End of the Spear --------->

So, since Christmas break started, I started reading this book that Rob had gotten me a long time ago that I just never had gotten a chance to read yet. It is called "End of the Spear" and is written by Steve Saint. If you've ever heard the story of Steve Saint, you know that it's one that is completely mind blowing. It is so hard to imagine how he can love and consider family those who brutally killed his father when he was a little boy.

I've heard the story many times, and have seen the movie, and even got to meet Steve Saint and Mincaye, the man who finished killins Nate Saint, but this book gives so much more insight into the story. It is incredible! Every time I pick this book up and start reading it, I start reading it as a story, and every now and then I will stop reading and remind myself that this is not just a story from a book, this story is true and all of this really happened! It has given me such a new perspective of forgiveness. It's neat because in the story, his Aunt Rachel who lived with the Waodani people before he did was "adopted" into the tribe by a certain Waodani family. When he went to the jungle to live with Aunt Rachel when he was 9, he also became part of that adopted family. When he introduces different members of the tribe while telling a story about them, he will give his "relation" to them if they are a member of the family that adopted him and Aunt Rachel. So, he has aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and siblings as if they were his blood family. He constantly refers to this tribe as his family, not his "ministry" or people he wanted to help. He talks about their true love for each other. They love him as much as he loves them...... yet, these are the people that killed his father.

When I saw him speak last year, he said something that I thought was incredible. When he went to live with Aunt Rachel in the jungle, he knew these were the people that had killed his father, but he said that "it never even crossed my mind that I should hate these people." That blows my mind. That is love and forgiveness in its purest form. It makes me think about how I react when someone does wrong against me. Do I allow it to ruin my witness of Christ with them, or do I keep loving them and keep desiring to show Christ to them? It's such a new and true perspective. I can't wait to finish the book.

Embracing Accusation

This is a song by Shane and Shane (love them) called Embracing Accusation. It's about how Satan tells us how unworthy and undeserving we are of salvation, and how he is right. But the great part of it that Satan fails to tell us is that Jesus came and died to save us and to make us righteous heirs of God! What a wonderful gift. One that needs to be remembered especially during this time of year when EVERYTHING is commercialized and taken lightly!


EMBRACING ACCUSATION

The father of lies
Coming to steal
Kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can’t abide
He’s right
Alleluia he’s right!

The devil is preaching
The song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation

Could the father of lies
Be telling the truth
Of God to me tonight?
If the penalty of sin is death
Then death is mine

I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can’t abide
He’s right
Alleluia he’s right!

Oh the devil’s singing over me
An age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently
He’s forgotten the refrain
JESUS SAVES!

Christmas Break!

So, I am one test (not cumulative) and one project away from Christmas break! One whole month with no classes and NO HOMEWORK! It's going to be great! I have made for myself quite the list of things to do during Christmas break. I know I'll most likely not do it all, but hopefully I can get a lot of it done.

This year we're not going to Warroad for Christmas, but going to Kansas City. I'm glad. Although I miss the adrenaline rushes of the long 26-28 hour drives I took before getting married to Rob (who thinks 5 hours is a long drive), I don't miss the flying and then driving home forever from the airport. Plus, it seems that whenever I go back to Warroad, everything is still exactly the same, and it's never as exciting as I expect it to be. I feel like I've changed so much since leaving there, but that noone else has. It's fun to be home and see my old friends though, but this year family gets priority over friends.

I love Kansas City!! We're going to go to the famous PLAZA! Love it there! Then get some legendary Gates BBQ! So good! See lots of family that I haven't seen since our wedding, or before. At my grandma's house, we play this card game called Nertz for hours on end! My family is all very competitive (other than my mom) so it's a ton of fun to play together. Especially since I usually win, although noone else would admit that, but it's true. haha.

Next semester I'm starting grad school! Crazy! I'm really excited! I'm ready to get down to business and be done with all these general education class I've taken this semester. I'm ready to learn how to be a counselor! I want to help people and make them happy. I want to be a listening ear for those who have noone to listen. I want to help teenagers realize that the world's standards are impossible to meet but that they can do amazing things with their lives and live a life for Christ that will be more fulfilling than anything the world offers them. I want to help people through the grieving process when life seems to have no purpose anymore. I just want to follow Christ's command to not judge people when but to love them how He loves them! I'm ready to get out there.

Next semester, Rob is also finishing grad school. He's getting three Masters! He's amazing! He's thinking about going on to get his doctorate degree while I'm working on my M.A. "Dr. Jarman." That would be pretty cool! We'll see what happens! For now, we'll just take it one day at a time! Gotta finish this weeks work and get to Christmas break before thinking about what we'll be doing next year! We can't wait for Christmas break!