Old Pak

Our last day in our first village in SE Asia we met with this guy. I never knew his name so I referred to him as old pak. Pak because that is how you refer to men older than yourself, the equivalent of using Mr. in English. Old because, well, he was old.

   

 Our national partner shared the Gospel with him. To our understanding he accepted the message of the Gospel. J came to pick us up later that day and met with Old Pak, along with a pastor. He explained again what we shared with him and shared the Gospel with Old Pak's neighbors and family. 

Yesterday I did some searching on Google Maps trying to find the places we stayed at and visited in this village. I was unsuccessful at that but I also searched for orphanages in that village and found some websites for the one by his house that he helped at. He passed away in February. Rest in Peace Old Pak. 

Today...

I played Monopoly from about 9am until 3:45pm. There was only one break in the game, for lunch, which lasted at most an hour. The game is still not finished. And that is what I got paid to do at work today. Well, with the first client at least. I guess some days aren't too bad.

I might of exaggerated a bit when I said an onslaught of posts because that is it.

Weeds

They are pretty.

They are bad.

Weeds. Like our sin or temptation. Satan glamorizes it. Makes it look pretty, but it's bad. Some weeds look good so we're tempted to leave them, admire them but in truth they're killing the good plants around them. Our sin is like that in that it looks good. We want to hold on to it but it is choking us. It hinders the good and  growing closer to the Lord. This is no new revelation but simply something I really was thinking about as I admired some weeds along the Trees and Trails the other day.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+4%3A1-20&version=NIV " title="Parable of the Sower">Mark 4:1-20

Beautiful Places

On Sunday I went to the Burden Center's Trees and Trails with my mom. I went wanting to scope it out and get familiar with the trails because I wanted to use it as a place to jog. I never even heard of Trees and Trails until about a week or so ago when I read about it in the Daily Reveille, which said, "The trails provide a safe route for runners who want to experience nature while they exercise...Students can use the trails as an alternative to running the lakes." So I'm all excited because it's right down the road from my house. Convenient location, 3.5 miles of trails, different routes to keep it interesting. Much to my dismay when we get there I'm reading the sign with all the rules and it says no jogging or other athletic activities. Well, sad day. 

We still walked all the trails and it is a nice place. There are two pretty cool spots. One is along the Black Swamp Trail where there is a boardwalk that actually goes out over the swamp. Even better is the Meditation Garden. It has a pond and a bench in a gazebo. It was beautiful. While sitting there enjoying beauty of it I realized I just wanted to pray and spend time with the Lord. I've realized that about beautiful places, that that is what I want to do in them. Undistracted by everything else, just in God's nature, worshiping Him. 

That's not the only place I want to pray though. I miss praying with others, like before TNT. Praying with a small group. Sharing what we need prayer for, petitioning to God, together. I would go in to the prayer room a little apprehensive. I wanted to be there so much but I've never been really comfortable praying out loud. I hear all these wonderful prayers that and then when I go to pray all the words seem to get lost. What I'm praying silently just disappears. "My heart won't tell my mind to tell my mouth what it should say." (Country lyrics totally out of context). I know it doesn't matter what comes out, how it sounds, the Lord still hears it and the people I'm with aren't judging (at least I certainly would hope not!). 

With all that said, that quickly became my favorite part of TNT, if not the week. I just can't  really word how much I enjoyed it. When I found out TNT was cancelled the Thursday before Good Friday I was upset because we wouldn't be having TNT but even more so because that meant we wouldn't be praying together. Now TNT is over for the semester and I really miss it, praying with others. 

I Choose You

For Lent I gave up coca cola. No, I'm not Catholic, or of any denomination that gives something up for Lent, nor did I use the sacrifice as a way to grow closer to God. I gave up coke just to see if I could do it. No coke for 40 days. So I may not have  had a real reason for doing so but I did learn something through the experience.

There were multiple times when I really wanted a coke. I'd be fixing lunch, open the icebox, and there they were. And oh how I craved one! There was nothing stopping me. The temptation was there. How easy it would of been to just give in! But I didn't. I chose something else.

Why can't I be like that when it comes to sin? So many times when faced with temptation I give in to those sinful desires. Like a dog returning to its vomit, I go back time and time again to something that is no good for me. As Dr. Goza said on Sunday, "No temptation is greater than God." Instead of choosing sin I need to say "I choose You, Lord. I choose you."

Prepare

Prepare for an onslaught of posts! There are many things I've wanted to say but never feel like saying when I'm at the computer. So today while at the bowling alley with my client I had my legal pad with me and just started spilling. Now all I have to do is type up everything I wrote.

I've got to get something out first about being at the bowling alley. There are only a few other workers around my age with clients at the bowling alley. Never once have they spoken to me. They usually group together and talk. I've been coming since the last Tuesday in January. About a month ago now a new girl around my age came with a client. This is the first time I'd ever seen her. The first week she came she was sitting at a table by herself and the people my age called her over to where they were and introduced themselves and have talked each week since. That hurts. That was me a few months ago, the new girl, and they have still yet to speak one word to me. One more thing to make me like my job a little less.

Vent over. Onslaught of posts, here they come. Mission Arlington and SE Asia are still coming. For real.