Psalm 73, next section

Now the Psalmist moves from his description of the wicked to his reaction to what he sees.

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
And washed my hands on innocence;
For I have been stricken all day long
And chastened every morning.
If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.

I get him: sometimes I look around too, see how easy life seems for unbelievers, and how tough it seems for me and I wonder why. I think that sacrificing for Christ should lead to greater blessings, ignoring the eventual blessings.

But see what the Psalmist says next...he did not speak about it. He knew that it would be wrong and would affect others. Asaph was a priest and people listened to him, so he kept his mouth shut when he was doubting; he did not speak until he had answers (they're coming up later).

He stands in contrast to some so-called pastors I've heard about. They doubt and rejoice in their doubting and encourage others to doubt. They don't look for answers, for all that they claim to be looking for them; instead, they keep asking questions and it seems like they don't want answers. And so they betray the ones who look to them for answers.

Asaph was confused, he forgot some important characteristics of God, and he doubted. But he was careful, even in the worst of times, not to betray the people who looked up to him.

Church stuff

I was back in my own church this morning, listing to my own pastor preach on Mark and keeping an eye on a certain small monkey who sits with me. She started to get bored, but then entertained herself by making new colours with the pencil crayons. Eventually she started colouring patches of blue and covering them with yellow to make green.

Next week I start training two of the high school boys to be Junior Church teachers. I had one approach me, and when I told him today that I planned to start training him next week, he was very happy. One of my other boys was there and he wants to learn to be a teacher too (although so far I don't know if either of them can teach). They've agreed to teach as a team, but I can't call them co-teachers because in movies that signals upcoming trouble.

That's all I have for you today, so I leave you with this....

School Notes

School is going well and I'm learning a lot of stuff. Here are my random notes, with some commentary.....

Class one: I think there are 12 guys and 8 girls….we’re catching up! It beats last year with about 10 guys and me. Do the math: there are a lot more students this year than in any of my previous classes. In the second class, I think we’ve lost one of the girls. We’re still gaining on them!

Okay....fact....even though there are girls, I still mostly sit with the boys at meals, although one girl has come to join us, and sometimes at breakfast a couple of the other girls are there. Last night I tried sitting with the girls and ended up in Biblical Counselling world. On one side of me the girls were sharing proposal stories, complete with "That's so sweeeeeeet / cuuuuuute" and on the other side the boys were....sharing proposal stories (although with less gushing). Today I return to my place with the Biblical Studies boys.

I really, really love being a student. It’s a bit strange not being the one writing all over the whiteboard, but I like learning. Teachers are supposed to be the worst students, but I think that’s only true if you have a poor or even a mediocre teacher. With a good teacher, it’s easy enough for me to be a student. I will admit though: there have been times in the past (not here mind you) when it has been hard to keep my mouth shut because there were so many better ways to teach the topic and I can see the students’ minds wandering off. For a teacher, though, watching a good teacher work, either as an observer or a student, is actually a pleasure. I get to learn about the Bible and watch a master teacher and pick up pointers on how to be a better teacher as well.

Part of it is that Abner's teaching style matches my teaching style, so watching him is like watching myself! Dr. Hutchison is different, more direct and lecturing. He's still really, really good, though.

Sometimes it’s hard to see how the dating forward from the OT and the dating backwards from the NT are going to mesh, but when you do your homework, they do. It’s always surprising, but it shouldn’t be because it’s all God’s Word so of course it works!

Learning the chronology keeps Christ’s life in the time-space continuum; it keeps it real.

Contrary to popular belief, if you look at the Greek or Latin, “Christian” does not mean “little Christ” (which is what people used to tell me). It means “of the party of Christ” which means that we do everything to promote Him.

My computer clock is in Alberta time and I don’t want to change it to California time because I’ll forget to change it back. The only problem is that I thought class was almost over but there was still another hour.

Okay, there you are. There's more, but this is long enough. Also, some of it is stuff that I need to think about and that may end up as a post of its own.

Psalm 73, part whatever

This week's verses end Asaph's description of the wicked:

Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of abundance are drunk by them.
They say, "How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?"
Behold, these are the wicked;
And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.

So: they are rich, they do not acknowledge God, and yet they are at ease. It really, really seems like God ignores -- or even rewards -- disobedience and rebellion over following Him.

Next week we'll see how the Psalmist feels about things, and then we'll start to switch focus and get the answer.

Sunday in California

I'm back at Master's. Classes start tomorrow, so yesterday was for settling in and catching up, today is for church and socializing in the evening (most of us are resting more this afternoon).

Notes from so far....

It's more fun to travel with someone than alone, even if we both spent time both on the plane and the shuttle sleeping (or dozing).

There are a lot of people here who I don't know yet, although I know some from last year and I've been getting to know others. There are other girls in my classes (yay) and at least one is from Canada.

Canadians are slowly and politely taking over the school. We have some competition, though, from Texans.

It hasn't been too hot yet, although too much time in the sun is still too much for me. It's supposed to get hotter, but most of the week I'll be inside.

We went to Grace Community Church this morning. The sermon was good, about how being a christian should lead us to fear God and willingly submit to Him, and there was communion. After the service I stopped by the bookstore and bought more books and a CD. After that, we went to one of the smaller groups (smaller than the service, bigger than my church) where the lesson was about Christ's temptation. It was also very good. Later I went to the visitor's centre, mostly because I knew they'd have juice or water (they did) and had a nice chat with some guy who handed me a free book.

With all that good teaching and worship you'd think I wouldn't miss my own church family, but I did. I love being with them best.

We went to the Stone Fire Grill for lunch. The food there is good, the price is good, and the portions are very generous. I had the petite macaroni and cheese and it was quite enough for me (and very good).

Later tonight, when we've recovered from lunch, some of us are planning to maybe go for pizza (although some people have leftovers from lunch; the portions are very, very generous).

So far it's been nice, relaxing, fun. Tomorrow the work starts. I think classes will also be fun, but a bit more strenuous mentally!

Almost Time!

Tomorrow I leave for school!!!

Work wrapped up well; at any rate, everything seems under control and ready for my teacher to take over for a week. It was an insanely busy day, with three new students testing, parents to meet with, and more student binders to prepare for next weeks' new starts. Still, it's over now.

Right now I'm doing laundry. After that I can finish packing. Then I'll be ready to go. I understand that there are people who pack days in advance. I am not one of those people. I firmly believe in packing the night before. (Side note: The other night I dreamed that I was going somewhere and it was time to leave and I was still packing. I'm not really that bad.)

By this time tomorrow I'll be settled into a dorm room at Masters, catching up with old friends, meeting new friends. and relaxing.

I hope there's another girls in my classes this year.

We might need to work on our sympathy....

Student: But I really have a headache.

Teacher 1: Well, try doing your work anyway.

Teacher 2: Doing work will make your headache better.

Student: No it doesn't. It's getting worser.

Teacher 2: "Worser" isn't a word.

Student: It's getting worse.

Teacher 1: That's right; high five!

Student and Teacher 1 high five....

Yes: while some people might offer sympathy, we offer reading work and correct his grammar.

As a side note: the student also said he threw up yesterday. We suggested that if he had to throw up today, he try going outside, maybe around the corner or in front of another business. If he insisted on throwing up in the bathroom, he had to make sure he did it neatly.

Also: By the second hour his headache was all better. Obviously our treatment worked.