Islam Call to Prayer

  We are learning about Islam in World Religions and today we began learning the "basics" so to speak. We watched this video on the Call to Prayer and it was...so beautiful that I teared up.Here's a link to the video we watched in class. I ask you to watch it; it's only a few minutes.
 Call to Prayer
 I think that call to prayer is so beautiful and inspiring. I found it beautiful because it sounds like singing. I  knew about the call to prayer and that Muslims prayed several times throughout the day. however, I thought that the call to prayer was exactly that: someone getting on that microphone/speaker and calling people to go pray. someone saying "prayer time, it is prayer time" or something to that effect. it was so inspiring to me to learn that they pray 5 times a day.click on the link below that says "Muslim prayer." it is a short demonstration of Muslim prayer. watch it; it is only a few minutes. they do that 5 times a day! at specific times during the day they pray. when the call to prayer happens,they stop whatever they are doing: cars pull over, shops close, etc. they drop everything and pray. what if we as Christians did that? what if we dropped everything at specific times during the day and prayed to God? I also admire them for not caring where they are when it is time for call to prayer. I sometimes feel a bit funny about praying in public, like in a restaurant or something, or even praying out loud for or with someone. they don't. I think these are two things we as Christians(at least myself personally)can learn from.
the last video "5 pillars of Islam" is just an "5 pillars" song. I found it really good.



5 Pillars of Islam

Muslim Prayer

Prayer Warrior

I decided that I am going to be a prayer warrior, and I am going to start by storming Heaven on Europe's behalf. I started tonight before the SBC send-off devo. I used the Prayer for Nations booklet that I got from Greater Europe Missions. I started with the UK, and it felt SO good to pray for them. I followed the prayer requests listen on the UK page of the booklet but not word for word. I am going to pray and pray for Europe until they can pray for themselves, then they can start praying for others, and maybe, in the end, we'll all become part of God's family. I am begginign to realize that the followers in Europe are part of our family, and they need us,and non-believers need to be prayer for! I realized tonight that I may not be strong physically, or mentally, or maybe even emotionally(i cannot hide my emotions!), and I may not be the smartest, most social, prettiest, beautiful,outgoing,etc. but I can be a prayer warrior, and I may or I may not end up as a missionary in Europe(although that is one of my passions-I SO want to go to Europe and be a missionary), but I can still storm Heaven on their behalf, praying for each nation to become engulfed in fire for Jesus.

Feeling God Next To Me

This past Sunday(March 7, 2010)Southern Hills had this "relationship talk" event for all the lifegroups. I knew that no matter what they said, it was gonna end up being about dating relationships. I was not gonna go. I did not want to go! I knew that all it would do would be to make me cry! 2 hours of being reminded with every word that I am not in a dating relationship, never have been and never will be at this rate because I must be missing that thing that makes a guy see you as more than just a friend. anyway, I had told my lifegroup I was not gonna go and why. they understood. anyways, I still couldnt shake the thought that I should go, and finally I realized that this was God telling me He wanted me to go. I argued with Him about it because I knew what would happen: I would be driven to sadness and tears upon tears. I ended up going. ONLY reason I went was because God told me to. I did not want to go, I knew that I would end up crying and upset. just like I predicted, I did cry. the tears started with the first question: "what are you looking for in a dating relationship?" I held out for a fee minutes, and then ran out to the auditorium and cried. I went back, and about 15-20 minutes later, ran out in tears again. the second time I was even more upset. I was crying and I was praying at the same time. I dont recall exactly what I was praying. I do remenber that I was talking about how I didnt understand why God wanted me to come, that it wasnt like it turned out to be this awesome talk that I was really glad God had me go to, but exactly what I knew it was going to be: a huge 2 hour painful reminder of my lack of a dating relationship and crying and crying. I remenber I said at some point: "God I knew you" or something along those lines.Anyway, the auditorium was dark so I got up and started walking around. I think I wanted to clean up any trash or something like that to take my mind off my pain and heart ache. and that's when I found it: on the floor by the side of one of the pews(the one I sit on I think). it was this green laminated card that had this "poem" made up of scriptures. it was God saying why He created her(to put it simply). it was...scary and amazing and beautiful and shocking and so many other things all at the same time. I felt like God was talking to me, like He was answering a question that I had asked without knowing it. For the first time, I had this...powerful feeling, I could FEEL God right there next to me. I know it sounds stupid, but it is the way I honestly felt. I want to write it on here, but I wont. one because it is kinda long and the main reason is because it feels like a letter that God wrote to me and I want to keep it to myself. God is so awesome and I hope and pray that He keeps bringing people and things that help me feel like that again.

Jesus & Apostles

I taughgt  in my lifegroup this past sunday(February 28,2010)and I wanted to show some YouTube clips of some of the stories in the Gospel of Mark chapters(3-4)that I was teaching on. I spent about 1-2, maybe 3hours looking up videos. I finally found two but I didnt get to show them but that's another story. anyway, during my search I found this awesome video with such an awesome and beautiful song:

Jesus & Apotles


I LOVE this song and this video together! I've heard the song before but I never realized it is not a romatic love song but a Jesus love song you know? the video also makes me think about how devasted the apostles must have been when Jesus was cruxified. for 3 years they had watched Him do these amazing increable miracles, from curing the sick to driving out demons, and listened to Him preach these amazing and new and ratical teachings...then He's cruxified. the man who drove out demons cruxified. plus, they abandoned Him,Peter denied Him, Judas was the one who bratrayed Jesus to the authorieties...and Jesus had known all this all along, and yet it never changed the way he loved them at all. that's kind of something to think about: what if you knew that someone was going to betray you...would it affect the way you love them or treat them? it is just an awesome video and everytime I think about, I think about how Jesus wanted to stay with us, but knew he had to leave. how must He have felt, knowing He was going to have to die in such a horrible way and leave His apostles and His followers? it is such a good video!