hah, funny how my last post was on July 16 this past summer, talking about how hopefully fields & i would be official soon.. he talked to my dad that day & we became officially official on July 17. lol, guess my wish came true :P
so now we're at the present day, September 30, 2008. I'm about a month into the fall 08 semester, & so far it seems to be going okay. i do miss summer and not having any homework, but i've been making sure that i stay ahead on my homework load because i don't want to get stressed out, and i definitely can't just ignore my homework altogether.. so the logical and smart thing to do is get it done asap. so far it's been working out pretty well. right now my hw is sorta starting to pile up again, but it's just a matter of time management. i can do this. i can handle it. can't wait til winter break though, the holidays, parties, hanging out, break from school, hehe.
the reason i'm blogging today is actually because of tonight's Bible Study, which was our second segment on the book of Galatians. as usual i mostly just sat there and observed, listened, taking in what the others had to say since i don't really have much to input, i feel like i don't know enough to really be able to analyze things as much as i could, so i get more out of hearing what everyone else says. Paul's letter to the Galatians talks about how salvation is not attained thru your works and following the law, it is given and justified thru your faith. Spin, Huggy, & Colvin said quite a bit on the subject, but Huggy in particular went off on a tangent that I agreed with and wanted to make a note of.. we all agreed that salvation is given to you based on your faith, but the rather controversial bit of tonight's study was: what about the law? is it overridden by faith, as in we don't have to follow it anymore? Huggy's affirmation was no, we don't just dismiss it.. we're granted salvation thru our faith, and then the laws provide guidelines to live by, so that we don't fall deeper into sin. God gave us the laws (such as the commandments) to help us along in our lives so that when it is over, we can enjoy our salvation with Him. then Spin chimed in agreement, saying that the laws aren't there to make us feel guilty, they're there to help guide us and enforce our faith.. our following the laws is a byproduct of our faith, & maybe in following the laws we can also feel stronger in our faith at the same time, too. I don't remember exactly how either of them worded things, but I thought it was pretty profound, and I definitely agreed. It's all just really interesting to think about.
Lately I feel like a lot of what I do when I'm around people is sort of just, internally step back and observe, maybe do some comparisons with how I live my life. I feel really lucky to have these kinds of people as influences on my life, and I look back on my experiences, compare how I've lived to how I live now, and I have to say, I am definitely much more satisfied with my life as it is now. I know I still have a lot of growing to do as a person, but I'm glad I've made it this far and matured this much. I know I'm not perfect, but I like the direction that my life is taking, and I will just continue to strive toward the path that will take me closer to God.
