In the Beginning...

Wow.... I never thought I could love Genesis so much. Okay, so I am sick and doing homework at the moment isn't my favorite thing, BUT... God's Word is alive and I am learning so much. Most people (myself included) usually have some misconceptions about the Old Testament... they see God as unfair or unjust, or just plain MEAN. But as I read the WHOLE book in one sitting, not just parts, I saw for the first time a theme of God's tenderness and love throughout the stories. Towards ALL people, not just His chosen people.

*Disclaimer, This is just what God has been revealing to me personally, which we call APPLICATION... I haven't mentioned in this blog INTERPRETATION, what these stories would mean to the Original Audience who had been slaves in Egypt and needed an entire reshaping of their worldview. I haven't gone into the background information or anything else I've been doing in my homework... this is just application stuff that I think is cool that I thought you might think is cool too.

Some examples of God's tenderness are:

When Adam and Eve disobey in the garden, even though they chose something else over him (a lie) and He sent them from the garden so they wouldn't live forever IN SIN, he still clothed them....

Or how about Hagar and Ishmael? (Yes, the ones through which the Arab nations came to be.) They were sent away into the wilderness... but GOD saw them and cared for them and promised that Ishmael would have numerous descendants (hmmm... sounds like another son of Abraham...)

And then there was Leah.... She was the unwanted, unloved wife of Jacob who had worked 7 years to marry her sister Rachel, but got "stuck" with her instead and had to work another 7 for Rachel. But God saw she was unloved and her womb was opened. God loved Leah!!!

And there's many more... I've heard someone say the bible was written by the heroes, therefore its a biased recollection, and yet in Genesis alone I see that God (through the inspired author) felt it was necessary to write to the original readers that He created ALL humankind in His image, and that He cares for all, whether they are the main characters or not.

So..... Pretty cool, huh?

Old friends, new friends

Here's me in my new room (its a work in progress...)
Photo taken by Emily with my laptop's built in camera

This morning Angela, Ryan, and I packed up and said our goodbyes to Ang's Uncle Joe and Aunty Doreen, then headed up the 210 freeway about 7 miles to YWAM Los Angeles. Then, I said goodbye to the dynamic duo and they headed north. I just got a call from Angela from the Olive Pit, Corning, CA... They are making GOOD time and plan to be home for dinner at church tomorrow night.

I am now settling into my home here... I am staying in a mobile home that has about 5 rooms with 2 girls in each room, and my roommate is my friend Emily from Indiana! She and I were roommates in Hawaii and got on very well together, so its truly an answered prayer to have her as a roomie. AND an extra added blessing is this: we have a kitchen shared between the girls in this house, and I will be able to make coffee and food for people (and myself of course!) I met many of the girls from the school, and one girl, Gracie, also plays the ukulele!!! How fun!!!

Tonight we have registration, then the school stuff starts tomorrow. I'm so excited to grow closer to Jesus and get to know His Word more through the next 9 months. I can't believe I'm finally here! All of you at home, I miss you already! I can't wait to get started!!!

Love you all,

Jillian

I'm in California!

Well, northern California, anyhow. My friends, Angela and Ryan are driving with me down to Los Angeles, and at Grants Pass we headed to the Coast to drive through the Redwoods... We're staying the night in Arcata and tomorrow we head south on the 101 to San Francisco, where we will then veer back to the 5 for the remainder of our journey. We rented a mid-size car (not quite large enough for everything, but we made it work!!) played 20 questions, drove through a tree, played ukulele to Steve Miller Band songs, and ate lots of beef jerky. Good times!!!

Some cool stuff... over the past few days I received several donations and now have enough money to pay for the 9 months of the School of Biblical Studies!!! This means that any additional amount of support I receive (monthly or one time) can go towards other living expenses, saving for the outreach portion of the school from June-August, and also so I can have some form of health insurance! Seriously, this is such an answer to prayer!!!

Anyhow, I don't have my card reader readily accessible, so I'll post photos when we get down to Los Angeles and I can find it in my suitcase!!!