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StirTheStars
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Country: United States
State: North Carolina
Metro: Chapel Hill
Interests: Jesus, history, cooking, horses, making music, frolicking in nature, artistry of all forms, getting to know people, exploring new cultures
Occupation: student
Member Since:
9/24/2003
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| I know, we all hate this, but whoever wants to keep up with me while I am in Central Asia for the next two years - bookmark this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! julienca.wordpress.com I'll also be updating it before I go with prayer requests, etc. It's more personal than xanga, plus people can comment without being a member. Love, me | | |
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It is difficult for anyone who has seen the University of North Carolina to explain its beauty. The first public school to open its doors in America, it has roots that go deeper than the huge ancient oaks that cover the green quads with their canopy of leaves. When Spring comes, it comes alive with flowers of every color, and the whole city of Chapel Hill brims with their sweet scent. Rather than try to tell you how beautiful this place is, and how dear it is to my heart as I leave, I thought I'd let you see for yourselves and hear it in the words of the famous author and UNC alumnus, Thomas Wolfe.
But sometimes when the Springtime comes,
And the sifting moonlight falls —
They'll think again of this night here
And of these old brown walls,
Of white old well, and of old South
With bell's deep booming tone,
They'll think again of Chapel Hill and —
Thinking — come back home.
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| So, I am kind of in love with Erasmus of Rotterdam.
I am writing a book report on a great biography of him called Erasmus of the Low Countries, and the more I read about him, the more I just love the way he thought about life and how he approached devotion to God.
He championed two things, mainly - one, the liberal arts curriculum as a mode of sharpening one's mind in order to better understand Scripture (and read it in its purest form, its original languages). He rejected using logic to interpret Scripture, but rather taught that Scripture had a logic all its own that when poured over and understood, deeply resounds in the human heart and makes us whole again. In other words, one must understand the gospel in order to be changed - not the other way around. Second, he loved people well. He thought that people spent far too little time cultivating loving, healthy, fellowship and relationships with each other in his time. He took seriously Jesus' challenge that people will know God through us by the degree to which we love one another. Much of his free time was spent writing letters of encouragement and affection to friends of his, and friends of his remarked at how social he was - how his warm humor and spicy wit could keep a dinner table entertained for hours. In addition, he wrote one of my favorite books, Praise of Folly. I'm thankful for people like him, whom God used to sharpen humanity.
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Well, it's been an interesting week.
Women's Beach Retreat was really difficult, spiritually. There was warfare the whole time - it was like swimming through jello. If going to school at UNC-Chapel Hill has taught me anything, it's the reality of spiritual warfare. What a training ground! Apparently, people come from all over the country to pray over this campus - founded upon humanism, having staunchly rejected Christianity from the beginning, it has been a battleground and a stronghold for the enemy ever since. I digress.
The Lord definitely gave me what I needed to speak to them, but it was the hardest talk I've ever given. Every word seemed to sit wrong with the listeners, and one girl that was sitting on a tall stool directly in front of me was out cold in deep sleep. I pressed on, and I pray that the Lord watered seeds among many I met there who are on the edge of rejecting or accepting faith in Christ. I know that He answered the prayer that you and I both prayed - that God would be glorified through my weakness. He let me be very weak.
They were clearly uncomfortable at the end of it - I wasn't sure what that meant because I've always been received amiably after speaking. I got in the car afterwards and just broke down. I called Tone who encouraged me to not question what God was doing - obviously He did what needed to be done.
He taught me some very important lessons this week.
1. Spiritual warfare - after you do anything for God, have a REARGUARD. Be prepared for spiritual backlash with someone to pray with you afterwards, and immediatly begin fighting backlash with Scripture and praise to God. Don't turn your back on the enemy for one moment or He will take you out just like he took out some of David's men by the hand of the Philistines when David didn't set up a rearguard, and he turned his back too soon after victory.
2. God never lets us "fall" by His standards. I was a little upset because I felt like my talk was the weakest delivery I've ever done, the most scattered and "organic" as one of my friends put it (ie, it was terrible). I felt like I failed Him - but really, as long as I did what He asked me to do, what I did was exactly the way He wanted it to be delivered. It might be that my weak delivery causes people to remember what I said better, or my confusing explanation of Scripture will make them want to learn more about the conclusions I drew. God knows what He's doing.
The Lord restored me after that. He provided two amazing people to pray over me on Wednesday. They spoke words of prophecy over me and I wanted to just sink into the floor as I heard words spoken over me that the Lord has spoken to me before. He was reconfirming His hand upon me. He knows exactly what I need.
Okay now some of you might be wondering if I'm bordering on charismatic. haha. Well, if that means that I am more aware of spiritual things now, then yeah sure.
The things we pour into ourselves - the abundant riches, the music, the media, the fashion, the philosophies of men, the luxuries that we are used to have completely dulled our senses, friends. It takes being in a place where spiritual warfare is real and God has put me on the front lines of it here to really begin to see that all this stuff has caused the church to become like the church at Laodicea - blind, starving, and naked. We are so clothed in luxury that we can no longer feel how thinly we are clothed in Christ. We are lukewarm, tepid people. I include myself in this - even to have questioned God's reality or faithfulness after a semi-poorly delivered talk to a bunch of girls at the beach?!
Miracles are not being done here because of our unbelief. We are so comfortable in our luxury that we say to God, "We have enough. Just give us a purpose-filled life and we'll share you with our neighbors and bring up our kids in Awana and watch VeggieTales on the flatscreen in our minivan."
What to do? We can't hunker down and try to stay as far away from the battle as possible - our salvation is worked out on the battlefield. The world is uncomfortable - rather than try to be as comfortable as possible here, why don't we just embrace the discomfort, and strive to burn brightly here with the future hope of true comfort in the world to come?
The thought of this scares me, but I know that God is good and He is faithful.
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| Some of you might have heard the news, but for those of you who haven't, UNC's Student body President, Eve Carson, was shot and killed around 1 am yesterday (http://www.wral.com/) near campus.
I did not personally know her, but many of my friends were good friends with her. She was an exceptional young lady, who more than anything else, lived out her faith. She will be missed by many people for her sweetness, humility, and her passion to fight for those who aren't fought for. While her life was short, it was very full - may she be an inspiration to us to live up to our potential.
Please also be in prayer that the murderer is found and brought to justice, so that this won't happen again.
Eve Marie Carson: Biography
Eve Marie
Carson, 22, was elected student body president at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill in February 2007. Her term would have
ended in April.
A native
of Athens, Ga., Eve was born Nov. 19, 1985. She came to Carolina in the
fall of 2004 as the recipient of a prestigious Morehead Scholarship. A
member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, she was a pre-medicine
student majoring in both political science and biology. As a North
Carolina Fellow, she was part of a four-year leadership development
program for undergraduates.
While at UNC-Chapel Hill,
she was extremely active in both leadership and service roles. As
student body president, she was also a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill
Board of Trustees. She served as co-president of the Honors Program
Student Executive Board and as a member of the Committee on
Scholarships, Awards and Student Aide; the Academic Advising Program;
and the Chancellor’s committee for University Teaching Awards.
Teaching
and working with children were key service interests for Eve. In 2006,
she taught science at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School in Chapel
Hill as part of UNC’s INSPIRE program, whose mission is to encourage
young students to pursue science as an interest. In her junior year,
Carson was a tutor at Githens Middle School in Durham. She was also an
assistant coach in the Girls on the Run of the Triangle, a character
development program for girls ages 8-12 that uses running to teach
values and a sense of self.
Eve's service extended well
beyond the Triangle, however. In the spring of her sophomore year, she
participated in a study abroad in Havana, Cuba, and she spent her
summers working and volunteering in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana as part of
the Morehead Summer Enrichment program. "I credit my prior experiences,
especially my past two Morehead summers, for preparing me to get along
with pretty much whatever comes my way," she wrote in an e-mail posted
on the Morehead Web site. On campus, she became involved in Nourish
International, an organization started by UNC students in 2002 for
hunger relief. Eve served as freshman volunteer coordinator (2004) and
co-chair (2005) for the group.
The daughter of Bob
Carson and Teresa Bethke, Eve was also the student body president of
her high school, Clarke Central, in Athens, Ga. When she ran for the
same office at Carolina, she was elected with 55 percent of the vote in
a runoff with a bigger turnout than the previous year's general
election.
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