spending insane amounts of hours after lunches tormenting teaching Mike and me various games.

~Snowball Dag fights, both throwing snow at each other and using the huge snow boulders...

~Going to Hwaet with Kat. As if I didn't have soooo many other things which I was supposed to be doing right then... and then that night, going to Wal*Mart with Kat, Rebekah, and Amber... and then Janeen's bridal shower the next night... but it all worked (even if it shouldn't have time-wise) and was amazingly good.

~The doctor game. With headlice. And pretending to be each other. And... I don't remember what else.

~Rebekah: "How are you?"
me: "Fine."
Rebekah: "Put on your shoes, we're going for a walk."

~Getting tired of playing Dag with three people. This resulted in 1) slow motion battles and 2) me sitting down in the grass and just talking with Jason and Mike for a while.

~Salt fights.


Anyway... yes. These are not the things which I was told to expect in the way of fun... yet were amazingly so.

So, I read through I Timothy. Slowly. Verrrrrrrrry slowly. And I noticed a few things...

One thing that I noticed was how often Paul talks in there about consciences.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1:5)

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. (1:18-19)

[Deacons] must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. (3:9)

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared (4:1-2)


There are also a number of beautiful doxologies.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.

...until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

There are a few other themes, which perhaps I will post about (and perhaps not)..

What have you been reading? What have you been noticing?

So today, our dog Leah again proved her hunting prowess. She has, in fact, upgraded from shrews to rabbits.

So... um... yeah. I find that a little gross on gut level. I know that animals do that sort of thing. But still. Bleh.

I was thinking about it a bit, and realized that if this same dog which can rip a rabbit apart licks my hand all the time. Last night I was chasing around with her in the back yard and she got a mouthful of my hand. Having my entire hand in a dog’s mouth is not quite the greatest feeling I can imagine. But she is very, very gentle and careful, and has not hurt me at all. I trust her quite a bit not to.

Still, it’s a bit of a stunner to realize that this lovely, friendly dog could do some pretty serious damage to me if she wanted. And I cannot run as fast as a rabbit. At the same time, it’s comforting. I know that I can trust her, and knowing that she has those kind of abilities reassures me of her abilities to guard us.

There are inanimate objects which I feel similarly about. For instance, cars. They are insanely powerful and can do an incredible amount of damage very quickly, to other property, even to human life. But they are also an amazing tool, moving huge amounts of material and people incredibly quickly!

It’s the same sort of deal with a lot of my friends too. They have immense power in one way or another. Some of them can wipe me out with no problem. Some of them I could take down if I had reason to do so. But it goes far beyond that. The ones who know me -- actually know me well -- could hurt me far more deeply than the ones who only know me a bit. I have to trust that they won’t -- or lose that closeness.

There can be a strange tension, between the power and the trust.

It’s not so different with God. Those who try to make Him something that they can handle and not be frightened of will end up being frightened of many other things. This was pretty clearly seen in 9-11. Some claimed that God had not wanted the terrorist attacks to happen, yet had been unable to stop them.

Excuse me? What kind of comfort is that? Is that the sort of God who I trust hold my soul in His hand throughout all eternity? Is this the sort of God about whom Paul can confidently write,

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 
   "For your sake we face death all day long; 
      we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

The God who Paul wrote about was not at all powerless. He could be trusted to defend His people against anything. This would include terrorists, cancer, swine flu, economic depression, the common cold, and banana peels. Also anything else which you can think of.

In The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the witch shears Aslan’s mane off, binds him, and taunts him as being a great house cat. What utter rubbish. And it’s proved utter rubbish, too. He doesn’t even bother answering her back, but the coming-back-to-life proves her abundantly wrong.

He is, as Lewis says, not a tame lion.

But He is good.

I like the Newboys’ answer to the tension.

How you gonna reckon with a God like this?
When you gonna face what you can't dismiss?
Whatcha gonna say to the … soul kiss that is my God?
Fearsome like the sag in a fat man's chair?
Sweeter than a patch of Rogaine hair?
How do you define what you can't compare?
This is … my God
And there's no use explaining what can't be contained
I'm not following a God I can lead around
I can't tame this Deity
That's why Jesus is the final answer
To who I want my God to be
He's who (I want my God to be)

How you gonna reckon with a God this great?
Why you wanna measure what you can't equate?
Whatcha gonna say to the … check mate that is my God?
Stronger than the burn of an aftershave?
Tender as a burger in your microwave
Rarer than the air in an empty grave
This is … my God
And there's no use explaining what can't be contained

How we gonna work this out?
To fabricate a God like this no doubt
We'd end up worshipping a Christ of our own design
But Jesus doesn't fit that profile
His ways aren't mine

I'm not following a God that's imagined
Can't invent This deity
That's why Jesus is the final answer
To who I want my God to be
He's who I want my God to be

In the end, I do not trust God in spite of His power which scares me. I trust Him BECAUSE of it, knowing that “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)