Testing, 1, 2, 3...

Test number two is in about 20 minutes! Today I'll be regurgitating my vast knowledge of limnological prcesses, nutrient cycling, and fluvial geomorphology in my Aquatic Ecosystem Conservation class. What a great time! I came to the point this afternoon where I realized that I knew my notes almost inside out and that extra time spent trying to emblazin more material on my mind would be in efficient... so, I'm writing to the world!

Last weeks test, the one in Statistics, went very well. I'm pleased to announce that my rationalizing the test questions did not inhibit a high score. In fact, I couldn't have scored any higher on the test (meaning I even got the extra credit problem right), which put my score at 102/100. Praise the Lord!

Layne, Isabelle (his girlfriend) and Sarah and I had dinner Tuesday evening. We had an absolutely wonderful time! Both them are very interesting people and easy going, so conversation was really easy to come by. It's was great having Sarah there. Her and Isabelle share a common interest in serving the community. Layne informed us over different types of diets (his research is in protein metabolism) and which ones work best, or are most healthy. The food was great, too! We ate at Siam Terrace, a Thai restraunt near downtown Urbana. And, the food was nearly authentic! Still, the atmosphere just wasn't the same - oh, how I long to be back in Thailand! The meal also made me miss my overseas team from the summer. I love all of you so much!

Illini club hockey starts tommorrow night, and Blake and I are going! I also invited a friend from some of my classes, Jose from Hondorus, to accompany us. We're gonna have a blast heckling the other team. I've heard that our fans can be an aggrevating bunch to the visiting team. Anyway, our nat'l champs (we won the title last year) are gonna blow Deleware away! Good times, good times.

Love and miss all of you! Keep on praying! Praise God for Jesus!

Mooncakes and Tea Eggs

Before I became a true Christian I thought that I was already a Christian. My Dad is probably most familiar with the time period when the acutal transformation occured. Prior to this time Christ was not my treasure, but merely a means to heaven. Now, God is my treasure, here and now. I believe in Jesus because he is the only means to unending pleasure - communion with God. Christians are not perfect, though. My actions and words speak to this, but this is why I need Jesus. Christ gave himself unto death in order that my sin would be forgiven, thus purchasing my communion with God.

A friend in the U of I history program encouarged me to write this.

As for my week...

The test on Thursday went pretty well. I was surprised at how I tried to rationalize all of the statistical techniques I was to use in answering the problems. This was the wrong time to whoop out my "logic" and apply it to the fuzzy-science of stats. I'm fairly sure that I did well and gave the expected or "correct" answers.

Numbers has been a blessing: The first four chapters are a clear reminder that God is one of order and reason. From the arrangement of the Isrealite camp to the tabernacle arrangments, each task was to be completed as God intended. These were people who's everday life was preformed with the holiness of God in mind. They understood that the tabernacle was not to be messed with, nor the worship profaned. As God's chosen people they moved together, working perfectly, similar to the movement of the body. Beautiful.

I also played softball Thursday evening, 3 games total. We won all three, but I must admit that my swing is terrible. Atleast I won't get to heaven and be required to explain why my softball swing was so bad! Right, Nicky??? I have some practicing for our game this week and the upcoming playoffs.

Saturday evening I attended the Singapore Student Associations Moon Festival get-together. My singaporian friends, Josh and Joy, had invited me to the activities. We had a blast! I'll post some pictures of the games and skits soon. Afterward my roommates and I watched some of the Best of Will Ferrel. Seeing Ferrel playing a photography model was far from funny, rather it was naustiating.

I attended Hessel Park Chruch this morning. It was a joy to worship the Lord in the midst of the congregation. The question was raised "Is God among us, today?" This question is similar to those I, and many others, have raised in light of the climatic events of late. The answer is "yes". God is with His people. We're not perfect, let me be the first to say. But, Christ does rule as head over all of creation and through his Spirit, he dwells in the Church, the body of Christ. Powerful message.

I just would like everyone to know that I am greatly missing you! Honestly, I have tried to push these emotions aside by overwhelming myself with work. This isn't healthy, don't follow my example.

A little logic from Paul

From 1 Cor 15:12-19

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

R = "There is a resurrection of the dead"
C = "Christ has been raised from the dead"

(1) ~R > ~C
(2) ~ ~C i.e. (≡C)
Therefore,
(3) ~ ~R i.e. (≡R)
The dead will be raised! Praise God!

Cycling like N

Thank you for all of your prayers. For those in Christ, the prayers are pleasing to God. My sister emailed me a prayer this morning - it focused on dedicating our the work and our livelyhood to God. It has been a busy week and I have not had the personal, away-from-the-grind devotional time that I would like. Nonetheless, time spent in both Hebrews and Numbers this week has been sweet and enriching, opening my eyes all the more to God's power and immanence.

I attended the innaugeral meeting of the Darwin Club yesterday. My purpose in meeting with this group is to humbly serve my fellow students and offer a different Perspective. Praise be to God that my friend from Singapore, a student in medicinal Psychology and brother in Christ, Josh Goh was able to accompany me. I realized today that one of the Darwin Club founders is in my stats class and lab.

My first test as a graduate student is tommorrow. I probably have not studied enough. The material isn't difficult, but I tend to take that for granted and skip over simple things. Today in my stats lab I met a second year grad student in food nutrition. He is an very intelligent and healthy guy - in face he's a body builder! We had some wonderful conversation and the two of us have decided that we would like to hang out. Layne and his girlfriend are from Florida and I hope that our friendship continues to grow. Layne's website is...

http://www.physiquescience.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Last Sunday I, once again, attended Stratford Park Bible Chapel. The worship leaders are rotated over a four week range; and this week we sang hymns with the exception of one chorus song at the end. It was way sweet and the Christ exalting words sounded beautiful coming from the Saints! Pastor Ken emphasized, from Ephesians chapter 2:1-10, the glory of God and the immeasurable riches of His grace in raising sinners from spiritual death!

I'm having trouble sleeping again. Monday evening I had some company while studying and I pushed my brain pretty hard, becoming quite tired late in the evening. Even though I was completely worn out, I probably laid in bed from 12 to 1:30 am trying to fall asleep. I laid down earlier in the evening, yesterday, but to little avail. I still had much trouble sleeping. I believe that my brain doesn't know how to handle such an increase in data flow and that I'm quite anxious about many things. I'm hopeful that the Spirit will lead me to trust the Father to sustain me in this calling.

I may be playing on the Grad IV softball team. We have games Thursday evenings. They are later then Bible study, so I should be able to compete.

I love and miss you all!

I encourage you to read your Bibles. We were meant for meat, not spoon-fed milk!

How should we then live?

It has been a restful week and I thank all of you for your prayers. Cara, I know you've been praying that I would rest well and this has occured! I injured my neck, as some of you know, on Wednesday while lifting weights. As the pain increased throughout the day, I decided to go to the campus health center and get some help. After the doc checked me out for 90 seconds he prescribed some muscle-relaxers, anti-inflamitants and pain-killers to get me through the week. After taking the muscle-relaxers I took a two hour nap and later that evening went to bed early for some great sleep! Although I would have much rather spent the time reading journal articles or textbooks, God knew what I needed. Today has been quite productive though.

Classes are going well! Statistics is a peice-of-cake. We have our first test in there next week. Following next week, I have subsequent tests each of the following weeks. Hydrology has been the most difficult thus far. The book is difficult to read and my prof is hard to follow - he knows his stuff, but my mind closes up listening to his voice. Aquatic ecosystems is a lot of fun. I'm learning quite a bit about stream/lake morphology (structural dynamics) and nutrient chemistry. It's a great introduction to more specific classes like biogeochemistry or fluvial geomorphology. I'm reading journal articles at the moment in order to prepare a proposal for my special semester project. This is probably where I need more clarity than anything. It's been hard to understand why I'm doing the analysis that has been given me.

I cooked this week, like really good food, too! Well, let's say that it is god relative to past food I've been preparing. I made a caserole yesterday and spagetti on Tuesday. Blake and Ben have been swamped with work (TAing and interning, respectively, as well as homework). I pray that they would be kept from having a discouraged attitude during this stressful time and that they would trust in God. Thursday I had lunch with a friend I met at Intervarsity. Sarah is a first year masters student in social work and did her undergrad at Baylor. She has a refreshing and encouraging spirit about her. Actually, she reminds me of all the Godly women in my life, one way or another. Praise God for Godly women! All of you make me want to be a more Godly, devoted follower of the Lord. So, thank you.

Last Sunday I visited Stratford Park Bible Chapel. I'm not sure if I posted that or not. The pastor was passionately preaching through the last half of Ephesians chapter one. The sermon was one I would have loved to preach, having been completely moved by that particular chapter in the past. Good, solid preaching - filled with the truth of the doctrines of grace. Praise God, Praise God! It gets me all excited just thinking about! I'm still praying over where to attend, though.

Bible study was last night. We started our study of the book of Numbers with background-type stuff. Particularly, what time period the book covered, who wrote the book, when the book was written, and why it was written. It was amazing that we were able to narrow the date of authorship down to 1400 (+-100) b.c. Some the basis for this was manuscript evidence - like which word was used for God in the writing, Elohim or Yehweh, the types of names used in the book, similarities in writing with other near-East documents, etc. It was really exciting, though. So much there and I, aswell as most people, would just skip over that stuff.

I'm off to check on my sediment samples. They're in the freeze-dryer now and I want to make sure the vacuum pump is still working.

Peace in Christ

Scripture memory for the week - Romans 12:1-2

Much to look forward too

So I was reading an article about reopening much of New Orleans for residents to start heading back in. One of regions that will start recieving residents again is the French Quarter, which suffered minimal damage from the flood. And hopes are high for commerce to start again, as one businessman puts it:

"If we get power, we can bring the dancers in and start working," said Javier Rosado, who's been helping clean the Big Daddy's strip club so it can reopen.

What do you say to crap like that?! If men getting their jollies off has displaced our desire to see people's lives rebuilt and families brought back together, why not just keep the area closed? This makes me absolutely furious. "And this is His command, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us, whoever keeps his commandments abides in him and he in them." 1 John 3:23

Believe in Jesus, God incarnate, and learn to truely love your neighbor.

Real Big Fish

Got Passion?

My friend Justin, among others, is rolling out to Nashville Jan 2-5 to the Passion '06 conferance. I'm seriously considering joining him. If you are interested or have some friends out there who can offer a place to stay, please let me know.

Conference Speakers/Worship leaders include:

Louie Giglio
John Piper
Beth Moore
Chris Tomlin
Shane Bernard and Shane Everett
David Crowder Band
Matt Redman
Watermark - Nathan and Christy Nockels
Charlie Hall

Passion website:

http://www.268generation.com/passion06/www/p06_web.html

Had it been me

I've been pondering the last couple of days would it mean for me and my friends/family if I had been in Katrina. Stranded on a rooftop, no clean water or food, medical help far away, all of the material goods that I own lost, no shelter, smelly and dirty people all around. I hope that I would be drawn to Isaiah 26:8 "In the path of your judgements, oh Lord, we wait for you. Your name and rememberance are the desire of our souls." Although I do not wish calamity on myself or anyone, I am hopeful that God's name, or character, and His great deeds and goodness would be remembered. It would be an impossible circumstance, but as Kristen has reminded me of late, fear of losing everything - family, goods, life - is death itself. Communion with God is everything and it comes through Jesus, and His death.

How would you respond if I was lost in the wreckage? If you had not had contact with me in two or three weeks? I hope that you would be praying for me - not to be found, God is a good shepard and knows where His flock is at. Rather pray that I would draw near to His presence and trust only in His promises.

I love Romans 8:28 - and it's worth looking up.

And, I love all of you

Good and Lowly

If you have a chance, check out Derek Webb's music. I know that Casie and Cara G. have heard his stuff. I'm continually blessed by his call to the Church to get it act together and love God and the people of the world. Webb has some good links to online resources, too.

www.derekwebb.com

Same Same But Different

It has been a busy week and I'm sure that many of you agree. Some great conversation stand out as I look back over the last few days: Zahra, an office mate from Iran, and I talked about Islamic worship. Zahra asked if she and her husband could go to church with me. Of course I said yes, but now I just need to find a good church! Tessa, a lab assistant and I talked significantly about the grad school application process. I hope that what I said helped, but the process is much different for those at large universities. My profs spent ample time helping me apply and writing/proofing letters for me.

More events from the week:

Monday night I watched a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer with some friends. For those of you who don't know. Bonhoeffer was a German evangelical theologian and teacher during WWII. He was primarily responsible for leading the in-country resistance movement against the Nazis. The Nazi party was obliterating the Jews and politically influencing evangelicals against helping the victims. Bonhoeffer wouldn't stand for this. As a result, he was placed in a prison, along with his cousin. The resistance came very close to excecuting Hitler, and as a result Bonhoeffer and his friends in prison were all hung. Surely, a cause worth fighting for - the glory of God in grace and love given to those who do not deserve it.

Thursday evening we had Bible study. It was way cool. I'm interested to see the story of redemptive histroy as recorded in Numbers.

Last night we had I.V. large group. Our speaker was a cognitive music thoery proffessor from Northwestern. He had many good things about what it means to research and be "creative" in your field of study. I think the message will be on the internet and I'll try to post a link for it. Also, if you would like copies of the handout he gave us I should be able to provide that, as well. After LG, some of the guys came over to my house and talked. Much fun!

Today I'm starting some homework and plan to go fishing in the evening.

Also, a band worth checking out: Over the Rhine
http://www.overtherhine.com/

Study Low Down

Here is a synopsis for the Thursday night Bible study I'm joining. It was written by Nina, our discussion organizer. There will be around seven of us meeting to discuss the book of Number, from the Jewish Pentetauch (1st 5 books of the Bible), on Thursday evenings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This fall (2005), we will be studying the book of Numbers. Why Numbers? Numbers is part of God's word that's been given to us. So if God speaks to us through the Bible, we shouldn't be afraid to study it.
Second, I have received remarks about how Numbers may be boring because it gives the results of a census (actually 2). While the book does include hard-to-pronounce names, there is so much more to Numbers than just a census. The Hebrew name of the book, bemidbar, means "in the desert" because it is the story of the Israelites' time between Egypt and the Promised Land. (We get the name, Numbers, from the Septuagint translation of the Greek "arithomoi.")
Third, the archetypical themes in Numbers are ones that echo throughout the Bible and are important for us in understanding the Bible as a whole. The story of God's people leaving Egypt, wandering in the desert, and entering the Promised Land is a lesson in history about our journey out of a place of sin (Egypt), preparing ourselves to meet our Maker as we go through life (wandering the desert), and someday, being with God and having our relationship with Him restored (Promised Land). Numbers, being the part about being "in the desert," is parallel to where we are now.

An appropriate response to Katrina

Why Katrina? Piper informs us of the Biblical justification. I think this is appropriate because many questions have arisen about the justice of God in the face of horrible calamity. Why would God, designing the storm, kill all of those innocent people? Is God actually in control? Is it Satan's hand? Within the Christian perspective of the world the first question should not even make sense, and I think Piper does a great job of doing the explaining.

http://desiringgod.org/library/fresh_words/2005/090205.html

Sweet as Corn: Blake, Ben and Abe

Smells like Emporia

First, the pics below were taken at the first football game of the season. Last year U of I won one out of eleven games. Even though this was only our first game, we're still undefeated thus far! The two other guys in the picture are Josh and Mike (left to right). They're both graduate students in electrical and computer engineering.

Also, it seems as though U of I grounds has decided to fertilize the lawn on the two larger quads on campus. Instead of using stuff you would buy at Lowe's to get this done, they went organic! Which means that there is cow manure spread all over the ground! It stinks! I would bet that one of the environmental action clubs petitioned the school to reduce "pollution" by using the cow crap to help the gas grow, rather than manufactured products.

Undefeated!

John Patton Quotes

Paton's autobiography is quickly becoming one of my favorite books. With humbling and Christ exalting quotes, like the ones below, how can it not???

"All through my City Mission period, I was painfully carrying on my stuies ... The work was hard and most exacting; and if I never attained the scholarship for which I thirsted - being but poorly grounded in my younger days - I yet had much of the blessed Master's presence in all my efforts, which many better scholars sorely lacked; and I was sustained by the lofty aim which burned all these years bright within my soul, namely, - to be qualified as a preacher of the Gospel of Christ, to be owned and used by Him for the salvation of perishing men." pg. 51

"At last I replied, 'Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.'" pg. 56

Ain't no reason not to eat raisins and pineapple

I've been eatin' raisins all day long for two days now. They a wonderful treat! Have you ever considered savoring the little brown, sweet, wrinkled, juicy fruits? And they fill ya up, too! What a wonderful combination!

I forgot to post yesterday that I packed my lunch so I could eat in between classes. It was a lunch of champions: a cheese sandwich and a big can of pineapple. I didn't have a hard time eating the sandwich, but the pineapple was a different story. So, I definantly forgot to bring any utensils. I resulted to trying to my chop stick skills that I learned while Thailand. I'm positive this would have worked had my chop sticks not been plastic coffee stirrers. I finally found some partial victory, though! If you jab at the yellow fruit hard enough the coffe stirrers can be used as skewers. This works for about half the can, until the stirrers are too short and beat up to reach down to the bottom. Why did I not just tip the can up and eat directly from it??? Well, I didn't want to gross out my office mates. Giving up on the chop stick idea, I did finally resort to my animal side and ate out of the can, but not after finding a secluded corner to do it in.

Okay, okay, okay - as Blake would say. I'm done.

Here is a link to my photobucket site. I'm going to try to post more photos soon:

http://photobucket.com/albums/a256/pdbedore/UIUC%20House/

Oh, it's been an awesome day! and Jesus Rocks!

Tears in my eyes

I sure do miss all of you, but that's not the reason for the tears! One of my profs has such a monotomous voice. Every class period my eyes tear up because of bordom! Nonetheless, classes are flowing well. I'm pretty sure that stats will be fairly easy, especially because it's all review. Matt, the prof from aq. eco. cons., and I get along really well. I enjoy the class material. This week we've been discussing watershed and stream geomorphology. While we don't have a textbook for the class, I've been reading some of the suggested texts in order to keep up with the terminology and general concepts. Watershed hydrology is also very interesting, but it's hard to pay attention in class.

Some highlights from the week:

Ben and I lifted weights on Tuesday. I focused on my lower body. Every day since then I have been sore. My body isn't used to squatting with 120lbs of weight on my back or dead lifting the same weight.

Marshall, the other MS student under my advisor, and I collected water samples on Monday. We were able to keep lively conversation while driving the hundred mile route south of town. We dropped one of our sample bottles in the South Fork river, and not having an extra, we were forced to get a little wet and dirty to retrieve our plastic friend. Praise God that I decided to go with Marshall, otherwise there would not have been a chance in saving the bottle!

Today Abe and I went to an awesome Mexican eating facility. Abe grew up as an MK in Argentina and can speak fluent Spanish. He's the worship leader of Tapestry and has an honest heart that is seaking after God. After dinner I attended environmental action night! I walked around the booths for about 15 minutes, gathered some material, and left. Definantly some cool stuff to get involved with: service projects thru YMCA, panel discussions at Engineers Without Borders, and prairie conservation volunteer stuff.

Saturday Blake and some of the IV guys, including myself, are going to the Illinois vs. Rutgers football game. This is my first Big 10 Football game and I'm way excited!

Spiritually speaking...

I've started reading John Patton's autobiography, which has been really encouraging. He was humble Convenantor with a heart for people, both in Scotland and abroad.

I've spent more time praying then study the Scriptures. My prayers have been broad, but have some central themes: seeking praise from God, over than from man; help in honoring godly women as God's daughters - in both my heart, mind, and in action; sharing Christ with my colleagues at school; taking a spirit of joy and affecting my brothers and sisters at IV and in the house; and, finding a church home.

Many prayers have been lifted up for all of you: TRPC - faith that leads to a loss-of-life Christian lifestyle; the Griffos; my family - Dad and Gayle - Mom, Sam and Matt - the Burks - Michelle and Mike - Grandma and Grandpa; My friends - all of you at Challenge - Swifty, Cara G. and B., Nicky, Lori, Suzette, Casie, Kristen, Big C, Kleber, Brittney, Andy B., Stones - please forgive me if I forgot to mention you! Be asured that my prayers are with you, though.

In the Scriptures, however, I have been reading out of Romans and Hebrews. The promise remains, if we will hear and hold onto our confession from the beginning, we have a foretaste of and will enter His rest (Heb 4). Exhort one another and tell, in order that others may hear with faith.

Psalm 63:8 "My soul clings to You"

In the Spirit of Jesus, go and be ambassadors!

~PB