Sorry that I havn’t written in w few weeks. I havn’t been home for more than a few days since the end of June.
So where to start…
For a week over the fourth of July I went with a friend and her family to the Boundry waters. We canoed out to Sawbill lake and camped under the stars for 4 days. It was beautiful and a really new experience. It was amazing being somewhere that is not messed up and polluted by human life. It’s the most natural place I have ever been, and it really made me appreciate Gods creation.
A few days after I got home I headed off to Sonshine music festival!!! For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a music festival where over 100 Christian bands come to play for a weekend in Willmar, MN. Thousands of people go and camp around this high school, tenting on the football field and such. There are 4 stages set up and for 3 days from 11 am to midnight there are bands playing non-stop! It is sooo much fun. I met a lot of great people and saw some amazing shows.~
My favorite show was put on by COOL HAND LUKE. I met the band and they all have such a heart for God. During the concert the lead singer/piano player stopped the music to talk about what God had been saying to him lately. He told the story of Joseph and how his family adandoned him, but when they came to him not knowing who he was anymore Joseph stilled showed them love. As humans we tend to want to get back at people for what they do to us. If someone does something to hurt us our first reaction usually isn’t to love them back.
Then he talked about how people say ” Life wasn’t meant to be easy” and thats why people suffer of whatever. Like people in America always feel bad for those people in 3rd world countries who are suffering and want to help them. Which is good, and God wants us to reach out to them. But the thing that Americans seem to have the most trouble with is dealing with their own suffering. It’s almost like we don’t think we deserve it. We tend to wonder ” Why is God doing this to me”. When what makes us think we don’t deserve it?
Jesus learned obedience through suffering. We deserve the same.
God says we will walk through the fire but not burn.( I don’t know what verse that is from, i just remember him reading it out of the bible- if any of you know what vs. it is let me know please). Which means we wil have trials and suffer during our lives. but if we trust God, he will not let it overcome us.
I just really loved that message and it made me really think.
one last random thing-
I just bought a new Bible. It’s called The message. It was translated by Eugene H. Peterson, into contemporary language. It reads like a story, where all of the vs. numbers and such are in the marigin rather than beforeach individual vs. and it’s so much easier to read and understand. All my life I have read the NIV Bible and I had a really hard time understanding the old testement. I have started from the beginning with The message and I have been able to understand soooo much better 🙂
