March 13, 2011 - "Forward- MARCH."

"Why did the chicken cross Mesopotamia? To get to the other Sidonians!"

Compliments of my teacher for Life of Christ, Chris Darland. :) As y'all can see, I am clearly learning intense amounts of spiritual information here at Bible school. lol :p

But seriously, can I just say that God is beyond words? no, I suppose not. Because even that puts Him into words which are too small to display His glory. Really, He has been blowing my mind. I am learning so much right now, and I am continually more and more amazed at how much of the Bible I didn't understand before. I mean, I thought I had it pretty put together, but the Word of God is so much more put together than that. It's deeper, and wider, and sweeter, and more challenging than I ever realized. Yeah. So, let me tell you a little bit of what I've been doing and learning, what God's been doing, and how you can continue to be praying.

Right now I'm in Hermeneutics II which is actually not so much Hermeneuticing as much as it is about Covenant and Dispensational theology - something I know virtually nothing about. Super interesting. I'm in a class on the Life of Christ, and it has really taught me a lot about the customs and culture of the time when Jesus lived, making sense of the actions of the Pharisees, and bringing so much clarity into Jesus' already impacting words. I never knew just how much He really shut down the Pharisees. haha And I am gaining a better understanding of His heart for mankind, for me, for the world. I just finished a class on Jehovah's Witnesses - very enlightening. I just have a test to do and a paper on their doctrine of Salvation to write. Then the only other class I'll have is Psalms. And you know, I was really beginning to feel overcome with school and work and things and I caught myself the other day complaining to myself that I felt like I was spending  every waking moment doing homework and studying the Word. I was *complaining* about being saturated with Biblical truth at all times! I've already noticed in the Psalms how often the psalmist writes about meditating on the law day and night and *delighting* in it. Wow, convicting. I've replaced delight with selfish comfort and spare time. What a heathen (not literally, but you catch my sentiment). So, with this fresh perspective on my present state, I am excited to see what God has ahead.

Work has been going really well. I feel so blessed to see the way God continues to supply for all my needs. The staff I work with this semester are a phenomenal bunch. Paticularly our lead Aide, Mrs. M. She has brought a great level of organization/structure, consitency, and quality to our program that was much needed. So, a lot of that stress has gone down and I am enjoying working with the kids at Tee Tee's (the brighter weather is really helpful there too as the kids always love to run around outside). I was able to resolve the payroll issues I had been having. They fixed they payrate they had promised and compensated for the pay periods I wasn't being paid what I was supposed to. And it was not a hard or awkward conversation to have. They were so nice and easy to work with. So I am just very thankful.

That's what I'm up to in a nutshell, as well as youth group and children's church. The youth group winter retreat went great. The teens all had a fantastic time and a lot of relationships were built or strengthened, including one guy's relationship with the Lord as he committed himself to the Savior over the weekend. :) SO awesome. And Children's church has been going very well aslo. They are an exciting and exuberant bunch, and a growing bunch too it seems (physically and numerically).  :)

Prayer needs:

- Sleep. I'm not familiar with this term. Homework has been consuming a large portion of my time, as well as work, and so sleep has been becoming more and more of a scare comodity. *I would appreciate prayer that I would manage my time responsibly and also be incredible focused and speedy in doing my homework*. I apologize, but y'all probably won't see me on facebook for sometime so I can use that time to finish my homework faster.

- Work. We still have a lot of kinks we're working out with the way the program runs, but mostly just praise God for His faithfulness.

- Future work. I am beginning to look into my options for work over the summer and would appreciate wisdom and discernment.

- Church. Pray that I would continue to get to know the teens and build good relationships there, and also that the kids in children's church would continue to improve in being quiet and respectful while still havin a blast of course.

- Finances. I don't like these, and these next few months are going to be tough, but God has faithfully provided so far and I trust Him to continie todo so always. :)

Thanks again, as always, for praying and those of you who have encouraged me with packages, mail and emails :)

captured by His wil and *delighted* to do it,

Jessica King