Revealing Grace

I just discovered this video/song on a study break. It has such a beautiful message and I wish I could declare this to every person out there who feels inadequate, ashamed, or unworthy. God's love for us is HUGE and 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Let us rejoice in that today. We are made new by the love of our Savior. Enjoy the video. :) Tenth Avenue North: You Are More

"Funny thing about joy,  is that you only really find it  when you are too busy having fun  to go looking for it."

A great way to spend a Friday evening: We scared a few, hugged a few, and had some fun. Good times at Fuller. :)

So the Grilled Cheese Truck left before we got out of class (sad, I know). We will stalk it down another time I am sure. Class turned out to be really great. My professor, Dr. Van Engen, has this way of telling Bible stories that is as if I am hearing them with new ears. He tells them so passionately and portrays God in such a real way. I am always entranced when he tells these stories. (The class is Biblical Theology of Missions). Last week it was the story of creation and I found my heart truly breaking when he came to the part where Adam and Eve sinned and hid. He portrayed God as truly longing for that friendship with Adam and Eve and being so so distraught when they disappointed Him. I felt so sad that we disappointed God, who loves us so much, enough to create us, and I felt the emotion of the story. I saw the story with new eyes and I heard it with new ears. Tonight we heard the story of Sarah, Hagar, and Abraham, but the story that really struck my heart was that of Elija...

Tonight after my super long class I am heading here: That is right friends, the famous Grilled Cheese truck is going to be a few blocks from campus and I'm going to get a midnight snack (or 10pm snack, but midnight sounds better). I can't wait to try a mac and cheese with pulled pork sandwich. Now if I can only sit through three and a half hours of class without drooling...

This past weekend was tough (even though I had a lot of fun and rest). I really missed home...and Blackbird coffee. I was feeling kind of sad, kind of down. And here is what is weird....today I feel SO happy. Like, really happy. I walked outside this morning and the ground was wet and it smelled like RAIN. Rain! I had to wear a jacket because it was actually chilly, and I had to keep myself from skipping all the way to class. I read a book for FUN, I laughed with my new FRIENDS and I had coffee TWICE. Ok, with that last comment you might think the reason for this enthusiasm is the coffee in my veins, but that is not it! God is just SO faithful. When I get sad it is like He says, "Hey Meredith! Look! Look at all these fun people around you! Look at the rain I brought for you! Hey Meredith, remember when I told you I loved you? And that I would always take care of you? Guess what...I meant it! I really do love you!" Isn't it nice to realize that every little good thing ...

It is 7:41am and I am at work. Yuck. Not yuck to the job, I love my sweet baby, but yuck to being up before the sun rises. I think that should be against the law. I have a confession to make. This past weekend I did not do any schoolwork. I had  a lot of schoolwork to do, but I didn't do it. You know what I did do this weekend? Rested.  I think that we forget the importance of rest, or the Sabbath. Our lives get busy with work, friends, responsibilities, and we think obviously there is no time to rest! Here is the truth:  you do have time to rest.  Now don't start whining that I don't know your life and how busy you are, I do. Things will get done, tasks will be accomplished but if even God rested, then so must we.  I am convinced that rest is essential to mental health. So this weekend I ate frozen yogurt and danced with my friends down the sidewalks of Pasadena. I went on an adventure to Whole Foods and ate a whole lot of samples and then went to a coffee sh...

It has been a good week here in Pasadena. Last night I got to experience a little bit of what heaven will be like. I attended an event at Fuller called Kimbap. Kimbap is a traditional Korean dish, much like sushi. Kimbap the event is an effort to build relationships between the many Korean women and American women here at Fuller. (Fuller has multiple degrees available in Korean.) As the multiple cultures came together we were at first separated by language and nerves. We congregated with who we were comfortable. But then we sang some simple, yet powerful, worship songs together. We sang them through in English and then us Americans struggled along in our newly learned (and primative) Korean to sing in the native language of our new friends. We finished singing the verses each in our native languages. A chorus of English and Korean rose up together to reach the heavens. We were worshipping as one family, crossing barriers of culture and language, singing the same words to our God. It wa...

I hear the Fall is coming to the Southeast, so this post is in honor of Autumn and all the things I love about it. #1 The colorful leaves. #2 The emergence of adorable jackets and sweaters (which I can't afford) And most of all, #3 BOOTS.  But alas, I live in Southern California, so my Fall looks like this: This isn't so bad. :)

My Dearest Georgia, Five years ago I would have never believed that I would say what I am about to say, but, I miss you. You have really nice nature as well as nice weather. I like your Fall colors, and even the amount of camouflage people wear. I like the Southern drawl and the deer, and I like the people that shoot the deer. People might think it is strange to shoot squirrels in your backyard, but we know it is for the greater peace. You also have Christ's Church. I like their wonderful community, and the preacher isn't half bad. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with you. Maybe it will snow? Ok, probably not, but just being home will be nice. Do you hear that Georgia? I called you home. Now that is something to celebrate. Your friend, Meredith 

Saturday nights are the best, especially when you get to relive your childhood. For example, last night and tonight I got to babysit for two awesome kids, age 5 and 7. Talk about fun. We had a dance party, colored pictures, built a cave, a read some books. Does that not sound ideal?? Best of all, they LOVED my terrible accents. I got to read each page of a ballerina book in a different accent and they thought I was super funny. It was a dream come true. I'm telling you, a Saturday night cannot get better then this.

A snapshot from my journey to California. One of the few amazing views of the drive. 

Today I felt like a real California nanny. I was rocking it. I was trolling the suburbs with a dog, a baby on my front in one of those baby front carrier things, and in the other hand, a bag of poop. Man! I am living the life! But this post is not about me, oh no, it is not. . .ok, well it still kind of is. . . but really this post is about all you moms out there. That's right, all you moms, and all you dads too for that matter, I want to thank you. You have officially gained my respect and awe. It is hard to raise a tiny little thing that can't hold its head up into a person who can change the world! I realized in the 10 hours I was responsible for this sweet baby that the years you put into a child are loooooong. And they are hard on your back, and your knees, and your ability to swoosh and bounce and make funny noises. So I just want to say thank you. From my generation to yours. Thanks for holding us even when your arms hurt and for loving us even when we were fussy. Thank...

I recently read a few chapters in The Bible and Mission written by Helen Barrett Montgomery. She is an incredible woman that you should look up if you haven't heard of her. I wanted to share with you some of her beautiful imagery regarding God's Word and the church's mission: "The Bible is great literature. Big books make their way. They fly over seas, they tunnel the mountains, they bridge the centuries. By the common consent of man the Bible is supreme as literature. In its poetry of grandeur and of tenderness, in its sublimity and terror, in its tragedy and doom, in its lofty teachings and profound philosophy, in its story of the matchless life and words and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, the Bible has a unique claim to be the Book of books, the Book of man." (pg 12) "The gospel will not fail . The gospel will not fail. The Lord Jesus shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. The kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord a...

I have good news: I think I found a church home!! This has been a real struggle for me since I have been here. I have been involved in amazing community and teaching at both my church at school and at home over the past four years. Lacking that for the past month has made me realize how much it really meant to me to be greeted with such love every time I walked through those church doors. I always knew that I had plenty of sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who wanted to hug me and sincerely know how I was doing. It was quite the blessing and it makes the thought of homecoming so much sweeter. So while I did not get hugged and greeted like a long lost friend (what can I expect, we don't automatically know all  of our family in Christ), I found at Lake Avenue a representation of God's community that might just let me stay awhile. It is a short walk from my apartment, it is intergenerational (which I love), and the teaching is biblical. I hope that I may come ...

God is really good, you know? We live in this crazy world with all these crazy variables, yet God stays constant. I picture myself running around in life, picking up different ideas or dreams, going down one path then turning around and changing my mind, all the time with different salesmen yelling things out to me as I try to make decisions. But the whole time there is God above it all. I picture Him with a quiet smile on His face. He is not exasperated, although His smile may sometimes be sad. He isn't yelling at me or picking me up by the neck of my shirt and moving me to another place on the game board. He sits there with that knowing smile. And when I remember to look up and ask for help, He gives me that knowing nod, that quiet encouragement or that look of "you know better than that.  I  have taught you better than that." And I realize He is right. He never leaves me as I run through life, even when I get distracted, and every time I look to Him I get that soft smi...

Tomorrow I start my second week of classes (and my new job!). I can't seem to find the adjective to describe how my time in Pasadena has been so far. On one hand, it has been really great. Here is why: -God has blessed me with amazing community and friendship in less than a month. There have been dinners at my place, movie nights, excursions into the city and study dates (not real dates mind you, I wish). As an extrovert these things have been amazing gifts from the Lord. It is nice to walk campus and see people you know by name, and to be able to walk across the hall to see if anyone wants to join for a Target run. -I love my classes. My favorite is my New Testament class. I had no idea how the NT canon was formed and I am loving learning about the Book I profess as the Word of God. In a different class (this one is three and a half hours long and ends at 10pm!!) we start off with 15 minutes of prayer....and singing! haha, it was really funny to see our older professor, who is...