Cooking

I randomly got the night off last night, so I decided to try out a new Christmas present.  I got Personal Trainer: Cooking for the Nintendo DS, and hadn’t really used it yet, and I figured might as well try it out!

I made the Chicken Chilindron recipe; it’s a Spanish stew made with onion, tomato, bell peppers, and chicken.  It actually came out pretty nice!

It was easy to follow, the directions were clear… I was happy how it turned out.  The only suggestion I would have is to turn off the voice commands.  It has a feature where you can say commands like  ”continue” or “last step” to listen to each step of the recipe.  The only problem with this was that it interpreted any loud noise (such as chopping vegetables) as “continue.”  Jeremy and I heard the instruction “Finely chop the onions” about 15 times before I turned off that feature.

All-around a good product, I really enjoyed using it.  It has around 250 recipes from all over the world, so if you’re feeling like some French ratatouille or Indian keema curry or good ol’ American chicken pot pie made from scratch, this game has it all.  If you want easy-to-follow, tasty recipes with a lot of variety, this game is a winner.

Oh, by the way, I found that using white grape juice is an ok substitute for white wine…

Happy Christmas! (and new year)

Christmas was good this year… I visited my fiancee, which was fun.  Some of my favorite presents were a pair of “Mr. Perfect” pajamas , a Nike+ ipod pedometer, and the ESV Study Bible.  

There were lots of blessing, fun presents, and good memories.  God is good.

By the way, I think I’ve decided to post mainly on weekends, so check my site every Saturday or Sunday and *hopefully* I will have updated.  Have a great 2009, everyone, be safe, and don’t do anything stupid this year!

Traveling

Well, I’m in the airport, waiting for my first flight… It’s delayed. Not too bad though, just about 15-20 minutes, which shouldn’t put me in danger of missing my next flight. Pray for Mittu and I as this trip will be involving a lot of meeting extended family and preliminary planning for the wedding.

Well, as I said before, I’ll try to update if I’m able, but I’m not expecting to. I should be back home the 29th, so I’ll probably start posing more then. Merry Christmas!

Visiting Oklahoma!

Well, I probably won’t be updating till the 29th or so… I’m visiting my fiancée tomorrow! If I get near the Internet, I may or may not update, we’ll see. If I don’t, merry Christmas to all, and I’ll start writing again soon!

Rejoice! His hour has come!

I was planning on writing a post about John 11 today, and I still may, but as I was reading, verse 13 prompted a line of thinking that took over my reading this morning. In chapter 11, the Jews were rejoicing at the triumphal entry, and in verse 13, they were referencing/quoting Psalm 118, particularly verses 25 and 26 – “Saves us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD!.” Many believed in Christ as the Messiah, and quoting this Psalm showed they believed Him to be the promised coming King. Even the fact that He was riding on a donkey showed this as a fulfillment of Zach. 9.9.

This Psalm led me to think about Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52 is a prophecy of the coming Savior, calling on Israel to stand up and rejoice, prepare for rejoicing, Someone who is bringing good news, and “publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, and publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” is coming! Even the watchmen of the city are rejoicing, for “they see the return of the LORD to Zion!” Israel is commanded to “break forth together into singing… the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem!” Israel is to rejoice! Her Savior is coming!

We know her Savior is Christ, the Messiah. When He comes in the Gospels, a theme appears, running through the Gospels about “His hour” or “His time.” Try to think as one of His disciples right their with Christ in His day. They have been waiting for liberation from outside control for centuries, and now one who appears to be the Messiah, one who works incredible miracles has come, and He keeps alluding to His time which is about to be at hand. He is announced before His ministry begins by John the Baptist, who in Matthew 3.2 proclaims that “the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” – still future.

Christ Himself proclaims the same thing–”The kingdom of God is at hand”–in Matthew 4.17 and Mark 1.15. Christ’s disciples were told to proclaim around them that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” in Matthew 107.

In John 2, Christ works His first miracle by turning water into wine. Yet, in spite of this incredible sign “[His] hour has not yet come.” In John 6, Christ feeds 5000+ people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. In that same chapter, He walks on water. Yet, when confronted by His brothers in a mocking way in John 7: “Go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing… If you do these things, show yourself to the world. Christ responds in verses 6 and 8, saying, “My time has not yet come.” On two occasions, John 7.30 and 8.20, as the crowds begin more and more to believe He is the Messiah, the Pharisees tried to arrest Him, but Christ supernaturally got away “because His hour had not yet come.”

As the disciples travel with Christ, they see miracle after miracle and hear the teaching of this incredible man, who claims and shows signs of being the Messiah… yet they know “His time” is not yet… soon to come, but not quite here yet. But at a point, they notice a change in His words.

In John 12.23-24, after a group of greek men ask to see Jesus, Christ says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies…” Wait… Did He just say “Has come”?  It’s coming?  It’s coming!

The disciples were probably getting excited here.  They didn’t really understand or care about the wheat grain part, they just new their Messiah was about to be glorified, and they thought something incredible was coming. 

A few verses later, something spectacular happens.  In verses 27-28, Christ says “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?” Teacher, why are you troubled, you’re about to be glorified! ”But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name. Then voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”  Everyone there heard the voice.  Disciples were probably getting excited. It’s coming!  This is it!

Something else happens to spark their curiosity in what was about to happen.  In Matt 26.18, they were told to tell the owner of the upper room that Christ’s “time is at hand.”

But what is shocking is the “the hour” of this Man, the Man who made the blind see, rose the dead to life, changed water into wine, fed 5000 with one boy’s lunch, walked on water, and confronted Satan Himself and came out victorious, the hour of this man was not some spectacular showing of His all-encompassing power.

No.  It was something the disciples never expected.

John 17.1 – Jesus was praying the night before He was to be crucified, and He prayed “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.”

Matt 26.45, Mark 14.41 – Judas was coming, Christ woke up the disciples and said “take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand.”

In chapters 18 and 19 of John, Christ is tortured, killed, and buried.

Let’s look back at the passages in Psalms and Isaiah.  Psalms 118.27 - “The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.  Bind the festal Sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” – the sacrifice didn’t just celebrate the coming of the King, the Messiah, Christ was the sacrifice.

The passage after command Israel to rejoice in Isaiah 52 sounds normal enough.  “My servant shall act wisely, he shall be high and lifted up, and hall be exalted.”  Ok, His Servant will be exalted for His service.  That makes sense…  But it goes onto say: “As many were astonished at you—His appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind…” What…?  What…?  He… dies? Chapter 53 is a very well know prophecy about Christ.  “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

Psalms and Isaiah both cary this idea of rejoicing in connection to Messiah’s sacrifice.  But, when you think about it, Christ died.  He was tortured… Should I rejoice about that?  Yes!

His death was like giving birth (John 3).  Giving birth is excruciatingly, horrifically painful.  There is much agony, but through the agony and torture, a new life is brought into the earth.  Soon after the pain is nearly forgotten in the sight of a new soul experiencing the world for the first time. (John 16.21)  Christ was beaten, tortured, whipped, and hung on a cross so we could have new life.  This was His time.  Though we weep at the remembrance of His pain that we caused, we must rejoice because of what this pain brought forth.  We have new life, a loving God dwells within us, and we have the power of His Spirit in us, guiding us through the reading of Scripture.  We have a new hope of heaven that could not have been guaranteed any other way!  Though Christ died, He Arose!  The remembrance of His death should not be primarily a time of solemn thoughtfulness, though there is a time for that, but a time of unparalleled rejoicing!  We are saved!  We are His children!  We have new life!  God loved us so much He provided a way to restore fellowship with Him!  The pain and suffering of Christ is over, He is in heaven at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.  Rejoice, the Lord is King!  The birth pains are over, and we are growing children in the family of God!

John 11 – The Resurrection of Lazarus

This passage describes the events surrounding the death of Lazarus.
There are lots of things to see in this passage: Christ’s power over death, how God tests our faith, and the disbelief of the Pharisees

Christ’s power over death is obvious from the passage. Lazarus was dead. He said it plainly to his disciples ( v14 ), his sisters and the crowd were in morning, and the passage says twice that he was in the tomb for four days ( v17, v39 ). Even though a man had been in a tomb for four days, past the point where an odor would come ( v39 ), Christ called out to him, and he rose being fully restored. This was a sign for those around Christ foreshadowing His own death and resurrection.

God often orchestrates or allows events to come into our lives in order to test us. The torturous events of Job were allowed just to prove to Satan that Job was righteous and would not falter. The death of Lazarus not only occurred to show Christ’s deity, but also to test and increase Mary’s, Martha’s, and others’ faith.

When Christ heard about Lazarus’s illness, He waited two days before leaving for Bethany ( v6 ). The sisters would probably have had a hard time understanding why Christ delayed, but neither of them accused Christ for anything. They did, however, both tell Jesus “If you had been here, my brother would not have died,” Martha in verse 21, and Mary in verse 32. Martha showed an amount of faith, saying that she knew Christ was the Son of God and had power over death and resurrection, but she thought Lazarus would not be resurrected until “the resurrection on the last day” ( v24 ). Mary also showed some faith in that when Christ came (after a number of days delaying), she did not attack or accuse Him, but mere ran to Him and wept at His feet. I think this idea of “why didn’t Christ come sooner” must have been spreading around in the four days after Lazarus’s death, because even the crowd, after seeing Christ weeping, said “Could not He have kept Lazarus from dying?” ( v37 )

Christ allowed seemingly impossible circumstances to occur, and though people trusted Him, no one knew how He was going to work or what He was going to do. He shocked everyone there by raising Lazarus, and many believed on Him because of this miracle.

It is unbelievable to me, though, that in spite of smack-you-right-in-the-face evidence, some just refuse to believe. Some in the crowd that day ran to tell the Pharisees what had happened. They, instead of admitting their pride, admitting they were wrong about Christ, and repenting of their sins, they began plotting to kill Him. Not only that, chapter 12 tells us that they even plotted to kill Lazarus! Instead of coming to the obvious logical conclusion these miracles showed, they refused Christ and tried to cover up His miracles so others would also not believe. It is somewhat comforting to know, I think, to know that when we’ve explained the Gospel to someone clearly, and they still don’t believe, they aren’t rejecting us, but Christ. Some people will just refuse, because they don’t want to submit to Him.

Praying through a Psalm

In an Old Testament Poetry class this semester, my teacher suggested to us that we pray through a Psalm.  He even assigned us a project requiring us to do this with a Psalm of our choosing.  I thought it was a great idea, and now I’m trying to pray through a Psalm a day.  There are a couple reasons I think this is really helpful through one’s prayer life.

It helps make prayer more than just a “Chritmas list” to God.  When praying through a Psalm, you’re praising, thinking about God’s involvement in nature, in government, in life events, you’re asking for God’s hand in your spiritual life, you’re rejoicing while seeing God’s working in David’s heart, in Israel’s history, etc.  The Psalms can guide you away from selfish “Lord, give me this and I ask for that,” and guide you to “Lord, I can’t believe you’re my God. thank you for working in this way.  Help me grow closer to You.”

Also, while I often felt like I was only asking God for stuff when I prayed, I found it hard to make prayer more of a conversation.  I knew prayer was talking with God, but I often felt like I was the  only one talking.  When praying through a Psalm, the Bible is right there, open in front of you, and the Holy Spirit can immediately use it to speak to you.

Also, it helps you apply the Bible.  Applying the verses to yourself help you realize what the authors were going through when they were writing the Psalm. Some Bibles have a brief synopsis or intro to most of the Psalms giving a little bit of a background to them.  These are very helpful to me, because they help me realize “Oh, David was writing this while fleeing from Absolom,” or “Oh, this was written in connection with his sin with Bathsheba.”

Now, obviously, I’m not suggesting you just read through each Psalm word-for-word as a prayer for yourself.  For one, many things just wouldn’t apply to you directly, and two, we shouldn’t pray “vain repetitions.”  This is what I do when I’m praying through a Psalm.

First, I read the whole Psalm once through, to get a general idea of what it is like and what it is talking about.  Then, I go through it again slower, much slower, reading each verses carefully, thinking about how it applies to me, and when I can, I read the verse itself as much as I can as a prayer, often replacing the words “God” or “LORD” for the word “You”.  For example, this morning I prayed through Psalm 11.  Verse one starts off “In the LORD I take refuge,” or verse 4 says “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven…”  I would pray this “O Lord, in You I take refuge…. You are in Your holy temple, Your throne is in heaven.”

Also, don’t just go through quickly and be done in 30 seconds.  After you read and pray a verse or a phrase, this can often kick-start a series of thoughts and prayers in your heart.  Pray them!  For instance, when I prayed “You are in Your holy temple, Your throne is in heaven,” I thought of how God is in control of the government, and I prayed about our country and leaders for a little bit.

Lastly, don’t just skip over a section because it doesn’t apply to you immediately.  Think about what the author was going through, and I’m sure you can think of things in your life that parallel.  Part of Psalm 11 goes on to say “how can you [other people in David's life] say to my soul ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow.’”  Basically, David was under attack, and those around him were saying that he should “flee to his mountain,” probably referring to a military tower or fort.  They were telling David to trust in his own military strength and not on God’s provision.  Now, probably few of us have been under any sort of military attack, and I dare say even fewer of us have our own stone tower to flee to when people are shooting arrows at us.  But it still can apply to us.  I prayed that God would help me always trust Him no matter what came in my life, good or bad.  I prayed for His guidance as I make important decisions in my life (being a senior who wants to get married next summer, I have some important decisions to make).

I hope that’s a help to you.  It’s hard to explain in words how much this helped my prayer life.  I feel like I’m actually conversing with God, like I’m developing a relationship and not just asking Him for stuff.  I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me.

John 10 – Christ as the Shepherd

This passage is divided into three segments: Christ as the Good Shepherd, Christ as the Son of God, and a brief closing.

Christ as the Good Shepherd

This passage comes after chapter 9 where Christ heals a blind man on the Sabbath and is confronted by the Pharisees.  He, contrasting them to the blind man, called them blind – unable to see Christ for who He really is.

Christ then creates a metaphor of sheep in a sheepfold.  The first few verses have the idea  of multiple flocks in one fold, all in one gated area.  The Good Shepherd calls out, and His sheep know his voice and come to Him.  We, as Christians, follow the Savior’s leading, direction, and calling.

Christ is not only the shepherd, but is also the door.  He is the only way into the protection of fold.  We are brought in by Him who died for us on a tree.  We have a guarantee that whoever enters by Christ will have eternal life.

Christ returns to the shepherd metaphor—He lays down His life for His sheep.  He contrasts His love for the sheep with the destructive attitude of the thief (v 8 ) and the negligent attitude of a hired hand (v 12).  He has an intimate relationship with those in His fold, parallel to His relationship with the Father.  We (at least me…) are gentiles, but Christ came to bring us also into His fold (v 16).

 

Christ as the Son of God

Around that time the “feast of dedication,” or Hanukah, was being celebrated.  Christ was confronted about being the Messiah.  He replied “I told you, but you do not believe.”  They didn’t believe because they weren’t part of Christ’s flock, who belong to Christ always and will never be plucked out of His hands.  Christ stated that the Father gave Him this flock and that Christ and the Father are one.

The Jews understood Christ: He was claiming to be God.  They immediately wanted to stone Him.  Christ pointed out that in Psalm 82.6, the OT itself called men a term normally reserved for God: “Elohim.”  This is allowable because that term is also (but rarely) used to describe men who are acting on behalf of God (human judges, in the case of Psalm 82).  Christ was basically saying “rather than taking offense because this word is used of Me, you should examine My credentials that prove My Father has sent Me into this world.” (Reformation study Bible).  Christ was urging them to follow the logical argument that His works presented: only God could do the works He was doing, so He must be God.  They saw the works, but refused to acknowledge His authority and deity.

Closing

Christ “escaped from their hands…” and “went across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing.”  He stayed there for a while “and many believed in Him there.”

 

 

First post

I’m not writing a lot for my first post.  I’m *hopefully* going to write more tomorrow.  I just wanted to write something, I’ve been working for the past hour give-or-take getting WordPress figured out… and besides, my fiance is calling, so bye!