(old pictures from summer 2008. San Diego)

Plan to leave Darien, IL today and head to michigan school for the weekend. It's a gud two hour drive.. hmm I wonder whether I should put a new sermon or two on my mp3 player. Singing along my favorite songs get old after about 20 min. :)

Pastor and his wife have been so good to me here. Everytime I hand Auntie Lynn the month's rent at the beginning of each month, she always shows happiness and gratitude. She once told me that me coming to the house was really an answer to her prayer. Oh, how they were also an answer to my prayer.

I remember having a conversation with my older sister about 3 weeks before clinical started. Back when I still had no accommodations set up. I shared with her,

"Oh, my prayer is simple. I just pray to God for a nice family that'd have a room for me. And if it's not too much to ask, one that also have a piano in the living room."

I'm sure Yuli somewhat rolled her eyes a little bit there. Oh, Andrey.. I just pray you find something somewhere before clinicals start so you won't have to stay at a nearby motel (I told her of a motel nursing and medical students would stay in, near the hospital). That was proly her prayer too.

But God is faithful. He still listens to my cries. His grace is truly fresh every morning.. and I mean this in every possible way.. the same grace that would embrace this wretched, prone to falling individual, so he could still have hope to face tomorrow.

"But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto Him.

Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah."

Psalms 4:3,4

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:

now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three;

but the greatest of these is love."

I Corinthians 13:12,13

Mi Mancherai

Mi mancherai, se te ne vai

Mi mancherà, la tua serenità

Le tue parole, come canzoni al vento

E l'amore che ora porti via

I will miss you, when you go

I will miss your serenity

Your words, like songs in the wind

And Love, that you take away.

.......

Spoken in Due Season

"A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it! The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."

Proverbs 15:23,24

Betroth you to Me forever

Ahh not too many personal entries lately. I see favorite Bible verses that I've encountered as the week goes. I see random music videos on youtube. But not too many regurgitated feelings from within. lol. I guess it's a guy thing to not share too much personal stuff than necessary. It's hard enough to share in words when face-to-face with a friend, much putting thoughts into writing. :)

So back in Illinois to study for my med-tech boards exam and find work. To finally try to put an end to my patient parents' suffering of supporting me. "Lion cubs learn the art of stalking, crouching, and flanking maneuvers from their mother. Still the learning begins roughly around 2 years of age where they experience it for themselves" (lionking.org :).

"Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old."

Proverbs 23:22

"There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother... There is a generation-- oh how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up."

Proverbs 30:11,13

Starting my best again to get on the ball on my Bible reading early morning. Have not been exemplary this past summer. Reading from Hosea, the prophet who pleads for Israel before Assyrian captivity (from the History of Redemption; linking the 2 reading together).

"Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD." Hosea 1:2

"For she said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water... Yes she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.' " Hosea 2:5,7

Hosea chapter 2 ends with God saying...

"I will betroth you to Me forever, Yes I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy,

I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.

Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;

Then I will say to those who were not My people,

'You are My people!'

And they shall say, 'You are my God!' "

Hosea 2:19,20,23

Does Jesus Care?

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth and song;
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

Does Jesus care when my way is dark
With a nameless dread and fear
As the daylight fades into deep night shades,
Does He care enough to be near?

Does Jesus care when I've said goodbye
To the dearest on earth to me
And my sad heart aches till it nearly breaks
Is it aught to Him, does He see?

O Yes, He cares
I know He cares!
His heart is touched with my grief
When the days are weary, the long nighs dreary
I know my Savior cares

Like a Tree

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Psalms 1

..............

Did you know back in Israelites time, not any tree can be planted by rivers of water? Only those that are specially chosen for bearing fruit. Doesn't that say something about you and I? Oh how privileged we are to be connected to this Water of Life. We have been 'specially chosen'.. to bear fruit in due season.

To walk not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful are like progressions of our faith. Once we're committed to someone, we'll stop walking.. we stand, then we sit (funny analogy huh? i thought so too :).

My prayer this morning is for our faith to be evermore planted in him, deep into the grounds. Hidden from the surface, where only our private-self and the Holy Spirit can work on.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hebrews 12:1,2

Grace