NIPTO, Day 73

Wednesday 

Wednesdays are usually school, piano, and dance.

This Wednesday is just school and dance. Yesterday was Tuesday and we had SOS (Set on Success) and Teen Club at Urban Vision (SOS is an after school program and Teen Club is a bible study that we do with some of the teenagers from the area.) You can click on the link to go to Urban Vision's website and find out more about them. They're a fantastic ministry that helps a lot of kids in the North Hill community.

I feel like I have a busy day ahead of me, but I don't really. I don't have to leave at 4... I have a couple extra hours to get stuff done. So I don't know why I feel like I have a busy day ahead of me. Maybe God's remembering something that I'm forgetting and is preparing me for that... hm..

Romans 3:9-20

⁹What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? (than the people that say "Let us do evil so good may result) Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 

^{Basically, he's saying that there's no difference in sin. We're all sinners and fail when it comes to meeting God's standards.} 

¹⁰As it is written:
   "There is no one righteous, not even one;
    ¹¹there is no one who understands,
      no one who seeks God.
 ¹²All have turned away,
      they have together become worthless;
   there is no one who does good,
      not even one." (Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20)
 ¹³"Their throats are open graves;
      their tongues practice deceit." (Psalm 5:9) 

   "The poison of vipers is on their lips." (Psalm 140:3)
    ¹⁴"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 
 ¹⁵"Their feet are swift to shed blood; (Psalm 10:7)
    ¹⁶ruin and misery mark their ways,
 ¹⁷and the way of peace they do not know." (Isaiah 59:7,8)
    ¹⁸"There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Psalm 36:1)

These 8 verses are thoroughly depressing. And it's sad to say, but this describes the general population. (This is the depressing section of Romans 3. It goes "God's Faithfulness, No one is righteous, then Faith Through Righteousness... this just happens to be the "No one is righteous" section)

 ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.


<sup>This is a bit confusing. Sooo.... The whatever the law says, it says what it says to those under the law so that everyone will be held accountable. That's what I got out of that! If you see something completely different, leave a comment&let me know :) I love other people's opinions... most of the time!


20</sup>Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Love this. You can't be righteous by observing the law. One of the biggest things that the law does is this: it makes you conscious of your sins! That's huge.




I'm reading another book by Erwin McManus. I was reading The Barbarian Way a little while ago and did a post on the first chapter. I've been meaning to do a series of posts on all of the chapters, but I haven't gotten around to it. But I'm reading another McManus book. It's called Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment. I like it so far... I started reading it last fall but I never got around to finishing it. But I'm determined to finish it this time around.

While I've been reading it, the only thing I have to write stuff down on is my cellphone, so I dedicated a draft to quotes that I like. Here are a few from the first 2 chapters of the book:

"The most important moments rarely come at a convenient time." 
True, id'nit? Important moments seem to come when you can't focus on them...

"You cannot follow God in neutral"
I'm learning how to drive. You can't drive a car in neutral. You can't follow God in neutral. You have to be in drive or reverse... hopefully you're in drive when you follow God.... but, I mean, if God wants you to follow him in reverse, by all means, do it. But you have to be in gear to follow God. Idling isn't going to get you anywhere... and it wastes gas. OOOOO good analogy. =P

"When you are passionate about God you can trust your passions"
I thought this was a good point. If you're truly passionate about God, he'll direct your passions so they please him. I found this encouraging :)

YouTube video of the day! (Hah! My computer didn't recognize "youtube" but when I capitalized it so it was YouTube, it did... Oh silly spell checker)

Beautiful-Jeremy Riddle


Have a faaaantastic day!