A Week in Katie's Life: Sabbath

Disclaimer: My apologies, but there will be no pictures in this post. I left my phone at home this morning and was away all day. Since my phone contains my only camera, I could not take any pictures. I will post pictures of today's events when I have received them from friends. 

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This morning I woke up exhausted and feeling like I had a cold, but after a chat with my family and a hot and cold shower, I felt much better. :)

The sermon at church this week was a downloaded sermon by Shawn Boonstra about the judgement. Most of it was things I have heard and studied before, but I was very glad for the review, and it linked in well with Sabbath school. I have really appreciated this quarter of the adult Sabbath school lesson because it has really made me think and has made me look more deeply at who my God really is. Today we talked about Zephaniah, and one thing that I'm still thinking about is his name. His name and message are tied together. His name means "hidden by God," and His message is one of warning and calling for God's people to "Seek the Lord...Seek righteousness, seek humility...." Why? "It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger," (Zeph. 2:3 NKJV).

Judah had utterly turned from God, and yet God is so gentle with them.  As He warns them of the consequences to come, He pleads with the just to seek Him so that they may be hidden, and He also sends a promise in the name of His prophet. What better way is there to escape the wrath of God than to be hidden by God himself? That is what God offered them, and what He offers us too. Even though, as a whole, Judah rejected God's mercy and was punished, Zephaniah's book still ends with promises to the remnant. Those promises extend to us too. Even though our world as a whole has rejected Christ, our Father still offers His people a hiding place during the hard times to come. There are so many other things that I learned from Zephaniah, but it's too late for me to write them now. I actually started writing a whole other paragraph about it, but instead I'm just going to tell you to go study Zephaniah and all the other minor prophets for yourself. God is amazing...in every book of the Bible.

Sadly, this weekend is my last weekend with the pastor and his family here, so I was very happy to go to their house for lunch and the afternoon. While Ivonne put the finishing touches on the table, I was "mommy" for baby Alyssia and "narrator" for William's Wolf, Mr. Horse, and Mr. Lizard games (Being narrator means that I tell the story while the toys act it out, until William finds a part of the story that he wants to go a certain way, at which point he interjects, and then I go on with my narration. So funny!)We had rice with some of my favorite toppings (I'm going to miss tempe), and frozen bananas for dessert. Then I played with the kids some more and went over the hymn that I was going to play for the big occasion happening this afternoon: Miguel's baptism.

Miguel was baptized in his Adventurers uniform at Comoro beach with lots of friends from church and the community there to witness his decision. Once everyone had gathered and Miguel and his family were ready, Miguel's grandfather, Pastor Dias, had the opening prayer. Then everyone sang songs while I played violin and Pastor Wesley lead. After both the pastor and Miguel had spoken and Miguel had made his commitments, I played and everyone sang while the pastor and Miguel walked into the crashing waves. It was incredibly moving for me to play violin and listen to people singing around me as I watched him walk into the water and be baptized. Praise the Lord for Miguel's commitment and witness to his community. Angels sang today! 

This is the hymn I played for special music at Miguel's baptism. It's one of his favorites

When He cometh, when He cometh

To make up His jewels,

All His jewels, precious jewels,

His loved and His own.

He will gather, He will gather

The gems for His kingdom;

All the pure ones, all the bright ones,

His loved and His own.

Little children, little children,

Who love their Redeemer,

Are the jewels, precious jewels,

His loved and His own.

Like the stars of the morning,

His brightness adorning,

They shall shine in their beauty,

Bright gems for His crown.

Another gem was added to the crown of Christ today!

Praise the Lord!

:)