Sunday afternoon pondering

I'm going with a number format today, just because there's a whirlwind of thoughts flooding this head of mine, so I think numbering these thoughts may be for all our benefit:

1) Church was fantastic. The sermon title: "Beautiful Grace." Need I say more? You gotta check out Romans 5, if you haven't done so already. Inspired by God, Paul does an incredible job of illustrating just how disgusting we are in our original sinful state: enemies of God. But He then provides such amazing and awesome contrasts of God's grace in our lives. Once we truly understand just how wretched we are, then we can only start to comprehend just how AMAZING God's grace is. At one point in the message Pastor Robbie referred to how short our lives really are, and that really the only thing that matters at the end of the day is what we have done for Jesus Christ. In an instant, when our lives here on earth end, we will be asked: "what have you done for Jesus Christ?"...and man, I'd be lying if I said a question like that doesn't instill some fear in me. Perhaps I need to ask myself that question more often, as it really helps to keep an eternal perspective I think.

2) ONE exam left this week...then I'll officially have that B.A. I've been working towards for 4 years. Next up: teachers college. VERY excited about that.

3) I'm beyond excited that this time a week from now I'll be in the air flying to Thailand. Many updates on this to come during the time I'm there. I'll for sure be blogging and putting up some pictures while I'm there. Stay tuned...

4) Last night I was at my first wedding. Adear friend of mine, Sarah Nowell, was getting married. She looked absolutely beautiful, and the wedding a blast! It's so evident that Christ is at the center of their relationship, which made the wedding an even greater celebration and a blessing to be apart of. Unfortunately, the wedding ended a bit early for me, as my body decided that it wanted to take a trip to the hospital. For those that aren't aware (and because I don't want to explain this story a million more times), I have a heart condition called S.V.T., which basically creates a closed circuit of electricity in your heart, causing it to beat uncontrollably (as in 240 beats a minute). In order to convert the heart back to its usual rhythm, you need to get a needle of some sort, or be to paddled/shocked. Anyhow, it was my first ride in an ambulance, so that was kinda cool, and the nurses got a kick out of me being all dressed up with my hair done...so once I was stable, we were able to joke around a bit. They released me in the middle of the night, so thankfully, I was able to sleep in my bed! It's undeniable that God had His hand over the entire situation, and all is well today...just super tired.

Anyhow, the books are calling me for this one final exam.

Livin' for eternity,
A