NIPTO, Day 205

Heya blog readers!

Today was... uneventful.
I got up, did school(Geometry, 20th century world history, wordly wise, personal finance), procrastinated, read the intro to The Scarlet Letter (30 pages that could've easily been summarized in 3 paragraphs. Like SparkNotes did. *sigh*)
I took a nap while I was reading. But it was completely on purpose! I SWEAR. I had an alarm set and everything. :D

We ate dinner, I dried the dished while Mom washed... and now I'm blogging.

Dad just called the dog "gee-gock" (what we called hot dogs when we were little.) Oh Dad.

NIPTO? Yes. Then Chuck. Or a shower. Whichever.

Acts 21:1-16
¹After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. ²We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. ³After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. ⁴Finding the disciples there, we stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. ⁵But when our time was up, we left and continued on our way. All the disciples and their wives and children accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. ⁶After saying good-by to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.


Can you say... travel? It's a lot of "we went here then there" but there are a couple key things in here. They stopped in Tyre because the ship was unloading cargo. But they found disciples there. Brothers and sisters. They stayed with them for seven days and through the spirit they told Paul to not go to Jerusalem. But he apparently knew more than they did because he kept on going! This is something that made me stop and think. What if God's telling you one thing, an other people, by the spirit, are telling you something different? I guess I'd say listen to God because he knows what's best... but it just seems conflicting. 
Everyone came to the beach to say bye to them and they prayed before the left. When we're going on a long car trip (vacation, usually) we pray. Before we went to LT, we prayed. 
They prayed together and then got on the ships and set sail and then the people in Tyre went home. 


 ⁷We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for a day. ⁸Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. ⁹He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.
They kept on sailing and stayd in Ptolemais for  day and then went to Caesarea and stayed with Philip. He had 4 daughters who were prophets. And I thought that was really interesting, so I inserted a break here. Hah. 
I'm cool like that.


 ¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.' "
 ¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Then Paul answered, "Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." ¹⁴When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, "The Lord's will be done."
 ¹⁵After this, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples

They had been in Caesarea for a while when a prophet came all the way from Judea (I have no idea if it was far. Let's say it was. =P). He went to Paul, took his belt, and tied his own hands and feet with it and told Paul/the group that that was what was going to happen to Paul in Jerusalem. 
When everyone heard, they begged Paul to not go to Jerusalem. But Paul was like, "Guys. Why are you all so nervous and weepy? I'm ready to be tied up and even killed! Whatever happens is God's will." Paul was... hardcore. 
They went to Jerusalem and a few people went with them.


That do-be all for today!
I have Spanish class tomorrow morning... annnnd I'm hanging around at BoW all day. If I get bored and have access to Mom's computer, maybe I'll blog :)

NIPTO, Day 204

Day 1 of school complete. Just a lot more to go!

Got up this morning... got ready... went to BoW. Helped Mom get ready for her classes... went to Study Hall... erased most of the WW 12 book that Hannah half used... talked to Julia&Sean, moved into a different room because there was an art class in there... did personal finance and physics, ate lunch outside (it was actually HOT outside!), came in and talked to mom/ate fruit snacks, went to Literature, then ACT (that's going to be a good class!), and packed up and came home! Thennn I sorted my binders out and got everything sit-e-ated and then went up to get Nathan off the bus. The bus was late. So I talked to Wendy and Mrs. Lori both for a while, got Nate a snack and we watched TV for a while b/c he was exhausted, didn't have any homework, and had football. Then I came home, went upstairs to charge my phone (which has been dying mysteriously) and read The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks for a while... came downstairs and ate dinner, then went to the Fullers so we could finish our T-shirts for Kayt.
On the front, they say "I ♥ the keeper. She's a keeper!" and on the back mine says "Best Friend" and has a 1 on it because that's her number and my name, Abby. And a bunch of polka dots. I went to say bye to Katie at around... 8:15? I left around 8:40. We take forever to say "bye" to each other. It turns into having a convo about whatever. :D
Then I came home and attempted to read more of the Scarlet Letter... hard book to read.
And then I read some blogs and am now blogging/eating the perfect bed-time snack: Peanut butter and graham crackers. YUM.

So that's my day in review.

NIPTO!
Acts 20:13-38
¹³We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. ¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ¹⁵The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Kios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. ¹⁶Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.


Travel, travel, travel. That's about it. Honest. 


 ¹⁷From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. ¹⁸When they arrived, he said to them: "You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. ¹⁹I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. ²⁰You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. ²¹I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
Paul sent for the elders of the church in Ephesus. They got there and Paul starts talking to them about how he lived when he was in the province of Asia. He was tested by the plotting Jews, but he was still confident and didn't hesitate to preach anything that would be helpful to them. Paul didn't discriminate between the Jews&Greeks. Both needed to turn and repent and have faith in Jesus. 


 ²²"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

Paul was a called man. I saw a quote today... I'm not sure who said it, but it was something like "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called." And that's a great quote. God called Paul to go to Jerusalem. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he did know that prison and hard stuff was facing him wherever he went. And he accepted that!


²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

WOW. This might be a favorite verse... "my life [is] worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task that ... Jesus has given me."
Commitment. Determination. Those are two qualities that I see in Paul. He wasn't going to let anything stand in his way! 





²⁵"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.²⁶Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Paul knew that he wasn't going to see some of these people ever again. Because he wasn't going to see them again, he proclaimed his innocence. He wasn't guilty of any blood of any other man. He was innocent because he took every opportunity to proclaim God's whole will. 

²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 

²⁹I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ³⁰Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ³¹So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

He's saying to be observant! Watch yourself and your brothers and sisters. We are to "[b]e shepherds of the church of God." There are people who want to tear you down and rip you apart. They will be merciless. Even other Christians will "distort the truth" for their own benefit. 
Be careful! Watch out. Be on your guard! Paul watched and warned them day and night for threeee years. Be careful.


 ³²"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. ³⁵In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "

Paul blessed them and encouraged them. He basically cleared his name by saying that he had provided for himself and for his companions and by living out "it is more blessed to give than to receive." Unlike how we "like" to translate that verse (as a complete joke!): "It is more blessed to... receive." Hah. Yeah. Joke. 
We need to work hard too. I need to work hard in school. Meh. Don't necessarily like it, but there will be a long term pay-off. 


 ³⁶When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ³⁷They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. ³⁸What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
He prayed and then they all said goodbye. They were most saddened by the fact that he had said that they would never see him again. Then they took him to his ship. (Plane now-a-days, eh? haha)




Well. That do-be it. I'm going to go to bed now. Maybe read another 5 pages of The Scarlet Letter. The intro is hard to get through. But I'm making it by reading out loud to myself.

Meh. My eyes are blurring b/c of my contacts, which means it's time to take them out and sleep.
School again tomorrow. Wait, I have school again tomorrow? I thought that was just for fun! haha.

I'm really going to bed now. g'night!

NIPTO, Day 203

OH my goodness. Today has been crazy. And I feel grody right now. I'll get to that in a second though.

Today... I got up and we went to church. I was in the nursery with Mom for the first service. We had Toby and Isabella for most of the time and Christopher at the end for a bit.
Church was interesting today. He talked about David, Abigail, and Nabal. It was kind of about how to respond to a power struggle. How David&Nabal both didn't respond well, but Abigail did. It was interesting. You can find it (probably) at the church website. August 29th, 2010.

We stayed after church because people were going out into the neighborhood to meet people and see if there were any needs that the church could meet.
Then they came back and we ate lunch and then I drove to a friends house to pick up some piano books that she had had for a long time and then I drove home! It was kind of crazy, but I'm alive. And my parents are alive too!

Then I came home and got a few things together for school... and read for a long time.
Mom and I went to Wal-Mart to get a few things that she needed for classes (Whaaaaaat?) tomorrow... so we got that and came home... I think I read some more and then went to Encounter where we cleaned out the youth room. Kind of. More like, empty the entire contents of both closets into the room and sort through/throw out stuff. We had 2 big bags of trash and it's still not done. The entire middle of the room was FULL of... STUFF. It was crazy. But we got most of it cleaned out! 6-8:30ish. It was a lot of cleaning. And we ate pizza too. Yum.

So now I'm home. And I'm tired. And I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I have to get up and go to SCHOOL tomorrow! It's ridiculous.

So now I do NIPTO... so I can go get ready for bed. Ahhhh...

Acts 20:1-12
¹When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia.


So there was this riot in... wherever they were. Ephesus, I think. When all that ended, Paul called the disciples to him and encouraged them and they said "bye byeee" and headed out to Macedonia.




²He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, ³where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.⁴He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.⁵These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas. ⁶But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.


He kept traveling and talking to people and continued to encourage them. He eventually got to Greece where he stayed for a while. And right when he was about to leave, he found out about a plot against him, so he went back through Macedonia. Six men went ahead of him and waited for him (and Luke, apparently) at Troas. They sailed to Philippi first and then went to Troas for a week.

 ⁷On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. ⁸There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.


On... Sunday? Monday? a bunch of people got together to... bake bread. Or eat. Or something. Paul spoke and he was supposed to leave the next day so he just kept right on talking. (It reminds me of Tom Short. The guy will talk for as long as you let him. It's great! most of the time.) There were a lot of lamps where they were meeting? Oooooookay.




⁹Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. ¹⁰Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "He's alive!" ¹¹Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. ¹²The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.


DUDE. This is a crazy story. So this guy is sitting in the window and falls asleep while Paul's talking. It's late.... He was probably really tired. Or at least I'll say he was. (I wrote "we'll say" at first and I'm like, 'Who's we?? Me&the mouse in my pocket?" haha)
So the guy [Eutychus] falls asleep and falls out of the window. Onto the ground. From three stories up. Uhmmmmmm wow. He died. A fall like that would kill a person.
Thankfully, Paul was there and brought him back to life. Because Paul's cool like that. Then they went upstairs and ate together and talked until the sun came up. For realz. Then he left to keep traveling. 
The people who had been there took the guy home and were "greatly comforted." I'm guessing because he was still alive. Just a... wild... crazy guess!




Okay. I've probably posted this video before, but it's one of my favorite songs. It's fantastic! I love it. So listen to it!



And now I'm going to go to bed. *yawn* My arms hurt from shaking out this huge theater-grade curtain. It was heavy. And definitely a "real" arm work out. :)


Schooool starts tomorrow! I have to figure out what I'm wearing! Crazy stuff. School. Psh.


A'ight. Tchuss! ("bye" in German! I've picked that and Hey-o up from Katie. I hope she sees this. (She better now that she's at school. And might not be coming home next weekend. Dummy. (Have I been hanging around Brandon a lot? Yes.))) <-- Hah. Triple. I'm sweet like that.


G'night now! For real.

NIPTO, Day 202

Hey-o! (Definitely picked that one up from Katie! haha)

Today was crazy. I got up, went to the Back to School Bash, came home and did a couple random things, read a little bit of a book, got ready, ate dinner, went to my best friend's soccer game (they won 3-1), went back to said best friend's house and made t-shirts with her sister&friend. I'll put pictures up when they're completely done.
Oh and after we made t-shirts, we just hung around and talked.
That's my day in a nutshell.
Now I'm going to elaborate on the Back to School Bash. Because that was from 9-3. Soooo that's a huge chunk of my day.
Got there, tied string on balloons (there were 144 balloons total... quite a few popped though), went to the sanctuary for praying/devotional/final instructions, went to craft station to help prep stuff there before the kids got there, went into the sanctuary and danced like crazy, talked to kids, was a pretend prophet of Baal, went to experiments (cornstarch&water and Diet Coke&mentos), then went to the bounce houses, stayed there for a long time, ate lunch, talked to Kayt for a bit, talked to Paige for a bit, watched the kiddos play games, went in to craft, but didn't actually do much because I mostly took kids to the bathroom, then went to the closing ceremony thing, was crazy some more, was a pretend prophet of Baal again, and then was crazy even more. It was a good time. But it was very tiring. But definitely worth it!

A'ight. I'm going to do NIPTO because it's uhm... not today any more. It's tomorrow. Sooooo Yeah. NIPTO it is.

Acts 19:23-41
23About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. 25He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: "Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. 26And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. 27There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty."

So a silversmith was kind of causing trouble. He made shrines of other gods. But because of Paul, people weren't buying them! Soooo he was kinda angry about that.

28When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" 29Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions from Macedonia, and rushed as one man into the theater. 30Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.

The people heard this and got angry. Annnd those people got other people angry. And it all spread. Like wildfire. And the whole city was... "on fire," so to speak. They grabbed Paul's traveling partners and "rushed as one man" into this theater thing that was probably like a public forum type thing where people could talk&stuff. Paul wanted to go talk to them, but the disciples would not let him. It was too dangerous... so they thought.

32The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. 33The Jews pushed Alexander to the front, and some of the crowd shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. 34But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

Everyone was confused. People were yelling different things and other people didn't even know why they were there. How crazy is that?!?!
Then this guy gets pushed up to the front. And the crowd was shouting at him what he should do. He motioned for them to be quiet, and then they realized that he was Jewish. And they shouted him OUT. For a long time.

35The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: "Men of Ephesus, doesn't all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? 36Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and not do anything rash. 37You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. 38If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. 39If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. 40As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today's events. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it." 41After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

Crazy stuff, don't ya think?
The city clerk got involved and basically told them what was goin' on. He told them not to do anything crazy. Stay calm. He kind of reprimanded them for bringing the men there without any real reason. He told them that if there were a legitimate reason that they could take the guys to the courts to have it settled. But they needed to break everyone up because they were in the precarious position of possibly being charged with rioting because of what had happened. And because there weren't legitimate reasons for bringing them there, there's no reason that they should be there. And then he dismissed them. Simple as a flick of the wrist. Or something.

Whew. I'm TIRED. And definitely ready for sleep. (Thank goodness for spell check! haha)
Hope y'all had a goood Saturday! (Happy Birthday, Riley! He turns 2 today! Craziness.)

Well. g'night!

NIPTO, Day 201

Blah. Blah. Blah.
That's kind of how I feel right now.

I'm watching Chuck right now... It's almost over! Season 4 starts on September 20th. Gotta get caught up. But we're in the last minutes of the season finale.

Today... I slept in... wasn't ready for the day until 12. Ate brunch, I guess.
Played the piano for a bit... watched the second half of an episode of The Office that I had started during lunch...
I read for a while.
Then I got my hair cut!

Before

After!

I really love it!
So I was there for a long time... then I came home and did I don't know what.
We ate dinner, went on a walk, and are now watching Chuck! And it's almost over. I really really love this show...  =D ... Okay. It's over (and it's late. Like almost always.)

NIPTO, I guess.

Acts 19:13-22

¹³Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."
Seems... self explanatory? But the question is, did it work? Were they "authorized?"  


¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. ¹⁵(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Sooooo there were these 7 guys (brothers... sons of a Jewish chief priest) were going around driving out these evil spirits. The evil spirit started talking to them (through the person it was possessing? I'm guessing Yes.) He knew who Jesus and Paul were, and knew about their authority, but he didn't know anything about these guys. Then the guy who was possessed jumped them and beat them. Erm. Don't mess with things you're not in charge of?


 ¹⁷When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. ¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

After the attack happened, a lot of people knew about it. And the people in Ephesus were scared... and they held Jesus' name high! It deserves to be held in a place of honor.
A lot of the people who believed in Jesus came and confessed what they had done wrong, things that were evil (is this where "confession" started?)
Some of the people who had practiced sorcery came and burned their stuff... their very expensive stuff!
Because of all of these people's public acts, God's word spread around quickly and it was powerful. The word of God still is powerful. I don't think we tap into its power as much as we could. We go there when we're... tired. When we're in need of something. But what about going to the Bible for celebratory reasons? A few verses in Psalm were brought to my attention recently and I love love love them! Psalm 126:1-3 *See the bottom of the post!*





 ²¹After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. "After I have been there," he said, "I must visit Rome also." ²²He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
Paul kept on traveling! He went to Jerusalem, going through Macedonia and Achaia. And he decided that once he had gone to those 3 cities that he was going to go to Rome. But he sent a couple of "the guys" along to... somewhere while he stayed in the province of Asia a bit longer.




A'ight. I'm out. I'm tired. I have to get my rest! I'm helping with the K-1 group tomorrow at GVUMC's Back to School Bash! It should be a blasttt. I'm looking forward to it... but I'm not looking forward to getting up tomorrow. But I'm trusting God to help me. He's pretty awesome like that. And to help me to have a good attitude. yup.
Alllll right. It's night-night time for Abby.
G'night everyone! (Have I mentioned lately that y'all are awesome? I didn't think so. Y'all are awesome!)

¹ When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,

we were like men who dreamed.

² Our mouths were filled with laughter, 

   

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations, 

 "The LORD has done great things for them."

³ The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

(sorry the spacing is funky. I don't know how to change it. It's funky.)

NIPTO, Day 200

Two hundred days.
Wow. (I'd say this is "habit" by now! ... what do they say... 60 days to form a habit? I'm well over that.)

Today... I babysat from 7:30-3:30. It was a long day. But we had a good time. Spent about 2 hours at the stream/creek by the house... Watched a little bit of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It's a cute movie. I had to leave before it was over, though.
Ermm... then I came home and ate a little bit and chilled... and then we packed all of Hannah's stuff up and drove to Kent! She got checked in and we moved all of her stuff into her room (SURPRISE PACK YACK ATTACK!) annd re-arranged the furniture.... and basically got her settled in. Katie and I went up 2 floors to what's going to be her room to see one of her roommates. We chilled there for about 10 minutes (maybe longer?) and then went back down. Got everything sitcheated and then went to the Student Center to do a few things. Sat by the h2o table for a while while Hannah and Dad did some mandatory meeting or something. Then we went to see if the bookstore was open, but it closed at 8, and it was about 8:05.
So we went to get food before Hannah's floor meeting at 9... got food, went back to her dorm room to get stuff we had left there and said adios. It was weird leaving her there instead of Katie. But we'll leave Katie there on Saturday.

Mmmmm... Last night! I didn't blog last nice since I blogged in the morning... I had training for Green Valley's Back to School Bash that is happening on Saturday. It was a good time. Good reminders. And I got to help teach the song/dance we're doing. All very exciting!
I'm looking forward to it! I'll be helping with the Kindergarten and 1st graders... All very cute :)

Yup.... NIPTO? Yes.

Acts 19:1-12
¹While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples ²and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
      They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
 ³So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?"
      "John's baptism," they replied.

Okey-dokey. To get started. Apollos was in Corinth, so Paul went to Ephesus. He was talking to some of the disciples and asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit when they had believed. They said "nope... we've never even heard of the Holy Spirit!"
Then he asked them which baptism they had gotten... and they said "John's baptism."
Simple enough, right? Not really.


 ⁴Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." ⁵On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. ⁷There were about twelve men in all.

You see, John's baptism was purely repentant. He told the people not to believe in him, but in the one who was coming after him. Aka Jesus. When they heard that they were baptized in the name of the Lord and they received the Holy Spirit. Some crazy stuff going on here! 


 ⁸Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. ⁹But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. ¹⁰This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
Paul went to the synagogue, and regularly, for three months, he would argue and talk to people about God. And, as people are wont to do, they became obstinate and wouldn't believe and were publicly mean to Christians and were... pretty terrible. And because they were terrible, Paul left. Paul took some guys with him and they traveled for two years. And because of their travels, all the Jews and Greeks in the province of Asia heard the word of God. 


 ¹¹God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, ¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
God was able to do amazing things through Paul. For instance: pieces of cloth were touched by Peter were taken back to people who were sick, and they were healed! 
Simply... amazing.




I'm going to go to bed now. I get to sleep in tomorrow morning. And my head is tilted, so it looks like the words are climbing a mountain... and that's my cue to stop typing and go to bed!
G'night!

NIPTO, Day 199

Hey-o! I'm going to have to work quickly if I want to publish this NOW. Because I'm at Panera, and the internet is limited to a half hour between 10 and 1... So everyone can get a connection. So I'm going to do NIPTO and then say anything else I need to say if I have time :)

Acts 18:18-28
18Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken.

Paul stayed in Corinth for a while. And then he wen tot Syria with Priscilla&Aquila. The people he had met earlier... they were tent-makers like Paul.
But before he left, he got his hair cut. OFF. (I'm getting my hair cut off on Friday!) But he had his cut off because of an oath that he had taken. Oath, vow, same diff...


19They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. 21But as he left, he promised, "I will come back if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus. 22When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.

They went to Ephesus... and Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. I'm not sure if it was because they weren't allowed to go into the synagogue or for other reasons, but he left them. And went into the synagogue. And talked and reasoned with the Jews there. They asked him to spend more time with them, to stay a while, if you will. But he said no. When he left he promised that he would come back if it is God's will. And then he went to Caesarea and went to the church there and then went to Antioch.



23After spending some time in Antioch, Paul set out from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

He was in Antioch for a while and then kind of... "region hopped" or "church hopped" or something. And he went to the churches and encouraged and strengthened the disciples there.


24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

There was a guy in who came to Ephesus from Alexandra. He was smart and knew a lot about the Bible. He was passionate about God and taught people about Jesus accurately. But he only knew about John's baptism.
He started to talk in the synagogue one day and Priscilla and Aquila hear him and invited them to come to their house and he did and they explained things a little more accurately to him. Or more adequately. Whichever. =P


27When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

Apollos (the guy from the section above) wanted to go to a different city. The brothers&sisters encouraged him and wrote to the people there for him so they knew he was coming. When he got there, he helped them. He helped the people who, by grace, had believed. To the Jews there, he refuted them. He proved them wrong. He made sure they knew what was true according to the Scriptures. So yeah. He seems like a cool guy.
 
The end for that.
 
Today I am at Panera with my sisters (kind of) having God Time. And drinking a mocha! :)
Here's my picture... artsy. I know =P

Yum!

A'ight. I'm going to read my bible. And probably journal. On paper. And if I finish that I'll probably steal Walking with God from Katie... :)
Hope you have a good Wednesday!

NIPTO, Day 198

OH. My. (Starry eyed surprise).


Yeah. Sooooo. I am super duper tired right now. I babysat from 8-5 today.
He slept for the first hour. Then he watched TV for a while. And then we... went outside and played some basketball... and did a bunch of stuff.
The most memorable thing was making cookies today.
We came down to my house (he lives just up the street) to make chocolate chip cookies!
Soo.... we're making the cookies and we're putting everything in them... and I saw three "1 tsp"s in a row on the recipe. So I put in 1 tsp of baking soda, 1tsp of baking powder, and 1 tsp of salt. The last tsp was supposed to be vanilla. NOT baking powder. Heh. That was my first mistake.
So I go over the rest of the recipe (after putting in everything else that we needed... almost.) and called it good. So I put the cookies on the sheet and into the oven. Annnnd we wait for a little bit. Then I turn on the light in the oven and look at them and there is a HUGE pool of cookie... not dough on the cookie sheet. And I'm like... UHHHHHH. WHAT? And Meme asked "Did you put in the flour?" Me: Uhhhhh no. OOPS.
So we put in flour and they were fine. The baking powder didn't really affect them that much. They were just a little... fluffier than usual. :)

I'm guessing that I'll never forget to put FLOUR in my cookies again! But they were good cookies. So it didn't really matter!

That was basically my day. Babysitting. *yawn* I'm tired. Like I've said before.
I chilled on the computer and then ate dinner with the fam. They went on a walk &I took a shower.
Now we're listening to Dad read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The end of it. Hurrah! =P

It's fantastic. And there was no way I could blog through it! But I can put stuff in my planner! Football games, soccer games, babysitting, BoW, dance, Urban Vision, etc. There's a lot of stuff on my calendar! It's pretty crazy.

NIPTO!

Acts 18:1-17
¹After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. ²There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, ³and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. ⁴Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.


Again with the traveling! They basically travel everywhere in Asia Minor... or something. He met this guy named Aquila&his wife Priscilla. They were in Corinth because the current emperor made everyone leave Rome. So Paul went to see him, and since they were all three (both? I don't know what Priscilla did) tent-makers, he stayed with them and worked with them. And every sabbath he would go out to the synagogue and talk&reason with the Jews&Greeks there.





 ⁵When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. ⁶But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

Silas&Timothy came and joined him from Macedonia. When they came, Paul stopped his tent-making and was completely immersed in preaching to the Jews that Jesus was really Christ. But, of course, the Jews opposed Paul and were abusive. He kind of cleared himself of blame. Because they were horrible to him.


 ⁷Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. 8Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.

Paul left the synagogue where the people were being abusive and went to the house next door. To the house of Titus Justus. He believed in God. Hurrah! He talked, apparently, to the synagogue ruler (HEAD HONCHO!) and he&his household believed in God and a lot of the people who heard him speak in general were baptized. 

 ⁹One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. ¹⁰For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." ¹¹So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

Paul was sleeping and God gave him a vision/spoke to him. I think dreams are somewhere that we might underestimate God's presence. But he can be as much in a dream as in real, day-to-day, life!
God encouraged Paul to not be afraid and to persevere because GOD was going to protect him. His people in the city would protect Paul. So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half and taught the people the Bible!

12While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court. 13"This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."
  ¹⁴Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "If you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. ¹⁵But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law—settle the matter yourselves. I will not be a judge of such things." ¹⁶So he had them ejected from the court.¹⁷Then they all turned on Sosthenes the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio showed no concern whatever.
This guy, Gallio was part of the judicial panel in Achaia. And a bunch of the Jews attacked Paul and took him into court. Their charge against him was that he was "persuading the people to worship GOD (of all people!) in ways contrary to the law." Incredible!

So Paul's about to make his defense when Gallio tells them that since it's about their own personal religious rules, and isn't a complaint about a misdemeanor or crime that they should settle it themselves. He kind of copped out, but I don't blame him. It wasn't really his job to settle religious matters...
He's a smart guy. He had them removed from the courth. Then they all went to the synagogue ruler and beat him in front of the court. But Gallio wasn't really bothered by that.
Did the guy not have a conscience? Or something! Kind of crazy. I get him copping out of the case, but to ignore someone being beaten in front of the court? A little... ridiculous.




G'bye!

P.S. Do you like my new layout? It kinda sorta took forever to figure out. The stupid new blogger template designer makes it impossible to have a background from a third party... *sigh*
So you have to go with the other stuff that they give you.
P.P.S. The end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is FANTASTIC! I can't wait for these movies :)

NIPTO, Day 197

Hola readers! 

Today was a... busy day, but it didn't really seem busy. Because it wasn't really...

I babysat from 8-4:30. For an 8 year old boy. Who is very good. In summery: we watched tv for part of the time, played Wii for part of the time, played outside for part of the time (bike ride around the neighborhood included), and ate for part of the time. Oh, and party planned (his birthday party is on Saturday so I was helping him come up with games to play) for a bit. And played in the basement for a while.

Same hours tomorrow...

Then I came home and my WONDERFUL Mom&Sisters&Grandma had saved part of a frappuccino for me, so I drank that and relaxed. Then I watched an old(ish) episode of Chuck. And ate dinner. Annnd helped clean up. And Mom, Hannah and I went on a walk... and then watched more Chuck with Katie... got ice cream/Texas Sheet Cake/toaster strudel/cookies. 

And now Katie's watching Beauty and the Beast. And my left index finger hurts. Probably from wearing a too-small baseball mitt. Hm. Yeah.

Man. I'm tired. Which means I should get on with this. 

NIPTO!

Acts 17:16-34

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

So so... Paul's waiting for Silas&Timothy to join him in Athens. And while he's there he's observing. And what he finds in his observation is that people are worshiping idols. The city is full of them. So he goes to the synagogue with the Jews&Greeks and reasoned with them at the synagogue and in the marketplace daily too.

¹⁸A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." ²¹(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

So now there's a group of philosophers who started to talk&argue with him. They asked stupid (not in their minds) rhetorical questions. Or something like that. They just asked&answered those questions because they were... philosophers. As philosophers are want to do.

They took him "to a meeting of the Areopagus." Whatever that is. And they asked him about what he was talking about. Ya know, about Jesus. Everyone who went to those meetings did nothing but sit around and talk and listen to other people talk about the latest &newest ideas. A good chance for the gospel to be shared since it was... new!

 ²²Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

 ²⁴"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. ²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. ²⁶From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. ²⁷God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.²⁸'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Paul then stands up in the meeting and starts to address them. He talks to them about how he knows that they're religious. That they worship gods... but they don't know the gods that they worship. One alter even had "to an unknown god" written on it! 

So he goes on to tell them that since they worship "unknown god[s]," wouldn't it be great to worship a God who you knew? Who didn't even live on earth in temples built by hands?

A self sufficient God. One who, if he needed anything, could get it for himself. He gives us everything we need too! And God gave us everything that we need (almost) so that we would search him out, maybe reach out, and maybe find him. He's not that far away from us. Seeing as he's in the air we breathe. He gives us life. And we are his children.

Paul continues:

 ²⁹"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. ³⁰In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

So, since we're God's children, his offspring, we should not think that God's made out of gold or any other man made thing. Because in the past God has overlooked ignorance of his being, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 

God has a day set that he will judge every single person on earth. And he will judge with justice. And he's proved himself by raising Jesus from the dead.

BAM.

 ³²When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." ³³At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Paul was talking about Jesus being raised from the dead and some of the people just laughed at him, but some were genuinely interested and wanted to hear him talk again about it. When they told him that they wanted to hear him talk about it again, he left the Council. A few people followed him from that&believed. Awesome.

A'ight. I'm going to watch a little more Wicked music on YouTube and then go to sleep. Gotta be up early(ish) tomorrow morning to babysit again!

Should be another good day :)

See ya's (kind of!) tomorrow!