A few days ago I attended an amazing funeral.
I haven't been to many funerals, and all of the ones I have been to were Christian funerals, so I can't say much about the comparison, but I can tell you what I found outstanding about it.
I didn't know the man very well, I had only met him in person once I think, maybe twice, but I knew just from the brief moments that I talked with him that he was a very godly man.
When I had just become a Christian I decided that I didn't want to call myself a Christian. I didn't want to tell anyone, I wanted them to figure it out for themselves. I wanted the way I acted, the way I spoke, even just the general way I portrayed myself to be all about Jesus. I thought that if I was a Christian, then I had Jesus in me, right? People say that the eyes are the windows to your soul, so if Jesus is in me, they should be able to see Jesus in my eyes.
This man had Jesus in his eyes. :)
The thing that amazed me about his funeral was that he planned it, and it portrayed what he loved most.
Jesus Christ.
And it was evident.
Right on the front of the program, (picked by himself) was 1 Samuel 2:30, Those who honor Me I will honor.
The verse was proven correct. There were tons of people there, all of them there because in some way or other, he had affected their lives and they wanted to honor him. He was honored by the number of people that were there, by the things that were said about him, by the tears shed for him, and by being taken to a place reserved for the people that Jesus loves. More than we can imagine God has honored him. All because he honored God in his life, and that was what he wanted to show. He wanted to tell people that if you honor God, God will honor you.
I love how even though the event was about him, he still pointed everything back to Christ.
Even though I knew him but for a short time, and I don't know that he
even knew my name, I count in as a blessing to have met him. He was a
great man, and a great example.
I realized as I stood and sang one of the hymns that this is what I wanted my funeral to be like. I don't want it to be about me. I want people to see that I loved God, and I want people to see how great He is.
I want my funeral to be celebration, because God has at last taken me to a place that I don't deserve to go to, because He loved me.
I want to leave behind the kind of legacy that this man left behind, and inspire other people, like he inspired me, to live so much for Christ that even their death can bring Him glory.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Friday, February 14, 2014
Reading Genesis Again
Hello! I'm back! I'm super super excited!! You'll never guess why. (No, this post has nothing to do with Valentines Day ;) ) I don't want to wait for an answer so I will just tell you, I am reading Genesis again!! :D
Usually I am not so excited to read Genesis, or at least the first few chapters, because since I have gone to Sunday School for many years and have always been in a Christian environment, I know the story. I know what happens, it doesn't seem that exciting to read it.
So usually when I read it I try to imagine all of the intricacy of the things being created in the first chapter, and how vast the universe is, and how God just came up with it all off the top of His head and spoke it into existence, but for some reason, even when I do this, it has little meaning to me.
The reason I started to read it again was because of two things, both of which were said in the same night. One evening my sister mentioned that in the bible there are lots of comparisons with us and God and plants. ("I am the vine and you are the branches," "He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.." etc.) And in the same night a friend of ours said something along the lines of, "The old testament is full of prophecies and stories about Jesus."
Those two things just clicked for me and I decided to start over at the beginning and search for God's character and His story in the stories in the old testament.
Even looking at Genesis 1 in this new light was AMAZING. What used to be a simple chapter full of things I already know, was now an amazing...I don't know what to call it. It's like God wrote His story into all of the things He made, but you can't see it unless you look.
Since I am so excited about it, I will write about a few of the things I found in Genesis 1 and 3, and the rest you will have to find for yourself. :)
Okay, so the first thing I will write about, since I already mentioned plants, is plants. In verses 11-12 it says, Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
This is the coolest thing. Picture that the fruit tree represents God. The fruit tree (God) yields fruit, (us) according to its kind. (Made in His image) Whose seed is in itself, (you can look at this more than one way, physically, God made us to reproduce, and spiritually, when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, and He is the one who can bear fruit (John 15:5) through us) and lastly, On the earth. (That one is pretty easy to figure out)
Okay, and then another really cool one I found was in verses 16-18, Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
In this part I saw the two great lights as God and Satan. The greater light (sun) is God, and the lesser light (moon) is Satan. They are both greater in power than us, hence why they are the two 'great lights,' but God is by far greater than Satan. Then, they are the rulers of the day and of the night. Day is light, and the greater light rules the day, Night is dark, and the lesser light rules the night.
I thought that was really cool, but then it got even cooler when I told my dad about it and he simply said, "You know what is even cooler? Think about what the nature of the moon is. It has no light of its own, it can only reflect the sun's light." Think on that.
And I was going to stop there...so you can stop there if you are bored and don't want to read any more, but I have one more cool thing to say, this occurred to me in Chapter 3.
In verse 16 it says, To the woman he said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
I have never ever seen this analogy, or one close to it, so it was amazing that I saw this, but here it is. Because of sin, women have to go through pain for their children to be born. Because of sin, Jesus had to go through pain for us to be born again.
Isn't that awesome?! :)
Sorry this post was really long, but I hope you all liked it as much as I did. :)
And if you have never seen the creation story in this light before, I strongly recommend you go and read through it! There is so much more that I said nothing about.
I just think it is so cool how when you look at the creation story like this, it is so evident that God knew exactly what He was doing the whole time. He knew His whole plan right from the start, and showed it even from the start!
NOTE: If you liked this post, please click here to read a short expansion on the Sun and Moon parallel.
Usually I am not so excited to read Genesis, or at least the first few chapters, because since I have gone to Sunday School for many years and have always been in a Christian environment, I know the story. I know what happens, it doesn't seem that exciting to read it.
So usually when I read it I try to imagine all of the intricacy of the things being created in the first chapter, and how vast the universe is, and how God just came up with it all off the top of His head and spoke it into existence, but for some reason, even when I do this, it has little meaning to me.
The reason I started to read it again was because of two things, both of which were said in the same night. One evening my sister mentioned that in the bible there are lots of comparisons with us and God and plants. ("I am the vine and you are the branches," "He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water.." etc.) And in the same night a friend of ours said something along the lines of, "The old testament is full of prophecies and stories about Jesus."
Those two things just clicked for me and I decided to start over at the beginning and search for God's character and His story in the stories in the old testament.
Even looking at Genesis 1 in this new light was AMAZING. What used to be a simple chapter full of things I already know, was now an amazing...I don't know what to call it. It's like God wrote His story into all of the things He made, but you can't see it unless you look.
Since I am so excited about it, I will write about a few of the things I found in Genesis 1 and 3, and the rest you will have to find for yourself. :)
Okay, so the first thing I will write about, since I already mentioned plants, is plants. In verses 11-12 it says, Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
This is the coolest thing. Picture that the fruit tree represents God. The fruit tree (God) yields fruit, (us) according to its kind. (Made in His image) Whose seed is in itself, (you can look at this more than one way, physically, God made us to reproduce, and spiritually, when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you, and He is the one who can bear fruit (John 15:5) through us) and lastly, On the earth. (That one is pretty easy to figure out)
Okay, and then another really cool one I found was in verses 16-18, Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
In this part I saw the two great lights as God and Satan. The greater light (sun) is God, and the lesser light (moon) is Satan. They are both greater in power than us, hence why they are the two 'great lights,' but God is by far greater than Satan. Then, they are the rulers of the day and of the night. Day is light, and the greater light rules the day, Night is dark, and the lesser light rules the night.
I thought that was really cool, but then it got even cooler when I told my dad about it and he simply said, "You know what is even cooler? Think about what the nature of the moon is. It has no light of its own, it can only reflect the sun's light." Think on that.
And I was going to stop there...so you can stop there if you are bored and don't want to read any more, but I have one more cool thing to say, this occurred to me in Chapter 3.
In verse 16 it says, To the woman he said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
I have never ever seen this analogy, or one close to it, so it was amazing that I saw this, but here it is. Because of sin, women have to go through pain for their children to be born. Because of sin, Jesus had to go through pain for us to be born again.
Isn't that awesome?! :)
Sorry this post was really long, but I hope you all liked it as much as I did. :)
And if you have never seen the creation story in this light before, I strongly recommend you go and read through it! There is so much more that I said nothing about.
I just think it is so cool how when you look at the creation story like this, it is so evident that God knew exactly what He was doing the whole time. He knew His whole plan right from the start, and showed it even from the start!
NOTE: If you liked this post, please click here to read a short expansion on the Sun and Moon parallel.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Where Two or Three Are Gathered
This will be a really short post, I just wanted to share something that has been making me happy. :)
Do you have trouble sleeping at night? It might be because you're a deadbeat. Pay those annoying TV bills, and get a good night's sleep.
Just kidding. ;)
(For anyone who didn't get that reference, it is from The Flintstones, Barney speaking. If you have never seen it, you missed out. Look it up on Youtube if you have free time, I am sure it is on there.)
Anyways, off of my little rabbit trail, I go to an awesome church, it is just a small church in West Windsor called Ambassador Baptist, and we have a prayer meeting every night.
For the past few days God has REALLY used this prayer meeting to reach my heart. It is amazing how a person can listen to God, just listen. Seek, and want God's presence, and then pray a prayer that they have no idea what God is using it for. Through going to this gathering every night, even though I can barely bring myself to pray aloud some days, and other days I just don't, God has spoken to me and taught me things I never expected.
I am not you. I don't know what you need. YOU don't even know what you need, I know this because I definitely didn't know my own needs.
But what I do know, is that prayer is powerful.
I really strongly encourage you to, even if you don't have a prayer meeting every night at your church, even if you don't even have a prayer meeting at church, I encourage you to find someone, maybe a few people, and start praying with and for each other.
Yes, the 'with' part is necessary.
When I started going to this I literally felt sick because of how nervous I was, I did NOT want to pray out loud, and I even told you that most days I don't. So don't be afraid, if you are nervous or you feel insecure about it just ask God to help you be an overcomer and take a step of faith. Believe me, praying with other people is so so so so helpful.
I hope this meant something to someone reading this.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.
(Matthew 18:20)
Do you have trouble sleeping at night? It might be because you're a deadbeat. Pay those annoying TV bills, and get a good night's sleep.
Just kidding. ;)
(For anyone who didn't get that reference, it is from The Flintstones, Barney speaking. If you have never seen it, you missed out. Look it up on Youtube if you have free time, I am sure it is on there.)
Anyways, off of my little rabbit trail, I go to an awesome church, it is just a small church in West Windsor called Ambassador Baptist, and we have a prayer meeting every night.
For the past few days God has REALLY used this prayer meeting to reach my heart. It is amazing how a person can listen to God, just listen. Seek, and want God's presence, and then pray a prayer that they have no idea what God is using it for. Through going to this gathering every night, even though I can barely bring myself to pray aloud some days, and other days I just don't, God has spoken to me and taught me things I never expected.
I am not you. I don't know what you need. YOU don't even know what you need, I know this because I definitely didn't know my own needs.
But what I do know, is that prayer is powerful.
I really strongly encourage you to, even if you don't have a prayer meeting every night at your church, even if you don't even have a prayer meeting at church, I encourage you to find someone, maybe a few people, and start praying with and for each other.
Yes, the 'with' part is necessary.
When I started going to this I literally felt sick because of how nervous I was, I did NOT want to pray out loud, and I even told you that most days I don't. So don't be afraid, if you are nervous or you feel insecure about it just ask God to help you be an overcomer and take a step of faith. Believe me, praying with other people is so so so so helpful.
I hope this meant something to someone reading this.
For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them.
(Matthew 18:20)
Saturday, January 25, 2014
He Knew, He Knows, He Planned It
Going back to the main theme of this blog, finding little wonders
and showing them to the world, I have a really cool thing to say. :)
God has a plan for you.
If you have grown up in a Christian home or in Christian circles you have probably heard this many times during your life, and if not, let this be the first time.
God knows what you have been through, He knows what you are going through and what you are doing at this moment, He knew before time began that at this moment you would be reading this and He knew what your reaction would be.
I have always thought this was cool, but now it is even cooler.
I was reading in Acts recently, and I came across a verse that really stood out to me, sadly I cannot remember what it was or even exactly what it said. But I do remember that it was about God planting us where we are, and that He put us where the best place and time would be for us.
He placed you in just the right spot.
The thought that went through my head was He put me EXACTLY where I needed to be in order to be saved.
When I was younger, at random times, I would wish I was a different person, maybe in a different family, in a different country, in a different time, just to see what it would be like, or because I thought I would do better in a different environment.
But His plan was for me to be in the family I am in, in the year I am in, in the country I am in, all because He knew it was best for me.
Talk about God taking care of His children!
As I thought about it more, I thought about how sometimes I will pray things like, "God, I know I am supposed to want You to come soon. I know I am supposed to yearn for the day when I can meet You and I do, but I want to travel the world first. I want to grow up and experience this life first."
I know it is a selfish prayer and usually I end it with saying something like, "Please change my heart to be only for You."
But I realized as I thought about that concept that if Jesus comes back when I am fifteen, He will have made me to be born fifteen years before His return because I am supposed to be fifteen when He comes back. Or if He comes back when I am seventeen, then it will be no accident that I am seventeen when He returns. Or eighty. Or still fourteen. Or sixty five. Or even not alive anymore, but whatever age I am, if He does return in my lifetime, it will all be part of the plan.
That, to me, is really comforting.
To know that God has such control over everything, that even time He has structured to fit His plan, that something that happens in a split second, that split second He has planned.
Isn't that amazing?
I was at my cousins' house this past week and at one point we were standing looking at an unfrozen stream, there were almost no words to describe the way it looked and sounded, it was so beautiful.
I remembered that thought then, and I realized that when God made that stream He knew I would look at it, even from that angle. He knew I would listen to it and think it lovely.
Is this not a God worthy of praise?
God has a plan for you.
If you have grown up in a Christian home or in Christian circles you have probably heard this many times during your life, and if not, let this be the first time.
God knows what you have been through, He knows what you are going through and what you are doing at this moment, He knew before time began that at this moment you would be reading this and He knew what your reaction would be.
I have always thought this was cool, but now it is even cooler.
I was reading in Acts recently, and I came across a verse that really stood out to me, sadly I cannot remember what it was or even exactly what it said. But I do remember that it was about God planting us where we are, and that He put us where the best place and time would be for us.
He placed you in just the right spot.
The thought that went through my head was He put me EXACTLY where I needed to be in order to be saved.
When I was younger, at random times, I would wish I was a different person, maybe in a different family, in a different country, in a different time, just to see what it would be like, or because I thought I would do better in a different environment.
But His plan was for me to be in the family I am in, in the year I am in, in the country I am in, all because He knew it was best for me.
Talk about God taking care of His children!
As I thought about it more, I thought about how sometimes I will pray things like, "God, I know I am supposed to want You to come soon. I know I am supposed to yearn for the day when I can meet You and I do, but I want to travel the world first. I want to grow up and experience this life first."
I know it is a selfish prayer and usually I end it with saying something like, "Please change my heart to be only for You."
But I realized as I thought about that concept that if Jesus comes back when I am fifteen, He will have made me to be born fifteen years before His return because I am supposed to be fifteen when He comes back. Or if He comes back when I am seventeen, then it will be no accident that I am seventeen when He returns. Or eighty. Or still fourteen. Or sixty five. Or even not alive anymore, but whatever age I am, if He does return in my lifetime, it will all be part of the plan.
That, to me, is really comforting.
To know that God has such control over everything, that even time He has structured to fit His plan, that something that happens in a split second, that split second He has planned.
Isn't that amazing?
I was at my cousins' house this past week and at one point we were standing looking at an unfrozen stream, there were almost no words to describe the way it looked and sounded, it was so beautiful.
I remembered that thought then, and I realized that when God made that stream He knew I would look at it, even from that angle. He knew I would listen to it and think it lovely.
Is this not a God worthy of praise?
Monday, January 13, 2014
A Faintly Burning Wick
I know I haven't been on here for a while, I will try to keep it more regular, but if I have nothing to write about for a long period of time...I guess you will just have to wait. :P
But anyways, since I am writing, here is what I am writing about. I am going to tell you a story about myself, a struggle I have been going through, and how I just broke out of it.
I hope that someone going through a similar struggle will read this and take heart.
For the past...Oh my, I don't even know how long, I have been settled in a little hole of my own comfort space. I have not grown spiritually for a long time, and I have known that, but just was not really willing to push out of it.
So there it is, my confession.
Recently though, I have really come to realize this and I have tried to be on fire for the Lord, tried to just make myself be hungry for His word...and well, nothing really came of it.
Then the day came. Our church was going to have a week long fast, starting into the new year. I saw it as a sign from God and was sure that if I fasted I would again be close with God, and everything would be good.
That is the WRONG mentality to have.
Here is a piece of advise, never go into a fast thinking that not eating will fix all of your problems, it doesn't.
As the week was going by, I still felt nothing. I was not getting closer to Him, I was not being convicted of sin, I wasn't growing.
One day I thought to myself, I feel like I had a fire raging in my heart once, but slowly it has died down, until now all that is left is a small flame, barely staying alive, slowly going out.
But I didn't know how to stop it.
The next day I received a letter from my cousin, at the end she included a bible verse, she said it was one that had encouraged her. I read it, and was like, Oh, that's nice. But then I felt the need to read it again, to study it, to find what it had for me, I read it again and really listened to the words, it was just what I needed.
That verse was Isaiah 42:3, A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
That was for me, my faintly burning wick, a promise that He will not let it die out, that He would answer my prayers.
That was when I really began seeking, I wasn't really sure how, but I prayed that God would reveal Himself to me, and show me how to grow closer to Him.
Near the end of the week, (I had already finished my fast) I had still not grown in the way I wanted to. But I believe that the week was not in vain. On Saturday I went to a new group meeting that our church has started for young adults, 14 and up, and we did a bible study on Mark 12:28-34, and afterwards a few of us stayed at the church for about two hours talking about God and who He is.
That night I felt the fire flare up again.
The reason I believe the week to not have been in vain, (or one of the many reasons) is that we have prayed for revival, and at the end of that week, the last full day of the fast was when it happened for me.
This time I intend to not let it die again, this time I want to feed the flame, I want to always be on fire for the Lord.
But anyways, since I am writing, here is what I am writing about. I am going to tell you a story about myself, a struggle I have been going through, and how I just broke out of it.
I hope that someone going through a similar struggle will read this and take heart.
For the past...Oh my, I don't even know how long, I have been settled in a little hole of my own comfort space. I have not grown spiritually for a long time, and I have known that, but just was not really willing to push out of it.
So there it is, my confession.
Recently though, I have really come to realize this and I have tried to be on fire for the Lord, tried to just make myself be hungry for His word...and well, nothing really came of it.
Then the day came. Our church was going to have a week long fast, starting into the new year. I saw it as a sign from God and was sure that if I fasted I would again be close with God, and everything would be good.
That is the WRONG mentality to have.
Here is a piece of advise, never go into a fast thinking that not eating will fix all of your problems, it doesn't.
As the week was going by, I still felt nothing. I was not getting closer to Him, I was not being convicted of sin, I wasn't growing.
One day I thought to myself, I feel like I had a fire raging in my heart once, but slowly it has died down, until now all that is left is a small flame, barely staying alive, slowly going out.
But I didn't know how to stop it.
The next day I received a letter from my cousin, at the end she included a bible verse, she said it was one that had encouraged her. I read it, and was like, Oh, that's nice. But then I felt the need to read it again, to study it, to find what it had for me, I read it again and really listened to the words, it was just what I needed.
That verse was Isaiah 42:3, A bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
That was for me, my faintly burning wick, a promise that He will not let it die out, that He would answer my prayers.
That was when I really began seeking, I wasn't really sure how, but I prayed that God would reveal Himself to me, and show me how to grow closer to Him.
Near the end of the week, (I had already finished my fast) I had still not grown in the way I wanted to. But I believe that the week was not in vain. On Saturday I went to a new group meeting that our church has started for young adults, 14 and up, and we did a bible study on Mark 12:28-34, and afterwards a few of us stayed at the church for about two hours talking about God and who He is.
That night I felt the fire flare up again.
The reason I believe the week to not have been in vain, (or one of the many reasons) is that we have prayed for revival, and at the end of that week, the last full day of the fast was when it happened for me.
This time I intend to not let it die again, this time I want to feed the flame, I want to always be on fire for the Lord.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
The Good Old Days
Hello everyone! I'm back. Yup, still alive. :)
I am going through one of my books right now and writing the 3rd draft, (I wrote the 1st draft when I was MUCH younger) and I have been having the time of my life reading it. :D
Anyone who has looked back on old writings of theirs, old paintings, whatever it is, will know what I mean when I say I took one look at the page, burst out laughing, and threw it across the room.
There is a part that I am cutting entirely, not revising, but cutting out because it does not relate to the story at all and quite frankly, is just ridiculous, that I could not help being a little sad to be getting rid of. It was just so...so...well, you will see what I mean. ;)
Do you want to read it?
Here goes, I am just slightly embarrassed to be putting this out there, but bearing in mind that I am much older and improved, I will give you the privilege of reading it. Just as a heads up, it is all in a fictional land that I made up.
This is all the original spelling and punctuation.
Peter was getting very frusterated, "I probably have the lousiest ten men in Nuvrea!" he thought. Many times they had complained about exhaustion, tiredness, hunger, lousy traveling mates, and other things. So Peter finally decided to do something about it, he led them to a clearing in the middle of many trees, so no random pedestrians could see them. He ordered them to get off their horses and said, "okay, I've seen what great men you are in the past five days, therefore I'm putting together a little camp for you. Any questions?"
Michael raised his sword, "Yes Michael?" Peter asked. "What kind of camp?" Michael asked.
"Toughening camp," Peter said, "Now, to start off, give me all your weapons." The men hesitantly handed their swords and bows to him. Peter placed them on a log, and then, without warning, punched Michael in the stomach. "Ow!" Michael cried, and clutched his middle. Peter turned on the next, and hit him over the head, on the back, and then tripped him. The men started to defend themselves but Peter was much too fast for them, by nightfall they were all laying on the ground in a big heap.
"You guys are the saddest warriors I've ever seen," Peter said, "okay, everybody bedtime! Early tomorrow same thing." The men groaned in reply.
"You!" Peter said, the man he was pointing at snapped to attention, "what do you want to eat?" "Eat?" the man was stunned, "well I, I'd like some fried fish." "Okay," Peter said, "you have exactly five minutes to catch it, fry it, and be eating it. Okay, three, two, one, go!"
The man grabbed his arrow and ran to the stream, the rest of the men laughed at his feeble attempts to catch one. After ten minutes he finally caught it, he ran to make a fire, now the men laughed even harder. After twenty minutes he finally lit it, in the making of the fish, he burnt it, and realized after he had already taken a bite, that he forgot to skin it. The rest of the men were rolling on the ground laughing now.
Peter rolled his eyes, "attention!" he yelled. The men jumped up and saluted.
"Which of you were laughing?" Peter asked. No response. "I saw which of you were, so if your lying, I'll know. Now, if you were laughing, raise your sword.
All of the swords except two raised, Peter walked over to the two that were not raised, "I saw you two laughing, YOU catch some fish and cook it. When your done it had better be perfect cause the rest of you are eating it. Now go!" The two men ran and did as instructed. Peter turned to the othe five, "you will serve this man in any way he wishes for the next two days." He turned to the first man, "and you will wrestle me again." The man's face turned pale, and Peter hit him in the stomach.
(later)
"Okay, now do a pushup," Peter commanded.
Michael collapsed. He had just crawled thirty yards with Peter on his back, and doing a pushup was just too much. "Now lets see how the others are doing," Peter said. He got up and nudged one of the crawling men, he collapsed as well.
"Okay! Break time!"
All of the men scrambled to there feet, "you have exactly six minutes to make dinner. Three, two, one, go!"
The men did these excersizes and routines for days, until finally, the could do five pushups after crawling thirty yards with someone on their back, catch fish and cook them (without burning them) in six minutes, since they were never a match for Peter at wrestling, at least dodge his blows, and many other heartwrenching painful things.
When they could finally do it all, Peter said, "you may be happy to know, I only have three more things for you."
The men cheered, "this is the first one," Peter said holding up a bottomless bowl, "fill this up with water." One man walked up and held it, another came to try to fill it up, they used the water from the stream.
"Here are the rules," Peter said, "no helping eachother, no talking, and no letting the water touch yourself."
He handed out the bowls to all of the men, "and no sleeping."
The men poured and poured and poured and poured, until they clenched their teeth in frustration, strained to stay awake, and several of them quit. The next day they were still at it, but to no avail. Peter watched them in amusement, and when nightfall came, one of them said, "there is no way!"
"Wrong," Peter said, "you just haven't found it yet. And you just cheated, sixty pushups."
At last, one of the men became so frusterated, he left, and came back with a large peice of bark. He covered up the whole in the bowl, and then filled it up.
"You may all stop now," Peter said, "he has figured it out."
The men started mightily protesting, and one said, "why did you tell us to do that anyhow?!"
They all waited for his response, it came, "one, to teach you a lesson, and two, to see how long it would take for you to figure it out."
"What was the lesson?" The man who had figured it out asked.
"The lesson was this: Sometimes the answer is the simplest thing," Peter said, "now for the next thing, you must find the one tree that I marked in that forest. Hey you!" he pointed to one of the men.
"Yes?" the man asked.
"You are only allowed to look up. You!" he pointed the next one, "are only allowed to look down. You! You are only allowed to look to the right. You! Are only allowed to look to the left, You! Are not allowed to open your eyes at all. You! Have to run backwards. And the rest of you can see normally."
They all nodded, "okay, go!" He watched them run to the forest, and he ran after them, so he could "supervise." When they reached the forest, they switched there head posisions and started running to find the tree. These were the noises Peter heard,
"Ow! You numskull! Look where your going!"
"I can't see you idiot! I can't run forwards!"
"Hey! Ouch!"
WHAM! "Ooooohhh....."
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Bam! "Oh! I think I broke something!"
"YOU'RE complaining!"
"Ow my head!"
"Watch it you nincompoop!"
"Hey!"
"My poor head!"
"Oh shut up!"
"I think I found it! Peter! Did you mark it in red?"
Peter: "Nope. But I think we found the reason for Tom's headache."
"My head!"
"Eww!"
"What?!"
"You touched m...Ouch!"
"Am I about to run into a..." POW! "Ow!"
"Yup."
"Hey! You can actually see! Help me out!"
"No! I have to find that tree!"
It went on like this past sundown, until finally Peter said, "bedtime! We'll pick it up again tomorrow."
Basically the same thing happened as before. Those who could see, looked for the tree, while being rammed into by those who couldn't, and those who (mostly) couldn't, rammed into trees, and altogether, had no idea where they were going.
Finally, someone suggested they team up. So half of the seeing men joined ranks with the one who couldn't see, the only who could only look up, and the one who could only look to the right. The other half teamed up with the one who could only run backwards, the one who could only look down, and the one who could only look to the left.
Unfortunately, neither teams had ever teamed up before, so things went pretty much the same way.
At about ten o'clock that night, Michael spoke up, "this is insanity! It is truly impossible to find the tree like this! So if anyone wants to find it, the teammates had better work together. We can have leaders, we can have rules, we can have whatever. But we need to help eachother. All in favor say aye."
A chorus of 'Aye!'s rang out from them, and because of the dark, no one saw the smile on Peter's face.
So these were the new sounds,
"Look out Tom! There's a tree in front of you!"
"Thanks!"
"Ouch! That hurt!"
"I'm sorry, I'll try not to next time!"
"Look out Jack!"
"Good! Now go three steps to the right, and...ya! That's it!"
"Good work Tom, keep it up!"
"Stay with me! Don't step there you'll hurt yourself!"
"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! You look so...so..."
"I know! I know! Numskull!"
"Guys! Remember! Teamwork!"
"But he's not my..."
"Peace, brothers."
"I'm not your..."
"haven't you ever heard of kindness?"
"Or The King?" *
"I found it!"
"Okay, good work men," Peter said smiling, "however, Philip, your attitude just earned you thirty yards worth of crawling with Jack on your back."
Philip groaned.
"As for the rest of you," Peter said, "you now understand why I did this right?"
All of the men nodded. "Good," Peter said, "now for the third thing, he reached behind him, and one by one handed the men back their weapons.
"I also have something else for you," he pulled out small lights, "guard these well," he said, "protect your families with them."
"What are they for?" Jack asked.
"When the sun comes up in the morning," Peter said, "what happens to the night?"
"It leaves."
"Right, when you light a torch in a dark passage, what happens to the darkness?"
"It leaves."
"Right, the dark cannot stay in the presence of light," Peter said, "evil is darkness, good is light, does that answer your question?"
Jack nodded. "Good," Peter said, "Jack and Philip, get read for the thirty yard crawl, the rest of you, get your things on your horses, we'll leave soon."
*The King is the character for God in the story, hence the evil and good part as well.
I hope you all had a good laugh, I would love to hear what your favorite part was in the comments!
I am going through one of my books right now and writing the 3rd draft, (I wrote the 1st draft when I was MUCH younger) and I have been having the time of my life reading it. :D
Anyone who has looked back on old writings of theirs, old paintings, whatever it is, will know what I mean when I say I took one look at the page, burst out laughing, and threw it across the room.
There is a part that I am cutting entirely, not revising, but cutting out because it does not relate to the story at all and quite frankly, is just ridiculous, that I could not help being a little sad to be getting rid of. It was just so...so...well, you will see what I mean. ;)
Do you want to read it?
Here goes, I am just slightly embarrassed to be putting this out there, but bearing in mind that I am much older and improved, I will give you the privilege of reading it. Just as a heads up, it is all in a fictional land that I made up.
This is all the original spelling and punctuation.
Peter was getting very frusterated, "I probably have the lousiest ten men in Nuvrea!" he thought. Many times they had complained about exhaustion, tiredness, hunger, lousy traveling mates, and other things. So Peter finally decided to do something about it, he led them to a clearing in the middle of many trees, so no random pedestrians could see them. He ordered them to get off their horses and said, "okay, I've seen what great men you are in the past five days, therefore I'm putting together a little camp for you. Any questions?"
Michael raised his sword, "Yes Michael?" Peter asked. "What kind of camp?" Michael asked.
"Toughening camp," Peter said, "Now, to start off, give me all your weapons." The men hesitantly handed their swords and bows to him. Peter placed them on a log, and then, without warning, punched Michael in the stomach. "Ow!" Michael cried, and clutched his middle. Peter turned on the next, and hit him over the head, on the back, and then tripped him. The men started to defend themselves but Peter was much too fast for them, by nightfall they were all laying on the ground in a big heap.
"You guys are the saddest warriors I've ever seen," Peter said, "okay, everybody bedtime! Early tomorrow same thing." The men groaned in reply.
"You!" Peter said, the man he was pointing at snapped to attention, "what do you want to eat?" "Eat?" the man was stunned, "well I, I'd like some fried fish." "Okay," Peter said, "you have exactly five minutes to catch it, fry it, and be eating it. Okay, three, two, one, go!"
The man grabbed his arrow and ran to the stream, the rest of the men laughed at his feeble attempts to catch one. After ten minutes he finally caught it, he ran to make a fire, now the men laughed even harder. After twenty minutes he finally lit it, in the making of the fish, he burnt it, and realized after he had already taken a bite, that he forgot to skin it. The rest of the men were rolling on the ground laughing now.
Peter rolled his eyes, "attention!" he yelled. The men jumped up and saluted.
"Which of you were laughing?" Peter asked. No response. "I saw which of you were, so if your lying, I'll know. Now, if you were laughing, raise your sword.
All of the swords except two raised, Peter walked over to the two that were not raised, "I saw you two laughing, YOU catch some fish and cook it. When your done it had better be perfect cause the rest of you are eating it. Now go!" The two men ran and did as instructed. Peter turned to the othe five, "you will serve this man in any way he wishes for the next two days." He turned to the first man, "and you will wrestle me again." The man's face turned pale, and Peter hit him in the stomach.
(later)
"Okay, now do a pushup," Peter commanded.
Michael collapsed. He had just crawled thirty yards with Peter on his back, and doing a pushup was just too much. "Now lets see how the others are doing," Peter said. He got up and nudged one of the crawling men, he collapsed as well.
"Okay! Break time!"
All of the men scrambled to there feet, "you have exactly six minutes to make dinner. Three, two, one, go!"
The men did these excersizes and routines for days, until finally, the could do five pushups after crawling thirty yards with someone on their back, catch fish and cook them (without burning them) in six minutes, since they were never a match for Peter at wrestling, at least dodge his blows, and many other heartwrenching painful things.
When they could finally do it all, Peter said, "you may be happy to know, I only have three more things for you."
The men cheered, "this is the first one," Peter said holding up a bottomless bowl, "fill this up with water." One man walked up and held it, another came to try to fill it up, they used the water from the stream.
"Here are the rules," Peter said, "no helping eachother, no talking, and no letting the water touch yourself."
He handed out the bowls to all of the men, "and no sleeping."
The men poured and poured and poured and poured, until they clenched their teeth in frustration, strained to stay awake, and several of them quit. The next day they were still at it, but to no avail. Peter watched them in amusement, and when nightfall came, one of them said, "there is no way!"
"Wrong," Peter said, "you just haven't found it yet. And you just cheated, sixty pushups."
At last, one of the men became so frusterated, he left, and came back with a large peice of bark. He covered up the whole in the bowl, and then filled it up.
"You may all stop now," Peter said, "he has figured it out."
The men started mightily protesting, and one said, "why did you tell us to do that anyhow?!"
They all waited for his response, it came, "one, to teach you a lesson, and two, to see how long it would take for you to figure it out."
"What was the lesson?" The man who had figured it out asked.
"The lesson was this: Sometimes the answer is the simplest thing," Peter said, "now for the next thing, you must find the one tree that I marked in that forest. Hey you!" he pointed to one of the men.
"Yes?" the man asked.
"You are only allowed to look up. You!" he pointed the next one, "are only allowed to look down. You! You are only allowed to look to the right. You! Are only allowed to look to the left, You! Are not allowed to open your eyes at all. You! Have to run backwards. And the rest of you can see normally."
They all nodded, "okay, go!" He watched them run to the forest, and he ran after them, so he could "supervise." When they reached the forest, they switched there head posisions and started running to find the tree. These were the noises Peter heard,
"Ow! You numskull! Look where your going!"
"I can't see you idiot! I can't run forwards!"
"Hey! Ouch!"
WHAM! "Ooooohhh....."
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Bam! "Oh! I think I broke something!"
"YOU'RE complaining!"
"Ow my head!"
"Watch it you nincompoop!"
"Hey!"
"My poor head!"
"Oh shut up!"
"I think I found it! Peter! Did you mark it in red?"
Peter: "Nope. But I think we found the reason for Tom's headache."
"My head!"
"Eww!"
"What?!"
"You touched m...Ouch!"
"Am I about to run into a..." POW! "Ow!"
"Yup."
"Hey! You can actually see! Help me out!"
"No! I have to find that tree!"
It went on like this past sundown, until finally Peter said, "bedtime! We'll pick it up again tomorrow."
Basically the same thing happened as before. Those who could see, looked for the tree, while being rammed into by those who couldn't, and those who (mostly) couldn't, rammed into trees, and altogether, had no idea where they were going.
Finally, someone suggested they team up. So half of the seeing men joined ranks with the one who couldn't see, the only who could only look up, and the one who could only look to the right. The other half teamed up with the one who could only run backwards, the one who could only look down, and the one who could only look to the left.
Unfortunately, neither teams had ever teamed up before, so things went pretty much the same way.
At about ten o'clock that night, Michael spoke up, "this is insanity! It is truly impossible to find the tree like this! So if anyone wants to find it, the teammates had better work together. We can have leaders, we can have rules, we can have whatever. But we need to help eachother. All in favor say aye."
A chorus of 'Aye!'s rang out from them, and because of the dark, no one saw the smile on Peter's face.
So these were the new sounds,
"Look out Tom! There's a tree in front of you!"
"Thanks!"
"Ouch! That hurt!"
"I'm sorry, I'll try not to next time!"
"Look out Jack!"
"Good! Now go three steps to the right, and...ya! That's it!"
"Good work Tom, keep it up!"
"Stay with me! Don't step there you'll hurt yourself!"
"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! You look so...so..."
"I know! I know! Numskull!"
"Guys! Remember! Teamwork!"
"But he's not my..."
"Peace, brothers."
"I'm not your..."
"haven't you ever heard of kindness?"
"Or The King?" *
"I found it!"
"Okay, good work men," Peter said smiling, "however, Philip, your attitude just earned you thirty yards worth of crawling with Jack on your back."
Philip groaned.
"As for the rest of you," Peter said, "you now understand why I did this right?"
All of the men nodded. "Good," Peter said, "now for the third thing, he reached behind him, and one by one handed the men back their weapons.
"I also have something else for you," he pulled out small lights, "guard these well," he said, "protect your families with them."
"What are they for?" Jack asked.
"When the sun comes up in the morning," Peter said, "what happens to the night?"
"It leaves."
"Right, when you light a torch in a dark passage, what happens to the darkness?"
"It leaves."
"Right, the dark cannot stay in the presence of light," Peter said, "evil is darkness, good is light, does that answer your question?"
Jack nodded. "Good," Peter said, "Jack and Philip, get read for the thirty yard crawl, the rest of you, get your things on your horses, we'll leave soon."
*The King is the character for God in the story, hence the evil and good part as well.
I hope you all had a good laugh, I would love to hear what your favorite part was in the comments!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Innocent or Pure?
You know those times when there is something so simple, so plain, but it takes you years to realize, and when you do, it is so profound?
I had one of those moments a few months ago, and it has stuck with me and been really encouraging, so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you about it.
Here it is, plain and simple, Innocence and Purity are not the same.
I became a Christian when I was twelve. This may come as a surprise to some of you, as I have grown up in a Christian family with Christian morals and may have seemed to have been a Christian for a long time. (I am fourteen, for anyone who didn't know that) When I was twelve, my view of life changed so radically and I was sure of my salvation. Positive. There was no question about it, no more fear, no more doubt, I was saved.
I knew that the only way to be saved was by grace, since waaaaaay before I was a Christian it has been drilled into my head through Sunday school and other places that you cannot be saved by works, that it has to be all God. So I know this. However, sometimes I view myself as still being what I was, sinful, unsaved, imperfect, so I feel that I have to work and be good enough, measure up to God's standard, to be His child.
Have you ever felt that way?
One day I was outside, I don't remember what I was doing, taking garbage out or something like that, and I was trying to convince myself that I don't have to prove myself worthy, and in one moment I nearly lost all hope. That was the moment that Satan decided to take advantage of my moment of weakness and tell me, "You have sinned. It doesn't matter what God does, you will never be innocent. You are innocent when you have done nothing wrong, not when your wrongs have been forgiven. It doesn't matter if you are forgiven, you can NEVER be innocent again."
I turned my face to the sky, I knew God couldn't have lied to me, but this was true, I never would be innocent again. I had sinned.
Then, out of the blue, a verse came to me from the Beatitudes, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)
I still didn't see the difference, I just sat there and despaired, "I will never see God. I am not innocent. I can never be innocent."
But then words came into my head, "Innocence and Purity are not the same thing."
That simple sentence was all it took for me to realize, God never said 'Blessed are the Innocent.' True, no matter how many times you ask for forgiveness, you will still have your past behind you. The difference is that it does not matter anymore. Because Innocence is what was, while Purity is what is.
When God forgives, He doesn't take you back in time, He gives you a chance to become new, to be pure now. Your identity is not in what you were, or what you did, but in what you ARE.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)
I had one of those moments a few months ago, and it has stuck with me and been really encouraging, so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you about it.
Here it is, plain and simple, Innocence and Purity are not the same.
I became a Christian when I was twelve. This may come as a surprise to some of you, as I have grown up in a Christian family with Christian morals and may have seemed to have been a Christian for a long time. (I am fourteen, for anyone who didn't know that) When I was twelve, my view of life changed so radically and I was sure of my salvation. Positive. There was no question about it, no more fear, no more doubt, I was saved.
I knew that the only way to be saved was by grace, since waaaaaay before I was a Christian it has been drilled into my head through Sunday school and other places that you cannot be saved by works, that it has to be all God. So I know this. However, sometimes I view myself as still being what I was, sinful, unsaved, imperfect, so I feel that I have to work and be good enough, measure up to God's standard, to be His child.
Have you ever felt that way?
One day I was outside, I don't remember what I was doing, taking garbage out or something like that, and I was trying to convince myself that I don't have to prove myself worthy, and in one moment I nearly lost all hope. That was the moment that Satan decided to take advantage of my moment of weakness and tell me, "You have sinned. It doesn't matter what God does, you will never be innocent. You are innocent when you have done nothing wrong, not when your wrongs have been forgiven. It doesn't matter if you are forgiven, you can NEVER be innocent again."
I turned my face to the sky, I knew God couldn't have lied to me, but this was true, I never would be innocent again. I had sinned.
Then, out of the blue, a verse came to me from the Beatitudes, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)
I still didn't see the difference, I just sat there and despaired, "I will never see God. I am not innocent. I can never be innocent."
But then words came into my head, "Innocence and Purity are not the same thing."
That simple sentence was all it took for me to realize, God never said 'Blessed are the Innocent.' True, no matter how many times you ask for forgiveness, you will still have your past behind you. The difference is that it does not matter anymore. Because Innocence is what was, while Purity is what is.
When God forgives, He doesn't take you back in time, He gives you a chance to become new, to be pure now. Your identity is not in what you were, or what you did, but in what you ARE.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)
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