Beholding Him

Bad news: my camera battery died, and I lost my charger. Hence, no pictures. For those of you that know me well know that I am an avid picture-taker and that I am quite disappointed about this.

Also, sorry it has been so long since I last blogged! The last two weeks, I have been teaching the entire class, so my life the last few weeks has consisted of school and writing lesson plans from sun-up to sun-down. Here are the updates on the only things in my life not related to lessons:

• I killed a humongous cockroach AND the biggest spider I have ever seen in my apartment last week. My Chacos have not only been useful for walking everywhere, but they make excellent bug killers! I would've taken a picture, but like I said, my camera battery is dead. I left the remains of the unwelcomed visitors in my apartment, and the next day, they disappeared. I soon found out the culprit was a mouse that had made its home in my apartment! I have seen Cinderella too many times to kill the mouse, but I did chase it away with a broom. 2 of my neighbors came over to help me with this, and it was quite the comical scene. I must say, killing all these bugs makes me feel quite brave and Africa womanish!
• The other day, I was in a meeting at school, and all of a sudden, we heard blood curdling screams outside. We rushed to the window and saw these two girls writhing on the ground in pain, throwing off their clothes, and repeatedly screaming. They were being SWARMED by bees. It was one of the most awful things I have ever watched. We finally got the girls inside, and we started pulling bees everywhere off their body as they just whimpered and cried. I guess in Africa, if one bee stings, it sends off a scent that alerts all of the other bees, so you end up getting attacked by hundreds of bees. Needless to say, I am now terrified of being stung by bees. 
• The other weekend, there was a church choir convention going on right outside my apartment. Their voices sounded beautiful, but they went from 5:00 am to 12:00 am. I don't know how they do it! The one thing I do know, is Tanzanians LOVE to sing.
• On Saturday, many of the teachers went on a 4 hour hike up to a cross on top of a mountain. It was absolutely beautiful! (the following pictures are taken from Megan's facebook... thanks Megan!)




sitting at the foot of the cross at the top

 



Some of the cute kids that followed us for a while on our hike yelling, "Mzungu!" How I'm going to miss that when I return back to the states.

Lately, I have been dwelling on Psalm 34:5, "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." and Isaiah 60:5, "Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy..." I've been thinking what it looks like to truly behold the Lord's face... to be so enraptured by it that your entire being swells with joy and that you become radiant with the glory of His face. How do I stay in this mindset in the midst of planning for lessons, teaching, and spending time with people? All I know is that I want to behold His face. I want my heart to be set on His face, and to be captivated by His beauty at all times. 

This is an excerpt from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. It convicts and challenges me, and I hope that it can do the same for you. It's about being a good soldier of Christ (and is actually what we shared a little bit of with the prisoners in Uganda.)

 

"The Christian soldier not only acknowledges Jesus to be his King, but his heart is full of loving devotion

to Him as such. Nothing can make his heart leap like the mention of that august, that more than royal name. He remembers who Jesus is, the Son of God, “the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God.” He remembers what Jesus did, how He loved him, and gave Himself for him. He looks to the Cross and remembers the streams of blood whereby he was redeemed, even when they were enemies of God. He remembers Christ in Heaven, enthroned at the right hand of the Father.

He loves Him there, and it ravishes his heart to think that God has highly exalted the once-despised and rejected One, and given Him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. He pants for the time when the Crucified shall come in His Glory, and rule the nations as their liege Lord. He loves Jesus so that he feels he belongs to Him altogether, bought with His blood, redeemed by His power, and comforted by His Presence. He delights to know that he is not his own, for he is bought with a price. And since he loves his King, and loves Him with an ardor unquenchable—for many waters cannot drown his love, neither can the floods quench it." -Charles Spurgeon

(If you want to read the rest of the sermon, here's the link! http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols16-18/chs938.pdf)

Also, for anyone else who wants to be challenged in their faith, check out the videos here. They're short videos and are a great way to start off the day! www.ellerslie.com/Bravehearted_Thots.html

That is my prayer for myself and for you, that we will behold the Lord's face and that our hearts will be ravished by Him, by His glory, by His sacrifice, and by His love.

Love and miss you all... but I will be seeing you in 2 WEEKS!