Brothers In Christ

This weekend, two of Paul's best friends, Jason and Elliot, came to visit. They came Friday night and stayed until today after church, and I was allowed to spend alot of time with them. ;) Paul brought them by Olds on Friday when they got to his house, since I was on duty for a little while before the Garden Party (informal first dance of the year), and then they left to get dinner.
They are good boys; I really enjoyed the weekend with them. Elliot was asleep when I went over on Friday night after the dance, but I was able to talk with Paul and Jason. Then Saturday evening I went over while they were making dinner (yummy chicken alfredo) and spent the evening with them. We ate dinner, played jungle pong (like ping pong), and talked for a few hours.
It may sound funny, but after living in a dorm full of girls, it was refreshing to be around boys with their weird humor that cracks me up and their funny brotherly way of beating each other up :P. But best of all was that all three of them desire most of all to put off the things of the world and be like Jesus; it was so refreshing to my spirit to be around them and hear them talk about growing spiritually and what they've learned since last time they saw each other. They truly give meaning to "brothers in Christ", and I felt like thier sister in Christ (well, Jason and Elliot's ;) ). I am so thankful for the time I got to spend with my favorite boy and his close friends, and I hope to see alot of them in the future. Jason may come live with Paul for the last month of our semester, since Kettering gets out a month before Hillsdale; I would like that. Jason encourages, challenges, and loves Paul in a way that is sweet to see and be around.
So far, it has been a good weekend. Paul's mother and grandma are coming for the day today, and I may meet them. We'll see ;)
Now I have to go read Exodus and part of Leviticus... never get behind in Old Testament class! But I'm content to get to work now. God is so good. :)

Yesterday Paul and I were up in the student center at school, talking and waiting for someone he was supposed to meet with. Well, his friend never showed up, but I did hear one end of a conversation he had with his best friend Jason on the phone. Jason and I ended up having a conversation through Paul which ended in Jason telling me it's on between us- haha. Boys.
When the person Paul was supposed to meet never showed up, we walked back to Olds so I could get my homework and then to his house to work, since Olds had no visitation. Once we were there, I opened Pages on my computer to type up notes, and Paul wrote, "Hi, Michal." and this is how our conversation went:

M- Hello, Paul.
P- I think I might have this tiny little crush on you.
M- Yeah? Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but I have a crush on you too.
P- Shut up!! (he likes to impersonat our Armenian friend Ben, who says that)
M- Ok... I guess I will. I knew you didn't really like me.
P- No! I do! Will it help if I tell you I do like you? What else will help?
M- Hm... nothing else. Just you.
P- That made no syntactical or grammatical sense.
M- I'm a girl. I give myself license to write how I want to.
P- Will it help if I come back for you after I graduate?
M- And do what?

He said out loud, "what do you want me to do?" I told him he could do whatever he wanted to, and he said, "I want to let you get a white dress, and put a ring on your finger... I'd like that. I want to marry you." He hugged me and told me he meant it, and I told him I liked it. :D So there it is, we've talked about marriage, and we like the idea... now we just have to wait two years after this school year; that gives us alot of time to just be in a solid, focused relationship. Now that we know where we're headed, it hasn't changed much, but it removes uncertainty; we can just be us. I'm happy with it ;)

As Requested ;)

I have been requested to write a "boyfriend blog" to update you all... ;)
So, let's see. Where to begin? I have been over at his house studying plenty this semester so far, a few times a week, and he comes to sit desk with me when I'm on duty in Olds. So I've seen him alot, and he's always asking me questions (teaching me, indirectly) about things, usually related to the Bible. Recently, we talked about love, marriage, and Christ and the church as a model for husband and wife- but we didn't really talk about us.
But then on Friday night, he took me to dinner in Jackson, which was very sweet, and then we watched a funny movie at his house, called The Burbs. So we didn't actually talk about us then, but obviously, he took me out. ;) Then Saturday he held my hand.... wonderful feeling... :)
Sunday night Natalie, Dane, Amy, and Paul threw a surprise party for me at his house. :) We played Apples to Apples (a card game where you match nouns to adjectives... very funny) and he put his arm around me while we played. Now, I never thought of him as a "cuddly" person, but the past couple days have convinced me that he is, because he loves to study with his arm around me. It makes Ben Johnson go by faster for me too. ;) He also likes to kiss my forehead, sweetly. I can tell he likes me just a little ;)
Of course, the best part isn't being "cuddly". The best part is that he says I'm the most amazing woman he's ever met, and he has a feeling he'll be paying off my school bills when I'm done in three years... and that his plans for the future are to be a pastor and, as he said yesterday, "I think I wouldn't mind getting married somewhere in there." funny boy. ;) Once he's sure about something, he's serious about it, and he seems to be sure about me. Which is wonderful with me, because I really have no problem with the idea of marrying him :D. Now to take it slowly. This does not mean that we've even talked outright about us getting married, just that it seems we are pretty sure we'd like to be married once I'm done with school and he knows where he's going to be. :D
I would so appreciate prayer for us- for guidance, for patience to take it slowly, and just for us in our daily lives. It's so nice to be able to have his arm around me and put my head on his shoulder, but we need to have accountability, something that's hard when his only housemate isn't there most of the time. I have no worries about us, only a desire that everyone around us can clearly see that we're obeying God in our relationship; but sitting in a freshman girls' dorm all the time doesn't seem like the most pleasant solution to having accountability. So please pray for us to be wise in our decisions and how cozy we allow ourselves to be, when we need to demonstrate to others that we are keeping a pure relationship with and without others around. And for wisdom as far as our relationship goes, of course. :) I still have three years of school left, and he's deciding whether to go to seminary, grad school for Ancient Semitic Philology (it has a longer name but that's all I can remember ;) ), or get a job and work for a while before going to school or becoming a pastor. So even if we knew now absolutely that we want to be married, we couldn't be yet.
I wish you could all meet him now. He's such a wonderful guy. He said yesterday that what he wants most is to teach the Word and have God be pleased with him, to be glorified by his life. Even when we're close and quiet, he'll start talking about Jesus or prayer or worship. God is what matters most in his life- in both of ours. :)
I love you all, and I hope you had a wonderful time together on Sunday, all of my aunts and cousins and Mom! :) I'm sure you did. I happened to have a good weekend too. ;)

Weekend Weekend Weekend!

Hooray for three day weekends! I'm done until Tuesday, and so happy about it. :)
Last week was pretty busy, being the first week of the semester, but this week was my real taste of what this year will be like. On Mondays and Fridays, I'm done at noon, which is so nice- all I have those days is Science Lecture and Music Theory 1. Wednesdays are the same, except I have voice class at 12. That's nice too. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busy days: on Tuesdays, I have class from 9:30- 3:15 with choir from 4-5:30; Tuesdays 8-3:15 (with an hour break before lunch) and then choir. Whew! Monday nights Natalie and I co-lead a Bible Study, and a few times so far (and a few times a month) I sit desk in the evenings in my dorm. And hopefully I will soon have a job babysitting an infant :)
It sounds like a crazy schedule, and on Thursdays it feels like one ;) but MWF can be so nice. I have time to do my homework for the next day, and that's really nice. It's been wonderful seeing my friends and Paul again too :) He comes to sit desk with me, and he has a house "off campus" that's a five minute walk from Olds so I can study there without worrying about breaking visitation rules. (visitation is only parts of a few days a week in dorms.) That's been nice, too, because I really can do my homework, but then we always end up talking and laughing and even having a pillowfight :) It's been a good thing.
I've also been learning alot, spiritually. I'm learning from preparing for Bible Study, from talking to friends and Mary Beth especially, and from talking to Paul. Paul is so zealous about studying the word, and he knows more than I do by far, and we've talked about creation, adoption, love, marriage, our inheritance in Christ, holiness, the fruit of the spirit, worship, and the will of God. He challenges me and blesses me in a way none of my friends do.
My friends here have been wonderful too, though. I study with my girls alot, and we eat lunch together; Mary Beth and I can spend hour talking, so we do that a few times a week too. :)
With all of this, despite missing my family (alot!), I feel so blessed to be here. I hope you all have a great weekend together, especially with Mom there :)

Encouragements

This morning I logged onto facebook, kind of hoping to have a message, and found instead that two of my friends had posted notes (which is like a blog post for facebook). They weren't friends I know extremely well; one I had a class with, and one I dance with at swing club but otherwise see only across the hall. But their notes looked good, so I read them, and I am glad I did!

Paul Mueller's note was about Romans 14:5-8 and how he has been convicted to delete his copied music from his computer because, since he doesn't know for sure if it is wrong or not, to him it is a sin to have that music. Well, that applied both directly and indirectly to me. It's hard not to take the songs that friends email to me at school, or copy onto my computer so we can listen to them while we are together, and I've been especially avoiding deleting Hey There Delilah, which Amy emailed to me. But I can't keep any of it any longer, because for me it is a sin. I know it.
Paul Mueller's note also said this, which really made me think: "Am I really walking in a life of simple, humble faith or am I living for myself and using God’s words to back up my own ambitions and vanity?" If I am walking in a life of humble faith, then it is going to take over every part of that life, including music. I was challeneged and encouraged to be reminded of my obligation as a follower of Christ to obey in everything.

Shannon's note was about the cross- about Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” She wrote that Christians these days tend to live as if the cross was a small thing with little importance or authority in our lives, as though it changes nothing. But, she pointed out, for the early disciples, taking up their cross meant death to their former life and their own desires. They knew that they could die for following Jesus, and they still chose to die to the world, because they were called to follow Jesus.

I thought, as I read these friends' words, how blessed I am to have such friends. My life should reflect Christ in everything the same way theirs does, but I forget this alot. I want to obey in everything, though. I am deleting my copied music right now, and I am praying that I always reflect Christ in my life.

PNK

This picture is SO Paul :)

Words

By now, you all know about a certain young man I know :) Well, I didn't want to say anything too soon, because it's a different sort of relationship: we're not dating, and we're not quite courting, but we are... perhaps I'll have more to say about that when we're back at school...? :) I'll keep you all updated. Thank you all for your prayers and happiness :)
Paul loves God and spends most of his free time studying the Word. I'd like you all to get to know him a bit, so here is a glimpse of his heart:

[This is from a conversation he and I were having at school]
"That's why fasting is so important to do. Putting us into that continual, completely in your face and unavoidable realization that just as physical life is only possible by depending upon God to nourish us with food, that we absolutely cannot have real life unless we depend and fill ourselves with his word; otherwise we'll die. Kind of like a 2 Peter 1:5-9 kind of thing. You're either filling youself and so growing and living; or you're not filling yourself, and instead of just not growing, you'll completely die and fall away. That's what fasting, real fasting, is for; and what we just need to do with it sometimes; deprive ourselves to the point where it feels like we can't keep going, where it feels like we can't survive any more, and feel that deep need; that same need we feel there is the same need we have in our real, our spiritual life; and so, with prayer, that fast makes us so realize that and depend upon God for the nourishment for that real, spiritual life and do whatever we can to obtain that nourishment in his word."

[This is from a group discussion on facebook about Philippians]
"--I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.
We need to live in such a manner that we can truly say this of our brothers and sisters. In order to truly thank God every time a brother comes into our minds, we first need to have reason to give thanks to God on their account. Thanking God upon every remembrance isn't just "O, Michael...thank you God for Michael being so...talented and smart. He really helps me out with my homework at school." It should be that true thanksgiving and rejoicing that comes from the glorificiation of the name of Christ. And if our friendships, if our relationships are idle, if they are with those whose lives will not glorify the name of Christ, then we are having no reason to rejoice in the Father on their account. And so we must take it upon ourselves to ensure that we have reason to rejoice in our brothers, constantly setting the redemption that is in Christ before their eyes that they might forever behold it, trust in it continually, and by faith live in this grace in which we stand, this adoption to the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Then, when we see our brothers and sisters living in their adoption, living as the new man and not as the old, bearing the fruit of the Spirit even as Christ himself did, and in all things bringing glory and honor to the name of Christ, then we will certainly have grounds to thank God upon every remembrance of them: for even then will these brothers and sisters do the work of Christ as well, preaching his name unto those around them, and bringing encouragement and comfort to others, and to ourselves. And when they minister to us, strengthen us, restore us--how much more then will we have cause to thank God upon their behalf. So let us make this true: devote yourselves to ministering to your brothers and strengthening them and building them up, especially those that are weak, so that they may be strengthened and you can truly say, along with Paul, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."

I just wanted you to have an idea of what an earnest, Christ-centered person he is, and maybe be challenged as I am. :) I love you!