BICEPZ!!

GUYS SORRY. This post was supposed to be for my lifting blog. lolololol

Update!!!

So I haven't been around much lately, I've been really busy with school and volleyball and trying to get enough sleep to do well with both, and I know it's a ton of excuses, but I'm working on a better balance this semester.

Coming off WinterFest, I've had some mixed feelings about what I'd learned and InterVarsity as a whole. My track, Transformation, was basically about evangelism. Honestly, I didn't get a whole lot out of it, and I think I would've benefited more from attending another track, but one thing we did talk about was missed opportunities.

This really hit me hard, as I realized that I've been put in the perfect place to share my faith being in Chicago and involved with the Athletes here, and lately I haven't. I've always regretted in high school that I didn't tell my friends my beliefs unless I was asked, so when I came to college and got into the IV community, I was super excited to be able to talk about my walk with God. A few weeks ago I went to a Cru meeting to check it out, and one of the activities was creating these little prayer cards as a reminder for what we were going to pray for. We were asked to write down the name of 5 non-Christians that we wanted to open up with more, and tell about our faith. The goal was to have them be people around us, so mostly IIT student. I couldn't think of anyone, so I flipped through my contacts on my phone. Upon doing this I realized that I really didn't know anyone on campus that wasn't a Christian, and that made me feel really horrible. I wrote down 5 names after thinking for a while.

For those of you at winterfest, I shared with everyone that I was upset and blaming a lot of my confusion on one particular person, but then I realized that the separation of that friendship has really forced me out of my comfort zone. It turned out 4 of the 5 names I wrote down, were Christians and I was too self-involved to even know that about them. This has made me realize that we all have struggles and we can't pass judgement when we ourselves have problems and struggles to work though.

I think this ties a lot into what Rich was saying (of course, we're twins). But until now, I've never completely realized that while a Christian community is good, talking to just believers is never going to help spread the word of God.

TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH

Hey guys, Sorry about how it takes me so long to do stuff like this. Im extremely good at wasting my time, for those of you that haven't realized this already.

Anyways, I guess i'll fill you all in on my life as of this week. Im currently in this iPhone development class, which has been murdering all of my free time. Its a good class, and im learning quite a bit, but i end up spending a LOT of time on the labs. Actually, this is all boring. I'll skip the rest of the 'my week has been blah' crap, and get to some fun stuff.


WARNING: Incoming wall of text.

SO! My relationship with God has taken an interesting form this semester/year/4years. Over the past couple years since coming to school, and subsequently having to choose whether I believe the things i've been told to believe in, i've made a lot of discoveries. The things that intrigue me the most about God, and how we relate to him, is the idea that God made all of us differently, our walks are not all going to look the same, and the big (and potentially dangerous/scary one) is that there is some sort of cultural context to the bible. This latter subject gets me all giddy because of how controversial it is, because I can already see people taking anything I say after that sentence as 'blasphemy'.

Anyways, that being said, i've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out just what's important about having a relationship with God. What things do i need to focus on? Are all the do's and dont's in the bible to be taken literally, or is there a bigger picture/reasoning behind those things? Given, im not taking an extremely smart approach to trying to 'discover' the answers to these things. My basis for whether or not something im doing is 'right' is based upon the way I feel, and if i feel like it's growing me closer to God.

FOR EXAMPLE: I told everyone how I was basically partying with a bunch of hippies for new-years eve. Now, if I were to ask a Christian how they felt about attending a stereotypical college 'party', their answer would almost certainly be 'that's bad.' BUT, upon doing it, I realized a lot of things about my friends (oh, the loose-lipped effect of alcohol), but most importantly, it put me in a spot where they no longer saw me as 'the Christian kid we're friends with when we aren't drinking/partying/getting into trouble', and saw me as a person they could trust, and who wouldn't judge them. And it made me wonder what was more important? Maintaining this 'clean-cut' image I had had since high school, or going to my friends "where they were". The message I hope they got out of it was "Hey, i'm a Christian, and I believe these things, and God is going to love you regardless of what you've done, as long as you believe in Him and let him love you"


Now, all that being said, I want you guys to know that I am still VERY much in the midst of trying to figure things out. And I think it's completely cool and understandable if you don't agree with anything I said, or think i'm wrong in any way-shape-form. And I would LOVE to talk to anyone about this! And most importantly, i'm not condoning partying for the sake of partying, i'm condoning leaving the social 'box' that is normally given to modern Christian and leave it between yourself and God to decide what is right for you.

Hey Guys,


This is a temporary post. I'll be missing small group, so i'm gonna be posting here sometime within the next 2 days to update the small group on how I am. So if you dont see anything new in the next day, someone find/text/call me and REPRIMAND ME! I'm not kidding.

-Rich

A few thoughts

So, this seems a bit trivial after Steph's post, but I wanted to let you guys know a bit about how things are going for me. I ended out going to bed without doing any homework last night, because my body gave me a chance to fix my sleep schedule. I slept really well and woke up with my first alarm (that hasn't happened in several months). During my first class I suddenly started feeling really ill. I actually left class for 20 minutes because of how poorly I was doing. I called both of my parents and my grandmother (my primary prayer warrior). It worked. Over the next hour I felt better, and have felt pretty good since. I realized that it was almost certainly a spiritual attack.

Beyond that, I am behind in several classes, though most of my professors are being really understanding. I'll be spending the weekend doing homework, so if you need a quiet place to study feel free to come by. Hopefully I'll be close enough to caught up to go to the game night Sunday night.

My closing thought: as I mentioned at SG, my girls (and parents) will be here Feb. 12-14. More details in my most recent note on facebook. Hopefully you'll all be around and can meet them!

~Naomi

Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Well this is certainly not what I had in mind for my first blog post, but yesterday at Small Group, the discussion on opening up, and telling how we can help each other, and teach others to help us has made me see the importance of telling what's going on in my life.

Today I got some horrible news from back home. A really close friend of mine, Janielle, just passed away; it is believed that she killed herself. I'm gonna check out from IIT for a few days, go home, see my friends family and show them that I love them. She had a twin sister too. Her name is Rachelle and they were best friends.

I can still remember the day I met Janielle, of course she was with her sister, they were hardly ever apart, it was the first day of 7th grade, and we had just started at a new school. In my town, there are 7 public, and 3 private elementary schools, and everyone comes together for 7th grade. You can imagine how a 12 year old might feel being in those halls and classes with a thousand other strangers. I was in band with the only 2 other people I knew Taylor and Cameron, we weren't that good of friends, but I had gone to school with them for years, and Rachelle and Janielle sat in front of us; we were trying to decide if they were twins or not. Rachelle had this ridiculous looking fake curly hairpiece in, and Janielle had straight blonde hair, thick framed glasses, and baggier clothes. She was definitely a tom boy. I don't remember how I got voted to do it, but I was the one to ask if they were twins, I'm sure they probably thought I was dumb for asking, but it started a conversation, and led to a less awkward class.

After that class, I found out that I'd have science with Janielle. We walked there together, and ended up sitting together which would last the entire year. We became really close that year, through band and then we did track together. Going to track meets was a blast because they weren't allowed to eat junk food at home, so we'd get to the concession stand and they'd buy everything and give me candy and pizza, it was hilarious. Band trips with those two had so many memories. Freshman year, Janielle some how convinced her sister that this tube of super glue she had was really lip gloss, and when she put it on, her lips got stuck together. Our director spent and hour with those 2, while the rest of the band stood around waiting. We couldn't go home until they were unstuck. For the next few years of band, under the performance rules was listed "no super glue!"

Janielle always loved my pet rabbit. She would always run to see him in my backyard whenever it was their grandma's turn to drive us home. They got a bunny soon after that and named her Flopsy. Janielle loved that rabbit. They were so upset when their grandma got rid of it. I don't think they loved anything more than that bunny, except maybe each other.

I have so many other memories of her, like when I moved into my new house, they convinced me that they were such good painters, so the three of us painted my new bedroom. Janielle got so impatient with the paint drying that we peeled the tape off early. To this day, the orange is smeared into the white all around the room.

They always wanted to go running too, even though none of us were really good at it. One weekend in winter before track started, they convinced me and our friend Megan to run a couple miles with them. We only did 2 and then went back to their house looking at old yearbooks of her parents. All of our teachers were still in them, we laughed so hard.

I could probably write a novel telling the stories of all the good times I had with Janielle, but sometimes it's nice to keep those memories to myself, and even if I did write them all down, I'm sure I'd remember something else the second I hit publish. I'm thankful that God has blessed me with her presence so that I could enjoy the small amount of time I had with her. I feel even more blessed that Rachelle is still around for those memories to continue. It's hard to find God's meaning in this all since she took her own life, but I'm convinced that something good will come out of this, even if it isn't clear to any of us now.

I want all of you to know that if you ever feel like you're at the point where you can't take it anymore, that I will be there for you. For those that might not know, I lost another friend earlier this year; she got in a car accident the weekend of fall retreat and passed away due to brain injuries about a week later. So I've been there, and I know what it's life to suffer a loss. I also know what it's life to find hope and happiness afterwards. I would like you to keep Rachelle in your prayers, Janielle was basically the only real family she had left. Hopefully this weekend will be a good time for all of us to reconnect back home. I often take for granted all of the amazing friends I have been blessed with back home and even you guys here at school, those that can show me God's grace through every day things.

~Steph

Psalm 73:26
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Our Small Group Blog

Hey everybody this is our small group blog... Feel free to post anything that God has been showing you or something that you want to share or prayer requests.

1Co 14:26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

let us encourage one another pray with one another.