Hi everyone!
The last several days have flown by. The day after I arrived, 23 Septembre, I slept until 1 o'clock pm! It was then a game of Pictionary (in French) and then a group dinner where we got to know who everyone was.
There are 8 students here, two from France, two from Canada, three from the US and one from Australia. Five gals and three guys.
We (the students with musical talents) also started working on worship music and hopefully will be ready in the coming weeks.... Practiced for 4 hours yesterday.... completely lost track of time, but we sounded good together.
This week we are learning about the attributes of God.... Ok well, just a few of the attributes of God. We have learned about why we need to know who God is, His mercy and love, and the last few days we've specifically been talking about the Trinity, how God is a relational being and how God chose to be holy, just, loving etc.
The classes this week are being taught by Daniel Schaerer. He's from France but speaks English very well and at times is correcting the interpreter!
The most recent lectures have been on the relational aspect of God and it was thought provoking because it gave me deeper insight into who God is (the whole point of the lecture!).He was with the Son and Holy Spirit, and then He created angels, and then man. He saw that man was lonely so He made woman to partner with the man. All these things I knew, but were put into a different context, and made me appreciate God more.
About God choosing to be holy, just, etc. I really was confused about this at first. How could He choose to be those things? Isn't it His nature to be those things? The answer blew my mind and I'm still trying to fully comprehend it. Because God just is and wasn't created, He has the ability to be whatever he wants to be. He didn't have to be just, but He chose to be. He didn't have to be loving, He chose it. So on and so forth. Every attribute of God is one that He chose for Himself!
We then looked at a warped perspective of who God is. There are many examples. The snake tempting Eve in the Garden, telling her that God was a liar. The Hebrews who are just about to enter the Promised Land, turn back and say that God hates them for bringing them out of Egypt. The Parable of the talents, with the third servant having a completely wrong perception of who his master was. Each of these examples have a few things in common. One,there is a view of the Lord that is twisted, and second, there is punishment that follows. Adam and Eve are thrown out of the Garden. The Hebrews wander in the desert 40 years. The servant is cast out into darkness.
I am so excited to be here and thank God that He has given me this opportunity.
More to come, along with more pictures!
