Loving the Law

Recently in my daily Bible readings, I have been moving through Psalm 119, maybe known to many as the longest book of the Bible.  The daily portion only goes 16 verses at a time, but nevertheless, there is much to be learned in each portion.

One of the recurring themes I have seen is the love, delight, and passion expressed by David for God's law and statutes.  His love is evident in many parts, such as in verse 16:  "I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word."  And again, in verse 24:  "Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors."  There is a strong connection between God's laws and David's passion/delight/love.

This may seem to run against our normal train of thought.  After all, isn't law just a big list of what we can't do?  Why would we love something like that?  Nobody likes to drive 65 miles per hour on an open, straight interstate highway.  Some people don't like certain dress codes.  Whatever it may be, we tend to buck against some laws.

Then there's another counterflow to our train of thought.  It seems to me sometimes that in worship, many people look to God and ask for him to touch their souls or speak through music.  There's certainly nothing wrong with asking for that type of spiritual connection.  Even Moses asked to see God, and God showed him his tail as he moved past.  But do we look with passion to the law, the statutes, the truth with the same effort, seeking for a connection that way?

So why does David look on the law of God with such passion and love (and subsequently makes an effort to learn it and keep it)?  Well, for one, there is a promise of blessing, as seen in the first three verses:

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!

This doesn't mean that life becomes easy and plush and problems dissipate like a Claritin tablet on your tongue, but things like eternal life and peace to the soul.  David also knows that clinging to God's statutes helps the follower to see life more clearly, as declared in one of the most well-known verses of the Psalm, verse 105:  "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." 

Think about this also: isn't it great to use something like a tool for what it was designed to do?  When something operates by design, things work out well.  God designed man to worship him as part of a glorious creation.  What better way to worship him than by doing so according to his commands?  Things like obedience, praise, prayer, and studying the Word all glorify Him.  It's also cool to think that those same statutes for living grant us a glimpse into His nature and help us to see how magnificent He is (and how lowly and depraved we are).

The ramifications of this reading (which isn't finished yet) has really challenged me to think about how I spend my time.  Do I sit and dwell on the instructions God has set forth?  Do I then put them into practice?  Do I love God's commands, or do I begrudgingly read them?  Do I truly cherish the fact that God spoke to mankind and provided a means of salvation instead of destroying us from day 1 post-fall?

My brothers and sisters, dwell on God's commands.  Learn to love them.

Sorry that this was so helter-skelter... just some thoughts to share.

Are Titles That Important?

So wow... it really has been a long time since I've chronicled my life via keyboard into a text-editor window.  The select few of you that actually check in from time to time may be wondering what has been happening, or maybe you were glad that you didn't feel obligated to read yet another boring blog.  Nevertheless, here's another one.

Koinonia Tour 2007

Since I never actually typed out what happened on tour, I'll try to give a recap as my memory best recalls.  We left Wednesday around 4:15 after piling our luggage and ourselves into the various Koin-o-mobiles (aka five members' personal vehicles: 3 midsize cars, 1 Jeep, and 1 minivan).  Our trip started by heading north to Townville, PA, a small town near Titusville (home to Drake's oil well).  We sang at a small Baptist church, the home church of one of our tenors (I should mention that each church we stopped at was the home church of one of the Koinonia members).  After eating a wonderful dinner including homemade pizza, we held a nice evening service that was warmly received and uplifting for the members there.  That night, I stayed with Baisch and Josh in a nice home.  They gave us homemade brownies and then took us out to breakfast at a town diner the next morning.

From Townville, we took a nice long trip over to Souderton, near Philadelphia.  As supposedly happens on every trip, something kind of went wrong.  We were stopped at a Wawa gas/service station at the interchange of I-80 and I-476 when Josh, our tour director and one of our drivers, informed the rest that he had just locked his keys in the trunk of his car (side note: his interior trunk-pop button does not work).  After calling AAA and trying to figure out what to do, he decided to have the rest of us pile into the cars and head down in front of him, and he would try to catch up later after trying to get a locksmith or a tow.  So, we piled in and headed down without him and our group president Laura.  We arrived at the church a tad bit late, had some dinner, and then Josh arrived before the service.  After receiving a phone call and returning his phone to his pocket, he happened to reach into his pocket and feel his keys.  Yes, his car keys.  We shared another nice service, then split up to homes, where I went with Josh, Joe, Nathan, and Jeff to Jeff's house.  At this juncture, I had realized I had neglected to pack a certain important item (CII) for the trip.  I also received a call from John, my new transfer friend; when he called, we realized we were less than 20 minutes away from each other, so he stopped by for a visit, and we went out on the town to try and find a store that sold my CII.  After failing to find such a store, we went to Wendy's and grabbed some fries & Frosties.  Then I returned to my host home.

The next morning was early, as we had a long trip to Fredericksburg, VA, where we would be singing at the chapel service of a Christian school one of our members attended.  Sadly, we didn't get to leave as early as we scheduled, because one of our vehicles got lost on the way back to the Souderton church where we were departing from.  The trip was high stress, as much of it took place on the nation-renowned I-95.  We arrived safely, however, with about five minutes to spare before our performance time.  The performance went fairly smooth (I even got to use a sweet remote for the Powerpoint slides for worship songs).  We then ate lunch outside and went over to Spotsylvania Presbyterian for some free time (including a Walmart trip for me to pick up the CII) before dinner and the evening performance.  That performance went well also.  I stayed with Jim overnight at a nice couple's house, the man of which knew Mrs. Nancy Paxton really well.

The next day found more travelling on I-95, though for a much shorter time period.  We headed back north toward Altoona for our final stop.  We hung out at one of our members' houses for dinner and games, then went to our separate homes.  I stayed with Joe at the pastor's house, who ironically grew up and lived in Jeffersonville, less than an hour from my hometown of Madison.  He reflected on the old successful basketball teams Madison had and even brought up some names.  We then did part of our presentation at the church in the morning.  It was an Assembly of God church, which was really sort of awkward, especially seeing the spirit slaining at the altar call in the end.  I'm pretty sure I don't agree with that at all, so it really made the end of service awkward.

After lunch and our encouragement card writing session, we headed back to GCC and arrived back safe & sound around 8 p.m. Sunday night.  There were lots of fun memories and great relationships built.  It was great to see God work through the songs we shared and the encouragement and fellowship among us grow.

Since Koin Tour...

I've tackled a number of tests and such.  Weekends have been a blast too, which is something I'm not sure I could really say would happen in previous semesters.  Plus, I've been somewhat involved with some changes at the radio station.

Regarding the tests, most of them seemed to go okay.  Midterm grades were okay, so if I maintain and slightly improve on some of these upcoming assignments, I'll be in good shape come finals week.  Schoolwork hasn't been too stressful so far, and I'm really enjoying some of the classes by just soaking in the good lectures and imparted wisdom the professors are sharing, from personal budgeting advice to approaching government from a Christian perspective to admiring the work of early film makers.  However, at GCC, the work never stops flowing; I have a test on Monday, a test on Friday, and a 10-15 page paper which the first draft will be due the Thursday before Easter break (which is coming in two weekends, I may add!).

The weekend after Koin tour I went down to near Pittsburgh to deejay the Beta Sigma fraternity formal.  It was a lot of fun, and I got to hang out with some nice people.  However, it was a technical nightmare.  I was using equipment from a campus group that I had never used before.  The amplifiers showed up a little later in the evening than expected.  Then, the output of music started to deteriorate significantly after about 10 songs to the point where the audio was all fuzz and rumble.  I ended up having to abandon ship and try to find some entertainers to chat on a mic.  Then, I hooked into the restaurant's PA system, which has no bass, but worked okay... except for that 3-5 minutes of dead silence when the amp randomly decided to cut out.  Nevertheless, I was told people had a good time, and many of them were sympathetic to the tech issues.  The next day, I attended an English Country Dance, similar to what you may see on Pride & Prejudice.  It was similar to the contra dance I had attended the previous month.  Surprisingly enough, I had fun.  Also on this weekend, our radio station made some major programming changes.  It's been fun to be a part of the station.  If you are in the Grove City area, you should check out the station by dialing in 91.1 on your FM radio, and visit the station website at WSAJ.com to find out what's airing.

This past weekend, I attended a "Whose Line" comedy night, which was somewhat humorous.  Then, some friends and I made some chocolate-peanut butter Rice Krispy treats to contribute to another friend's music recital for today (Saturday, that is).  That was pretty fun too.  Then, today I played racquetball twice, attended aforementioned music recital, and went to the school play this evening.  Plus I got to spend some time chatting with friends at various parts of the day.  All in all, things have been going well.

I'm also learning a lot about patience, wisdom, and avoiding lust when it comes to girls through some of the passages I've been reading in the Bible.  At Hillcrest PCA church, we're still moving through Isaiah, and I think we'll be in the back part of chapter 43 for this upcoming morning, plus finishing up a study on the early portions of the Westminster Confession of Faith in Sunday School.

Continue to pray for those in need around you.  I want to send special prayers and thoughts both to my roommate and a friend from back in Indiana who both lost relatives they were close to this past week.  Death is something we can't fully understand; we know it's a result of the sin we've committed, but it's hard to figure out why it happens when it does to some people.  My friend's loss was a 17-year-old cousin in a car accident... all you can say is "why?"  However, we can always take comfort in knowing that the Lord is in control, and through the loss, we can be reminded of our need for eternal life in Him alone.

Well, I know you're probably tired of reading this... it's taken me over 24 hours to actually get it written, so I hope it doesn't take you that long to read it all.  Leave comments too.

Hopefully I will write again soon...

Return of the Todd-i

So, I informed you that I was leaving for Madison, then I never told you that I came back.  How nice of me.

Anyways, I am back after a delightful visit to my old stomping grounds of more than 18 years.  When I mention it like that, it sounds quite magnanimous given my current age.  As I get older, though, that ratio of time spent in Madison versus total years lived will continue to shrink, but I hope and believe that the significance of the time spent there on my life will not decline as the aforementioned ratio.

The Trip

We left Wadsworth just after 2:00 p.m. and headed down the highway in eager anticipation.  The pep band had rehearsal at 5:30, but it was not physically possible for me to be down there for it.  We pulled in front of the high school at 6:45, and I grabbed my trombone and hurried in to the band room, just in time to catch the tail end of the band leaving for the gymnasium.  I greeted some of my friends briefly in the band room, then grabbed a stand and rolled on out.  The game was pretty good, even though we did not play too many of the great songs we did in high school.  I should probably also mention that I airballed a halftime free throw before anybody else reminds me of it.  Not a good shot at all, though it did travel the correct distance, just a ball's length to the left.  Sweaty palms, lack of playing basketball, and heckling from the public address announcer (and former geometry & AP calculus teacher) during the shot did not positively contribute to the event.  Nevertheless, a fun game indeed.  The band finished up just after the third quarter, and my alma mater pulled out a victory.  The alumni moved on to Hinkle's after the game to hang out & chow down.  For those of you who do not know what Hinkle's is (which is likely most of you...), it is a local sandwich shop that serves burgers similar to a White Castle or Krystal burger.  It's been a fixture in the town since 1933, except for the short time it was burned out from a fire in the upper stories of the building.  It was great to see all of those friends for a brief time, and I hope that they all go back next year...

I went into Saturday without any solid plans... and I mean zero.  Most of the day, my friend Josh & I cruised around town and just chatted, catching up with each other.  We made a run to Walmart since that is the biggest thing in Madison, then did bowling in the afternoon hour, where Josh obliterated me on the scoreboard.  For dinner I was able to get a hold of my friend Jacob and his girlfriend Calin, and Josh & I met them at Tapatio's, the local Mexican outfit.  We spent over two hours catching up and dining on pretty good Mexican cuisine.

Sunday we went back to our old church, where I saw a few more people I hadn't seen in a while.  I also got to hear a good, but tough sermon on Hebrews 5:11-14 that warns Christians about living on milk all their lives and not growing, thus failing to attain the work of righteousness.  It was very challenging for me.  After church, Josh and my friend Ashley joined my family at Wendy's for lunch before we drove back home (including a dinner stop at Smokey Bones in Columbus).

It was a good trip... I'm looking forward to going back again in due time.

After the Trip

I worked on Monday for a bit, and got my schedule for the rest of the week.  Also, my sister is hosting a Costa Rican student for a few weeks as part of a learning exchange program or something.  So far, my family seems to think it is a little disorganized, but it should be interesting.  The plane came in after midnight, and their luggage was not with them.  However, I still have not met the student because I was at an OSU party last night at a friend's house in Wooster.  It was a fun party, even though OSU lost big time.  Congrats to Florida though; they played a great game and proved themselves worthy of the title National Champion.  Good thing I'm not really a diehard OSU fan, or else I might be crying or complaining today.

I still have just under two weeks before I head back to school.  GCC is hosting their January intersession class for the next 2 weeks, then regular classes will get underway.  Until then, I'll be working a bit and hopefully doing some fun things.  Hopefully I'll get better at Spanish too thanks to our Costa Rican visitor.

More later...