Dreams, Hopes, and Struggles

Sometimes you get to a point where you're discouraged. One step forward and its ten steps back.  You look at where you are, and where you want to be, and it feels impossible. "What's the point of even dreaming, if achieving is so impossible? Is that hope even really where I'm supposed to be, or have I created a dream world that I try to fit God into? I thought for sure that's what God had planned...."

Then. Then you stop staring at the goal, look at the ground and gather your thoughts: what's true? What's noble? What's pure?
"I know that God has a plan. I know that he will never leave me or forsake me, despite my faults and failures. I know that he has dragged me from the pit of despair and set me free.
This is truth."

Your heart begins to beat faster as hope approaches, your mind continues to pound out thoughts:

"I know that the point of my life is to preach Christ. Not only in what I say, and do... but what I eat, how I handle money, the stuff I put on my body, my reaction to disappointment, and even the stuff I pin on Pinterest. To know Christ and be known by him is the highest goal. In the morning when I wake up, am I asking God to be glorified in me and through me?
Preach Christ, die, be forgotten.--- This is noble."

You get to a point where you can lift your head a little... what's this? This gentle breeze on the face? That's the taste of courage. But just when you feel like you could try again.. your head starts in again:

My life is full of sin, there's not a day I don't go to bed and regret the things I did or didn't do. I'm a failure. I'm worthless, and even with a noble cause, I always share Christ wrong. What if I choose the wrong path? What if I think God says something... and I just manage to ruin it?
-what is pure?-
Christ is pure. He has saved me for freedom. My sins are great, but his love is greater. My life is full of wrinkles and stains, but they're covered with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who I get to call saviour. God sees me as righteous because of this. My deepest failures, my darkest doubts and my most hopeless nights are flooded with light and victory with the words "It is Finished" "There is now no condemnation". "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, and he will make your paths straight" this is Christ. This is freedom.
This is purity."

Your heart maybe doesn't begin to be flooded with emotion and passion, but there is a quiet determination. What is this? Ten steps back... and yet, there is peace. Your eyes are no longer on your feet, or even on the goal (that may very well be good, and what God wants...) but instead, your eyes are locked with that of a scarred savior, brilliant in all his glory, tender and compassionate, with the eyes of a victor. Nothing can hold you back. For this is your God. This is what you're living for, whether or not you ever make it to where you had planned, you are safe. Confident. Victorious. Full of peace, and most of all: filled with joy.

Random Ramblings (again!)

Why are we such hypocrites? Why do we scream and scorn and spit?
Why isn't their love and depth to our souls, we've been redeemed -so why don't we live for more?
The gospel penetrates our very hearts, splits the body and the soul.
How do you even love us?
Our hands are so filthy with our brother's blood. The nations laugh and mock our faith, and yet here we stand laughing at each other. Why haven't we stood? Why haven't we said "My God is enough"?
How do you love us???
Such disgusting sin, we must make you cringe. Yet the beauty of You is that you see us as clean. No matter what we say, through the murder of a man, you see our dead bodies as alive. You chose us to be your children, how can that be???
AH, THANK YOU!
Why do I do the things I despise? Why do I chase things my soul is not satisfied in?
Why do I forget that the people around me, need to know the joy of your Spirit indwelling us?
Gospel oriented living. May I be wholly yours.
If all I have is Christ's, then all I is Christ, and Jesus you are my life!!!

Chick-fil-a is in a Pickle

First off, can I say I think politics are ridiculous? They seem to get us focused on earthly things, not where our eyes should be--at the foot of the cross. Sure, as long as we have freedom we should have a say in politics (for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel)--but once politics become a stumbling block and focus our eyes on things that don't have infinite value they've become an idol.
(collective gasps)
I don't want to worship my freedom--more than I worship the God who gave me that freedom.
Secondly, can I just say how ADD we are as a generation? A week before, my facebook was flooded with arguments about gun laws (after a MASS shooting at a midnight premier of the new Batman movie). Now we're talking about sandwiches. Go figure....

So what about Chick-fil-a?
A lot of pictures and posts have been flying around--angry, and supportive. The owner of Chick-fil-a was quoted improperly in an interview, and was sold as a "homophobe". All that the owner actually said in the interview was this:

"“In that spirit . . . [Christianity] is about a personal relationship. Companies are not lost or saved, but certainly individuals are,” Cathy added. “But as an organization we can operate on biblical principles. So that is what we claim to be. [We are] based on biblical principles, asking God and pleading with God to give us wisdom on decisions we make about people and the programs and partnerships we have. And He has blessed us.”  Read more on Newsmax.com: Mainstream Media Invents Gay Marriage Chick-fil-A Controversy

The whole gay marriage thing has completely drowned out what he said! "Companies are nor lost or saved, but certainly individuals are" to me, it is sad that our anger has conquered our love. I agree, gay marriage is wrong (you can read my post about it here (as well as comment!): http://sinkingup.blogspot.com/2012/04/amendment-one.htmlbut if my support of business effects my stance for the gospel then there's no way I'm eating at that business any more.

I for one am proud of the CEO of Chick-fil-a for standing on the gospel. It saddens me that Chicago wants nothing to do with Christian's, bu does that mean we don't visit Chicago? BY NO MEANS!! People in Chicago need Jesus Christ, not a chicken sandwich.

One last thing I have to say is that, if you ARE planning on going to Chick-fil-a August 1st, good for you. Go for the sake of the gospel, Go because you love Christ and want to support his people.

BUT PLEASE DON'T GO FOR THE "We're standing on family values" crap. The only place that 'family values' come from is the Bible. My 'family values' may be different than yours---'family values' are undefinable. Instead, stand on biblical principles. Gay relations (and marriage) would be acceptable without the Holy Scriptures, and that is what my faith is founded upon. God died because we're messed up people, because he knew we couldn't define silly things like "family values", because he knew outside of a miracle we would chase our tails into the pits of hell. He died so that we could see that his grace, beauty, love, and kindness is better than any relationship, hetero or homo, and that the depths of the gospel and the riches of it's message is better than any chicken sandwich money could buy.

How Do We Overcome the Desire to be Divine?

Anger.
Nothing but pure unleashed rage.
Humans, our ability to see injustices in the world is shocking. Sex trafficking? Maddening.
Rape, murder, famine, disease, how can you say there is a God? How, even if there was a God, would he be doing anything worth attention?
Recently a friend of mine posted a status discussing his disgust at the ability of a person in the spotlight to throw away "belief" in a religion, for fame and money. I agree, if you believe something, and ditch it so that you can get more money, then it's truly despicable. This status provoked a very angered friend of his to post about his disgust with "God" "religion" and "Christians".

Some of the comments that were made (which have been greatly paraphrased to keep this blog G-Rated)

"Religion is keeping us from breaking away from a fantasy"
"If God is real, I wouldn't mind punching him in the face because of the atrocities in the world"
"Jesus was just another one of those guys who claimed to be God's disciples"
"No one knows (how the world was made), but religion teaches it's okay not to know--which is truly despicable."

And my favorite one:

"I'll take my risk. I would gladly defy a true God to the ends of my very breath. Do you think I FEAR God? Do you think I should fear God? Why!? I am but a simple human and they're millions of us. I am a vessel and nothing more. I will never bend to the will of any GOD, fictional,  or real as my living flesh. If God is righteous, he'll understand my frustration. If he is cruel, then let him be cruel. He hasn't done **** anyways, why would he start now???"

AH! The statements that were made on this status were so heartfelt! SO ANGRY, so full of pure, unleashed rage toward God.

Isn't that what the scriptures say we have against God anyways? We don't want him, we'll never want him. This guy has stated something all of us have questioned from time to time.

"God, if you're there, WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!"

But here's the beauty of the gospel: "God hasn't done **** anyways" isn't true.
God's done EVERYTHING. He keeps the breathe in our lungs that we use to defy him, he could have been a God of chaos and disorder, and let us all go to hell and been declared righteous. But he didn't. There's a song by a band named Attalus that addresses this issue:

"The blood, the tears, the sweat, why does it feel so wrong?
Disaster pain and death, Oh God, where have you gone?
The world was in your hands, you let it fall head long,
So either you're not good or you're just not that strong."

And later the response from God:

"God said, the blood the tears, the sweat, I died to right your wrong
Disaster, pain, and death, oh man, where have you gone?
The world was falling fast --I cast myself head-long

To save your rebel souls to prove my love is strong"

See, God didn't just let us feel pain. He felt it too, he had his flesh ripped off and his heart torn in two by the disease, the famine, the rape, the murder. His heart screams in anguish at the works of our bloody hands, and said "I will save you". The beauty of it is, God has died for all the "despicable" things we have created. With wood, gold, and flesh we have decided we are good enough on our own without God, and then blame him for the problems we see. We blame him for giving us free will, but scream in rage at the thought of predestination.

We're messed up. So God came to save us. Not just clean us up, not just to "squeaky clean our hearts". But to pick us up, and give us a new place-- a place where we belong.

But not only is the man who commented on the status angry, he's also defiant. The saddest part of the whole thing that he wrote is this line: "I will never bend to the will of any GOD, fictional,  or real as my living flesh. If God is righteous, he'll understand my frustration. If he is cruel, then let him be cruel."

Even though God has saved our wretched souls, even though he's done everything to give us a beautiful world to live in, even though Jesus was NOT a "disciple" of God (But actually GOD HIMSELF) even though he lost his life (and regained it!!!) for the wretched things we do---

We still don't want him. Even if we could prove to this man that God existed, he wouldn't want anything to do with him. That's the depravity of our sin nature.

So how does anyone come to God? How do we get over our desire to be divine?

That my friends, is the beauty of the gospel. A mystery that's inexplicable. Jesus changes our thoughts and our hearts---he transforms us.

What a great and glorious God!!!!!!

The Armor of God Means Abiding, Not Fighting.

Lately I've been trying to learn the "Full Armor of God". This is something that's very difficult for me, memorization doesn't come easy. I can memorize things for a moment, but after they're not needed... I can't tell you at all what I memorized. Which is why this is taking me forever. But see, I don't want to just memorize it, I want to need it every day. As I am reading the Full Armor of God in Ephesians 6:11-18, I did a word search on the different pieces of Armor, and I've learned a lot from these things.

First, Paul tells us that we take up the full armor of God "That you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm" (Ephesians 6:13 ESV). I find it really interesting that Paul doesn't tell us to grab the sword, lace up our boots, and charge into battle. Instead he simply says "stand firm". So that's the first thing that caught my attention.

Secondly, Paul goes through each piece of armor that was typically used in Roman times. But I love how he describes each piece:
1. Belt of Truth
2. Breastplate of Righteousness
3. Shoes (Readiness) given by the gospel of peace
4. Shield of Faith
5. Helmet of Salvation
6. Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God)
Most of my usual readers have heard sermons, and done studies on these pieces of armor, and what area of the body they protect, why the Romans used them, etc. But I found something really interesting this time around.
Everything is a gift from God, everything points back to Jesus!!Now wait, what do I mean by that? Well... Look:

1. Belt of Truth

• "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but through me." John 14:6 

• "The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever." Psalm 119:160

Truth only comes from God. We can't wake up in the morning and say, "Hey, I'm going to personify truth, everything I say is going to be truthful. I will only tell the truth today." It doesn't work, we fall flat on our faces every time we try. Instead, we have to look to a. Christ, and b. his word in order to grasp and understand truth.


2. Breastplate of Righteousness

• "Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins." Isaiah 11:5

• "But now righteousness has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." Romans 3:21 &22

Righteousness is only achievable through Jesus, in fact, he is so righteous, he wears it like a belt. There are other verses that declare how awful we are compared to Christ, but the gift of God is righteousness through God's Son.

3. Shoes of Peace and Readiness

At first these things seem impossible to coexist, yet God is amazing and has given us readiness and peace, all at the same time.

• "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." John 14:27

• "For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." 1 Corinthians 14: 33

Jesus personifies peace, and he left it with us! Peace given by the gospel, and that peace is such an amazing experience, that it demands we be ready to share it whenever someone asks how we can be so "calm despite the storm" life may throw us. We can't have this peace without having Jesus.

4. Shield of Faith

• "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Faith is founded and perfected through Christ. We can't produce faith on our own.

5.  Helmet of Salvation
This ones easy guys, I'm quickly running out of time as I type this post, but I'm going to guess you already know that:
Salvation is only through the blood of Christ. Not works of righteousness (Which, we already covered, righteousness comes from God!)

6. Sword of the Spirit (The Word of God)
We can't have God's word, without having God.

Isn't it amazing that the whole armor of God has to do with Jesus?! Every morning, we aren't to wake up and try to fight the devil, instead we wake up in the morning and put on Jesus.

I love how my youth pastor put it last week: "We are to be Jesus to God (worship), Jesus to believers (fellowship), and Jesus to unbelievers (evangelism)"

So how do we put on Christ?
Jesus already figured we would not be able to grasp how to be like him every day without exactly spelling it out, letter for letter, for us. So he did:

"Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:3-5

How cool is that? We get our energy to thrive, energy to be ready, and everything from Christ. It makes a little more sense when you re-read the first verse of the "armor of God" now doesn't it?
We're just supposed to "stand firm". We "stand firm" in Christ, he does the work, he helps us bear fruit!!

A lot of times, this seems way too easy. So we go looking for other ways to arm ourselves against life, and the "spiritual powers of darkness". We're a lot like David and the King. David decided to stand up for God's army, and went to tell Saul about it. Well, Saul knew that this little shepherd boy was going to go fight this 9 foot tall man. There's no way David would win "with just God", so Saul gave him some actual armor (probably to soothe his conscious.)

"The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off."  1 Samuel 17:37-39

 So David, of course, goes out to fight Goliath. Goliath teases him saying:
 

"He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals! ”David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

This is what we need to clothe ourselves in, Jesus Christ, him crucified, and raised.  Our war isn't against flesh and blood, but we also aren't fighting with foolish weapons, we need to stop chasing our idols and pursuing Christ, abiding in him, and letting the God give us the victory. I too often try to protect myself from things by doing stupid things that won't protect me. I try to avoid getting hurt by people, by not getting involved. I lash out at people when they're only joking, or only when they're trying to help, because I figure I have to protect myself. But I don't. God protects me.
I hope that this lesson that I'm slowly but surely learning will help you as your learning how to abide in Christ!
Keep Sinking Up :)

Oxygen Please!

I am so sick of not being able to breathe. Honestly? Who's idea was it to get a cold in MAY?!
Oh. Right.... Sorry God :/
I think I'm ill because I've been running absolutely NON-STOP for about two weeks. It all started on the 27th of April, we took my Mom out for her birthday. Then Monday... it happened. Not only was it finals week, but my Uncle died of cancer. Family flew in from New York and Colorado, and stayed at our house, we had a viewing, a funeral, and I had my finals. That Saturday I went to two friends parties, and Sunday we went over to my Aunts house to give her some company. Monday was my last day of finals. My Grandparents left on Thursday. Then Friday was prom, and Saturday I worked audio for a recital, and attended my friends graduation.
-takes a breath-
Sunday. I woke up unable to breathe. (Having asthma is a horrible, terrible, awful thing.) So I didn't go to church... because I have a busy week this week too. But the good news about this cold is:
I've been forced to stop doing stuff. I've literally HAD to "chill out".
So. I watch Netflix, read books I've been dying to read all this summer.
Speaking of Summer.
Cool things,
1. I wasn't looking for a job, but God's provided 2 consistent jobs. One on Saturday's, the other two days a week.
2. The rest of the summer is MINNNNNNNNEEE MWHAHAHAA!!

So. Because I'm ill, and the rest of my family is watching some TV show called Robin Hood.... I'm going to make a list of things I really want to do this summer:
1. Read books!! I have a whole bunch of books I really want to read, the one on the very top of my list is called; "Not a Fan"... I have no idea if it's any good, I found it in Walmart, and decided to look it up on Amazon. I need to find a place I can borrow it from, because even though I'm going to HAVE two jobs, I don't have one now... thus I can't afford the book.
2. I really want to finish the upstairs. I put a picture of what it used to look like up there, it looks better now... but it still needs work. It's going to be an epic Art Room when I'm done.
3. I want to scrapbook when that Art Room is finished.
4. I seriously am considering making the Bible into a script, making "sets", "costumes", etc. It's the way my brain works... so I figure, why not make the Bible a little easier for me to understand? Get some background information on the times, and put a timeline of Jesus' life together. It'd be epic.
5. I want to learn guitar, I don't know if I'll actually make time for this want... but eventually I want to know how to play.
6. I want to blog... with pictures... more often, but I don't know that my life is actually that thrilling that I'll have stuff to post.
ANYWHO. I want to enjoy this summer, I'm going to have to do SOME stuff for school.. but I really want to enjoy the "last" summer of my life. (Okay maybe not THE last, but it feels like it!)
That's about it...
I'm hoping I don't have to go on Advair for my asthma. That stuff makes me entirely loopy.
But I really would like to have some OXYGEN.

Amendment One

This post is all about Amendment One. I've debated writing on Amendment One for a while now. But I haven't done it because I have friends who are bi or gay, and by no means to I wish to hurt them, or cause an argument with them... or even between my friends who are straight, but supportive of gays.... or even between straight friends who are utterly opposed to gay marriages.
So before I write anything, you should know (and probably have already guessed) I believe that the Bible is the word of God. I believe that Jesus is the son of one God, who exists in three persons. (Confused? We can talk about it later.) My point is, is that by societies standards I'm one of those "freaky cultish Christian folks", which if you read my blog for any length of time, you could figure out pretty quickly.

Now realize that as I write this, I generally don't state my beliefs right off the bat, I want to question others about what they think and acknowledge as truth, and generally just want to make people think. But because this is such a hot button issue, I decided it's important that you know where I stand.

Secondly, I want to put in another thing before I write any further, I do not wish to shove my beliefs down someone's throat...in fact, the Bible discourages it. As a Christian, my duty is to share with you and everyone else I meet or write to, that Jesus died to save your soul. If you think it's ridiculous and that I'm crazy, so be it... but you may not wish to be around me, because what Jesus did for me affected me so much that I can't help talking about it. (THAT is biblical, but 'shoving religion down throats' is nowhere in the Bible...) If you consider me talking all the time about someone I love "shoving religion" then I suggest you don't read any further.

 

So what about gay marriage? Because I have stated before that I am a believer in Christ, then you can assume that my standard are from the scriptures, regardless of what the constitution says. 

So does the Bible actually prohibit being gay? 

Many Christians say it does not, they will say that is only an "Old Testament" belief, and that Jesus would have supported gay marriage because he demands we should; "love your neighbors as yourself" (Matthew 22:39) 

But I would disagree... because earlier in the same book of the Bible, Jesus talks about divorce. In the passage he says:

"Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh'?" (Matthew 19:4-5)

Granted, this passage could be said to be 'ripping out of context' so let's take the idea even further. In Romans Paul talks about people who do not accept Jesus as the Son of God. He talks about the different things that God considers sin... well, I'll just let you read it: (and if you are not sure about what I'm writing I encourage you to read the whole passage and make sure I'm not warping God's Word)

"For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. .... Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them." (Romans 1:26-27&32)

If you are a still reading this, then I can safely assume you're either very angry or heartily applauding... but I'm not done yet.

You can see now, why so many Christian's are saying that this is a bad thing... if you even "give approval" by this passage, then you're in huge trouble. But Paul wasn't finished writing:

"Therefore you have no excuses, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.(Romans 2:1-3)

Now my fellow Christian's are saying "Woah, woah, woah my dear friend, I am in no way homosexual!!" and my gay friends are shouting "You know *that's* right!!!" but hold the fort.....

I think Amendment One is good. (because I have the assumption that there are moral absolutes, if you don't... then you're claiming that I'm absolutely wrong... and that would be an absolute, but that's a different debate altogether.) Marriage is defined in the scriptures as between one man and one woman, and I would say that it needs to stay that way....but am I judging? Here's where things get a little interesting... (and I'll get back to this, I promise!!)

Amendment One should be passed, in my opinion. But this is based on a religious belief and according to America, we should have the freedom to our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. (As well as a generally held belief that wasn't in the original constitution that we should have a separation of church and state.) This is a huge can of worms, and I'm not eloquent enough to deal with all the issues at once. I realize that when you are finished reading this I will probably have a lot of nasty comments to dig through... and that's okay.

We in America are allowed to have freedom, but we believe that some things are inherently wrong. Murder would be one of those things as well as child abuse. Casey Anthony is a huge proof of that. But we aren't all 100% agreed on where we get those things we call values. But in America today, we are not built upon a church-government.
So yes, if the only basis for Amendment One is religion, then *technically* the government can't pass it. But here's the wrench that's thrown into the mix: We're ruled by the people, not the government...

And technically we have the right to amend the constitution if we believe it has put too much power into the governments hands (instead of the peoples) or if we feel that it doesn't control us enough. So the reality is that when it comes to Amendment One, the people have the right to decide whether it goes into practice or not. Where the beliefs are that factor into one's opinion has nothing to do with whether it can be counted as a valid vote.

So now that we have that out of the way, I want to go back to my previous question:

Is this a judgmental attitude towards bisexual and homosexual people? 

Yes, because in the Scriptures it states that if I approve of these things, then it's basically the same as doing them and God doesn't approve of those things. But God also says we shouldn't judge... so where in the world should we stand on this one?? Let's re-read that passage again: 

"Therefore you have no excuses, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.(Romans 2:1-3)

Practice the very same things. Well then we're in the clear right? As long as I'm not gay, then I don't need to fear. God doesn't say, "Thou shalt not judge". He does say we need to be careful about condemning people, that's his job. But the real truth is, God holds every sin equal. In fact, in James it says:  

"For whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. " (James 2:10)

 So me, not respecting food the way I should, or me, not respecting my parents, telling crude jokes, or using inappropriate language... is just as bad as homosexuality, and in the presence before a Holy God, I fall completely short. If I fail in even just one of the commandments, then I'm going to hell. Homosexuality is a serious sin, but so is ignoring any of God's other demands on our lives. So why are we so quick to point out a brother's sin, when we won't deal with our own.

Homosexuality is wrong. Amendment One should be passed, but I also think it should be "illegal" to talk back to one's parents. But the truth is that we aren't in a Christian nation, and God didn't ask us to make one. He told us to make disciples, and watch and wait for Jesus to come back and make the perfect world. So while we're here, we do what we can. Amendment One should be passed.

But if you're still reading after all of this, and you disagree (or even do agree) with me, I want to point out a much larger truth here: (Because Paul also talks about not getting into frivolous arguments "Have nothing to do with foolish ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels" (2 Timothy 2:23)

If all religions are the same, and we're all just trying to earn our way to God, then why would someone pick this religion.  How in the world would we ever "get" to God? Why would we want to? This God considers gossiping the same thing as homosexuality, which to him is the same thing as murder.

With such a terrible demand on ourselves, how could we ever desire or even achieve a relationship with this God??? He's so untouchable. If I even use the Lord's name in vain, I'm going to hell. If I talk back to my parents even once. I'm kicked out of heaven. With such a high demand, I can never balance out all the good things I do with all my bad things. In fact, no one can make it.

What an unloving God. What a wrathful, unloving God. So why even try?

But here's the thing:
We don't have to earn our way to heaven!!!!!

God not only is a Holy, "untouchable" God, but he also loves us to no end. He'd do whatever it would take to be with us. But because God is perfect, he can't be around imperfect people...that would make him imperfect and he would then cease to be God (which is why there's such a huge demand on us through 'laws'). But he also knew we were incapable of being perfect because we're human.Someone needed to pay the penalty of our imperfectness, and somehow make us righteous. So he actually lived and died for us. He came to earth as a man, fully God, and fully human. He lived the perfect life that he knew we couldn't. Then he died so that the penalty of sin (sin is just our imperfectness) would be paid off. Now through Jesus' death are we made perfect, but through his resurrection we can be with this God (who loves us!!!!!) for forever.

He did all the work for us. Gay people, Bi people, Straight people. He did it all for us.

So what does it all mean??

We're perfect! Once you accept it and believe it as truth--- yeah, God *actually* did that. It should change every part of you!!
Repent. Believe. It's not that hard. Begin to be changed by this God. Begin to see your gossip as it is. Begin to see sin in it's reality--- and amazingly, you'll realize you're just as bad off as the next guy. Fight your sins together as a body of believers. Love the people who don't know this truth, and are acting the only way they know how. Show them what Jesus has done, and together fight your sin because of the amazing sacrifice God gave you.
"So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." (2 Timothy 2:22)

Avioms are....

I was trying to explain to my mother how an Aviom worked. Our conversation went like this:
Me: "So you have the sound board in the back of the room, and the band on stage. They have monitors so that they can hear themselves. Well, sometimes it gets really annoying to have to keep tweaking the sound they want. So you give them an Aviom."
Mom: "Well can you still control how loud it is? So that they don't decide they'd sound awesome at full power?"
Me: "Yes. From the board you can set a limit---say "10" ... so what the Aviom does, is it allows them to mix the piano at say, "4" themselves at "6"... but they still can't go any higher then 10."
and then she says.....

Mom: "So basically what you're saying is that it's like a volume limit on a piano. The kid still gets to have fun, and thinks he's got the rule, but you're actually still in control."
 

Me: "AHAHAHAHA! Yes. I've never heard it explained that way, but yes...."

Abortion, Are We Protecting Life?

I recently wrote a paper for an Argumentative Research class I am taking, my topic was on Abortion. I decided to post it here. --- without any edits made to it. I got a B on the paper, unfortunately comma's hate me, and I would have received an A if I had paid more close attention, However, I decided to post it here for your viewing!

         The word “human” is a commonly used word, but what is a human? If you were to ask random strangers on the street to describe the term “human” the answers would vary greatly from person to person. No one seems to be able to define concretely a word that we throw around mindlessly. The common dictionary describes life as; “of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people: human frailty” (“human.")
            The argument against most pro-lifers is the argument that the fetus is not human, thus not “…pertaining to…or having the nature of people” (“human.”). This premise would beg the conclusion that a mother has a right to protect her own body from what havoc pregnancy wreaks. Pregnancy is very dangerous and has many complications. There are the risks of a special-needs child, and there are lots of restrictions when it comes to being pregnant. The mother cannot do drugs, smoke, or drink wine. The mother is now restricted to taking care of two people, rather than just herself. There are stretch marks, aches and pains in the joints, and of course, the pain of actual birthing. The question then is: does the mother have the right to take control of her own body? Is the growing human in her body, somehow un-human---less worthy, of basic human rights? These questions begin a long debate. There is much emotional language and frustration emitted when the argument comes up. There is judging and hostility in both parties. However, when it comes down to the core of the issue, there seems to be a problem defining the terms that are argued. A pro-choice activist, and a pro-life activist will argue back and forth, often saying things that they assume the other defines the same way, but no one is truly saying the same thing. So what is human, what is life, and who or what should have the right to decide?
            A woman is granted by the Declaration of Independence to have her life, her liberty, and her own individual pursuit of happiness. But currently in America, a fetus is not granted these basic rights. A fetus should be granted the right to life. Abortion is a legal form of murder and should be banned from the American society. Abortion is morally wrong. The fetus should be given the right to purse its life, liberty, and its happiness.
            Because life is considered a basic human right, it is not farfetched to concede that America values life, and sees it as something worth preserving. However, life is a little hard to define. In the article “It’s Time We Had a Definition of Life” Steve Davis, the author of State of Nature Online Journal of Radical Ideas attempts to define it:

            If we take the three specifics highlighted by Adams and Dyson, homeostasis,  reproduction and metabolism (homeostasis is the ability to maintain a constant chemical balance in a changing environment, metabolism is the chemical processes that occur in    cells in particular the consumption of energy, reproduction can be as simple as cell      division, but can involve a cell dividing in accordance with a strict code of instructions),   we see that all of the characteristics of life are founded on cooperation, either within a     single cell between its parts, or between combinations of cells. (n.p.)

Basically what this article is saying is that the three essential ingredients for life are: homeostasis, reproduction, and metabolism. An organism must have these three things in order to be considered “alive”--thus, we consider plants alive, and not rocks. Rocks do not have the ability to reproduce, an essential ingredient to maintain life. If the gender of a small fetus is determined directly at conception, (no one would argue that gender is key for reproduction) than one can reach the conclusion that a fetus is very much alive. If the conclusion seems a tad weak take into consideration also that not only does a fetus have its gender determined, but also it is able to maintain a metabolism as defined above, “the consumption of energy” (Davis). The fetus is alive. Though this may seem a mundane conclusion, it is vital for making a crucial point, and begs a question to be asked; Is life worth preserving, or are there certain objects we deem “alive” that are worth maintaining vitality than others? Since we have already concluded that America deems life worth preserving, what then deserves the “right to life”?

            Thus, we get into the argument of a fetus’ humanity. For the sake of this argument, human will be based on the dictionary definition quoted before “of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people: human frailty” (“human.”). According to an article written on pregnancy.org gender is determined immediately after conception, and at one to four weeks the heart and the circulatory system are formed. This is the same heart and circulatory system that will support the child throughout its entire life (np). Now although these things are evident in animals, these specific details of the fetus “pertain to” and “have the nature of” people. To this end, it’s also important to realize that in the first few weeks of pregnancy, one can terminate the heartbeat through an abortion. Thus, the fetus now has “human frailty”.  In an article by Joyce Arthur, the humanity of the fetus is argued against. She says:
            If you point out that a fetus consists of human tissue and DNA, anti-choicers         triumphantly claim you just conceded it's a human being. Now, a flake of dandruff from     my head is human, but it is not a human being, and in this sense, neither is a zygote. Anti-    choicers will respond that a fertilized egg is not like dandruff, because the fertilized egg         consists of a unique set of chromosomes that makes it a separate human being. But with             cloning, a cell from my dandruff is enough to create a new human being. Although it        would have my identical genetic make-up, it would still be a unique individual, because                  human beings are much more than our genes (I'll expand on this point later). Also, both a          fertilized egg and a cloned cell represent a potential, not an actual human being. It’s a worn cliché, but it bears repeating—an acorn isn’t an oak tree and the egg you had for             breakfast isn’t a chicken.” (n.p.)

This article has multiple fallacies, one of which is a red herring by describing “the egg you had for breakfast” --one knows that an egg is not a chicken because most of the eggs are not fertilized. If it was, (like a woman’s egg at conception) it would become a chicken, but chickens are eaten anyway, so what relevance does this argument have? This article also fights for the idea that we should not protect a “potential” life. So discard for a moment the arguments previously made. Introduce the idea of Animal Rights. During a construction project in East Palo Alto, construction was halted because of an endangered animal; a Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse appeared on the site (Hicks). The general idea of saving an endangered species is in hopes of it no longer becoming endangered—in other words, protecting the “potential life” that is hoped to one day exist.  Thus, the argument that America does not attempt to protect a ‘potential life’ is not true. Not only this, but in order for a flake of dandruff to become a human, it must be altered. A fetus has already been ‘altered’ by the sperm, thus it is much different than dandruff on a human’s head. If you wait for nine months, a flake of dandruff will still be a flake of dandruff. Wait on a fetus for nine months, and it becomes a “baby”.
            So now a fetus has been defined as at the very least, a potential human. It is in the species of homo-sapiens (thus making it human), it has a heartbeat and a gender. So the argument then turns to the object of “personhood”. The second strongest argument against the humanity of a fetus comes in the form of abortions being legal only during certain trimesters of the pregnancy. This is a little scary. The government gets to decide then, who or what is a human, and whether or not that “human” is worthy of living. If we decide it is legal to kill while inside the womb, who decides when it’s wrong to kill outside of the womb? Though this next point may seem as a fallacy; indeed a very “slippery slope” to tread, it is not at all unthought of. In the UK an article was recently written arguing for “after birth abortions”. In the article both Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva argue that:

            Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’. We take ‘person’ to mean an individual who is capable of attributing to her own existence some (at least) basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her. This means that many non-human animals   and mentally retarded human individuals are persons, but that all the individuals who are not in   the condition of attributing any value to their own existence are not persons. Merely being human is not in itself a reason for ascribing someone a right to life. Indeed, many humans are  not considered subjects of a right to life: spare embryos where research on embryo stem cells is permitted, fetuses where abortion is permitted, criminals where capital punishment is legal. (N.P.)

Note that in this article, a fetus and a newborn are refered to as human beings, but not as a person. A “person” should be described to mean exactly what the dictionary defines it to be;  “1. A human being, whether a man, woman, or child: the table seats four persons. 2. A human being as distinguished from an animal or thing” (“person.”). Just because a person is not conscious of his or her existence does not make him or her less of a person, nor is a different person outside of the individual capable of deciding whether or not he or she is conscious of his or her existence. Although this sounds confusing, it’s really quite simple. For example, one may acknowledge that the sky is blue. However, this person has a colleague whom they converse with on a regular basis. This colleague, a young woman, decides that the other, a young man, does not believe the sky is blue. How can she make this assertion about her friend? She is not in his mind. She does not know the persons thoughts. It may come up in conversation, and he may not be able to describe to her that he believes the sky to be blue, but it does not make his belief any less valid, just inarticulate. The same is true with personhood. One cannot judge a being that is incapable of conversing in the ‘common’ language we refer to as ‘human’. For all that is known, a fetus may be perfectly capable of understanding its existence, but incapable of articulating its belief to its mother and society. This belief that abortion and afterbirth abortion is morally acceptable is dangerous ground to tread. If one gets to decide on a whim what a human or person is, and who or what should get rights, then one can change their mind on a whim. If reason would come into play, who would get to decide when killing an adult would be legal? If one were to claim to a judge that the adult he just shot was incapable of understanding  ‘basic value such that being deprived of this existence represents a loss to her’  (Arthur), the judge would still sentence the man for murder. Why is this not the same for fetuses?
            In conclusion, a fetus is a human. It belongs to the species of homo-sapiens. It has the same heart and circulatory system that it will have for the rest of its adult life. A fetus is alive, and America claims that humans should be given the basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A fetus is also a person. It is distinguishable from an animal or a thing, thus the killing of it would --under current American laws, be considered murder. Therefore, based on these premises, abortion should be outlawed. Women should not be able to decide for another young women, whether she gets to live or not.
           

This One's For You :)

Today has been one of those days for me. I'm carrying around a bit of sadness today. Thankfully I'm not the only one.
The youth pastor I grew up with is being called to a different ministry. He's staying through the Summer, but then is moving on to a different ministry in another state. So I'm a bit sad.
See, this guy has seen me in MiddleSchool, and he's been such an encouragement to watch. He serves God with all his heart, even when he thinks no one is watching. He fails sure, yeah. But his heart is in the right place, God always calls him back to His throne.
Now this shouldn't bother me too much, since I'm now in College, but it's a little hard to explain....
This guy's kinda been my second daddy. I've always known that he had my back. Especially with a few things that happened a few summers back.
I can remember when I was in middleschool and heard him speak for the first time. We'd just recently switched through a whole bunch of pastors. They announced they had some visitor from California... it was a Switch Sunday (when all the middleschoolers got to go to the Highschool service) and I always loved Switch Sunday. But I'm a little ADD and have always had to take notes to stay focused. So I sit down and they introduce this guy.

The first sermon I heard him preach was on Psalm 1. I cracked my notebook open and clicked the pen. But the second the dude opened his mouth I couldn't write anything. Something about him was different. He had a passion, a huge love for Christ. He talked about how someone who is in-tune with God is like a tree planted by water. .... I don't think I'll ever forget that---I can remember as a little sixth-grader attempting to compose and email to our new pastor (once he decided to stay) thanking him for his ministry, but never quite got the nerve.

Nor will I forget his "life-lessons"... Stories he would tell us from his middleschool and highschool years. Some overly-protective parents asked him to finally quit telling them. My friends and I still die laughing at the memories of them.

I remember going on a missions-trip on my birthday one year.... and the whole group decided to surprise me. Had me cooped up in a friends hotel room, then got told "There's an important team meeting we need to go to right now, downstairs. Let's go."
I thought to myself "I'M IN MY PJS!!!"
As I came down the elevator and the doors swung open, in the lobby of this hotel, there stood my Pastor and friends, with cupcakes and camera's, singing happy birthday... as I stood shocked in my PJ's.

I will never forget the day at Summer Camp he put my hands on my shoulders and completely embarrassed me in front of the whole youth group. I'm sitting in the back, attempting to be invisible (it's my job as a techie!) When he comes and stand directly behind me. Both the sound guy and I look at each other and share the same thought. "DON'T MOVE". See, if he's standing behind us and talking, then all the kids had to look past us to see him. If we moved the wrong way or pushed a button, we'd be super distracting.
When suddenly he puts his hands on my shoulders and begins to talk! I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself!!!! I still smile at what he said :)

So I'm sad he's going. He means a lot to me. But I also know that whatever group of kids gets to sit under him in the place he's going, will have stories like these to tell to their kids. I also know that someday, in heaven... I'll see him again.

In the book of Daniel it talks about the end times. Not right when we die, but the end. It says;

"But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever" (Daniel 12:1b-3)

I'm not sure how heaven will look, or even how it will look. But I know that my pastor is one of those whose "turned many to righteousness" and I've had the privilege to be one of them. God gets a lot of glory out of him, and I'm glad I've gotten to watch it. So goodbye for now. Maybe I'll see you before heaven, maybe I won't. But either way:

What Insanity is This?

Well. My head is absolutely spinning. Today was an amazing day.... and yet it was so insane. It was totally not what I had planned at all.

My day started out really relaxing. I went to the park and roller-bladed. The weather outside was perfectly delightful!!!! This is what went on inside my head:

"I'm so happy!!! I absolutely *love*  spring. When it comes, I have this strong desire to do backflips... if only I knew how without busting my head open.
In the winter, everything's dead. Doomed. There's all these clouds in the sky, and there's a significant lack of light. I hate darkness.
BUT SPRING.
Ahhhh spring.
Daffodils poke there sunshiney faces into the sky, birds begin screaming praises in the air, and oxygen even SMELLS sweeter.
New life is here! The dark days are gone! (Can I do backflips now??)
Watermelons, Cantelope, Strawberries.....sparkling blue water, happy dancing clouds, and the song that all of nature seems to sway to in the wind. When spring comes I want to join that happy dance.
WARMTH IS HERE!

and my face looks like that. SO MUCH JOY. In fact, it's hilarious. I laugh all the time, but I seem to smile even more in the spring. But then again... Lately my friends at school have been commenting on the fact that I always seem happy. They can't quite figure it out. Which makes me smile a little bit more. If I tried to explain to them that the reason I smile is not that someone spiked my lemonade... or that I'm superbly busy with lots of fun things to do... if I tried to explain to them that it was because Jesus saved my soul, and I can't *help* but grin... they would be completely caught off guard by that response.

Strapping on a pair of roller-blades is like strapping on a pair of wings. I can feel the wind whipping through my hair, as oxygen is pumped into my lungs. It's so exhilarating. But I'm new to the whole thing. When I strap on my roller-blades it's like learning how to fly. I used to have to be super careful of what I did and didn't do because of a disability I have in my knees.

But now, NOW I'm un-fearful. I strap on the boots, and forget. I forget I need an inhaler to breathe, I forget I could slide my knee out of place with one wrong move. When I strap them on, I can feel my muscles learning and conforming to the boots. Each time I put them on, they get stronger. This is my runway, I learn how to take off here:

By the time I'm done, my legs are killing me, and my feet are achey... but it's totally worth it all. Today I learned to jump. I can imagine being a baby bird and trying out new things with fresh wings, that's how I feel on my roller-blades.

Today I also went with a friend to see a movie. I adore this girl. She is so amazing. It was such a blessing to just be a kid again with her. We saw the Lorax, and walked over to ColdStone. We grabbed some icecream and just talked for hours. See, this girl used to babysit me. She's only about four years older than me, and now we're in the same college class at church. We love to joke and laugh, and it's such a blessing to see her every Sunday. We've both grown up so much, and it's so cool to be able to just laugh at silly little things and remember the joys of life when I'm with her.

Then I realized that I could not get home. I couldn't even get to church. My friend didn't have a car, and neither did I... But God sent a friend to swing by and pick me up! We headed to my church to get dinner and go to Bible Study....

But then it happened.

I got a call from my mom: "Hey, where are you?"
Me: "I'm in the car with Jessica"
Mom: "Well the church is being evacuated and everything is cancelled. Where do you want to meet me?"
Me: "I guess the Cafe Parking Lot? ... What's going on??"
Mom: "I don't know. I need to go now. Bye"
*click*
A little bit of panic set in... but I wasn't too worried, there had been multiple false fire alarms at my church, so I figured that was what it was.
Until the phone tag... and what I saw at my church. Droves and droves of cars streaming out of the parking lots.... Police cars with their lights flashing and blocking every single enterance.
Me: "Hey mom, I can't get in the parking lot at all... what's going on?!"
Mom: "Oh okay, where are you??"
Me: "I'm coming down the road"
Mom: *all I hear is noise*
Me: "Hey... just meet me at Starbucks okay??"
Mom: "Alright"
*click*
About twenty minutes later ... I find out there's a bomb threat. At my church. HOW INSANE IS THAT?!

All I could think to myself was "Why?" "Why would someone do that???" The next thought as I was sitting there in the Starbucks with my church the first thing you see as you look out the window, was "I just can't imagine it gone."
Technically, the church isn't the building. The church is the people. But I would definently miss my church building if it was gone.

But here's the cool thing:
Despite the insanity that was going on at my church BUILDING....
Church
            Still
                    Happened.
I still got to study the word with two very good friends of mine. A bomber might come and try to eliminate a building that he or she believes is the source of our joy.... but they never can get rid of it.

They can take away our building, they can't take away our faith.
They can take away our families, they can't take away our Father.
They can take away our Bibles, they'll never get rid of his Words.
They can take away our friends, but we'll never be alone.

ADVENTURES IN COLLEGE---Active Listening

Well. I think I have some new tags for things:
1. Adventures in College
2. The Other Side of the Stage. (Which one day, I hope will be a blog of its own... but I don't have the time for it right now.)

Today, in school. I laughed.
AMAZING I KNOW, RIGHT?
Just kidding.
What I mean was.... I laughed in my head... and tried very hard not to giggle too loudly in class.
You see....
Today we did an "active listening" project. Simple...seems like a good exercise, right?
Well ... first let me give you some background.
I grew up in a family where "active listening" was commonplace. Now generally when we're all just having a good time we run over each others sentences and just laugh our heads off at every little thing. But my parents always taught me to listen.... and listen well.
Listening is a skill that not many people have. Lots of people hear things... but not many people listen. There's a huge difference between the two.
Listening involves not just hearing what the person is saying but what they're not saying as well. So today in class we outlined what three things were necessary to actively listen.

1. Paraphrasing-
I do this naturally, so I thought it was really really odd that no one in my class knew how to do it. (and laughed inside, because as a homeschooler... *I'm* the one that's supposed to have awkward social skills.) Now if you still don't know what this is, it's actually really simple. When someone tells you something, you re-word what they're saying to make sure you actually understand.
A good example of this would be when your mom tells you to do a chore... and you re-phrase what she says so that you can get out of it. I.E.
Mom: "Honey, go clean the kitchen."
You: "So, you just want me to clean out the sink?"
...
Obviously this form of paraphrasing isn't "positive" and it's a little manipulative... but now you understand what it is.

2. Acknowledge the Speakers Feelings
This is really simple and easy too. When your friend says to you; "Shelly is really cruel and always talks badly about me." You would say; "Woahwoah, sounds like you're pretty ticked off!!!"
See? Really easy.

3. Ask Questions
This ones pretty easy too, see... Lets go back to your friend who was complaining about Shelly. Now you don't want to give advice to your friend right now, she's pretty ticked off... it could end badly, plus, your friend didn't ask for help. SO. Instead you ask questions so that your friend can figure out for themselves what they need to do.
But you aren't manipulative or ingenuine. You honestly care about your friend and Shelly, so you don't want to do anything to hurt them.
A good question to ask in this situation would be; "What'd Shelly do to make you so upset?"

So now that you understand how relatively easy this is... let me introduce you to my group for our project.
Now let me give a disclaimer: these people are the people I sit next to and are amazing people.
Now.
3 People.
Me.
And two other people. We'll call them Dan and Jasmine.

Dan, Jasmine and I need to re-inacte a scenario where Jasmine has just broken up with her boyfriend. Jasmine is in tears and obviously upset. She comes running to me for consolation. (Dan at this time was supposed to "observe") We begin and I start the three step process of active listening. At one point we stop because one of the questions I asked sounded sort of like "advising". (I asked Jasmine whether she missed her boyfriend or just doing things, and if I went to go do something with her would she feel better?) Dan suddenly became very confused.
He stopped both of us and said;
"Wait, if you're not supposed to be giving advice, what's the point to listening to her?"
I balked.
But then said; "Well after a break-up, she doesn't really want advice... she wants you to cry and eat bon-bons with her."
"Really?" Dan said, "Why would she do that? Isn't that just rehearsing it? Shouldn't she just get over it?"
That time I had to laugh. I laughed really hard.
Another guy from the back of the room shouted; "Yeah, isn't it time she just moved on??"
EPIC. FACEPALM.
I totally though active listening was easy, but now I see it's not natural for people.
I don't know if this was a lack of training in the public schools, or a gender bias, or what. But it made me laugh...
I hope it made you laugh too.
Next time your friend comes running to you with a problem, don't try to fix it. :) He/She will feel a whole lot better if you wait until they ask you for advice.

"Someone Poisoned the Watering Hole"

It was the year of the Carnival. My family had waited for months for summer to finally come around. We'd seen ad's float over the internet and splash on the TV. This was the biggest event America had seen since Whitney Huston's funeral.
This wasn't like the State Fair, or something that came around every year. This was the "Under One Sun" Water Park. See, with the crash of the economy, America hit her knees. When America fell, the rest of the world felt it.... When suddenly, from what seemed to be the ashes of humanity--- a man arose. A man with a great vision and a power to woo the masses. We were now what the earth had groaned for: One World. The government was ruled by this man, and to celebrate the rise from the economy crash, with the new-found wealth, our great leader set forth on a tour around the world.

But because he knew that little kids would not want to stand at some political party, he built a theme park. A water park built with every imaginable kind of slide and splash zone ever created. While the kids could play, the parents could come to listen to him speak.
Finally, it was our country's turn.
The best part about the whole thing was that it was free. There was no cost for admissions.... my family never had a whole lot, so when we heard about such a great opportunity we freed our schedule and decided to go.

When we pulled into the park my eyes lit up. I was always nicknamed "the fish" of the family... I absolutely love swimming. This was my dream.

As we began to walk in, I realized there was something funny about the place. I couldn't quite place it, but I shook off the dreadful feeling and ran to the changing rooms to throw on my bathing suit. Nothing could keep me from swimming!!!

Or could it??

As I walked into the changing room, there were millions of women gossiping, and sharing the greatest achievements of their children. The teenage girls were showing off their latest hairstyles and throwing around the latest celebrity's name. But that wasn't what caught me off guard. That was typical to hear. No, what threw me for a loop was the absence of joy. These people all seemed excited, just like I was.... but they seemed as if it was all rehearsed. Their eyes were dead and their faces were devoid of emotion. It was all too strange.

I quickly walked out and looked for a different place to change. There, in the middle of the entrance stood my family... surrounded by men in dark suits. My dad looked frantic, his hands were waving back and forth and my mom was nodding her head vigorously. My younger brothers stood looking shell-shocked and dazed as my older sister frantically attempted to pull there gaze from what appeared to be a young women unconsciously on the pavement. What had I missed?!

I ran over and my ears began to pick up piees from the conversation between my father and what appeared to be security guards; "...just died....after drinking.......you people...." as the security gaurd listened to my father's rant, I came close enough to hear his entire response; "There's nothing to worry about, she's fine."
I was shocked. How could he say she was fine? This lady, from what I could gather, had stopped at the water fountain before heading to the pool... she sipped the water, and keeled over and died!

When my dad heard the repeated response of the guard, he looked at us and said; "That's it, we're leaving."
To which the body guard responded, "I'm sorry... you can't"

That's when I realized.......

As we had been walking in, I noticed. Something threw me off, it wasn't the entrance, that was large.... There was no exit to this place.

Suddenly what was once an exciting family outing, became entrapment. We were enslaved to the will of this water park. No one could rescue us.

We were all in the same park. All doomed to ride slides and swim. One could make the most of it, but the looks on the people's faces told me that this "park for fun" ... was no longer fun after thousands and thousands of hours.  None of the rides brought a lasting sense of happiness. There was so much entertainment and excitement it made you physically ill.

Still. We were forced to play on this playground. Months passed, and there was still no escaping. No freedom.

Not only that, but the water was slowly killing people. For most, it was so slow it was unnoticeable. People would spend hours here, and days, and the days would turn to years... eventually, people would just die.

For others it was fast, like the first lady we saw when we stepped into the park on that fateful day. My family and I did our best to avoid the water. We saw what it was doing to people. We did our best to warn folks before they stepped through the gates... but to no avail.
No one would listen. We were the crazy lunatic family of six.
What did we eat? As little as we could. But all was free here. There was every kind of food imaginable. But why would we eat the food, if we knew even the water was bad?
Days and days passed.
It was hard to stay dry. Even fully clothed folks would run and shove you into the nearest pool. We'd *have* to drink water at some point....

We were beginning to waste away, and the taste of death seemed sweeter than staying here. But it didn't seem fair, to die like that. Yet it didn't seem fair to live like this.

Die from having fun.
Or die from not having fun. It got to the point where we were begging our parents to let us in to the water. To just play and get it over with. We were all doomed to die one day, why not die happy?

But then it came.

What exactly?

A whisper.... a hint of hope. There was a tale floating around that a rescuer was here. A lifeguard.

Someone who had been to this death-trap of a water park before. It was said that he'd swam, and drank...and yet was alive. It was even rumored that he'd died... but 'magically' came back to life.

Sounded crazy. But then again, so did a killer water park.

It was rumored that this lifeguard had his own supply of water, a supply that never seemed to run out.... and wouldn't kill you. My family and I sat again, day after day, on the bench... awaiting that lifeguard's appearance. But it seemed like he never came. That's when it was slipped to us. The piece of paper. It read:
"Whoever seeks to save his life will loose it, and whoever looses his life, will gain it."
Did that mean we played in the deathly water?
No.
But it meant we should stop trying to save our own skin. If we died without a lifegaurd, that's great. But in order for a lifegaurd to come, you have to need help. My family and I realized, we needed help. So we sat and waited, and determined in our minds to no longer even eat the food to survive. We would have to waste away.

And we began to.

Death seemed like it was coming slowly, he haunted our every movement. Every gasp for air was heavier. But then it came. The lifegaurd! He rescued us! When it seemed we would slip and fall, he came. He gave us refreshing water, and we never thirsted again. The water park seemed to be just an attempt at re-creating what this lifeguard had. He knew a way out of the park, and led us there.

But instead of staying home, I and my family decided we needed to follow this lifegaurd wherever he said was safe. We no longer trusted the government to provide the "one world" water. No, instead we followed the man who rescued us.

You see, we're all forced to play on the "playground" of life.
There's sin in our playground, and it's slowly killing all of us.... it seems fun and fantastic, but we realize people around us seem as though they're in a trance. Like it's all fake. It never truly satisfies.... but everyone is doing it, so ... why shouldn't we? We all die one day. Why not die happy?

But the sickness and fakeness of it all stops some of us...just when all seems lost, that's when we get hope. Sometimes it's by word of mouth through a friend. Just "gossip" in the air, and sometimes its in the form of a track that we get handed at a restaurant.  Whatever it is, we see it and think; "I know this sounds crazy... but so is what I'm living..."
And we realize that these words are true:

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13 & 14

An Ode to Mine Homework

Ah homework, oh homework!

Thee and I are but dreadful foes,

And now I bid thee hate in prose.
Today my fate was surely sealed,
When thy dreadful case was swiftly dealed

I've lost but a portion of my break,
But without thee a GPA I would have to fake.

I face thee now with book and pen
And nestle now, quite set in my den.
With hopes that one day our quarrel will end,
My book I crease and my glasses I bend,
 And off to my teacher I do thee now send.

Justification

Found this this morning, thought it was too amazing not to share:

"The Friend Zone"

Now, you probably clicked on this... and thought "Oh no, I'm her friend, and I'm a guy... WHAT NOW?!?!" or if you're a girl you're probably going "YEAH PREACH IT".... But this isn't so much for the guys, as it is for the girls.
(SORRY GIRLS)
And if your a friend of mine who's a guy. Chill out. There's no subliminal messages here. If I wanted to tell you something, I'd say it to your face.

Secondly, I'm not an expert on this stuff. I've never had a boyfriend. So if you hate what I say... move along...
That being said.
A guy friend of mine read my last post, and suggested I write on the "Friend Zone".
Now. Before you go yelling at me and I get angry comments.... let's define the friend zone.

There's having a guy/girl friend, and then there's the "friend zone". There is a large difference between the two.

The simplest way to put this is one sentence: "There are certain things you should do with only your girlfriend."

I have a lot of great guy friends. Honestly ladies, sometimes you're the most confusing species in the entire world. I swear. Guys will straight up tell you if you look nasty, and most of the time their opinion of you doesn't change based on what color the sky is that morning.

A friend will respect boundaries if you put them there. Ladies, you need to be brave enough to say to a guy EARLY ON IN YOUR FRIENDSHIP "I'm not comfortable with that." If he's really your friend, he'll respect your boundaries. If he doesn't, then you need to find a different friend.

Guys: PLEASE. PLEASE. Tell us if you have different intentions than straight-up friendship. I've heard we tend to read into things, which is probably true. So just save yourself the trouble of having to watch your friend eat a whole half-gallon of icecream.

Friendship between a guy and a girl happens only when both of them are willing to be honest with each other, and respect the other. A guy can be a gentleman, and not be leading you on. In fact, the friend that suggested I write this is a great example of that. He will open doors for a lady, and treat her like she's worth something.

But see, the "friend zone" needs to be avoided at all costs. The people who live in the friend zone are weird. But you know them; This is the guy who will fawn all over you, but never wants to date you. (and vice versa for the girl) this is the guy who says "I LOVE YOU!" and pays for your meals, but won't pay for the ring.
This is the place where girls will tickle you, bake food, buys you things randomly, and flirts mercilessly, but refuses to be your wife.
THAT. My friend, is the Friend Zone.
And it's a very bad place to be.


Sometimes it's up to you when you cross the line into the "Friend Zone". For instance, I absolutely love having people over to my house and cooking for them. It's an absolute joy for me. I love watching people's faces light up when they eat some new recipe I tried. Guys like food. Guys are honest. So I invite guys over to try different food. If they hate it, they should tell me.

BUT.

If a guy starts coming over once a week to eat food that I wasn't planning on him eating.... then he's crossed the line.

LADIES:  The "Friend Zone" is crossed when you allow the guy to believe your dating. Because taking this advice just from a chick doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I'm going to include a quote from a conversation with my friend (Who happens to be a guy):

"The bad "Friend Zone" for ladies comes when they go out for coffee with a guy friend and expect him to pay; they wanna go hang out with a bunch of mutual friends but the guy drives consequently paying for gas; (when she) LETS him put his arm around her, take her to movies, and thus gives him the impression they're dating but the next day she does the whole thing over again with another guy." -M.S.

Come on girls, I know we're stupid sometimes, but you know how it feels to be "led on" by a guy.... don't do it to him.
There's nothing wrong with watching a movie with your guy friend. Just make sure when you do, you make sure he understands it's not a date. Not because you *love* making things awkward between your friends.... but because you love him as a Christian sister, and want to make sure you don't hurt him---i.e. RESPECT HIM.

Too often we girls get so caught up in telling guys that they need to be respectable and treat us like ladies, that we forget we need to respect them. How are they supposed to reach a standard even we don't believe they can reach?

You know what? This all boils down to something God outlined in the Scriptures a *long* time ago.
"Do to others as you would have them do to you." (Luke 6:31)

Be love to them. Not the wife/husband relationship, treat them as your sibling... If anyone were to attack (verbally or physically) one of my younger brothers, you'd better believe that person would be going home with a black eye. (Violence is not the answer....But you get my concept) He's your brother, so don't be one of those people who deserves a black eye.
Guys, she's your sister. Treat her like you would want your own daughter to be treated.... and don't be afraid to tease her like you would your own sister.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails."

It's time to Man-Up ya'll. Ladies, it's time to show a little respect:

A boy turning into a man....

Recently my little brother described what kind of guy he wanted to be, and I was seriously impressed:

"See, there's gangstah, and then there's 'cool'. When those guys look in the mirror they're like; 'Yo mayuhn, Imma get me some chix....But then there's classy.... I want to be classy. They look in the mirror and they're like; 'I'm gonna get me a lady. We're gonna get married.'"
-Little Brother tips his Fedora-

NO. You can't have him. He's my little brother. HE'S MINE.
But seriously, he's the sweetest little kid, his heart is so huge... sometimes I forget he's a teenager HA.

This week there has kind of been a re-occurring theme of what a "good" guy should be like. But, it's probably just because of valentine's day. But anyways, I thought I would share what I've found:

UrbanDictonary.com describes classy as this:
"An adjective:
1) meaning very stylish and elegant.
2) not crude or misgusting or dirty or depressing
2) a deeper, more meaningful word for 'cool'"

 

 I have to say... the brotip made me literally LOL.

Don't worry guys, I believe that women need to act like ladies. I think that too often girls get all preachy at guys and forget we're supposed to live differently as well.

 


Hope these made ya smile!