Sunday, June 29, 2008

Jesus prayed for us

A few weeks ago, I came across this passage and I was extremely encouraged, because I never even knew that this passage existed and it's just amazing to thing of Jesus praying for me and every other believer that has lived and ever will live. It's from John chapter 17. So I think I'll just post the whole chapter and leave that as my post.(By the way, this is from The Message version) I just love this passage!

" Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:
Father, it's time.
Display the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
You put Him in charge of everything human
So He might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
The very splendor I had in your presence
Before there was a world.
I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I'm not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I'm no longer going to be visible in the world;
They'll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.
As long as I was with them, I guarded them
In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
I even posted a night watch.
And not one of them got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).
Now I'm returning to you.
I'm saying these things in the world's hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn't join the world's ways,
Just as I didn't join the world's ways.
I'm not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I'm consecrating myself for their sakes
So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission.
I'm praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they'll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they'll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you've sent me and loved them
In the same way you've loved me.
Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
Having loved me
Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But I have known you, and these disciples know
That you sent me on this mission.
I have made your very being known to them—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them."

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Two more weeks.....

Lately I've been busy off and on. Last weekend, my parents' friends' kids came over. And I had to watch them. I never knew watching kids could be SO TIRING! But it was all good. I've also been volunteering at the library by helping out with the pre-school reading program. It's been really enjoyable, and the kids are hilarious. One girl has basically adopted me as her mom,LOL. She actually asked me am I a mom,LOL. Only a five year old would think that I actually look older than 13,LOL. Anyway, camp starts for me in two more weeks!! And I am very excited!!! I found out who my teacher is going to be. She's a Russian pianist and she is described as "very demanding." I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but I know for a fact that I don't work well with teachers who are really demanding and don't like you to have any say or creativity in how you play your music and force you to play just like they tell you because, of course, they're always right and you're always wrong. I have had two teachers like that and nothing can drive me up the wall more. And I'm also sorta nervous that I'll hafta be a fruit-and-salad-tarian while I'm there because I might not be able to eat anything else. But I am praying about it all because I really do want this to be a good camp and I really hope that I can learn alot. And I hope that the practice rooms aren't all taken 24/7 like they were at camp last year. I am also praying that I'll be able to be a witness while I'm there, because that must be my main focus. It's so easy for me to get caught up in trying to fit in with the crowd. Especially in a crowd where I will be one of the youngest people there (last year, they only had one 15 year old and they don't accept anyone under 15). Yet, if I go to a secular campus, which I more than likely will, I can't get caught up in pleasing people. I have to stay caught up in pleasing Christ. Anyway, I am really looking forward to this fall. Oberlin has already asked me for a picture to put on file to go with my application/audition portfolio, so that really made me excited! And I already have one of my pieces for auditions memorized, and half of the other three. Now I just have the dreaded "Bach fugue from the Well Tempered Claiver" to get started on. *Sigh* And this fall, I'll be taking five college courses unless my counselor tells me to drop one,LOL. And on top of that, I'll be taking three other highschool courses. Which really gets me excited. I love being busy. :) Well, I better go practice before I wear my hands out on the computer. Later,
Rachel

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I just like this song

Gratitude by Nichole Nordeman

Friday, June 6, 2008

Dear Diary.....

Well, lately I haven't really been up to much. I've put in a bajillion job apps. Or okay, more like 8. But still, that's quite a few. And I'm hoping that I'll get a couple of calls back. But if I don't, that's okay. I'll just relax and enjoy the summer and look forward to having a job in the fall when there aren't fifty bajillion other hghschoolers looking for summer jobs. But this break from busyness has really given me a chance to think about a few things.First of all, piano. During the summer, it seems like no matter how bored I get, the last thing I want to do is practice piano. Yet I feel like I'm like starving (not literally of course) if I don't practice. And on top of that, it's like hard for me to practice when I don't have a goal in mind. And okay, I do have the ultimate goal of being a concert pianist, but it's very difficult for me to think,"Oh yeah, in ten years, I wanna be at Carnegie Hall, so I better really start practicing and get my pieces down!" Secondly, I've been reflecting on this past year. I think that this has probably been the most difficult year of my life thus far, but I am really thankful for it. For one, I think that it has really matured me. And I don't say that with pride, but with thankfulness to the Lord for what, at the time, seemed like an endless black hole that I'd never make it through. And I was reading this devotion by Joni Eareckson-Tada on Wednesday. It was about the passage in Hosea 2:6-7. She wrote how she has learned to love her wheelchair and love the safety and borders of protection the Lord provides by it. She wrote that had she been able to walk on her two feet, perhaps she would be reaching for and running toward alot of wrong things. And I guess that is how I feel at times. Perhaps had this year been different, I would've turned in a direction that didn't please the Lord. But whatever the Lord's purposes were, I must be content in knowing that He knows what is best for me. And He is preparing me for whatever I will face in my future life. And then I'm thinking about college and stuff. And how weird it is that I will be applying to college in three months.And I already have a poster on my wall which has the cities Oberlin Conservatory is coming to hold regional auditions in January and February. And how really, these auditions determine my future. Or at least for the next four years if I do decide to do grad school. And yes, I am REALLY excited and overjoyed and prayerful and all yet, it suddenly seems like time is sorta going by faster. Like, second grade and those EASY long-division problems seem like they were just like last year or something. And how this year has seemed SO INCREDIBLY LONG, yet, now it's over and it really doesn't seem like the beginning of the school year was so long ago. It's really weird. Anyway, and then the past couple of days, I've learned a few things about Christian love. And thinking of the phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" Like it seems like a really lame question, but honestly, when you already have built up a wall against someone for whatever reason without completely getting to know them, is that loving? Is that what Jesus would do? And I've also learn that as I've gotten a little bit older, being fake isn't as easy as it used to be. At least not for an extended period of time. But I have realized that it's really not about being fake, but being loving. Doing what Jesus would do. And not just plastering a smile on my face, but praying to be loving toward the person who I feel like being fake to. And really, loving your neighbor as yourself isn't always as easy as it seems. Well, anyway, this is really really long and boring. Oh well. Later,
Rachel

Monday, June 2, 2008

Still nothing to write about.....

So here's another vid. This one is called Friend Like That by Hawk Nelson. And for Hawk Nelson, it's really really good.


Well, not much is new. I went to Georgia last week and had an awesome time until my sick little cousins decided to get all cuddly with me and pass their germs to me....but now I'm feeling alot better. I went to the Coca Cola factory while I was there, so that was pretty sweet. And I went to this thing called bootcamp 360, and they had this "competition" thing. The first excercise was running a mile. I ran it in 8 minutes and 33 seconds, and I was pretty happy with that timing because I haven't ran a mile with no break since Dokime! After that, we had the usual pushups. I did 21, and although the other guys (oh yeah, I forgot to mention it was a men's class....) got like 50-60 in 2 minutes, I was happy to get more than 2,LOL. Then there was the worm pushups. And the always dreaded lunges.And the even more dreaded frog jumps. And "cleaning the floor" which really wasn't as bad of an excercise as they made it out to be. And then there were wall squats. And I won that competition. I thought the guy said I held it for 5 minutes, but he talked to my mom and told her that I held it for over 15 minutes. But I paid for it. I could barely walk the following Saturday and Sunday. So never again will I try so hard to beat grown men,LOL. ;)And it was my first mother-daughter trip. And I think that my mom feels a little bit more comfortable traveling with me alone now. Like she was really nervous at first because she's never traveled ANYWHERE without my dad...but after I figured out the GPS system, she really wanted me in the car with her at all times,LOL. So hopefully our trip to NY in 6 weeks won't be so bad afterall. This weekend I will be busy because Aaron is graduating and has some "guests" coming from out of town, and I'm pretty excited for Aaron to graduate. He'll be getting his associate's degree, and he'll be the first grandchild on both sides of the fam to get a college degree and the first person ever on my dad's side, so I think that's pretty.....historic,LOL.Other than that, nothing is really new. Later,
Rachel