Confessions was great again. We continued to discuss the Trinity and how the seven councils effected the creeds. I got a letter from one of my Adopt-A-Student donors, and I was so excited to read it, that I read it during the first five minutes of class. The letter was a great letter and I am so glad to be communicating back and forth with several of them now. Also, the first five minutes was only review so I didn't miss anything.
The afternoon classes, Missions and Reformation, went well too. Missions is still a struggle to get anything out of his lecture, but I think I am getting all the important stuff. Reformation is more time covering the most random side topics one could imagine, however, it is pretty cool to see how the professor is able to relate those random topics back to the Reformation to get us back on track.
Then I went to work, which was really not much at all. I had to help the mail room deliver some extra packages and set up chairs in the Presidents room. Nothing hard at all. Plus I got it all done in time to make our IM's basketball game. I didn't get to play a whole lot, but did get several rebounds while I was in. I think I impressed my teammates if nothing else. I don't know when all of a sudden I became half way decent at basketball because I haven't played since sophomore year of high school. However, playing both pick up games and IM's I have been able to at least hold my own out on the court. Maybe I'll tell myself I will try out for the team next year just to push myself to get into shape.
Then after IM's and a quick walk over to Subway for a small bite to eat, we watched the Preachers actual basketball team. They lost, but played very well against a really good team. They are a really fun team to watch. We try to make most home games and support them. I know they put in a lot of time with practice and games on top of there classes and studies.
Now I am writing this quick, need to do some reading of course, and then hit the hay. My thought for the day is from my Worship class's extra credit project. Our professor gave us several different ways to get extra credit in the class. Not because the class is hard, but because more or less it is his way of challenging us to try some of these things. Some include attending chapel everyday, which most students do anyways, or else go to other denominations services, or chanting through the service for him. The one I am specifically doing is reading all 150 Psalms in the quarter as personal payers. His extra credit only requires us to read all 150 once through the ten weeks of the quarter. I am personally raising that challenge to as many times as I can in one quarter. In two days I am already through 20. Now I do take the time to pray each one in a very sincere, prayer to the Lord. However, it only takes a minute roughly for each one. It is not hard to find time between classes, first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, and make five minutes to pray two or three of them. Luther as a monk used to pray all 150 each week. The reason he knew Scripture so well was because as a monk he spent the majority of his time reading it over and over. After a year or two of saying every Psalm every week, I bet he had all 150 memorized. I am not trying to memorize them, and am glad I am not a monk in a dark cell reading only Scripture. However, one thing Luther and the monks got right is, one can NEVER spend enough time reading the Word of the Lord. So I am not trying to memorize them, but if I can get in the habit of reading them regularly and daily as prayers, I could get to know them much better. I am also using the half hour between class and work or between lunch and next class to just open my Bible and read. I use the excuse that thirty minutes is not enough to pull out my texts books and notebooks and read very much of the assigned reading while taking notes in only thirty minutes. However, today I got through nine chapters of Exodus in a half hour break. If I train myself to use every free second I have to stick my nose in my pocket Bible and just read, I could possibly make my way through the entire Bible once or twice a year. If I can do that starting now, by the time I am thirty or even forty I should know Scripture very well. It is something that I am realizing is very easy to do, a great way to spend that time instead of wasting it, and a great way to always become more familiar to my Lord's Word. I am setting the bar high and hoping I stick with it. All Praise be to Him who gave us His word and revealed Himself to us in it.
Since I am talking praying Psalms, I will use Psalm 20 (ESV) for my Prayer:
May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!
May he grant you your heart's desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of our LORD God.
They collapse and fall,
but we will rise and stand upright.
O LORD, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment