Velvet

I am so incredibly thrilled to be finished with high school. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm ready to move on and experience some new things. This is the first summer in the last four years I haven't had to do any homework for some classes. I actually plan on reading a book this summer for fun, not because I have to. This summer is going to go by really fast. I have this week off, but start back to work next Tuesday, working at the same place I have this last year. I can't wait for those forty hour weeks. Not really. But hey, I gotta start saving up for some of those college expenses. In July, I'm going with my youth group on a mission trip to Toronto. I hear it's a fun city and I'm really looking forward to ministry there.

In youth group lately, our youth pastor has been talking about having fun together as a youth group and building community. One Wednesday night, after worship service, we all went down to the gym and played dodgeball for fun, just because we can. That's not to say that things should never be serious, but especially as kids were getting restless and ready for school to be over, we just needed to relax and have fun together. There are times when things should be serious, but the fun times are just as important.

On a more serious note, in our discipleship group we have been reading and discussing Velvet Elvis, a book by Rob Bell. We have been talking about how there is no final solution to what religion is or what our walk with Jesus is. A person cannot say that they have discovered the absolute truth about God and therefore no one else needs to explore God. That can't happen because we will never fully understand God. But, the great thing is we don't have nor are expected to. That doesn't mean stop exploring. It only means that we don't have to worry about getting to the end because there is no end with God. As God told Moses to tell the Jews when asked why he was there, he should say to them the "I AM" sent him. To go further, Rob Bell talks some about how the Bible is to be interpreted. The Bible was written in a certain context for a certain audience. And despite what some people may think, it is dated in that sense. It was written for certain moments in time and can be hard to understand the original intent without understanding the original context of the Scripture. Don't get me wrong. There are parts of the Bible that are timeless, like John 3:16 for instance. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." But, as a whole, the books of the Bible were written in a certain time context.

To clarify what I am trying to get across, because I don't think I'm being very clear, here's how I have seen it in my life. When I was deciding where to go to college, I would read the Bible searching for an answer of where to go. Now, looking back, I realize that this was unfair and unrealistic. The Bible wasn't written so many thousands of years ago keeping in mind the answer to my question. While that's not impossible for God to do, that's not why the Bible was written. It was written to provoke discussions and questions to lead us in the direction God wants us to go. The Bible really isn't a finished work, but something that we continue to discuss, interpret and reinterpret and develop to apply to our lives. There is so much to talk about in Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis. I encourage you to get hold of it and read it.

Anyway thanks for all of the comments and support. If I wasn't too clear with this entry, feel free to leave a comment and ask a question. Thanks.

-God Bless-
Jeff

Destination Olivet

A lot has happened in the last three weeks. Things have been extremely busy getting ready to graduate. Only 2 weeks left!!!!! I'm really looking forward to graduating.

Two weekends ago I visited Point Loma Nazarene University with my parents. It was amazing and I felt like I could fit in on their campus and see myself there after watching students out surfing just off the cliffs. I was also very impressed with how friendly the students were. On Monday, we had to leave town before the dorm tour ended, so my dad and I went into a dorm to see what they were like. A student spotted us wondering around and invited us to look at his dorm room to see what they were like. I liked the friendliness of PLNU.

So, after I got back I knew I had a tough decision to make with in the next week. I loved Point Loma's campus, but I knew Olivet had the better engineering program. All that week I was praying that God would make it clear to me where I was supposed to go. My thoughts kept going back and forth between the two schools. I want to go into engineering. Olivet has an ABET accredited program while Point Loma doesn't. Still I couldn't make a commitment because I didn't feel satisfied with either decision. Finally the day I had to decide I was talking with a friend from work and she suggested calling a graduate school and asking if attending an ABET accredited program made a difference in being accepted into graduate school. So I did and they told me that they only accepted degrees from ABET accredited programs. This is when I realized that I was supposed to go to Olivet because of their engineering program. So, I have decided to attend Olivet next year. However, I still have nothing but good things to say about Point Loma.

So anyway that's what the week of deciding was like. It was a very long week. This week I have had two AP tests for college credit. We'll see how those end up in July when I get my scores back.

During the week when I had to decide on a college, I was questioning God's timing. It would have been nice to know a little earlier where God wanted me to go, but I can't argue. He gave me what I needed to know, when I needed to know it. Through this experience I have realized that all decisions in life aren’t going to be easy, especially as I get older. But, no matter what uncertainties the world throws at me, I can always rely on God and His timing in revealing the solution.

Thanks for the comments and prayers. Let me know what’s going on in your life and for your future plans, too.

-God Bless-
Jeff