6-16 Day Nineteen

 Proverbs 31:15 "She gets up while it is still night..." This is what my roommate and I told ourselves as we went to bed at 12:30 last night, agreeing to wake up at 6 AM today. I got ready for the day and headed out the dorm before 7, heading to a coffee shop on the far end of downtown. I had about 2-ish hours in the Word this morning, and that was a WONDERFUL start to the day. There have been so many parts of this summer where I feel as though I can just do it forever; being in Scripture is one of those. 

In the morning, Jon Chasteen (the director of Gen Send) was in town to follow us along our daily rhythm. We went out in pairs to do surveys, and I was paired with our mobilizer, Jordan. Two of our conversations were really interesting. I got the number for this girl in high school who loves to read and seemed really interested in hearing more about who God is. I'm trying to meet with her. The second was less fruitful. He was a guy who believed that the sky was masculine and the earth is feminine. He also argued that we live in a cycle where our energy after death is put back into nature. From our debrief afterwards, people like him are not really the norm; he couldn't express any community or organized religious practice, it was all just spiritual. Ending on a positive note, after surveying for a little less than an hour, we doubled our responses! From 18, to 36! 

Jumping far into our afternoon, I returned for a third time to the Christian Science Reading Room. I have developed just such a burden for the woman whom we've talked to there. Bonnie is an older woman who has been so deceived. The things we learned today were that Christian Science uses the KJV version of the Bible only, not a huge deal, but interesting. She asked another question today about being saved; she asked it as if it were another word for repentance, which it is not, and I tried to walk her through it. Bonnie believes sin is a heavy burden to carry, hence why Christian Science does not believe in sin as the Bible describes it. Our group tried to articulate that it is heavy, but Christ takes that weight away, that there is hope in Jesus Christ. She again stated that while we both are heading towards God, we're just taking different paths. Please pray that the Lord stirs something within her to seek clarity again, that God will reveal Himself to her. 

Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."