So today's teaching was really cool. I was in a bit of a mood before the afternoon class and just.. I don't know. Unhappy, I guess. Class changed that, though.
Kyle taught about following Jesus. We watched a video and this guy was giving us Jewish background. He talked about all the steps Jewish boys went through and how it was the best of the best which got to be disciples to a Rabbi and then Rabbis themselves. The others would be apprentices or learn their fathers trades or something.
Jesus was a Rabbi. In Matt 4:18-22 he finds himself disciples. He doesn't choose those who are in school, but he chooses fishermen. He chose the rejects. Why did he chose them? The same reason any Rabbi would chose a young man to be his disciple; he believed that they could learn his yoke (teachings and beliefs) and ultimately live like him. One of the things that the guy said was this: May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi. Meaning that you follow so closely to him that the dust from his walking has coated you.
I don't know about you, but I would love it to be said of me that I walk so closely to my God that I'm coated in the dust from His feet. Personally, I think that's cool. But what got me the most is that Jesus believes in me. He chose me and if He chose me, then of course He believes in me. Like.. WHOA! That blows my mind.
Shalom,
isn't it funny how a good class can totally change a mood? :)
ReplyDelete...aaand i just have to ask. what made you pick german for your tattoo? :)
It's great :D.
DeleteWell, 1) I've always loved the language and 2) I have German heritage, so it just made me want it even more. It makes the saying mean even more!
Hi Alana,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is one of those that came up when I was searching on the Web for
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love god "community life" "in the neighborhood" blog
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In the last few years, I've been searching on the Internet around the world for people who are trying to learn to be candles for God, to nurture the spirit of faith and the love of God in themselves and in others more and more, to practice fellowship across religious and other ideological divides, and to work with neighbors to help improve the community life in the neighborhood, for everyone in the neighborhood. I'm not sure that all that interests you, but I see at least part of that in you.
At this point I've only looked at two of your posts, but already in those I feel something of the spirit that I want to learn to encourage and support. I don't really know what else to say now. Maybe just that if you write about your efforts and progress in learning to walk more closely to God, there will be at least one person who will love reading about it.
Alana, I'm in the middle of reading your posts, starting from May 2012. Before I say more, you might want to know where I'm from and what I'm doing on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI'll start with where I'm from geographically and culturally. Mostly from Indiana, Illinois, Florida, Martinique and Virginia. My wife (Patty) and I are currently living in Guilin, China. I'm retired, and she's teaching English at a University. I work with her on her lessons, and on Sundays I do origami with children at an English corner, a gathering of students and teachers of English. We have a 38-year-old daughter living in Canada, and a 34-year-old son living in China, both with families and children.
My cultural background is mostly Swiss Mennonite. In my mid teens I was active in a church which later became part of the United Church of Christ. Later, after a year or two of atheism, I invited Christ into my life in my first or second year at Purdue University. My major there was electrical engineering. I failed every course in my fourth year! Later, after three years in the Air Force and after marrying Patty, I got a B.A. in Math at the University of West Florida.
I didn't mean to tell you all that! It just came out!
Currently I'm trying to learn to follow Baha'u'llah. That's a long story which I won't go into now.
The best way I can think of to explain what I'm doing on your blog is first to list a few of my current interests, online and offline.
- Learning to nurture the spirit of faith and the love of God, in myself and in others, everywhere all the time.
- Learning to be a better friend to people in my life, and to light up the day for everyone around me, everywhere all the time.
- Practicing and promoting fellowship across religious and other ideological divides.
- Learning what any and all of us can do to help improve the lives of the world's most ravaged people, near and far, and practicing and promoting that.
- Practicing and promoting a kind of community building, working with neighbors, learning together to help improve the community life for every person in the community, not only materially but also spiritually, with our hearts turned to God, and learning from His Revelations.
Last year or the year before an idea came to me to search for people on the Internet who are trying to learn to be candles for God, and to try to learn to encourage and support them in their efforts. Some months ago I suspended all my Internet projects including that one, but a week or two ago I decided to try again to search on the Internet for blogs of people whose efforts I might like to encourage and support.
What appeals to me in your blog is the conscious efforts to learn to follow Jesus, and to share your ideas and experiences in that. That's one example of what I'd like to learn to encourage and support. I'm still feeling lost when it comes to *how* to encourage and support someone with comments to her blog. I've thought about what kind of encouragement and support *I* would like, in comments to my blogs. The only thought that came to me was friendly questions, and people sharing their own ideas and experiences, in relation to what I'm posting about.
I'll be pondering that, but a new idea just came to me: I could ask you if *you* have any ideas about what kinds of comments would encourage and support you in your efforts and progress, learning to follow Jesus, for example. If you have any ideas about that, please post them.
So, that's what I'm doing on your blog, and a few others, off and on. Mostly off, for now, since I'm not supposed to be doing anything at all on the Internet now!