Drone

So, I was letting one of my classmates fly my drone today outside the church after class. She really enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun.  After a bit, She wanted to put her gloves on for a bit or something (keep in mind its about -20*C outside plus lots of wind) so I took the controls for a bit.  So I started flying it low and close to the ground and fast - because that is what is fun to do with a drone. Then I took it up a bit higher trying to fly it faster, zig zaging around small trees and light poles.  And, well.... something happened and.... lets just say the drone left a mark on one of the light poles and then found itself a piece of pavement to "faint" on.  Yes I crashed my drone.  It was traveling at a high speed across the parking lot and as I realized that the pole was in it's path, I tried to change the direction the drone was traveling.  Well, two things - 1) I forgot to take the wind into account and 2) I think I pushed forward on the controls instead of backwards.  There is now a white scratch mark on the pole; one propeller of the drone was chipped and two more propellers were shattered; on the underside of one of the 'arms' that holds the propellers there are a number of cracks and broken plastic; the batter (which popped out upon impact with the pavement) suffered some minor scrapes and is missing a bit of plastic; the one remaining useable propeller is pretty banged up; and all around there are a number of scrapes and scratches here and there. Praise God that the camera was unharmed (or at least so it seems)! Unfortunately since the battery popped out when it hit the ground, that stopped the camera from recording and that also caused the whole video to be unreadable - so sad - the same thing last time when the drone hit a tree and fell and the battery popped out. Also Praise God for the extra propellers DJI gives you when you buy a new drone! We were only able to find one of the many pieces of the propellers that were shattered upon contact with the pole - guess we will have to wait until all the snow melts.

My Voice

What "Personal Truth" do I have that doesn't aline with God?

Oh Lord, through thinking about this going through"Search for Life" I believe that I've been living as though my words don't matter. They don't have any value; I'm not worthy enough to talk or speak what's on my mind. I have nothing good to say. My opinion is no use.

God, you've shown me a number of areas that may of caused these thoughts to form in me (mostly in school).  At the time, I just brushed these off and didn't think much of them, but now I see the damage that did me:
- Public Speaking: being 'made fun of' for shaking while talking and just overall not being good at it
- In school, being used as "The" bad example for public speaking in class
- Being looked at 'weird' and getting 'poor/bad' "feedback" from peers (& maybe teachers) when answering questions in class or somewhere
- My mind needs time to process things (questions, words, data, thoughts, etc...) and people seem to want me to speak right away. And when I don't answer right away (usually because I am still processing it), it seems that they think I have nothing to say (or nothing good to say): this is even worse in a debate/argument.  I suppose I've kept telling myself this, and I have believed it.
- I am not a quick thinker, and words can easily hurt and wound me

Maybe this is why I don't like to talk about my feelings; maybe this is why I don't think I am good with kids; maybe this is why I don't think I am good with/don't like small talk; maybe this is why I have trouble leading; maybe this is why I have trouble making decisions.

Yes Lord, I know that this is all a lie, I just have trouble actually believing it sometimes - I have believed it for so long with out knowing it, it almost seems part of me. I think I have told my self so much that I now believe that these things are just part of my personality. But God you have shown me now that they are not, you have shown me this lie. I want to fully trust it's a lie, I know I have to find and heal the roots, it's just something that won't be a ton of fun, nor easy.  It's a work in progress.

I don't want this buried pain
I don't want this struggle
I don't want this shame
I don't want this lie to grow
I want my words to be of value
I want to be involved
I want to freely talk

I've been so quiet and reserved - more so than I was designed for.

Lord help me! I need your hand, I cannot do this alone.

"Speak up Joshua! I want to hear you" - God

God's given me a voice for a reason!
My words matter
I have a voice!
My words have meaning
I NEED TO SAY WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!!

New Testament Survey Session #1 & 2

As time goes on, I would like to be putting on my blog some of the stuff that I am learning.  The New Testament Survey is basically (in a very basic form) a theology study of each book of the Bible. It explains a lot of the time period it was written, circumstances and people of the time (It helps a lot).  When I get time to type up the notes I took, I will try to post them on my blog. Obviously, unless you take this course (in Bible College with Professor Lanny Hubbard) you will only get a glimpse of what is taught from my notes - he explains a lot that wasn't written down in my notes. [Also take note that many of the charts, tables, graphs, maps and pictures within my notes, I won't be able to 'type' up into my blog - though I will try to add what I can. I will have in brackets informing you when a chart or something is suppose to be there.] There are 27 Session to the NT, and 27 Sessions to the OT - we just started the OT.  I hope you can lean some things from my notes that will help you better understand the Bible and that you then could read the Bible in a new way with new understanding.

INTRODUCTION

1.     Time of transition between the Old and New Testament

a.     Major shifts since the Old Testament

b.     Major transitions have taken place between testaments

c.      Important to become familiar with Palestine culture

d.     NT isn’t in chronological order

2.      Words to consider:

a.     Continuity

                                               i.     The early church’s Bible was the Old Testament

                                              ii.     The Promise/fulfillment format

                                            iii.     Acts 2:16

                                            iv.     Acts 15:15

b.     Discontinuity – now God is doing new stuff

                                               i.     Jesus came to make a New Covenant

                                              ii.     The Church is beginning

3.     The inter-testimental time

a.     Background

                                               i.     The heart of God’s people had become contemptuous and disillusioned

                                              ii.     400 silent years had occurred

1.     John the Baptist broke the silence

2.     Jesus came “in fullness in line”

b.     Special Circumstances

                                               i.     Other religious books appeared

1.     Jewish literature

2.     Allusions to them in the New Testament

                                              ii.      Addition of ceremonies, festivals and institutions

                                            iii.     The Mishnah appeared

                                            iv.     Various theological themes developed

1.     Doctrine of Angels and Demons

2.     The understanding of the Messiah

c.      Daniel’s Prophecy (Daniel 2)

                                               i.     He interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream

                                              ii.     There is a greater kingdom

                                            iii.     Other Kingdoms will come and go, but what remains is the kingdom of the “rock”

[Chart 1]

[Chart 2]

INTER-TESTIMENTAL PERIOD I

1.     Transition between the Old Testament world and the New Testament world

a.     [Map 1]

2.     Inter-testimental time periods

a.     Persian 536-333BC

                                               i.     Cyrus the Great – (Isaiah 44:28 | 45:1-5)

1.     Nicknamed “the mule” because of his mixed heritage

                                              ii.     Darius III (in table below)

                                            iii.     The desire to expand

a.     Cost empire | down fall

1.     Marched on Greece – Failed

2.     Faced Alexander the Great

Cyrus II	539-530 BC
Cambyses	530-522 BC
*Darius I	522-486 BC
**Xerxes	486-464 BC
***Artaxerxes	464-423 BC
Darius II	423-404 BC
Artaxerxes II	404-359 BC
Artaxerxes III	359-338 BC
Arses	338-335 BC
****Darius III	335-331 BC

*Darius I

1.     Restored Building House of God

2.     Put Daniel in lions Den

**Xerxes

1.     Jewish population almost annihilated

2.     Ester’s Husband

***Artaxerxes

1.     Cup bearer was Nehemiah

****Darius III

1.     Last King of Persian Empire at this point

2.     Started service circuit court justice

3.     Started postal system

4.     Standardized coinage

5.     Standardized weights

6.     Established official language

b.     Greek 333-323 BC

                                               i.     Philip II of Macedonia (Father of Alexander the Great)

1.     Unified Greece to fight as one nation

2.     His son Alexander was educated by Aristotle while Philip was off at war

                                              ii.     Alexander the Great

1.     Served as captain in the Military

2.     Succeeded his father at age 20

                                            iii.     The Jews started synagogues while in captivities

1.     Wondered if they could serve God without going to Jerusalem

2.     Ezra started the Great Synagogue to train the Jews in captivity to go out and start other synagogues

                                            iv.     Alexander changed the official language to Greek

                                              v.     Alexander’s 4 Generals

1.     Cassander ruled Macedonia and Greece

2.     Antigonus ruled Tbrace and Asia Minor

3.     Seleucus ruled Syria, Babylon, Persia, and India

4.     Ptolemy ruled North Africa and Palestine

c.      Egyptian 323-204 BC

                                               i.     The Ptolenies ruled over Israel

                                              ii.     They were crude to the Jewish people

                                            iii.     Ptolemy Philadelphus commissioned scholars to translate the scriptures into Greek (Septuagint)

Her Majesty The Queen

About a month ago I got a very crazy thought to send one of my Missions Trip Support Letters to The Queen of England. It was strange writing out a envelope to Buckingham Palace.   Another Crazy Awesome thing: Today I received (through the church) a reply letter from Buckingham Palace.  Unfortunately no financial support came with it, but it is still jaw-dropping to me that they replied. A picture of the envelope and letter are below - How neat is this?!

I've already framed it - I don't ever want to loose this treasure!