NIPTO, Day 210

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
Today was fantastic.

We did music at church today and I sang! Just sang. No bass. It was really fun!
Annnd we just kinda hung out after church for a while, and then we came home, ate lunch...  not sure what we did after that... then we went on a walk and then I hijacked Kayt and we sat on the porch and talked and she texted her boyfriend... then I came home and we went to Kent and Mom and I babysat for Brooklynn (2ish), Carter(4ish), Madalyn(9monthsish), and Mason(6months). Suuuch cute kids. All really good kids too :)
Thennnnn all the parents came and picked up the kids and I got to hold baby Micah! He's two and a half weeks old and is simply adorable!
Then we trekked home and ate eggs and bacon (we were hungry!) annnd CAKE! Yum. Yeah.
Annnnd. Caught up with Katie a little bit. She's home for Labor Day. But not the weekend. Just Labor Day :)

Tomorrow a few of the Karen girls are coming over... and I think we're going to do some homework help. It's going to be pretty chill.
No school tomorrow. I'm actually kind of bummed. I have all my homework done and it's not even due until next Monday! Oh well. :) I get to go to BoW on Wednesday again :)
I like my schedule this year. And I'm really excited for dance to start! It's going to be a good school year.

NIPTO. Or a video. Video!
The Call. Regina Spektor. Fantastic! Love this song. My cousin did a cover of it that I'm going to listen to when I'm done listening to the original. :)


Okay. Now NIPTO.
Acts 23:1-11

 ¹Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." ²At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. ³Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"
Paul was being questioned by the Sanhedrin and Paul just told them that he felt like he had done what he needed to do and had a clear conscience. (I can always spell conscience because it's a con-science ;))
The high priest guy ordered the people around Paul to smack him. And then Paul told them that God would smite them. I mean... uh... strike them for judging without following the laws they were judging in the first place. 
They were breaking the law by commanding the people to hit Paul. Wow. Reprimand to the X-Treme. 


 ⁴Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God's high priest?"
 ⁵Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'"
The people around him were amazed that he would talk to the high priest like that, but the fact of the matter was that Paul didn't know that that was the high priest. I think they really should've kept Paul better informed!


 ⁶Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead." ⁷When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.)
Paul knew that some people in the Sanhedrin were Sadducees and some were Pharisees. And Paul himself was a Pharisee, his father was a Pharisee. He was on trial because he had a belief. This weekend while Hannah's been home, she'll randomly ask me "What do you believe?" And I'll respond with something like "God" or "that smiles have more power than we could ever imagine." 
People get in an uproar when you believe in definites. No matter what they are, really. If it's definite, it can cause commotion.
And when Paul said that he believed something, everyone got into arguments. The Pharisees and Sadducees believed different things about resurrection and other subjects. So everyone was divided.


 ⁹There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" ¹⁰The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
There was a huge commotion and some people were for Paul and others were against him. 
Things got so crazy and so violent that they had to take Paul away.


 ¹¹The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."
And then God told Paul that he needed to do the same thing in Rome that he had just done.
I'd be freaked out, but God said "Take courage!" That's one reason to not be freaked out. When God gives you a command like that, it's important to follow it. Believe that God will do what is best and will protect you. 




The end.

Now I'm listening to another Regina Spektor song. I like it too. So I'll post it too. :D


Adios! Hope you had a good Sunday! Enjoy your day tomorrow :)

NIPTO, Day 209

Hey-o!
Last night was super fantastic and fun!
The football game was great even if we lost... :( (Unless you're hearing the story from Brandon in which case, "we" won. He was rooting for the other team. Uh... "hooray! I'm for the other team," much?) Yeah.
It was fun though... met a couple new people and went to a semi-lame dance afterwards. It was like... a dance, but everyone was wearing game gear. And... it was small. And it was really hot. And we didn't really know anyone. So we did the Cupid Shuffle and then left. =P
And Kayt and I stood in her kitchen for 20 minutes talking because it's impossible for us to say goodbye in less than 20 minutes! I need to talk to that girl tomorrow... =P

Today was a pretty low key day.

Got up... hung around... went to Target... got socks and foundation... and Coke Icees...
Came home, ate lunch, washed the car, went to Dots, Payless, Hibbit Sports (to get shoelaces for my pink hightops! (They're blue!)), Famous Footwear, then came home and I finished reading The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. Great book!
Annnd then we ate dinner, went on a walk, and then Kasey&Bethany came over! And we've been talking for... hours. It's great to catch up with them :)

NIPTO!
Acts 22:22-30
 ²²The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!"
 ²³As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and questioned in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?"
Soooo... Paul had just told everyone his life story, basically. And they wanted to kill him. So the commander took Paul back to where he was staying. Then he ordered for him to be flogged/whipped/ w/e to find out why people wanted to kill him. 
Then Paul nonchalantly (BOOYAH! Spelled that right the first time! haha) pulls out the "is it legal to flog a Roman citizen who hasn't been found guilty" card.  And he pulls it out GOOD. Or something.


 ²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you going to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman citizen."
 ²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"
      "Yes, I am," he answered.
 ²⁸Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big price for my citizenship."
      "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.
The centurian heard and went and reported his findings to the commander and asked him what he was going to do. The commander goes to Paul and asks him if he is indeed a Roman citizen. Paul answers that yes, he is a Roman citizen. The commander tells him that he bought his citizenship and Paul (again with the nonchalant-ness!) pulls the "I-was-born-here" card.
Uhm... Ouch.


 ²⁹Those who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
The people who were going to question him backed out swiftly after discovering that they were about to question an innocent Roman citizen. NOT COOL PEOPLE! 
The commander was even a little bit worried when he realized that he had an innocent Roman citizen in chains. Eek. I'd be freaked out too, man.

Before the Sanhedrin

 ³⁰The next day, since the commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.


So the next day the Commander wants to find out what's really going on, so he takes Paul before the Sanhedrin. 
And the story shall be semi-concluded (or completely concluded) tomorrow!


G'night! (We're doing music in the morning, so I thought I'd keep it brief! But, as I like to remind y'all, y'all are awesome! And no, I'm not from the South. I just have family down there that rubs off on me occasionally :) )
 

NIPTO, Day 208

Hey all!
First of all, this is the best thing I've heard in a long time. SOOOOO GOOD. Listen to it... you'll feel like a superhero!



Simply amazing. Epic... yet whimsical. How does he do it?

Today... I got up... ate breakfast... started school, ate lunch, did personal finance and physics, and now I'm done.
I have an hour before I go babysit, so I thought I'd blog :)

Hannah's coming home today... and I'm going to the Green vs Garfield football game tonight with Kayt... We'll most definitely see Brandon there... he used to go to/play football for Garfield.
It's a GHS vs GHS. Cute, huh?

I'm excited for the football game tonight! I'm going to wear my "I ♥ Band Geeks" shirt. It's one of my favorite shirts. (I made it myself.)

Hm... not much has happened... NIPTO, I guess?

Acts 21:37-22:21
³⁷As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, "May I say something to you?"
   "Do you speak Greek?" he replied. ³⁸"Aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?"  ³⁹Paul answered, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the people."
This is slightly hilarious. Paul asks the commander if he can ask him something before he goes into the barracks and the commander asks him if he speaks Greek. And then he asks him if he was the basically crazy Egyptian guy who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists into the dessert.
Paul's like, "uh.... for one thing, I'm Jewish, and second, I'm from Tarsus. Now can I talk to the people?" 


 ⁴⁰Having received the commander's permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. When they were all silent, he said to them in Aramaic:

Acts 22

 ¹"Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense." ²When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.

Paul gets the commander's permission and starts to speak to the crowd in Aramaic. They weren't expecting him, I'm guessing, to speak Aramaic. But he did. They got quiet and started to listen to him.


   Then Paul said: ³"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. ⁴I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

Paul starts telling his story. How he was trained in law and persecuted people a lot. The high priest and Council can testify to that. He spills about all the crazy stuff he did.


 ⁶"About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?'
 ⁸" 'Who are you, Lord?' I asked.
   " 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. ⁹My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
 ¹⁰"'What shall I do, Lord?' I asked.
      "'Get up,' the Lord said, 'and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.' ¹¹My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
Then he goes into his conversion. How he saw a bright light and heard God's voice. How the people around him couldn't understand the voice that was speaking to him.
Paul got up, blinded, and was led to Damascus.


 ¹²"A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I was able to see him.
 ¹⁴"Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'
(I just had a mini panic attack when I heard bus brakes. But it's the high school/middle school bus!)
A man, Ananias, came to see him. He healed his eyes so he could see again and then told him that he had been chosen to tell people about God.


 ¹⁷"When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸and saw the Lord speaking. 'Quick!' he said to me. 'Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'  ¹⁹" 'Lord,' I replied, 'these men know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. ²⁰And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.'  ²¹"Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "

Paul went back to Jerusalem and was praying when he fell into a trance. He saw the Lord speaking to him. God told him to leave Jerusalem because they weren't going to accept him here. 
Paul told God that the people that he knew knew that he went from synagogue to synagogue putting people in jail and beating them because they believed in God. And when Stephen was killed, Paul approved and guarded the clothing of the people who were killing Stephen.
God told him to go. The most dangerous (besides "follow me") command in the Bible. Go.
God sent him to the Gentiles. And  voila! There he was.


I've gotta go get ready to babysit! But I might post a few pictures from the game when I get home. Don't count on it though!

Hope you're having a FANtastic Friday! =D

NIPTO, Day 207

Whew.
Another long day... over.

Got up, went for a walk, took a shower, did school stuff, ate lunch/watched an old episode of Chuck, did more school, played the piano for a while, went to babysit, came home, read a book on my bed, ate dinner, went over to Angie's and held a baby, fed a baby, burped a baby, and put the baby to bed. It was Hailey, if you were wondering.

Now I'm sleepy... So. NIPTO.
Acts 21:27-36 (You must think I'm lazy... 10ish verses?!? Madness... or tiredness!)
²⁷When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, ²⁸shouting, "Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple area and defiled this holy place." ²⁹(They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple area.)


A'ight. So these guys were in the process of being purified. I'm guessing that's what the 7 days were for. But a few guys saw Paul at the temple and went out to stir up some trouble.  They were a-hootin' and a-hollerin' that Paul was the one that taught all men everywhere (shocker!) and that he was the one who defiled the temple by brining Greeks into it. They were just assuming that Paul had taken the one guy that they had seen with him into the temple. 

 ³⁰The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. ³¹While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³²He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Everyone got involved and they were coming at him from all directions. They grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple. They shut the gates of the temple. No riots inside, I guess.

While these crazy people were trying to kill Paul, news of the "uprising'" got to the commander of the Roman troops. So he took some officers and soldiers and went down to the crowd. When the crowd saw them, they stopped beating Paul.

 ³³The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. ³⁵When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. ³⁶The crowd that followed kept shouting, "Away with him!"

The commander asked Paul what he had done. Then he ordered him to be bound. And then he asked him who he was and what he had done that got everyone in an uproar.

Someone from the crowd started shouting, and then a bunch of people started shouting. The commander couldn't hear, so he ordered Paul to be taken to the barracks. By the time Paul got there, the mob was so big and so intent on getting to Paul that the soldiers had to carry Paul.

The crowd kept on shouting...

Tune in tomorrow for the...exciting conclusion? 

I'm so tired that I'm not even going to go copy my signature. BOOYAH! Take that tiredness!

You're fantastic. The end.

Abby

NIPTO, Day 206

BOOYAH!
Hi.
It's late. I'm gonna have to make this quick.
Today: Spanish class... AWESOME! Love it! Got to conjugate verbs. It was fantastico. Then a bunch of study hall... got some stuff done. Lunch. Yum. Helped my mom in her class/did physics. Yipee!
Cleaned up. Came home. Changed clothing into cooler clothing so as not to roast, then went to Kent to hear Tom Short preach. You can find his website here. It's awesome. Go check it out.
I ate dinner with Tom, Nick, Tim, James, Caleb, Hannah, and Michelle... and my parents, kind of.
And said hi to Katie who was sitting a ways away... went back to Hannah's dorm to drop stuff off for her, came home, changed back into warmer clothes, went to Kaytee's soccer game, cheered for her, came home, skyped with Anna, and now I'm blogging. Whew!
It was a long day. And Spanish seems like... forever ago! But it was great. The whole day.
And now I'm going to do NIPTO. And if I have time tomorrow, I'll blog more about today, kay?
Kay.

Acts 21:17-26 (I'm keeping it short tonight)
¹⁷When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly. ¹⁸The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.


They got to Jerusalem and had a warm welcome. The next day they went to see James! Fun! I like seeing people. Paul told them what had been going on and what was cracka-lackin. At length. In great detail.





 ²⁰When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. ²¹They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.

They heard what was going on and praised God. He was doing miraculous things in people's lives. They were talking to Paul and were telling him about how many people there were that were believing and that were passionate! But they were confused. Because for a long long long time people had been taught to follow the Law that Moses made. And they were all confuzzled. So what should they do? 

²²What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, ²³so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. ²⁴Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. ²⁵As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality."

SO. They knew that people would know that Paul was coming. There were 4 men who had taken a vow. They went through purification rites so that everyone would know that Paul was still following the law. 

They had written the Gentiles a letter telling them to abstain from all those thing. *yawn* (literally. Not literaturally. Bah. It's late. That was terrible.)

 ²⁶The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

So Paul purified the men and went to the temple to "report it," I guess, so that they would know the proper time for sacrifices to be made.




And that's it. This may have made sense. It might not've. But it's all okay.
I'm about to fall asleep on the couch, so good night.