This article was quite fascinating to me. It definitely brought many thoughts of my own to the surface from some recess of the mind, just waiting to resurface at a time such as this. What I find beautiful about it is the way in which the author does not attempt to solve the problem or resolve a firm conclusion. Instead she hypothesizes and thinks out loud for our sakes, yet lays the foundation of what we do ultimately know to be true by the last paragraph.
Some Food for Thought
Posted by AJ Petersen on January 11, 2013
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/some-food-for-thought/
This Day’s Supplication
Be within me.
Be my Guide.
Go before me,
By my side.
Whisper softly to my heart
So I may hear You and not depart
From Your ways
All of my days.
Let it be.
Posted by AJ Petersen on January 3, 2013
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/this-days-supplication/
Abba’s Children
I am Abba’s child. He loves me. He is fond of me. He cherishes me. And all of this… BEFORE I existed in time and space. Abba made me. He shaped me. He breathed LIFE into me. He sustains me now. He holds my body intact, the sinews of my fingers together as I type this. He speaks each piece of this beautiful creation puzzle into being. I am Abba’s child because of nothing I did or can do. How FREEING! I am resting in this amazing truth, this inexplicable beauty, this magnificent goodness.
You are Abba’s child, too. He loves you. He is fond of you. He cherishes you. And all of this… BEFORE you existed in time and space. Abba made you. He formed you. He shaped you. He breathed LIFE into you. Abba sustains you now. He holds your body intact, the veins and muscles in your eyeballs as you read this. He speaks each piece of this beautiful creation puzzle into being. You are Abba’s child because of nothing you did or can do. How FREEING! Will you rest in this amazing truth, this inexplicable beauty, this magnificent goodness?
Posted by AJ Petersen on December 30, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/abbas-children/
December 14, 2012 — A Day We Won’t Forget
Disgust. Sorrow. Anger. Grief. Sadness. Loss. Despair.
Hope. Purpose. Restoration. Light. Thanksgiving.
This is my response to Friday’s events at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Yes, I know this is almost a week late, but finals were this week and I had only heard what others had discussed, not read the details or seen the pictures myself.
Reading those details, I was horrified. Seeing those pictures of such sweet, lovely, hopeful faces of children… reading their stories and knowing that they have families, siblings, best friends, pets… it broke my heart. It brought tears to my eyes and an aching sorrow to my soul to think of anyone wanting to harm little ones like this. These are Abba’s little ones… little ones to whom Jesus said, “Come to Me!” with joy.
It left me asking Why? Abba, why these adorable little children? Why did they have to die? And why did their friends and siblings have to experience this inexplicable suffering, see their friends die, undergo this huge catastrophe? And I don’t have the answers to these questions. None of us do. Only God knows what is going on… what the purpose is for things like this. I know that He is completely sovereign, so there is a purpose for everything, but when there is such indescribable pain involved… children… I know that God weeps with His children. He weeps with His people who are facing this loss. He holds them. He holds the children, their families, their community. He sorrows with them, hurts with them, cries with them, comforts them, grieves with them. He didn’t create this world to be this way; He created humanity for delight, for peace, for joy, for freedom in obedience. Pain, sorrow, and unthinkable sin is what happens when we try to deviate from His intention for us. Father, may we return in repentance, bowing to You in forgiveness and sorrow. May we let You hold us, hold the children and their families. May we surrender ourselves to You. May we forgive those who cause this pain and grief upon us the way that You have unconditionally forgiven us.
You are the only One Who brings order out of this chaos that our nation has undergone this past week. You are the only One Who can heal the broken hearts of these families, these children, this school, this community. May we open our hearts for You do to Your work in them.
I give December 14, 2012 to You, LORD Jesus.
Posted by AJ Petersen on December 20, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/december-14-2012-a-day-we-wont-forget/
Two Homes? Or Between Homes?
I am home again for fall break! This evening has been amazing — a wonderful birthday dinner (thank you, Dad!!), a lovely tour for my friend David who is staying with us for fall break, cuddling with my adorable dog Cody who has been missed and has missed me so much! Also card games with my siblings and David have been quite fun. 🙂
As fun as this has been and even though it has only been one evening, I’m finding myself with a strange predicament of feelings.
I feel as if I have two homes; or maybe I am between homes.
I know this isn’t an uncommon feeling. Missionary kids probably feel this a lot, as do people who move frequently or business kids whose parents move continents often. I came home to find my room switched around and my stuff in boxes or moved. I came home as a visitor. Yet college is not exactly home, either. I share a room with two other people. Now, this is lots of fun, don’t get me wrong, but I am not fully myself there as I have been here at my house. I don’t sing constantly in my dorm room as I do at home. I don’t hum and joke and laugh with my roommates in the same way that I do with my sister and brother.
It’s an interesting feeling… one that I don’t think will truly go away in this life. I mean, we’re always going to be moving around. Even if we aren’t moving around, we’ll still find ourselves in situations and circumstances which lend themselves to awkwardness, loneliness, or fear. There will always be a certain uncomfortableness to life, I’m finding. I think this is a good thing, as painful as it can seem at times. It keeps us on our toes. It keeps us from becoming complacent. It keeps us growing. Thriving. Thinking. It keeps us ALIVE.
As you face uncomfortableness today, think about where Home is. Think about Who makes home Home. Why should we feel at Home where we are now, at this moment in time and place?! In fact, I think I might be frightened if I did feel completely at Home here and now. That would mean there’s no other Place I’m living for, and that certainly isn’t true! Where and When are you living for?
Posted by AJ Petersen on October 19, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/two-homes-or-between-homes/
True Life
Patience. Tolerance. Long-suffering.
Self-conciousness. Hopefulness. Let down.
Sadness. Sorrow. Love. Struggling.
Trying to follow Jesus.
Trying to do what He says.
Trying to implement wisdom.
Blown off. Rejected. Ignored.
Disrespected. Teased. Back-stabbed.
Cold shoulder. Left out. Against me.
He said it would be like this.
He said it would be hard.
He said there would be pain AND joy.
I accept the challenge.
I surrender all.
I give up what I think is life to find True Life.
They reject You really, not me.
They are intimidated.
They don’t understand Your love and grace
to be more than rules and regulations;
Boring. Non-relatable. Apathetic.
But You are so much more.
You are Jesus, friend.
You are Spirit, with us.
You are Abba, Daddy.
Posted by AJ Petersen on October 2, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/true-life/
It’s been ONE Month at NWC
On Monday it will be officially one month since I moved here to Northwestern. So much has happened in just this one month that it has felt much longer than that! I have seen my mom twice since they dropped me off 🙂 and I’ve seen the rest of my family once. Here are some serious (and some silly) Pros and Cons from the past month!
Some Pros:
- I’ve met more music nerds here than I’ve ever met before! 😀
- I can walk everywhere I need to go! No more driving 20 minutes!
- There is a more even number of guys to girls here than at Schaeffer. 😉
- I have listened to all of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Counterpoint class.
- By the end of Honors OT, I will have written my own summary book of all of the OT!
- I can earn MONEY helping people with music theory!! 😀
- I now have friends from Wisconsin, Hungary, Colorado, Illinois, more from MN, and lots of other places!
Some Cons:
- I miss sharing a room with Jenna!!
- It can sometimes be hard to find time (or places) to be alone.
- I don’t have a piano in my room (though there is one in my building… otherwise there are ~20 practice rooms in Totino!).
- I do homework ALL weekend and EVERY afternoon/evening… except for last evening! Maybe I’m getting back into the swing of school and getting faster at writing all these papers and reading all of these books and articles. 🙂
- Some of my new friends are struggling with difficult things.
- I am struggling with past things that I never expected would come back up.
- Too much cleaning! I HATE the strong smells of cleaner in our dorm every Saturday morning. 😛 haha
- SO many people go home on the weekends! Good for getting homework done, but sad if you want to hang out or goof off with people who left.
Well, I’d better get back to those papers that I mentioned needing to write… 🙂 Adios for now, my friends!
Posted by AJ Petersen on September 22, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/its-been-one-month-at-nwc/
First Two Weeks at NWC!
Hola! I’ve been so busy I could hardly think these past two weeks… but I think I’ve finally figured out somewhat how to manage my time well and get all the papers, readings, and assignments done! It has been such a blast getting started with classes, meeting SO many new people, and learning from amazing professors.
I have met many music majors and had some very fun conversations with some of them! I am in Counterpoint this semester. Counterpoint is an upper-level music theory course in which you learn how to analyze and write independent melodic lines that work together to also create vertical progressions. I am in a small class (6 total students) and everyone else knows each other already, but I have known the answers to questions and been able to answer a couple that I knew I had correct. My professor, Dr. Danek, has a crazy memory. He plays in class many excerpts from inventions and fugues while we are learning the concepts and tells us important things to remember about each of them.
I have been able to unofficially tutor a music theory I student already this semester, too! I am going to talk to the Alpha Center about tutoring because it’s a wonderful program: students get tutoring free and the tutors are paid by NWC! COOL deal. 🙂
I am in 3 honors classes: Public Speaking, Old Testament History and Literature, and History of Western Civilization. Speech is fairly straight-forward; Rhetoric with Mr. H prepared me well last year. 🙂 OT will be lots of paper-writing, but I think I will be very satisfied with the results at the end of the semester. West. Civ. will be SO much reading. We have a huge course packet filled with articles, plus 6 additional small books to read this semester. Good thing I’ve read some of these already with Mr. D and Mr. Phillips! It will be much easier to skim and remember rather than learn brand new material. In honors classes professors don’t give tests or quizzes, so we just do big projects and write many papers. I personally think this is pretty nice! It will certainly make finals week MUCH easier.
I have visited 2 different churches so far and will visit another new one this week. I really liked Bethlehem Baptist the first week; I would like to go back and visit again maybe next weekend. I was very convicted by Pastor John Piper’s sermon on the end of 2 Timothy 4. For worship they took hymns and “modernized” them (for lack of a better term). I enjoyed that immensely! Last week I went to Real Life Church. It was their Youth Sunday, so their youth praise team led worship and the youth pastor spoke about impacting youth. It was very interesting listening to a sermon like that from this side of high school; every time that I remember, I was IN middle or high school when hearing sermons like that. It was a strange feeling to realize that I am not one of them any longer and I now have a different role to play in impacting youth. I have the same role to play in college life that I used to in high school, but it looks different. That is something I have been thinking about and praying about a lot this week: what does it look like to impact college students? High schoolers? Middle Schoolers?? Wow… that requires some more thought.
Please be in prayer for a new friend of mine, Wade Weeldryer. I have not talked to him very much, but he is in two of my classes. His mother just died on Thursday evening from battling a very painful cancer. While his family is rejoicing that she is no longer in pain and that she is with her Savior, they are still grieving her loss.
You can also pray for the spiritual life of the students on this campus. I have seen some on FIRE for our LORD, but I have also seen some who need Him so badly…. it breaks my heart to see them searching for fulfillment in the wrong places. I want to be a light here; I don’t know what that looks like or how God might use me, but I trust that He can and He will, if I let Him. And I WANT Him to use me, even if I’m not “popular”…. I’ve never been popular, so no worries there. 🙂 God has given me an urgency for this campus; may He bring this to action here at Northwestern College. Go Eagles! Go Jesus!! 😀 Thank You for LIFE.
Posted by AJ Petersen on September 8, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/09/08/first-two-weeks-at-nwc/
NWC, Here I Come!! T-minus 10 HOURS
Wow. I can’t believe this is actually happening. In just under 10 hours I will be at Northwestern, checking in, moving in, and meeting Lauren and Rachel! I can’t tell you how excited I am, but let me explain another strange feeling that has overcome me this evening.
After I was finished packing (by the way, I packed the van all by myself! 🙂 ), I practiced voice (getting ready for auditions!), cut Cody’s nails and brushed him (I ALWAYS do that… now mom will have to do it sometimes 
), and got dressed for my Commission Service (more on that in a minute). And when all that was done and I had my first down moment for the day, I didn’t know what to do. My room is emptier than it’s ever been, my books are packed away… I feel out of home. I know that’s not true, but I feel like I’m in limbo or something.
Tonight I was pleasantly surprised when dad got home to be greeted by a smiling dad with flowers for ME! Aaww. ❤ There were roses in the bouquet, my favorite flower! Then we had a very nice dinner which consisted of sweet corn, ribs, and salsa! I LOVE Dad’s salsa. 🙂 We ate our fill; we cleaned that table off for my Commissioning Service, affectionately called Annie’s Commissioning.
My family went around the table, each giving me something and saying a few things about me to encourage me, challenge me, and tell me how much they love me. My mom started off by telling me that she prays I spread as much JOY at NWC as I do everywhere else! And she challenged me to love God and serve others. 🙂 Jenna gave me a poem that she wrote about me last year all typed up. She also gave me the picture she drew (at my request) to commemorate the day I got the inspiration (literally!) for Breathe In Me, a song I wrote this spring.
Reedie was really sweet and made me a digital picture in the shape of a heart using words that describe me, ending with my name (according to him) – Annieboo. 😛 It was really cool!! Definitely taking it to college with me. 🙂
Finally, Dad. He said a lot of nice things: stuff I’ve learned, ways I’ve grown, how my parents see me living for God… some pretty sweet things. Sadly I can’t remember a lot of it even though I wish I did. 😛 He gave me a bunch of colored pens, too (well, I HAVE been borrowing his for quite a while… 😛 ). Oh, and he used the peanut M&Ms we were eating as an illustration of the “many M&M’s of the seashore” being the blessings I will receive. He was replicating the Abrahamic covenant – COOL. I feel so loved. ❤ This brings me to describe further the STRANGE feeling I have… such mixed emotions. For the past… oh, at least 3 days, I’ve felt like leaving NOW, like I should be there already because most of my classmates are off at school already. But I realized tonight that I don’t know for sure if I’m ready! I mean, I felt really ready before, but now that it’s becoming real, I think I’m going to really miss my family, Rochester, ARC, Crossroads, Schaeffer, my friends… I’m going to miss what I have come to love. But I won’t stop loving the people, places, and things here, I will just be learning to love a new place, new people who will become wonderful new friends, and new things about this time in life that I’ve never experienced before! God, help me to do what You have planned for me!! I want to do what You want me to do. 🙂
Oh man, NWC, here I COME!!!
Posted by AJ Petersen on August 23, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/nwc-here-i-come-t-minus-10-hours/
NWC, Here I Come! ONE Week Left!!
I only have one week left until I move into my dorm room and start college life. I am SO excited to get there and make new friends, learn lots of music and other stuff, and (most importantly) grow closer to God and learn more about His purpose for me.
I am so enthusiastic to meet my roommates, too! We have bought pretty much everything we’re going to need, though we’ll probably find that we need a few other things too, but we officially get to meet one another a week from today! Lauren and Rachel, I can’t wait to meet you!!
My prayer for this next week, Father, is that You might teach me what You want me to know going into this exciting freshman year. Mold my heart and mind into Your likeness. Shape my motivations, attitude, thought patterns, ALL of me into who You want me to be. Rain Your grace in my life. Whisper Your truth in my heart as I go experience many new things and meet so many new people all at once. Guide me to guard my heart and mind with everything that I have, but at the same time to be open and selfless to showing Your love to others as they need. Thank You for being who You are, God! I am constantly in AWE of all You are and I can’t wait to grow in knowing You and being known by You! May this be a year dedicated to You. I give You this school year, Father. It’s for You! It’s all for You!! ❤
Northwestern, I’m ready!! Boy, am I in for an adventure! 😀
Posted by AJ Petersen on August 17, 2012
https://thewayofredemption.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/nwc-here-i-come-one-week-left/
thewayofredemption 