| | today, as promised, dr. alan scholes (teaching our intro to christian theology class here at new staff training) lectured on the difference between miracles and providence.
basically, miracles are when God bends or "temporarily suspends" existing laws of nature. they are generally inexplicable, unrepeatable events.
providence is when God works through the existing laws (cause-and-effect loops) to bless his people.
by these definitions, someone driving their motorbike at 95mph on a slippery winding road that skids off a rough patch and tumbles into the concrete wall headfirst - and walks away unscathed - is a miracle. someone with an inoperable brain tumor that suddenly disappears - is the beneficiary of a miracle. in other words, things like these are "not supposed" to happen.
providence is when (like what happened to me yesterday! yay) your mother calls you out of nowhere cause she's just been talking randomly to people at church and a friend of hers wanted to support me. yes, it was amazing and wonderful that she gave out of her heart, in a response to what she herself had been given, and it IS the very total that just dropped off for me, and will help pay for training! and however spectacular it is it's no miracle - it's just providence. amazing grace it is! but no miracle.
anyway, i'm writing this not to be a downer, but that i got to witness a moment of pure worship when he suddenly noted that it makes God all the more awesome that while he was still orchestrating the world and its ways, he would have had to fashion natural laws in such a way that our prayers could be answered through them - he knew what we would pray for and what we would need at the exact time - before we ever were.
amazing.
/ / /
nst is great. i've met a ton of people already (there are 250 of us now that 30+ some canadians just joined us this week for classes) and i love their faith and getting to know their stories. and i can already see in just one week's time that i'm going to be with a lot of these people for a long time, wherever we end up. a handful are staff kids and i can't tell you how inspiring it is to see multigenerational ministry families!
last night we had a storm to compete with all storms. it even elicited a tornado warning. toto, we're not in california anymore!! i had to have a very nice person from kentucky inform me of the proper tornado self defense position. ahaha. which is very much like ducking-and-covering during an earthquake.
also notable: there's a team quickly forming for destino la!! and i'm so excited for those who are signing up. praying i'll get to live with some of these women. no one's talked to me about placement but i'm, as usual, content to be along for the ride.
finally, today is sam li's birthday and we're going out! downtown fort collins here we come.
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| | Posted 6/23/2009 3:49 PM - 3 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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