From L.A. to Oregon and Back Again

After a wonderful (and wet and cold) week and a half with my family up in Oregon, I am now back in SoCal. This time I had no trouble getting off the ground, and my airport experience was rather calm — that is, despite the baby on my airplane that cried half the flight.

Now, back at my apartment, I'm wondering what I'm going to do for the next three weeks until school starts. The two jobs I applied for on campus did not work out, so I'm left with catering; but I'm not sure how many catering events there will be since I haven't heard back from my boss yet. I've thought about looking into some temp agencies around here as my last resort. Whatever it is, though, I really could use some work. School (again) is going to be hard to pay for, and I don't have too much money to spare right now. Luckily I have a lot of Christmas money, which will allow me to survive comfortably for the next three weeks.

However, I do believe that these next three weeks will give me an opportunity — a luxury, even — of doing something I rarely feel like I have time to do when school is in session: hitting the Word of God hard (and not for a class assignment). Books I've been reading, as well as a meeting I had with my old youth pastor before I left, have given me a hunger for Scripture I haven't had in a while.

And I don't intend to just do devotional reading; I mean to do serious verse by verse, Strong's-Bible-concordance-in-lap type studying.

I got off to a good start today. I went to Panera bread in the morning/afternoon and finished a book about Billy Graham that my dad gave me for Christmas. After three cups of a coffee and a brief reading from Christless Christianity—a book I got a couple months ago but haven't had a ton of time to read—I biked back to my apartment and busted out my gear: my new big, ole' ESV study Bible (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Willhite), Expositors Bible Commentary, my NKJV Bible, my journal, and two Biblical Lexicons — oh yeah, and the Strongest Strong's Bible concordance.

After praying for insight, I proceeded to spend two and a half to three hours digesting, dissecting and reading aloud the first chapter of Romans.

Great stuff. Amazing what the Holy Spirit can do when you give a little effort. I've never read one of Paul's customary greetings with such scrutiny before. But man, it was worth it. And I'm genuinely looking forward to continuing tomorrow.

One thing I took out of today's study was that faith is not only what saves us, but also something a Christian should live by every day. "The righteous shall live by faith," Paul wrote. Faith isn't just the beginning of a Christian's life, but the very means by which God changes a person from "glory to glory" into the likeness of His son. Even though I don't know where money is always going to come from, I do have faith that if God puts me in a place beyond myself He most certainly will provide.

I think with a bit of discipline, the next three weeks could be more productive than my customary Chimes weeks.