Thoughts of the Weekend

i got to hear some really wonderful messages at church this sunday. jeff's lesson from the morning really struck home with me. he kept asking, "what kind of a christian are you?" and the point he made was that a person can look like one thing on the outside and really be quite different inside. i really felt convicted about the hypocrisy in my life. jeff read a passage from a book about amy carmichael (er, yeah, i'm pretty sure that's right) and in it one little girl becomes a christian. her parents don't want her to become a christian, but they say they'll let her say she's a christian and act like one while the missionaries are there and then she'll get tired of it and they'll let her become a "harmless kind" of a christian. that makes me wonder... am i a harmless kind of a christian? do i hold up my sword and resist the devil? do i witness to others with words and with my life as an example? sadly, i fall far short of my duty as a soldier. for those of you prayer warriors out there, i could use some help. pray that i would be an effectual fighter for the gospel and that i would be able to grow in the strength of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. the thought of being a white-washed christian shell with a putrid core like a tomb, is a sobering suggestion. i don't want satan to view me as "harmless." but spiritually i want to allow god to use me in a powerful way. i want to live in the pillars of Christ's strength and not on the balsam stilts of pharisaical mendacity.

ben and i had a good bible study this evening. finished the second chapter of I Thess. we decided that we're both going to work on scripture memorization together. starting in proverbs. we'll recite the portion for eachother on our meetings to keep up the incentive and see where we're at. also we are going to try to choose an idea or lesson from each section of scripture that we talk about in our study and apply it to our lives, specifically for the week after our discussion. i'm excited!

so we had our study at java jacks tonight, which was nice. i'm always up for coffee, whatever the occasion. saw ben dodson over there and chatted with him for a few minutes.

had a test in aural skills this morning. it went rather well i do believe. i'm 99% that i got a 100 on it. once dr dean get's it graded we'll all finally have our midterm test grade average. i think i'm looking forward to knowing that...

had my violin lesson today. i finally broke down and spent some more money on my violin. but this time it was real money on some stuff that will make a real difference in my sound and quality of playing. new, super-fancy, extreme, ultra, orchestra grade, blah blah, etc., etc,. strings, w/ silver D and gold E. oohoohoho! yeah baby. aaaaand a new shoulder rest. the one i have right now is too low. i didn't even realize it, but it was causing me to get stiff and hunch and lift my shoulder and all kinds of awful stuff. aaaaaaand... *drum roll...* a new bow! yes, ladies and gentlemen, the best part of all. with all this gear i shall be a concert master in no time flat... *pause in writing to go tearing downstairs for pizza in the lobby.* ahhhhh. nothing like free pizza to satisfy the tum tum. so anyway, i'm totally stoked about all this new stuff.

ab ovo \ab-OH-voh\, adverb:From the beginning.