miscellany monday

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

1. The packing process has begun again. It's only a partial movie, hopefully only for the next two months. Then I might be doing it all over again! One day I'll be an expert :)

2. I'm back in the Chicago area and can't wait for my new job schedule to start. Things are going to be less chaotic and I'll probably be able to get into a rhythm.

3. The reading assignments will begin this week. I'll have to put my fun reading on hold as I try to complete my requirements as an appointee. I'll try to make sure I get some leisure reading in at the same time. 

P.S. I'm still working on the "Suggest a Book!" Page :)

4. I'm still waiting to hear about possible opportunities to go overseas. God is teaching me a lot of patience.

How is your summer going? Any big changes coming up?

Reentering

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

I'm back in Illinois and excited not to be living in a hotel room. As much as I loved my roommate and spending time with my Texas friends, it's good to be in a place that feels like home.

I'll be moving to a basement apartment tomorrow (very excited!) and I'll be in my own space. Also, I was able to go to a birthday party yesterday, a Mexican one, and see my friends and students from church.

However, not all parts of coming back have been fun and exciting. It's been difficult feeling so different when everyone else seems the same. It's a similar feeling to arriving home from a mission trip and having your entire worldview changed while everyone else is still caught up in their own lives.

I'm struggling with the idea of support raising, getting people to catch the same vision I have for going overseas. I will continue to pray and seek God's guidance as I wrestle through this process. I would appreciate your prayers as well through this time :)

This post is simple me trying to get some thoughts out and not necessarily and exhaustive treatment of the topic. More to come...

Night all!

miscellany monday

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

1. I leave for Texas TOMORROW!!!!!!! I will be getting up at the crack of dawn to head out. The family I'm staying with is currently in Puerto Rico but luckily a couple from my church has agreed to pick me up and take me out to the airport. My procrastination tendencies are taking over a bit so I still haven't packed but I'll be ready by tomorrow...promise :)

The food at the training center is AMAZING!

2. I've found a place to live! I'm going to be in an a basement apartment in the house of a woman from church. This is such a blessing from God. I'll be closer to work. I'll be closer to church. I'll be in a Christian home. I don't have to sign a lease! It's anything I could possibly ask for in an apartment.

The neighborhood where I'll be living

3. My new obsession is Mock the Week, similar to Whose Line is It Anyway, only there's less chaos, a ton of British humor and they focus on popular culture. There are full episodes on Youtube and I can't stop watching it!

BEST TV SHOW EVER!

4. I'm debating on whether or not I should get a Kindle. I asked my friend Annie and it's obvious you will have to pry hard copy books out of her cold dead hands. However, I welcome other opinions about e-Readers as I make my decision.

The Kindle :)

5. I went summer clothes shopping this weekend and had the wonderful surprise of being able to buy closes one size smaller. I guess going to the gym every morning and not eating college cafeteria food will do that for you.

My new dress!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Uncertainty

Location: Evergreen Park, IL
I think I'm ready to go to Texas. I think I'm ready for orientation. I think I'm ready to go cross-cultural full time.

However...

There's this lingering feeling of uncertainty, not knowing what lies ahead.

The only thing I'm certain of is that God is in control and whatever happens is not outside of His will for my life. Therefore, if I complete orientation praise God. At the same time, if I don't complete orientation praise God. He knows exactly what He has in store for me and it is for my good (cf. Romans 8:28)

Thus, I'm going to cling to the peace that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7), knowing that God will supply all of my needs (Philippians 4:19). I'm going to take a step forward in faith and rest in the many promises of God. I will surrender my fear to my Savior, knowing that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18) and choose hope. I will completely rely on my Savior and trust in His plan, which is infinitely better than mine. I will choose submission to whatever God desires.

On that note...I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!! God has been working on my heart for months now and I can't wait to see God put the pieces together. If you want to be added to my email update list let me know! (FYI I get to share more in my email updates because I have more control over who reads them).

One of my Sunday School students had her 5th birthday party yesterday :)

How cute is she?!?!?!?!?!

In Christ,

Good for you

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

I sit at the same little table almost every day. The pool binder (usually weighed down by a gallon of water), my water bottle, my Bible study book and my Bible are on the table in front of me. Scattered in between the books are highlighters, pens, permanent markers and colored pencils. As people walk by the table and sign in they usually exchange pleasantries with me and some will even have a short conversation with me.

Today, however I had a different kind of exchange while doing my Bible study (Just FYI this Bible study is blowing my mind, which I'll discuss in a future post). I was reading a couple different passages and taking notes when one of the guests came to sign out. He looked at my work and asked me, "Are you reading the Bible?" and I looked up and replied, "Yes, I am." His response confused me a bit, "Good for you. Say a couple extra prayers for me."

I couldn't tell whether or not he was joking because he'd been joking around with some other girls at the pool the entire time I had been there. He left before I had a chance to respond but his comment stayed with me for the rest of my shift.

It amazes me how many people have respect for someone who is seemingly religious even though they are apathetic towards or against religion. Having encountered people from other religions it seems they would prefer for you to a be a person dedicated to another religion than not participate in one at all. The difference between all these other religions and following Christ is that it isn't a religion. It's about pursuing a personal relationship with Christ.

This is where the confusion for me began. I wondered why this man thought that just because I was reading the Bible that my prayers for him would somehow be more effective than his own prayers? I realize the simple answer to this is that this man probably isn't a Christian. However, why then would he think that my prayers for him would be effective at all? I wish there had been time for me to ask him these questions, to see where his heart is. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll stop by the pool again sometime and we will be able to talk further. Or maybe he was just joking and had no expectation whatsoever that I would pray for him.

No matter what his intentions were I will be praying for him. I will pray that someone will have the opportunity to explain to him that his personal prayers to God are just as valued as anyone else's. So long as he comes before God with a repentant heart seeking His will. I will pray that God will open his eyes to the truth and he will be able to join the Kingdom of God.

Have you ever encountered someone like this? What was/would be your response?

Just a little piece of the Bible study that is completely changing my view on missions

Here's the Church...

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

For those of you who grew up in church...remember that little rhyme with hand motions about the church? The one that goes, "Here's the church and here's the steeple. Open the doors and see all the people," or some variation of that? The rhyme what quite entertaining for me as a child but as I've grown older I've began to think more and more about the church.

Most members of the universal church today agree that the church isn't the building but rather the body of Christ. This is why we so many different forms of church around the world. From small meetings in homes to a gathering under a tree, church is anywhere where the people of God our gathered. But what will the church look like in places where it doesn't already exist?

It's hard to think about places where there is no church. For those of you who don't know, the most likely place for this to occur is the 10/40 window. The space in the eastern hemisphere between the 10 and 40 latitude lines north of the equator. These people have a lack of access to the Bible, Christian resources and missionaries. I was there last summer and got to see up close how the people have been deceived by false teachers.

As I learned about evangelism in the 10/40 window I realized many of our Western church models wouldn't work for these people. The culture they come from separates men and women completely. It requires extreme modesty for women. It places high value on written scriptures, so much so that no one would ever think to put a sacred book on the floor or write in it. Music is a controversial issue. These issues would post major problems when it comes to planting a church among this society.

So I began to wonder...

Is there anything wrong with church being separated by gender? Doesn't 1Timothy encourage older women to mentor younger women and older men to do the same with younger men?

Is it wrong for women to cover their head as a sign of respect and modesty? Any depiction of women in Bible times usually includes them with head coverings.

Would it be so awful if the Bible were always placed in the highest place of honor?

Can we worship God without music?

I'm not saying that Western models of the church need to change but I'm wondering how much contextualization can happen in the context of a place where God's church has yet to take root. It's not about making Christianity palatable because the Gospel is offensive. However, the West doesn't have the claim to perfect Christianity and imposing it on other cultures doesn't seem fair.

I could be totally off base here and I welcome your opinions. What is the church? What is the church supposed to look like? How far can contextualization go?

Two fellow interns and I at a restaurant on one of our last nights in the country

The Wandering Theologian: A Map

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

So with a new blog comes a new theme, a new design and some new elements. As a result I decided that I would write a quick post about the elements of this blog:

-About me: self-explanatory

-Contact: self-explanatory also :)

-Reading List: This is where I will post suggestions that you give me (see below) and cross them out as I go along.

-Suggest a Book (so titled by Annie): This is where you get to leave a comment with reading suggestions (fiction or non-fiction) along with your blog URL so I can link to your blog when I post about the book.

-Travel Photos: This is the section where I will link to all the posts that include my photos from traveling. Find your favorite!

I hope you all are having a spectacular week (halfway there!). I look forward to hearing from you :)

I'm Back!!!!!!!!

Location: Evergreen Park, IL

My lovely and dear friend Annie has been on me for months to get back into the blogging world. I've been putting it off for a number of reasons...

It was my last semester of college

                                                    

                                                     I was in the process of applying for full-time missions work

            

           I was job, apartment and roommate hunting

                                                                       I was working 3 different part time jobs

As a result, the first thing to go was my blogging time. Along with some of my sleeping time, my workout time and leisure time. However, I'm now graduated, staying with the incredibly generous family of my pastor and I'm headed to Texas for orientation in less than two weeks. Now I have some very minimal free time.

Lucky for me Annie helped me design a new blog, all I had to do was come up with the name and give her some pictures. With the backstory out of the way, I'm going to take some time to explain the meaning and purpose of the blog.

I'm a travel addict. I blame it on the fact that I was born overseas, a military brat to be precise. I travelled all around Europe before I was three years old. I moved to the States when I was three and over the next two years I lived in Florida, North Carolina and Texas. My final and most permanent move was to Michigan, near my mom's family. However, my mom worked hard to let us travel and throughout my schooling years I traveled to Florida, Texas, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Hilton Head Island, New York, Germany and Venezuela. Traveling was in my blood.

Something I didn't realize at first was traveling could be used for God's glory. It wasn't until I went on my first overseas missions trip to Germany that I realized my relationship with God, my passion for travel, my love for other people groups and desire to learn about other cultures could all be melted together into one calling from God. I began to investigate missions which led me to Moody Bible Institute. 

It was at Moody that I began to develop a deep love for theology. My professors exercised great patience with me as I dug deeper into the complexities of Christian doctrine. They helped me foster a desire to learn all I could about God's Word. I began to read books by Piper, Grudem, Erikson and Ryrie in a way I never had before. 

Now that I have graduated I've began seeking a way to combine my two loves once again. So, this blog was born. Part of my free time will now be spent reading a host of different books (for fun!). Suggestions are more than welcome :) As I travel (T minus 11 days to Texas!) I will blog about both my travels and my reading. I'll share pictures, insights, memories and lessons from along the way. 

Today, I begin my journey as: