Time for an Update

Alright, so it's been a little while since i've updated and for that I appologize. Not too much has been going on though. This last weekend was the spiritual retreat here at the dorm. It's an optional thing and we had about 35 kids there and then about 35 angels. The angels are kids who attended the retreat the year before and they come back and they serve. So the angels are in the background setting stuff up and doing other stuff. It's quite a beautiful set up and the kids were great.

It was a great weekend overall just seeing the kids serve and seeing the kids be served. Also, the kids were great affected spiritually as well. There was a testimony part at the end of the weekend and from what the kids said, it sounded like they learned a lot. So praise God for that because I wasn't sure how the kids would react. I mean we took their cellphones and watches and they couldn't have them. So for them, it was quite a stretch to not have that stuff. I mean even now I would have a tough time going without the cellphone or watch or clocks. Why am I so time-oriented. Why can't I become more like the Latin cultures, or the Malaysian culture and be laid back. That would be sweet, but alas I can't.

So besides that, not too much is going on. Just normal life and dorm life. And that is good, that is what's expected. I can't ask for a better job right now that seems to fit me for what I like to do.

So with this job there is a lot of free time and recently I've been reading a lot. I just finished two books which have really been changing my ideas on spirituality upsidedown. The books are "messy spirituality" by Michael Yaconelli, and "a new kind of Christian." I can't remember right now who is the author of that one. But both books are really good reads. Messy Spirituality is an easier read, but A New Kind of Chirstian will challenge you quite a bit in your walk. For one, both of these books have really challenged me with getting to know some non-Christians. I mean all my life I've only been surrounded by Christians. I mean sure, I went to a Secular University, but all my friends were Christians. So a big challenge right now for me is to not feel so uncomfortable around non-Christians. It seems when I'm around non-Christians I clam up when ever I hear a swear word or where they don't do something Christian. And you know what...I don't like that about myself. I need to be able to show them that I'm comfortable with where they are at and show them Love and through that work with them. If I clam up and always condemn them with my thoughts, where does that get us?

Also, Messy Spirituality really helped me out as sometimes I get down on myself because at times I don't feel extremely spiritual, but this book points out that the spiritual walk is not a straight line up, but it's like a roller coaster and that you can still be spiritual and not be spending hours in the Word every day. Don't get me wrong, spending hours in the Word is a good thing, but it's not necessary every day to be Spiritual or to be a Christian. You can throughout the day and be thinking about God in whatever you are doing. And I feel like a lot of times throughout the day I do try to incorporate God into my thoughts.

A new kind of Christian has really detailed what "post-modern" really means. It was a good read. Although I'm still trying to comprehend some of the stuff, but a big part of it is just how the modern culture has adapted Christianity into the modern practices. And that's good for the "modern" culture, but the culture is changing and is thus "post-modern." Thus the church needs to change as well to meet the needs of that culture. It's hard to detail what the book said so I would just say read it and read it with an open mind.

I'm not saying these books are absolute truth and that the authors said everything 100% true. But I will say read the books and check it with the Bible. Test it, check it, and test it again. I will say that I feel like after reading these books I have a slightly bigger grasp on what it means to be a Christian and I'm learning that it's not as easy to be a Christian as I thought. I have a lot of growing up to do.

Please pray that I can start to grow up in my Christianity. Theres so much that I can do for other people out there that I don't do yet. For example, talking to the homeless, or inviting them to dinner, or just Loving on non-Christians. And I want to be able to do that without shame.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I can put more stuff down once I gather my thoughts from all this reading.