Happenings

Kudos to Annika and Andrea leading the prayer talk yesterday! 10 out of 10 on the stepping up scale. Double Whoot!

So that I don’t get overwhelmed with our coolness, I thought I’d write down all the ideas we’ve had and upcoming events, etc. Consider this a one-stop-shop for Bamboozlers info! Oh, and I think it would be awesome if you all make these your own by taking charge of organizing one (and Lydia and I can’t do everything…). Let me know if there’s any of these you want to claim.

Prayer Cont’d

Soooo yes… I’m not certain what is going through my head this morning- except that I need to go for a run, and yet I find myself in my workout clothes sitting in front of the comp.. It’s a beautiful day outside too! Aww- well, it’ll happen sooner or later.
Did you all figure out a day for baking goodness?? I have a somewhat crazy week coming up, but if I can squeeze it in, I most definitely will.
I have to say that I’ve been loving our dg this year!! It has felt very REAL and I’m LOVING getting to know you girls!! I only wish we could see each other more… At least next semester hopefully I will be able to stay for the whole time…
For all you ONLINERS… I say that we should start some deep convos on this thing! I was thinking about the prayer talk we had on friday (ps- a big shout out to Annika and Andrea for doing the study!) What were the five prayers??
1. God, break me.
2. God, search me.
3. God, send me.
4. God, stretch me.
5. God, use me.
I wish I could have been there for the rest of the study… But, one thing that I was thinking about is that God promises to do all of this anyway… He desperatly wants us in relationship with Him, so to do that He searches, stretches, breaks, sends and uses whether we give Him permission or not. I was told once that you don’t have to ASK for what God has already promised us- it is more fitting when receiving a gift to RECOGNIZE it as a gift, and GIVE THANKS for it- rather than asking for it while it is being given to you. The example given was “why do you ASK God to be here, when he has PROMISED to never leave you or forsake you??!!” But, that being said- I think God cherishes it when we ask according to what He plans to do- ASKING IN HIS WILL… I don’t think God is angry or annoyed when we make a statement (recognizing) a question (asking)- but I DO think that He wants us to claim what He has already said (he IS with us) … and in this case, to claim that He has control over us, and to PRESENT a WILLING PLIABLE heart to God in TRUST that when he breaks us, HE WILL pick up the pieces!! That is FAITH in action. But, like you guys said on friday, these are really tough, HARD things to ask God to do… All of them involve SACRIFICE on our part, PAIN on our part- and often feelings of LONILESS and CONFUSION along with that. These are such HARD prayers to pray… I often find myself only half-heartedly wanting to pray them… It’s like you were saying Annika, about having to choose between comfort and sacrifice. I find myself on a daily basis being confronted with that… “Do I really need to buy this top?? But it is soo cute!!” or “Do I really need to stay up late to talk with God?- I’m soooo tired!!” or “do I really need to make-up with my sister??- I’m sooo angry with her!”… It’s interesting though, because COMFORT isn’t the enemy- God desires GOOD things for us… comfort is actually a really wonderful gift! But we tend to fall back on it wayyyy too much- Shying aways from pain is instinctual.   It seems like it is the finest of lines that only God can see… HE determines what is right for us at each time in our lives, and when sacrifice produces the most good…. I can only come back to the fact that He appreciates even a half-hearted willingness- and He can use that.. and eventually He will produce MORE genuine willingness in us. He is IN CONTROL. and HE will gently shape us- even if that means He must STRETCH, BREAK, SEARCH, SEND and USE us.

Looking Forward

Hey gang!

I’m totally looking forward to the next few weeks! This week Lydia and I will be leading again since Andrea and Annika can’t do their prayer study till next week. I was thinking of looking at the tongue. Now stick out your tongue and stare dowdwards…I said look downwards…you’re not looking!

Hehe, I’m in a silly mood. Okay, so seriously I’ve been finding a lot of verses lately that basically say: the tongue is a restless evil and no man can tame it. Lydia, does this sound good to you? This is the verse I’m thinking of using:

James 3:6-12The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and itself set on fire by hell.All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs? (Matt 7:18&19 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them (prophets))? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Also, I’m hoping that we can start organizing times that we can meet up throughout the week to go out sharing. I think sharing with other bamboozlers will help us get to know more about each other. Remind me about it on friday.

I’m so glad most of you came out to Impact on friday! That was fun! I hope that you can all start coming out to the party afterwards too. This week I’ll be taking some pics of people for Winter Con advertizing. It’s gonna be a hoot. If you girls want I can let you be in charge of some of the advertising.

 And before I go to class I just wanted to clarify with you all: if you ever need to talk to me you are VERY welcome to call my cell. I have it on all night next to my pillow in case you need to talk. And if I don’t answer at any time just leave me a fun message and I’ll try my best to get back to you as soon as I hear it.

 That’s all for now!

-Zoe

Jungle Doctor

Here is the first of my Phil 4 posts. This was one of my favorite fables growing up, and I find this both excellent and praiseworthy. This is from the Jungle Doctor’s Hippo Happenings book by Paul White.
Here’s some background stuff:
There is a doctor working in the jungle & every night he tells a story under the buyu tree to the kids who come to listen. He uses different animals in the jungle as characters in his stories. Some of the characters in the stories are:
· Hifi - monkey
· Nyani - monkey
· Toto - monkey
· Boohoo - hippo
· Dic-Dic - small antelope
· Nhembo - elephant

Enjoy!

‘How to Take the Weight out of Burdens’

One day in the jungle, Hifi, Toto’s plump relative, made a mistake of finding three dead limbs, one after another. When the first broke, he swung onto another branch; and as that broke all so, his tail tightened around a thick old limb that looked strong. Unfortunately it had been partly eaten by white ants. Hifi hurled down and landed safely but uncomfortably in a thornbush. Only a second later the dead limb landed bang! on his monkey head.
” Er, ” said Hippo, ” it’s just as well it was only his head. He might have broken his leg, you know. “
Hifi lay on the grass, rolling his eyes.
Dic-Dic said, ” I’ll carry him back to his family tree.”
But it wasn’t as easy as he thought, for Hifi was chubby and heavy, and he riggled and kept calling for his uncle Nyani and demanding a banana in a weak voice.
Dic-Dic’s muscles started to ache as he battled along over the long jungle path. His steps grew slower and his legs began to wobble.
” Er, ” said Hippo as he stumbled along behind, ” he must be rather heavy. You’re bending in the-um-middle, you know. “
Dic-Dic gasped. ” He is heavy. My neck’s aching and my back’s nearly breaking. ” He staggered into the shade of what looked like a great gray boulder and put Hifi down. Monkey groaned and made loud noises of suffering and louder requests for food.
“He’s rather heavy for a monkey, ” said Boohoo.
Dic-Dic flop down and panted, but said nothing.
” Er, ” remarked Boohoo, ” would it be help-ful to drag him behind you on a banana leaf or something? “
Dic-Dic tried this, but Hifi yelled very loudly indeed.
Boohoo shook his head slowly and observed, ” er–no good. It seems to be un-com-fort-able for him.”
He looked around carefully and said ” Um” several times, but no ideas came into his mind. So he wrinkled up his forehead and tried to look important.
Dic-Dic sat there thinking how long was the road and how heavy was the monkey.
Hifi’s groans became louder. The sun was very hot. Boohoo’s head was nodding. Dic-Dic was in the middle of a sigh which abruptly turned into a gulp, for the shade in which he sat started to move. Hifi nearly jumped out of his monkey skin when a long snakelike shadow moved toward them.
But Dic-Dic knew at once that it was the trunk of Elephant, whose eyes twinkled at him, and whose deep voice said, ” Would you like to ride on my shoulders, Dic-Dic? They are very strong.”
Dic-Dic nodded gratefully. Hifi climbed onto Dic-Dic’s back again and Elephant picked up small Antelope and the monkey burden and put them on his shoulder.
Soon Dic-Dic was making contended noises as they moved swiftly through the jungle. A cool breeze fanned his face.
Boohoo followed behind mumbling, ” Er–very useful. I’d the have done the same, Dic-Dic, you know, but hippo’s are at a great dis–dis–ad-vant–” he swallowed slowly. ” Er–it is not so easy when you haven’t got a trunk.”
As he lumbered along he noticed that Antelope’s back was bending again in the same way as it had before. The beginning of many thoughts started to wander about in his head.
” Er, ” He mumbled, ” er–Dic-Dic–er–are you–? “
For awhile Dic-Dic had felt the same old ache returning to his spine. He was struggling with all his strength to support Hifi, who was complaining in a very loud and irritating way.
All at once Dic-Dic realized that his back could not keep on carrying Hifi for much longer. The sound of Boohoo’s voice made him turn a little. At once the weight of his monkey burden shifted and seemed to break him in two. He started to slide. His feet tried to grip Elephant’s neck, but they couldn’t. He was slipping, slipping. ” Help! ” he gasped. ” Help! “
In a flash the long, strong trunk swung up and held him and his burden steadily.
” Why are you still carrying Hifi? ” came in a whisper from Elephant.
Dic-Dic couldn’t think of an answer.
Boohoo’s voice came vaguely from behind, ” er–look out Dic-Dic, you nearly call–that is, collap–er–you nearly fell off just then.” Elephant said quietly, ” Dic-Dic, you are trusting me with your own weight. Why not rest Hifi on my shoulders as well? There’s plenty of room.”
” Er–yes, ” came hippo’s voice, ” I was going to make that–um–sugg–er– sugg-es-tion, that’s the word isn’t it? I was going to say, why don’t you, that is–”
He stopped as he saw Dic-Dic lean back gratefully against the strength of Elephant’s trunk and say, ” But, Nhembo, it’s so kind of you to carry me, how can I ask you to carry my load as well? “
Elephant chuckled. ” Think carefully Dic-Dic. Think carefully.” The twinkle came into his eyes again as a very little while later he felt Hifi been gently placed on the spot just in front of Dic-Dic.
They moved on for a long way. The sun was still very hot. The path was still uphill, but Hifi was making the soft noises of monkey storing, and Dic-Dic put his head on Elephant’s trunk and rubbed very gently with his chin. He felt his happiness grow as a most comforting answering ripple came along the very strong muscles that supported him and his burden so carefully.
“Um, ” came Hippo’s voice, ” why didn’t you put Hifi on Elephant’s back at the beginning? “
Dic-Dic did not answer but wondered just why he hadn’t done so himself.
He was very grateful when Nhembo said, ” When you have other burdens in times to come, do not again cling to monkey wisdom! ”

Welcome to the Bamboozlers’ Blog!

Well, here it is! Welcome to the blog of the U of C C4C 2006/2007 girls D.G. hosted by Lydia and Zoe, a.k.a. THE BAMBOOZLERS!

This blog can be a place where we girls stay in contact throughout the week, talk about God, scripture, the D.G., our everyday lives, share stories, plan outreaches/parties, or anything else you can think of!!
If you have any ideas for the blog, write a post about it and place it under the category “blog”. If you have any brainstorms for the D.G., post about it under the category “D.G.”

Zoe’s brainstorming for more categories:
1) Sharing stuff that makes us smile (The “Whatever is’s” from Phil 4:8)
2) Sharing creative stuff we’ve done like poetry, pictures, songs etc.
3) Discussing Biblical stuff, e.g. the Nephilim
4) Plain old blog posts about how we’ve been doing (physically, intellectually, relationally and spiritually)
5) Random thoughts about random things
6) Good quotes we’ve come across or words of the day
7) Contact info (password protected, I’m thinking)

Okay, some of those were kinda redundant. Just some thoughts. I’m looking forward to seeing the categories that actually develop over time.

This blog is public, so feel free to bless all viewers with your thoughts. However, if you have anything personal to say that you want to be viewed only by your fellow bamboozlers, protect it by a password.

Remember, true friendship is a safe place to let things matter, so feel free to share what matters to you!

Love you all(ready)!
-Zoe