I’m on Psalm 119 – the longest chapter in the Bible. There’s no way I’m reading this in a day, so I’ll just break it up.

A few years ago, I memorized this verse:

I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:10-11)

Back then when I memorized the verse, I was on ICQ all the time, so I thought of “ICQ” (sounds like “I seek you”) to trigger the beginning of the verse. heheh…

Anyway, I really liked those verses because I got comfort out of the idea of hiding God’s word in my heart. Not for the sake of reciting mantras to keep myself pure, but rather words of wisdom to help me in my daily life. I feel like there are verses to run through your head for almost any situation. They could be verses of encouragement (like to be strong and courageous), verses of guidance and advice in relationships (like to be slow to speak), or verses of comfort (like God being our shepherd and how he makes us – figuratively – lie down in green pastures).

I could think of an example of how having verses memorized and in the forefront of my mind helped me out. About a year and half ago, Matt and I were in a difficult situation, in which I was constantly bothered by the behavior of some people we knew. The behavior wasn’t directed at us, but it did affect us – and I was having an extremely difficult time just letting things go. I thought more about why I was so bothered…why did it irritate me so much, when it wasn’t even personal? “I wouldn’t do things that way,” I would tell myself. “I can’t believe they do that- they’re so irresponsible!!”

I then realized that by having those thoughts, I was basically thinking that I was better than them – that my way of doing things was better than theirs. And I looked down on them for not doing things the “right” way. Somehow, I kept running into verses that talked about not looking down on others, not thinking that I’m better than others, and not judging other people. Ouch. So I surrounded myself with those verses, and tried to bombard myself with them so that I’d have a better attitude toward these people.

Did it work? Well, not always. But every time I saw those verses, I’d renew my vow to be better at it.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man. (Psalm 118:8)

Even when I know that people will disappoint me – that I will disappoint myself even – why do I still put so much stock on others? Better to put trust in someone that is unwavering and omnipotent than those around who us who make mistakes, hurt us, disappoint us, or have selfish motives. Wish it were as simple as it sounds…

It’s the weekend…whoo-hoo!!! Can’t wait to get some good sleep…I hope.

Saw this photo on Oh, Hello Friend, and I loved the phrase on the package. It put into words the feeling that I get when I write letters to friends.

I liked this verse from chapter 116:

The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. (Psalms 116:6)

I believe that God protects the simple hearted, but also those who are more complex (if that’s the right way to describe the opposite), but this sentence made me think a little more. When I think about the simple hearted, I immediately think of all the people I read about every day at work – people who live in thatched huts who run around barefoot and play with soccer balls made of plastic bags. I also think of communities I’ve visited where “houses” are really structures made of cardboard and other debris, but children who play outside have huge grins on their faces and are always eager to hold your hand.

I think these are the people who might be more aware of the spiritual – that there’s something else out there. There’s less of a focus on wealth, material possessions, and power – less reliance on self. And maybe that means these people are giving less thought to selfish things, and have more capability to have a greater understanding and realization of some Supreme Being. I don’t know. Just a guess. Goes back to the same idea of children being innocent and trusting because they have not grown to be cynical and selfish.

Wow, chapter 117 is really short – and nothing really new.

Hhmm…I’m still short one day of Psalms. Shouldn’t I be on the 15th day? I don’t think I skipped a day, yet I’m still short one. Oh well.

Didn’t get much from Psalm 114. Psalm 115, however, was more interesting. In verses 9-11, the psalmist writes three times, “he [God] is their help and shield.” Must be important if it’s recited three times. It’s a comforting verse, though it is extremely simple. I like the idea of God being my shield. I don’t believe that He shields us from danger. If we’re in the path of a moving car, He’s not going to necessarily intervene by putting an invisible force field around us. But I think it means that when we do experience something that really shakes us, God can be that shield around our heart, our emotions, our inner strength to keep us from letting our hardships completely destroy us. Of course, that is, only if we give up our own control and own will to try to handle everything on our own.

Another verse that stuck out to me was this:

The LORD remembers us and will bless us:
He will bless the house of Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron,

he will bless those who fear the LORD—
small and great alike. (Psalms 115:12-13)

Hooray for the small! On a serious note, it always makes me uncomfortable when I think about God blessing people – or hearing people say, “God blessed me with _______.” So, if someone else doesn’t have the same thing, that means God hasn’t blessed them? I don’t like using that phrase because it implies that God is not blessing other people who don’t have what I have – or it also implies that if I did not have a certain something, then God did not bless me. I prefer to say something like, “I am thankful for ______” or “I thank God for ______.” But then again, saying that implies that God gave me ____. Maybe it’s all about the wording. When I hear “blessed” I think of something that is special, and that other people don’t receive. But when I think about being thankful for something, it could be something that others have received, as well. Hhmm…I sound confusing. Gotta think about this some more.

One of the coolest things we saw at Disneyland Hong Kong was an animation demo using a zoetrope, which by definition is “a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.” With this particular zoetrope, instead of using static pictures, it used 3-D models of characters from Toy Story. In a zoetrope, each picture (or model, in this case) is slightly changed so that, when spun quickly, the image looks like it’s moving.

Even when it wasn’t moving, the zoetrope was interesting to look at because we could see the slight variations of all the characters. I remember thinking, “If we run around the zoetrope fast enough, maybe we could see the characters moving.” A few minutes later, the lights in the room dimmed, and the zoetrope began turning! I was disappointed at first because the zoetrope was spinning so fast that we couldn’t even see the models. “This is lame,” I thought to myself. “I can’t believe Disneyland couldn’t get this right.”

Then strobe lights turned on, and it was like the characters had come to life. Jen was so shocked that she screamed!! We were watching a cartoon right before our eyes. Matt got a video of it, which I’ve posted here.  The video seems splotchy, but it’s mostly because of the strobe light. Make sure you watch it all the way to the end so you can see what the zoetrope looks like when it’s moving slower and without the strobe light.

I was a little confused as to why I had one less day of Psalms, but then I realized that when we flew to Hong Kong, we lost a day. When we go back tomorrow, we would have gained that time back – whoo-hoo!

In the meantime, here are my thoughts on Psalms 112-113:

He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. (Psalm 112:7)

This verse – so not me. I’m one of those people who thinks the worst when the phone rings late at night or early in the morning. I fear bad news…and I fear events to come that aren’t even remotely close to occurring. It would be great to be able to say that my heart steadfastly trusts in God, and no matter what, I never have to feel anxious or fearful. I think it shows that I try too hard to be in control of everything…

Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? (Psalm 113:5-6)

I’m don’t think I like this verse that much. When I think of God, I don’t think of Him stooping down to look at us. I picture Him being right next to me all the time, closer than anyone can ever get. I definitely don’t picture Him as an unreachable being who just looks down on us from a high and mighty throne.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. (Psalms 111:10)

I think one of the most common complaints about Christianity is that there are too many rules to follow. It’s too restrictive and people can’t have fun. I think that statement can be true, depending on which church you attend. But there is some truth to that – that there are guidelines. However, I think most of those “guidelines” – or more like life instructions – are justifiably wise, and many people (Christian or not) can agree that they are good to follow.

I don’t believe that these life instructions are meant to put a damper on our life. I believe they’re all for our own good, even when it doesn’t seem like it. And it’s no different than instructions that we get from our parents. Some teenagers might want to stay out late with friends into the wee hours, but parents know that it isn’t good for a bunch of 15-year-olds to be out on the streets at 3 a.m. To the teens, their parents are keeping them from having fun. But the parents really are watching out for their kids’ own safety and well-being.

One thing that comes up a lot in Psalms is the subject of enemies. There’s a lot of requests from the writers’ part for God to bring vengeance on enemies who are wrongly accusing or harassing the writer. Psalms 109 (and I guess sort of Psalms 110, too) bring up how enemies should be taken down by God. Psalms 109 even says stuff like how the enemies’ children should be fatherless, that the children should be beggars. It’s pretty harsh. It’s hard for me to imagine wanting this stuff to fall on people, and it’s especially hard for me to try to wish these things on people when I know that I, too, am not perfect. Maybe someone’s out there wanting bad stuff to happen to me. Who knows.

Geez, I need to stop leaving this until the end of the day because by this point, my brain is barely coherent. I haven’t even been keeping up with journal, either, and I’m afraid I’ll miss some details if I try to recap the whole trip on the flight back home.

So tired. Need sleep…and alone time.

One of the coolest things about reading through Psalms is being able to recognize verses that have been turned into songs. Take this one for example: For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies (Psalm 108:4). The writers back then were incredibly poetic and descriptive, so it makes sense that songwriters today would take their words.

It’s also been good to read the praises of other people, and I notice they’re all simple and clear. The words aren’t all about jargon and “Christianese.” It’s just about the basics and the truth of how great God is, and how appreciative the writer is. That said, just as trends for fashion and slang comes and goes, so do buzz words in Christianity. I’m guilty of using some of those phrases that have gone in and out of style, but I am noticing it more and more, and trying to stop myself from saying things that only churchgoers would understand. Although sometimes the buzz words are the first things that come to mind, sometimes it may come across as being overly spiritual – and if we’re explaining something to someone who doesn’t go to church, they might get turned off or confused.

On a related note, Matt and I are finding ourselves asking more questions about why we do things (in terms of what we believe is “right” for Christians). Do we really need to be in a small group – or do we feel obligated to be in one because we’ve been in youth groups or small groups since we were young? What about tithing to the church – or other ministries that we feel even stronger about? And praying before a meal? I’m all for expressing my gratitude for a meal and the means with which to buy the ingredients to make that meal (especially knowing that there are people around the world – including nearby street corners – who don’t have any food). But when the prayer before a meal includes all these other things, with a quick word of thanks for the food thrown in as a side note, does that mean we’re praying out of habit rather than out of true gratitude? So what activities, behaviors, buzz words am I throwing into my life in excess, thinking that doing so makes me a “good Christian”? And which of those things are not really necessary?

I’m sure these psalmists were not concerned about finding the right “small group” or using the right buzz words. After all, their praises were simple, heartfelt, and honest – and I think that it’s not such a bad idea to follow that example.