Pure Religion

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  
James 1:27


This weekend was not only my last dnow as a high schooler but also the most meaningful dnow I have ever gone to. I loved my small group, my leader, my host home, and being able to actually carry out what we were being taught. Andy Blanks spoke and the sessions were incredible. One thing he said while he was preaching on Friday night was that "somehow, people see God's command to help the poor and just think that it's optional." In the Bible, helping the poor is mentioned countless times. To me, it seems like if pure religion is to help those in need, then we are all called to missions to come degree. We really have no excuse not to help other people. Poverty is all around us and we can either choose to take action or choose to ignore it.

During Saturday night's session, I felt like God was really speaking to my heart. After I laid down to go to sleep last night, I couldn't. My thoughts were still racing from the session and I was really scared I would forget them if I didn't write them down so I grabbed my notebook and pen before all the lights were turned off and wrote this:

We have it so ridiculously easy.

Women in Africa take about 2-5 hours to get water for their families. A large percentage of the world doesn't even know if they will get to eat one meal a day. The majority of the world lives on less than a dollar a day.

And then there's us.

We turn on the air conditioner when we get hot. We have plenty of clothing when we're cold. We often whine about not getting our favorite foods when we get a little hungry and complain about not having anything to wear when we have a closet that can hardly stay shut because of all the clothes and shoes piled in it. Quite frankly, a lot of the time we are just entirely too selfish and spoiled.

God has blessed us so we can bless others. It's time for us to stop thinking we deserve everything we have. If things are ever going to change, we need to begin seeing people the way Jesus sees them. He looks pasts circumstances and sees only the beauty of His children. As the body of Christ, we have been called to reach out with love and compassion to the very lowest of society and not only meet physical needs but also share the hope of Jesus. It's up to us to bring religion outside the walls of the church.



“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:13-15

Warning: Go ahead and skip this if you care nothing about the fate of my hair in the future

Well, it's about that time again. My hair is starting to become noticeably longer (Well, to me at least). You would think this is a good thing because I am trying to grow my hair out...but not exactly. It actually makes me quite nervous. The problem is that I am easily bored with my hair. Every time I decide to grow it out, I see someone with a cute short haircut and say, hm I don't really even like having long hair that much anyway and then CHOP! No more long hair for a long time. It's like a never ending cycle. Right when it starts getting long I cut it all off and then I'm ready for it to get long again. I think my big problem is that I keep forgetting that my hair is naturally curly and when I let it air dry when it's short, I am forced to rock the mini afro look. Also, I have an awful cowlick that forbids me to get bangs. Having bangs has always been a dream of mine.

So, Thursday is the day. I have not really thought about cutting my hair extremely short recently which is a good sign. I will continue to refrain from cutting it all off for as long much as possible.

....Did I really just write a blog post solely about haircuts? Sorry about that.

I think I have a problem.

Whenever a song comes on that I know, I start singing. I can't help myself! Even if someone is talking I have to try way harder than I should have to to keep myself from even humming along. I bring this up because tonight at my friend's birthday party, every other song that came on was by Needtobreathe. Consequently, I just got a cd with about 15 of their songs on it and even more consequently, I'm pretty sure all of those songs were played! If I was not seriously engrossed in a game of keep the balloon off the floor or watching Anna Kate (not me) get glitter dumped on her head, I was quietly singing or humming away to myself during casual conversation. So, if you try to talk to me and I am singing at the same time, don't take it personally. I'm listening to you...I just apparently have some sort of disorder.


By the way, here are some songs I found while listening to Pandora that I like a lot. If you are bored or are just looking for some new music to listen to then you should try listening to this.

Sketch

As an artist, I like to draw (Yes, I just stated the obvious). Because I like to draw, I have a lot of sketchbooks. I normally start one, decide it is too big, too small, or the texture of the pages just aren't to my liking. Because of this, I have a whole drawer filled with about six or so that are partially used. The one sketchbook I have started and have continued until this day is a leather-bound book I found at Barnes and Noble after searching through a million others to find one where the pages weren't lined. The pages are sort of a brownish color and get messed up when I try to erase things but since 10th grade I haven't stopped drawing, cutting, and gluing things into it. People are always pulling it out of my backpack to go through it.

A new sketchbook I got for Christmas is different than any other that I've ever had. It actually has a title! It's called 642 Things to Draw and it basically lists a different topic, or three, on every page to draw (hints the title). This book is PERFECT for me. I can whip out the creative ideas when it comes to big projects but when it comes to just drawing doodles, I am sort of helpless at times. I normally resort to drawing flowers or lately, dragons that burn the words MATH NOTES in my binder (yeah, a little sinister, but precal isn't exactly my forte). Whenever the creative juices have completely stopped flowing, I resort to this book to help get them going again. Actually, I draw in this book all the time. I keep it in my car so whenever I get to places early (which I do about half the time) I have something to keep me occupied that doesn't involved drawing the closest tree in the parking lot on a gas receipt which is always nice.

Thoughts from last Wednesday that I didn't have time to post

On Wednesday night I'm sure everybody thought "oh great not this again," when Scott announced he was going to speak about purity. Staying pure is something that is beaten into every teenager since they start the 7th grade. But ironically enough, no matter how many times I've heard it, I was actually excited about what he had to say. You see, I'm reading this book called When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric and Leslie Ludy that tied into what he was speaking about. Despite the cheesy title, this book is incredible and has sort of put things in a different perspective for me. Instead of going on and on about why it is wrong to have sex before marriage, this book's main emphasis is put on completely trusting God with everything. It's about becoming consumed with Christ and not just the thought of having a boyfriend or getting married. It's also about trusting that if you are meant to get married, God will provide you with someone who (in the words of one of my favorite Sunday school teachers ever, Paula Heath) "with them, you become closer to God and further His kingdom better than you could alone." Another thing that this book specifically points out is to start thinking about your future spouse right now and living a life that will honor them as well as the Lord. When I broke up with my boyfriend a while back, people would ask what happened and when I would explain that I had prayed and thought about it a lot and just didn't feel like he was the person I was going to marry, most people either laughed or were seriously confused. I thought I was crazy for a little while. Needless to say, reading this book has been a huge relief.

Now you may be thinking the same thing. "You're only 18. Aren't you a little young to be thinking about marriage right now?" Yeah, I've gotten that a few times. Seriously though, I don't see anything wrong with thinking about my future husband and praying for him now. When I meet him and can say that, I think that question will just answer itself. 

I was planning on ending this with a quote or two from the book but I like too many of them so I'm actually ending this with five quotes (five really good quotes).

"It means being far more consumed with honoring God and your future spouse than with fulfilling the demands of your selfish desires. Paul tells us that if we walk in the spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh"

"But when two people are fully surrendered to Jesus Christ and consumed with loving and honoring Him with every breath they take, it sets the stage for a romance that rivals the fairy tales."

"Rather, purity was a lifestyle. It meant living to love and honor my future husband all the days of my life--with my thoughts, my actions, my words, my emotions, and my body."

"God is in the business of making all things new. All we must do is turn and, by His grace, walk a different direction."

"If we really are after the beautiful side of love, the version of romance that would make Hollywood's collective chin drip to the floor, then we need to pursue becoming a lover like the Great Lover Himself. We need to seek to reflect the goodness of our great God."

Post Birthday Post

So one gift I got for my birthday was an actual Pandora radio. I didn't even know there was such a thing! I have to admit that when I first opened it I thought, when am I going to use this when I have Pandora on my computer already? However, this is before I actually tried using the wonderful device. There are a million different genres of music to choose from and I can listen to pretty much any station on the planet (Including Caribbean, Electronica, Bollywood, everyone's favorites, of course). One thing that has especially shocked me after exploring many of the stations is that I'm actually a fan of jazz. I'm not sure about normal jazz yet, but old jazz is fantastic. I've always just assumed I wouldn't like it but after listening to some Ella Fitzgerald a few weeks ago at Gina's house, I decided to give it another shot. Seriously, music doesn't get any classier than this. Sometimes it makes me wish I could time travel back to the 1920's and other times it makes me wish i knew how to swing dance. You know what would be nice to bring back from the 1920's, though? Hats. People back then wore hats all the time and it must have been just great.

"The more birthdays you have, the longer you live." -Ray Dodd

So, great news! I have a birthday tomorrow! I am really excited because I love birthdays (even though this love will probably stop in about 20 years). I'm not sure why I love them exactly but somewhere between all of the cake and facebook notifications, birthdays are awesome. Some people have an extreme fear of getting old but I'm actually sort of excited about it. I tell people all the time that I am determined to be the cutest old person I can possibly be. I mean, what's wrong with looking forward to this?

Maybe I'm romanticizing this whole getting old thing and maybe I'm not turning 80 tomorrow but you have to admit that old people are just plain adorable.

An Indoor Winter Wonderland

I get this feeling that I've been tricked by my parents and that I'm secretly going through eskimo training. My bedroom is above the garage and connected to the attic and I'm pretty sure that it's almost the same temperature as outside...and it's about to snow. My room is always dramatically changing temperatures. In the summer, I have my fan on 24/7 because it typically feels like it's about 90 degrees and then at this time of year, it's like a race to see how fast i can change clothes without getting frostbite. Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those people who would rather be hot than cold so I have about 3 more months until I can finally go upstairs for longer than five minutes without feeling as though I have to put on extra clothing. Is it sad that one of the reasons I'm excited about living in a dorm next year is because I know my room will be warm? Yeah, I think it is.  Oh and you know what else? If it snows (which it better) the power may go out which means the little heat that is staying in my room will be gone. Completely gone. No electric blanket either. So, wish me luck. Hopefully the next time you see me I won't have icicles hanging off my limbs.

Living in the South

In recent hours I have become extremely excited about the event that is going to be taking place tomorrow. At about 12:00, there will be a small blizzard! There is going to be snow everywhere and school will hopefully be cancelled because of how awesome it will all be!

Ok, ok. Maybe it's not exactly anywhere close to being a blizzard but for the state of Alabama, it feels like a mini natural disaster is about to strike. People are going the extra mile to make sure they survive it, too (I'm pretty sure grocery stores across the state will be out of bread soon). As for my family, a few years ago my dad bought us a generator so certain things can keep running if the power goes out. Who would have guessed that the first time he will be able to use it is during a snow storm to power a heater? According to my brother though, "Who cares if we have heat? I just don't want to miss the national championship!" Spoken like a true southerner. You know, sometimes I wonder if I was meant to live in the South. It shocks people to find out that I despise sweet tea, grits, and okra. I often get annoyed by country accents and I also don't understand the big deal about football....it's just a game, people!!! 

I like living here, though. I've luckily been born into a family that likes to travel a lot and so I've been able to see most of the country in my almost 18 years of existence. But no matter how beautiful I think the North is, I cannot stand stereotypes people up North have about people that live in the South. Once on a trip out West, someone asked my dad where we were from and when he told them, their reply was wow, it doesn't sound like you're from Alabama. Ok you know why? Because 99% of people that live here don't actually run around barefoot, wear cowboy hats and live in barns. Big shock, isn't it? (Ok, I don't really think someone from up North is reading this right now, but I always wish I could say this to someone from there who has never even been down South before). Well now that I've got that out of my system, I'm going to go eat supper (southern word).

The Facts

For those of you who do not know, I am planning on majoring in graphic design next year which I am EXTREMELY excited about. I'm determined to be one of those people who just loves for their job and going into an art related field will most likely allow me to be that kind of person. I've always loved art. I can't remember a time when I didn't like drawing or coloring when I was younger.  When people need volunteers to help kids with crafts or face painting at an event, I'm all over it. I think I love doing art so much because it's something I've always been good at. I've tried playing soccer, basketball, piano, and guitar. All failed. I was even on dance team in 8th grade and ran cross country and track for two years in high school. Yeah, neither one of these things worked out for me either. Art however, is the one thing I have started, stuck with, and just love.

But back to graphic design. I mentioned that I want to go into graphic design because I am extremely excited about a project we are about to start in digital photography. It's sort of like a public awareness type poster. Not only do I get to practice doing something I could be doing as a job one day but I get to create something that actually has meaning behind it. We get to come up with an issue that we feel strongly about and design a poster to inform people about the issue. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do mine on poverty. It's one of the things that just really gets me and here are just a few reasons why.


-Poverty kills more than 50,000 people every day - 18 million poor people die every year from extreme poverty.


-1.37 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day, and 2.56 billion live on less than $2 a day. Moreover, 5.05 billion people (more than 80 percent of the world's population) live on less than $10 a day. 


-8 million people die from lack of food and nutrition every year - about 24,000 deaths each day. 


-Every year, 5.8 million children die from hunger related-causes. Every day, that’s 16,000 young lives lost.


-The average yearly income of the richest 20% of people in the world is about 50 times greater than the yearly income of the poorest 20% of people.




Ok, if just those few statistics don't make you want to help, then something is up. It's just crazy to think how much we have and how selfish we are to want more. The majority of the world is out there just craving for the essentials and we so many times complain about not having our favorite food for dinner or not getting exactly what we wanted for Christmas. I think it's time for people to stop feeling sorry for those who don't have anything and actually start doing something about it. I'm talking about myself just as much as anyone. This is why I am excited about starting this project and possibly being a graphic designer. One day I hope I can not only help people but help them by doing something that I have a passion for. But until I decide what I'm definitely going to do for the rest of my life, I'm going to start doing all that I can to help people now.

Picture Blog #2

I said I wasn't going to have any time to post blogs frequently anymore but would you look at that! I hardly have any homework! Plus finding out that at least two people are reading this is great motivation ha! :)

So, I don't know about you guys but I am definitely a visual person. My post a couple of days ago with the pictures and videos has probably been my favorite so far just because it seems so much more interesting to read with all the visual aides. Therefore, I think I'm going to do a picture blog every now and then because I like that kind of stuff (and maybe you do too).

First off

Oh, bother. I hate when things like this happen. I tore the strip off the bag of cheese that said "tear here" but something went wrong and the bag woudn't open. I guess it was sort of my fault because I didn't exactly tear along the dotted line in fear that it might mess up the ziplock part. I decided to include this because I just ate white bean chili (minus the beans). I hate beans. I get my mom to make an extra little bowl of this with no beans because I find it a lot more appetizing this way. I have a church basketball game in a few hours and that meal, for sure, was the dinner of champions.

I think that that picture has a strange resemblance to this one taken about 15 years ago

People love this picture. I think it's pretty funny myself. I'm not sure the exact reason why I was making this face BUT I do know that when my little brother was born, I was not exactly a fan of him. I like to think that that is the explanation behind this.

Secondly,

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a nesting doll. Sadly, it does not open up into smaller dolls but it does make an awesome necklace. It was a Christmas present I wore today for the first time and got lots of compliments. I'm also wearing the color yellow which is one of my favorites (besides green). Yellow has to be the happiest color around.

Finally,

Some of you might be wondering, what ever happened with that terribly long book you were required to read over the break? Well, after hours of reading and some studying I find out today that the test I was supposed to have today has been moved to tomorrow which is GREAT. I need all the time I can get. Though I thought I absolutely hated this book yesterday (most likely because I wanted to be spending my Christmas break a different way), talking about all the funny parts in it during class today have made me decide that maybe I actually do sort of like it. Or maybe I've just once again been inspired by my English teacher to just really enjoy what I learn in his class. I need to take a minute and talk about that class and Mr. Mathews. Both are so great but would not be the same without the other. English can be as interesting or boring as you make it. Mr. Mathews does not only make it interesting but also inspiring (I know that sounds a little cheesy). But seriously, you can't help but enjoy what you're doing in there when you're being taught by someone who is so passionate about what he teaches and he'll go down in my book as one of my favorite teachers because of that. 

Well, speaking of that, I need to review some more so I'll be ready for that test tomorrow. I'm also about to go play basketball (HA). I have a good feeling about tonight though so maybe I'll actually make a basket and not throw the ball out of bounds too many times.

Fatal Mistake/Blogger of the Week

 Oh man. I am really not very happy about what just happened. So I was halfway through typing this really awesome blog post (it was REALLY good) and then I somehow accidentally deleted it.....but there was still a glimmer of hope! I remembered that this thing saves drafts while I'm typing so I was trying to find a way to get back to the page and find everything I had written, unharmed and ready to go. Then I made a fatal mistake. I hit the back button. Little did I know at the time that this one action was going to make me so angry until I found my way back to the new post page and saw that there was an undo button the entire time............so now my two and a half awesome paragraphs and one pretty nice list are lost forever. Now I'm going to try and remember everything I wrote and post it below. Yeah, it won't be the same though.


Title: Blogger of the Week

So I guess you could say that this has become one of my new favorite hobbies. Ever since I've gotten a blog I have made sure to write almost every day just because I could. Sadly though, my extremely frequent blog posts are about to come to an end. The reason why? Well, I am starting school tomorrow. I am about to say goodbye to free time and a willingness to think. When I get home my brain is going to feel like it's going to explode and I will be in no mood to write or do anything for that matter....

Ok that last part was sort of dramatic but I really will miss all the free time, for real.

One thing that I haven't really written about yet is my love for music. I LOVE music. I used to think my taste in music wasn't really picky but now that I think about it I guess it sort of is. I don't like rap, country, screamo and also a few other genres that just don't come to mind right off the bat. I'm not even sure how to describe the type of music I like. Indie, maybe? I feel like that word is too cool for me to use haha. Instead of trying describe it, I'll just make a list of bands that I like.

- The Avett Brothers
- Nickel Creek
- Bon Iver
- The Weepies
- Vampire Weekend
- The Shins
- Mumford and Sons
- Switchfoot
- Ingrid Michaelson
- Fun.
- Fleet Foxes

These are the artists whose songs dominate a good half of the music on my ipod. While I love listening to all of these bands/singers, I wish that my music taste could be opened up to a wider range of Christian musicians. Sadly, I just can't find a lot that I like because I feel like a lot of it just sounds the same. I don't know. Maybe it's just me being picky. Some Christian artists I have recently discovered that I do like a lot though are these:


Jesus Culture- A band I was introduced to a couple of months ago. Their passion for God is definitely heard in every song they sing. I'm pretty sure they only sing praise music which makes it difficult for me to listen to them in the car because I keep wanting to close my eyes or raise my hands (which would equal a car accident) but I still like to listen to them and just refrain from getting too into it.
John Mark McMillan- I don't know exactly what it is I like the most about him. He's definitely someone else who's passion for God can be heard in his lyrics. I like all the instruments in his songs too. Then again, maybe I'm just a fan of the harmonica.
Jon Foreman-He is the lead singer of Switchfoot and he is awesome. Most of his songs are just straight from scripture.
Caleb-This band is made up of Caleb Chapman, his little brother and two other guys. (Yeah, leave it to the oldest brother to come up with the name of the band). I got to see them when Steven Curtis Chapman performed at my church a couple of months ago and I have loved them ever since.

If you have any suggestions on more music, I would love to hear them. To finish this whole thing off, here is a really cool quote I saw today by John Foreman which sort of inspired this whole post:


"That's why I write music, because our minds are often so closed that even the truth can't fit in to set us free." -Jon Foreman

procrastinating

is something I've been very good at the past few days.

You see, I'm supposed to be reading this 450 page book that I don't understand with no storyline and a billion characters. Some people love it, some people hate it. For me, I am just completely lost and don't really know what to think about it. In addition to the 3 and a half hour break I have taken this afternoon, I'm going to finish it off with a good blog post.

....Wow. Pressure. I'm not sure what to write and I'm not sure if I can write that much taking into account how sick my brain is of seeing words right now. So get ready for some random stuff.

Soon after I took this "short break" from reading, I painted a picture!

Yeah, there's sort of a glare. It was too dark outside to go out and get good lighting but tada! It's the next piece for my concentration in art. ***Concentration: 9 to 12 pieces that all relate in some way. (This and other stuff is what I get to send in to the AP board at the end of the year instead of taking an AP exam. Ah, the joys of being an artist.)***

I am wearing a very, very special shirt today

I finally am caught up with this season and wore this to celebrate. And that is paint on my hand, not a skin disease.

Awesome song I just finished listening to:

Great band. Great winter music.

Another fantastic song I've been listening to for a lot of the day:

Two pictures and two videos. I guess that will do it for now. Well, back to reading.

It is 2011 and it is awesome

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I was thinking, and I'm pretty sure this year is probably going to be one of the biggest (if not the biggest yet) year of changes. And change is good! In 12 days I will officially be a legal adult which is pretty exciting I guess...ok not really. I'm not really anticipating 18 to feel all that different from 17 but still.

Second big change: NO MORE HIGH SCHOOL!!! I've been trying to figure out how to say how I feel about this for the past ten minutes or so and the best way I can put it is this: There are parts of being in high school I will miss and parts I will not. People always told me to enjoy my high school years (which I have for the most part!)  but I think when you're 4 months away from graduating, it's borderline impossible not to wish you were in college already (especially while eating cafeteria food).

Last big change that sort of goes along with the last one: COLLEGE!!!!!!!! War Eagle!
Oh yeah. I said it. Being raised in a household of diehard Alabama fans, it has sort of been impossible to say this out loud (especially around my brother). Honestly though, I don't really care for sports. I've tried to like them but while I watch them I can't help but think that I could be doing something so much better instead. I also think football rivalries here are out of control (but this is a whole other topic I will probably write about some other time). Anyways, the whole thought of going to college is so exciting to me. I can't stop thinking about it and all of its greatness.

So, what I'm getting at with all of this is that I'm extremely looking forward to this new year. Hopefully you spent your January 1st doing something other than sleeping and trying to read a book that is way too long for it's own good for English class. Oh, and hopefully you ate black eyed peas for good luck. None were fixed this year at my house so if something traumatic happens, I'm blaming it on the lack of peas.