The Rock and Worship Roadshow

On Good Friday my youth group went to The Rock and Worship Roadshow where they had five bands come in, Hawk Nelson, MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, Tenth Avenue North, and they were going to have Addison Road but when the main singer who was pregnant went into labor...they didn't come. Instead we had The Afters, who began the singing. Before, we went to All Stars Sports Center and ate at Freddy's Frozen Custard or Sonic before going to where the concert was, waiting, talking, taking pictures, tossing balls, or playing... The concert was sold out! There were 11, 000 people there! Lights would swept over people, music blaring, hands in the air, hands clapping, sometimes we'd jump up and down. And while there wasn't a long message, there were some great things said!! It's a bummer I can't remember more of what they said. When I listen to the song or are going to and think about it, then I can sorta remember. The main singers of the bands/artists would most of the time speak and say great things. So you could kind of "get to know them" in a way, hear their story and stuff. Jeremy Camp told us how he had lost his wife to cancer eight years but he told us that after he had sang one of his songs with part of the chorus: And I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see. Each one of artists and on were different, probably believed different things, looked different, there were different types of music...But they were all there for God and wanted to bring glory and honor to Him. God was there smiling with tears in His eyes! God is with us!! We teenagers are in an amazing spot and need to change our generation to Jesus!

Love God and Love Others!

Last Wednesday our youth group started a new series and talked about forgiving but we also spoke about loving God and people, which was so GOOOOOOD!! Some of the things that my youth pastor said were they (speaking of people) are not going to know that we're Christians by our tee-shirts or bumper stickers but by our love. Think about it. You might see someone wearing a Christian tee or have this cross necklace but when they're yelling at their Mom or whatever else, you are seriously going to doubt that they love God, which kind of leads into something else that we spoke about (though it actually was before that :). You cannot say that your relationship with God is going good and not love other people, here. Our relationships effect our relationship with God. Here'sverses that we looked up and please do look them up, too! They are really good!

-> Matthew 5:23-24-reconile, move on. Don't bring the sin up anymore. -> John 13:34-35-love will speak to the world that we are children of the King. -> Matthew 22:36-39-The first and second commands. The first and greatest, love God with everything. The second is loving others like ourselves. The NLT says, "A second is equally important". The greatest command is to love God but the next, to love others as ourself, is of the same importance. Crazy, hun? -> Ephesians 4:1-2 tells to lead a life worthy of God's calling in verse one. Verse two tells us things we should do but they're not rules. They are commands and if I love Christ, then I'll follow them.

This week at our youth group, just yesterday, we spoke about acceptance, continuing in the second week of our series. With acceptance there is no normal. There's really no thing as normal. God doesn't make the stories in the Bible perfect but He leaves them in for us. We live much of our life to be accepted. But we need to remember that even when others don't accept us we're totally accepted by God. And if you haven't accepted God's free gift, then please think about it seriously. Place your faith in Him, in the things He said, and accept His free offer. And as a Christian, we need to follow God, you and me. Because Jesus accepted us, we need to go out and accept others. Accept!!

Seek God!

Have you ever wondered, "God, why don't you just write down what to do and what not to do? That'd be so much easier... Then I'd know what you thought about country music, proms, and school dances, guys, and everything." As I was telling my youth pastor just Thrusday, it's probably kinda good that God doesn't just say "don't go to the school dance" because that makes us seek Him for answers. Do you want answers? Go to God, seek Him totally! If you really seek Him, you will find Him. Your answers might be different then someone elses but maybe that's because we're different, we have different strenghts and weaknesses. God says that He'll give anyone wisdom without finding fault. I need to seek God...Will you join me? But when we seek Him, we need to seek Him first, before anything! Go to God! He's there waiting for you.

I Love You!!!

LOVE LETTER
I saw you yesterday as you were walking with your friends. I waited all day hoping you would walk and talk to me.
As the days end, I gave you a sunset
And a cool breeze to rest you.
As you fell asleep I longed to touch you.
I spilled moonlight on your face….
Again I waited, wanting to rush down so we could talk.
My friend, I love you.
I whisper it in the leaves and the trees.
I shout to you in the mountain streams.
I clothe you in sunshine.
My love is deeper then the oceans.
You and I will spend eternity together.
I would love it if you would talk to me.
It is your decision…
And because I love you I will wait.
~Your Heavenly Father~

We hear it all the time but God really does love you! And He shows it...in the sunsets and everything. He wants you SO much! But He's going to wait for us because He loves us and loves that is forced isn't really love. So, I have a lot about God's love but God is also a God of righteous wrath. He is a God of love and at the same time discipline... But it's all because HE LOVES YOU!!! God lets us go through pain and hard times, He disciplines us because He loves us. That's true love.

Forensics...

This past month in February I went to a forensics compeition with my younger sister and Mom. It's my second year in forensics (public speaking through acting, writing speeches, and you can also do debate offers debate, which isn't forensics). More then that, it's a Christian forensics as well as homeschool. The compeition was three days long and each day we'd get up early and perform, eat, wait to perform as debate went, and on. The pieces that I preformed were Tilly by Frank Peretti for open, The Ragman for dramatic, and for humorous I did the piece Amelia Bedelia. Tilly was a piece about a lady who has an abortion and the part I did was almostly all when she's in a dream where she meets her little daughter, Tilly and talks to other(s). The piece that I did for dramatic was called The Ragman. The story really is like about how Jesus took our dirty rags and put them upon Himself. In the end, the Ragman dies but after three days, but comes alive again. Sounds familiar, hun? Isaiah 53 at the beginning of verse four says, Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows... And, finally, I did the piece of Amelia Bedelia who takes things a bit to literally!
I was excited to break into semi-finals with my open, Tilly, and shocked to found out that I broke into finals with my dramatic. I ended up placing 6th in dramatic and open and got 25th place in IE sweepstakes.
Looking at my ballots now, it's interesting how some judges would give you a higher placing and another would give you the lowest. It really reminds you over and over that everyone is different! There's no copy of you and therefore, you can't fail at being you. Get it? I heard that and had never thought of that...I cannot possibly fail at being me! Can I fail God's plan for me? Perhaps but God's always there to lift me up. If you feel like you're a failure in your activites and life, who are you comparing yourself with?
I'll share a memory with you. So, it's the semi-final round, there was this older couple sitting in the room. I perform my piece Tilly and a girl in front of me performed part of Max Lucado's "He Chose the Nails." Also, the girl before that performed a dramatic piece. After the semi-final round, the first girl walks up to me when I'm talking to a girl and asks me something or says something to me. Well, skipping ahead, her Mom ends up telling us that the couple in the room weren't Christians and came out and were like, "Is this a Christian thing or something?" Her daughter was actually like, "No, no, you said they said something about "preachin' at us." So, her Mom said that it was cool to see the Holy Spirit play a conviction in their hearts and it was neat that I played a part in that. I had no idea!!! Did those people ever come Christians or think anything about it? We'll probably never really know here but it's important to put our best in whatever we do. God might use us to change someone here, rather we'll know it or not.

Go with God, friend!

Baja, Mexico, Here I Come!

Chance of a Lifetime

This summer I have the wonderful oppertunity to go to Baja, California, which is really in Mexico. It lays in the peninsula by Mexico and California. I am planning to go with a mission group down in Texas for a week in the summer. Over the week, we will be building

house(s) for the neediest families and doing door to door minsitry. Although most of my siblings have gone on mission trips, this will be my first experience...First experiecnce to send out support letters, to raise money for my trip--to be the one going, to go on a trip. It will be an AMAZING growing experience and seeing the world from totally another culture. It will be life-changing, not only for the people to whom we hope to share God's love, but also for me.

The God Who Became A Man

The God Who Became A Man
-anna bell
The Christ who watched us take our first steps now took them
The One who wrote the Torah was also was one who learned it
The Savior who gave the rules of sacrificing the lamb now became the Lamb
The Father who thought of, designed, made the tree was later nailed to it
The Rescuer who beautifully fashioned people
was the same who was not wanted by men
And Christ who will never forsake us felt forsaken by God Himself that dark day
But the God who whispered “I love you” showed that He meant it,
not just by words, by actions.
God did not just say He loved us! He acted upon it!!! Love is not just words. Love is actions.

Abundant Life

You are exisiting. Your reading this post confirms my answer. But are you living? The difference changes what we make of life. It makes a world of difference. When we exisit, we merely are breathing and moving about. We have fun most of the time but we always don't feel "filled up". When we live, though, we are excited, pumped about life, wanting to change the world for better. Filled up and complete with God. Every day brings promises, hope, and excitment, small joys along the way that if we were merely living, we would have missed. Christ came into the world so that, we could not only live, but have life to the fullest. Jesus told us in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Joh 10:10 (New Century Version)
A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.

John 10:10 (New King James Version)
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10 (New Living Translation)
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

He didn't just come so that we could have ever-lasting life but also a great life here. Down here, he doesn't just want us to be doing fine or okay. Note the word abundantly, which means plentiful: present in great quantities 2. well-supplied: providing a more than plentiful supply of something 3. found in quantity: existing in large quantities. 1 In Hebrew, the word Shefa plainly does means abundance.

John's gospel ("gospel" means good news) speaks much about life. The Greek word perissos/perisson, translated by "abundance", has several meanings, of which I shall mention two. It expresses excess, that which is extraordinary in size or in beauty, that which is excessively large or numerous. It can also be translated as that which goes over the amount, that which is extra, surplus or left over. The term also has a nuance that implies superfluousness. Besides Jn 10.10, the word is found in four other passages in the New Testament: Mt 5.37, 47; Mk 6.51; Rom 3.1; 2 Cor 9.1. 3

What do we do to get this life that is so...fulfulling that some I know have but I only long for? Ask God for that overflowing, fulfilling life. God tells us that if we don't ask, we don't receive. He longs for us to have the best life that we possibly could here. A life all about Him. An abundant life. But we have to ask Him.

What did Jesus mean in John 10:10:
“. . .I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Why don’t more Christians experience abundance? Because, the key word here is “might.” 2

Go to the One who can give it to you. God is holding out a great thing to us saying, "I have something that you are missing and will like so much. And all you have to do is ask Me. Will you?" Nothing in life can fulfill or complete us. Nothing. For a while, it might seem like it can. But in the end, we are left questioning what we don't have. What can fill our void? God is offering us a gift that nothing else can offer us. Always, the closer you are to God, the more fulfilling and happy you will be in life. Yes, you'll have your hard times-Jesus promises us that-but the closer we become to God, the more we will be able to trust Him when life does take a "wrong turn" for us. Walking with God and obeying Him is another way we can enjoy our lives. Will you accept it?

1. Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
2. https://www.debtfreearmy.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=266:what-did-jesus-mean-in-john-1010&catid=35:rich-thoughts&Itemid=79
3.http://www.warc.ch/24gc/rw024/01.html