Homework!

Man, it sure gets busy now, getting into my first week of college! I enjoy all my classes a lot, but there is a lot of homework. Balancing my time is one of the biggest challenges here at PRBI. I feel like I always have to do homework, and yet I can't spend all my time in my room studying... I do love the feeling of finishing a project though! It is so satisfying!

Northern Lights

Northern lights, as said by one of my college mates, are "the epitome of Psalm 19:1-2". It seems that they are the perfect example of the glory of God proclaimed in the heavens.
I had the opportunity of taking in a beautiful scene of the Aurora Borealis last night, while sitting around a  campfire at my college campus. It was a fantastic moment to see the lights in the sky grow and fade, dance and soar across the Alberta sky. What could we do but praise God? He is to be praised for His wonderful creation! And all the better to take all this in with good Christian friends who love God! It was a good night, and I was blessed to be alive.

New Chapters

It does seem like I'm starting a new chapter in my life. I have just arrived at Peace River Bible Institute to attend studies until April/May 2012. I'm so excited to see what God has to teach me, even though it will require me using my time very carefully! I love meeting new people and making new friends. I just started Music Theory today and I think that is going to be a highlight for me, even though it will be tricky to stay on top of everything including my other courses. Tomorrow we're heading out to Bear Lake for a college fun evening and we are all looking forward to that!

Mouse Hunting!

Mouse hunting! I have a total of approximately 13 traps baited and ready for mice. BRING IT!

Dillon Braun
da_braun@live.com

Don't Read This; You'll Be Offended

People don't like blunt honesty. Especially when it contrasts their beliefs or ideas, and makes them feel uncomfortable. It seems I offend people with special ease. I don't particularly like this, but I also am not going to sugar coat everything I say. If I say something, I do make a point of making sure that it's correct. If it's not correct I will do my best to change it, or make it right. It's almost humorous sometimes, how angry and vexed some people get when you say something outright or bold. I know that it's hard to take. I don't like it either. That doesn't change the fact though. People will always need to hear things that they don't want to hear, and someone is always going to tell them.
In my own life I struggle with listening to people who are telling me things that I know are right and that really goes against my grain. It's called having a conscience which God has placed within us to search our thoughts and motivations (Proverbs 20:27). At times it's those little nudges that have pushed me to overcome my selfishness and be obedient to God!
I am one of those people who doesn't like being wrong. When I discuss things with other people like this, it can get to be a very heated discussion! What a lot of people don't realize is that when they are trying to tell you that you are judging other people too much (which is often what the debate is about) is that they start to judge you just as much or perhaps even more than you were judging another.
Can I always practice what I preach? No, I certainly cannot! But if everyone were simply to stop preaching because they weren't in perfect alignment to what they said, then no one would know the truth. It's a sharing of truth.
"For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want to, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:15-25
Share the truth, take in the truth, don't read this, you'll be offended.

Walking Away

Temptation. One of my biggest enemies. It comes to a point where giving in to it almost becomes a habit, which in turn becomes an addiction. I've become an addict of sorts. The thing is that I know what the consequences are (not all of them albeit) and I keep on. I get frustrated at myself for giving in and letting down my guard and so on and then I get angry because I'm frustrated and then I get confused and then I become hopeless. Yet somehow I seem to be able to regain my hope from somewhere. Maybe I regain my hope each time I succeed in overcoming temptation. There are few feelings to compare with that of knowing that you have beat the enemy in one of your battles. You were able to walk away. Too bad I so often forget what that feels like when I'm in the midst of a struggle. I tend to get the wrong focus and perspective. There are so many things that could be overcome if we simply had a different perspective about it! That is my goal and prayer; that I could maintain a healthy perspective, even in the midst of trial. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

Family Walk

Me and my beautiful girlfriend, Eva, going on a walk with my family. We walked by a play ground and got my sister to take this picture :)

Dillon Braun
da_braun@live.com

With All Your Heart

I just read a verse in my Bible that I had previously highlighted. The verse I read was Jeremiah 29:13, which says "You will seek Me and you will find Me when you search for me with all your heart." So often I find myself half heartedly searching for God, and His will for me. I'm reminded in this verse that we will find God, but He wants us to search after Him and His will with all our heart. He wants us to put some real effort into it! Because God's plan for us is so much bigger than we can comprehend, we have to follow Him in faith, like walking blindly while holding someone's hand, trusting that they will lead you safely. We have to search for him with all our heart.

Over and Over

It seems lately like life has been going in circles. Perhaps it’s somewhat like the earth revolving around the Sun; it’s generally the same path every time, but each trip is never exactly the same as the others. There’s been a lot going on in my life, and most of it is spiritually oriented. God has been trying to teach me some lessons, and I seem only able to learn the hard way. I keep on making mistakes that I’ve made before, and I look back and can hardly believe the fool I’ve made of myself. So strange is the way that our thoughts can be so up and down, back and forth, changing with each moment and fresh perspective. Often I wonder what the point of all this really is... but it all boils down to having faith that cannot be broken, in a God that cannot be beaten; the One who takes me through each lesson. Over and over. Jeremiah 29:11