Jehovah our Concentration

Jehovah Jireh, The Lord our Provider.

My question is, does God refer to Himself as The Lord our Concentration in the Bible?
Just looking at this week I have been doing assignments and have been terribly terribly distracted by so many things (mainly internet related....) that I am wondering if I can ask God to be my concentration.
You could say that concentration is a by-product of strength, and God certainly is our strength.
So is He, or can He be, our concentration?

We live, now, in a world full of information and entertainment, and even info-tainment (!).
But we are not called to be a part of this world, we are called to be a part of God's world. Maybe that, then, is our cross to bear as westerners, the thorn in our side, the fact that we MUST get beyond ourselves, have some self-control and forcefully sit down and get concentrated on God for a bit everyday.
I, personally, find that I cannot read my Bible in the morning or pray if I turn on my computer first. My God time in the mornings needs to be before I hit electronics of almost any kind (except for microwaves and toasters, I like breakfast!).
If I don't do it before then I can't concentrate, the world is in my head (like The Doctor) and no matter how much I want to spend some quality with God I can't.

I see why King David liked to spend his mornings with God.
And also DC Talk

What do you think?

The Uncultured Project

So I'm sitting at home, chilling because I have a sore neck.... (bah!)
And I am catching up on my blog reading (so far behind!!) and I read this:

The Uncultured Project blog

The Uncultured Project is run by Shawn Ahmed who is Bangladeshi, but lives in the US. He started the project when, instead of buying an Xbox, he decided to go to Bangladesh and use the money to benefit others by buying mosquito nets, etc. I really love what Shawn has been doing, both alone and with Save the Children, and so I have subscribed to his blog.

The link above is to his latest blog post, and I thought it was a really great read.
It is really interesting to see how many aid programmes seem to miss the boat when it comes to getting local knowledge on how communities work. I was especially wowed on Shawn's look at Orphanages.
In a Muslim country, like Bangladesh, Orphanages are the best thing for those who do not have parents, as the western way of thinking does not give the child any better opportunities than the orphanage, and may in fact be treated worse than at the orphanage.
But, should Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) follow some of the customs of the country they are entering, then fantastic things may result!

So have a read (it is a LONG read, btw), and let me know your thoughts. I would love to hear them and discuss! Plus I am on holiday, so I will happily converse with you all.

What shall I write this week...?

I think this is the question that goes through all bloggers minds when they finally sit down at their computer and go to write something. Either because it is a regular occurrence, or because they figure it has been too long between posts and they really should write a blog because they DO want to be a blogger, they just suck at it so far.
For me, I'm a little of column A, and a little of column B.
For the last couple of weeks I seem to be blogging on a Sunday. And I think that if I leave it for longer than a week, I feel bad for those of you who are regular readers (if there are any out there? Holla if you are!), and I really do want to blog and get my thoughts out there on the interweb.
But I really like Sundays. For a number of reasons actually. I think I will share these with you.

1. A day to catch up
A number of years ago when I was doing my undergrad, one of the pastors at my church encouraged us to give up our Sundays and not doing any work or homework on them. I have chosen (to the best of my abilities) to do things that otherwise get neglected: like washing, blogging, cleaning, etc. So I love Sundays as days to catch up on neglected but important things.

2. A day for friends
And since I choose to take Sundays off from study, it gives me the time and brain space to catch up with friends. For me it is important to set time aside for friends, otherwise I become a recluse who likes to watch too much tv.... Also I know that it takes brain space to engage in other people's lives, so I choose to use it! Sunday's are a great day to catch up with friends!

3. A day to just blob
If I have had a pretty big week (or just a big weekend!) I can just chill on Sunday knowing that I have done enough work in the week. I allow myself to relax. I think it is quite important to allow yourself to do nothing, to take a moment, even go so far as to have a cry or a laugh or a walk or whatever and do it for yourself. For your sanity.I am a big fan of taking time for sanity. Otherwise we would all be crazy! Or, well, more crazy than normal!

So my question to you is:
Do you have a day that you purposefully don't do much? Would you if you could? How do you attempt to keep sane?

50th Post

So, it has taken me about a year and a half to get here, but this right here is my 50th post.
And what a great way to celebrate it by saying that I have successfully completed my first practicum for teaching! Yay!
It was a great school, and it was cool to be a part of their family for those short 6 weeks, but strangely enough, I am ready to go back to some of the theory of teaching before I crack into the 2nd practicum.
I feel that it is just really good to get a solid foundation of theory before I go and apply it all. I do agree that sometimes it is good to 'sink or swim', but on many occasions, I feel, having some sort of foundation is great!
I guess it is the same with life - and I think most of life gets the balance quite good with the whole sink or swim, or foundation of theory-ness.
Being a Christian, we are called to stand on the solid foundation - the rock - Jesus Christ. And as long as we have that foundation, we are pretty much good to go with anything. Jesus knows exactly when we need to just dive in, or step off like Indiana Jones in his third movie - to just take that one step of faith that is so scary, but so necessary if we are to ever succeed in life. And other times, Jesus just lets us take a bit of a step back to understand and see where he is going to take us and let us simmer and percolate in that awesome-ness and wonderful-ness that is where he will take us.
Theory is good, practice is too, but the right mix just makes it perfect.

Live.

Only two more weeks of practicum to go. It has really gone so fast. But it has also gone slowly. Isn't that so like life? One second we are waiting sooo long for something, and the next, it is there and gone, and done.
Our life is just so fast. A blink on the radar of eternity.
So I say to you, I implore you:
Live every day. Speak Jesus into people's lives. Care.
It goes a long way.

(And don't worry, this is just as much for me as it is for any of you!)

mmmmmmmm No Occasion Cake...

So today I decided to make a cake. Actually, yesterday I decided and today I followed through.

I had no reason to bake a cake, however, I just felt like I should! And I like cake!! Don't you?

And so, in the process of making said No Occasion Cake I think I came to some conclusions, or maybe another analogy of an analogy.
1 Corinthians 3:6 says "I [that is Paul] planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."
My version goes something like this, "I mixed the ingredients, my flatmates did the dishes, but it was the oven that made the cake rise." And like Paul and Apollos, we will all get to enjoy the cake in all its awesomeness!

I do like Paul's analogy, but cake is awesome too!

(currently)

In a Facebook convo with a friend of mine I was discussing my upcoming practicum for Teachers' College. Last Thursday most of my class (there are 90 of us) received their practicum details about which school they would be at for the 6 weeks of our first practicum.
In the course of this conversation I said something that on reflection is rather interesting and kind of highlights my character a little.
I said that I "wasn't (currently) worrying" about it, mainly because it is still 4 weeks away, and so there was no point fussing over it yet.
However, with that statement, I indicated that just because I wasn't worrying now didn't mean that I wasn't going to be worrying later as it becomes closer and closer to my practicum.
But why should I need to say that at all???
God's word tells me not to worry - Ever.
Are we ever like that at all? Even for a moment? a second?
It almost seems as if worrying is a part of human life, whether we call it worry, concern, vexation, or trouble. It is all the same thing, and God calls us to be rid of it.

And not only that, He calls us to seek His Kingdom FIRST.

He calls us to a greater thing, a greater need in this world that is falling into disrepute.
So let us not currently worry about things, and also let us not worry in future.
God help us all!
Amen :)