In Love With You, My Lord, My God

Welcome to the month of August! This summer is just running so fast right?! For Campus Ministries out there, I know that August is one of the most significant months of the year, in terms of preparation and prayer for the upcoming year. It's where Freshmen (High school & College) adjust to new environments as they move forward in their journey, usually introduced to more worldly things and actions.

"The Apostle whom Jesus loved"
Right now, I'm reading Isaiah, 1 Timothy, and John. I do wonder how God led me to read at three different places in the Bible, especially during these Olympics. Overwhelming, no. Patience, definitely. So, here's even more patience that I'm happily exercising. If we backtrack all the way to June, I mentioned that I wanted to learn about Love. Here's the link: http://psalm27four.blogspot.com/2012/06/status-update.html Notice the capital "L" in Love. I wanted to learn about God's Love and then through that, I will learn everything else about Love. I was reading through a lot of Paul's letters and I knew I'd have to move on soon, so I started wandering through the New Testament. I thought maybe it was time to read a gospel. I found myself in John and started reading the first few lines of the first chapter, John 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." I got "hooked" on right away and when I thought back to June, I knew John was next, considering he wrote about the Love of Jesus

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
I actually got this from church and it really stood out to me. This passage is located in Matthew 14:13, Mark 6:30, Luke 9:10, and John 6. Basically, Jesus has five barley loaves and two fish to feed this massive crowd. Jesus tells his disciples to get the people to sit down. He blesses the food and gives them to his disciples to distribute among the people. In John, Jesus also asks his disciples to "gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost," knowing there would be extra. Obviously, that is an incredible act of Jesus, but let's look deeper a little. Think of the food as God's Love. So, Jesus has God's Love to spread to five thousand people. So, His disciples distribute the food, aka "God's Love." That outstanding part is that there is EXTRA FOOD! Now, if we connect "substitutions," we find out that God's Love is not just enough, it's more than enough! God loves us with more than enough Love. If you think God loves you by "this much", multiply that by a number and you still won't reach the amount of love that He pours out on us! Just as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, His love never ends.

Enter The Worship Circle
I'm still lovin' them. Spotify supplies me with their wonderful music for now. It's unfortunate that YouTube does not have many songs from these people. Take a look/listen at some of the videos in my previous blog post, especially "Land of the Living".

It just sounds like a fun song. Their website mentions that this song is based on Psalm 139:1-19.

"Change me oh God, with your mercy"

Song: My Eyes Are So Blue I Could Feel Like I Could Look Through
Artist: Enter The Worship Circle
Album: Chair and Microphone, Vol. 2

Lyrics:

My eyes are so blue feel like I could look right through
And see the stars and the moon take flight
And I wake from my stare from who knows where
To know you've been thinking of me

Chorus:
With wonder and fear, you knit me together
You shoulda been scared when you breathed into me
I've a feeling you knew what I'd say and what I'd do
But your love said do it anyway

My skin is so black I feel l'm the richest
To come from you hand and breathe then stand
And I wake from my stare from who knows where
To know you've been thinking of me

Bridge:
Search me oh God, know I'm nervous
Test me Father, I'm not perfect
Change me oh God with your mercy
Please smile

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-5)

-Spontaneous, with Purpose