Now that I’ve been back in school for about two weeks, I think I’ve pretty much got a schedule down. It varies a little bit day to day, but overall I like what I’ve done. I’ll give you a look at Monday and Tuesday, as those are the most typical days.

MONDAY

6:00 am - Wake up, have quiet time, eat breakfast

6:30 am - head to the gym to work out and shower

8:00-8:50 am - class

9:05-9:55 am - class

10-11 am - break (normally I check my email in the computer lab)

11:15-12:05 - class

After my last class, I head home and eat some lunch. I’ve also started taking an early afternoon nap for 20-30 minutes. It keeps me alert, which is good, because I spend most of the afternoon doing homework. I normally eat dinner around 6 or so, finish up any last minute homework, read some blogs, talk to Christian, and head to bed at 10:30 pm at the latest.

TUESDAY

6:30 am - wake up, have quiet time, eat breakfast

7:00 am - shower, get ready for class

8:00-12:15 pm - three classes

Then the same old routine. Come home, eat lunch, take a nap, do homework. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I am taking a group fitness class at the gym with my roommates. It lasts an hour and it’s really intense. After that I come back, eat dinner, finish up homework, talk to Christian, and go to bed.

It’s working out well. I am working out every day except for Sunday, and having a consistent quiet time, which has been so good for my heart, soul, mind and strength. I’m currently working through the book of Isaiah on my own and reading a chapter of Proverbs every day “with” Christian (which means we read them on our own and talk about it at some point). I’m going to a Bible study beginning this Thursday where we’ll be studying 1 and 2 Peter, and Friday mornings I meet with some girls from church — this Friday we’re starting to look at Colossians.

Anyway — there’s my life for now. Not much more to write right now. Hard to believe, but at 8 pm I actually have gotten all my homework done, so I’m actually going to engage in some pleasure reading - a novel concept. Grace and peace.

I was going to write about God’s sovereignty tonight, but as I don’t really have the time to cover that topic like I want to, I thought instead I’d write about something I saw online today that got me thinking.

I mentioned that I’ve been reading this book called Total Truth. It’s really good. You should read it. Anyway, it makes the point in the first chapter that so many Christians live very compartmentalized lives; that is, they would say they are people ‘of faith,’ but it doesn’t really affect how they live, nor does it change their practices in their professions. I was reminded of this again today while watching a video at a site created by Ray Comfort, the well-known evangelist from New Zealand.

Watch the video; it’s about 8 minutes long. I was really convicted by it. For those of you who don’t have the time or willingness to watch it, basically he interviews professing Christians (coming out of the movie theater, no less) and asks them first if they watch R-rated movies. Most of them respond in the affirmative. He then goes on to ask them if they watch movies with blasphemy in them (i.e. using Jesus or God’s name in vain). Most of them say yes, but uncomfortably, as though they don’t really mind the blasphemy, but feel embarrassed that he actually calls it for what it is. I won’t ruin the video for those of you planning to watch it, but needless to say, I was convicted by the end of it. He makes some really good points about blasphemy and sex in films: Would you go to a movie where they used your mother’s name in vain? Would you let someone watch you be intimate with your spouse?

I guess some might argue that movies portray real life, and so there’s no problem with seeing stuff like this. However, I would argue back that while it may simply be a portrayal of real life, you’re not required to pay money to go and see it. I can’t avoid hearing Jesus’ name taken in vain when I walk to class; I can avoid using the money God has entrusted to me to pay to hear Jesus’ name taken in vain and watch people having sex, most likely not even within marriage.

Finally, I would go ahead and encourage you to ask this question - next time you watch a movie and enjoy it, think, “Would I ever say, ‘Jesus, I just saw this great movie!’” If the answer is ‘no,’ perhaps you should re-evaluate your choices.

I just think that today, Christians fail to be consistent and genuine. I’m not going to go off about how Christians talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Christians don’t even talk the talk anymore! There are so many videos I’ve watched or scenarios I’ve heard about where Christians say things like “I believe that Jesus is the way to heaven” but then when pressed if that means that some people will go to hell, don’t answer as they should.

That said, it IS important that our actions match up with our words. If we say that we should be zealous for the name and glory of God, then we should be just as zealous not to see movies where His name is taken in vain. If we say that God is holy and desires for us to be pure, we should not put immoral images in front of our eyes.

I hope and pray that as Christians, we will all strive to be holier tomorrow than we were today, and to be passionate about glorifying God in every aspect of our lives.

Having grown up in Baptist churches until high school, I went to my share of retreats, revivals and camps. While I will make no judgment on the extent to which the gospel was presented (because I don’t really remember), I do remember one thing that they had in common. In almost every situation, at some point during the last session of the day, week, weekend, there would be some time of commitment. It had different forms, different methods, but the ultimate goal was twofold - 1) If you’re not a Christian, believe in Jesus and 2) If you are a Christian, what area of your life needs to be recommitted to the Lord?

At some retreats, those wanting to make a decision of some sort went up to the front to pray, or to the back to talk with someone. At others, we were sent off on our own to pray by ourselves. I remember at one place we were given notecards and told to write something down that we needed to give up, and then we each went up, ripped up the card, and threw it in a big trashcan.

The one I remember best, though, was at a week-long camp in North Carolina. At the end of the last session, we all filed out of our rows, one by one, and picked up a small twig. At the back of the building was a huge fire, and we each had a chance to throw our stick in the fire, symbolizing the burning of our own desires or the personal commitment of our lives to Christ (for the first, second, third, eight, fiftieth time).

I mention these experiences not to mock them. I was personally saved at a revival when I was six years old. And I believe many of the tears I saw shed at these functions were sincere, and I’m sure God used them to draw many closer to Himself.

However, I think there is great danger in relying on circumstances like these to commemorate some kind of big decision we made for Christ, or in thinking that it takes a dramatic act in order to make that decision more “real.”

This past Sunday, my Sunday School class was studying the end of Acts 18, where Apollos’ ministry is discussed. The teacher was discussing how Apollos was a man mighty in the Scriptures, who had all the resources of secular knowledge at his fingertips. But, he said, Apollos only studied the world’s books in order to advance the gospel better, and the great majority of his time was spent in the Scriptures. From that he issued a challenge regarding our free time and how we use it. He encouraged us to compare our lives to that of Apollos. How much time do we spend in the Scripture? What do we spend our times doing that won’t profit us eternally?

And there, in the fifth row of the Sunday School classroom, I was convicted about something I spent my time doing that has taken up days upon days of my time over the past six months or so. It is something I have felt small amounts of conviction about before, but yesterday morning, it was as though I heard a voice plain as day in my head saying, “Chelsey, you need to stop doing that.” And almost as clearly, my heart of hearts replied, “Yes, Lord.” When I got home from church, I took the steps necessary to remove that thing from my life indefinitely.

And that was that.

I relate this story not to boast in the depth of my obedience. As I said, I have ignored conviction in the past about this particular use of my time. I mention it in order to encourage those of you who have made commitments to the Lord and have failed in them. Those of you who are waiting for the fire to be lit in your heart about what God would require of you. By all means, take advantage of God-centered events that want you to make a personal commitment and verbalize what’s in your heart, but realize that God can use a Sunday School lesson from Acts 18 to change your life as well.

You don’t always have to throw a stick in the fire.

Saturday my aunt, uncle, and three cousins arrived at my parents’ house to stay for a few days. Sydney just turned 6, Alayna is about to turn 3, and Abby was born in December. Needless to say, it has not been a quiet twenty-four hours (though after a couple months of babysitting four little girls under five, it’s pretty typical for me).

We decided that it would be fun to take them to the pool, so me, my mom, my aunt, and the two older girls piled into the car (I make it sound like it was fast - it took probably an hour to get everything ready) and headed to the country club where my family has a summer pool membership. I had a bag full of books, music and sunglasses, ready to lay out on a chair and work on my tan. However, within a few moments of arriving, it soon became clear that I was going to have to be in the pool with my cousins the entire time.

There must be a span of years, somewhere towards the end of high school and the beginning of college, where you feel kind of awkward in your own skin. You’re not really a little kid anymore, but you’re not really an adult. I think that a couple of years ago I would have just told Sydney that I didn’t want to swim. But maybe now I’ve realized that’s actually pretty jerk-ish of me, and now I really enjoy spending time with little kids. Does that mean I’m ready to have my own kids? I don’t know. If it does, I think I’ll still wait a while. A long while.

Anyway, my aunt had Alayna in her arms and was bouncing her around. Alayna wanted everyone to share in the fun, so she called out to her sister: “Sydney, I’m bouncing!” Then she looked at me.

“Shooby, I’m bouncing!”

None of us were really sure what she had just said. Shooby? She looked at me again.

“Shooby, I’m bouncing!”

Clearly she was talking to me. “Good job, Alayna!” I exclaimed.

And if there was any doubt that she was calling me ‘Shooby,’ it was confirmed again Sunday. We headed back to the pool, and after pushing Alayna on the swing for a while, she got off and ran to the baby pool. “Shooby, come on!” she yelled at me.

I’ve been called a lot of things. When my youngest sister was little, she couldn’t say ‘Chelsey,’ so she called me “Shashy” or “Shaf.” In the past couple of years, various foreigners and young children have called me everything from “Chesley” to “Charsy” and “Cholsey.” I guess you get used to it after a while.

Probably the cutest instance of it, though, was last night when we went out to eat at Moe’s. She looked over at me while eating her cheese quesadilla and exclaimed, “Shooby, I’m a’ eatin’ at Moo’s!”

“The gospel gives you psychological freedom to handle the wrong things that you will do. You won’t have to deny, spin, or repress the truth about yourself. These things don’t make it impossible to know who you are. Only with the support of hearing Jesus say, ‘You are capable of terrible things, but I am absolutely, unconditionally committed to you,’ will you be able to be honest with yourself.” - Tim Keller

I found this quote in an article on one of the blogs I read, and I starred the article to save for later because what Keller says here resonates with me so well. I have a serious psychological problem handling the wrong things that I’ve done or that I’m afraid of doing. There are things I say that are unkind. There are things I do that are unnecessary. There are things I don’t do that were needful at the time. And I am constantly thinking thoughts that should never enter into my head.

And in order to handle myself, if I forget about Jesus, my only option is to pretend that I didn’t really do or say those things, because the truth is too great to bear. And so I ignore the sin in my life, and I become someone whom I am not. I know longer know who I am anymore.

Last night in an email to Christian I told him that sometimes it’s hard for me to pray to God when I’m really hurting, because I know that when God begins to deal with my heart He will get all the way to the deepest part, and that might hurt more than anything else. But it is only through that immense pain of God dealing with us that we can have pure hearts; it is only when Christ scrapes away all the filth that we are clean.

And Jesus can honestly say that we are capable of terrible things. Some of us do those terrible things. But in light of His grace and knowing that He is unconditionally committed to us, we have the freedom to see our sin for what it is. And what it is is something that does not have victory over us.

Praise the Lord.