So going through this week helping with Vacation Bible School I’ve met a lot of funny and entertaining kids.  They remind me of the times when I was young when I didn’t have to worry about things and one kid in particular reminds me of how Pokemon still rocks!

But it was today that a child opened my eyes.  I was talking to a girl in the second and third grade group about spongebob and helping with the craft when she told me about her big backyard.  (The theme of this year is God’s Big Backyard)  I then told her about God’s Big Backyard.  Her eyes widened as I told her about how all the stars in the skies and all the planets and even Pluto was all part of God’s backyard!  I then told her that even though God loves his backyard just like she loves her backyard that what he wants more than anything else is to be her friend.  Her eyes got really big when I said that.

And I wonder, what happened to the days when we were kids and the thought that God wanted to be our friend made us happier than anything else?  I can see very easily why Jesus stressed how important kids are.  They can remind us of the most simplest of things that we always seem to forget.

Jesus always talked about the children and how we should be like them as well.  For me now it’s very easy to see why.  And it makes me wish I had the kind of enthusiasm that the little girl had about being God’s friend.  I just wanted to share that moment with all of you.  I thought it was very cool.  😀

For the past few years I’ve found that Hebrews 11:1 has hands down been my favorite verse.  The verse saying that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see.  It always spoke to me in so many ways.  I live by faith and the thought that everything that happens is happening for a greater cause.  Like Paul had wrote.  We should praise God even in the storm.

For the past years I’ve always questioned whether or not when I was first baptized if it was because I wanted a relationship with God or if I was more just pushed into it.  See I was about 8 and know now that I had very little understanding of what being a Christian meant.  This last Sunday as I sat in church that thought came back.  They talked about baptism towards the end of the sermon and the thought came to me that I should renew my baptism because now I know what being a Christian means more than I ever had and I desperately want to be closer to God.

That day I had a long talk with a friend of mine and interestingly enough it seems we both were having the same thoughts.  It was cool to have a conversation like that with someone my age for a change.  I had become so used to only having these types of conversations with older people that it really was a great change.

That day I went home and read Hebrews 11:1.  I find myself sometimes reading that when I’m unsure about things and every once and a while it will help me in my deep thought.  I ended up reading all of chapter 11 and was completely changed.  I had never gone on to read the rest of the chapter before and I kick myself for having not.  If you don’t know what it goes on to say it talks about people like Noah and Abraham and people who God had huge plans for and even when they didn’t really want to do what God had commanded they did it anyways because they had faith that things would work out and they did.  It talks about how Abraham when commanded to offer up his son he did so and this proved to God that Abraham would be faithful to him and Abraham’s son lived.  It is through faith that these great people fullfilled God’s commandment.  What I realized was that it is through faith that God’s plans are fullfilled.

Last Sunday we sang a song called “Salvation is Here”.  It is an amazing song and fit so well into my life as if it were another jig saw piece in my little puzzle.  The more and more I thought about things this week and the more and more I thought about Hebrews 11 I’ve began to realize just how badly I want this.

I was 8 years old when I stood in front of my church and said that I believe that Jesus Christ was born a virgin birth, died on a cross, rose on the third day and ascended into Heaven.  In the past few years I’ve learned that being a Christian is sooo much more than going to Church, reading the Bible, believing in God, believing that Jesus did die and rise on the third day.  Being a Christian is more than just singing the songs, and being a good person.  Being a Christian is all of those things but there is something bigger than that.  I’ve learned that being a Christian is when you desperately want a relationship with God, when you put God above everything else in life, when you can take away all the noise of life and focus on God and God alone, when you can face some of the hardest of life’s situations and honestly say just as the song “Salvation is here” says:  “And I don’t care what the world throws at me now.  I’m gonna be alright.”  It’s when you know that no matter what happens everything is going to be alright.

After all the thoughts that have went through my mind in these past days.  I know more than I ever have before that I truly want to have a relationship with God.  I want to be able to have the utmost faith in God so that I know for certain that everything is going to be fine.  I don’t know that I’ve ever truly had that, I don’t even know if I understood what was going on all those years ago at the age of 8 as I repeated the words of my pastor.  What I do know however is that I feel I know what becoming a Christian means.  I know that many hard times will come and I believe that I am ready to face them.

The church I go to just started a new series called “Swim”.  In which they’ll discuss how it sometimes seems impossible to get closer to God and how we do get closer to God.  I believe things happen for a reason and I honestly believe that the sermons that will be delivered over the next few weeks will be things that I need to hear.

I encourage all of you to read Hebrews 11:1.  If you’ve already read it then read it again.  Think about it.  Think about where you stand in your life, in your faith and most importantly in your walk with Christ.  Think about where you want to be in all of these things.  And think about what you need to do to get there.  I thought about these exact things and now I am pumped, exicted, and anxious to renew my walk with Christ.

I also encourage you to listen and think about the lyrics to “Salvation is Here”.  They are truly amazing.

Small brief update here. I’m located in Ohio and just about an hour ago witnessed a funnel cloud form a tornado for the first time in my life. I’m sure a lot of you out there have seen the same but it’s probably one of the craziest things I’ve seen. Scared me half to death.

“Words not only affect us temporarily; they change us, they socialize or unsocialize us.” — David Riesman

A couple of days ago I had a couple of people compliment me or say something about me which anyone else who heard it wouldn’t have thought twice about the effect.  You see just as in the quote above words can change your life.  Whether they are good or bad they will effect you.  One particular comment someone shared with me last Sunday has greatly upped my spirit and changed how I view myself.  In short I was told that I had become the type of person that I wanted to be.  And the thing is no one else thought much of it.

You see when you compliment someone or say something bad about someone you may not realize just how much that effects that person.  I believe that in many cases words can have a larger effect than actions and that in itself is amazing.  I’ve witnessed words tear someone apart to the brink of suicide.  And I’ve seen words bring joy instead of tears.

I see it everyday in fact.  I think way too often do we take our own words for granted.  We don’t realize just what we are saying and how it’s going to effect the person we direct those words too.

And jokes are good just as well.  Laughter, after all, is something that everyone needs.  Yet at the same time so few of us know where to draw the line on jokes and insults.  And I won’t take my self out of this one either.  I mean it’s very easy to point out flaws in others, almost too easy.  It seems to me that I see way too many people simply looking for something wrong in someone just so that they can point it out to their group of friends and get a few laughs.

And so I bring up that quote above again.  Words, no matter what they are or who said it, will change you.  They will make you feel better.  And they will keep you up at night as you try to find a way to become better looking, skinnier, smarter, funnier or just a better person.

So my challenge to MYSELF and all who ever come across this.  Consider your words.  Choose your jokes wisely and think.  I saw first hand this past week just how two very small comments made about me not only made this a very good week but also changed me.  And it also made me feel good that that was they thought of me.  And you all know it to be true.  When someone compliments you it does make you feel good (and maybe even a little big headed).

Also feel free to share how someones words has changed you in this past week.  😀

If you’ve watched any bit of news throughout this presidential campaign then you would know about the whole Michigan and Florida controversy. Now I’m not going to go into detail about what exactly happen but in short these states both broke the rules that were set forth before them. Now yesterday they decided how they would handle the situation and what would happen to all the votes.

Most said that they should give Clinton her votes and all the undecided to Obama and then there were a few other ideas. Yet the entire time I watched them on tv I couldn’t believe what they were doing. You see I think that the votes shouldn’t have been counted. Both states broke the rules, something I like to call cheating, and there has to be a consequence; and for all the Michigan and Florida voters out there who would think that was unfair I all I can say is that the people who broke the rules are the same people you elected. Is it your fault? No. Is it fair? No. But I believe it’s right.

Now you can disagree or agree with me but what really has to be taken away from this is one simple fact that the democrats taught us with this situation and that is this. They broke the rules and they got away with it. And that is not right.

You know I keep telling myself.  “I’ll update that blog one day.”  And then the next day I’ll say.  “You know I’m probably not going to update that blog again.”  It’s like I’ve developed my own little cycle that I’m going through.  Ever since I got back from Florida I’ve gone back to writing a lot.  I’ve made mention before that I love to write and if I could just one day write the next big novel and just live as a writer all my life I could so go for that.

But life doesn’t turn out the way we’d want it to.  So I’ll just keep living and be happy that I’m still alive.  Anyways before this year I had written two novel lengths stories (that of course will never see the light of day again).  You should know that I’m someone who knows that anything they write, draw, make is terrible.  And so these past weeks have been very weird for me.  Like I said I’ve been writing a lot and am currently in the beginning stages of writing something that I hope may grace the eyes of a publisher one day.  Now I know what you’re thinking.  I’m 17 and dreaming way too big.  And you’re right.  The chances of someone of my age getting a story published is very slim.  But I write for the love of it so it’s all good.  😀

But that’s not what I’ve really been thinking about lately.  When I read I really like how the endings really put together this greater meaning of the story.  And how there always seems to be something to learn.   And so I’ve been sitting down lately and writing (more planning really) what I want to be learned through this particular story (even though no more than my family and friends will ever read it).  And I think I’ve realized just how important story telling is.  You see I’ve noticed that I’ve unintentionally set up a story that will actually teach me some things.

But what I want to share with you here in this blog post is something that I have found will be taught  by one particular character in my story.  You see I was thinking about where I wanted to take him and what I wanted him to do in the story.  What I realized was that this particular character seemed to be a blue print of most of our life’s.

He was just a regular guy who found himself in the middle of the conflict.  There was nothing special about him.  He had no special powers, he did nothing great and he didn’t sacrifice himself for anyone.  This guy was just normal compared to all the other characters.  And the question arose “Why should this guy even be included?”  It’s a lot like the question we ask ourselves huh?  Why should I be here?  What is God’s plan for me?  Why is it that when everyone else is doing these great things and getting their 15 minutes of fame that I’m left here with nothing?  But then I thought.  And I looked at the big picture.  This particular character would die.  He’d die half way through the book and could have just been forgotten.  He didn’t die in some way in which the world was saved or anything and he didn’t save anyones life.

Yet at the same time it’s what happened because he died that changed things.  You see it was the little things that he did in his life that changed other characters and through the other characters they changed others and it created this chain.  And I realized that through this particular characters death not only was one, two or three life’s changed but the entire story was changed.

And that’s something I think more people need to realize.  You know when we are young everyone wants to be famous.  They want to be an actor/actress or they want to direct movies or make games or write the next great novel or just make this great impact on the world.  We want to be a somebody.  And you know we never hear anyone say: “Yeah, I think I’ll bag groceries at Kroger when I grow up!”   Yet in reality most of our dreams just don’t happen.

When I look at this character I’m sure he’d love to have been famous like the ones around him.  But he wasn’t.  Few knew his name, where he was from and why he was there.  Yet for some reason he made a bigger impact than anyone else in that story.  And I was so confused as to why.  He was a nobody.  He wasn’t special.  He didn’t have the fame.  He didn’t save the world.  Then I thought about the smaller picture.  It was the person he was.  It was the fact that he changed the way another character thought about other people.

And that’s what I think some of us need to realize.  We don’t have to be famous, we don’t have to write an inspirational novel and we don’t have to be the next president to change the world.  Heck we don’t even have to change the world.  I always tell myself this.  “If I can change just one persons life for the better than I’ll have considered my life worth living.”  Have you ever asked yourself this?  Have you ever told yourself that if one persons life is changed by something that you’ve done then you’ll be happy?  My dad and I were talking and decided that we want to see our funeral.  We want to know how we changed people.  I want to know what was it about me that affected others.

I think as Christians this is something we should constantly strive for.  We should always be saying that we’re going to live in such a way that people decide to change their lives for the better.  Something most people would call leading others to Christ.  So instead of saying.  “When I grow up I want to be a…”  how about we start saying.  “When I am grow up I may be your average person but I’ll always do what I can to change someones life for the better.”

It was the things that Jesus did in his life that changed people.  It is the things that we do in our life’s that will have an effect on others as well.  So I wonder what may happen if we stop dreaming about becoming famous and pay more attention to the way that we live our life’s?

How many of you have similar goals as well?  How many of you would be happy if you changed someones life for the better just because of the way you live your life?

Went down to Florida the past week and just got back earlier today.  I’ll see if I can’t start updating daily again.

It’s sad that it is an event such as this that I must update.  I would much rather be able to post an update about how miracles are being preformed and the sun is shining on everyones life’s and how people all over are happy but I can’t.  The world isn’t perfect and with there will come a time for death.

Sometime last night a student at our school passed away.  Shock, tears, and much more ensued.  Personally when I found out I was very shocked and more thoughts than I could even begin to imagine began to run through my head.  I knew the person for many years.  I can’t say I was a friend of his, I didn’t hang out with him, I didn’t know him well enough to know the kind of person he was but even still I could tell by the reactions of the ones who did know him well the kind of person he was.

This whole day I’ve not been able to stop thinking about death and so many other things.  And that common thought comes to mind.  Death is real.  It happens to everyone.  And sadly it comes to some sooner than we think it should.  I’ve been reminded today just how precious life can be.  And I’m beginning to see just how lucky I am to have not lost someone who is very close to me.

I can’t and don’t want to imagine what it is like to lose a child.  And the thought reinforces itself in my mind again and again today.  We’re not guaranteed a set amount of time.  Death happens and we have to be extremely careful about how we’re living our life’s.

As I look back though on my life.  I’ve known a lot of people that have died but now for the first time I know someone to have died at the same age as me.   And it does hit home.  I know that it just as easily could have been me.

And to wrap this up.  For the first time in a long time I don’t know what to think about it all.

It’s been a long time hasn’t it?  Well anyways I’ll do my best to post more regularly.  So I’ve now entered the final quarter in my junior year and I’ve began Teacher Assisting.  Which is a class called service learning at my school.  Basically you help grade papers other stuff like that to help out which ever teacher your helping.

Yesterday instead of grading papers I helped put 500 Cheerios in 30+ Ziplock baggies.  So you must be wondering why?  The teacher I’m helping is a youth pastor and his church last night had a 30 hour famine.  So what are the Cheerios for?

According to what he had said some 15,000 children 5 and under die from starvation a year.  The youth at his church will use 30 of the bags and put each Cheerio on a string and stretch it out to see just how much 15,000 is.

I personally think this is really cool.  I mean after counting out all the Cheerios for what took about an hour and a half I told some of my friends I’ve never seen that many Cheerios in my life.  And then I thought, “If this is 15,000 Cheerios then I don’t want to imagine how much 15,000 of the children that die of starvation is.

Years ago when my dad was a youth pastor our church did a 30 hour famine but I didn’t have a chance to do it.  Now after all those Cheerios two things have happened.  I’ll never look at Cheerios the same again and I really want to participate in a 30 hour famine one day.

So any of you ever done a 30 hour famine before?  What was it like?  Anyone got any good Cheerio stories? 😀

First off it’s been too long since my last post.  I’ve gone on a bit of a break for the past week or so but I assure you I’ll start posting on a regular basis again.  Now I’m writing this rather late (or early in the morning) because I’ve 1.) Just got back from one of the best concerts I’ve been to and 2.) because tonight a thought that I’ve been having for a very long time was proven to me.

So I went to see Decyfer Down, Thousand Foot Krutch (probably my favorite band), and Skillet.  Three amazing bands all in one night.  Needless to say it rocked.  And what made it even better?  All three bands did it for the glory of God.  And first I want to share what the lead singer from Skillet said because I just thought it was a cool way of looking at it.  He said a lot of times he doesn’t say that Skillet is a Christian band because they aren’t a band “just” for Christians but for all.  I thought that was cool.

Anyways on to what this is all about.  As we all know there are things in this world that you just can’t prove.  God is one of many.  Now before anyone gets mad.  Let me say, there are things in this world that I think show that God has to be real but for some people there is never enough evidence for them to believe.  But I’m here writing this right now because I KNOW God is real and I’m going to tell you why.  I’m not here to prove God and I know I’ll never be able to but I’m here to share my experience and how I know.

For a long time I would get this feeling.  Not a “I’m hungry” feeling or “I’m doing something good” feeling.  It was something a lot different, a lot greater.  You see in this past week I’ve been to two concerts.  (The other one was Apologetix.)  And in both I felt that feeling and it was so very big.  I’ll describe it the best I can.

I’ll be doing something, and it’s not always just in a Church or at a Church event.   I’m not always doing something that is to glorify God.  It’s not always when I’m helping out people.  And a lot of times it’s when everything is pointing to a dead end and when I just know that this is where it all ends.  It’s an amazing feeling.   It delivers shivers down my back but at the same time it’s like a hand is rested on my shoulder.  Just to tell me that everything is well.   And it may sound crazy but it’s a feeling that delivers hope.  As if God is there, hand rested on my shoulder, ensuring me that he’s not going anywhere.

And maybe no one else has that feeling, maybe you’ve never had that feeling.  But I’ll tell you this.  There will never be a way to prove that God is real until the day that he returns.  But until then when the time is ready, he will let you know.  I myself have been a Christian for many years.  And even though I’ll never doubt in my mind any of my beliefs it’s always nice to get that feeling that just re ensures you of everything.

See I don’t know if it’s the same with anyone else but simply that this is how I know.  I know because of the feeling I get that is unlike anything I’ve ever felt and it’s the feeling that proves to me what I believe.

So until next time God Bless and keep living for God!