.first post from NY.

Well I'm back in Troy safe and sound. It's "chilly" so the pilot said.. pssshh.. it's 36 degrees! Practically summer! haha. Anyway, it's weird being back at school, but kind of nice at the same time. I just wish I could move into my dorm! Tomorrow will come soon enough....

Today = Luke 9:1-27 + Genesis 15 + Psalm 8 + Luke 8:26-56 + Genesis 13-14 + Psalm 7 (from yesterday)

Well, I'm going to try to address everything without this becoming a ridiculously long post..
Of the reading I really like, well, all of it, but especially Luke 8:40-48. It tells the story of Jesus going out and healing the sick, and going on his way to heal the daughter of one of the Jewish rulers. On his way a woman reaches out and touches him because she knows that even by just touching him she may be healed. I think her faith is so powerful. To be perfectly honest, I think for a while I kind of looked down on this woman, thinking she was from the slums and was a little to sketchy just to ask Jesus to heal her. But it's really not about that - she acted on faith. People can say things and conjure up this great "faith" that never seems to be put to the test. But the woman reached out and touched because she knew. I think it's pretty cool. I think I just need to do things more than talk about them more often. It's easy to say that you trust God and that you rely on him, but it's a heck of another story when you actually have to act on it.

Psalm 8 is the other part of the reading that really caught my eye - It seems to be one of the ultimate praise Psalms, like David was out-of-his-mind in love with God and how awesome and majestic He is. Every time I read it I feel humbled. I wish I could say I praise God like this all the time, that these are the words that spurt out from my lips, that I don't 'hide it under a bushel' sometimes. I'm working on it. I have definitely noticed that it's much easier to praise God continually when you are closer to him, because then you actually take the time to notice His glory and you finally look past your own.

"When I consider your heavens, the work of you fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you take care for him?" (Psalm 8:3-4)