news of me

Well, the news of the last week is not particularly exciting. I had a wisdom tooth taken out on Thursday. Other than that, I spent a fair amount of time at the University and with my various friends.
Since people seemed to like pictures even more than news of me, I have decided that I will include those with the brief update. Above is a picture of BJK İnönü Stadium; that is the home of my adopted soccer team here Beşiktaş. (Unfortunately last night, we watched them lose.) :(

An old song that was brought to mind from my reading in Philippians this morning. I've adjusted a few of the words so it's closer to the way I remember it.

Running In The Steps

A lot of people think that they've attained to the height of Christian grace
They thinking that being a Christian is easy and no big thrill
But the Christian life in Jesus is something like running a race
And you're not living for the Lord if You're standing still

Forgetting those things that are behind
And reaching for the things before
Pressing toward the mark of the prize of God
I'm running like I've never run before
Counting everything I won but loss
Conforming to His will
I'm running in the steps, Running in the steps
I'm running in the steps of the Lord.

Philosophical Certainties

Some thoughts that have become more meaningful to me as I've begun studying philosophy:

- Jesus said to him, I am... the Truth!

- I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.


Jn. 14:6; Ps. 119:99-100

Pictures from recent weekends

Me with old cars at the Museum

This weekend, Derşan, Duygu and I went to the Rahmi M. Koç Museum here in Istanbul. It was a lot of fun. It is focused on things like transportation and communication; and since there is a lot of money backing it, it has some really nice things. From the pictures below you may notice that my favorite thing was the submarine. :)

The (former) USS Thornback, a diesel sub that saw action in World War II in the Pacific theatre

The other side of the Thornback

Me inside Thornback

Cockpit in an old Douglas military plane (at the museum)... scary thing is they still fly these same ones commercially, now I know why they scare me (before I thought it was just the fact that it was a prop plane.) :)

British bus at the museum

Breakfast with friends one Saturday

Visiting in the countryside

Recently

This post is just for putting up a few pictures and giving a basic update.  I am currently not taking Turkish classes and trying to find ways to practice speaking the Turkish I've learned since that is the area I'm struggling in most.  I'm taking classes at Bosphorus University, and thus I'm over there about 4 days a week.  I'm getting to know people there, and that is fun.

Outside of that I am trying to arrange for a couple of other opportunities to see and do things here that I haven't been able to yet.  

My pictures don't want to upload right now, so maybe later I can post those. :) 

Thoughts from a friend

Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

Jer. 9:23-24 negates the validity of glorying and boasting in anything except God. Yet, that is astounding, because to our minds, there are some pretty incredible human talents and abilities and resources, but out of all things God is the most unknowable and the most unattainable. Knowledge of God is the farthest from us, yet He has said that the one thing in which we may legitimately glory is in knowing Him.
So all that we have counted gain may instantly become loss to us, and that which was to us the most unattainable becomes the most prized object, the only ground that we have for glorying. Knowing the Unknowable becomes to us the only knowledge that we possess with any certainty and legitimacy. Understanding the Incomprehensible One is suddenly the boast that we claim, forsaking all others. Only in His economy would such a trade take place. Only a God like Him would allow us to be confident in the possession of a knowledge and a relationship that is so utterly beyond us.

(mkc)