This song has been in my head all day.
Joyful songs tend to run through my head on joyful days. Especially in the spring. Spring just exudes joy. I love it. This song, specifically, I love as well. I love the picture of skipping and dancing as a bride overflowing with happiness because her groom has come for her, and is there dancing and rejoicing over her in the same way.
'Dance with all your might' That's not something I've ever done. Inhibitions and self conciousness get in the way. But, one day, I'll be able to throw all of that to the side and truly dance with all my heart and might because I won't worry about what others think- I'll be completely accepted and approved of by my First Love. Oh, how I long to be free of the fears of rejection and disapproval and all the others I've got at some level and let go and fully realize God's perfect love, for "perfect love drives out fear...The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18 I, like the main character of one of my favorite books, am too often much-afraid. But I, like her, desire the to know my Shepherd, who I can trust.
And then there's the part of the song, "From every tongue and tribe and nation, we will join in the song of the lamb." That's so exciting for me. I can't wait, really. To hear the world- all the colorful, deep passionate cultures from all corners of the earth praising the name of the Lord in the way each of them were made to... That excites me. My heart for ministry, if for any specific region, is for the Middle East. When I sing those lines, I picture the mobs in Iraq or Palestine we see on the news fighting with police, burning flags, collectively full of anger and hate- I picture these mobs full of passionate people shouting and singing with the same fervor to the Christian God, overcome with the grace of God rather than the hopelessness of their situation.
And then mix this group with the voices of rejoicing from Africa, the grand choirs of Europe, the praise rising from South America, the prayers from Asia. The worldwide Church is like nothing we've ever seen or imagined. I can't wait to see us together, all there to pour our hearts out to our First Love, Jesus.
4.30.2004
4.29.2004
Good night!
It's late. I am, yet again, still awake at this hour. But, wonderfully, tonight, I am not up this late because of schoolwork! It has been a wonderful day. I've actually talked to people. First, this evening, I had my CS Lewis & Friends Seminar class where we discussed the last half of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is one of my favorite things to do. Delightful. Then I had small group, where we discussed our favorite bible stories/passages and why. I definitely got new and fresh perspectives on passages I haven't ever looked at, or, at least, not for a long time. The theme through most the passages we picked revolved around God being a stronghold during the storms of life. Although circumstances seem uncertain and unstable, God is faithful and is there. I often need to be reminded of that, and we found lots of good stories tonight to demonstrate God's faithfulness. I'll probably write about the ones I picked out later.
After small group, I got to listen to one of my girls tell me all about the youth retreat she got to be a part of through my church last weekend. It sounds like God really worked, and she got to be a part of it. I love it when that happens- when God is doing something and he lets us get in line with it. She jumped in and did that last weekend, and it sounds like it was awesome.
Then I got to talk to Josh for an hour-ish. That always is the highlight of my night. He was in town tonight- his bible study group came for an end-of-the-year get-together at Ivanhoe's, an ice-cream shop nearby- but the people he brought in his car needed to get back to Ball State, so I didn't get to see him. :( That's alright, its sounds like it was a good time for him and his friends while they were here.
Hmm. I ought to get to bed. I spent a while tonight cleaning spyware off my roommates computer. (Mainly this and this) Spyware is icky. And she had plenty ickiness to clean off. Yuck. Hopefully it's all gone now. We'll see, when I let her plug her computer back into the network.
After small group, I got to listen to one of my girls tell me all about the youth retreat she got to be a part of through my church last weekend. It sounds like God really worked, and she got to be a part of it. I love it when that happens- when God is doing something and he lets us get in line with it. She jumped in and did that last weekend, and it sounds like it was awesome.
Then I got to talk to Josh for an hour-ish. That always is the highlight of my night. He was in town tonight- his bible study group came for an end-of-the-year get-together at Ivanhoe's, an ice-cream shop nearby- but the people he brought in his car needed to get back to Ball State, so I didn't get to see him. :( That's alright, its sounds like it was a good time for him and his friends while they were here.
Hmm. I ought to get to bed. I spent a while tonight cleaning spyware off my roommates computer. (Mainly this and this) Spyware is icky. And she had plenty ickiness to clean off. Yuck. Hopefully it's all gone now. We'll see, when I let her plug her computer back into the network.
4.27.2004
Comments!
It's amazing! I actually had down time today! now, the down time totalled to about 15 minutes, but that was just enough to get comments working on this site (very exciting!) and to post here (also, very exciting...)
The other very exciting thing is the progress I made on my massive semester-long project for my Information Systems Design class. I'm tentatively done (except for a few bugs) with my part of the group project! I'm estatic, really. I know the phrase 'except for a few bugs' could prove to take me the next two weeks to fix, but I think the end is closer than that. I'm super relieved. Yay!
OK, down time over. Gotta get to work.
The other very exciting thing is the progress I made on my massive semester-long project for my Information Systems Design class. I'm tentatively done (except for a few bugs) with my part of the group project! I'm estatic, really. I know the phrase 'except for a few bugs' could prove to take me the next two weeks to fix, but I think the end is closer than that. I'm super relieved. Yay!
OK, down time over. Gotta get to work.
Three weeks.
It hit me today during the hall council meeting. I've got three weeks til the end of the semester. Then finals. Then I'm done. I'm halfway done with my higher education in three weeks.
This year has flown. Really. It is a blur. A mostly wonderful blur, I might add, but a blur. It's been a very different sort of year for me- the first one I've had with a boyfriend and one of very few where I've both started and ended the year with the same close circle of friends. It's been great continuing the relationships I had my freshman year and having them continue to be strong. And, having Josh as support during my year of stressful classes is a huge blessing I can't have imagined having done without. My small group bible study has been loads of fun and insightful as well.
It's funny, I'm here to go to school, to learn how to be a computer scientist or whatever, but what really makes my year, what I take away most from the time I've spent at school, is the relationships. I contend we were formed for relationships, and all relationships, good or bad, hold a huge sway in our lives. I used to not believe that. I used to think I could 'go it alone'. Often I still act that way. Thankfully, I have been blessed by friends that continue to try to prove me wrong.
Praise God!
This year has flown. Really. It is a blur. A mostly wonderful blur, I might add, but a blur. It's been a very different sort of year for me- the first one I've had with a boyfriend and one of very few where I've both started and ended the year with the same close circle of friends. It's been great continuing the relationships I had my freshman year and having them continue to be strong. And, having Josh as support during my year of stressful classes is a huge blessing I can't have imagined having done without. My small group bible study has been loads of fun and insightful as well.
It's funny, I'm here to go to school, to learn how to be a computer scientist or whatever, but what really makes my year, what I take away most from the time I've spent at school, is the relationships. I contend we were formed for relationships, and all relationships, good or bad, hold a huge sway in our lives. I used to not believe that. I used to think I could 'go it alone'. Often I still act that way. Thankfully, I have been blessed by friends that continue to try to prove me wrong.
Praise God!
4.26.2004
Do you get too attached?
Joanna's-Take-on-the-News for the day: People feel loyalty to computers
Sounds silly, huh? Just a bunch of copper wire & silicon running at a bazillion RPMs under your desk? Not according to this article. I know I'm the first one guilty of anthropomorphism here. I talk about computers 'being obstinate', 'not feeling like listening to me', 'throwing a fit', 'thinking about' my last command, doing things in a happy (or unhappy) way, and assign various other adjectives and characteristics to my workstation that would be more fitting to my coworker or neighbor. Maybe that is why the field of Artificial Intelligence is so fascinating to me- and seems like the next logical step for the evolution of technology. It has already come into our language that we talk about computers as senient, emotional beings; the natural progression from that seems to be that is for them to become what we see them as.
Will this ever happen? Will the movies AI or The Matrix ever come true? Can metal ever pass a Turing test? I'm not sure. We get closer every day. I think it'd be cool if we did get there- from a technological standpoint- but I can't even begin to imagine the ethical, moral, and spiritual ramifications if we did write a program such that it becomes its own being with thoughts and emotions. I don't know if its possible. Gotta love science fiction, though. And, from looking at history, gotta know you can never rule anything out.
Technology's great.
Sounds silly, huh? Just a bunch of copper wire & silicon running at a bazillion RPMs under your desk? Not according to this article. I know I'm the first one guilty of anthropomorphism here. I talk about computers 'being obstinate', 'not feeling like listening to me', 'throwing a fit', 'thinking about' my last command, doing things in a happy (or unhappy) way, and assign various other adjectives and characteristics to my workstation that would be more fitting to my coworker or neighbor. Maybe that is why the field of Artificial Intelligence is so fascinating to me- and seems like the next logical step for the evolution of technology. It has already come into our language that we talk about computers as senient, emotional beings; the natural progression from that seems to be that is for them to become what we see them as.
Will this ever happen? Will the movies AI or The Matrix ever come true? Can metal ever pass a Turing test? I'm not sure. We get closer every day. I think it'd be cool if we did get there- from a technological standpoint- but I can't even begin to imagine the ethical, moral, and spiritual ramifications if we did write a program such that it becomes its own being with thoughts and emotions. I don't know if its possible. Gotta love science fiction, though. And, from looking at history, gotta know you can never rule anything out.
Technology's great.
4.25.2004
And we're off...
So this is blogging...
It seems to be the trendy thing to do. Or is it the geeky thing to do? I've always tended toward 'geeky' rather than 'trendy', but I'm OK with that. It's funny, once upon a time, diaries were kept under lock and key to keep everyone out of our deepest thoughts about life. Now thousands of people post their daily journals for the world to read on the most effective communications medium ever.
I don't know if this will turn into a diary of sorts, I doubt it. I imagine, if I keep posting, it will be my musings about life, the universe and everything. I like musing. I also like feedback. I may be way off in left field with my ideas. Let me know. Play devil's advocate with me. I love lively discussions. I dare you.
It seems to be the trendy thing to do. Or is it the geeky thing to do? I've always tended toward 'geeky' rather than 'trendy', but I'm OK with that. It's funny, once upon a time, diaries were kept under lock and key to keep everyone out of our deepest thoughts about life. Now thousands of people post their daily journals for the world to read on the most effective communications medium ever.
I don't know if this will turn into a diary of sorts, I doubt it. I imagine, if I keep posting, it will be my musings about life, the universe and everything. I like musing. I also like feedback. I may be way off in left field with my ideas. Let me know. Play devil's advocate with me. I love lively discussions. I dare you.
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