Your Heart

Being a Christian makes dating and relationships much more complicated for a very simple reason; waiting for the best. For many of us (including myself) this realization that dating (multiple people) isn't a smart idea doesn't really occur til after we have dated... and broken up. Many ask though, what is the harm of dating more then one, the bible doesn't say anything directly about dating, and, it doesn't because DATING DID NOT EXIST IN BIBLE TIMES!
So how in the stink are we supposed to figure out dating now in the 21st century? Excellent question! There are a galore of books relating to such topics of dating and courting but there is something else that should be thought about along with this whole idea of waiting and dating.

Your Heart.

Above all else; guard your heart for it is the the wellspring of life

-Prov 4:23

When you are told to guard something it generally means its important, and this verse is saying that guarding your heart should be held above everything else. Therefore my conclusion is that it's pretty stinken IMPORTANT! So what does this mean? To try to condense it into a short sentence is to squish my anatomy textbook and all its information into a 2 page paper... aka impossible. But here are some ideas.

To protect what goes in and monitor what comes out
To make sure that you are not giving it away to anyone who is less the the best and making sure the love that is coming out of it is Christ's love; pure and holy.
To insure that our complete and utter dependence, worth and value are in him.

But what if we took it one step further? What if we choose not only to guard our own hearts but also the ones around us. What if we took into consideration how we would effect people by the way we dress, the way we act and how we spend our time. What if we thought about looking at the people around us as someone else's spouse? I think it would give a very different perspective.

We often lose sight of waiting because our culture is so fast pace and has given up on the idea that marriage lasts. God doesn't work in that timing, he works with what is most important.

Your Heart.

Above all else; guard your heart for it is the the wellspring of life

-Prov 4:23

The homeostasis of Christianity

The definition of homeostasis is a relatively stable state of equilibrium or a tendency toward such a state between the different but interdependent elements or groups of elements of an organism, population or group.

When I think of homeostasis I think positive and negative feedback loops to maintain equilibrium in the human body. Interestingly enough just as it keeps our bodies stable, functional and healthy, the homeostasis of the Christian faith is what keeps us healthy and strong in our faith.

This idea that everything had to live in tension or balance with each other was first presented to me in my Post-Exilic Prophets class by my prof korkidakis (wise man!) As a christian, with the world surrounds us and the principles that Christs teaches us, it is necessary to keep a balance.

It was really neat and reassuring that there was not just one man who had this thought, but I was reminded about living in this balance, tension, homeostasis in a bible study that I recently joined at Conestoga. We are going through the sermon on the mount and got to the part of;

"eye for eye, and tooth for tooth"
"walk the extra mile"
"hits you on one cheek, let him hit your other"
"takes your cloat, let him have your tunic as well"
All these teaches both have a deeper and lager principle and require balance to maintain what Christ had intended when he said these things.

This balancing act goes way beyond us, just as homeostasis of our bodies is far beyond our capability to manage or understand. Everything that Jesus taught goes way beyond us. So how do we manage to stay within the homeostasis equilibrium of Christianity? Wisdom, lots of wisdom and lots of dependence.

"And if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him"
-James

Everything that we do: our time management,our actions, relationships and so many other matters require balance. To far one side we are being part of the world, to far the other way we are start acting as legalists and lose the Cross of Christ. In every part of our lives we require to have balance to able to live in the world but not of the world, to follow Christ. This balance act is not a one time thing, not a one time show, but a day by day, moment by moment dependence on him to show you how to maintain the homeostasis of Christianity.

Still Catching My Breath

Last night was one of those useless nights where nothing goes right. My Internet wasn't working, I did the wrong questions for my anatomy class and I couldn't concentrate on anything due to previous distractions. All I wanted to do was cry because I thought that my life was going absolutely horrible because I needed to do homework and I could not... so I did dishes instead.

As I was doing dishes I decided to give myself a reality check and be logical in the midst of my emotional chaos of the evening. So I sat down and start writing out all the blessing that I did have, from having a warm bed, to having food to eat, to being able to read a book in my spare time (not that I actually have any of that but...). It turns out I had about 2+ pages and that wasn't even thinking super hard...well kinda hard but not like brain racking hard.

Before I started writing God asked me if He was enough?
Before I started writing I said no

After I finished writing God asked me if He was enough?
After I finished writing I said yes

God then asked
If I take everything away from you, will you still say yes?

Good question I replied because from this week it doesn't seem like my answer would be yes.
I am like the rich young ruler who walks away with his head down because I do not know if I could do it... kinda sounds ironic coming from a girl who wants to leave everything and go to India huh?
Well it is because I am a sinful and lost my focus. God had to let me get here to get my attention

He got it back when he said this

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

HIS LIGHT WILL NEVER BE OVERCOME BY DARKNESS

I will never be overcome by darkness

That Time of Year

 School is stressful and homework is pressing and the time of semester comes where a million and two things need to get done and not enough time, so devotions and quiet time slips from my hands. And I am left empty and fighting against thoughts, feelings and actions that are not honouring to my Prince.

I was reading a book (for men) about how to be Men of God and Defenders of those who can not defend themselves. The author talked about ways that the devil attempts to destroy the relationship with our prince (king) through defilement, delusion, d-something and distraction. My name is Erika Rauws and I was distracted. I was so consumed with papers reading and other homework that I neglected spending genuine time with my prince. Instead I always doing homework and spending time with friends.

On Thursday I knew that I need to go on a date with Jesus but I was distracted. Thursday night was bible study but this week were out visiting the elderly, I was going to go on my date then but their weren't enough people to go visiting so I did that instead. Friday night I made plans with friends and thought it was important to build a relationship with them (and glad that I could talk with them) so I had to cancel my date again. Saturday was consumed by laundry, homework, work and more homework; didn't have time to go on that date. Sunday afternoon was filled with more homework, this time i avoided going on that date.

Then Monday. Go to work and get to school and walking to class someone points out that my water bottle is leaking... more like literally POURING out of my purse. Nothing was damaged which was good but everything was soaked.

Day at School: Finished.

I walked back to my locker, packed my bags and drove home. Well actually went Christmas decorating shopping and bought notebook and then went home. I made my journal re packed my bags and FINALLY went on my date with Jesus. Two hours in my favourite coffee shop reading my bible. 5 days later. Doesn't seem like a long time but on Monday I felt like I was neglecting my best friend and missed some one dearly. Turns out I was missing him. ALOT!

For a while now I had stopped looking for him, stopped talking to him and stopped listening to him.  I felt myself sliding down this slippery slope for a while. But now the process of restoring our relationship has begun. The incredable this is that he never left me. HE was the one who made the effort of getting my attention. And I am grateful the the relationship that I have with him is two sided. He has given everything for me and is willing to chase after me, and I have finally stopped running, I am catching my breath and walking towards his arms, ready to rest in Him.

Dance For the King

So every Sunday morning I have the amazing opportunity to step into my church, hang with some amazing children and worship my Lord without the risk of persecution, a luxury that most of the global church does not have.

On Sunday I was able to stand beside a beautiful six year old girl and we worship together. The musical worship was wonderful that morning; partly because it was the youth band and they generally pick really good and more upbeat songs and because I could look down and see a delighted smile on this girls face. Since it was more upbeat it was really easy to sway to the tunes and kinda move around a bit. It was super cute because when I started moving so did she and it was simply wonderful because although she could not sing the words she could worship with her body.

As  I was looking around, I saw two youth sitting at the front. For the song that we were singing we were standing and it was an upbeat song but OHH MY WORD!! They looked like the two most bored people I have ever seen in the whole world. They looked completely still and zoned out other then the fact that their lips where moving to the words. This was a pretty big contrast to what me and my friend were doing.  I continued to look around and saw some people who you could tell were enjoying themselves but others who kinda looked like them... Super Bored.
 

Now if I flew over any of the choirs that we met in Cameroon, their jaws probably would have dropped at the sight of my congregation. This is the one thing about Cameroon I miss the most; them dancing. Now I can't dance and suck at keeping any kind of rhythm still a little boggy for my King I think would not be a bad thing. Every time we went to church in Cameroon we were up on our feet dancing and singing praises to the King!

It makes me sad to think that we have this stigma in our church that we can't dance or clap before our king while we worship. I keep remembering David and how he dances naked (now I am not saying go this far... NOT APPROPRIATE!) because he was so delighted in his King. When we go to worship I think we need to remember who we are worshipping. Yes God gave us bodies to do his work and help others but we should worship with our whole bodies. For some this may mean to stand still in awe of him but for other its means to dance before him. Something that has been lost in our Church's today.

Christmas Wish List

~Any new Music Cd’s to listen to in car

~Watch Bracelet

~Ear Phones -- listening to music

~9’ by 13’ pan for baking

~Blood Pressure Pump – a pretty one  pale blue in it to match stethoscope
unfortunately had to get one early for school but i can take your blood pressure if you like :P
~New desk lamp
~Money towards white puma shoes... size 6

Other Ideas

~Card games, board games
~Juice Jug roommate took care of that one! :)
~Juice box -- for school lunch

Screens

Upon my early rise this not so wonderful Tuesday morning, my graceful tumble out of bed, legs tangled in the covers and face on the ground resulted in a successful mutilation of my computer screen. Graciously there was an available monitor that could be connected to my laptop thus making the writing of this blog possible.

In the midst of my despair of now having an non portable computer I have come to the realization of the heavy dependence of such luxuries. I was muling over the thought as I was making dinner and realized how much we rely on such screens.

We spend countless hours looking at these screens. They relay information, from around the world politics to our next door neighbour’s hourly activities, ie facebook, we use these screens to communicate thoughts and express ourselves through poems, blogs and quotations learned for others. We spend countless, more like counted hours, looking at the screen insuring that each word and letter is correct and not misplaced in what seems endless essays and reports.

Through these screens we have in-depth conversations on the latest chat feature; either twitter, skype, facebook or gmail. We express our deepest most intimate thoughts through email or through the newest screen, texting. Yet these screens are very good at concealing the real issues. A simple exclamation mark can make something ordinary into extraordinary. Yet in the same moment the correct wording of a sentence can lead to complete falsehood. The person’s true emotions concealed through an eloquent array of words.

Screens also have an excellent way of creating isolation. Rather then calling that person we send them an email. Rather then visiting them we see them on skype. Rather then talking to the person across the room we text them instead. These screens have created our world filled with chaos since we no longer need to spend time on such things. Rather we can fill our lives with work and other responsibilities. Jobs are demanding more and more due to the readily access of resources and individuals through these screens.

Once there was a time where one could not hide behind the screen, we had to come face to face with one another, shared intimate moments together sitting side by side, hearing each other voices and looking at each others eyes. These moments are now few and rare and should be cherished or soon may waste away to nothing more then a wall of endless screens.