“We are afraid that if we identify our weaknesses, they will identify us,” the chapel speaker, Brian, said.

Around the auditorium, the sound of a single voice echoes. One by one, students stand and speak, reading from Scripture truth about our identities in Christ.

This is who we are, not because of anything that we have done or can do, but because of what Jesus did on the cross.

It’s cold in class today. The air conditioner clicks on and off, vacillating between a dull roar and resounding silence. I’m wearing sandals and cutoffs. It’s the last week of classes, and we’re reviewing for the final on Bible study methods. Which, in Floyd’s class, means we spend about half the time on the study guide and half the time on rabbit trails.

The Tipping Point is a book documenting a man’s study on the richest, most successful people in today’s world, Floyd Schneider explains to us. These people were all born between the years of 1953-55. In addition, there were 5 things that all of these people did; not one of them is missing one of these things. One of them was spending 10,000 hours doing whatever they got successful doing.

He asked his wife one night, “Do you think I could become a world-famous violinist?”

She replied, “You don’t have 10,000 hours left.”

Every couple of weeks he would ask her something new. “Do you think I could… “

She would interrupt him. “You don’t have 10,000 hours!”

One day, she interrupted him and said, “Why can’t you just accept that you’ve spent not 10,000 hours but rather 80,000 hours studying the Bible, and that’s what you’re really good at, and that’s probably what you should stick to?”

It’s the only book that God has written. If I spend my entire life pouring myself into the study of it, I will not be among the richest, most successful people in the world, but I will have influenced it in a great way. Even more than a famous violinist.

It’s 80 degrees in Spokane for the first time in months. It’s quiet. We’re just coming off of a sugar high and a deep conversation, sprawled out on our backs in the shade of the park. Looking up, I see the sharp, jagged edges of tree leaves cutting into the fabric of the perfectly blue sky. Not a cloud in sight. The light breeze rustles my hair and disturbs the fabric of my dress.

The air is full of sounds from things not in our line of vision: the sizzling of barbecue from a nearby birthday party at the gazebo, the laughter of children from the jungle gym, the hum of the six-lane highway just across the park. Yet all of these things meld and join together to form a sort of peaceful, white noise hum. The world’s cares, worries, and noises slide from view and the limitless heavens come into focus.

“I took a color theory class one time,” James quietly interjects. “The color blue creates feelings of peace. The color green creates feelings of joy. Funny how God created the world that way.”

Above us, green and blue are all we see.

(Source: princessmullen)

(Source: catherinecombs)

When we have that assurance of our salvation, we realize that none of the stuff around us matters all that much. When we have assurance of salvation and earthly circumstances go completely awry, we go “You know, that’s okay, I was expecting that, and that wasn’t where my hope is anyway.” When circumstances fail, people fail, things fail, material possessions fail, we say “My hope is in heaven. I’ve known it’s all passing away - that’s not what my life is about.

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

(Source: immerse-myself)