New Experiences

So today was just chock full of new experiences for me. We have practically the whole weekend off. We said goodbye to our newest friends early on Friday morning and are free until tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, when we prepare for our next bundles of joy. We got a new roommate who will be joining us for the next two weeks to help us with our overflow of groups. This upcoming week will be a very full week with very limited access to much of anything. I will be staying at Harbor House (which is the site that doesn't have Internet- or our own living space or showers) which means next week will be very interesting blogging wise. That being said, the girls decided that it was time for me to try sushi- apparently it's just something that you have to do- like a rite of passage for California (or growing up), so anyway I did it. And the truth is, I didn't hate it, but everything was very slimy. I tried wasabi, 6 different kinds of sushi, and miso soup. Needless to say, that's an awful lot of "new" for one day.

Tomorrow we will be attending a different church (one that our associate director attends) so I look forward to this new experience.

There was something that just really stuck with me last week that I failed to share with my friends so I'd like to take the opportunity to do that now. At our last ministry site of the week we helped to clean up a construction site for a Christian school that is one of the many ministries that the rescue mission provides. This is an especially interesting project because it has been ongoing for about two years now- I don't know all the details of why it has taken so long, but that's what I was told. Anyway, we were on the third floor picking up scraps of material and sweeping up when I noticed some writing on the wooden beams framing the walls and ceiling. As I got closer I realized that someone or someones had written Bible verses on them. Things like Jeremiah 29:11- "for I know the plans I have for you... plans to give you a hope and a future..." or Proverbs 3:5- "trust in the Lord with all your heart...", but aside from the fact that verses were written people had also included names of what I can only assume are children or faculty of the school. "Maria, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding". "Jacob, I know that plans I have for you, declares the Lord..." What an amazing testimony to Deuteronomy 6:9- "Write them on the door frames of your house..." They may not necessarily be written in plain sight, but to know that they are taking God's word and His promises to heart by claiming them as a foundation of this school that will be "training up children in the way they should go". So I would like to close my blog tonight in the same way:

"And we know, Bruce, that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

"Julie, train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

"In everything, John, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."

"Amy, the king is enthralled by your beauty..."

"Mandie, I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing."

"insert name here, those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

I may or may not have said this before, but I've been really convicted lately about claiming the promises of God. But the truth is, the promises of God are just like a lost winning lottery ticket... unless you know them, where they are, and claim them, they are useless. Why do men and women wear wedding rings, why did God write the ten commandments on tablets and give them to Moses, why bother writing down the word of God at all? They serve as symbols, reminders of the promises we make to each other, and that God made to us.