Urbana 2K15 | Power and Authority

The first morning, or I should say day, of Urbana was a learning a great learning lesson. My roommates and I attempted to wake up at 7:30 to get breakfast, but ended up leaving at around 7:45 which was a mistake. The line at the Crowne Plaza for Urbana breakfast was soooo long; it took us about 45 minutes to get through the line and back up to our room. We ended up missing bible study that morning, so me and two other of my roommates held our own little bible study.

The first bible study was on Matthew 8:1-17, Power and Authority. This passage shows the miracles Jesus did in healing a man with leprosy, a man in paralysis, a women with a fever, and many who were demon possessed. It reminds us how much power Jesus has and that great faith in Him can bring such blessings. Through this bible study, I realized how similar in mind I was with these girls. We felt that the main things that hinder us from asking Jesus to take up and bear our infirmities is guilt, selfishness, and pride in having the ability to fix our own problems. We were also similar in being hesitant when responding to Jesus' "come", "go", or "do" because of doubt in our abilities. The centurion had so much faith in Jesus, and He took the risk of seeking Jesus' help.

"Jesus said to him, "Shall I come and heal him?" The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." .... Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour." (Matthew 8:7-13)

The Bible is full of such beautiful stories. Even with all this truth, we still find the bits and pieces where we think it's too risky. That possibly sharing the Gospel is too risky because we might be rejected by others because of our belief, or we might lead someone astray. The Bible speaks for itself though. I still struggle with this hindrance and belief of "riskiness". Through this bible study, I saw that there's such a common idea of struggling with these risks. But if everyone struggles with hindrances, who will go. Jesus say do, and we should do.

Everyday strive to talk to everyone more openly, welcoming people from "the east and west" to Jesus' feast.

GWOTM | Pay closer attention and Stop rushing life

Since I've been back home after I graduated college in December, I have gotten a taste of the reality of this world; people aren't always nice.

Lost One:
While I was last minute Christmas shopping the week after graduation, I accidentally left my phone on the cashier counter at Lush. I was in such a rush, I had planned to grab an Ocean Sea Salt scrub, grab a smoothie, and then pick up my brother in time. I didn't realize I had left my phone until I was buying a smoothie at the store on the lower level of the mall. Once I got my smoothie, I rushed back up. I searching the line area and asked the cashier. She didn't recall seeing a phone left on the counter, but her view of the counter isn't that great since the machine covers her view. I then went to the mall's lost and found, and reported my lost and also called my phone three or four times. It just rang and rang until the voice mail. About 30 minutes later when I picked up my brother from his high school, I called my phone again and it went straight to voice mail with no rings. So in my assumption, one of the people in line behind me took my phone and had probably took my sim card out too by that time. I was sad for the loss of all my pictures, but that was mostly it. From this I took it positively and kept telling myself, "maybe they needed it more than I did" and "I needed a new phone anyways because that Sony was breaking down on me". That night we called for a replacement, and since they didn't have any of my particular phones in stock, T-mobile sent me a LG phone which has been okay for now.

Lost Two:
Yesterday, my grandma wanted to pick up food from this Anoka County place. I gladly took her and my uncle to the place where they wanted to pick up food. We had to wait in this line of people in this waiting room that the place had. Soon after we were in there, the employees had called the police on these two guys saying they were clearly intoxicated and kicked them out of the place. I felt very awkward there already so once my grandma and uncle went in, I left to sit in my car and warm it up. It was probably an hour later until they had come back and loaded my car with food. We drove home and my grandma wanted to go to the Dollar Tree that's near my house. I was like, Okay, I can go and get my little siblings those dollar tree hot cheetos that they both love. But then I realized I didn't have my wallet. I did have Chapstick on which was under my wallet in my coat pocket, so I must have taken out my wallet either at that sheisty place we were just at or home. I was hoping I left it at home. I hurried back to the sheisty place and searched for my wallet that was no where in sight. Sad but hopeful, I hurried home to check if my wallet was safe at home. There was no luck, so I cancelled all my debit and credit cards. Went back to the place to check one last time more in-depth with still no luck, and left them my phone number and description of my brown Coach wallet just in case it does show up. I took the rest of the day to rest with my boyfriend and we went to the dmv to replace my license. My initial thoughts were that the person who took it probably needed the $50 in my wallet more than I did. My boyfriend says I'm naive though. It's been quite the weeks at home since graduating from university.

Conclusion of the Losts:
Thinking through both situations, maybe God is trying to tell me something; to pay closer attention to what I am doing and to stop rushing life. Both times, I was in a rush to leave making me less attentive to my surroundings and myself. I was impatient with waiting and distracted by my thoughts and other surrounding. Being too focused on one thing, made me forget the whole of things. I will try my best to be more intentional in not only my material things like my phone and wallet, but with how I approach situations. Being aware of my entire surroundings, and not focused on just a few. Hopefully I can carry this out and not lose much more throughout 2016.

His Mercy and Grace:
This got me thinking more in what God may have to say to me. So I went into my YouVersion Bible App and searched for devotionals for patience. Today I began the Waiting on God Devotional. This may help me in being patience with my everyday life and in my search for a job.

"In a million little mercies, He surrounds me with Himself. I breathe in His compassion, and He renews my strength" (YouVersion Bible App, Waiting on God Devotional Dat 1) Look towards God for strength, and you will find Him. Even when you are feeling weary, God will give you His strength. God speaks in whispers, and He whispers hope and endurance and His faithful love.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." (Lamentations 3:22 KJV)


(What I was doing waiting in the parking lot at the place I lost my wallet yesterday)

Urbana 2k15 | A Page in God's story

URBANA.... Where to even start...

After eight hours of driving, we safely made it to our hotel around 4 pm in St. Louis for five thrilling days of the Urbana conference of 2015 (December 27th, 2015)! It was a long fun-filled caravan ride with lovely ladies and gents. Nearing St. Louis we were even able to connect with a random car that was also headed to Urbana with an awkward long stare and then holding up our "Urbana 2k15?" sign. 

The Sunday drive was pretty nice and smooth until hitting St. Louis where the rain hit us, which was expected though. The hotel parking was confusing and the check-in line was long filled with others joining together for Urbana (but not as long as it would get later on). We settled into our hotel room and rested in awe of the view our window had of the Mississippi river and the St. Louis arch.  

 

Eventually we motivated ourselves enough to walk through the rain to the convention center in order to register and attend the first plenary session. It was a fun day but was draining and so busy with trying to complete so many various tasks. The first session was amazingly helpful in getting me more excited about what God had for me that week at Urbana. The worship really spoke in itself to show the works God had for us that week at Urbana. Erna Kim Hackett was a wonderful worship lead in her words of already knowing how we felt drained, you can see how God worked through her to liven the energy that evening. 

Our God never ceases to surprise us. Patrick Fung showed us how the book of Matthew begins with surprises. The name of four women showing up in the genealogy of Jesus may not surprise us today, but to the Jewish culture back then this would have been a huge surprise. Even bigger surprises are in the background of those women; Tamar was an adulteress, Rahab was a prostitute, Ruth was a moabite/gentile, and the mother of Solomon (Bathsheba) was the woman King David seduced. Why did Matthew choose these four names? To show that the barriers between men and women or gentiles and jews are broken down. Matthew tells us the story of Jesus coming as king and how He was a threat to the authority of the ones in power. It also shows us how Jesus was a refugee and born into a refugee family in little Bethlehem. God does not promise us a risk-free journey, but he does promise us Emmanuel (God with us). The book of Matthew begins and ends with the worship of Jesus, He is no ordinary king but one that is always worthy of our worship. When King Herod died, his power and authority ended and was divided. Death did not limit Jesus' authority and power. So think about what gifts you have to bring to worship our King. This is a thought that really hit home for me, because I'm not the most confident speaker in this world but I am an information systems major who loves learning new technologies. The week at Urbana helped me realize how I could build on that to build on the glory of God in helping to show others all around the world who He is and what He has done for us. 

Tom Lin, the Urbana director, welcomed us with engaging the audience in thinking about what our Urbana 2015 chapter will be filled with. God brought us all there, and it started with each of us saying "yes." Being able to let go of our selfish plans is the first step to building in God's story. He introduced the theme of what story we plan to tell in and through our lifetime. Millions cry out wondering if Jesus is here; we are called to tell His story and share His love and bring the light of the Good news. At Urbana, God really meets us and help us build our story in light of Him. We just have to listen, reflect, and DO something. Let's make God's story known among all nations. 

Through all the worship, speakers, and drama acts, God made his presence known on that first night. Being just graduated, the questions of "will I let God write my agenda?" and "do I have the courage to let go of my own agenda?" linger. Will my story be towards His bigger story? 

The crew in my car :) 

That pink elephant at the first gas station we stopped at. 

Keep tune for more posts on my Urbana 2015 experience. ♥

P.S. For those who don't know what Urbana is: Urbana is Intervarsity's Student Missions Conference focused on God's global mission. It's one of the largest student missions conference in the world with over 16,000 attendees this year. It is held only every three years, and this year was their 24th conference! (aka. they started in 1946!) Check out more about Urbana on their website www.urbana.org, they also have live-streaming recordings of some of the general sessions available on the site.