Quote

I came across this quote in my church history book today. Loved it and want to share it.

To Diognetus,
"Christians are no different from the rest in their nationality, language or customs. ... They live in their own countries, but as sojourners. They fulfill all their duties as citizens, but they suffer as foreigners. They find their homeland wherever they are, but their homeland is not one particular place.... They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They live on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey all laws, but they live at a level higher than that required by law. They love all, but all persecute them."
- To Diognetus 5.I-II.

Book Recommendation

If you have any interest in International Relations, I would recommend you read this little treasure. I am reading it for grad class and it has been soooo good!

Restore Me

Have you ever had relationships in your life that change? Things are no longer what they once were. The excitement and thrill and mystery of the relationship is gone. You didn't intend for the relationship to change it just happened. It is now difficult to understand where you fit into that relationship, but instead of fighting for it, you just give up and surrender to apathy. This is where I am with my walk with Christ. I miss the days of being in awe of my Savior, being absolutely enthralled by His beauty, and simply resting in my relationship with Him. When His mystery is what kept me seeking. I am in a season of life where God is present in my life but I am struggling to understand how he is at work in my everyday happenings. Some days I wonder if what I am doing is right, if what I do makes a difference, and questioning everything. I long for the joy of my salvation to be restored. For admiration and love to be found in my speech when speaking of my Savior. Jesus, I need a freshness of you to engulf my life. I want to be fully content with only your presence. Help me not to miss what you want to teach me or show me in the season of what seems to me that I am just existing without purpose. Prepare me for what's next and give me a heart of passion for your purposes, for the lost, and for your glory. Restore me.

Shocking News

I have some shocking news to share. I am giving up Starbucks. Yep. My pastor has been really challenging our congregation with stewardship and to be honest I suck at it. It is not something I have always struggled with, but right now my lack of stewardship and financial irresponsibility is sin. I am intentionally working to make some positive steps in right direction and setting up some good accountability. So I am going to work on being a good steward and it starts with the Starbucks fast. So if you see me with Starbucks, I give you permission to call me out.

New Joys

There are several things these days that are giving me great joy...
1. Sandals Church
2. My Costco membership
3. My small group at church
4. My sandals lunch crew: Samuel, Andrew, Sirleaf, Kyle, Stephen, Scarlet and the roomies.
5. Ester study
6. My graduate program- especially the noble nine.
7. Costello and Little E
8. The days where I get to leave my office and have conversations with CBU students

God thank that all good things come from YOU! Thanks for blessing me!

Running

Dear open road,

Thank you so much for the romantic first date of the "fall" season. It has been a long summer without you. You always create such a beautiful atmosphere among the mountains, citrus groves, and palm trees. The 2.5 mile run tonight was just the beginning of many more dates to come. Thank you open road for always welcoming me and never letting me down.

Your fellow runner,

Alicia

Esther

One of the things that I am most thankful in this season of my life is my roommates. Not just because because they are fun, or witty, or silly, or crazy, or awesome BUT because they love Jesus and strive to live lives that glorify God. They sharpen me. They teach me what a godly woman looks like through their actions and their desire for excellence. This year we want to do a much better job of encouraging each other and being accountable to each other to be in the Word. So we decided to all do the same study together! We decided to do the Ester 9-week study by Beth Moore! I am pretty excited about studying the same thing with the roomies and grow in depth and knowledge in the Word together!

Good-bye Summer & Reflections on East Asia

Somehow without me even knowing it or realizing it summer escaped. I start back in the treehouse (my office) bright and early Monday morning. Goodbye summer. Summertime is always really great for me because I get to step outside of my life for a couple of months and be reflective on my life. I evaluate what areas of my life need a little TLC, the things I put my time towards, and the people I need to be intentional with. I can honestly say that the spring semester and summer were some hard months for me personally (mostly because of my own selfishness). Somewhere along the way, I forgot that I was bought with a price and that I am a bond servant of Christ. I was living for myself and my own desires instead of for the glory of Christ. When Christ took things from and made it clear that His will was different than my own- instead of desiring obedience I desired my own will. I have spent this past spring semester off on the beaten path that I paved for myself which produced an apathetic lukewarm heart. I have hated who I have become.

BUT thankfully God is faithful when I am faithless! My time in East Asia was personally a really impactful time. I can't really say that I came away with this huge new insight, but rather the Holy Spirit spent three weeks reminding me of important foundational truths in my life. Truths that are foundational to who I am but were buried in apathy. This time I was finally at a place where I was ready to listen. He reminded me of my heart for obedience. The spring semester of my junior year of college God birthed in me a heart for obedience. Sometime this past semester this heart was lost in my own flesh and will. God also reminded me of my love for the Word. As a team we were able to study the books of Philippians and Colossians. We had some awesome times digging into the Word of God. There is nothing like some good meaty theology that makes my little Alicia heart get all fired up. My years in college at First Baptist Church Irving were foundational in forming in me a love for Scripture. However, I will confess that my study of the Word in the past several years has been almost non-existent. I am ashamed. I hate who I am because I am not in His word consistently. I will be changing that this semester- you can even ask me how that's going. The Holy Spirit also reminded me of my desire to be overseas. This past semester has been the first time that I have really struggled with desiring the "American dream". I want the husband, the house, and the kids that live close to their grandparents. The thought of roots and being settled sounds AMAZING. I longed this semester just to be ordinary. But this trip I was reminded, that I am "ruined for the ordinary". God has called me to a life of mobility and the extraordinary. Because of the experiences and the things I have seen I am accountable- to much is given much is expected. I have seen the faces of hopelessly lost people that are dying without the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is an unfinished task and God has called me to that task. It was refreshing to be around people in East Asia that are daily living their lives for the spread of the gospel because they too are ruined for the ordinary. My heart and desire to go to the nations has been intensified and given clearer focus.

All this to say... God is patient with me! Can I get an Amen? I am thankful for this summer and the sin that the Holy Spirit exposed in my own life and the new focus I have for this upcoming semester. My time in East Asia was refreshing and just what I needed. I know that God has been trying to teach me so many things this past semester and I am finally at a place where I am ready to listen and to be changed. Thankfully God never leaves us, but continues to pursue relationship with His children. This summer was much needed and I am sad to see it go, but also ready to put into practice all the things the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me.

God, I pray that this semester will be a semester of spiritual growth, fresh insight, and joy. Joy in serving the risen Savior in whom I am bond servant of Christ!! I pray that you would make me a woman of passion. That this passion would be an overflow of my love for Christ and for people. I pray that you would give me a desire of excellence in all things- my job, my school, and in my relationships. God please make me faithful. God intensify my heart for obedience and for Your purposes. I pray that this semester would be a semester that my love for your Word is rekindled and that Your Word would be active and real in my life. Please give me a love for your gospel and that I would be able to grasp the power of your gospel and it's ability to transform lives. Teach me how to make sharing the gospel a normal and common practice in my life. I pray that my life would be completely hidden in you. For You are worthy because You are righteous and Holy. You are worthy of ALL praise. Make me faithful.

Back in Cali

Just wanted to let you know I made it back from East Asia! Thank you to everyone who prayed for me and my team! It was truly a great trip and I hope that I will be able to blog about my trip in the upcoming weeks and let you know more specifics. I will be leaving for Glorietta, New Mexico for Collegiate Week with my staff on Sunday...the traveling never ends. But here are a few pictures to wet your appetite for more!

Please Pray for Me and My Team!

East Asia Extreme- THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!!!

My team will be leaving on July 10 for East Asia for 21 days! We will be teaching English in small market towns and villages. The people we are reaching are only.25% reached. Animism is the main religion of the people and we want to see God's name glorified. Please pray that we would be courageous in sharing the gospel.

Here are some specific requests to pray daily. But we will also be posting updates periodically throughout our time at www.calbaptist.edu/isp. This is where you can get more up to date and recent requests and hear what God is doing!

Week One-
July 10- Pray for last minute preparations and rest before we get on the plane.
July 11- Pray for travel safety and for ALL of our luggage to arrive.
July 12- We arrive to our city at 11AM. Pray for an immediate unity and bond with our field workers and for our cultural adjustment.
July 13- Pray that we would be LEARNERS as we go through orientation and learn our country and city. Pray for a great love for the people we will be serving- our Z’s.
July 14- This will be our first day of teaching. Pray for effectiveness in teaching and instant relationships with our students (this can be ongoing requests as it is our main task).
July 15- Acts 26:18 “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified.”
July 16- Pray for team unity, patience and love for one another.
July 17- Pray for endurance and strength and adjustment to the humid heat.
July 18- Pray for boldness and courage to proclaim the gospel!

Week Two-
July 19- Pray that God would break the hearts of the people and make their hearts ready for the gospel. Ask that HE would also break our hearts for lostness.
July 20- Pray for great favor in the schools that we go to and with the people that we come in contact with. Pray that as we are faithful that God will grant our team and our field workers favor.
July 21- Romans 15:20-21 “And thus make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation but as it is written, ‘those who have never been told of him will see and those who have never heard will understand.”
July 22- Pray for salvation…many, many salvations!
July 23- Pray for open doors for our field workers once we leave. That the contacts we make will go beyond our 3 weeks on the field.
July 24- Pray for our team. We are in our final week- strength, endurance, unity.
July 25- Ezekiel 11:19-20 “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”

Week Three
July 26- Pray for rest for our team and for us to connect and share with those we have not yet been able to. For divine opportunities to share and boldness to do it!
July 27- Pray that we would be a blessing to everyone we come in contact with and that we would be able to share with others the blessings of Christ.
July 28- Pray for perseverance, that we would keep our eyes fixed on the goal, and that we would finish strong as a team.
July 29- Pray for good goodbye’s with our new national friends and our field workers.
July 30- Pray for our team as we debrief our experiences and that God would teach us what we need to learn as we learn from this experience.
July 31- Pray for safety as we travel back. Also pray… “And he said to them, ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:23.

Texas in Pictures

My sister Shannon & I. We went to Downtown San Antonio to the Riverwalk to celebrate our birthdays. We have the same birthday...wierd...I know.

Lake LBJ- Where I spent my Fourth of July

Shannon and I on the boat...about to watch fireworks on the lake.

My silly Daddy and 2 of this 3 daughters

My awesome Aunt Peggy and my two cousins.

My mother and I.

Shannon and I outside of Texas Roadhouse- a birthday dinner tradition

My grandmother and I

Home and Family

I had the rare opportunity to go home (to my parental unit in Texas) this summer for about 3.5 weeks. I have not spent that many consecutive days with my parents since I graduated high school about 8 years ago. Needless to say it was a blessing. Family is something that is really really important to me, yet the places that God has called me to in obedience continues to lead me far away from my family. That was one the hardest parts about living in India and continues to be difficult now as I settle in California. Being in Texas these past 3.5 weeks was awesome because I got great quality time with so many members of my family. It was exciting to be an active participant of my family and not just an observer from afar. The older I get, the more I long for family and a place of belonging.

For the first time in my life, the thought of settling down in one place sounds so appealing(Especially if that involved getting to be settled near my parents where they could love on their completely hypothetical grandchildren). I have been really fighting God lately and telling Him I want my will for my life and not His. I always know it's only a matter of time before He wins, but I have been particularly stubborn this time around. However, I think God might have finally knocked me down and officially one when He spoke very clearly through a book I am reading. I came across this...

"God's call was to mobility. The first word that God spoke to Abraham was "Go..." Here he continues the theme laid down in the first command given in Genesis 1:28, repeated in Genesis 9:1 and forced upon man in Genesis 11 at Babel. God's people are to be mobile so that they may fill the whole earth. Harvey Cos makes some thought-provoking observations about mobility and its relationship to theology. 'When we seek to understand the phenomenon of mobility from a theological perspective, it is well to remember that the whole Hebrew view of God arose in the social context of nomadic, essentially homeless people... In short, when they were wandering and homeless, the Hebrews seem to have been closest to fulfilling their calling.... They key characteristic of Yahweh, the Old Testament God, are linked to his mobility. ' .... This statement highlights the fact that God is not bound to one place and will not let his people be bound to one place. The whole earth is his domain"

Whether you agree with this theology I could care less about. But what I loved about this passage in the book is that it made my somehow really abnormal life seem somewhat normal. I don't know if that makes sense, but for me I know that God has not called me to settle. I know there will be seasons of settling (like Cali right now), but ultimately I know that I always want to be in a place of mobility. That when God says go, I am ready and most importantly willing to uproot... again.

All this to say, is that I will probably never live next door to my family and get to attend every Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Fourth of July celebration. But that is part of the sacrifice and joy of obedience in my answer to say to Jesus' call "Follow Me." I treasured this past month with my family and thankful for this sweet gift.

God, I pray that you would help me keep my eyes focused on You, Your kingdom, and Your global purposes. I ask that my life would be marked by mobility as you move me to the nations here and there. Thank you for this calling in my life and I ask that days that I am not thankful for it that you would give me eternal perspective.

So this video here is random. But it's me giving a tour of my home in India. I came across it while at home. This was done the first month or two that I was in-country. It's about 15 minutes long, but its pretty entertaining and I even sing at the end which might make it worth your time. :) Please enjoy my Indian Home- which I also long to visit.

Masters of Intercultural Studies

Starting August 14, I will be an official Union University AND Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (GGBTS) graduate student! For the past year, I have been working towards my Master of Theological Studies at GGBTS. But this year, I am finally becoming a part of the Global Studies Program (GSP) which is a partnership between Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in San Fransisco, California and Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. The GSP program is a dual masters program in Intercultural Studies and Theological Studies. In simple terms, when I finish (400 years from now) I will have two masters degrees from two different universities. I am really excited about the classes I will be taking for my Masters of Intercultural Studies. I have had my eye on this degree for awhile now and am I finally getting to start it. Below is a brief description of the program (feel free to scroll down if you don't care)

• Students today face unprecedented challenges and opportunities as they prepare for professions that are increasingly global in outlook. The Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies (MAIS) is a graduate program designed to provide you with an integrated view of the knowledge and skills needed to live and work across cultures and nations.
  
• The MAIS program will:
  1. Give you a foundational knowledge of intercultural relationships while guiding you to develop a conceptual framework for understanding different, diverse approaches to knowledge and intercultural relationships.
  2. Enable you to learn how to integrate intercultural consciousness and empathy with practical skills necessary to live and work effectively between/among cultures.
  3. Teach you the critical skills necessary to evaluate new environments, situations, and information in intercultural settings.
  4. Teach you to conduct, document and apply field research. Every student is required to participate in an intercultural field research experience.
  5. Guide students to develop, communicate and implement a multicultural vision in which ethical decision-making and leadership are key.

The unique thing about me starting this program is that all my classes will be in San Fransisco (about an 8 hour drive from where I live in Riverside)! Most people that pursue this degree go to school at GGBTS' main campus in San Fransisco NOT the Southern extension where I attend. So the travel is a little bit abnormal for the typical GSP student and I am kind of considered a guinea pig to see if they would recommend this to anyone else. The phrase "Go Big or Go Home" comes to mind. The format of the Union classes are intensive weekend classes that meet from Thursday-Saturday all day. Each class meets for two separate weekends for a total of four this fall! Needless to say, there will be a lot of travel in my future! But if I am going to travel I would say that San Fransisco is an awesome place to be "stuck" learning. The GGBTS campus there is beautiful and sits right on the bay.

These are the classes I am taking this fall:
1. Intercultural Communications- San Fransisco, CA (Union Class)
2. Organizational Systems of Society- San Fransisco, CA (Union Class)
3. Survey of Christianity to 1517- Orange County, CA (GGBTS Class)

I am excited about this graduate program and where God wants to lead me in the future as I learn about being effective among different cultures and nations. Please keep me in prayers. It's always a challenge to tackle a grad program while working full-time in ministry!

New Blog Makeover- yessssssssssss!

Well friends, I finally gave my blog the makeover it has needed for about 2 years. Yes, I finally updated my links also. My roommates are happy that they finally got some link love. I changed my URL so I hope those of you who have followed me on http://namaskarsa.blogspot.com/ for the past 4 years will find me!

Leave me some comment love and I just might blog on this more often! Is leaving comments on blogs going out of style...???? Because if it is I think we should bring it back... kind of like how Justin Timberlake brought sexy back... if Justin can do it...I think Alicia can do it.

Ok I am rambling....

My Little Alicia Heart

It's funny how when you hang out with people long enough that you begin to pick up each others mannerism and phrases. So as most of you know, I coined the phrase "my (something) Alicia heart". When overjoyed I often express this by saying, "my little Alicia heart is happy" or "my roommate heart is happy" and etc... Somewhere along the way, my roommate Becka also picked up the phrase and started saying "my little teacher heart". Becka teaches high schoolers and her high schoolers have also begun to pick up this phrase. Tonight as I was staying up late with Becka as she grades her students' final essays and in one of the essays they wrote, "it hurt her little student heart" in this student's final!! Yes, friends.... I am officially influencing the world of high schoolers in Riverside with my own verbage!! I feel like a celebrity!!

What are phrases of funny things you do that others pick up?

Quality Time With Texas

Tomorrow morning I am getting on an airplane and flying to San Antonio for an eight day vacation! My fun begins the minute I get off the airplane because I am going to be greeted by 6 of my college besties! In honor of officially being done with college for four year we decided to have a reunion. Once they pick me up from SAT airport we will go for a night on the town at the Riverwalk! I am so excited to see these ladies (one is even prego now)!

This was our last night together at DBU where we created Hamaley (a build a bear that has our recorded voices in the paw and her name makes up all of our names!) I first took Hamaley to India with me and she has been passed around for the past 4 years.

And this is us the weekend after I got back from India! I have the most loyal friends who always love me enough to drive to where I am in Texas!!

After an evening of fun with the old roomies and besties I will get to celebrate my mother's 50th Birthday!! I love my mother and all of her daughters are going to be together! We are going to have a nice little barbecue birthday party filled with fun surprises!!

Then I get a whole week with the fam! I am going to give my Daddy lots of hugs (apparently he misses hugging me) and veg, and shop, and love on my family that I never see!! Bliss.

Then my cousin Chris is finally getting married!!! He just graduated from Seminary and is marrying an awesome girl!

And last but not least I get to see another one of my best friends get married...Sarah Clary! She is my ghetto friend who when I first met her thought she was too pretty and popular to be my friend. She thought I was a goody-to-shoe. And then we played basketball together on the court and she met my sass. Heh...then we were instant BFF's! She is great and I am stoked she married at my home church in college so i get to see all my FBC Irving peeps if they are at the wedding!!!

Me and Sarah.

Ok...so this post has no creativity in it whatsoever, but basically I hope you can see that I am excited to get to see and be apart of so many awesome events! For once, I don't have to watch them from a distance! God is good to give me some quality time with people I love and have laid the foundation for who I am today!! Peace out...see you in a week!

See You at the Globe

One of my favorite traditions at CBU is globe send offs.  Globe send offs are synonymous with the International Service Projects at CBU.  Before a team departs for the airport the MOB staff(office of mobilization which is my world at CBU) executes a globe send off!  It is a chance for friends, family, and significant others to come and support and send off the people they love.  I also think it's a great way to focus the team right before they head to the nations for the next 21 days.    Teams leave at the globe and return to the globe!!!

The globe, also referred to as the koogle is a favorite landmark on CBU's campus!!!  It gets a lot of action.....

Tomorrow we will be sending of Russia A & Russia B!  This means that we will have 15 teams on the field right now.  You can be reading there updates at http://calbaptist.edu/isp.  We would love to have your prayers as over 300 students go courageously to the nations!!!

 

Look at all these people praying!!  Powerful moment!

Here is me and my roommates last week sending off Sam to Southeast Asia!!  Sam is my roommates brother which means he is our brother too!!

Please PRAY FOR MY STUDENTS!!!!

Kickboxing

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to take kickboxing classes. I have always loved kickboxing and Taebo. However, it is always really hard to find a place that you can take classes and that doesn't cost a fortune. Recently, I discovered a kickboxing gym, KO Knockout, that is literally about a mile and a half from my apartment and relatively in-expensive! I single handedly convinced my roomies to join the kick-boxing gym with me! This is what I love about my kick-boxing gym...

• my sweet pink everlast gloves
• that it is a full-body work out
• it's great cardio
• there are lots of classes and variety
• you get kick things and hit things
• "Cause it got the beat that bounce and got the beat that pound"
• it is a Christian run gym and they offer bible studies and prayer!

I have really LOVED kick-boxing so far! I will say that I haven't been able to move my body this past week and my muscles hate me. However....this too shall pass.

Ode to the Spurs

To My Black and White Ballers, 

My heart is saddened by our unfortunate defeat

I was so hoping for a championship repeat

You worked so hard this season Tony

The world can see you're clearly no Phony

Fans let us not forget our Tall Tim 

Every school yard kid wants to be him

We couldn't have made it this far without Ginobili

You put up baskets that rival silly Kobe

I sat at the AT&T center and watched my homeboys win 

With home court advantage you were a definite shoe-in

As a whole it was a well-fought season

But this defeat had to happen for a reason

Let's give another Texas team a championship slot

You know that the Lone Star state will always be hot  

Since the days I first learned to drive a car

I have been consistent to watch you even from afar 

Lakers and Clippers fans are so lame

Aren't you glad us Spurs fans don't bring you shame

I need you to know I will always remain loyal 

Even if I am living on California soil  

My basketball heart will always feed your fame

Cause you BOYSZ you know YOU GOT GAME  

So it is here that I will end this flo 

With the simple words... GO SPURS GO!

Love for the Game

What does 1999, 2003, 2005 & 2007 all have in common? Yes, they are all odd numbers BUT more importantly they are the years that the Spurs have taken home the title of Champs! I am a woman of tradition so I think it would only be fitting for them to take another championship in 2009 to keep with the oddity of their wins (pun intended). Don't you agree?
This is one my most looked forwareded to times of the year... the time NBA PLAYOFFS! My homeboys, the San Antonio Spurs, have been consistently making it to the playoffs for the past decade which means I have been loyal to chant "Go Spurs Go" since the days of learning to drive.
My loyalties could have been challenged as I ventured to lands beyond San Antonio, but my devotion has only been strengthened. For example, during my college years I was surrounded by Maverick fans that insisted that just because I lived in the BIG D that I should betray my boys, but no my stubbornness and love for the Spurs shined brightly among those malicious Mavericks. Even in my years of living abroad, I was faithful to wake up at 3 AM just to watch the championship games to see my homeboys play. The worst of all however has been my recent move to Southern California where the suffocating colors of purple and gold bombard me from all sides. Even close friendships could not alter my love for the Spurs in the land of Lakers. I have worn my Spurs shirt with pride among some of the most loyal Lakers fans around. I would pride myself in being a loyal Spurs fan abroad.
So this is my annual blog shout out to my homeboys as they fight to take the championship...yet again. They are currently in Round 1 of the playoffs vs the Mavericks. They have to win the game this Tuesday or they are out of the playoffs (FROWN). Luckily the next game we have home court advantage and Spurs Fans ROCK. So I except a pretty victory on Tuesday! On that note...
GO SPURS GO!!!
This is a picture of me at the Spurs game during Christmas break!

PS. Today was the most beautiful Southern California day and I finished one of my 1o page papers...wooo.....