Happily Ever After: The Book of Ruth

On Sunday November 18, we finished up our “Happily Ever After” series on the book of Ruth.

It doesn't take a lot of brainpower to see that the book of Ruth is a romance. A cursory glance may give the impression that Ruth was some sort of biblical Cinderella, a widow with a compassionate heart, who catches the eye of the powerful, affluent Boaz, marries him, and lives happily ever after.

 

Through careful explication of scripture though, we see just how incredibly beautiful this story is.
 

Because unlike any fairy tale, or Disney movie, or rom com that exists, the hero isn’t a prince.

 

The love story between Ruth and Boaz is one that is saturated in GOD’S love as he graciously extends his hand of providence over His faithful children.

The divine radiance of the book of Ruth also finds its foundation in the story's reflection of the gospel. We watch Boaz redeem Ruth, and we remember the cross and Christ's purchase of HIS Bride's redemption.


As we enter new seasons of our lives as college students, we are also made ever more aware of the broken dating world that society pushes us to embrace. 

Guys, be encouraged to be Godly men like Boaz, who value integrity and character and are firmly resolved to seek God's will before all else.
Ladies, be encouraged to be women of excellence like Ruth, who are praiseworthy reflections of Proverbs 31.

If you read my previous post, you know that I’ve been trying to make recordings of the messages available on the blog. Unfortunately, I only have the last half of the series recorded. Sorry guys, but each of the messages begins with a recap on everything that’s been talked about, so hopefully that will catch you up. I will post the uploaded the recordings, but again, if you want an mp3 of the messages, email me at layen3@yahoo.com and I will be HAPPY to send you the file.

*I will finish writing the series recap, but I really wanted to get this up ASAP, so for now, here are the messages:

Brad Toy speaking on Ruth 3
 

Chris Koga Speaking on Ruth 4:1-12
 

Series Conclusion, Chris Koga speaking on Ruth 4:13-22

Message Recordings!

After looking through this blog, I appreciated the message recaps that the students took the time to write up. We need to bring them back.

With some adjustments :)

So for the past couple months, I’ve been trying hard to figure out how to make recordings of the messages available for the blog. After working through the audio technicalities (I discovered that if I sit in the front row, a handheld voice recorder can pick up great details....including people's/my breathing at times), I needed to find a way to upload the recordings onto the site.

In order to save memory/storage space, I will be uploading the messages to Youtube. It’s just the audio, so it’s not meant to be “watched” unless you WANT to look at the same picture for half an hour. However, I know that some of you might want the actual recording to put on your iPods or other players.

SO, if you want an mp3 recording of any of the messages that are uploaded, just email me at layen3@yahoo.com and I will be MORE than happy to send you the file.

Honestly, PLEASE ask. These messages are worth listening to.

Just a Reminder, This Blog is for YOU!

Hello Epic Family!

This is Leia. If I haven’t had the privilege of meeting you yet, I’m the really tall, skinny Asian girl you’ve probably seen either sweating intensely due to my shameless love of “playtime” (who needs Insanity, when you’re around small children?) or talking to people while using frantic, erratic gesticulations to make my points even more clear (because there’s nothing more impressive or emphatic than having someone’s hands waved in your face). I am easily excited and easily amused, so I’m also probably that strange girl you’ve seen, jumping up and down in overt enthusiasm (yeah, I really do that).  Oh, and I like hugs; I promise I will do my best not to choke you.

The reason I’m sharing some stuff about myself, is because I’m going to try to utilize this blog as much as I can. I know I haven’t met many of you yet, but believe me when I say I WANT to get to know you. Unfortunately, I know this might not happen right away, since many of you are away at college. I hope that by getting to know a little bit about me, you won’t feel too out of place when reading my posts, even if I’m someone you haven’t met (YET!).

Because even if I don’t know you, you are on my heart and you are being prayed for.

The same goes for everyone I DO know, who happen to currently be away, whether studying at college or traveling abroad. I miss you guys.

When I learned about this blog, I couldn’t help but praise God for how amazing the internet is, or rather, what great potential the internet has for investing in His kingdom, especially when it comes to relationships. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m strongly against the way people are lured into a false sense of intimacy by the ease and convenience of social networking. I much prefer phone calls to texting, and talking face-to-face as opposed to emailing, chatting, or any other variation of instant communication that exists. This is probably why I’m still awful at using my cell phone.

But in all honesty, the internet is a fantastic resource we can use to serve one another.  That’s the reason this blog exists (http://gvbcepic.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-blog-is-dedicated-to-you.html ). I’m with Chris—my hope is that through this blog, we, the students at Epic now, can serve you by keeping you updated on what’s going on back home and you, in turn, can serve us by keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

As your sister in Christ, I love you and I will try to use this crazy brain God’s given me to think of as many ways as I can to use what resources I have for God’s glory and your fellowship. I am only one person out of several who have committed to serving through this blog team, and I know that they are here because they want to be active in loving you just as much as I do.

Please consider these questions to help us though, because we appreciate your input and ideas: HOW can we be serving you? What are some things we could do to help you feel more connected?

I was thinking more towards what things you’d like to see on this blog, but I’m going to keep the question open ended; any suggestion is appreciated.

I know it’s pretty awkward, having to answer this kind of question, but if you can, please do. Feel free to post or email or talk to any of us.

This blog IS for you, and we want to make it so.

Ruthwalking #1

An Evening at the Park

On the 9th of September, CG had an awesommeeee evening at the park! With over 40 brothers and sisters, we had a water balloon toss, relay race, and tons of getting to know each other more!  Filled with fellowship and love and bbq, the night was a success!  Praise the Lord! 

Below is a small glimpse of those who were there.  Photo credits to the most beautiful Leia Yen!  

Upcoming September Events

• Sunday 9.9 BBQ at the Park. 
• Thursday 9.13 Hangout at Matsushima's.  Make your own bread and learn how to swing dance.
• Saturday 9.15 Keep Gardena Beautiful (whole church event)

• Sunday 9.16 Ruth Series #1
• Thursday 9.20 Hangout at Matsushima's.

• Sunday 9.23 Ruth Series #2

• Sunday 9.30 Ministry Rush

*Events subject to change :)

SUMMER 2012

Thanks everyone for giving EPIC one of it's most awesome summers ever!  Here is a 10 minute video to recap what we did.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW (sorry couldn't get the thumbnail up)

EPIC SUMMER 2012

Photo credits to: Michelle Cordill, Kelcie Kadowaki's Facebook page, Aubrey Kaneshiro's Facebook page, Ben Lee, and Corey Atkinson.