thoughts

Hallelujah I finished my paper! I officially start summer break! Yay!! Taking classes during summer/winter breaks is exhausting. But in the long run, i'm glad i finished another course. I feel like i'm one step closer to graduating. I don't mind taking a bunch of counseling courses, but i'm not too fond of some of the counseling professors.. Talbot sure has a bunch of requirements for the M.Div. I'm so pooped out. I don't wanna think about how much i'm gonna stress out about learning Hebrew. It's also weird going from a very high level of stress to doing absolutely nothing. lol.. Not having anything hard or important to do beats being super busy any day. I wonder if i should take less credits to focus more on ministry.

I dislike how i freakout and prepare so last minute. I also wish i had more free time during the semesters to focus on my own relationship with God. I always say i don't make enough time for God because "i'm just too busy." Well in actuality we're really never too busy for God. Isn't it weird how we hafta "make" time for God, when he should be the main event of our day. We should have to "make" time for our other responsibilities and get so caught up with being with God. I wonder how strong my convictions are when i say, "oh i need to make more time for God." And then the very next day/week i don't do a single devotion time. Why am i struggling to slow down and meet with God? Why does it seem difficult to grow in my sanctification? Why do i continue to stumble over stupid sins? For the longest time, i believed that focusing on spiritual disciplines will help me draw closer to God. And i still believe that. The hard question now has become, "how do i effectively do spiritual disciplines consistently?"

I always get caught up in this philosophical circle of not knowing how to increase my walk with God. I say, i jus need to do more spiritual disciplines. But in order to do a spiritual discipline, i need the motivation and desire to make the intention. But in order to gain the desire i feel like i need to wait and receive from God, which is in itself a spiritual discipline. Perhaps it comes back to meditating on the gospel. Which again can be consider a spiritual discipline. But as i was reading some old works of Anselm, Augustine, and Athanasius, and i see how much reverence they had. They discussed and debated the nature of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity and all these deep truths of scripture. It's kinda nice that in our modern day we have such a long history of the church to refer to. But it's kinda crazy how much intense study can go into knowing philosophy, theological doctrines and God's Word. There are so many people who had different beliefs and views of who Jesus was and how God works. It kinda makes me appreciate having good theologians and pastors today who can effectively preach the truth. Sometimes i kinda wish God's Word was a little more clear on certain areas. I find it interesting that God chose to speak through a historical context of other people and through different genres. I wonder if Paul knew his epistle letters would one day become canonized as God's inerrant and inspired Word.


Apologetic Arguments for the Existence of God

Cosmological Argument (everything that exists has a cause)
Teleological Argument (Intelligent Design, Order, Logic)
Anthropological/ Axiological Argument (Morals)
Historical Account of Jesus and Scripture (The empty Tomb, Archeology, Eye witnesses)
Personal Witness of the Holy Spirit (Inner sense of beauty/pleasure of the Divine)
Ontological Argument (There is something greater than we can perceive or imagine)
Family/Friends
Five Guys
Surf City Squeeze
Olive Garden
Ikea
Zippy's Chili
Boot's & Kimo's
Shave Ice
Chicken Katsu Curry
Mochi Ice Cream
Costco Ice Cream
Americone Dream Ice Cream
Lychee
Gogi
Hawaii

Ah how come my blogs always take a turn and become more theological? I guess i don't really like blogging too much about other things i do..

I miss hawaii!


I 'm excited to see my friend Ike
I wanna play basketball
I wanna go to the gym
I wanna go surfing
I wanna workout
I wanna sleep
I wanna go to san diego
I wanna read a comic book
I wanna read a good book cuz i want to and not cuz i hafta
I wanna watch kdramas and superhero shows
I wanna sleep
ahh doo-doo! i left my lychee in the car! its too dark and sketchy outside tho..
oh i forgot to blog about the retreat!

How come our students encounter God at a deeper level at retreats then at regular church services? More people seem impacted by worship, prayer seems more intense, and fellowship seems better. I think we all need a daily dosage and fresh revelation of God's explosive love, not just at retreats.

I was kinda thinkin of some questions, and i'm not completely sure how to really answer these..

If Christ didn't have to be crucified would he die a normal death as a human?
How exactly can Christ be fully man and fully God?
Can someone please explain the Trinity?
If God has divine foreknowledge and is sovereign over everything, how can we really have free will?
If God never changes, how could Christ become human, be forsaken by the Father and then be exalted, if he (God) stands outside of time?
How exactly did the Son maintain fellowship with the Father when He endured the wrath for our sins? Was there a severance in the fellowship?
What is the role of the Son, besides being interceding and being our atonement? Yes He's our King, but do we really experience the person of Jesus, or do we specifically encounter the works of the Father and Holy Spirit more than the Son?
How come we must endure such struggle in our sanctification when God can instantaneously make us like Christ when we are glorified in heaven?
What is heaven like?

Ahh im so tired! zzzz...