A Simple Disciple's Life

On tuesday, things got back to normal. I went to my class at Polytechnique and then worked... the usual. I signed my lease too, so that is done! The place is great, and the landlady is as well... the first owner I know who's actually nice. I heard rumors that such things existed, and the good news is that the rumors are true!

On wednesday, we had a Bible talk with no guests, which is quite OK for me, because I did not feel ready. I was the one preparing the talk, and I was just not inspired... that happens sometimes. In the evening, we had a meeting of the whole church and our evangelist told us about his trip to Paris. It was of great inspiration. A part of me kept on saying "its thanks to you that this is happening, you're the connecting link", another said "see what you should've done when you were there". I know that both of them were Satan tempting me with pride and self-pity. I'm just happy to know that my brothers and sisters in Paris are now picking up momentum and, God willing, discipling and repentance will be back in the picture there. I keep on praying for them, I love these guys very much.

On Thursday, I had a discipling time with a younger disciple who started reading Purpose-Driven Life. So we discussed of where we were, our learning so far, etc. The reading of this book has been a MAJOR challenge for me as soon as I started the "serving" part. In the evening, we had a group D-Time that has been intense. One of the brothers has a LOT on his heart, and I'm glad to be there to listen to him.

I also did a quick survey "what kind of Jedi are you" on LiveJournal, and the conclusion: Yoda. Somehow, the showoff options were not my type ;)

Friday, I worked late. We were supposed to make a final review to our paper, in order to submit it on monday... that is, until we found out that the place we submitted to would not formally publish it :'(
So, we had to fall on our feet and find somewhere else to publish this paper. We found something good, with a deadline next Friday (the 3rd), so we can make our paper much better. I went home late, mentally exausted, and with a deep need to just talk with someone.

On saturday, I was on the phone with a very close brother, before joining other bros to play soccer. I managed to "waste" my afternoon by doing a lot of the very silly things of life, especially going through my papers and the like. I also realized that I forgot to take in consideration the cost of my studies in my budget... that's a major oops! I had a date set that day, but somehow was sure that it was happening on sunday instead, so I scrambled to make arrangements. A little miscommunication problem... But I nevertheless had a good evening, as I spent it with a couple of the church and someone who has been studying the Bible.

One brother sent an email about the progress of the Bible studies on Campus, and reminded us the importance of making friends with the guys studying the Bible. He said that we should use the "charisma guys" more... and I'm apparently one of them! I was surprised by that, to see my name popping up like that. Definitely, God does not want me to let my talents to waste.

I spoke with the Bible student a little bit when we were in the car, and many things fell in place about my way to handle Truth: I have a preliminary feeling/opinion, I ask people about it, I research it (I hope) fully, and then get myself a final opinion. This tends to happen only on things that nag me, that I have questions over. I feel that this is the kind of process the Bereeans had: listen to the teaching, validate on Scripture. I feel that I am at risk of just wanting to validate my opinion though... I need to pray to have an heart of seeking Truth when I engage in this!

On sunday, we studied Acts 6-9 at church, and I was amazed again at the first deacons. Deacons are servants, not leaders, but these guys would've beaten up most of modern day church leaders on zeal! We went to a Chinese restaurant afterwards, and then rented Star Wars episode 4 to watch with a guest and a brother who never saw that (what??? engineers who never saw the old star wars!). I went back home and tried to advance a Bible study and the rest of my ministry stuff, but with little success, as my body was complaining about the lack of sleep. I yielded in and, for a change, went to bed at a decent hour.

I woke up on monday with the worst case of bed glue in a long while... Bed glue is when you are so tired when your alarm rings that you are unable to pull out of bed ;) My day has been slow, as I felt tired all along, but we managed to make some progress on our paper. My guilt about productivity and amount of work is lowering, somehow, when I see the environment in which I work on. I don't have to exhibit a hyper-ultra-I'm-a-machine kind of productivity, which is the only kind of acceptable productivity in my mind. Lots of growth needed here.

I've started my paper for my Ethics class, but I feel I'm just a parrot for the Electronic Frontier Foundation right now. I need to get myself good sources from the entertainment industries to have a more balanced paper. I am quite certain that the 15 pages will be done easily.