A definition is a passage that explains the meaning of a term (a word, phrase or other set of symbols), or a type of thing. The term to be defined is the definiendum (plural definienda). A term may have many different senses or meanings. For each such specific sense, a definiens(plural definientia) is a cluster of words that defines it.While I think this is a pretty good definition of....well, "definition," after hearing Etienne speak about the definition of GOD over the past week, I don't think that Wikipedia is able sum Him up. In fact, He can't be summed up at all. That's the whole point. Since I have definitely been guilty of trying to put borders on Him in the past, I really enjoyed the fresh perspective that Etienne brought to our class.
Before we even began to talk about the different attributes of Etienne explained the "transcendence" of God. God is beyond our human understanding, and is not limited by our ability to understand Him. He is so much bigger and greater than us that we could study him for a million years and still only see a portion of Him. I love the way that God describes that to us in Isaiah 55:8-9 when he says,
"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"
We went on to talk throughout the week about how God is spirit, God is life, God is personal, God is infinite and God is consistent. As someone who grew up in the church, these are things that I grew up knowing but not necessarily believeing. In fact, as I write this, these attributes of God still amaze me. How is it that the God who created the heavens and the earth cares about me? How is it that He is the same yesterday (and thousands of years ago), today and forever? One of the passages Etienne shared that really touched me was Exodus 3:14, when God says to Moses, "I AM who I AM" and essentially presents Himself as a "blank check." It is so comforting to know that even when I don't have a clue what I'm doing or why I'm in any of a number of situations, God does. And he can be anything that I need him to be.
That said, my favorite thing about this week (CHEER!) was taking time to meditate on the different names of God on Thursday morning. David has a poster with a lot of the names of God listed on it at his parents house, so I've seen it all hundreds of times, but taking the time to really pray and meditate on the names put a whole new spin on it for me. Knowing that God calls himself all of these names is one thing, but thinking about how he can be so many different things to me was really inspirational. I was especially effected by the name "Rock" and the passage from Deut. 3:24 that says, "I am the Rock, His works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He."
This passage reminds me of the story of David and Goliath and how David literally depended on a rock to save his life and defeat Goliath. In the same way, we can depend on the Lord to be our rock when we face challenging situations.
I didn't have much of a JEER this week (I'm saving them all for after Nico week!), but am still being challenged in adjusting to community living. I've always been a pretty independent person, and have been living basically on my own for the past 2.5 years, so living on the base has been different for me, to say the least. I find myself getting frustrated and feeling "stuck" here at the base, and often must remember not to be offended when so many members of our group are significantly late to planned events (even though I am guilty too!). I had the opportunity to go to Rolle and Nyon with Flor last week and went exploring in Nyon this morning, which has really helped me to feel less stuck. David and I have also taken opportunities to explore the beautiful area around the base - it's hard to feel like God isn't there taking care of you when you see just how creatively he has designed this area of the world!
The YWAM Value I want to explore this week is to Know God. It is really exactly what we talked about with Etienne all week, and I enjoyed being able to more intimately know God through His names and attributes. I have also really enjoyed the Bible reading - it is something I haven't been very good at doing on my own but reading God's word is so insightful to his characteristics and personality.
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