Hope is Not Enough

Sometimes it's easy to overlook the injustice that happens in the world when you only hear about it, and it doesn't happen to you. Sometimes injustice is easy to ignore. We walk past homeless people every day. Sometimes, it is not so hard to ignore. Take the Ottawa shooting for example. My office was in lock-down and it was not so easy to ignore the fact that somebody was roaming around just a few blocks away from me with a gun and the intention to kill.

But why is there injustice, and how do we know if something is unjust? 

It seems to be that most humans have similar ideas of what is right and wrong (in general). For example, we know that it is wrong to steal, kill, cheat, and hurt other people. We also know that it is right to give money in exchange for goods and services. But how do we know this? Where did the idea of morals come from?

Perhaps one way to look at this is to first figure out why we are here. What is the purpose of the human being? 

Some people believe that humans came into existence due to the fact that certain parameters happened to be in the right place at the right time. Through survival and evolution, we became the creatures we are today. However, this would mean that there is no purpose for our life, and we are here because we just are. That still doesn't explain justice - is it a survival mechanism? How does "survival of the fittest" play in if we help people who are hurt? Maybe the people doing the hurting are just trying to stay on top of the game and be the one who "wins" the game of life. Why do we have morals? Did we develop them so that the ones we love will be able to survive even if they are not the fittest? If we came from nowhere and have no purpose, then life has no purpose, and neither does death. Justice is therefore irrelevant, and love is just for selfish gain and procreation. 

Other people believe that humans came into existence at the will of a creator. Somebody wanted humans to exist, so they made humans. The purpose would be as simple as the fact that someone wanted us here, or there may be something more complicated involving that person wanting us here. Then through survival and evolution, we have adapted to the world we live in and became who we are now. Injustice still occurs (for numerous reasons), but it is different this time because somebody made us so that we can recognize injustice. Why? Why would a creator give us ideas of what justice looks like? Well if I made something, then I probably care about it and want good things for it. In the same way, it is likely that the creator of human beings cares about us and wants us to know that there is right and wrong way to treat other humans. 

But there is so much injustice going on, and it seems like we can't stop it. So people hope for change. People hope for justice. Hope is defined by dictionary.com as being, "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best", or as a verb, "to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence". 

In both of these definitions, it is implied that there is a high likelihood for whatever you hope for to happen. Over the centuries we have tried to bring justices ourselves, but still there are wrongdoings happening in the world - it seems like the best we can do is to stop a situation from getting worse. In the scenario where humans have no purpose, justice for all will never happen because nothing exists that can bring justice. Hope only has meaning when someone who can do something to bring an end to all injustice exists. In the case where people were created for a purpose, then hope can logically exist because a creator that cares will do something if its creation is suffering. 

So is there hope? In our society of believing what is "true for you" then the answer is maybe. 

As for me, I choose to believe in the second scenario where there is hope and a creator that can fulfill my hope for justice. However, I also believe that justice is not necessarily beneficial to everyone. This is because justice means that every wrong thing I have ever done will come to light and I will be judged for it - and everyone has done something wrong. We will have no choice but to agree that we are guilty and receive our punishment. So why hope for justice if all will be punished? 

If we were created for a purpose and the creator cares about us, it is logical that our creator would not want to punish us, and would find a way to save us from punishment without being unjust. So the creator punished Jesus (who did no wrong) in our place so that justice is still observed, and we can be saved by accepting that he died on our behalf. This is why I hope for justice, and with it, accept that somebody loves me enough to die for all the wrong things I have done. 

The Epiphany

Some questions I have always dreaded from peers are, "What do you do at church? Why are you Christian? Why do you believe in God?". This may be surprising to you if you know me, but it is the truth. Although I know that there is a God that exists and that I believe in him, there's just something scary about announcing it or talking about it to people. Perhaps it is the fear that they will judge me. I am afraid that they will see me in a different light - one where they think I am trying to convert them and then they question my motives for being their friend. Essentially, I am afraid of people being afraid of me.

Ever since I left my hometown for university, I have not been part of a small group at church. I have joined the campus fellowship but they are not directly connected to a local church. I would still go to church, but it is such a huge church that I feel that I can get away with just being an attendee and receive. I would not participate in any other programs or groups aside from the Sunday service, and my excuse would be that I don't have a ride. The church is far and in the middle of nowhereish. It is very difficult to bus to and even then, there is quite a way's walk to the nearest bus stop.

So come Ottawa. I followed my sister's friend to another church. I was happy to just be an attendee again and just go there for Sunday service. However, since I wasn't a student and I didn't live close to any of the campuses, I wasn't able to join a campus fellowship. So here I was, stuck without a Christian community - one that I was so used to having. The thing with having a Christian community is that you're just that - a community. You have friends, and all your social needs can be met. Everyone goes to church and understands Christian jargon, so there is no need to feel afraid of judgement. I made a point to live with Christians when I was in university, so there was never anything to explain.

Now in Ottawa, I live with two non-Christians. One of them just came from Iran and I would say that she is probably agnostic, but with some Muslim influence as that is a big part of her culture. The other person I live with had a bad experience growing up in a strict Christian home, where everything was about rules. She told me that she absolutely hated it and resented her family for forcing her to live a certain way.

I didn't mind going to this new church on my own every week. My sister's friend was there, but I didn't want to be in the way of her friendship and make things awkward for her, so I was fine just doing my own thing. However, perhaps she felt obliged to help me out for my sister, and so she welcomed me to join her and her friends to hang out after church and went shopping and got food with me. So that was nice. Her friends encouraged me to go to Grouplink - an event to introduce new people to existing small groups. At first, I was very hesitant. Yes, I wanted to find a community and be able to share and encourage other people, but I wasn't sure if this was the way to do it. I was never really a big fan of being part of a large church as I thought that it was difficult to get to know people anyway. But I went anyway.

It's pretty smart how they organized it. They asked for your address, and then they had a giant map of Ottawa divided in to colour coded chunks. They would find the colour of the chunk where your address was, and from there, you could meet the people who were leading the small groups and choose one that you wanted to join. The beauty of this is that the people in that group would be in your area, so going to small group wouldn't be a problem since everyone is so close. Anyway, I signed up and today was the first one.

Wow. I didn't expect the background to take this long. So basically before I left, one of my housemates came home and was asking me if I was going swimming, as I was packing up. I told her no, and that I was going to small group. She didn't know what that was, so I explained that it was a group of people from big church getting to know each other better. I told her we were doing a study called Love Does, and that I'm not really too sure what we would do but I was going to go find out! She was gave a very open response, and said, "Good for you!". I guess she meant that it was good I was trying new things. So that was that.

I went to the small group and we talked about being with someone, just like how God is with us (Emmanuel). We talked about how sometimes we have friends who are going through rough times and perhaps are about to make or have made a horrible decision. It is hard as a friend to not scold them or try to "fix" them. Sometimes all they need is for you to be there to go through it with them. Really - that's it. It's not about converting people to Christianity and getting all "the Bible says" about something. It's about understanding that people need to go through certain situations to learn things for themselves and there's nothing you can say to them that will make them believe you until they experience it for themselves.

That is exactly what faith is like. It is not something you can force on anyone. It is not something you can tell your friend and then they suddenly decide to believe you and in God. That would probably not be genuine faith. Faith is something every individual has to discover and experience first hand. What Christians can do is to be there for them - to make resources available to them and to live life with them! I used to be afraid of evangelism (telling people that they are saved through Jesus) because I didn't want to be (or be seen as) someone who wanted to "convert" people. I didn't want to seem manipulative, or like I had ulterior motives. So that's why I was so afraid of telling people about Jesus. That's why I was so afraid of the questions, and that's why I would try to dodge the conversation or change the subject every time I felt like it was about to come up. And I felt horrible about it. I felt like I was being an awful Christian because it seemed like I didn't want my friends to be saved. But that is not true. I love my friends and I do want them to live eternally, but I put my fears above their lives while trying to deal with the guilt.

So why am I writing this? Today I had an epiphany. A eureka moment. I came home from my small group and chilled in the kitchen, snacking on some homemade salsa while watching funny video clips of Ellen DeGeneres. Suddenly, my other roommate (the Iranian one) came home. As usual, we asked each other how our days went, which is usually followed by, "So what did you do today?" - the question I then dreaded. My response came, " Um.. I went to work.. then I came home......andwenttosmallgroup". "What? What's that?", she asked. Now, since she just came to Canada, all the English she knew was from literature. So the term "small group" was definitely not part of her slang dictionary yet. So I told her that I go to church on Sundays (avoiding "I am a Christian") and that it's really big so they divide people in to small groups to get to know each other. She then asked me what we did there, and I told her that we... just try to get to know each other and support each other in our lives. Which is true, but also very vague and really not helping me feel less guilty. She looked a little confused, and then asked, "I mean.. What is the purpose of this small group?" And so I said the words that suddenly came to me, "We learn to love people. You know how it's really hard to love people sometimes? Well, at small group we tell each other about our lives and try to support one another in loving the people around us. We learn together how to love people".

SO THAT'S IT! I figured it out! Finally - you would have thought that this was a no-brainer. If you ever went to church, everyone there knows and talks about loving people, how to love people, and that Jesus told us to love one another. But why had I never thought of it so clearly? I have had thoughts where I am telling myself that I need to love people better, but I never put it in the context of sharing this with my friends. I never knew how to relate it (I'm slow, I know) or word it right so that it could be applicable to other people's lives. Maybe I didn't understand it fully myself.

So this is the answer: I go to church to learn to love people.

What about the rules?
The rules in the Bible are there to give people a starting point to let us know what love does and doesn't look like. Do not steal? Do not kill? How do you love someone by doing these things?

What about Jesus? Who is he?
Jesus is the only human to ever live a sinless life - a life full of love for everyone (Matthew 22-25). Jesus spent time healing the sick, casting out demons, and engaged with the poor. He didn't discriminate against the lepers, the outcast, nor the weak. Jesus came to give life and love to people.

So what is a Christian?
A Christian is a human who realizes that he/she is a sinner. A sinner can be described as someone who is not perfect at loving everyone. A Christian is constantly looking to change into a more loving person. Christians want to know God - we want to know more about our creator. We do this by learning to love - 1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." A Christian is someone who wants to be like Jesus, because he knows (and is) God.

Why do we go to church?
Christians realize that they are sinners and want to change. We believe that Jesus was perfect at loving others and we want to learn from him how to do the same. We know that it is impossible to be perfect at loving, but we still want to do our best. So we go to church to learn about how to love together. We believe that one way God speaks to us is through the preacher - who delivers a sermon usually about how we can be better people, better neighbours, etc. based on the Bible. A church also provides a place where like-minded people can gather. It's like chess club; people who want to play chess go to chess club. People who want to learn to more about God go to church.

Why do we need to (or feel like we need to) love others?
The main reason why we want to love other people is because God loved us first. God sent his son, Jesus to earth to teach us how to love.

What the heck?
Because we are incapable of loving perfectly, we killed him. We killed Jesus. By crucifying him - driving nails into his hands and into his feet. We even beat him and mocked him. We didn't know who he was - until he died and the land shook and the curtain in the temple tore. Some people there realized then that he was truly the son of God.

In the Bible, when someone committed a crime or sinned, they would suffer a punishment (Romans 6:23). This punishment is death, because God is perfect, he can not be in the presence of imperfect people. So we would all die and not be able to be with God because we have sin. But God loves us - he loves his creation and wants us to be with him again (recall, Adam and Eve used to live together with God until they sinned by disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit: Genesis 3).

So basically - we are all technically supposed to be dead and none of us are worthy enough to live with God  because we have all sinned in one way or another. However, a good creator would not want his creation to suffer. God wanted us to live eternally with him so he sent a solution - he gave us a way to get out of this predicament. He sent his son Jesus down to save us. Here comes the famous verse: "For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

So that's it. To become a Christian, you start by praying to God; acknowledging that you are a sinful person, that you don't want to be like that anymore, and that you accept that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. (A thank you would probably be appreciated too.)

I don't have all the answers. You can tell by the many years it took me to finally get even this straight. But I would be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding my faith, and if I do not know the answer, maybe we can figure it out together.

Called Me Higher

I went to my home church's high school retreat this weekend. I learned a new song - you can listen to it here.
What a peaceful weekend. Although I didn't get much physical rest, I got a good mental break and got to bond with my church family. I feel like I was encouraged by the Spirit to go out and live my life boldly for Christ.

Lyrics:

I could just sit
I could just sit and wait for all your goodness
Hope to feel your presence
And I could just stay
I could just stay right where I am and hope to feel you
Hope to feel something again

And I could hold on
I could hold on to who I am and never let You change me from the inside
And I could be safe
I could be safe here in Your arms and never leave home
Never let these walls down

But you have called me higher
You have called me deeper
And I will go where you will lead me Lord
You have called me higher
You have called me deeper
And I will go where you lead me Lord
Where you lead me
Where you lead me Lord
And I will be Yours
I will be Yours for all my life
So let Your mercy light the path before me

Health First

It's been a rough month. My life right now is as follows: wake up as early as I can (usually 10-2pm), go to campus, study all day, go home (2:30am), sleep (4am), repeat. It is not a great schedule.

However, I am going to say that I feel I am pretty on track for school. I have gotten most of the assignments done in the for the first two exams I have that are next week. In the midst of all of this studying, I realized that I have started to neglect my body and my health. I have been taking vitamins, trying to eat oatmeal for breakfast, drinking lots of water, and eating yogurt to try and stay as healthy as I can. But in reality, I have been eating out a lot (even Subway isn't the healthiest). I haven't been sleeping a lot either, or at regular times. Sometimes after I come home from studying on campus, it's 3am but I'm not tired. I shower and I continue studying until I realize that it's bright outside - that it's morning already when I'm about to sleep. This was bad. After I realized that it wasn't the artificial night lighting that was seeping into my room, I realized that I really needed to fix my sleeping schedule.

On top of that, this morning I was talking to my suitemate and he is a really healthy guy. I was talking to him about how I have been eating out because it takes me so long to get groceries and come back and etc, but he told me how he got his groceries done in less than an hour. He tried to help me think of what I could eat that was fresh and fast, and I really appreciate that he cares. So I am going to go grocery shopping after I write this. I am going to bring some fresh foods back to my classmates on campus too so they can be healthy.



I have been learning a lot about what it means to share my faith to my friends, my peers. I have been hanging out a lot with my program friends now, since we study together. They have started to take care of me by making sure that I get home safe every night, by seeing if I need food or coffee, and in return they ask me questions about homework and I try to help them out (since I usually end up learning it before they do - these guys are very last minute crammers). But it helps me to reinforce what I think I know, so it helps! There are also other smarter people who study there, so it's like a flow of knowledge. We go to the next level up when one of us doesn't know. One day after a rough week of handing in report after report and multiple projects, we couldn't study - we couldn't take it any more. So we played this new board game (new to me) called Citadels - it's really fun! I actually felt like throughout this time of studying, playing games, and encouraging each other when one of us breaks down and gets consumed by the fact that we think we're not going to make it.

I was talking to one of my classsmates/friends yesterday about how our other friend went home this weekend to see his family and how he's a family man and how he cares. I expressed how I hadn't been home in a really long time (almost 1 month) and then he said, " Do you just not care?" which really made me really sad as I didn't see that connection. I haven't seen my family in a really long time and it didn't really occur to me that it's been so long since I've been so caught up with all this school work. =( School sucks. I need to be more like my friend who cares more about family than school. I also think he can do it because he is super smart. But the fact that he's going at such a crucial time (exam time) is really something I respect.

Anyway - so about sharing my faith. A lot of my classmates have this image of Christians that make it difficult for me to think about how I can share my faith with them in a way that is different. I have this problem where I am scared that they will judge me - which I should not have because if I truly believe in God and that He is in control and that the lives of my friends are more important than how they see me - if this is true, then I should not care about how they may judge me and just do my best to share the Gospel with them. I have prayed for an opportunity to share, but I feel like it may have been insincere - I only pray it so I don't feel bad about not wanting to share. All in all I feel like that's what this whole term has been about. I have been reading Acts - and seeing how Paul and the other followers are so bold in their faith really makes me feel like I should be doing much better. Paul was so thoroughly persecuted and I am just afraid of a little judgement. Even from reading Acts 27 today, I can clearly see how God takes care of His people - Paul and some other prisoners were sailing for Rome and God promised Paul that all of them would make it to shore alive, despite the storm and shipwreck. At the end of the chapter, it says, "in this way everyone reached land in safety".

So if you are reading this, please pray for me that I might be bold in sharing my faith with others. Please pray that God will allow them to listen to me and that He may change how they see Christianity. Anyway, I hope to be able to post an update. I am going to get groceries now! YAY!! I haven't set foot in a grocery store in WAY TOO LONG (about 2-3 weeks). 

We'll Be Friends Forever

Today I had a conversation with my friend about what we think life will be like after we graduate. "Will we still see each other?" I asked. "We'll be friends forever" was the response. I was pleasantly surprised by her optimism. I can't believe that we're more than half way done our undergraduate career. 5 years seems like a long time, but it's actually passing by really quickly. It doesn't feel like we've been friends for 3 years already. I don't get tired of spending every day with my friends. You would have thought that I'd get sick of them by now. 4 months of seeing them every day and then 4 months of maybe one or two meet ups. Then the cycle starts over and repeats until we're done our 5 years.

I think back to the friendships I've had in the past. How many times have I thought to myself that we'd be friends forever? How many of those friendships am I still part of? My first best friend ever was when I was in kindergarten. She slept over at my house a lot because my parents baby sat her while her parents were busy at work. We were really young then, so that's as much as I can remember. My second best friend moved away in grade 2. She also came over to my house quite a bit and we gave each other gifts. I cried when she moved. My third best friend I met in grade 2. We were both standing by the edge of a fence that separates the pavement from the grassy field above. I didn't have any friends since my best friend had just moved. I saw her asked, "Hey, are you a loner?"  The funny thing about kids is that they're not afraid to speak what they think. She replied, "What's a loner?" ... and that was the start to a friendship that lasted strong until we both changed schools in grade 7. We still kept in touch, and I saw her every once in a while along with some of our other elementary school friends. But as the years passed, we hung out less and less, and eventually our interests differed so much that we lost touch.

I didn't want to make any new friends when I started in my junior high school. This was grade 7. I missed my best friend. We had a few friends who tried to keep in touch and still occasionally contact us. But it got harder once we didn't see each other 5 days a week. Eventually, I reluctantly made new friends at my new school. I was just too cool not to... Just kidding. I ended up floating around a few groups, so I wasn't ever really super tight with anyone, but I knew a lot of people.

In grade 8 my best friend and I had so many adventures together. We were both floaters, and we were both really different. But somehow, it worked. Perhaps it was because we both shared our relationship with Jesus. Perhaps it was because we experienced tough times and shared our vulnerabilities with each other and really cared for each other. We weren't just play buddies, we weren't just there to make each other feel less lonely. We actually loved and cared for each other as sisters in Christ. We stayed close friends throughout high school even though she changed schools multiple times. I guess by then we were old enough to take the bus on our own and hanging out after school was an option. We're the type of friends who can spend time apart and still be open and honest with each other when we catch up. It's as if time stops when we part. We are still friends.

I made another friend during my high school years that I still keep in contact with. She doesn't believe in Christ, but we've had lots of open conversations about love, life, and God. I think we understand each other in a way that we can both speak our thoughts and not be afraid of judgement.

After all the friends moving and after losing contact with so many people, I'm not sure at what point I realized that there is no such thing as friends forever. I may be wrong. I mean, there are still a few people I keep in touch with from before university. There are still some people I know I can always talk to and will want to catch up. I think there was a point in time where I realized that people won't always be there in your life. I haven't thought about this in a long time, but I think I still believe that God will put people in your life when you need them. Some people will walk with you for a long time, others will only walk with you for a few steps. The important thing is to cherish them while they are with you, and to enjoy every step of the way with them. 

The Light!!!

So I finally found it - the chords (and lyrics) to this song I sung at church a few months ago. I really liked it but I couldn't remember enough of the lyrics to find it on Google when I got home. Today, we sang it again and I made sure to remember more of the lyrics this time. It's called "Light Shine In" and it's sung by One Sonic Society in this video (Lyrics at the end of this post).

It's been a rough start to the term. So many changes, so many things happening all in one month. First - I should have taken a break between coop and school. That's one lesson learned. I need rest! I am only a student and nobody expects me to work extra. Second, I still have been getting these really bad hives at random times during the day but mostly occurring at night. I get them everywhere - sides, arms, feet, legs, neck, so far pretty much everywhere except my face. I don't know why or what's causing them. I don't know how to make it stop without taking some kind of allergy pill.. but I don't want to take too many. I saw a doctor and he told me to just take the allergy meds when it gets really bad but otherwise there's no point in getting an allergy test since I'll still be allergic and react to it. It's probably something in the air and I can't avoid it anyway. The only "cure" would be to get weekly allergy shots and that's not something I want or need for now anyway.

School is picking up. I have been studying and going to class WAY more regularly than I did ever before. Last term I studied every day for every moment of free time I had.. but this was only DURING and AFTER midterms. This term, things got really busy after the first week. On the bright side, I think I'm actually grasping things in these courses. I find that I can study better with just the textbook. The thing I always did wrong before was to not read the textbook and just rely on what I remember from class or from reading the solutions. This time, I read the textbook and my notes and make my own summary notes based on the questions I do (the summary notes I make every term). Sometimes it takes a really long time to get into the textbook. It's really boring and the equations scare me. The math is really tricky because I have to remember things from previous terms. I have a horrible memory so that doesn't help. The good thing is that I've actually started to enjoy doing the problems. It's weird because I actually understand what is going on now. I don't understand most things in class, but I can follow along with the math and absorb concepts the prof throws at me, but usually when I do the assignments I forget everything that happened. I need steps to guide me. After doing a few problems and looking at examples or solutions, I started to get a feel for the types of questions and how to manipulate the variables to get what I want. I think I'm really learning!!!!

I hope I'm not saying these things too prematurely as midterm week hasn't exactly happened yet (it's this week). In preparation for it, I made a study schedule and it seems like I am on track! For once, I feel like I can actually be "on top" of my courses! I used to go into exams knowing that I don't know stuff, but I really feel like I have a chance now to do better than just a pass. The grades I've been getting so far are not bad too!

I am even exercising more. I try to wake up early to do follow some pilates videos on youtube and it feels really good! It wakes me up and I feel stronger. I actually feel my muscles getting less tired and I am able to do the full workout for most of the videos now which makes me really happy because I used to stop a lot for breaks.

I'm still trying to go on exchange. There are a lot of things that I want to do. There are also a lot of things that I don't know about what I want to do. So that's the life of being an indecisive person. I also had a small breakdown last week when I realized that my club sucked and that people will leave because I'm not making it what it should be. But the good part is that my friend and vp was really supportive about it and helped me to push the club in a new (better) direction.

I am also reading one chapter a day for Mark! I was supposed to be following my Sunday School class that I had to leave (because of school) - they are going to read the Bible in a year! I started with them but I fell behind after going to school. I am trying to catch up now =)

Having a seeker's small group is interesting too. I started it with my friend and we both have friends who are interested in what Jesus Christ is all about. I am actually pleasantly surprised by how bold their questions are - "How do you become a Christian?", "What's the process?", "Why should I believe?" and even having some of my other non-Christian friends have started having conversations with me about faith and what it means to love your neighbour. It's actually really crazy because I'm starting to feel less awkward about sharing my faith with them.

On a side note, I almost had a meltdown today when I got home from studying because I was trying to make dinner but everything was so dirty or rotten and I was really grossed out and I wanted to cry. I know it sounds silly but I think I was just super stressed. After a long day of doing questions and finally understanding concepts, I wanted to come home to a nice warm meal and just relax a bit. But I ended up having to tip toe around nasty crusty counter-tops and re-wash anything that I wanted to use to cook or eat with. I also had to sort through the stuff in the fridge to finally get to what I wanted to cook and I realized that it had gone bad even though the expiry date is today and it was a completely sealed package. Then my feet started itching really badly while I was trying to cook in the dirty kitchen and it wouldn't stop and I was so hungry.

Breathing deeply really helps. I just told myself that I'm probably just in high-stress mode from preparing for midterm week that a lot of things are setting me off a bit more easily than they normally would (a dirty kitchen still upsets me though). I should really sleep earlier - I'm really bad. I think I'm a little bit of a workaholic...

Also some of my friends are being weird and I have no clue what to do about it. I also don't have the capacity to really reach out and see what's going on or if they even want that. So I think I'll just deal with what I have right now and if they need my help I will be there.

OK as promised, here are the lyrics to the song:
You can hear Vertical Church sing it too I have no clue who wrote it >< sorry..

Verse
Arise, for the light has come
Darkness bows down to the risen Son, the risen Son
Arise, raise your hands and sing
To the one God, to the one God

Chorus
You are, You are
The matchless King
Who tore down the gates of the enemy
Make way, make way
For Christ and sing
Let your kingdom come, Your kingdom come

Verse
Arise, for the battles won
Our hearts bow down
To the risen Son, the risen Son
Arise, raise your hands and sing
To the one God, to the one God

Bridge
Come let the light shine in
Come let the light shine in
We’ll let Your light shine in
We’ll let Your light shine in

This is What You Do

You bring people together.
You bring light and love to this world.
You fill me with joy.
You make me come alive.

I love this song, "This is What You Do" by Bethel Music. I was introduced to it by my roommate who was practicing praise with his praise team for his fellowship a few weeks ago. I joined in and learned a new song!

We sang this song to end off praise night this week and it was such a great song to end with. It definitely brought out a spirit of joyfulness when we sang this.

Lyrics:

It's always like springtime with You, making all things new
Your light is breaking through the dark
This love it is sweeter than wine
Bringing joy, bringing life
Your hope is rising like the dawn

This is what You do, this is what You do
You make me come alive
This is what You do, this is what You do
You make me come alive
This is what You do, this is what You do
You make me come alive
This is what You do, this is what You do
You make me come alive, You make me come alive
You make me come alive, You make me come alive

It's like I'm living for the first time
Finally living for the first time