Smarts vs. faith
01.30.05 (9:39 pm) [edit]I am taking a very thought-provoking class that is stretching my mind. It is Media and a Christian worldview or something like that (long title = hard to remember). But the class basically teaches us how journalistic ethics and Christianity can coincide. I believe they can quite nicely.
I do not feel that belief in God means we must abandon our reason and intellect. This quote sums up the feeling:
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei
Here I am quoting people again! But really, what a great quote. I have always struggled with faith and my brain. For many years I simply relied upon faith, but when it came to apologetics, I could never answer a question about Christ. However, I think I pointed many people toward Christ with unswerving faith.
After awhile, though, my intellect had to catch up with my faith. You see, my mom is faith-based and my dad is intellect-based. Sometimes they switch, they have for years at a time. But always they are polar opposites. That is probably why I appreciate that my bf and I have differing perspectives sometimes. It helps me see the other side.
Anyways, I digress. Faith and brainpower can go together.
Who's got tact?
01.28.05 (2:49 pm) [edit]"Truth separated from tact is a very bad thing"
-- Chuck Bahr
Jan. 28, 2005
In regards to a post he made on a friend's website
Yeah, tact is important. So is truth. Can we balance the two? I hope so.
More beautiful than this world . . .
01.26.05 (2:46 pm) [edit]I think when I look at this world, it can be difficult to see beauty. But if I take the time to put on rose-colored glasses, everything can look different. Rose-colored glasses, to me, is the attitude that comes after prayer. After I pray and spend time with Christ, I can look at the world and people in a different light. I can experience God's beauty, which surpasses any in this world, and see people as the reflection of Christ's beauty.
We sang this in chapel . . .
Wonderful so wonderful is your unfailing love
Your cross is spoken mercy over me
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart can fully know
How glorious, how beautiful you are
Beautiful one I love you
Beautiful one I adore
Beautiful one my soul must sing
Powerful so powerful your glory fills the skies
Your mighty works displayed for all to see
The beauty of your majesty awakes my heart to sing
How marvelous, how wonderful you are
You’ve opened my eyes to your wonders anew
Captured my heart with this love
‘Cause nothing on earth is as beautiful as you
My soul my soul must sing(x3)
Beautiful one
Running
01.25.05 (3:39 pm) [edit]This weekend was the massive undertaking of great amounts of reading, writing and little sleep. I am still not caught up on sleep, but I am happy I got what I did completed!
For anyone not in Minnesota right now, it is veeeeery warm and nice outside! Who knew the snow would start melting today and it would be nearly 40-45 degrees?
Other updates? Hmm, well Lafe taught me how to pick a lock with a hanger a few minutes ago. If anyone has talked to my family recently, let them know I love and miss them.
And last but not least, sometimes I feel very frustrated with who I am inside. I feel like I have so many problems and few solutions. I was praying today that God would teach me how to trust Him. And I was wondering "what is the action of trust? Is it an action or a feeling? Then I remembered Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will guide your paths."
I realized that trusting Him means I need to acknowledge him in all areas of my life! I cannot shut Him out of one area or another, I must let him into all my life. That also means I need to be unafraid to tell others that He is the reason for my "ways." He is the reason for the decisions I make, the life choices I decide, the way I treat others. I have always thought of trust as being an intangible, unattainable thing, but maybe it will become more real to me if I can put it into practice.
Here is a quote I ran across that inspired me today - i hope it inspires someone else.
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices
have very few virtues."
Abraham Lincoln
Production Weekend
01.21.05 (3:56 pm) [edit]It is time to start producing for the newspaper here at school. This weekend marks our first newspaper for this semester! It will be a simple eight page edition with no outside writers. Only the main editors will be filling the pages . . . that means me!!! (and James, Andy, and Jamaal) I hope hope hope our content and design will pick up speed this semester. I think it will, now that we know what we are doing.
Anyways, here is my two thumbs up to good friends and family who are supportive and loving. It is great when you have people who support you.
Bad things turn into good
01.18.05 (4:25 pm) [edit]It is nice to be back at school. Sorry, I haven't updated in a week! I have been very busy and unable to access the internet!
This blog is kind of a serious note. In my freelance writing class today each person had to suggest five life events that have affected them greatly. We were then supposed to pick one to write a ten-page reflection paper on. While I listed my five events, the professor asked me to write about the most personal one - sexual assault. It was the first time I have ever spoken to a crowd about it. I have only ever talked about being attacked on a one-on-one basis with people I trust before. It felt odd and overwhelming to talk about it to a group. Giving each person that information about me made me feel very, very vulnerable.
One person came up to me after class and asked me how I could talk about it freely. I told him that I couldn't. This was the first time I spoke about it to a small group (the class is 10 people). I might have appeared calm, but on the inside I was shaking.
It is difficult to talk about and even harder to remember. But in all honesty, if I can help another girl (or guy) who has been through a similiar experience know that God is there for her - it is worth it all. "Count it all joy"
There are things in your life that you think you will never get through. But then you do and later God can use the most horrible, awful experiences for His glory.
Back to school . . .
01.10.05 (3:54 pm) [edit]Wow! School looks the same, except my new room. It is about four times bigger than my last one. Thank God!!!
More later :)