I have a goal this year, which might actually fail when I go to college, but my goal is to miss only one Sunday of my church a month. So far so good. Last month and this month, I've missed church because I was with other people at their churches.
Last month, I was in Virginia with my old youth pastors, Matt and Lindsay. That church, which is now their old church, is pretty big. The way they do their worship part of the service is a lot more different than my church. I didn't feel as if I was welcome to sing. They had a choir up there singing and words on the screen and also a bit of a band, but I don't recall many of the congregation singing. It was just different from what I'm used to.
This past Sunday, I was at a church while at Ferris State University. A lot a huggy people, but there's nothing wrong with that. It was different once again. They have recordings of all the music. And they sing a lot of hymns, but there's nothing wrong with that. I like hymns a lot. The church reminded me a lot of my dad's Episcopal church. There were a lot of elderly people and the pastor's wife was telling us on the way back to the dorm that they're trying to modernize the music, but it's going really slowly.
I know I shouldn't compare churches, but I just did. I'm not judging any of them because that's God's job. Visiting these two churches have made me come to a conclusion.
I love my church. I love what we have. I love that we have a band with singers. I love that the people in my church care about each other. I love that we're growing. I just have a great appreciation for what my church does have right now. I'm thankful for how we do our worship part of the service.
I'm not saying those other churches don't do worship correctly. We all have different ways of worshiping God. It's good to get out and visit other churches sometimes. But I'm also happy to be where I am right now. I'm thankful for my Aunt Ann for bringing me to this church. I'm thankful for my pastor and piano teacher for all the spiritual talks during lessons. I love going to church. I love God! I love Jesus! And you know what else? Jesus loves you!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Where do I get these ideas?
Have you ever read something I've written and wondered where I got the idea for it? Don't worry I wonder it too sometimes. Where do I get these crazy and sometimes spontaneous ideas from?
When it comes to stories like The Chosen Llama Part Pi and my Kurtz story, I just keep writing. I just start with some random idea and it keeps going from there. I think it's my dad's side of the family where my brother and I get our humor and randomness.
When it comes to serious things that I write about, I think I'm influenced by what I see and hear. God is a big part. He lays stuff on my heart all the time that I just feel encouraged to write about.
I see how people react to things. I see their actions. I hear what they say. God lays a lot of stuff on my heart to write about things.
I like reading my old blogs. I never really thought about how much they impacted me. I don't know who I'm impacting by writing right now, but I'm fine with that. Who knows, I could be impacting myself. I go back and read a lot of my blogs on Battlecry and think how much they impact my life nowadays.
I think my parents sometimes wonder where I get my ideas from too. For instance, I mentioned to them last month that I wanted to go to church camp this year. They were wondering where I got this idea. Contrary to popular belief, I did not get this idea from Matt and Lindsay; they just reminded me. Last summer, I was talking to a friend about how I needed to get out of the house during the summer because it was driving me crazy. I promised that this next summer I would go to church camp no matter what. I've heard the stories about camp and I've never experienced any camp besides band camp, and this is why I want a new experience especially because this is my last summer to be considered a high schooler at my church's district camp.
I think I get my crazy dreams from my mom though. She's always explaining some dream that she has had. She has a lot of crazy ones. I have a ton of crazy ones too and the only reason I remember a lot of them is because I started writing them down in December of 2006. I don't do it as much anymore. I think it's an interesting subject of the brain. Our states of consciousness. It's so mysterious, but really cool. Our brains are so complex. Only God could create something that amazing that actually prunes itself.
When it comes to stories like The Chosen Llama Part Pi and my Kurtz story, I just keep writing. I just start with some random idea and it keeps going from there. I think it's my dad's side of the family where my brother and I get our humor and randomness.
When it comes to serious things that I write about, I think I'm influenced by what I see and hear. God is a big part. He lays stuff on my heart all the time that I just feel encouraged to write about.
I see how people react to things. I see their actions. I hear what they say. God lays a lot of stuff on my heart to write about things.
I like reading my old blogs. I never really thought about how much they impacted me. I don't know who I'm impacting by writing right now, but I'm fine with that. Who knows, I could be impacting myself. I go back and read a lot of my blogs on Battlecry and think how much they impact my life nowadays.
I think my parents sometimes wonder where I get my ideas from too. For instance, I mentioned to them last month that I wanted to go to church camp this year. They were wondering where I got this idea. Contrary to popular belief, I did not get this idea from Matt and Lindsay; they just reminded me. Last summer, I was talking to a friend about how I needed to get out of the house during the summer because it was driving me crazy. I promised that this next summer I would go to church camp no matter what. I've heard the stories about camp and I've never experienced any camp besides band camp, and this is why I want a new experience especially because this is my last summer to be considered a high schooler at my church's district camp.
I think I get my crazy dreams from my mom though. She's always explaining some dream that she has had. She has a lot of crazy ones. I have a ton of crazy ones too and the only reason I remember a lot of them is because I started writing them down in December of 2006. I don't do it as much anymore. I think it's an interesting subject of the brain. Our states of consciousness. It's so mysterious, but really cool. Our brains are so complex. Only God could create something that amazing that actually prunes itself.
What if Kurtz were still alive?
Ok, unless you've read Heart of Darkness you may not understand this very well. It's another random story I wrote for my group for English class this time. It was a stupid assignment that my teacher had us do on the last couple of days of school last week. My friend Lexi referred to it as being a silly project, so what did I do? I made a silly story. Kurtz is a character from Heart of Darkness who dies, but we were supposed to write about what would happen if he had survived. You should definitely check out Heart of Darkness. It's short, a little complex (as my English teacher says, I don't know what she's talking about though), but a good read. And no, I wasn't high when I wrote this story either. Always high on life, never high on drugs.
Upon arriving at port, the body of Kurtz was carried off to be taken to the morgue. It was discovered shortly before the embalming process that Kurtz was not dead at all, but in a coma. It was a good thing they didn't bury him alive. The horror! The horror! He was taken to the hospital immediately.
While in the hospital, a few of the nurses mixed up his charts with the man who was due to get his legs amputated. unfortunately they didn't realize this until after Kurtz had gone through this leg amputation. he awoke from his coma to find that he had no legs.
"The horror! The horror!" He screamed.
While in the hospital, Kurtz had a few significant visitors. Marlow came to give him the papers back. Kurtz's Intended came in shortly after that. She was dressed in all black and looked as if she had been recently crying. Kurtz later found out that she was mourning the loss of his legs. She was so happy to have him back.
Soon after leaving the hospital, Kurtz and his Intended, Beatrice, decided to tie the knot. For y'all who don't know what that means, they got married. Soon after getting married, they decided they needed some kids to run around the backyard. Well, ok, so that was actually Beatrice's idea, but Kurtz was only letting her live in her dream world. They had nine kids in total. Their names? Don't ask me. I'm only the narrator. There was Sam, Pam, Ram, Bam, Cam, Bram, Tam, Nam, and Roy.
Now to pay for all these kids, Kurtz, the amputee, had to do something. With no legs, he couldn't do mucht ath was useful. He was a journalist for about six years, but then the paper he worked for got tired of his lousy writing. All he liked to write about was the jungle and the people there. After that he decided to go on American Idol for a career in singing.
Kurtz thought maybe being an amputee would help him out on the show. Simon didn't give him a break at all. Simon plugged his ears and loudly told himself to find his happy place as Kurtz sang The Lion sleeps Tonight. How sad, Kurtz didn't even make it through the auditions.
Where did Kurtz go after that? The streets. That's right. He became a beggar on the streets. He just didn't let his wife know about that. She wouldn't have been too happy about that, but it paid the bills, so he kept doing it. He sat on the streets every day for twenty years begging. People did feel sorry for him and that's why he got rich begging on the streets. One day, a black man passed him on the street and he had a sudden flashback. Africa. He had to go back. There was no way around it. He had to find out what happened to his true love.
Without Beatrice knowing, Kurtz started sending letters to his friend, the Russian. He told the Russian of how he longed to go back to the jungle. The Russian dared him to go back. Kurtz decided to go back to Africa. He didn't tell Beatrice this though. The horror! Could you imagine how she would react to such craziness? The horror! No, Kurtz couldn't tell her. He imagined terrible things happening if he did. When did Kurtz go? He left just as his wife, Beatrice, was shoving handfuls of popcorn into her mouth. Popcorn is rather distracting, don't you know?
Little did he know that his youngest, most foolish son, who was also a sophomore at the time, Roy, decided to stowaway on the ship to Africa. I guess he was only looking for an adventure. It was a long, hard trip going back to the heart of darkness, but Kurtz survived and so did his stowaway son, Roy.
Kurtz slowly made his way back to where his real people were with Roy following close behind. He found his people right where he had left them. They were extremely happy to have him back. Now these people were super intelligent. They were smarter than the Europeans and a lot more civilized. They saw Kurtz and couldn't believe what the Europeans had done to his body. Amputating his legs? The horror! These people were among the first to give him a chance at walking again. How? They sacrificed one of their most valiant warriors and used his legs. The healing process didn't take that long. His true love had healing powers to heal him completely. No, it wasn'tf Beatrice. Beatrice was only a temporary love. Kurtz's true love is the soul of the jungle. She healed him and hleped him to learn to walk with this new pair of legs.
One day as they were walking, she led him to her hut, where she had a surprise waiting for him. No, it wasn't a delicious chocolate celebration cake. It was a man. No, it wasn't Roy. Roy was off hiding in the bushes somewhere watching. he made himself a little camp in a tree. Anyways, this man was around twenty years old. he didn't look like many of the other people in the village. The horror! This man, Kurtz realized, must be his son! The horror! He just looked at his true love and she nodded back. He was flabbergasted. How could this happen?
Well when two people really love each other...do I need to go on? No, because we all have learned about the birds and the bees already.
Just as Kurtz and his newest son were getting to know each other, there was a cry in the village. It wasn't one of the warriors, but Kurtz knew that cry. He rushed out of the hut to find his son, Roy held captive. It took a while for Kurtz to explain everything while glaring at Roy the whole time. The natives weren't happy. They were hoping to eat Roy and as much as Kurtz wanted to let them eat Roy, he had restraint and decided to save his son.
Kurtz didn't know what to do with Roy. He told Roy he wasn't going back to civilization and Roy didn't care. Roy, that stupid fool, wanted the adventure he had heard his father talking about all these years. Roy knew he wasn't in Kansas anymore, but that didn't bother him at all. He didn't exactly blend in with the others, but he tried to. Kurtz pretty much ignored Roy after that little incident.
One day though, Roy and Kurtz's other son Piku Piku got into a little scuffle. They had an argument over chickens or something. Kurtz had warned Roy about getting into scuffles with the natives over their chickens, but Roy, being as "wise" as he was, didn't think he had to listen to his father and what did he do? He got into a scuffle with Piku Piku. But it was more than a scuffle. It was actually a real fight. Should I spare you the gory details? Nah, I'll tell you. Roy thought he could handle it, but he was of course wrong. Piku Piku knew the ancient arts of kung fu with spears. Roy only knew how to do the foxtrot. Piku Piku speared Roy in the head, dug into his frontal lobe, and upon pulling the spear out, took a few chunks of brain out with it. Roy didn't scream in pain. After all it was only a flesh wound.
I don't know how it happened, but Piku Piku somehow died that day. Roy really knew that foxtrot. The village didn't celebrate this win however. They were furious. Piku Piku died!!!! How else would they react? Even Kurtz was upset. Kurtz had been crossing his fingers the whole time hoping Piku Piku would kill of Roy. Apparently Piku Piku was the weakest link.
The village decided to kill off Roy. Now you may be wondering how they did this. They sacrificed him. Kurtz convinced them once again not to eat Roy. Instead they threw him into the river while he was sleeping to be eaten by the giant man-eating piranha. After that day, the village lived happily ever after.
There are many lessons in this story. watch your children carefully. If you're going to run away from civilization, make sure your children don't follow your footsteps. Don't leave footsteps for your children to follow. Don't run away from civilization when you have sophomores in the house. But the most important lesson of this story is to never ever mess with the heart of darkness and their chickens.
Upon arriving at port, the body of Kurtz was carried off to be taken to the morgue. It was discovered shortly before the embalming process that Kurtz was not dead at all, but in a coma. It was a good thing they didn't bury him alive. The horror! The horror! He was taken to the hospital immediately.
While in the hospital, a few of the nurses mixed up his charts with the man who was due to get his legs amputated. unfortunately they didn't realize this until after Kurtz had gone through this leg amputation. he awoke from his coma to find that he had no legs.
"The horror! The horror!" He screamed.
While in the hospital, Kurtz had a few significant visitors. Marlow came to give him the papers back. Kurtz's Intended came in shortly after that. She was dressed in all black and looked as if she had been recently crying. Kurtz later found out that she was mourning the loss of his legs. She was so happy to have him back.
Soon after leaving the hospital, Kurtz and his Intended, Beatrice, decided to tie the knot. For y'all who don't know what that means, they got married. Soon after getting married, they decided they needed some kids to run around the backyard. Well, ok, so that was actually Beatrice's idea, but Kurtz was only letting her live in her dream world. They had nine kids in total. Their names? Don't ask me. I'm only the narrator. There was Sam, Pam, Ram, Bam, Cam, Bram, Tam, Nam, and Roy.
Now to pay for all these kids, Kurtz, the amputee, had to do something. With no legs, he couldn't do mucht ath was useful. He was a journalist for about six years, but then the paper he worked for got tired of his lousy writing. All he liked to write about was the jungle and the people there. After that he decided to go on American Idol for a career in singing.
Kurtz thought maybe being an amputee would help him out on the show. Simon didn't give him a break at all. Simon plugged his ears and loudly told himself to find his happy place as Kurtz sang The Lion sleeps Tonight. How sad, Kurtz didn't even make it through the auditions.
Where did Kurtz go after that? The streets. That's right. He became a beggar on the streets. He just didn't let his wife know about that. She wouldn't have been too happy about that, but it paid the bills, so he kept doing it. He sat on the streets every day for twenty years begging. People did feel sorry for him and that's why he got rich begging on the streets. One day, a black man passed him on the street and he had a sudden flashback. Africa. He had to go back. There was no way around it. He had to find out what happened to his true love.
Without Beatrice knowing, Kurtz started sending letters to his friend, the Russian. He told the Russian of how he longed to go back to the jungle. The Russian dared him to go back. Kurtz decided to go back to Africa. He didn't tell Beatrice this though. The horror! Could you imagine how she would react to such craziness? The horror! No, Kurtz couldn't tell her. He imagined terrible things happening if he did. When did Kurtz go? He left just as his wife, Beatrice, was shoving handfuls of popcorn into her mouth. Popcorn is rather distracting, don't you know?
Little did he know that his youngest, most foolish son, who was also a sophomore at the time, Roy, decided to stowaway on the ship to Africa. I guess he was only looking for an adventure. It was a long, hard trip going back to the heart of darkness, but Kurtz survived and so did his stowaway son, Roy.
Kurtz slowly made his way back to where his real people were with Roy following close behind. He found his people right where he had left them. They were extremely happy to have him back. Now these people were super intelligent. They were smarter than the Europeans and a lot more civilized. They saw Kurtz and couldn't believe what the Europeans had done to his body. Amputating his legs? The horror! These people were among the first to give him a chance at walking again. How? They sacrificed one of their most valiant warriors and used his legs. The healing process didn't take that long. His true love had healing powers to heal him completely. No, it wasn'tf Beatrice. Beatrice was only a temporary love. Kurtz's true love is the soul of the jungle. She healed him and hleped him to learn to walk with this new pair of legs.
One day as they were walking, she led him to her hut, where she had a surprise waiting for him. No, it wasn't a delicious chocolate celebration cake. It was a man. No, it wasn't Roy. Roy was off hiding in the bushes somewhere watching. he made himself a little camp in a tree. Anyways, this man was around twenty years old. he didn't look like many of the other people in the village. The horror! This man, Kurtz realized, must be his son! The horror! He just looked at his true love and she nodded back. He was flabbergasted. How could this happen?
Well when two people really love each other...do I need to go on? No, because we all have learned about the birds and the bees already.
Just as Kurtz and his newest son were getting to know each other, there was a cry in the village. It wasn't one of the warriors, but Kurtz knew that cry. He rushed out of the hut to find his son, Roy held captive. It took a while for Kurtz to explain everything while glaring at Roy the whole time. The natives weren't happy. They were hoping to eat Roy and as much as Kurtz wanted to let them eat Roy, he had restraint and decided to save his son.
Kurtz didn't know what to do with Roy. He told Roy he wasn't going back to civilization and Roy didn't care. Roy, that stupid fool, wanted the adventure he had heard his father talking about all these years. Roy knew he wasn't in Kansas anymore, but that didn't bother him at all. He didn't exactly blend in with the others, but he tried to. Kurtz pretty much ignored Roy after that little incident.
One day though, Roy and Kurtz's other son Piku Piku got into a little scuffle. They had an argument over chickens or something. Kurtz had warned Roy about getting into scuffles with the natives over their chickens, but Roy, being as "wise" as he was, didn't think he had to listen to his father and what did he do? He got into a scuffle with Piku Piku. But it was more than a scuffle. It was actually a real fight. Should I spare you the gory details? Nah, I'll tell you. Roy thought he could handle it, but he was of course wrong. Piku Piku knew the ancient arts of kung fu with spears. Roy only knew how to do the foxtrot. Piku Piku speared Roy in the head, dug into his frontal lobe, and upon pulling the spear out, took a few chunks of brain out with it. Roy didn't scream in pain. After all it was only a flesh wound.
I don't know how it happened, but Piku Piku somehow died that day. Roy really knew that foxtrot. The village didn't celebrate this win however. They were furious. Piku Piku died!!!! How else would they react? Even Kurtz was upset. Kurtz had been crossing his fingers the whole time hoping Piku Piku would kill of Roy. Apparently Piku Piku was the weakest link.
The village decided to kill off Roy. Now you may be wondering how they did this. They sacrificed him. Kurtz convinced them once again not to eat Roy. Instead they threw him into the river while he was sleeping to be eaten by the giant man-eating piranha. After that day, the village lived happily ever after.
There are many lessons in this story. watch your children carefully. If you're going to run away from civilization, make sure your children don't follow your footsteps. Don't leave footsteps for your children to follow. Don't run away from civilization when you have sophomores in the house. But the most important lesson of this story is to never ever mess with the heart of darkness and their chickens.
Home from FSU
If you haven't guessed by the title, I am home from Ferris State University. I had a very fun weekend.
On Friday, I was so grumpy and just felt totally rushed, but as soon as we got there, I was fine. Oh and it's really cold up there too. One of my friends thought I was in Ohio because he thought Ferris is in Ohio. No, it's actually up a ways in Michigan.
I met a lot of my friend Becky's friends. They're really cool people and really funny. On Saturday, we walked around Big Rapids and just hung out. Yesterday, we went to church. It was really different and I learned that we should all be giving each other 90 second hugs. The people there were really huggy. I was warned about that beforehand, but at the time, I thought Becky was just talking about the pastor's family. I'll talk about church in another blog though. It also snowed yesterday and was really cold. My dad, brother, cousin, and my brother's girlfriend came to pick me up and we walked around the campus for a bit. It's my dad's alma mater. The car ride home was very packed.
I miss hanging out in the dorm. I'll be there in a couple months though. No, not at Ferris, but in a dorm. I'm glad to be going to a Christian college where alcohol and stuff is banned because I don't like the idea of it. I know some people might disobey that, but the gist is that there is no alcohol allowed on campus. I also won't be in a co-ed dorm like my friend becky. Her suite mate is a girl, but her wall mate is a guy. I've heard some interesting stories about that one, but I won't share any. I'm starting to look forward to college.
On Friday, I was so grumpy and just felt totally rushed, but as soon as we got there, I was fine. Oh and it's really cold up there too. One of my friends thought I was in Ohio because he thought Ferris is in Ohio. No, it's actually up a ways in Michigan.
I met a lot of my friend Becky's friends. They're really cool people and really funny. On Saturday, we walked around Big Rapids and just hung out. Yesterday, we went to church. It was really different and I learned that we should all be giving each other 90 second hugs. The people there were really huggy. I was warned about that beforehand, but at the time, I thought Becky was just talking about the pastor's family. I'll talk about church in another blog though. It also snowed yesterday and was really cold. My dad, brother, cousin, and my brother's girlfriend came to pick me up and we walked around the campus for a bit. It's my dad's alma mater. The car ride home was very packed.
I miss hanging out in the dorm. I'll be there in a couple months though. No, not at Ferris, but in a dorm. I'm glad to be going to a Christian college where alcohol and stuff is banned because I don't like the idea of it. I know some people might disobey that, but the gist is that there is no alcohol allowed on campus. I also won't be in a co-ed dorm like my friend becky. Her suite mate is a girl, but her wall mate is a guy. I've heard some interesting stories about that one, but I won't share any. I'm starting to look forward to college.
Friday, March 27, 2009
FSU
I'm writing this quickly because I have to get going like right now. But I'm taking the time real quick to write this down.
This weekend should be interesting. I'm going to visit a friend at Ferris State University. It's not a college I'm considering, but it will be interesting to see what dorm life is all about. My dad went to Ferris and stayed in the same dorm my friend Becky is in.
Please pray for a safe journey and fun trip for all of us. My brother and parents are picking me up on Sunday. My 15-year old brother is driving to get his hours in. Scary!
Hope you all have a terrific weekend!
This weekend should be interesting. I'm going to visit a friend at Ferris State University. It's not a college I'm considering, but it will be interesting to see what dorm life is all about. My dad went to Ferris and stayed in the same dorm my friend Becky is in.
Please pray for a safe journey and fun trip for all of us. My brother and parents are picking me up on Sunday. My 15-year old brother is driving to get his hours in. Scary!
Hope you all have a terrific weekend!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Not so little anymore
I've been thinking the last couple of days about some things pertaining to my youth group. No, I'm not gonna start complaining. I've got nothing to complain about about them. I love my youth group and I always have. I'm not letting Satan get to me.
I realized two things last night. The church I go to in my town has been around for about 13 years. We just finished paying off our building's short term debt this past summer. Pretty amazing stuff. That's not exactly what I realized though. I realized that I've been in youth group for about 9 years.
How can that be? That would mean that I'm either older than I say I am or I was 9 years old when I was in youth group. It's the second one. The kids I grew up with in youth group, the older ones anyways, we've always been together. We did participate in children's church, but we were never really in the kids Sunday school class. We always had our own group. Some of them have been together even longer. I came in when the church was probably 4 years old (that's really young when I think about it now). My pastor and I were talking last week at my piano lesson about the fact that he has known a few of us for about 12 years. That's about as long as the church has existed in my town. That's really cool.
The second thing I realized was that my youth group is no longer small. I realized this looking at my old youth pastor's newest youth group. From the picture, I saw 9 teens. There might be more though. It was the only picture I saw of them though. At that, I thought, hey my youth group has 9 kids too. But wait a minute, no we don't anymore.
The youth group started with about 3 or 4 kids. I got thrown in there at some point and then so did my friend Becky and her brother JJ who is our current sorta youth leader. When Matt and Lindsay were here, we had about 9 or 10 teens. After they left, we grew some more. I realized last night that we've almost doubled over the past year. That's crazy!
I can't call my youth group little anymore. I can't really call my church little anymore. My church is in the middle it seems. We're too young to be called old, but too old to be marked as a new church. I guess we're a teenage church.
That's so cool!
I realized two things last night. The church I go to in my town has been around for about 13 years. We just finished paying off our building's short term debt this past summer. Pretty amazing stuff. That's not exactly what I realized though. I realized that I've been in youth group for about 9 years.
How can that be? That would mean that I'm either older than I say I am or I was 9 years old when I was in youth group. It's the second one. The kids I grew up with in youth group, the older ones anyways, we've always been together. We did participate in children's church, but we were never really in the kids Sunday school class. We always had our own group. Some of them have been together even longer. I came in when the church was probably 4 years old (that's really young when I think about it now). My pastor and I were talking last week at my piano lesson about the fact that he has known a few of us for about 12 years. That's about as long as the church has existed in my town. That's really cool.
The second thing I realized was that my youth group is no longer small. I realized this looking at my old youth pastor's newest youth group. From the picture, I saw 9 teens. There might be more though. It was the only picture I saw of them though. At that, I thought, hey my youth group has 9 kids too. But wait a minute, no we don't anymore.
The youth group started with about 3 or 4 kids. I got thrown in there at some point and then so did my friend Becky and her brother JJ who is our current sorta youth leader. When Matt and Lindsay were here, we had about 9 or 10 teens. After they left, we grew some more. I realized last night that we've almost doubled over the past year. That's crazy!
I can't call my youth group little anymore. I can't really call my church little anymore. My church is in the middle it seems. We're too young to be called old, but too old to be marked as a new church. I guess we're a teenage church.
That's so cool!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Nothing nice to say? Don't say anything at all
Hypocrite. We talk about this word a lot at my church. They used to be the people who were in plays. Theater people. They were pretending to be someone they really weren't. Face it, we, as Christians, have all had to deal with this in our lives at some point. I don't think people like it very much when they see us Christians as hypocrites. No wonder they don't like us (one of the many reasons I'm sure). We act one way somewhere, but then act a totally different way in a different place.
This has occurred to me before many times, but today the idea hit me square in the face. I was talking to some friends by our lockers and a few words slipped out of their mouths that I know they probably didn't exactly mean, but those words will forever be floating through space.
During the weekend, we were talking about a friend we're all a little worried about. This friend has been cussing a lot and has the worst attitude right now. My friends made it clear to me that they make a point to not swear in front of him.
That's all fine and dandy for him, but what about the rest of us? None of us should be swearing. When I heard my friends talk today, a light flickered in my brain about hypocrites. Sure we tell our friend not to swear, but then go to school and start swearing? Man, that's just not right.
Jesus said, " I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36-37
So not only will your words be floating in space forever more (blame physics on that), but God doesn't forget. You can't take back words that you've said in the past. It's like the old toothpaste trick. You dump out the toothpaste and the goal is to try to get the toothpaste back into the tube. I learned a good lesson from that on one of our mission trips to Sun Valley Indian School. That was a lesson we did with the kids there.
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Ephesians 5:4
Now if you know the texting/messaging lingo, then you probably know the different ways of saying that you're laughing out loud (lol). I'm not gonna say any other besides that one because some of them are pretty obscene. According to my study Bible, they aren't talking about plain old humor hear. It's the dirty jokes and the like that are the problem. Also by being thankful for all that God has given us, we can displace evil thoughts and words.
I can't stand saying swear words. There was a point in my life when I just didn't care about what I said and I let anything slip especially in front of my parents. If you go back and read some of my old Xanga blogs, you might be very surprised by what you read. I used to say some pretty bad things, but I can't take them back and I know that (darn toothpaste!). I don't even like to listen to people swear. I cringe when I hear a foul word come out of my friends' mouths. I even cringe when I slip up and swear. I always immediately feel guilty after doing so. It only happens when I get really angry over something stupid usually like an inanimate object like my math homework.
You know this idea just flashed in my head. We're studying roots in my English class right now and this particular root just flashed in my head. Vulg meaning common. So the word "vulgar" is words spoken by commoners.
As Christians, are we just commoners? Or are we something different? I always thought we were something different.
Do you want to be a hypocrite Christian who is just a commoner? Or do you want to be a real Christian who speaks only the truth?
And hey, if you've got nothing nice to say, then I suggest you say nothing at all. That's what we learned as kids right?
This has occurred to me before many times, but today the idea hit me square in the face. I was talking to some friends by our lockers and a few words slipped out of their mouths that I know they probably didn't exactly mean, but those words will forever be floating through space.
During the weekend, we were talking about a friend we're all a little worried about. This friend has been cussing a lot and has the worst attitude right now. My friends made it clear to me that they make a point to not swear in front of him.
That's all fine and dandy for him, but what about the rest of us? None of us should be swearing. When I heard my friends talk today, a light flickered in my brain about hypocrites. Sure we tell our friend not to swear, but then go to school and start swearing? Man, that's just not right.
Jesus said, " I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Matthew 12:36-37
So not only will your words be floating in space forever more (blame physics on that), but God doesn't forget. You can't take back words that you've said in the past. It's like the old toothpaste trick. You dump out the toothpaste and the goal is to try to get the toothpaste back into the tube. I learned a good lesson from that on one of our mission trips to Sun Valley Indian School. That was a lesson we did with the kids there.
Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. Ephesians 5:4
Now if you know the texting/messaging lingo, then you probably know the different ways of saying that you're laughing out loud (lol). I'm not gonna say any other besides that one because some of them are pretty obscene. According to my study Bible, they aren't talking about plain old humor hear. It's the dirty jokes and the like that are the problem. Also by being thankful for all that God has given us, we can displace evil thoughts and words.
I can't stand saying swear words. There was a point in my life when I just didn't care about what I said and I let anything slip especially in front of my parents. If you go back and read some of my old Xanga blogs, you might be very surprised by what you read. I used to say some pretty bad things, but I can't take them back and I know that (darn toothpaste!). I don't even like to listen to people swear. I cringe when I hear a foul word come out of my friends' mouths. I even cringe when I slip up and swear. I always immediately feel guilty after doing so. It only happens when I get really angry over something stupid usually like an inanimate object like my math homework.
You know this idea just flashed in my head. We're studying roots in my English class right now and this particular root just flashed in my head. Vulg meaning common. So the word "vulgar" is words spoken by commoners.
As Christians, are we just commoners? Or are we something different? I always thought we were something different.
Do you want to be a hypocrite Christian who is just a commoner? Or do you want to be a real Christian who speaks only the truth?
And hey, if you've got nothing nice to say, then I suggest you say nothing at all. That's what we learned as kids right?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Only God
Have you ever looked up into a clear night sky and saw all the stars in sky and just stood there amazed? I'll bet you've done something like that.
It was a bit chilly tonight as I walked out to the parking lot to drive home from church. We had a movie night tonight for youth group. It was a lot of fun. But anyways, that's not really what I wanted to talk about.
As I was walking out there in the parking lot, I began looking up. The sky is so brilliant tonight. I just looked up as I got to my car and stood there for a few moments absorbing the view.
Have you ever gotten down to the point where you're not really sure if God really exists or not?
I know that God exists for a multitude of reasons. Looking up into the sky, I know only God could have put those stars in their place. I don't care what science says. I don't really understand evolution and the idea that we came from apes, when it was clear that God created us and animals and we are supposed to take care of the animals. I don't think Adam was a monkey.
In my biology 2 class right now, we're studying genetics with fruit flies. We've been taking a lot of notes on mitosis, meiosis, and punnett squares. We were all created to be unique. That's how God created us. I don't understand how mitosis and meiosis could be explained in any other way except God's way.
I find it amazing how a sperm and an egg can meet and the end result becomes a baby. Something so microscopic and the division of cells. It's all so amazing!
And I know that only God could have done it.
I'm so in awe right now of the work that God does in our lives. How He can take something so small and make it into something big. How He can make something that seems so useless into something completely useful and amazing. How He can transform our lives. How He can love us so much no matter what we do. How He can make the stars shine as they do.
It's all so amazing! And it's all His work!
It was a bit chilly tonight as I walked out to the parking lot to drive home from church. We had a movie night tonight for youth group. It was a lot of fun. But anyways, that's not really what I wanted to talk about.
As I was walking out there in the parking lot, I began looking up. The sky is so brilliant tonight. I just looked up as I got to my car and stood there for a few moments absorbing the view.
Have you ever gotten down to the point where you're not really sure if God really exists or not?
I know that God exists for a multitude of reasons. Looking up into the sky, I know only God could have put those stars in their place. I don't care what science says. I don't really understand evolution and the idea that we came from apes, when it was clear that God created us and animals and we are supposed to take care of the animals. I don't think Adam was a monkey.
In my biology 2 class right now, we're studying genetics with fruit flies. We've been taking a lot of notes on mitosis, meiosis, and punnett squares. We were all created to be unique. That's how God created us. I don't understand how mitosis and meiosis could be explained in any other way except God's way.
I find it amazing how a sperm and an egg can meet and the end result becomes a baby. Something so microscopic and the division of cells. It's all so amazing!
And I know that only God could have done it.
I'm so in awe right now of the work that God does in our lives. How He can take something so small and make it into something big. How He can make something that seems so useless into something completely useful and amazing. How He can transform our lives. How He can love us so much no matter what we do. How He can make the stars shine as they do.
It's all so amazing! And it's all His work!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Do I have to?
Imagine this with me. If you're a parent, it's likely that you've heard it said by your child or teen. That complaining groan. Even if you're not a parent, I'm sure you've heard it or worse you've been the one to say it.
To be completely honest, as a teenager, I have been in the situation of having to say this complaining groan. Do I have to do this? And then the complaining just goes on and on. Do I have to take out the garbage? Do I have to go to bed now? Do I have to do the dishes?
Do I have to go youth group?
If you're a teen and you have chores, then I imagine you probably have to do all the above things with one exception. You don't have to go to youth group unless of course your parents make you. Youth group though shouldn't be a have to thing. It's more of a want to thing.
Yesterday, I noticed some people missing from youth group. I messaged a few of them when I got home last night. One of them responded back to my question about why they missed youth group saying that they didn't know and that they didn't have to go to youth group every week.
She had a point there. She doesn't have to go every week. She has no one forcing her to go. She's much like me.
For as long as I have been going to my current church (an awesome Nazarene church at that), I have never been forced to go to anything church related. It has solely been because I wanted to go. I guess you could say the exception was my Aunt Ann making me go to VBS that one day, but the rest of the days, I wanted to go back. Growing up in the Catholic church, I always had to go to Catechism, which I hated. My mom finally said she would "homeschool" me through it. We didn't really do that though, so I never got confirmed into that church. I never really wanted to go to that church. I never really do want to go to that church anymore even when we have the family tradition of going to midnight mass. I just don't want to go to it. So my parents haven't made me go in a while.
Why do I go to youth group?
There are a multitude of reasons I go. I don't have to go. I want to go. I have this awesome desire to be with other Christian friends and this fire for God. No one forces me to go unless you count myself when I'm having a bad week. Some weeks I don't want to go, but I continue to go no matter how I'm feeling about it. That may seem like I have to go, but I don't really have to be there if I don't want to be there. This might be crazy to say, but I crave youth group and church. It's one of my biggest cravings that I get constantly.
I don't really get why people think they have to go to church. You shouldn't go because you have to. You should go because you want to go.
To be completely honest, as a teenager, I have been in the situation of having to say this complaining groan. Do I have to do this? And then the complaining just goes on and on. Do I have to take out the garbage? Do I have to go to bed now? Do I have to do the dishes?
Do I have to go youth group?
If you're a teen and you have chores, then I imagine you probably have to do all the above things with one exception. You don't have to go to youth group unless of course your parents make you. Youth group though shouldn't be a have to thing. It's more of a want to thing.
Yesterday, I noticed some people missing from youth group. I messaged a few of them when I got home last night. One of them responded back to my question about why they missed youth group saying that they didn't know and that they didn't have to go to youth group every week.
She had a point there. She doesn't have to go every week. She has no one forcing her to go. She's much like me.
For as long as I have been going to my current church (an awesome Nazarene church at that), I have never been forced to go to anything church related. It has solely been because I wanted to go. I guess you could say the exception was my Aunt Ann making me go to VBS that one day, but the rest of the days, I wanted to go back. Growing up in the Catholic church, I always had to go to Catechism, which I hated. My mom finally said she would "homeschool" me through it. We didn't really do that though, so I never got confirmed into that church. I never really wanted to go to that church. I never really do want to go to that church anymore even when we have the family tradition of going to midnight mass. I just don't want to go to it. So my parents haven't made me go in a while.
Why do I go to youth group?
There are a multitude of reasons I go. I don't have to go. I want to go. I have this awesome desire to be with other Christian friends and this fire for God. No one forces me to go unless you count myself when I'm having a bad week. Some weeks I don't want to go, but I continue to go no matter how I'm feeling about it. That may seem like I have to go, but I don't really have to be there if I don't want to be there. This might be crazy to say, but I crave youth group and church. It's one of my biggest cravings that I get constantly.
I don't really get why people think they have to go to church. You shouldn't go because you have to. You should go because you want to go.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I'm not Irish, so don't try kissing me; I might have to slap you. Haha. I'm just kidding. But seriously don't try to kiss me. Got it? Good.
St. Patrick's day has not always been a great, happy day for me. I'm not saying today was happy or anything, but it was normal like every day. And every day is usually a great, happy day for me. That is usually.
About 4 years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, I left school twice during the day. One of the times was a great thing: I got my palette expander off, so I could continue with my braces. That happened during the morning hours. But then during the afternoon, I got called back down to the office to see my mom crying out in the hallway. She wanted to take me to the vet with her where our cat, Fred, was. He wasn't doing so well and my mom wanted to let me say goodbye to him because we were going to put him down.
Here's what I said on March 17, 2005 in my journal:
I have been bombarded by so much this week. I got my expander off. Fred was put to sleep today. He has been sick lately. I was worried last night that he had gotten hit by a car. The vet said that cats will usually find a place to die outside. My mom says the reason Fred probably came back is that he wasn't ready to die. I thought maybe he wanted to let me say goodbye. We are going to bury him probably where we buried Oliver and D.C. I really miss him. I wasn't ready for him to go yet. Maybe God had special plans for him. I miss him so much. They called a while ago to tell us about the autopsy. He said that when he opened up the body, there was a foul smelling pus that was leaking out. He doesn't know what it is, but he said he would look it up. My mom is picking up Fred's remains on Monday. I love that cat so much. I don't know what I'll do without him. He was my best friend. Just like D.C. was. There was no way to save Fred. He was dying. His lungs were bad and he had a tumor.
This is the first year in a long time that I have teared up reading that.
I hadn't thought that I was ready for him to go yet, but God knows best. Sometimes He pulls animals and people out of our lives, but we shouldn't get too down because He always brings someone to replace that empty space in our heart. When we face situations like this, we need to remember what God promises us. He has plans to help us and not to harm us according to Jeremiah.
What can we do when this kind of thing happens to us? I think we just have to move on. It took me a while to get over Fred and with me welling up, I think I'm still missing him. For the most part though, I've moved on. Every time, we lose a cat, we usually get a new cat. When we lost Fred, we already had a kitten, Max. Max is one of my greatest companions now. He's up there on the list with Fred and D.C. for sure. I love Max.
What I love so much about cats is that each one that you get has a different personality. We have one cat, Leo, who seems so greedy and always wanting food. Then there's Max, who is completely humble and really patient. He's also really good with children. Max, like so many of my past cats, loves the family business too. He enjoys being out in our greenhouses or lying around in our basement under our heat lamps. Then there's Flabby Gabby Annoying Abby or Abby for short. She's the newest kitten we got over the summer by accident. She copies the other two cats. If Leo is crying, she'll cry too. She even learned a trick from Max. Max has a tendency to scoop his wet food out of the dish when he can't reach it with his tongue. It's really cool.
I'm sorry if this story saddens you, but every year on this day, I just like to remember one of my favorite cats. I hope you all have a great St. Patrick's Day!
St. Patrick's day has not always been a great, happy day for me. I'm not saying today was happy or anything, but it was normal like every day. And every day is usually a great, happy day for me. That is usually.
About 4 years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, I left school twice during the day. One of the times was a great thing: I got my palette expander off, so I could continue with my braces. That happened during the morning hours. But then during the afternoon, I got called back down to the office to see my mom crying out in the hallway. She wanted to take me to the vet with her where our cat, Fred, was. He wasn't doing so well and my mom wanted to let me say goodbye to him because we were going to put him down.
Here's what I said on March 17, 2005 in my journal:
I have been bombarded by so much this week. I got my expander off. Fred was put to sleep today. He has been sick lately. I was worried last night that he had gotten hit by a car. The vet said that cats will usually find a place to die outside. My mom says the reason Fred probably came back is that he wasn't ready to die. I thought maybe he wanted to let me say goodbye. We are going to bury him probably where we buried Oliver and D.C. I really miss him. I wasn't ready for him to go yet. Maybe God had special plans for him. I miss him so much. They called a while ago to tell us about the autopsy. He said that when he opened up the body, there was a foul smelling pus that was leaking out. He doesn't know what it is, but he said he would look it up. My mom is picking up Fred's remains on Monday. I love that cat so much. I don't know what I'll do without him. He was my best friend. Just like D.C. was. There was no way to save Fred. He was dying. His lungs were bad and he had a tumor.
This is the first year in a long time that I have teared up reading that.
I hadn't thought that I was ready for him to go yet, but God knows best. Sometimes He pulls animals and people out of our lives, but we shouldn't get too down because He always brings someone to replace that empty space in our heart. When we face situations like this, we need to remember what God promises us. He has plans to help us and not to harm us according to Jeremiah.
What can we do when this kind of thing happens to us? I think we just have to move on. It took me a while to get over Fred and with me welling up, I think I'm still missing him. For the most part though, I've moved on. Every time, we lose a cat, we usually get a new cat. When we lost Fred, we already had a kitten, Max. Max is one of my greatest companions now. He's up there on the list with Fred and D.C. for sure. I love Max.
What I love so much about cats is that each one that you get has a different personality. We have one cat, Leo, who seems so greedy and always wanting food. Then there's Max, who is completely humble and really patient. He's also really good with children. Max, like so many of my past cats, loves the family business too. He enjoys being out in our greenhouses or lying around in our basement under our heat lamps. Then there's Flabby Gabby Annoying Abby or Abby for short. She's the newest kitten we got over the summer by accident. She copies the other two cats. If Leo is crying, she'll cry too. She even learned a trick from Max. Max has a tendency to scoop his wet food out of the dish when he can't reach it with his tongue. It's really cool.
I'm sorry if this story saddens you, but every year on this day, I just like to remember one of my favorite cats. I hope you all have a great St. Patrick's Day!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Checking out early
It's that time again people. Spring is almost here and I can feel it, the seniors are starting to check out. Senioritis is in the air.
I don't really remember any senior class checking out as early as my class is currently. We just started our third trimester, which means I'm done with 2/3 of my senior year at my high school and about 3 more months until graduation (that's just scary).
Case in point. At the beginning of the second trimester, there were about 7-8 seniors in my precalc class. It's the second week of the new trimester. Wanna guess how many have survived and are going forward with it? There are about 3 of us.
I actually considered the idea of switching out of precalc for a few weeks, but I guess I'm lazy or something and just didn't want to deal with the counselors (they just didn't give me a good vibe the last time I was in the counseling office). I thought counselors were supposed to help us (at least that's what they told us when we were getting ready in middle school to make that transition). So I'm pretty much stuck in my precalc class just because I didn't want to deal with the counselors.
All my friends have been telling me to get 5th hour release (when I have precalc). In case you don't know what release is, it's when you get to leave before everyone else because you have a job or something. Some people have the pointless 1st release just to sleep in I suppose. The problem with the idea of release is 1. I don't have a job and 2. I feel bad when I miss school. I feel guilty when I get sick. It's like I would rather get everyone else sick than stay home and get better. It's bad.
Release just doesn't sound all that appealing to me, but I know of a ton of seniors particularly most of the ones who were in my precalc class that have gotten release for this trimester.
I feel sorry for the seniors that have to write their term papers this trimester. It will definitely stink. And they won't be getting as many snow days. We got a couple last trimester. I'm just happy to be done with my term paper. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it this term.
I'm actually not really checking out just yet. Let's wait a couple months until May, when I start to really check out. It could be because I'm not ready to leave high school yet. That's how I'm feeling anyways. I'm really nervous to start college.
Why is everyone checking out so soon this year? The year is going by fast enough for me.
The teachers are not ready for us to all start checking out, so we seriously need to get ourselves together and not check out until the very last moment.
The good news is that we have 9 more days of school until spring break. Ok, maybe I am starting to check out. Haha.
I don't really remember any senior class checking out as early as my class is currently. We just started our third trimester, which means I'm done with 2/3 of my senior year at my high school and about 3 more months until graduation (that's just scary).
Case in point. At the beginning of the second trimester, there were about 7-8 seniors in my precalc class. It's the second week of the new trimester. Wanna guess how many have survived and are going forward with it? There are about 3 of us.
I actually considered the idea of switching out of precalc for a few weeks, but I guess I'm lazy or something and just didn't want to deal with the counselors (they just didn't give me a good vibe the last time I was in the counseling office). I thought counselors were supposed to help us (at least that's what they told us when we were getting ready in middle school to make that transition). So I'm pretty much stuck in my precalc class just because I didn't want to deal with the counselors.
All my friends have been telling me to get 5th hour release (when I have precalc). In case you don't know what release is, it's when you get to leave before everyone else because you have a job or something. Some people have the pointless 1st release just to sleep in I suppose. The problem with the idea of release is 1. I don't have a job and 2. I feel bad when I miss school. I feel guilty when I get sick. It's like I would rather get everyone else sick than stay home and get better. It's bad.
Release just doesn't sound all that appealing to me, but I know of a ton of seniors particularly most of the ones who were in my precalc class that have gotten release for this trimester.
I feel sorry for the seniors that have to write their term papers this trimester. It will definitely stink. And they won't be getting as many snow days. We got a couple last trimester. I'm just happy to be done with my term paper. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it this term.
I'm actually not really checking out just yet. Let's wait a couple months until May, when I start to really check out. It could be because I'm not ready to leave high school yet. That's how I'm feeling anyways. I'm really nervous to start college.
Why is everyone checking out so soon this year? The year is going by fast enough for me.
The teachers are not ready for us to all start checking out, so we seriously need to get ourselves together and not check out until the very last moment.
The good news is that we have 9 more days of school until spring break. Ok, maybe I am starting to check out. Haha.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
A Tempting Moment
Yesterday was the first time in a while that I've actually felt tempted to complain about youth group. I have been doing such a good job not complaining. But then just one little slip up can really mess you up.
Here's what I wrote in my journal last night:
Today was the first day I actually got tempted to complain about youth group. I mean during Lent. Stupid Satan! It was about the youth group not doing a lot of activities. but I need to think positively and remember what we have done. Look to the future. I don't know.
It all started when I was looking at a status whose name will remain anonymous about something their youth group was doing yesterday. It's Sunday, I guess I could complain, but I'm trying so hard to not complain about any of this at any time.
I must say today made up for yesterday's bad feelings. My friend David IMed me this afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to Timber Town (one of the many parks in my town) with a few people from youth group. Of course. What else would I be doing on a Sunday afternoon? I was grateful to get out of the house this afternoon and into the sunny, warm weather.
We played hide-n-seek (we're all still kids at heart even though some of us are graduating this year (whoa! That's me.)) and set off some rockets. Then we went to get ice cream and played at Pierce Park (yet another park in my town).
See? All I have to do is stay positive. I also need to realize that my youth group does a lot of really cool things. Sure we don't go to all the concerts and stuff, but we still have lots of fun playing at the many parks we have in town. We're small town kids obviously and we just stick around doing whatever to keep ourselves entertained. I'm thankful for the youth group that I have. I love these people and they're like my second family.
Here's what I wrote in my journal last night:
Today was the first day I actually got tempted to complain about youth group. I mean during Lent. Stupid Satan! It was about the youth group not doing a lot of activities. but I need to think positively and remember what we have done. Look to the future. I don't know.
It all started when I was looking at a status whose name will remain anonymous about something their youth group was doing yesterday. It's Sunday, I guess I could complain, but I'm trying so hard to not complain about any of this at any time.
I must say today made up for yesterday's bad feelings. My friend David IMed me this afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to Timber Town (one of the many parks in my town) with a few people from youth group. Of course. What else would I be doing on a Sunday afternoon? I was grateful to get out of the house this afternoon and into the sunny, warm weather.
We played hide-n-seek (we're all still kids at heart even though some of us are graduating this year (whoa! That's me.)) and set off some rockets. Then we went to get ice cream and played at Pierce Park (yet another park in my town).
See? All I have to do is stay positive. I also need to realize that my youth group does a lot of really cool things. Sure we don't go to all the concerts and stuff, but we still have lots of fun playing at the many parks we have in town. We're small town kids obviously and we just stick around doing whatever to keep ourselves entertained. I'm thankful for the youth group that I have. I love these people and they're like my second family.
Awesome church moment
How was your day today? Mine was fantastic! I'm in such a good mood and have been all day. Church was amazing today. Story time.
Ok, so the pastor's daughter and I were gonna go up to a church near Flint today, but we decided not to yesterday because she wasn't feeling so good and didn't feel up to traveling. That was totally fine by me because the deal was that if she wanted to go, I would go, but if not, I wouldn't go. Basically we didn't want to go alone.
My Aunt Ann called me yesterday and asked when we were leaving for that church and I told her we weren't going. She knew I was looking forward to it and probably thought I was really upset about it, but she didn't seem to know that I wasn't really upset. Why would I be upset? We were gonna go to the church that our old youth pastors just moved to. I'm not upset at all, but my aunt made me feel worse than I was feeling. Why do people do that? They're trying to sympathize with you, but you don't want the sympathy. It's frustrating.
Church was definitely amazing today. It was so nice out today. Nice and sunny. The best part of church today was choir practice. We were about to finish up, but we had to run through the two songs we are learning right now.
We were having issues with our music today. The CD's just wouldn't play one of the songs. Finally we thought we got a good CD, but once again it stopped where we were supposed to sing, so we just sang the whole song perfectly a cappella. It was totally awesome.
We're even thinking it sounds better that way. I'm really excited about this performance even though we don't have all our music yet and we have about a month until we have to perform, but I have faith that we'll get it done.
Ok, so the pastor's daughter and I were gonna go up to a church near Flint today, but we decided not to yesterday because she wasn't feeling so good and didn't feel up to traveling. That was totally fine by me because the deal was that if she wanted to go, I would go, but if not, I wouldn't go. Basically we didn't want to go alone.
My Aunt Ann called me yesterday and asked when we were leaving for that church and I told her we weren't going. She knew I was looking forward to it and probably thought I was really upset about it, but she didn't seem to know that I wasn't really upset. Why would I be upset? We were gonna go to the church that our old youth pastors just moved to. I'm not upset at all, but my aunt made me feel worse than I was feeling. Why do people do that? They're trying to sympathize with you, but you don't want the sympathy. It's frustrating.
Church was definitely amazing today. It was so nice out today. Nice and sunny. The best part of church today was choir practice. We were about to finish up, but we had to run through the two songs we are learning right now.
We were having issues with our music today. The CD's just wouldn't play one of the songs. Finally we thought we got a good CD, but once again it stopped where we were supposed to sing, so we just sang the whole song perfectly a cappella. It was totally awesome.
We're even thinking it sounds better that way. I'm really excited about this performance even though we don't have all our music yet and we have about a month until we have to perform, but I have faith that we'll get it done.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Chosen Llama Part Pi
This is for all you science and math nerds or people that know what Pi is. Happy Pi Day! So yesterday in my precalc class, we celebrated Pi Day early. We ate pie and had to do group projects for points. That's just stupid if you ask me, but whatever. My group didn't know what to do, so a little last minute I whipped up something incredibly random. I was not high when I wrote this (well, ok, I'm high on life, not on drugs), but rather really tired, so I guess you could say I was a little slap happy. Then again, this is a little taste of how random I can be if you haven't seen some of my videos. The Chosen Llama Part Pi is actually a rip off of a series my younger brother used to write called The Chosen Duck. Have fun laughing at it and I hope you enjoy it.
This is the complicated and irrational story of Ted the 3-legged llama. Actually to be exact, Ted has Pi legs. Ted didn't always have Pi legs. Ted used to be a normal, fire-spitting llama. well the fire-spitting came from his mother's side. They were all red leprechauns who got angry quite often. They're always after me lucky charms!
This is not only a story about Ted; this is a story about pie. This pie was the most delicious pie in the entire universe. It was every flavor imaginable. It was the Golden Pie and Ted wanted this pie. Unfortunately this pie was locked in a vault a thousand leagues under teh sea somewhere in 2000 B.C. Ted lives in the year 2009. Now you might be asking, how could Ted have found out about a pie so delectable? There was an ad for it on the Teletubbies channel of course.
Ted, the once completely normal, 4-legged, fire-spitting llama is friends with the infamous Chosen Duck. They are both chosen, so how can they not be friends? Anyways, Tom the Chosen Duck decided to give Ted the Chosen Llama, the top secret Archimedes, completely irrational, circular time machine blueprints. What was Tom going to do with a time machine anyways? He was too busy blasting his way through the future fighting off aliens and such.
Ted took one look at the blueprints and was finished in Pi/3 seconds flat. Unfortunately it took Ted 3 days to figure out how to work it. But as soon as he did, he took off on this journey of pie. Upon stepping out of the time machine, Ted knew he was not in Kansas anymore. There were huge monstrous beings everwhere. Ted, those are called dinosaurs. And Ted, I think you forgot to press stop when you got to 2000 B.C. Way to go Ted. Way to go.
Ted got back into the time machine, pressed a few buttons and was off again. The next time Ted stepped out of the time machine, he was in what looked like China. Or maybe it was the future. Maybe it was Japan. No it had to be the future. There were flying cars everywhere. And who else was there? Duh. Tom the Chosen Duck. Way to go Ted. Way to go. You're really not that good at stopping the time machine are you Ted?
Once again back in the time machine, I think he finally pressed the right button because the next time it stopped, he was in 2000 B.C. FINALLY!!!!
Right before stepping out of the time machine, Ted realized that he was somewhere 1000 leagues under the sea. Good thing Ted can breathe underwater. Did I mention his father was a merman? Quite an odd family really.
"Moo?" Asked Ted. Yes Ted, we're really going out there. Oh I forgot to mention that Ted's father was actually a cow fish. But don't ask me how that all works. I'm only the narrator.
"Moo?!" Yes Ted, I told you about the birds and bees already, so just leave the time machine now.
"Moo. Moo. Moo." Ted, we can't have this argument all day. There are people who want to hear the end of this story.
"Moo." I don't care. Get over it.
And we're finally out of the time machine and into a cave. Ted sees a light up ahead. As he gets closer, he realizes there is an opening in the cave. He jumps out of the water like a salmon jumping over a waterfall. He did a perfect flop at that too. What is in this room? Well it's no pie that's for sure. However, the vault was in that cave. Now how to open that vault. Ted, you didn't think to ask Tom the Chosen Duck that question, did you? Wow, smooth move. Think. Think! THINK!!!!
Just then Ted realizes that he is the Chosen Llama. Wow, we're so smart today. Becoming the Chosen Llama was no easy task though. To become a Chosen Animal, you must pass a test of memorization. No, not of the ancient arts. You must memorize more digits of Pi than the record setter Lu Chao. How many did Ted memorize? He got to 3 and figured it was pointless and thus quit. But how did he become the Chosen Llama? Easy. He just used his falme-spitting powers to burn down the temple. Seeing his great fire abilities, the Chosen Masters were so afraid that they gave him the title of the Chosen Llama and the really cool powers that come with being a Chosen Animal. Little did they know, the whole burning of the temple was an accident. He just sneezed and it happened. Whoops! He really only uses the fire to make s'mores when he's hungry.
Ted, as the Chosen Llama, you do realize you have the power to open vaults right?
"Moo!" No Ted, we're not getting into this argument again.
Ted waddled straight up to the vault and using his powers of trigonometry, I mean, wicked awesome mind powers, he opened the vault. There, inside the vault was what he was looking for all this time. The Golden Pie!!!
Ted, are you going to share some that with me?
"Moo." How dare you, Ted?
Just as ted put the whole pie in his mouth, the cave began to tremble. RUN AWAY!!!!!!! Ted galloped out of there and back towards the time machine as fast as possible. Ok, so the water did slow him down a bit. He did get to the time machine in time for the cave to blow up, but unfrotunately a giant magical leopluradon swallowed the time machine whole.
This is a fine mess you've gotten us into Ted.
"Moo!" Well if you had shared your pie, maybe we wouldn't be in this predicament.
Hey wait, this is a magical leopluradon, maybe we can wish ourselves out of here. Ted make a wish.
Ted made a wish. It wasn't the best wish he could have made. He wished for a football. Ted, you're so dumb sometimes. Why didn't you pay more attention in your precalculus class?
Just then Ted got an idea. He pressed a few buttons and whoosh, we were out of there. We landed safely back in the year 2009. Unfortunately, we didn't all come back in one piece. Ted now has Pi legs.
May that be a lesson to you selfish Ted. Next time share the pie.
This is the complicated and irrational story of Ted the 3-legged llama. Actually to be exact, Ted has Pi legs. Ted didn't always have Pi legs. Ted used to be a normal, fire-spitting llama. well the fire-spitting came from his mother's side. They were all red leprechauns who got angry quite often. They're always after me lucky charms!
This is not only a story about Ted; this is a story about pie. This pie was the most delicious pie in the entire universe. It was every flavor imaginable. It was the Golden Pie and Ted wanted this pie. Unfortunately this pie was locked in a vault a thousand leagues under teh sea somewhere in 2000 B.C. Ted lives in the year 2009. Now you might be asking, how could Ted have found out about a pie so delectable? There was an ad for it on the Teletubbies channel of course.
Ted, the once completely normal, 4-legged, fire-spitting llama is friends with the infamous Chosen Duck. They are both chosen, so how can they not be friends? Anyways, Tom the Chosen Duck decided to give Ted the Chosen Llama, the top secret Archimedes, completely irrational, circular time machine blueprints. What was Tom going to do with a time machine anyways? He was too busy blasting his way through the future fighting off aliens and such.
Ted took one look at the blueprints and was finished in Pi/3 seconds flat. Unfortunately it took Ted 3 days to figure out how to work it. But as soon as he did, he took off on this journey of pie. Upon stepping out of the time machine, Ted knew he was not in Kansas anymore. There were huge monstrous beings everwhere. Ted, those are called dinosaurs. And Ted, I think you forgot to press stop when you got to 2000 B.C. Way to go Ted. Way to go.
Ted got back into the time machine, pressed a few buttons and was off again. The next time Ted stepped out of the time machine, he was in what looked like China. Or maybe it was the future. Maybe it was Japan. No it had to be the future. There were flying cars everywhere. And who else was there? Duh. Tom the Chosen Duck. Way to go Ted. Way to go. You're really not that good at stopping the time machine are you Ted?
Once again back in the time machine, I think he finally pressed the right button because the next time it stopped, he was in 2000 B.C. FINALLY!!!!
Right before stepping out of the time machine, Ted realized that he was somewhere 1000 leagues under the sea. Good thing Ted can breathe underwater. Did I mention his father was a merman? Quite an odd family really.
"Moo?" Asked Ted. Yes Ted, we're really going out there. Oh I forgot to mention that Ted's father was actually a cow fish. But don't ask me how that all works. I'm only the narrator.
"Moo?!" Yes Ted, I told you about the birds and bees already, so just leave the time machine now.
"Moo. Moo. Moo." Ted, we can't have this argument all day. There are people who want to hear the end of this story.
"Moo." I don't care. Get over it.
And we're finally out of the time machine and into a cave. Ted sees a light up ahead. As he gets closer, he realizes there is an opening in the cave. He jumps out of the water like a salmon jumping over a waterfall. He did a perfect flop at that too. What is in this room? Well it's no pie that's for sure. However, the vault was in that cave. Now how to open that vault. Ted, you didn't think to ask Tom the Chosen Duck that question, did you? Wow, smooth move. Think. Think! THINK!!!!
Just then Ted realizes that he is the Chosen Llama. Wow, we're so smart today. Becoming the Chosen Llama was no easy task though. To become a Chosen Animal, you must pass a test of memorization. No, not of the ancient arts. You must memorize more digits of Pi than the record setter Lu Chao. How many did Ted memorize? He got to 3 and figured it was pointless and thus quit. But how did he become the Chosen Llama? Easy. He just used his falme-spitting powers to burn down the temple. Seeing his great fire abilities, the Chosen Masters were so afraid that they gave him the title of the Chosen Llama and the really cool powers that come with being a Chosen Animal. Little did they know, the whole burning of the temple was an accident. He just sneezed and it happened. Whoops! He really only uses the fire to make s'mores when he's hungry.
Ted, as the Chosen Llama, you do realize you have the power to open vaults right?
"Moo!" No Ted, we're not getting into this argument again.
Ted waddled straight up to the vault and using his powers of trigonometry, I mean, wicked awesome mind powers, he opened the vault. There, inside the vault was what he was looking for all this time. The Golden Pie!!!
Ted, are you going to share some that with me?
"Moo." How dare you, Ted?
Just as ted put the whole pie in his mouth, the cave began to tremble. RUN AWAY!!!!!!! Ted galloped out of there and back towards the time machine as fast as possible. Ok, so the water did slow him down a bit. He did get to the time machine in time for the cave to blow up, but unfrotunately a giant magical leopluradon swallowed the time machine whole.
This is a fine mess you've gotten us into Ted.
"Moo!" Well if you had shared your pie, maybe we wouldn't be in this predicament.
Hey wait, this is a magical leopluradon, maybe we can wish ourselves out of here. Ted make a wish.
Ted made a wish. It wasn't the best wish he could have made. He wished for a football. Ted, you're so dumb sometimes. Why didn't you pay more attention in your precalculus class?
Just then Ted got an idea. He pressed a few buttons and whoosh, we were out of there. We landed safely back in the year 2009. Unfortunately, we didn't all come back in one piece. Ted now has Pi legs.
May that be a lesson to you selfish Ted. Next time share the pie.
Friday, March 13, 2009
He's not gonna give up on you
Who? We can see this in two ways. It could be God or it could be Satan.
I've been thinking lately about Satan. I've been noticing that since giving up complaining about youth group, my attitude is a lot better. However, I have a friend whose attitude is going down the toilet really fast. While I know Satan isn't giving up on my other issues, he knows that I'm calling it quits on this type of complaining and thus has moved on to maybe an easier target. And I feared all along that I had given my bad attitude to my friend. Stupid Satan.
Satan doesn't give up. He lurks in the bushes and waits for access to your mind. He wants you to mess up. He craves temptation and wants you to fall.
When Satan tempted Jesus, he quoted scripture, so doesn't that mean that Satan has read the Bible? At least parts of it.
On Wednesday at youth group, we talked about Luke 15:1-10. These are the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin.
If you don't know the stories, I'm challenging you to go look them up for yourself and read them.
Satan can tempt us as much as he wants, but it isn't gonna stop God from coming after us when we get lost.
I think this week has a theme to it. What's that? Sheep. Sheep last Saturday and sheep on Wednesday.
Did you know that sheep know their shepherds voice so well that if a stranger calls them, they won't listen? That's right. Did you know that God would leave all the rest of His people to come and find you? Yeah, that's right. God is not gonna let you go that easily.
And you know what else? When that lost sheep (meaning you) is found, there will be a big celebration.
"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:7
"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10
Don't give up. Stop taking Satan's crap. Follow God. God will never abandon you and is so willing to come after you when you feel lost.
I've been thinking lately about Satan. I've been noticing that since giving up complaining about youth group, my attitude is a lot better. However, I have a friend whose attitude is going down the toilet really fast. While I know Satan isn't giving up on my other issues, he knows that I'm calling it quits on this type of complaining and thus has moved on to maybe an easier target. And I feared all along that I had given my bad attitude to my friend. Stupid Satan.
Satan doesn't give up. He lurks in the bushes and waits for access to your mind. He wants you to mess up. He craves temptation and wants you to fall.
When Satan tempted Jesus, he quoted scripture, so doesn't that mean that Satan has read the Bible? At least parts of it.
On Wednesday at youth group, we talked about Luke 15:1-10. These are the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin.
If you don't know the stories, I'm challenging you to go look them up for yourself and read them.
Satan can tempt us as much as he wants, but it isn't gonna stop God from coming after us when we get lost.
I think this week has a theme to it. What's that? Sheep. Sheep last Saturday and sheep on Wednesday.
Did you know that sheep know their shepherds voice so well that if a stranger calls them, they won't listen? That's right. Did you know that God would leave all the rest of His people to come and find you? Yeah, that's right. God is not gonna let you go that easily.
And you know what else? When that lost sheep (meaning you) is found, there will be a big celebration.
"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:7
"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10
Don't give up. Stop taking Satan's crap. Follow God. God will never abandon you and is so willing to come after you when you feel lost.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Want me to grasp what you're saying?
I'll probably regret this blog later, but I need to get it off my chest right now.
Scaring me into submission is not the right way to get me to absorb a message you may be trying to say to me.
Let me explain this a little bit. This weekend, my church has participated in a prayer awakening revival. We had a speaker come in to talk and everything. I've heard she's a great speaker, but I have to say that I wasn't exactly impressed by what she was saying. She does seem nice enough though.
She's a bit radical. She preached today at church and it felt like she was yelling at us the entire time. And she kept making us stand and then telling us that we may be seated. What is this, the Catholic church? No offense to Catholics. I just remember sitting and standing a lot when I used to go. I couldn't handle a lot of what she was saying and honestly I just wanted to get out of the room, but I didn't. At the end of the service we had to stand again and if we weren't fully 100% with God there was an alter call. And when she didn't get enough people the first time, she (as my friend told me) guilt tripped more into going up. And she told us that those standing were 100% right with God and that we shouldn't be sitting down. I sat down and prayed (I'm a rebel). I can't stand while praying; I move around too much.
Everything she was saying scared me. Scaring me into submission is not the right way to go about all this. It's happened before that I've been scared into submission and it came with consequences.
When I first got saved when I was in middle school, I did it because I was afraid. We had been up late talking to some friends and they were talking about judgment day and going to hell and stuff and it just freaked me out, so I decided to get saved.
I accepted Christ into my heart scared and it didn't help my relationship with God any. At least, I wasn't serving God in the same way I do today back then. I don't regret the decision I made, but if I could go back, I would want to do it when I wasn't scared into doing so.
So do you want me to grasp what you're saying?
Don't scare me please. It only encourages me to make decisions I might later regret. Instead, I think people need to be taught with love. I think love binds things together. I think love is the way to go.
I'm not saying that our speaker didn't use love. I just think her way was a little harsh. Not at all what I'm used to. I'm sure she means well and it's all in love, but to some people like me, it seems like she's trying to scare us into submission.
I only heard her speak once out of the 4 times in total she spoke because most of the time I was helping with kids ministry. I like how the kids ministry was run this weekend. I enjoyed the lessons. They're a little easier to grasp onto and seem to be full of love. Of course, I think children need to feel this love.
Scaring me into submission is not the right way to get me to absorb a message you may be trying to say to me.
Let me explain this a little bit. This weekend, my church has participated in a prayer awakening revival. We had a speaker come in to talk and everything. I've heard she's a great speaker, but I have to say that I wasn't exactly impressed by what she was saying. She does seem nice enough though.
She's a bit radical. She preached today at church and it felt like she was yelling at us the entire time. And she kept making us stand and then telling us that we may be seated. What is this, the Catholic church? No offense to Catholics. I just remember sitting and standing a lot when I used to go. I couldn't handle a lot of what she was saying and honestly I just wanted to get out of the room, but I didn't. At the end of the service we had to stand again and if we weren't fully 100% with God there was an alter call. And when she didn't get enough people the first time, she (as my friend told me) guilt tripped more into going up. And she told us that those standing were 100% right with God and that we shouldn't be sitting down. I sat down and prayed (I'm a rebel). I can't stand while praying; I move around too much.
Everything she was saying scared me. Scaring me into submission is not the right way to go about all this. It's happened before that I've been scared into submission and it came with consequences.
When I first got saved when I was in middle school, I did it because I was afraid. We had been up late talking to some friends and they were talking about judgment day and going to hell and stuff and it just freaked me out, so I decided to get saved.
I accepted Christ into my heart scared and it didn't help my relationship with God any. At least, I wasn't serving God in the same way I do today back then. I don't regret the decision I made, but if I could go back, I would want to do it when I wasn't scared into doing so.
So do you want me to grasp what you're saying?
Don't scare me please. It only encourages me to make decisions I might later regret. Instead, I think people need to be taught with love. I think love binds things together. I think love is the way to go.
I'm not saying that our speaker didn't use love. I just think her way was a little harsh. Not at all what I'm used to. I'm sure she means well and it's all in love, but to some people like me, it seems like she's trying to scare us into submission.
I only heard her speak once out of the 4 times in total she spoke because most of the time I was helping with kids ministry. I like how the kids ministry was run this weekend. I enjoyed the lessons. They're a little easier to grasp onto and seem to be full of love. Of course, I think children need to feel this love.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Broken Bones
This is the title of what my devotion was this morning. This morning was a little rushed. I had to get up and get ready to be at my aunt's church (about 20 minutes from my house) by 9. I got up at 8. Needless to say I was a little late. I'll blame myself on that one. I shouldn't have slept so long. I'm a slow reader, which is probably a good thing with my devotions. I enjoy the time I have with these devotions.
I never really realized back in 2007 how much most of these relate to my life. I guess my heart really wasn't into these devotions back then.
This particular devotion talked about how God sometimes needs to "break us" to get our attention back on Him.
Now this devotion didn't get as interesting until I was at my aunt's church. My best friend Becky and I were working with the kids. Well, we were more so participating in the kids activities since there weren't that many kids (2 or so, but that's not important). One of our pastors was doing illusions. We were talking about the Good Shepherd and he decided to share something with us that was on his mind. It was weird because what he told us was what my devotion had said this morning. He basically said this:
When sheep would keep disobeying and go the wrong way, sometimes the shepherd would take his staff and break the leg of a sheep. While the sheep was healing, the shepherd would gently hold the sheep. It would become dependent on the shepherd and once it was healed, it wouldn't run away because of the bond that had been sewn together through the healing process.
Ok I think I paraphrased that a bit. Isn't this sweet though? It's exactly what my devotion was talking about. The pastor who was doing the illusions thought it was kinda weird, but I think it's really cool.
I never really realized back in 2007 how much most of these relate to my life. I guess my heart really wasn't into these devotions back then.
This particular devotion talked about how God sometimes needs to "break us" to get our attention back on Him.
Now this devotion didn't get as interesting until I was at my aunt's church. My best friend Becky and I were working with the kids. Well, we were more so participating in the kids activities since there weren't that many kids (2 or so, but that's not important). One of our pastors was doing illusions. We were talking about the Good Shepherd and he decided to share something with us that was on his mind. It was weird because what he told us was what my devotion had said this morning. He basically said this:
When sheep would keep disobeying and go the wrong way, sometimes the shepherd would take his staff and break the leg of a sheep. While the sheep was healing, the shepherd would gently hold the sheep. It would become dependent on the shepherd and once it was healed, it wouldn't run away because of the bond that had been sewn together through the healing process.
Ok I think I paraphrased that a bit. Isn't this sweet though? It's exactly what my devotion was talking about. The pastor who was doing the illusions thought it was kinda weird, but I think it's really cool.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Content with where we are
Lent started last week and I'm excited to tell you all that I have learned some stuff already from what I gave up. If you don't know what I gave up, I'll tell you. I gave up complaining about youth group. If you know me at all or have read some of my blogs, then you probably know how much I complain and mostly complaining about youth group.
Giving this up hasn't really been that difficult. I thought it would be a lot harder, but it hasn't been. I guess it's because I haven't had anything to complain about, which is a good thing.
On Wednesday, I realized something after youth group. I was at home getting ready for bed and I was praying. I don't know how long I've been praying for a new youth pastor, but it's been a while. On Wednesday night, I realized that we don't need a new youth pastor. We have a bunch of great people who help with the teens. One of them is a guy we all grew up with and he is training to be a youth pastor, so he coordinates all our activities and such.
I also realized that my youth group isn't as apathetic as I thought they were. We were all talking about our 30 Hour Famine, which we were supposed to have in a couple of weeks, but we found that there would be about 6 people missing from that event. That's half our youth group. So we all decided as the group that was involved in youth group that night, that we needed to switch the date. A few of us got to talk to our events coordinator guy, JJ, and we're changing the date again.
He actually likes the idea of changing the date. That way we can do what he had planned on us doing anyways, which was cleaning the town's park-n-ride. We haven't done that in a while. I remember the last time we did that there was a decaying deer in a black garbage bag that smelled so nasty, but we didn't have to clean that part up.
Now what I've realized this week is that I'm content. I'm content with my youth group. I'm content with having JJ as our partial youth leader person.
I've also realized how my complaining makes other people feel. How? Well I was reading my friend's status, which was complaining about his Spanish homework and it kinda didn't make me happy to see him complaining about that. Is that how people feel about me when I complain?
Now this friend also commented on our old youth pastor's status on Facebook the other day talking about our current youth leader JJ and what he needs to do. More movie nights, SAC's (Sunday After Church), etc. Hey, JJ is trying. He's still learning. He's in school and working at the same time. He doesn't live at the church and he can't do everything. So we need to just give him a break.
We all need to be content with where God has put us currently. He puts us here for a reason. He does answer our prayers, but sometimes it takes time. Sometimes God likes to play the patience game with us.
If you aren't content with where you are right now, give it time. God is moving even if you feel like He isn't doing anything to make things better. Give it time.
Patience isn't only a virtue; it's also a skill.
Giving this up hasn't really been that difficult. I thought it would be a lot harder, but it hasn't been. I guess it's because I haven't had anything to complain about, which is a good thing.
On Wednesday, I realized something after youth group. I was at home getting ready for bed and I was praying. I don't know how long I've been praying for a new youth pastor, but it's been a while. On Wednesday night, I realized that we don't need a new youth pastor. We have a bunch of great people who help with the teens. One of them is a guy we all grew up with and he is training to be a youth pastor, so he coordinates all our activities and such.
I also realized that my youth group isn't as apathetic as I thought they were. We were all talking about our 30 Hour Famine, which we were supposed to have in a couple of weeks, but we found that there would be about 6 people missing from that event. That's half our youth group. So we all decided as the group that was involved in youth group that night, that we needed to switch the date. A few of us got to talk to our events coordinator guy, JJ, and we're changing the date again.
He actually likes the idea of changing the date. That way we can do what he had planned on us doing anyways, which was cleaning the town's park-n-ride. We haven't done that in a while. I remember the last time we did that there was a decaying deer in a black garbage bag that smelled so nasty, but we didn't have to clean that part up.
Now what I've realized this week is that I'm content. I'm content with my youth group. I'm content with having JJ as our partial youth leader person.
I've also realized how my complaining makes other people feel. How? Well I was reading my friend's status, which was complaining about his Spanish homework and it kinda didn't make me happy to see him complaining about that. Is that how people feel about me when I complain?
Now this friend also commented on our old youth pastor's status on Facebook the other day talking about our current youth leader JJ and what he needs to do. More movie nights, SAC's (Sunday After Church), etc. Hey, JJ is trying. He's still learning. He's in school and working at the same time. He doesn't live at the church and he can't do everything. So we need to just give him a break.
We all need to be content with where God has put us currently. He puts us here for a reason. He does answer our prayers, but sometimes it takes time. Sometimes God likes to play the patience game with us.
If you aren't content with where you are right now, give it time. God is moving even if you feel like He isn't doing anything to make things better. Give it time.
Patience isn't only a virtue; it's also a skill.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Dust
Lately, I've been trying to get in the habit of doing morning devotions before school. Right now, I'm going through a book I started back in 2007, but stopped because I got bored of it I suppose. It's called 40 More Days with God and it's by Rebecca St. James.
I didn't realize how today's devotion really mattered until this afternoon. Here's some of what Rebecca says:
How many times do we look out the window on a sunny day and not stop to praise God for it? How many times do we see "minimiracles" or answers to prayer and not thank Him? I really believe so many times God "calls out" to us through everyday things and through His creation, and yet we don't hear because we're too busy or distracted. David said in Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (NIV).
I have western windows. As much as you might think that this doesn't matter, it actually does matter. Because I have western facing windows, I get to see the sunsets most evenings and I get the last light of the night.
This afternoon right before the sun went behind some clouds and was getting ready to set, I witnessed a beautiful thing. Sometimes the sunlight streams through my windows in a really pretty way. The sunlight hit a certain area in my room today and I noticed dust particles floating through the air. It was really cool. I blew some air out and watched the pieces go in a wavy motion.
It was truly amazing and truly a creation of God. I believe only God could make something that cool. I'm thankful for this dust. It reminds me of how cool God is.
I didn't realize how today's devotion really mattered until this afternoon. Here's some of what Rebecca says:
How many times do we look out the window on a sunny day and not stop to praise God for it? How many times do we see "minimiracles" or answers to prayer and not thank Him? I really believe so many times God "calls out" to us through everyday things and through His creation, and yet we don't hear because we're too busy or distracted. David said in Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (NIV).
I have western windows. As much as you might think that this doesn't matter, it actually does matter. Because I have western facing windows, I get to see the sunsets most evenings and I get the last light of the night.
This afternoon right before the sun went behind some clouds and was getting ready to set, I witnessed a beautiful thing. Sometimes the sunlight streams through my windows in a really pretty way. The sunlight hit a certain area in my room today and I noticed dust particles floating through the air. It was really cool. I blew some air out and watched the pieces go in a wavy motion.
It was truly amazing and truly a creation of God. I believe only God could make something that cool. I'm thankful for this dust. It reminds me of how cool God is.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Square Day
Only a very interesting math teacher (who is obsessed with Pi Day) would grab my interest today to teach us that today is Square Day. Why is that? What does this mean?
3-3-09
3x3=9
3^2=9
It is Square Day. No, it's not be a square day. It's Square Day.
Isn't that kinda interesting? Supposedly, according to my math teacher, today is supposed to be lucky. I wonder if that's why she changed the dice when it clearly said 1 (to turn in for accuracy) to a 6 (to turn in for bonus). I have some pretty crazy teachers.
Since this week is about to get 10 times more stressful on me (due to trimester finals), I've decided to do some what ifs and have you evers tonight. I'm in the sort of mood to get some stress off my shoulders. I think everyone needs a good laugh sometimes. Did you know that laughter is a stress reducer?
#177 What if World War III were declared?
3-3-09
3x3=9
3^2=9
It is Square Day. No, it's not be a square day. It's Square Day.
Isn't that kinda interesting? Supposedly, according to my math teacher, today is supposed to be lucky. I wonder if that's why she changed the dice when it clearly said 1 (to turn in for accuracy) to a 6 (to turn in for bonus). I have some pretty crazy teachers.
Since this week is about to get 10 times more stressful on me (due to trimester finals), I've decided to do some what ifs and have you evers tonight. I'm in the sort of mood to get some stress off my shoulders. I think everyone needs a good laugh sometimes. Did you know that laughter is a stress reducer?
#177 What if World War III were declared?
- No offense, but sometimes I wonder if we're near a World War III. I'm a little scared, but not too worried about it. I do have to wonder if they would have a draft for that. I know the draft was for Vietnam, but still. Of course, we have a ton of courageous people out there already serving our country. I wonder if we could call the war on terror a third world war. Of course, I think the war on terror is more of a never ending war. Of course, who said was it Vietnam or Korean War that we never exactly finished?
- Now why would it be that I couldn't keep all of my photographs? I would probably keep a picture of my youth group all together, a picture of my family, and a picture of my cats.
- I hate to say it, with how bad the economy is and everything, but I would probably save it. I don't spend money. I hate shopping. Am I really a girl? I'm a girl, just not a girly girl. Well, ok, sometimes I am a girly girl, but most of the time, I hate shopping.
- Now here's a funny one. Come on, admit it. It has totally happened to all of us at one time or another. This one cracks me up and I don't know why, but I'm laughing at the thought of it right now. The "too late" part is what gets me laughing. I have had that happen before. I think I called for someone and asked them to get me some toilet paper. I wouldn't say I felt embarrassed. Nothing embarrassing about that unless it was at school or in the public, but at home, it's not embarrassing. I felt unloved this one time when no one heard me, so I cried. No, that didn't really happen. I didn't really cry. I know I'm loved.
- Now you have to understand something about me. I rehearse every conversation I have with anyone basically. It doesn't matter if it's on the phone or online, I have pretend conversations in my head. The real thing is never really like the conversation in my head. I rehearse because I guess I get nervous talking to certain people. That and it's something to do.
- I think I've probably met a lot of angels. Some of my friends I tend to think may be angels. I love how God puts certain people into our lives for a reason. And He may take them away for a while (moving away, etc.), but they're never gone for as long as we fear they will be. I don't really know how to answer this question. There is a song that does go along great with the question. It's called Angels All Around Us.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Actions vs. Words
You know how the saying goes. Actions speak louder than words. Well for me, more often than none, it's the other way around.
Words speak louder than my actions.
Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk. That's all I am. I'm full of talking. That's all I do pretty much.
So when it comes to complaining about my precalc class and how much I want to get out of it, do I get out of it?
I do hate precalc, but I hate the process of getting my schedule changed even more. It just seems so difficult, so I figure I might as well stop complaining about it and just get through one more trimester of it.
I'm also lazy.
Thinking about it though, I'm not that lazy. Just when it comes to dealing with scheduling stuff, I am.
This used to go a lot differently for me, but nowadays, when I say I'm going to pray about something, take my word for it and trust me because I will do it.
I've been talking to my aunt about doing some sort of short mission type work somewhere in my state. I'm craving mission type work right now. It's just been on my mind a lot. So I'm hoping we are able to help in some way.
Sometimes I'm just all talk, but sometimes, I mean business. My actions do scream out louder than my words sometimes.
Words speak louder than my actions.
Talk. Talk. Talk. Talk. That's all I am. I'm full of talking. That's all I do pretty much.
So when it comes to complaining about my precalc class and how much I want to get out of it, do I get out of it?
I do hate precalc, but I hate the process of getting my schedule changed even more. It just seems so difficult, so I figure I might as well stop complaining about it and just get through one more trimester of it.
I'm also lazy.
Thinking about it though, I'm not that lazy. Just when it comes to dealing with scheduling stuff, I am.
This used to go a lot differently for me, but nowadays, when I say I'm going to pray about something, take my word for it and trust me because I will do it.
I've been talking to my aunt about doing some sort of short mission type work somewhere in my state. I'm craving mission type work right now. It's just been on my mind a lot. So I'm hoping we are able to help in some way.
Sometimes I'm just all talk, but sometimes, I mean business. My actions do scream out louder than my words sometimes.
Am I welcome here?
I was thinking during church today about a few things. Now before I go on (because I'm about to talk about youth group), know that I'm not complaining. I'm just thinking out loud and trying to make a point that may challenge someone.
Am I welcome here? Are you welcome here? Are any of us welcome here?
These questions came to my mind as I sat in church today. You see, I saw one of the teens sitting alone, so I asked if he wanted to come sit with us, but he said no, so I let it go. It made me wonder though, how welcoming is my youth group towards others?
Sometimes I feel like we're not a very open group. It's like we want to stay small. The problem with staying small is that we're all gonna grow out of youth group at some point and when that happens, the youth group is going to die.
During winter break, we had our old youth pastors, Matt and Lindsay, come and visit us. We had an announcement for that game day visit with them given at church the week before. I kinda feel like that was for the kids that knew Matt and Lindsay and it didn't seem very welcoming to newer kids to youth group.
I remember on a mission trip in 2007, I kept talking about Matt and Lindsay (probably had to do with their upcoming wedding) and one of the newer youth group girls was getting really annoyed with me because I kept talking about them and she didn't know who they were.
Sometimes the teens who have been at the church the longest seem to seclude themselves from the newer kids. How welcoming are we being?
I don't think it's just my youth group though. Sometimes I look at other people's youth groups and think that I could never fit in with them. Actually I wonder if I could fit in.
So many times it feels like we're all in our own little cliques. Each youth group at each different church in my town seems to have this particular bond. It's a good thing, but we have to make sure at the same time that we're welcoming new kids in.
Youth groups aren't the only ones that should be welcoming people in though. Our churches sometimes struggle with welcoming people in too I'm sure. We need to be more welcoming because we never know when Jesus might walk into the building.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20
Am I welcome here? Are you welcome here? Are any of us welcome here?
These questions came to my mind as I sat in church today. You see, I saw one of the teens sitting alone, so I asked if he wanted to come sit with us, but he said no, so I let it go. It made me wonder though, how welcoming is my youth group towards others?
Sometimes I feel like we're not a very open group. It's like we want to stay small. The problem with staying small is that we're all gonna grow out of youth group at some point and when that happens, the youth group is going to die.
During winter break, we had our old youth pastors, Matt and Lindsay, come and visit us. We had an announcement for that game day visit with them given at church the week before. I kinda feel like that was for the kids that knew Matt and Lindsay and it didn't seem very welcoming to newer kids to youth group.
I remember on a mission trip in 2007, I kept talking about Matt and Lindsay (probably had to do with their upcoming wedding) and one of the newer youth group girls was getting really annoyed with me because I kept talking about them and she didn't know who they were.
Sometimes the teens who have been at the church the longest seem to seclude themselves from the newer kids. How welcoming are we being?
I don't think it's just my youth group though. Sometimes I look at other people's youth groups and think that I could never fit in with them. Actually I wonder if I could fit in.
So many times it feels like we're all in our own little cliques. Each youth group at each different church in my town seems to have this particular bond. It's a good thing, but we have to make sure at the same time that we're welcoming new kids in.
Youth groups aren't the only ones that should be welcoming people in though. Our churches sometimes struggle with welcoming people in too I'm sure. We need to be more welcoming because we never know when Jesus might walk into the building.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)