I got to see my brother, Jeremy tonight. It may sound funny, but it was so refreshing. The last two weeks have been very busy and my nerves were really starting to fray. When I was praying, God kept saying that I knew it would be hard when I signed on, but that He would give me strength to make it through everything. So driving to Dallas and walking around the Hilton with my brother was just really relaxing. It got my mind off of long homework assignments and onto things like watching marines ski for the first time and keeping an armadillo for a pet. We talked at length about his business plans and it was great to talk with someone who knew exactly where he wanted to be in one year and was excited about it. Right now I am just feeling calm and resolved to get through tonight's work.

As I sit and listen to Las Mañanitas (the traditional Mexican birthday serenade) I think back on my birthday and it gives me pause to review my 23rd year and what God has been doing. A year ago, I was still at Rice trying to figure out what I was going to do after graduation. A year ago I was conspiring with Laura to kidnap Ning and conspiring with Ning about when Laura was going to get kidnapped. A year ago I was beginning Kings & Chronicles. A year ago I already knew how much I would miss my friends. A year ago I was taking pictures for the Thresher and doing demos with Owlchemy. A year ago I was enjoying as many cookies and milks I could carry out of the serveries. A year ago I was go to Dr. Tour's house after service at West U. A year ago I was wonder what joys and sorrows God would bring me during my new year.

Now I am at GIAL trying to figure out what I am going to do after graduation. Now I am talking with Ning and Laura about how we would kidnap eachother, if our homework permitted and we lived a little closer together. Now I am studying the Pentetuch. Now I still know how much I miss my friends, but have made new friends too. Now I am preparing to take pictures for Ning's wedding (wow) and doing sound for the chapel services. Now I am enjoying as many donuts as they bring to the snack room. Now I am still trying to get settled into a local church but I think I've got one picked out. Now I am wonder what joys and sorrows God will bring me during my new year.

So while everything has changed, nothing has changed. But in everything, God has been good to me. This is my memorial stone



In Other News...
I just read an article that shows that animals and people perform better when they've been awake for a while rather than when they first wake up. Ergo, I should do my work at night rather then in the morning.

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD , the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them-to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates-all the Hittite country-to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:1-9

Today was the first day of sandals weather! Yes, on V-day it was 75 and sunny. But before you move to Dallas, remember that last year there was five inches of snow.

Here's a question that I have been seriously thinking about for a long time:

Would God ask us to literally sacrifice a child like He asked Abraham (Genesis 22)?

Don't give a glib answer. Consider it for a second. God did ask Abraham to make that kind of sacrifice. But we live under a new testament. But that does not mean that we do not sacrifice things (dreams, desires, money) for God. Do we just not have enough faith? Is there a moral imperative?

I've been trying since November or Decemeber to come up with a good answer but I couldn't find anything that satisfied me. I prayed about it a lot and read through a number of books but it wasn't until tonight (after searching through 28 webpages on Christian apologetics) that I finally found a satisfying answer.

The part of my question that I was getting caught on was the fact that God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son and Abraham was praised because he intended to do it. He stopped Abraham, but if He hadn't, didn't God still have the right to demand Isaac's life. God is the author of all life, and He controls when and how we all die. So if He said that Abraham should sacrifice Isaac, no one could anyone say that it was morally wrong.

But I could not reconcile that with the God we know. I couldn't tell what, but something was not matching up. So tonight I decided I would stay up again and try to find the answer (hang the homework, I've got a question). Anyways I finally came across one sentence from a separate question that made everything fall immediately into place.

"God's way of testing Abraham by calling for the sacrifice of Isaac...and then the abrupt staying of the knife...was intended to demonstrate that God abhorred human sacrifice and would not accept it (Gen 22.12)"

It may seem simple, but I had never thought of it that way. God wanted Abraham to fully intend on sacrificing his son, and then by stopping him, He showed that child sacrifice was abhorent to Him. Instead, He reconfirmed the system of animal substituionary sacrifice, which foreshadows Christ's sacrifice for us.

Praise God who has sacrificed Himself for us.

Do you ever have those nights when you are just looking for some small joke to send you to bed still chuckling? How come I can't find any of those jokes anymore. And no thanks, Will, I'm not interested in a nightcap.

I wish I had a house