Merry Christmas from the Sistren at 4110!

Roomie Christmas Photo Album 

We thought, "Hey, we cook for each other, live in the same house, love and serve the same Father, love each other...we're a family! Why not take Christmas photos like a real family? ;) So Kayla Hayes Photography offered its wonderful service to us for free, and these pics are what transpired. These are just a few from a load that our sister in Christ, Kayla Hayes, took of us at the University of Tampa recently. Merry Christmas from The Sistren at 4110 (Jenna, Joanna Titus, Sarah Jo, Gina, & Quina)! :)

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." - John 13:35

Just a couple random videos from the summer...

Killing the spider in our room

Improv

Poem: Sojourner's Mourning (Everything Has Changed)

What I'm thinking about as I'm transitioning out of living with my senior year roommates....

JAMoQ = Jenna, April, Monica, Quina :) 

inspiration: leaving my roommates Monica, April, and Jenna for a new season in life
key verse: 1Peter 1:1 "elect exiles"
song set to the background of poem: Franklin by Paramore

Sojourner’s Mourning (Everything Has Changed)

By: Quina Parchment

If I tape this leaf

brown

cracked

fallen from

this tree

onto this paper,

this scrap book,

even if tucked behind

a layer of plastic

I will salvage this season for but one more

before it crumbles

and slips away

gone

like the feeling of home.

So for now

I break off a limb from this tree

It will be

my staff

Embrace

my pilgrimage

But,

We can’t go back…

to that moment

that touch

and smell…

I will miss this.

I miss you already.

I love that breeze

that joke

that movie

that talk

that time we reconciled

that tea

Soon…

everything will change.

I won’t get used to this

sojourning

But,

isn’t it sweet?

what we will be?

no longer elect exiles

just elect

It makes me cry

grief for the passing of this present

death of this bright green leaf

Yet even when it floats to the ground,

dancing with memories,

it looks beautiful

it looks necessary

Sojourner’s mourning

the change of season

makes me long for Home

where everything will change

Gollum/Smeagol = Old Me/New Me

more on indwelling sin (thanks to Sarah-Jo)...
LOTR

"Master looks after us now."
"What?"
"Leave now and never come back."
"No."
"Leave now and never come back!"


"So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh..." (Romans 8:12)


Leah Smith song to go with it called "Monster"

Anacondas and My Sin

April, Jenna, Melizza and I were watching anaconda videos on YouTube again. We came across a video of an anaconda eating a capybara. Check it out here.

There’s a metaphor here:

The capybara = me

The anaconda = indwelling sin

Can you see the parallels?

Makes me think of that John Owen quote: “Be killing sin or [sin] will be killing you.” He bases that quote on Romans 8:13:

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (I used the NIV because I like the use of the word “misdeeds”)

Speaking of anaconda-like indwelling sin…

The book of Job reveals a few good, redemptive purposes that God has for His worshippers when He afflicts them with suffering.

Check out what Elihu says in Job 33:8-33.  One point of his argument is that God can use suffering as a means of His redeeming grace to keep man from falling into sin.

I had the flu, then pneumonia, then bronchitis for a span of 2 months a couple years ago. Not only did God teach me about my sinful proclivities and His merciful character through my suffering, but He could have also been keeping me from some sin that I would have fallen into had I had my health. Staggering…

How horrible is your sin to you? Since God can use suffering to mercifully keep you from falling into some sin…would you rather be crushed with massive suffering than to sin against the infinitely worthy God? Would you rather be eaten alive by an anaconda than to be eaten alive by your seemingly pleasurable sin? Or, more realistically, would you rather be struck with immense sickness that lasts for a long time than to fall into sin?

Makes me think of Mark 9:42-48…and Hebrews 11:24-26...

Surprise 22nd Bday

For the third year in a row, I was very easily surprised by friends in celebration of my birthday. This time, my roommates told me that we were going to go to Lettuce Lake Park to have a quiet time together. When we got there, a bunch of my friends popped out from behind the trees smiling. :) What a blessing it is to be in the Body of Christ, to have genuine friendships that point me to my Savior, and to enjoy Florida springtime weather. I don't deserve any of it, but I'm so thankful for it.

I was so confused...

Ladies :D

JAMoQ = roommates