why can't i love like God loves? why am i so quick to blame others for faltering relationships? how can i love like God loves?

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:7-21

i don't think His love is complete in me yet. still have a long way to go. a very long way.

the fact that we are like Christ in love is a sign that God, who is love, lives in us.

Lord, teach me how to love like you.

CC pics..


frolicking in the field :D


western sg leaders!


chris glendo lil.. yummyyy food


a bunch chilling in the hallway


western UNITE!


health sci woot!


yay girls!


campus prayer meeting.. sooo goood :D


roomies for the weekend


woot! COMPASSION sg.. what an awesome group :)


sg girls :)


sg guys :)


brandon & alan "this is a banana".. *bursts into tears* HAHAHHAAA!! :P


looking pensive?


good times with our car!

PTL for a blessed weekend at CC. i think many of us were indeed challenged and now.. looking fwd EVEN more to next year and all God has in store :D exciting stuff!! must keep EXPECTING that the Lord will do GREAT things!

you'll find that the list of blogs to the left has grown substantially.. so many ppl bloggin! it's great :) can you tell which ones are new? *raises eyebrows* haha i'll leave that up to you to figure out.

it was good to read samo's blog about having friendships that draw you closer to Christ. i am blessed because i do have this kind of friendship. to have awesome friends who encourage and challenge me.. i dunno what i would do without them. but then the thing about becoming too dependent on others that shelby addressed in her blog is a danger too. i fall into this category for sure. even tho we are supposed to love each other and place others ahead of ourselves, i don't think putting relationships with others before your relationship with God is what He intended for us. i asked myself today.. how do i put Him first? i couldn't come up with an answer. i guess i've fallen victim to the summer blahs as i will call it. it's the lack of focus that we fear will happen and what we all pray hard against at the end of the school year.

i think our relationships with others is somewhat a reflection of our relationship with God.. and i guess it goes the other way too with our relationship with God being a reflection of our relationship with others. (ahh it's the 2 sides to everything again :P). hmm it's gonna be hard to articulate my thoughts here. please bear with me and if i don't come off sounding the way i want to.. i guess it's ok because the Spirit will lead you to think what it wants you to think anyways :)

i find that the quality of my interaction with God really affects the how i interact with others. and i think part of the problem is that i let the quality of my relationships with others affect my relationship with God. it goes both ways.. and both directions have the potential for good and bad. argg why is it so hard to explain what i'm thinking. i guess the main point i want to get across is this: how God works in us should be manifested in our relationships. i want to "sharpen" others and have others "sharpen" me. even tho i don't take criticism well sometimes, i appreciate when my friends are bold enough to tell me the truth, to rebuke me and exhort me. taking this from the devo from sam's blog.. i want to be the kind of person that helps others become more like Christ. but first i must want to become more like Christ.

to have someone who understands you fully and completely.. it seems impossible. sometimes i feel like no one even comes close. but i'm thankful for friends who do understand me. and i rest in the wonderful truth that it is GOD who knows me inside and out. my life is in His hands, His truth is in my heart and i pray that i will be able to display that outwardly.

summer's here.. but things are still busy it seems. it's a different kind of busy tho.. the kind that still allows you time for the things you want to do. i think it's a good busy. it's funny that during the school year there's so many ppl here but being busy prevents me from spending time with them. that really sucks. but now that it's summer and most people are gone.. i get to spend time with the few ppl that ARE here. and that's really awesome :D i wish there were a way for me to find a balance during the school year.. i struggle with that so much. i reeeally need to work on that.

went back to windsor over the weekend.. it was way too short. going back made me want to stay there for the summer. but i know i'm supposed to be here in london.

had a good bs with the fellowship on saturday on romans 8. we were struggling so much about the role of sin in our lives. how big is it really? HUGE. in fact it's tricky because we usually don't even know how significant it is. i really don't.. it slips by me sometimes. but reading romans 6 and 8 is a great encouragement. so much good stuff in there. some key stuff i highlighted.. i felt like highlighting the entire chapter haha:

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:6-7

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. Romans 6:9

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6:14

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6:22

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man. Romans 8:1-3

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. Romans 8:9

amen brother paul! it's great to get excited about the Word. i love the authority he speaks with. that's truth. that's what we should live by. yes trials and temptations will come.. but with these promises in our hearts.. we can conquer anything by His grace. we always ask for the Spirit to come.. but praise God that it's always with us and in us!