What's New

As I was writing an e-mail to my friend Barb, I realized that perhaps I should share the information here too. Maybe that is what I should have done in the first place. Here is an update on my life:

Atlanta downtown from the Turner Field

The first couple weeks here were very new to me, new people, new professors, new teaching style, new weather, and a new city. Classes here are not like in college, here the professor uses the class time to tell us what we should know and we go home and study that. I was not used to this at all, but now it's ok and so I am fine with having just three classes take up all of my free time. The first exam went better than I thought and I passed my first class (it was only a pass-fail grade). I think we learned about 1 semester of math per day and it was truly a fast pace :D.

Part of our class hiked the Stone Mountain

I also never thought that there were any Christians in our class until I went to the IVCF Graduate Christian Fellowship where I was one of my classmates, Jing, from China. Jing is a very sweet girl and her life journey is very similar to mine. She is also the only child. I have also found out just recently that a 3rd year student in our department (also Jing, but a different one) is also a Christian. However, I went to the concert with the 1st Jing, my classmate. It was a wonderful concert and it was for free (organized by The Fish radio station). Jing, who never had a funnel cake, really wanted one, and I think funnel cakes do go well with outdoors concerts and so we set on this journey of waiting in line for 2 hours to get a delicious funnel cake. So we missed the concerts of Natalie Grant and Big Daddy Weave. We did get to see the concert of Switchfoot which was great and soon e both ended up jumping and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. :D

Jing and I with our Funnel Cakes

Our school year has already started. We have only 3 classes - Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, and Statistics and Probability. Our macro professor has not arrived yet because of some visa issues, so we just have his lecture notes and a very difficult assignment that although is due in two weeks, not even the 5th year students know how to solve - it is a programming problem set.

Also, I have been trying to go to different churches around. The first church was quite unwelcoming, but the other two (all PCA) were good. The church that I went to yesterday is my favorite so far. There are perhaps 3oo people at the service, they worship with both hymns and contemporary music and the pastor is very much awesome. His message was so deep and yet very well understandable and applicable. I think I really liked his teaching. They were also baptizing babies yesterday, which was really cute :). After the service, I joined the 'Young Singles' group for a bible study and talking. It was very good to see some people of my age who were all so friendly and godly :) I think I will definitely go back to this church.

As for exercise, I have joined the girls' ultimate frisbee team and also our department's soccer team. This way, I 'tricked' my body into exercising while having fun :) I also went to see the Braves yesterday, but that is no exercise and the cheesy nachos I ate were so good!

At the Braves' Game

Also, I forgot to mention our hummingbirds. I bought them a feeder so that they would come more often. I even took a picture of one :)

Friends, Ethnicity, Body of Christ

Today, Paul Hassle talked at IVCF about Ethnicity - esp. people who come from different culture. I was actually quite happy to hear him say what I have been saying all along - that what is different is not necessarily wrong. 

Words like NORMAL, ACCEPTABLE, and NATURAL, just sort of infiltrated our language that we use them even without thinking. Anything that is 'normal' is good and friendly, makes us comftable, anything that is not is wrong... from my experience, many people (including me on occasion) think like this. 

However, as Christians, Jesus calls us not to judge other people for their differences, He wants us to love others, pray for our enemies, and understand those who come from different cultures. Jesus or the apostles served those who were of different cultures and were reffered to as 'dogs' by the Jews. They knew that the kingdom of God is not just for some selected group of believers. After all, we are all one body of Christ. We can learn from each other how to serve God better and worship him in our friendships. 

Yes, I have to admit that being an international student somewhat made me have many friends who do not come from the same culture as I do... in fact, none of those who do come from the same culture are at Behrend. I agree with Paul, I have learned a lot from all of you, friends, crazy Americans, Asians, or African Americans (all meant in the best sense). Haha, you do indeed surprise me time to time with things, but that makes life more exciting and interesting!

I am thankful that God blessed me with so many friends here at school. Now that I think about it, I could say that all my friends are foreigners to me since none of them are from the Czech Republic, but I don't. They are my family :)

Rom 12:3-21  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.  (4)  For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  (5)  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  (6)  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them...  

What do you think about this? Have you ever learned anything from your international friends?

Whom will you follow, where will he take you?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%204-8;&version=47

Tonight at IVCF we had a speaker come and talk to us about Jesus. First of all, let me say that I do not appreciate young pastors that much because it seems that they try to appeal too much to young people rather than concentrate on their message. Second, thinking back, you don’t really see that many messages/speeches/sermons talking just about Jesus.

Well, this young pastor from Grace church came to talk to us about Jesus and his journey to the other side.

Basically, the situation was that Israel lived on one side of the Sea of Galilee, whereas these 7 nations of Canaan lived on the other side. These 7 nations were the exact opposite of the Israelites – they worshipped pigs, engaged in sex, violence, and other bad stuff in their pagan temples, they worshipped money, and were all but godly people. Also, the Roman legions were placed here. Now, one day, imagine, Jesus decides to go and take a trip to the other side… His disciples must have been afraid quite a lot. Actually the pastor made a point that in the big storm which Jesus stopped, these disciples probably thought it was a sign from God not to go to the other side.

Once there, the only person they meet is this crazy man who lives in tombs (probably didn’t smell or look that well) who had a demon in him whose name was Legion (connection to Romans here). Here Jesus makes the demons go into a herd of pigs that eventually all end up drowning. How cool is that? Amazing! The story goes on…

This man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him to go and tell others about the miracle that happened to him. Now, in all other circumstances, Jesus usually tells people not to tell anyone and to follow Him, here He does the exact opposite (apparently Jesus knew what would work the best here J

Next, Jesus goes back to the east bank (Israel) where He feeds 5 thousand. This is important later.

Then in Mark 7, Jesus decides to go back to the other side (as if once was not enough). This time, He is welcomed by a big crowd of people. Why? Because the one demon-possessed man told them! Imagine how God used this one man to spread the word! Amazing, and he used to be such an outcast… The story goes on up to the point where Jesus feeds the 4 thousand.

Now, the pastor stopped here to compare these feedings:

Feeding 5 thousand

                They were all from the ‘good’ side

Disciples were the ones to remind Jesus of people’s hunger after 1 day

Jesus fed them and 12 baskets were left over (as in 12 tribes of Israel)

Feeding 4 thousand

                They were all from the ‘other side’

                Jesus had to point out to people’s hunger after 3 days!!! Of them following Him

                Jesus fed them and 7 baskets were left over (as in 7 nations of Canaan)

The common theme here is that God cares for all people, no matter which side they came from, Jesus had compassion for them and brings them the good news of salvation.

Now, a lesson learned:

It is great to admire and love Jesus, but… we should follow Him too.

Yes, Jesus is my hero. He was a great leader, knew when to say things, what to do and what not to do. He did not sin. He had compassion and cared for those who did not know Him.  Jesus is my example and teacher. If I could be at least 10% or even 1% as good as Him that would be super amazing (again I’m not really sure about how you calculate that…). Here is the main point though, it is not enough just to admire Him like we admire Sidney Crosby (I doubt that the majority of his fans know how to play hockey), we as Christians should strive to be like Him, even if it means going to the other side and feeling uncomfortable.

What does it mean for us to go to the other side? One example given to us by the pastor was just to talk to people about Jesus. Yeah, scary right? But honestly, what is the worst that can happen?

Would you rather be fruitless, feel admired, but not able to look God in the eyes because of not having enough courage to speak up?

Or would you rather feel a little awkward at times but able to come to God and say ‘I tried’ and go to sleep with peace of mind?

Here is a last thought that sounded sort of important to me, that is how do we start a conversation about God? – it may be quite challenging. One advice that was given to us: Don’t start with

‘Where would you want to go if you died tonight?’ rather ask

‘When you wake up tomorrow, what will your life be? Whom will you follow? Where will he take you?

Doug’s story – Pathway to Love

Today at IVCF, a man called Doug (some people had a terrible time trying to remember it ;) came to speak to us about love. Doug actually works in the mailroom at Behrend and so I was quite surprised to see him. Listening to him was definitely worthwhile.

First he started by telling us about himself, his life, but mostly, I was struck by the loving way he talked about his wife. It seems almost unbelievably nice that after 34! Years of marriage, people still can love each other so much. Doug began with a question asking, what is the most important thing I found out about life so far. It really was a great question. If I was to list one thing, it would most probably be ‘Don’t trust anyone but God.’ It may sound strange, but God has taught me this lesson many times over and over again.

I was curious about what Doug learned – his thing was love. And to tell the truth, the answer matched his personality. Then he went on to talk about the purpose of our life to learn how to love God, others, and ourselves. I never thought about things this way before! It was amazing.

Life is like a maze with lots of turns, dead ends, but also a pathway that one has to follow to get to the end. When we keep Christ as our focus, Doug said, we should see our ‘maze’ from his perspective and find the path easier. He will give us the sight and light (guidance) we need. God will help us find balance in life – another wonderful thing – by getting us through the trials and tests that we go through. God will get us through them and guide us because – guess why! – He loves us, very much.  The closer we are to Christ & to God, the closer we are to being a loving person. I have to agree with that. I would not want to be my friend when I didn’t know God… I just wasn’t very loving at all (not that I would be now, but still I can see minor improvements).

Here are Doug’s pathways to love:

1. Daily Prayer – whether you just sit silent & listen to God, meditate on a Bible verse, pray with others, or alone, prayer is the 1^st base in communication with God.

2. Daily Bible Reading – I’m trying and honestly, this step has shown to be a great one. Reading about God and his works & about Jesus is so encouraging.

3. Finding a balance in life – balance between the spiritual, emotional, and physical part of us.

4. Practicing what we have learned in the Word – Sometimes very challenging, but overall rewarding. Forgiveness is probably the biggest part of it. Forgiving others is hard, but not forgiving is just as pretending that I am not a sinner. There is also forgiveness to self, which reminded me of what Buddy once said during dinner down in Gulfport. He was talking about forgiveness and how even though God forgives us, we still have hard time forgiving ourselves which later on becomes a burden on our hearts. I see here an area I can definitely work on. J Of course, there are many other things we can and should practice.

5. Test ourselves on what is learned – God tests us and we should be as good students and let ourselves be tested. Patience was one example Doug gave us.

6. Be in a community of believers – Churches (btw. I love my church family) offer the community and the body we are to belong to. We are to support each other, help each other, pray together, etc… you can’t really do that without having a family of wonderful Christians around.

7. Serve others – self explanatory.

8. Recognize that we have been saved – I think this comes back to the forgiveness and self-forgiveness. Also accepting the fact that I did not do anything that would make me be saved (on the contrary) and that without Jesus, I would literally go to hell.

9. Believe that we are loved by God – Yes, what a wonderful thought. God is the only one who actually loves me even though he knows everything about me. Amazing. J

10. Strive to do God’s will in daily life and die to self-interest – the more selfless we are, the more we can serve and love others. Being selfless makes the world much better place.

In the end, I think that Doug’s message was very good – he should be a pastorJ. Wow, what a wonderful person that works at Behrend! I am very thankful for what I heard tonight. Maybe, one day I will also be this wonderful loving person, who is amazing, selfless, and godly…

Here is a song that Doug mentioned, it has very pretty lyrics (this is an excerpt):

Life’s a Dance by John Michael Montgomery
Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life's a dance you learn as you go

The longer I live the more I believe
You do have to give if you wanna receive
There's a time to listen, a time to talk
And you might have to crawl even after you walk
Had sure things blow up in my face
Seen the longshot, win the race
Been knocked down by the slamming door
Picked myself up and came back for more

Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life's a dance you learn as you go