A week later...

The past week has flown by! I'm hoping/afraid the next two weeks will do the same; however, that means I am that much closer to having finals...aah! Oddly enough, amidst the craziness of college finals, I am quite calm right now. I've been looking over last week's study in a book we are doing in small group, Beth Moore's "Living Beyond Yourself." It's a study on the fruit of the Spirit and I must say it is changing my life and the way I view the Spirit and how he works in me. Day 3 and 4 actually went through the "Love is patient..." text of 1 Cor. 13 and I want to share a bit of it with you. Beth spoke about how the love mentioned here is agape love, a truly, deep caring love. She gave the Greek meanings of the words which added so much more to how I view these aspects in my own life that I had to share it with you.
Love...
is patient-a person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from doing so
is kind-to show oneself "useful"
does NOT envy-to not be zealous
does NOT boast-to not be a "braggart" (a funny word):)
is NOT proud-she doesn't give a Greek term here
is NOT rude-to behave in an ugly, indecent, unseemly or unbecoming manner
is NOT self-seeking-not lovers of ourselves
is NOT easily angered-to be slow to anger (Ps. 145:8 even says God is slow to anger
and rich in love)
keeps NO record of wrongs-
does NOT delight in evil but rejoices in truth-
ALWAYS protects-to cover in silence (this one intrigued me b/c it actually means to
simply not expose the faults of others - we look beyond their
faults.)
ALWAYS trusts-having faith in someone
ALWAYS hopes-to expect with desire
ALWAYS perseveres- to remain under, to "hang in there"
NEVER fails-to be without effect, to be in vain

Isn't it interesting the Paul used the extreme words of "always, not and never"? These display such precision that we are forced to see how we simply cannot have this type of love on our own. It is only through the Spirit of God living in us. How incredible is that? The Spirit lives in us! The Spirit of the Creator of the universe is living inside me right now...watch out!

On another note, I have officially begun to raise money for Africa and things have started very nicely. I spoke to my home church yesterday (on Sunday) and they were very supportive. Aside from accepting any financial donations, I am also selling t-shirts through fundthenations.com. If you would like to purchase a t-shirt, they are $20 and I will be placing the order on May 1 so get one soon! Here is a picture of one:



They will be dark gray, with a vintage graphic of the South African flag and the words "South Africa" below it. Inside the flag reads "we love because he first loved us." I personally love them and think fundthenations did a great job designing it!

Once again, I am up rather late so I shall get to sleep now. I am so excited about what God is doing around the world! He is quite amaazing! (amazing with more than one "a" in the middle = super amazing)