Bon Week-end (said in French accent)

The closing of this week officially means that there are only 4 weeks of class including finals. My poor mind can hardly conceive such a concept (and I am currently taking Cognitive Science! Someone help me!).

My mom texted me this morning and told me that my fundraising up till now has received a total of
$3280

I almost staggered.

It looks like I will actually be going to Chad next year. Praise God! With that amount I should be able to fly and pay for food and lodging while I'm there. If I can get a bit more for cushion and for extra expenses (like typhoid and yellow fever vaccines! Yikes!) then I really will be set to go. I am so grateful that not only has God provided a way, but my family and friends have come together and supported me in such a large way. It is almost more then I expected.

I am so thrilled to be a part of this big plan that God has built. It reminds me of a Louis Giglio sermon that I watched once where he described our lives being like one tile in the piece of a grand mosaic. It is hard to see how our part makes a difference, but really we are vital to the master piece.

Also, yesterday while I was running I listened to the sermon, "The Most Offensive Thing about Christianity" by Rankin Wilbourne (as recommended by Miss Cassie Wilson) and it was probably the most powerful running experience I have ever had. According to Wilbourne (and I am inclined to agree with him) the most offensive thing about Christianity is the fact that we have a humble God. At the last supper when Peter refuses to allow Jesus to wash his feet, he was not acting humbly--he was refusing the Gift of love and Grace that Jesus was offering Him. Jesus even tells him, "You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand later." What a powerful example.

He ends the sermon by telling a story from the book, "Letters to an Unborn Child" by David Ireland. Ireland had a degenerative disease that slowly shut down his body. He was paralyzed and had to have urine and fecal bags. If he and his wife wanted to do the most trivial thing, like go out to eat, she would have to bathe him, move him about, lift the wheelchair in and out, dress him, pay for the food, and prepare him for bed when they got home. After all of this work on her part, at the end of the day she would tell him, "Honey, thanks for taking me out to eat tonight."

This is how God wants to treat us. We are absolutely helpless (and we know it) and God wants to wipe the drool from out chins, bathe us, and put us into bed. But we don't let Him. We are too proud to let Him. It touched me so deeply, and I cried as I listened. I felt like God really was speaking to me.

Have a glorious (and relaxing) Easter weekend!