pjchoi: hi julia. im retarded. i dont know
any other way of communicating with you besides this.
juls001: hi!
pjchoi: i just wanted to give you a shoutout.
juls001: ok.
(long pause)
pjchoi: i see you're up late again. so how
was your day?
pjchoi: did you study a lot?
check out julia's website and sign her guestbook. she would like that.
another shoutout. but it's an anonymous one this time. God scores major triumphs in our lives, doesnt He? especially when the siutation seems lost/hopeless. well, for this person, the situation was this way. but God brought them through and handed them a piece of grace. how wonderful! anyway, for that person, God gives when we dont expect it or deserve it, right? so dont worry about what's happening right now or what will happen. it's for your good and God's good. again, His grace is sufficient.
So not much happened this past week, besides school. i had a midterm tuesday, and a paper in a different class due thursday. i know i totally tanked the paper...man was it embarrassing. i even apologized to the prof when i turned it in. eh. we'll see how it turns out, i guess. recently, especially this semester, my lackadasical approach to school and studying has been bothering me. those of you who know me are probably saying it's about time! but at the same time probably wondering if this is just another empty promise or if it's for real. well, i want it to be for real. i need it to be for real. so i have been trying to go to the library and actually study. i went last saturday. i know, no big deal. but that's a big step for me, studying on a weekend. it was a good experience. studying is fun. yay. woohoo. so i guess i will be trying to do it more often. if you see me around, ask me if i went to the library that day or the previous day. bother me about it in case i get lame and start to backslide and not study.
here's a Bible passage that i want to share today (look familiar, andy chang? dont worry, im doing it. GET UP. haha). it's pretty well known, and very much applicable to my life, and i think the life of every Xian. it has to do with why i sin so often, like all the time every day. Apostle Paul is a great writer, especially with divine inspiration. he really hit the mark with this passage, i think. to put into words the conflict in our souls, the struggle between the Spirit and the Flesh. quite epic. very real. though our lives are caught in this seemingly unwinable(?) battle, there is hope in v.25. yes! Jesus comes to the rescue, as always. Jesus. Friend forever.
Romans 7:15-25 (NIV)
15. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but
what I hate I do.
16. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
17. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in
me.
18. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I
have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
19. For what I do is not the good I want to to do; no, the evil I do not want
to do--this I keep on doing.
20. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it
is sin living in me that does it.
21. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there
with me.
22. For in my inner being I delight in God's law;
23. but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war
against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work
within my members.
24. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
25. Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my
mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of
sin.
so a song that i think goes along with the above Bible passage is "Only Natural" by Steven Curtis Chapman (nudge, nudge mellanie). it has to do with the sinful nature vs the Spirit within Christians, but with the Spirit winning out. Christians have no condemnation to fear!
Only Natural by Steven Curtis Chapman (from the cd "Signs of
Life")
Romans 8:1-15
v1. mirror, mirror on the wall
who's the biggest fool of all?
you don't have to answer me
'Cause when i look at you i see
a prisoner set free from his chains
acting like he's still a slave
to the prison he's been set free from
you may say it's only natural for me to act this way
but i know it's only natural
that i have not been made
chorus. only natural, only natural
i've got the Spirit of the living God alive in me
giving me power so i don't have to be
only natural, only natural
v2. so mirror, mirror, look again
you've seen the fool that i have been
but did you see the grace that covers me
not to do anything i please
in fact grace is the only thing
that makes me what i am not naturally
it's supernatural power brings life out of the grave
it gives sight to the blind man, and it will not let me stay
chorus
bridge. i know that on my own i'm only human naturally
but i've got the Spirit of the living God alive in me
giving me power so i don't have to be
chorus