Weekly Journal # 1

God Time
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 NIV

What is a word?

This past week I've been studying in the gospel of John. John is so set apart in his gospel that it doesn't even collaborate with the other gospels. If we want to get technical, the first three, Matthew, Mark and Luke are considered the synoptics because they all collaborate together while John does not. Today in lectures, our speaker made a point that John was a Jew and knew that to start his gospel with "In the beginning" was a statement into itself that testifies to Jesus.

This past week, while studying John, I came to the revelation of Jesus being the Word. It didn't matter how many chapters of John I had read or what subject I was contemplating, John 1:1 kept returning to my mind. So I looked into what a word is and started to dive into the meaning of what it is.

John Locke once wrote that the use of words "is to be sensible marks of ideas." If we truly look into what a word is, it's used as an outward expression to communicate an inner desire. So for John to refer as Jesus as the Word, he is referring to Jesus as God's physical expression to communicate his inner desire.

Filling the Gap
"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." ~Mother Teresa~

This past week I feel like I've been having more and more compassion for just random strangers on the bus or the train. When Jacob and I went down to Loganlea via train to watch Jeff play football, we struck up a conversation with two guys on the bus that looked like they were completely caught up in the "gimme" mentality. One of the guys told us the sweater he just bought in the city cost $220 and was proud of it. God has been opening my eyes to people like this.

Everyone has a story to tell but most of them don't have a happy ending and to be honest, some aren't even interesting. But I've been finding myself praying for more and more random strangers that I haven't even met or even said hello to. Like Mother Teresa said, a simple smile goes a long way. But I'd like to add that a simple prayer with that smile goes even farther.

Listening to God
"Sometimes we have to stop talking so that we can listen." ~Me~

One thing that  I've been doing a lot of these past two weeks is taking a quiet time with God. It's something I've never really done but it's something that is revitalizing my relationship with God daily. I have moments when I will just sit in silence and wait for him to speak. One of the staff, Jeff, made a great suggestion last week during bible study. He suggested that during a quiet time with God, use your imagination to bring you to a place where you can have a face to face conversation with Jesus. Whether you have a conversation with Him over coffee in a local coffee shop with small talk happening in the background or in the Swiss Alps surrounded by pure white snow, Jesus will meet with you there.

During my conversations, he's been constantly telling me he is proud of me. He understands what I left to get here in Australia but this is where he wants me to be. I don't want to have to wait a month into my DTS to acknowledge this. I know without doubt that God has placed me here, at this specific time, with these specific people to cultivate a culture of holiness in a dark and desolate time.

Life Application
"The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace." ~Psalm 29:11~

When we had Simon Smith teaching last week about the character and nature of God, he gave us many names for God. The one that has been sticking with me is Jehovah Shalom. I'm excited to spend more and more time in quiet time with God. I know that a culture of peace is something that this world needs. Jesus has more than enough and he just needs us to demonstrate and spread His peace. I'm ready for God to purify me and use me as a tool to spread this peace he has given me.