As I was finishing writing my last post, I was hit again with the importance of Scripture. I need to be soaking in God's Word so that I can stand firm in the truth of it. If I do not, I will be "tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming" (Eph. 4:14).

"They say evil prevails when good men don't act. They should say evil prevails." - Nicolas Cage Lord of War

We watched 3 movies yesterday. The first one (10 Things I Hate About You) I have seen many times and will likely never grow tired of. The second one (Lord of War) was very thought provoking, breaking through my worldview. The third one (Two for the Money) started out good and ended even better.

As for the quote at the beginning of this post, when I first heard it I thought the second part said "They also say evil prevails." When I hear this, my thought was: ~hm, ya, good men don't act enough.~ When I found out what it actually said, my thought was: ~Ya, it is easy to see why people would think that. When we see and hear about so much evil happening in this world it is easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged by it. But when we truly look at the bigger picture, when we look at the truth, we can be certain that evil does not prevail, but that God is just and will punish the wicked in His good timing. As difficult as it is to see this truth, I do not doubt it. The first time I read Psalm 73:1-17 my whole being grasped this truth, and this is something that will never be shaken in me.

"restless until I rest in Christ"

What a beautiful statement,
what a brilliant truth!
Yet what a hard concept to walk in.

I find peace when I read those words,
a peace and a longing.
But I do not have the strength to let go.

I see the beauty in the idea,
to rest in the arms of the One who loves me.
Still it is so difficult to see how to live it out.

I know I have had this rest before,
and I will have it again.
I will not be parched in the dry land forever.

I have hope in my God,
He will renew my spirit.
I will be taken from this desert.

Well, I had 19 posts (plus comments) to catch up on on an encouraging, challenging site, but I made it! Easy to do when it's good reading. I need to make it one of my priority blogs to read due to the consistancy of the posts and the content therein. Anyways, I should be off again! Have a good day all!

Here's a shout out to Scott's Community Group: Good luck on your 2-week challenge guys! Everyone else...please note the new links on the side (if you can find them in the long list!!!).

I am disgusted by the junk email that is going around these days! I feel like I want to throw-up every time I read the subject lines! Why are we so permeated with images and words of sex/lust? Why has something (sex) that was created to be good become so twisted and perverse? There doesn't seem to be anywhere to get away from it! TV, movies, music, internet, conversations, jokes, pictures, magazines, school, work places...I am revolted by the words and images that seem to penetrate into every area of life.
I don't know how God can be who He is. He hates sin, but He loves us. It seems like we are living in the world before the Flood, or in places like Sodom and Gomorrah or the church in Corinth. I do not have the mercy God has. If I were God I would not have made that covenant with Noah and I would probably wipe out the earth (with the exception of the few who are faithful). So it is good that I am not God and that God is who He is. He is loving, merciful, compassionate, graceful, etc. But while He is these things, He is also our judge. Psalms 73 and 37 give me hope in this aspect of life...as do other passages of Scripture.
How can I think the "turn or burn" message while I still have sin in my life? I know that I am covered by the blood of Christ and that there is no longer condemnation for me, but I need to realize that "love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Pet. 4:8) and that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16) and, therefore, God covers over a multitude of sins. And this He did by sending His Son to die on the cross, even though He was without sin. I don't know if I will ever truly understand the depth of love involved in this...I doubt it. But I do know that His love has captivated me and that I will be forever thankful.

I went to Edmonton for the weekend. I almost decided not to go because I was so tired on Friday, but I really wanted to see my girls. Unfortunately people are so busy that I hardly got to see any of them, so I left Edmonton missing them about as much as before I got there.

It was quite the weekend though. On Saturday we went to West Ed Mall. I went off on my own for the day, watching a movie, doing some shopping...and lots of thinking and praying. Saturday was 2 years since Nikki and Katie were killed in a car accident. While I do miss them both, I didn't know either of them as well as many others, so I asked God to say hi to them for me then spent some time praying for the families and friends of these 2 beautiful girls who are loved more than words can say.

The thinking and praying continued on into Sunday when at church (God's Spirit is really moving at the North Edmonton Christian Fellowship by the way) we were challeneged to open our ears to hear, our eyes to see, and our mouths to speak...and to take back what the enemy has stolen or is trying to steal from us. This is 2 Sundays in a row now (last week was at Deeper Life Services) when I have been reminded/told that something important is missing in my life, but I can't seem to figure out what that something is exactly. I think I know what it affects, but I don't feel like getting into it here. I tried to think back through my life to see when things have been different and I got back to times that I don't remember...like when my dad died when I was 3 or when I first accepted Christ when I was 4. So I'm thinking one or both of those is when something changed in my life, though I'm not sure because I don't know what I was like before that. I just know that something has been stolen from me and I can't seem to get it back, whatever it may be. I will keep asking God to show me and see where we (God and I) end up.

My roommate said she approves of my cooking and that I can get married!!! YAY! So exciting...'cause ya know...I need my roomie's approval in everything;)

WHAT'S YOUR RESPONSE?

I was talking to someone on msn today and they asked: is it ever right to lie......?

My answer was: well, I wouldn't say it's "right" to lie, but it can help us to avoid uncomforatble circumstances...I should say more to this, but I'm not exactly sure what to say right now.

I told her I'd post the question on my blog and see what comes up. So what's your response?

Well, I had decided that I would not post again until I had changed my page because I couldn't stand the look of it! So here I am, at 4am, finally posting. I have been fiddling with a lot of html stuff...having only a vague clue as to what was going on. There was a lot of copy-and-paste action...and MANY MANY previews!!! I doubt I will keep it like this for very long, now that I know a bit mroe about what I'm doing, but I like it a lot more than the last one that got messed up!

I supposed I should go home to bed...I have to be up in about 3 hours :P

Before I go, I would just like to say how wonderful it is to have the rest of the interns back!!! And to have the new students here:)

Favorite things today:

-Working on my page
-Talking with people I never talk with
-Exploring the computer program I have to work with for my internship
-Floor Hockey All-Star Game
-Reading my Bible
-Finding out Abi's in my Community Group
-Being answered "Yes" when I asked if we could watch the World Juniors at our 4th Year party tomorrow (Thursday)
-Feeling at peace before I go home to bed:)