Friday, May 7, 2010

NIPTO, Day 89

Good morning.
I'm tired this morning.
And a little sore.
Mulching will do that to you.
The awesome thing is that we have more to do! Isn't that great?

Could you hear the sarcasm dripping from that last sentence. Yeah. Me Neither.

We just read Animal Farm by George Orwell for school. I didn't like it. It creeped me out. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's a book that's basically about communist (Stalinist) Russia. And it just creeped me out. I mean, there are animals talking and talking to humans. And then there's the manipulation. I do not like manipulation. And so that bothered me. And I know this all actually happened, but when it happens to animals, I don't know. I just didn't like it. Just so you know =P

Day 5 of 100 Days Of Holiness. Let's just say it was nice to have Jesus mulching next to me yesterday... and he'll be next to me today! (I do not care if my blue cloth gets filthy, I am wearing it to mulch! I need Jesus with me!)

Now NIPTO. I really like NIPTO. I'm pretty sure that I've said that before. It's challenging. But I'm learning a lot. About God and about myself. I like getting together with someone who knows more than me and talking about what we've read. It's encouraging.
They're starting another round of NIPTO in June for anyone who wants to start for the first time or start over. I think I get to be a mentor kind of. Which is exciting. I really hope a lot of people start NIPTO and keep going with NIPTO.
I can already tell that this year is going to change my life. And I want this for others. Maybe more on this later. We'll see. (See the *** near the bottom of the Romans stuff)

Romans 8:18-27
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Wow. Not even worth comparing. That's how awesome the glory stuff will be. Whatever we're suffering now, not worth comparing it to the glory that will be revealed in us. It's going to be that amazing.


19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.

 The world is waiting for us. Sounds kinda fancy, doesn't it? It makes me think of the theater... they're waiting for you! haha
But really: it waits for us. It waits in eager expectation. It's excited about us. The world is excited about you and me. The sons (*cough*daughters) of God.


 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Hm. Creation is frustrated. Is that creation us? I'm pretty sure it's not. I'm pretty sure it's just everything else God made. But it's frustrated because of us. oops. But someday there will be a new earth. I think that's kind of what this is talking about. The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage... and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. It makes me think of Revelation 21. The New Jerusalem. That's what the chapter is headed in my Bible.
Hm. My writing/editing skills were just used while reading that. I noticed that there were commas from "not by its own choice" to "subjected it." When you take that part of the sentence out, "the creation was subjected to frustration, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated... etc."
Interesting. Any thoughts on that? (I'm hungry. Just thought you should know that. Maybe I'll eat and blog at the same time. Can you say "multitasker"?



 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Wow. I didn't know we were causing the world so much pain... 


23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Groaning inwardly? I'm groaning inwardly... aka my stomach's groaning because it wants food or something crazy like that. I mean. I fed it about 14 hours ago. Shouldn't it be good? noooooo. It wants more food. =P
Seriousness now... We're waiting [waiting...] waiting on the [world to change] adoption and redemption. Sorry for the random John Mayer. Heh. SERIOUSLY. I just can't get serious this morning! Must be the lack of food or something =P
We're waiting for our adoption. I've never been adopted (some would argue the point) but I can imagine the eagerness of a child who is told that a family wants them. They want to be with that family. We're waiting for our adoption to be complete. We should have the eagerness of a child who has never had a family, or maybe has had a family but lost them, to be taken into someones home and to be loved. I think that's a good picture of how we should be waiting for heaven.


24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently

I really like this. It's very true. (I just used 2 banned words (in my writing class last year we weren't allowed to use "really" or "very" in any papers that we wrote) OOOoo haha my writing teacher would have a fit. But not really. AH. there that word is again...) 
When we're hoping for something, if you see it, you're not going to hope for it anymore because you know it happened/you have it. We don't have this new life yet, so we're going to have to keep hoping. We're going to have to keep waiting. We're going to have to be patient. I don't like being patient... most of the time. There are certain things I can be patient about. :P 



 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

 God will help us. We don't have to do this on our own. When we don't know what to pray for, the spirit will help us. And that is pretty fantastic.
***(I think that something that I like about NIPTO is that you aren't doing it on your own. It's a community. Even if it's a very small community. I want this community of longing for God to grow. NIPTO is hard. But it's very rewarding. [for Katie: Sometimes LT is hard!] I like it. I hope more people do it. It would be awesome)


27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

We don't even have to tell God anything. He knows. But he still likes to hear it from us. 
He's kind of like a parent who knows you did something wrong, but would still like you to tell them yourself. Except God knows the good things too. I'm not sure if that's even a good example. I'm getting tired of my writing. haha. 90-something blog posts in... we're in for a ride people!!


It's time to eat something.
And to prepare myself mentally for mulching more... (fyi... my fingernails still smell like mulch. GROSS. hah)

This is one of the most win videos I have ever seen! Gotta love OSU!



It's gonna be a fun day folks. I'll let you know if I die... Actually. Someone else would have to let you know.
Hope you have a good day... mine's going to be... interesting. (I'm not really going to die. My day isn't really going to be that interesting. I'm just being dramatic! haha)

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