3/6/14 - Day 2

It's Day 2 and things seem to be going well so far! I am definitely noticing that I have more free time which is nice. I just hope that I can continue to use it in meaningful, beneficial ways.

Day 2 of Happiness

• Children's Lit. class devotions
• At the beginning of each class we do a short devotion and today was my turn to lead it. Since it's a children's lit class I thought reading a picture book would be appropriate. I originally wanted to read a Max Lucado book since I know I like his stories, but the one I found in the Calvin library was more of a Christmas story so I decided that might not be the best one to read on the second day of Lent. So I looked around online to see if there were any Lent picture books. Basically there aren't. But one I came across which seemed appropriate was called The Tale of Three Trees. It's a great story about three little trees on a mountaintop who dream about what they want to be when they grow up. The first little tree wants to be a beautiful treasure chest, the second a strong ship, and the third just wants stay on the mountaintop and grow tall and point to God. None of them end up getting exactly what they hoped, but in a way they do each fulfill their dreams. The first tree is made into a feed box which ultimately is the manger where Jesus lays, the second is not made into a large ship but a small fishing boat which Jesus and the disciples are in when Jesus calms the storm, and the third is cut into beams which are eventually used for the cross that Jesus dies on. My short summary doesn't do it justice, but I liked it a lot and it made me happy and you all should try to find a copy of the actual book and read the whole story.
  
  Here are some of the beautiful illustrations from the book:

Illustrations by Tim Jonke, Copyright 1989

• ESL class
• Every Thursday night a couple other Calvin students and I drive over to a church in a very Hispanic neighborhood to help with the ESL class. Most of us are there because we need "cultural points" for our Spanish classes, but I think we all enjoy it a lot and would choose to come even if we didn't have to for class. English is a crazy language and it's not easy to explain pronunciation and other things to non-English speakers, but it's a really fun time. I love getting to know our "students" (weird to call them that since they're older than us), spending time with new and old Calvin friends, speaking in Spanish, laughing, eating, and just having a blast.

Bible Reading: Matthew 1:1-25
Matthew 1:1-17 is one of those genealogy sections of the Bible. I've never really understood why they were included in the Bible... But I really liked the note that is on this page in my Bible. It says "In the first 17 verses of Matthew we meet 46 people spanning 2,000 years. All were ancestors of Jesus, but they varied considerably in personality, spirituality, and experience. Some were heroes (and heroines) of faith--like Abraham, Isaac, Ruth, and David. But some had shady reputations--like Rahab and Tamar. Many were ordinary--like Hezron, Ram, and Akaim. Others were evil--like Manasseh and Abijah. God's work has never been limited by human failures or sins; he works through ordinary people. God used all kinds of people to bring his Son into the world; he uses all kinds today to accomplish his will. And he wants to use you." This was very encouraging and made me see at least somewhat of a reason why the genealogies are included in the Bible. In this verses after the genealogy, Matthew tells the very abbreviated version of the story leading up to Jesus' birth. It's short and to the point, but still an amazing story as always.


Well, my roommate just turned out the light so I think this will be all for now. So far so good with my goals and challenges!