Thoughts about Marriage

Ok, I know this is a strange subject for a 19 year old, unmarried, not even in a relationship, college student, but my chapel speaker talked about it today, and it was really good, so here are my thoughts on marriage.

First off, let me make it clear, that I am not ready to get married nor do I anticipate being ready in the next two years. I enjoy being single, and being accountable only to myself, my parents, and God.

The chapel speaker had three main points:

Use wisdom when choosing a partner. Don't be looking for your "destiny."

Emotions are fleeting, so if that is what a relationship is based on you will be sadly disappointed in marriage.

Above all, look for a godly individual, that has a lot of humility.


I hadn't really considered his first point of not looking for "destiny." He was talking about how we somehow have this idea that there is one "right person, your soul mate" and without that person you can't be truly happy. The speaker was saying that it isn't a matter of one right choice, but between many right and wrong choices. He also said that he thinks this is why some main people get divorced these days. The get married, and then when things don't work out perfectly, they think they must have married the wrong person so they get out the relationship without really working at it. I guess I must have fallen for the idea that there is one prince charming for me out there, because when the chapel speaker said that it made me really think.

The speaker's second point about emotions being a bad guide to marriage I had heard before and heartily agree with. This is one of the reasons I really want to be friends with my future spouse before getting involved romantically. I want to know that there is something beyond infatuation to keep the marriage going when we don't feel "in love" anymore.

I of course knew that I was looking for a godly man, but I hadn't really thought about the humility part before. The speaker's point was that all people are fallen and will make mistakes, and will need to be forgiven many many times through out a marriage. To make a good marriage work you need to be able to say you are sorry, and that you were wrong. That can all be summed up to humility.

By the way, the chapel speaker was Gary Thomas. I didn't know who he was, but I guess he has written a lot of books about marriage.


Cheers!

Your Literary Junkophile.

Here is my favorite marriage seen from a movie. Just for kicks.

funny videos

A friend posted these on her blog, and I thought they were really funny so I'm posting them here as well.



















Cheers!

Theological Ruminations

I was sitting in chapel today during the worship when something occurred to me. We were singing a song with the words "Glory, be to the Father, amen", and we had just finished a song that had a line that said "Lord have your way in us". This started me think about what exactly we were asking for with those words. These last few months have been hard from the standpoint that a lot of unexpected things happened outside of my control. I feel like I have finally started to come to an understanding with God about it. (By that I mean, I have finally gotten over the fact that God is God and I'm not). But maybe in some way I actually ask for those things to happen.

When we sing, at least for me, it is basically a prayer. So today we were praying for glory to be given to God and his will to be done in our lives. I was asking God to use me for his glory, whatever shape or form that may take, and that can be a scary concept. We ask for God to use us, and then act surprised when things happen, like fires, illness, or other trials. I'm not saying that God causes those things to happen. It may just be the combination of God allowing things and then using it for His glory and some spiritual warfare, since Satan really is fond of attacking those that God is using.

I suppose chapel just made me realize that God really does use people and events for His glory, and that can mean trials and hardship for us (think about Job), but in the end it brings us closer to God.

In church right now we are talking about the Lord's Prayer, that ever present example of how we should pray. I don't think it is a mistake that Jesus says to pray "Thy will be done". Sometimes that seems to be the hardest part of prayer. We have a tendency to ask for some many things. Things we "think" we need. But we are instructed to pray that God's will be done, not ours. Just saying those words and meaning them can be a huge struggle.

I'll end with this: God help me remember all things are used for your Glory, whether they seems to be a blessing or a trial. Help me to ask for your will to be done, and not mine. Amen

Cheers!

Your Literary Junkophile.

Amendment 1: I was feeling a theological mood today.

Amendment 2: I am now finished with my first round of exams! I believe all of them went well.

update

Well, the last few weeks have been nonstop excitement for me. It seems I finish one thing (test, exam, lab etc..) only to be presented with something else that desperately needs my attention and study. Classes have been going really well. I am taking a heavier class schedule than last semester and loving it. I was getting bored at times last semester, and when you are away from home for the first time in your life bored is not what you want to be.

My favorite classes right now are physics and o-chem, but biology is also very interesting. I am also taking Old Testament, but for various reasons that class isn't very interesting. I'm very excited to be doing a lab synthesis for chemistry lab, thought the time commitment is going to be staggering. As a project in lab my professor is having us synthesis a compound. To do this we have to do lots of research to find the best method, and then carefully (since our grade depends on our success) recreate it. I know it will be a lot of hard work, but basically creating something from scratch is going to be so cool!

This semester I am trying to get more involved with outside activities. I have started an ECD group. The group isn't official yet; I'm planning to make it a club next year. But we have a lot of fun on the weekends, and people here (so far just girls) are soaking it up. I am also getting more involved with the chemistry club. Next week we are going to a local elementary school for their science fair to show off some cool experiments.

I have also started playing on my church's worship team. I'm not playing every week, but it looks like I will be playing once or twice a month. I'm really excited to be doing that, and to be slowly getting to know everyone at church.

Answers to some recently asked questions:

No, I am not nor planning to date anyone any time soon.
Yes, I will be home for spring break in March.
No, I will not be home for Easter after all.
Yes, I have decided on a minor, physics.
Yes, the weather in CA is nice.
Yes, people here are afraid of the rain.
No, I do not own a umbrella (oh wait only people here have asked me that)
Yes, I am now on Facebook.

Cheers!

Your Literary Junkophile.

Amendment 1: To find the electric flux take the dot product of the area and the electric field.

Amendment 2: The compound I have to synthesize for o-chem lab is 4-methoxycarbonyl-2-methyl-1,3-oxazole, and if anyone can tell me the structure I will take you out to coffee, my treat, when I get home.