My thoughts on Gracepoint Church

whoo I love college. I love all the things that God is revealing to me while I'm here and meeting new people and experiencing fun new things. Sorry that is super vague, but it's not the focus of this post so maybe I'll touch upon those experiences another time.

I definitely like the setup and message of this church. The people seem very passionate about God. I liked Pastor Ed Kang's sermon about your life being like a Christmas tree that you try hard to adorn and make pretty, but in the end the fact remains that you are dead, cut off from the source of life, the tree stump. I also like that the appeal to reason and geekiness was very much present in the skit and the message. They understand that their audience consists of hard-working individuals, who mainly, if not on Christ, depend on themselves to earn success (grades, recognition, etc). Ed says, "We are not just a bag of chemicals--a collision of atoms." We have hearts and souls, which God sees and cares about deeply. It's really important that the message talked about death. We are college students, with the hope that we are at the pinnacle of success, fun, and happiness. I think this delusion advertised by the media is completely false because true joy and contentment is only from God. That fun you have at a frat party one weekend is not going to last. Death is a reality, and to fail to think about our mortality is the biggest mistake. We live in the shadow of death, but we never want to think about it. We never want to think that at any moment we could be gone, our physical life taken away in an instant. To live is Christ because without Him I do not have life. I may have a body, and I may be able to breathe, but that can and will be gone at any time. What people need to hear is that one decision in this life can change your soul for all eternity. Personally I don't think accepting Christ is the hard part; it's living for Christ that gets people. I often notice that I get swayed by how I should live my life, but then when I really stop to think about it, I realize that I'm trying to be like everyone else, where it's safe. I hope this year here at Cal I can dare to be different for the sake of Christ because as a believer my goal isn't to fit in but to live above the world's ever-descending standards.

I really like writing this stuff. I think i will try to do this more often :)

OMGG

no words to describe tonight...at least right now

6.15.2009 crazy heavenly stuff

Time is Moving Too Fast

Today was pretty blissful. I went home, ate, and watched tv. Yay for simplistic sentences. That's exactly how I feel right now. I want to make this last week simple and devoid of all stress and worry.
I need to start realizing that what I want shouldn't matter, and it's what God wants that does.

The Unfamiliar sights and sounds of Testing Week

ok so i feel all out of sorts right now because today was just so not an ordinary monday. I woke up around 8:30 (!!) and moped around for half an hour until my mom said we could go to the doctor for this gross ugly stinkin cough ive had for almost a week. So in the next 3 hours i went to two different doctor's offices and sat in two different depressing waiting rooms just to get some antiobiotics and some contrived small talk. Then we rushed out of there and shipped me off to school only to realize that i would be there for 25 min...great....so now i feel like im behind because i missed class (yes i know how paranoid i sound) and im not feeling up to doing anything today (like reading money makes the world go round like im supposed to)

ive been thinking...
"High school is such a sham..." (a brilliant quote by mandy) Resonating in my brain. So profoundly true. It's so hard to grasp that my high school days are dwindling and all i can think about is "what am i going to wear to prom? who am i going to get ready with and go to dinner with and go home with?" these things are so stupid and trivial yet they come up. This year (specifically second semester) and all these hollywood-glamourized notions of senior year and prom is just not happening the way i hoped it would and instead of going with the flow of things I am sitting here complaining about it and overthinking this entire situation. But honestly...
(wait new thought)
Since when did I have to conciously work at keeping relationships? Why is it so hard for me to let go of people? Is it that abnormal for me to care when i lose touch with people? or when you don't understand why people are suddenly not your friends anymore even though you see them everyday?
"High school is such a sham..." Why does my independence translate as "nobody wants me"? Since im too tired to thoroughly finish ranting im going to end with this: I'm making a declaration to embrace randomness and let the upcoming events spontanteously erupt into what's hopefully something that I can remember as "fun". Why? because i give up and analyzing everything is exhausting (as much as i love it).

I am so tired right now. My head has been hurting since the FRQ section of the AP Stat test today. I feel like I need to stick up for what I want. So many people are so worried about the things they need to take care of in life that they forget to take care of themselves. I pray that God reveals the truth and puts the pieces together so I don't need to keep feeling confused.

I'm coping with post-tour depression. Also i think the jetlag and the overall lack of energy is clashing with my desire to be on the internet and look up things on google/news. It's bad. I feel like i need to catch up on the world and step back into reality, but Irvine is boring and looming AP hw/tests are not going to be fun :))

Boston Roomies powpow

Hi
I'm Jennifer. I'm in Boston on a tour choir, and it has been so fantastic and lovely I can't even put into words how much I love our set and SIX right now. So I have decided to create this blog and sporadically post stuff on it because I think I would benefit from putting my thoughts into written words more often. Ok so I'm tired and hungry and now signing off bye!