The people have spoken...they want a new post. I apologize for not posting these past two weeks, however, I have been extremely ill for those two weeks. I had hoped to have a guest post from Jerry Lee, but he has been traveling and busy with work. Good news, I am better and back to blogging for you. Who knows, I might even get a little bit CrAzY and post two times this week.
I just started a new 40 day reading plan during my quiet time. I found this plan on biblegateway.org and was drawn to it since it was titled "40 Day Reading Plan for Personal Growth". I have been struggling recently with disciplining myself to have a consistent quiet time and also feeling as though my relationship with Christ was slipping. However, after a very positive experience at church on Sunday, I decided to renew my self-discipline (which is a fruit of the Spirit) and reinvigorate my relationship with Christ.
Today (Day 2) the reading came from James 1:1-12. I figured that this was a good length of Scripture that I would be able to get some meat out of. However, God had another plan for me this morning - I basically parked myself on verses 2-4.
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
I've read the book of James several times, so this was not new information. However, disliking trials and tests of faith and generally not liking to even think on them, I usually breeze past this bit and get on with the "good stuff". Yet, today God called me to exactly these verses to reflect on what I've been through in the past 2 years. It was not the trials themselves, but more of the promise in these verses (go on, read it again...there's a promise there) and what my response so often SHOULD have been but was not.
Here are the notes that I wrote in my journal:
The purpose of trials and testing of my faith is to produce steadfastness - to be more like God (who is the epitome of steadfastness), being perfect, complete, and lacking in nothing.
- This is a life-long process, which means trials and tests of faith are also life-long. (I don't know if you are like me, but I often forget that perfection will not come in this lifetime, but is a process that I will continue going through until I am called to heaven - and that drives me crazy sometimes.)
- Facing trials and tests of faith does not necessarily mean that God is punishing me. Although, sin does have consequences, and sometimes the trials I face are a result of my sin.
* Let the testing produce steadfastness and let it (steadfastness) have its full effect.
- I often fight back against the trial or try to alleviate the discomfort of the testing and do not allow it to produce its full fruits and have its full effect in my life.
I have a choice when faced with a trial, I can run from God and be angry with Him (1 Peter 4:12) or I can cling even closer to God and let the trial produce steadfastness and refine my faith (1 Peter 1:7).
- Just as trials in marriage can lead one to take the "easy" way out (divorce), it can also produce a stronger bond and deeper love if you stick together and see it through side by side. Trials and tests of faith do the same thing for your relationship with Christ. This is what covenant comes down to - sticking out for better, for worse, side by side. We have covenant first and foremost with Christ, and also with our husbands/wives.
The promise is that God will use the trials and tests of faith in our lives to produce steadfastness, which serves to perfect us, complete us, and fulfill us until we are lacking in nothing. So next time a trial comes along, and it probably won't be long if you are human, don't try to run from it or find a way to tolerate it with feeling the least amount of discomfort possible, but embrace it and embrace your Lord, and allow Him to have His way in your life and bring about the steadfastness that He desires to cultivate in you through this process. I'm right there with ya!
Grace and peace to you.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
ABCs and 123s
I'm going to switch my weekly postings to Tuesdays because of my new schedule for work! I had my first day yesterday, and spent the majority of it just watching. I also learned a few things along the way...
My First Day
I went to the office around 9:30, which meant I had to leave my house at 8:45 to walk to the bus stop a couple blocks away, then take the bus (which thankfully has A/C) about 30 minutes to the town where I'm working and then walk to the office. I learned that there will be 3 parts to my job: helping at a nursery school, working in the office, and tutoring older students in English in the afternoons.
First, I went to the nursery school. Yesterday I just observed what the children were doing. While I was there they did book work by practicing writing their English letters, played games outside, and sang songs in English. I was quite impressed with these children since they are 3-5 years old. They were all so cute, and I wanted to take them home with me. However, little kids still intimidate me...I just don't know what to do with them. I guess I'll find out quickly since I'll be teaching them, or helping to teach them! Two other things I learned...(1) I still enjoy tracing and good penmanship, (2) growing up on a tropic island is different than growing up in North Raleigh.
When I was in kindergarten my teacher, Mrs. Bunch, told me that she knew I was going to be a teacher when I grew up. She said that she could tell by the way that I passed out papers to my fellow classmates. I was SO flattered! I have always been fascinated with teaching, and would pretend teach my stuffed animals all the time. I even had a chalkboard and magnetic white board. Another thing I did was to draw the dotted lines across the middle of a ruled line of paper to know exactly how tall or short to make my letters. You know how when you first started learned to write you had the extra wide ruled sheets with the dotted line in the middle to help you make the capital and lower case letters. Well, that's sort of what I got to do yesterday - for the first time in my life since elementary school. Although I was making the dots for the letters and not the dots across the page. I don't know how many dotted Is, Bs, Ms, and Gs I made, but it was a lot! And somehow not as much fun as I remembered it being, but I did still feel a since of pride knowing that I could make a good dotted B, M, or I freehand. The Gs were a little tricky, but I blame that on the fact that they write their Gs differently than I do.
As we all know, when you are learning you alphabet you also learn an associated word to go with it - like A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat (and Y is for yak, especially if you are Owen Bunker!) However, I'm pretty sure that I did NOT learn that M is for mango, but that's island life...and I love it. Mangoes are way better than mice (which is probably what I learned) especially if they are in your house.
After the nursery school, which lets out at 12, I went back to the office and had lunch. Then, waited.... I did watch some TV which was in English - a cricket match and my dear old friend CCTV News. #19 of You Know You've Lived in East Asia Too Long When...you watch CCTV News when you are no longer living in East Asia! (Just as a note: CCTV News is the only English TV station in EA, and thus my only TV station to watch for the past 3 years.) Somehow, watching that news program hosted by that lady that I don't like was kind of like being home again. I AM NOT comparing it to my American home, but my home away from home in EA - don't get offended Mama, nor am I saying that you are like that lady that I don't like who hosts the TV shows on CCTV News. I'll know to bring my Chinese books to study during the down time in the future.
At about 3:00, I went to the boarding house to meet the children who live there. These children are older - grades 5-8 - and go to school in the morning, so I can only work with them in the afternoons. Hence the waiting. I met with them, and got an idea of what they are learning in their English classes at school and their levels of English. I was most impressed with what I saw from their textbooks and workbooks. But when I asked them simple questions like "What's your name?", "How old are you?", and "Where are you from?" they could not answer me. Then, I found out that they, like children in China, learn English not in English but in their mother tongue (i.e. Sinhala in Sri Lanka and Chinese in China). I have NO idea why it gets taught this way, and it drives me absolutely CRAZY! How on earth could you expect someone to learn a foreign language if they never hear it or speak it. In elementary school, we had to learn Spanish - and I absolutely, on no uncertain terms, was determined not to learn it...I wanted to learn French and thought it was unfair that I wasn't given a choice in the matter. So, I resolutely set my mind to not learn Spanish. Our Spanish teacher came to class every week, and we sang songs and did other things I don't remember, but no matter how hard I tried...I still learned a little Spanish and remember it to this day. I know hola, adios (I was glad to say that one to the teacher), and how to say 1-10 in Spanish. It is so easy for kids to learn a new language, but they HAVE to hear it and be given an opportunity to speak it. Anyway...off my soapbox...For the older kids, I think I will spend some time working with them on their speaking and listening and also some time helping them with their homework.
Anyway, I am looking forward to helping out the children and getting to know them better. I will spend 2 mornings at the nursery, 1 afternoon at the boarding house, and 1 day in the office.
JL was so sweet - he walked with me to the bus stop in the morning to see me off, and then met me along the street on my way back and took for me ice cream at Baskin Robins to celebrate my first day of work (it was tiramisu, not mango). The man knows my weakness! He is also glad that I'm getting exposure to teaching little kids "as preparation for teaching our children later".
My First Day
I went to the office around 9:30, which meant I had to leave my house at 8:45 to walk to the bus stop a couple blocks away, then take the bus (which thankfully has A/C) about 30 minutes to the town where I'm working and then walk to the office. I learned that there will be 3 parts to my job: helping at a nursery school, working in the office, and tutoring older students in English in the afternoons.
First, I went to the nursery school. Yesterday I just observed what the children were doing. While I was there they did book work by practicing writing their English letters, played games outside, and sang songs in English. I was quite impressed with these children since they are 3-5 years old. They were all so cute, and I wanted to take them home with me. However, little kids still intimidate me...I just don't know what to do with them. I guess I'll find out quickly since I'll be teaching them, or helping to teach them! Two other things I learned...(1) I still enjoy tracing and good penmanship, (2) growing up on a tropic island is different than growing up in North Raleigh.
When I was in kindergarten my teacher, Mrs. Bunch, told me that she knew I was going to be a teacher when I grew up. She said that she could tell by the way that I passed out papers to my fellow classmates. I was SO flattered! I have always been fascinated with teaching, and would pretend teach my stuffed animals all the time. I even had a chalkboard and magnetic white board. Another thing I did was to draw the dotted lines across the middle of a ruled line of paper to know exactly how tall or short to make my letters. You know how when you first started learned to write you had the extra wide ruled sheets with the dotted line in the middle to help you make the capital and lower case letters. Well, that's sort of what I got to do yesterday - for the first time in my life since elementary school. Although I was making the dots for the letters and not the dots across the page. I don't know how many dotted Is, Bs, Ms, and Gs I made, but it was a lot! And somehow not as much fun as I remembered it being, but I did still feel a since of pride knowing that I could make a good dotted B, M, or I freehand. The Gs were a little tricky, but I blame that on the fact that they write their Gs differently than I do.
As we all know, when you are learning you alphabet you also learn an associated word to go with it - like A is for apple, B is for ball, C is for cat (and Y is for yak, especially if you are Owen Bunker!) However, I'm pretty sure that I did NOT learn that M is for mango, but that's island life...and I love it. Mangoes are way better than mice (which is probably what I learned) especially if they are in your house.
After the nursery school, which lets out at 12, I went back to the office and had lunch. Then, waited.... I did watch some TV which was in English - a cricket match and my dear old friend CCTV News. #19 of You Know You've Lived in East Asia Too Long When...you watch CCTV News when you are no longer living in East Asia! (Just as a note: CCTV News is the only English TV station in EA, and thus my only TV station to watch for the past 3 years.) Somehow, watching that news program hosted by that lady that I don't like was kind of like being home again. I AM NOT comparing it to my American home, but my home away from home in EA - don't get offended Mama, nor am I saying that you are like that lady that I don't like who hosts the TV shows on CCTV News. I'll know to bring my Chinese books to study during the down time in the future.
At about 3:00, I went to the boarding house to meet the children who live there. These children are older - grades 5-8 - and go to school in the morning, so I can only work with them in the afternoons. Hence the waiting. I met with them, and got an idea of what they are learning in their English classes at school and their levels of English. I was most impressed with what I saw from their textbooks and workbooks. But when I asked them simple questions like "What's your name?", "How old are you?", and "Where are you from?" they could not answer me. Then, I found out that they, like children in China, learn English not in English but in their mother tongue (i.e. Sinhala in Sri Lanka and Chinese in China). I have NO idea why it gets taught this way, and it drives me absolutely CRAZY! How on earth could you expect someone to learn a foreign language if they never hear it or speak it. In elementary school, we had to learn Spanish - and I absolutely, on no uncertain terms, was determined not to learn it...I wanted to learn French and thought it was unfair that I wasn't given a choice in the matter. So, I resolutely set my mind to not learn Spanish. Our Spanish teacher came to class every week, and we sang songs and did other things I don't remember, but no matter how hard I tried...I still learned a little Spanish and remember it to this day. I know hola, adios (I was glad to say that one to the teacher), and how to say 1-10 in Spanish. It is so easy for kids to learn a new language, but they HAVE to hear it and be given an opportunity to speak it. Anyway...off my soapbox...For the older kids, I think I will spend some time working with them on their speaking and listening and also some time helping them with their homework.
Anyway, I am looking forward to helping out the children and getting to know them better. I will spend 2 mornings at the nursery, 1 afternoon at the boarding house, and 1 day in the office.
JL was so sweet - he walked with me to the bus stop in the morning to see me off, and then met me along the street on my way back and took for me ice cream at Baskin Robins to celebrate my first day of work (it was tiramisu, not mango). The man knows my weakness! He is also glad that I'm getting exposure to teaching little kids "as preparation for teaching our children later".
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