breaking the silence - jeremoi's return

jeremoi is back from the cottage... man, what a great week of doing... just about nothing. Well that's not true, although it felt like it compared to a summer full of work and project activities. A typical day proceeded as such:

Wake up around roughly 7:30 or 8-ish and walk to the other cottage (we have 2 cottages, but one is just for sleeping and is amusingly unlevel... we wonder sometimes if we will come up one spring and find it much closer to the shoreline). I would grab my Bibles (NIV, the french "heretical" bible, and two printed sheets of the ESV) and proceeded to study 1 Corinthians inductively (somewhat anyways). So far I've worked through the first two chapters - nothing life changing, but still really good times of deep pondering and reflection into what God is saying through Paul. Very theological so far, so finding meaningful application has been somewhat lacking. Anyway, that would usually carry me through to about 9-ish, afterwhich I would grab a bite to eat of something... usually nice and sugary - a bowl of fruit loops or some chelsea bun... mmm...

(me chillin on the air mattress with my little cousins... and my dog, Riley... who actually didn't bark too much)

The rest of the day would consist of some or all of the following: swimming in our not-so-crystal-clear-and-clean lake, lying on inflatable air-mattresses (either on the dock or in the lake itself), continuing a 4-day marathon of stock ticker (an excellent game that rather inaccurately models the stock market), reading a few chapters from one of 3 books: Max Lucado's Cure for the Common Life, Bill Bright's Holy Spirit: The Key to Supernatural Living, and A Treasury of A. W. Tozer. I think I've found Bill Bright's book most applicable and interesting. Everything he says is very simple and biblically-based, and very practical, which impresses me. He basically emphasizes the same few points OVER AND OVER AGAIN - which is really good actually. More or less he stresses that being filled with the Spirit, and living by faith in the promises God has made in his word, is the key to living supernaturally. Needless to say, I've been thinking about these two ideas a lot lately, as well as meditating on some relevant passges of scripture (Galatians 5:13-26 and Romans 8:1-17). I really like going back to these passages and "chewing" on them a bit more. Everyone seems to have their own interpretations of what God is talking about, but they never seem to nail it down in a manner that satisfies my spirit and intellect. I may never be able to do so either, but I still like meditating on them. I've really enjoyed Tozer's stuff as well - man, God sure gave him a boldness to speak an unpopular message. He really seemed to be a man who followed Paul's advice to pay close attention to his doctrine.

Tuesday, went out for a game of golf with my dad and aunt... once a year is enough for me, although about 1 in every 3 shots was fairly satisfying (which means the ball went moderately straight and had a moderate amount of loft, as opposed to bee-lining along the ground into the woods... lol). Thursday, played some tennis with my dad, aunt and sister.... lots of fun, especially because my aunt is better than us all, which makes for a good challenge!

There were a few evenings when I laid out on the dock (on the air mattress of course) and gazed up at the milky way and the vast collection of starry host. I have to admit, it was a much better view than from the roof of Chara's van, although that was largely due to the absence of light pollution on the horizon. Star-gazing remains one of my most treasured parts of life at the cottage.

All in all, i had a really nice week free from distractions that surround me at home... whenever i got bored, i was challenged to go pray or meditate, or just be still and love God. I miss it already, now that i'm back at home and have been kept busy most of the morning cleaning my room (which was a disaster) and most of the afternoon, getting myself up-to-date on all the happenings in your lives. I'm really glad to be blogging with you guys, and appreciative of all the random excerpts from your lives that you've posted... they've been refreshing and amusing. We have a real opportunity to hold one another accountable to investing our lives in pursuit of eternal treasures, namely, knowing Christ and making Him known. I am so grateful for a summer that found a balance between ministry and times of hanging out with you guys... learning and serving with other Christians is such a vital expression of fellowship, and a necessary complement to those times of "hanging out"... to me, those hanging out times are so much more meaningful because of the experiences we share in serving and ministering together, as well as studying God's word and learning together. I guess what I'm trying to express is that our friendships and relationships with one another as Christians are deepened and the bond of love strengthened when Christ is the focal point of our times together - in "ministry" as well as in "hanging out"...

Time to start typing out a newsletter to send to supporters. Look forward to hearing more updates from you all. I've been blessed so much already.

jeremoi