Sophia, the One and Only

Sophia loves pictures of herself, so it makes it extremely easy to make today's post!

This is Sophia's shadow.  I'm including it in her post simply because it's a pretty neat picture.  Plus, you hardly ever see her without it!

This is Sophia.  Complete with a "of course I don't know you're taking my picture!" smile.  Sophia's favorite activities include reading, playing with her siblings, and doing basically anything else her older sisters do.  She's a very outgoing person, always able to make a new friend.

Here's Sophia with the music harp on the couch.  She plays a little bit of piano (she's still learning), music harp, and hopes to play the real harp one day.

 That's about it when it comes to Sophia.  Based on her photogenic behavior (constantly getting in the way of the lens!), I'm sure that this isn't the last post about her!

Slavery: An Overview

Today I want to talk a bit about slavery—a topic of conversation I've been well-known for!  Some of you may not know this, but slavery exists in nearly every continent and in all countries.  There are twenty-seven million slaves throughout the world, half of which are children.  To warm you up to the subject a bit, I wanted to share this quote from Zach Hunter, a teenage abolitionist, in his book, Be the Change.

"You may be wondering how people become slaves.  Many think it all starts with a dramatic kidnapping, but that is rarely the case.  Usually, it has to do with money, or lack of it.  Sometimes a family allows a child to go with a trusted family friend who promises a good job to help meet the family’s needs.  The child soon discovers this “friend” has sold them into slavery.  Or, in some instances, a desperate parent will sell their child into slavery.  Often the parents are misled to believe their child will have better living conditions and maybe an opportunity for a better education.  Instead, the child becomes a slave."

Here are some facts that I've uncovered about modern day slavery:

1. The term “slave” means a person under the threat of violence and unable to walk away.
2. Slaves live on every continent, and in most countries.
3. There are 27 million slaves in the world today- that’s more than all 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade, put together.
4. It is an estimated 2 million children are trapped in forced prostitution.
5. The trafficking of humans the third most profitable underground trade, Illegal drugs and weapons.
6. There are at least fourteen thousand, five hundred slaves trafficked into the United States every year.
7. Six hundred thousand to eight hundred thousand people are trafficked each year.
8. Approximately two children are sold every minute.
9. Up to seven thousand Nepalese girls are sold each year, mostly to brothels.
10. In Haiti, one in every ten children are slaves.
     

Slavery erases confidence and any thought of freedom.  It also erases the dreams and hopes of many people, both young and old.  It destroys whole families, and even whole cities.  Can something this terrible be ended?  If enough people think that it can be stopped and make it their goal to stop it, I really think it can.  Ending slavery is a large task but with God, all things are possible.  We need to act though; we can’t just sit and wait for God to change things. We need to be willing to get out and be His hands and feet in the world.  One of the most important things we can do is pray.  We should be praying for the people all over the world who are enslaved in so many ways.  Children in carpet industries, girls in brothels, families in brick yards– pray for them all.  This is the most important things that can be done.  Just by praying, we could be changing 27 million people’s way of life– that’s how powerful prayer can be!  Please take a few minutes today to sit down and pray for slaves all over the world! 

   

The Room, by Joshua Harris

This is the account of a dream that Joshua Harris had in 1995. I've heard the story numerous times, and I still love it. It illustrates the grace that Christ gives us perfectly. The beginning and the end of the video are sort of grainy—don't let that stop you from watching it!

(Energetic) Emily

Emily's one of the two family drama queens (Sophia, the other one, will be introduced next week.).  She is also Samuel's hero.  She's probably the most bouncy, happy child I've ever seen—almost always wearing a smile on her little face.  Right now she's seven years old, and she's been learning to read at an amazingly fast pace over the last six months.

This is Emily's "excited" look.  She gets that look on her face, either folds or claps her hands, and starts jumping up and down if she's watching a suspenseful movie, or, in this case, her older sister playing a computer game. 

I think that one thing we'd all miss seeing without Emily is the joy that she inspires.  She's so happy and joyful that it's hard not smile at her, even if you're having a bad day.  And the silliness that goes along with joy at her age just makes it even harder not to smile!

And that's about it... Emily at her best. 

New Music—Anthem Lights

Anthem Lights released their first CD May 1st, heading it up with one of my latest favorites, "I can't shut up." This is the first music video Anthem Lights has officially made... and I think that it went pretty well!

Moving Backwards?

This is one of the many starts of a book I'll never write (or maybe I will write, but I'll now use a new beginning!).  The story at the opening is true—something I experienced about half a year ago. This is basically a challenge to other teens to "get their act together and do something."  Hope you like it!

I was at the library the other day and I saw a sight I wish I never had to see.  As I was browsing through the young adult section I saw three teens sitting around the table, complaining about something.  As I drew closer, I found out what. 

“I wish that I could go to so-and-so’s house tonight instead of going to youth group,” one of the two guys said.

The other young man looked at him mournfully, saying, “So do I.  Although, if I could go to your youth group, it’d be more fun—we could totally cause some trouble.  It’d be great.”

The girl, probably a younger sibling by the looks of it, sarcastically said, “But if you don’t go youth group or church, then you know what’ll happen to us, don’t you?  Lightning will come down and kill us all!”  She chuckled, showing that she didn’t believe a word of it.

“Oh well—my mom’d probably kill me before the lightning could, because she’s, like, so sold out on this “Christian” stuff.  I’ve played hooky before and gotten into big trouble—grounded for a week, man!” he shook his head like he didn’t know what was wrong with his mom.

“I guess that it’s our destiny to be trapped in church all the time,” the second boy said, texting furiously with one hand and holding up his head with the other. 

After listening to a few more minutes of their complaints and wishes that youth group would be canceled, I left the young adult section.  I didn’t understand at the time how deeply I could have been able to help the kids just by going up and talking to them.  I also didn’t see their problem—for me, going to church and youth group are good things.  I can connect with God and the others around me.  Apparently, not all teens feel this way.

What’s the problem here?

Why did I “happen” to come across this in the library?  I don’t think that it was a chance situation.  I’ve seen kids like these ones before—apparently the library is a pretty good hangout for tweens and teens who want to get away from parents.  They can go to the library to do homework, and get it done fast so they can play around with their friends.  Unfortunately, some of their play isn’t very quiet.  One time the librarian had to threaten to call the police because of a particularly loud and unruly group of teens got overly excited about something.  What has our generation come to?  Why would a librarian need to threaten to call the police because some kids were “playing around?”  That’s not the kind of playing around that my mom would be too happy to see me involved in, and I’m sure that if parents knew that their kids had needed a threat, they wouldn’t have been very happy about it, either.

We need to get our act together… and act.  Have you noticed that young adults in their teen years are looked upon as immature, disobedient and wild?  Did you realize that adults think of us as uncontrollable and unmanageable and that some younger kids think of us as disruptive and even scary?  We need to change that view and get the teens of today back on track. 

If you flip through the Old Testament you will find that many of the kings were still in their teen years or early twenties when they became king.  Their country needed them, and teens were looked on as responsible adults.  They were looked on differently than we are.  They were trusted to do things that most moms and dads would probably never even dream of trusting us with.

How can we change?

True change is also known as a revolution or a transformation.  True change means giving up the ways of the past for a new way, a better way.  We need to exchange our old life for a new one, one that is forgotten in the modern day world.  That means that you boys don’t need to show disrespect to get attention!  You girls out there, you don’t need to be immodest to be loved!  I know where to find love—in fact, I found it nine years ago on my knees in my parent’s bedroom. 

We are matches, little sticks that will burn out eventually, but if placed together, could burn down a house with the blaze.  We have to make sure that the blaze we are setting is the one that Christ spoke about when he said that we are the light of the world. 

Our goal is one of ancient origin—it is to save the world from the clutches of the enemy.  We are one in the body of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Through being a part of this body, we are proclaiming that we will revive the world and stir up the love that binds us all together.  We will teach and help non-believers, and love them as one would love a sibling.  Our God taught us the meaning of sacrifice, and then he taught us that we can sacrifice as well.  Many people have sacrificed their time, money, love, family, and even life for the Lord.  We, also, must sacrifice. 

That way we can show the world that it’s possible to change.

The Gospel: a short film

This only takes about twelve minutes of your time, but it's totally worth it!

Rose's Ensemble Performance

Monday night we all got to see a real treat—Rose and few of the other kids in the homeschool program play string instruments, and they preformed some of the songs they've been working on for the last few months. Here are some pictures of their group:

Rose is in the middle.  All three of the girls play violin.

From left to right—the last (and newest!) violin player, a viola player, and a cello.

This is the biggest instrument in the ensemble-the bass! 

We were all really proud of the wonderful performance! Good job, guys!  Keep up the great work!

The China Horse

I have a little china horse sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, simply waiting to be held and fondled by a pair of young, admiring hands.  The only problem lies in the fact that he's missing two legs, and an ear.  Amazingly enough, he still stands there, propped up against a whiteboard, waiting.  He's broken, and waiting to be fixed.  He's feeling unwanted, and he's waiting to be loved again.  Every time I look at him, it reminds me a bit of the Velveteen Rabbit—are toys really lonely when they're left, unwanted, or broken? 

Though my younger siblings may contradict me, I know that toys truly aren't real, but we are.  We feel the same loneliness as I described the toy horse feeling.  We're broken and waiting to be fixed.  We can't even stand on our own, let alone walk and live our busy lives.  What do we do, and what should we do, when we are "left on the shelf", alone, broken and maimed, untouched by any of those we think might help us? 

·         Ephesians 1:11 handles this really well when it says, "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," (the bold marks are mine.)  So just by that alone, we know four things.  We were chosen.  We were predestined.  We are according to God's plan.  We were made for the purpose of God's will.

·         Notice that at the end of the verse there's a comma.  (That's something Paul and I have in common—using run-on sentences.) He goes on to say in verse 12 that, "in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory."  Verse 13, which I'll paraphrase a bit for the sake of space, basically says that we were specially marked with the Holy Spirit so that we are known as God's possession "to the praise of his glory."  That's two times in the last two verses that Paul reminds us that we were made for God's glory—notice that he didn't say that we were made to sit on a shelf without any plans for the future but feeling sorry for ourselves.  The reason God predestined us (in verse 11) is to praise his glory (verses 12-13.)

·         For this last point, I want to use the story of Job for a minute.  You probably don't need to flip to Job in your Bible to be able to recite his famous words, "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21, for your information).  But the less well known words come only a chapter later, when Satan is talking with God.  He says that if Job is physically hurt then he knows that Job would denounce the LORD.  The LORD knows that Job is past that.  He knows Job well enough (I mean, He made him!) that He knows that Job would rather die before he renounces the LORD.  But the LORD doesn't let him die.  He has big plans for Job, so He told Satan, "very well then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."  Even though God allowed Satan to test Job, almost to the death, He told Satan to not to kill him, because God still had plans for him.  It's the same for us.  God will allow us to be hurt, but He still loves us.

So next time that you're feeling "stuck on the shelf," remember that God hasn't forgotten about you—He still loves you.   When you need to be mended, He'll mend you.  When you need to feel like you need a friend, call Him.  Pray to Him and He'll answer you, even if you don't see the answer right away.  He pre-destined you for the praise of His glory, and He won't let you go before He's finished with you!

Samuel

This is my four-year-old brother Samuel.  The sticker on the forehead is temporary.  So is the spiked hair.

Sam's one of the orderly kids in the house—my mom was so excited when he actually wanted to clean his room for the first time, or make sure that the napkins and forks are placed just right on the table.  He's the oldest boy in the house, and despite the spoiling he's gotten from his four older sisters, he's good at playing crash the car with Isaiah.

This is Samuel's "Baby Tractor" (a kid's John Deere Gator).  Sam's so fond of the thing that it's been replaced once when the old one (a hand-me-down from friends) broke down from the constant use.  Seeing Samuel outside in the summer without Baby Tractor is pretty close to seeing a pig fly.

  Samuel's a sweet little boy, a favorite among his family and friends.  One of his many talents is helping people out—something I'm sure he'll be known for a long time!

An eleven-year-old sharing Jesus

This is really inspiring to me, and hopefully to you, too!

Martial Arts, Trees...and our Destiny

Today is dreary.  And rainy.  And cloudy.  And cold.  All in all, it's a perfectly lifeless sort of day—one of those days when you just want to curl up with a good book and a couple of warm, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies.  But instead, I went to martial arts for four and a half hours this morning, cleaned my room, walked the dog in the cold and cloudy and rainy and dreary world outside our nice warm house, and now I'm thawing frozen chicken in a bowl of warm water in the sink and trying to write a satisfying blog post.  It would help if I could define the troublesome word "satisfying."  I think it's sitting on the couch, with a good book and a couple of warm, freshly-baked... oh, never mind.

I did get a pretty neat look at our lives (as in, the meaning and purpose behind them) today, though.  Mr. Hite, our martial arts instructor, talked about something really neat in class today.  He's a Christian, and he often rolls a Bible study into lesson time while we're all standing there sweating.  I think that there's something about the hard work and Bible lectures going hand in hand that helps us remember them both better, and I know that I'll remember this one for a long time.  Mr. Hite was telling us about how we need to go at our forms with passion, since we know how to do them, and that we need to think of the end of our forms when we're doing the beginning, because we need to set the mindset that we will end up at that ending, even if it's hard to accomplish.  Then he went on to compare it to... can you guess?

A tree!  (Of course...what else would you compare a martial arts form to??)  He explained that a certain tree was in God's plan at the very beginning of its life—when it was in the seed, and even before it was in the seed.  He said that God saw the tree at its full potential, all grown up, and then took that image and squished it up smaller and smaller until it was just a seed.  Even though the seed didn't look much like the tree God envisioned it to be, He knew what He wanted the tree to look like in the end, and held the image in His mind, shaping the tree to become a masterpiece.

Then Mr. Hite compared us to the tree.  He said that God did the very same thing with us.  God thought us into the person He wanted us to be, and then squished and squeezed us until we were really little and put us inside our mothers.  Then he said that God has an image for us, too, just like the tree.  He wants to see the destiny He made for us be fulfilled.  The only catch is that it doesn't happen unless we let Him shape us into the image He wants us to be.  The problem lies in the fact that we don't want to be shaped into that image—that it takes time, and learning the hard way, and being passionate about our lives, and according to Mr. Hite, that's why we're born screaming!

Who knows, maybe it's true!

And that's my satisfying blog post for the day.  Now I'm going to go make chocolate chip cookies.

Kill the baby, or kill the toddler?

This story really caught my attention.  Do you think that a real doctor would have actually risked his job to say this?  

"A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:
'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.

So the doctor said: 'Okay, what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take care 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution.'
The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.

He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb.

The crime is the same!

'Love says I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person. Abortion says I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself...'
Jesus sacrificed Himself for the good of sinners! That's perfect love!"

—unknown

Rebelution Tour 2011

Alex and Brett disclosed recently that this year's tour would probably be the last... so make the most of it while you can!
I encourage anyone who hasn't gone to the tour (and those of you who have!) to gain from the knowledge Alex, Brett, and their dad share.  All three are wonderful speakers, and the results of the conference are definitely ranked as life-changing.  It's certainly worth it!




In case you didn't catch it, the tour dates are:
· June 18^th, Orlando, FL
· June 25^th, Williamsport, PA
· July 9^th, San Diego, CA
· July 30^th, Portland, OR
· August 6^th, Kansas City, KS
· August 27^th, Indianapolis, IN
· October 15^th, Baton Rouge, LA
  For more information on the tour, or to order tickets, visit http://www.therebelution.com/conference/
Do Hard Things!

Introducing Isaiah

Today's post is about a certain member of my family.
Or, if you wish, a member of our circus. 
Or maybe it's a zoo.
No matter what it is, Isaiah is the center attraction. 

 

This is Isaiah, my one-year-old brother.  If any of us ends up in a full-body cast, it would be him.  He's almost always happy, mischievious, and full of energy. He's a dare devil, and even at his young, "innocent" age he has taught his older brother Samuel  (4 yrs old) things that Sam never would have dreamed of doing on his own. 

(One of Isaiah's most common offences—standing in the fridge.) 

Isaiah is a trouble maker, and like most trouble makers, he is amazingly cute.  The only problem is that he uses it...

  To his advantage. 

But he really is sweet. He can't help it.

The "why"

Why have I decided to start a blog? For the simple reason of, so many teenagers don't seem to get that they are wasting their lives away into the little bunches of nothingness they'll be once they die. Kids today don't seem to understand Jesus, or why He came to die. They don't want to accept Him because they think that they will be called names or spit on if they do. And they probably will, too. But I can remember the girl in my driver's ed class last summer who said that she wasn't ready to die. No one laughed or called her names. They stared. Maybe because they felt the same thing but didn't want to say it. The problem with churches is that they're getting bigger and bigger and the ministry is getting smaller and smaller, and pretty soon, there won't be anything left of them but some crumbling bricks and spiders dangling lazily down from their webs.

That's life. Things die, rot, and totally become nothing.

And that's why a blog, or writing in general, has become so important to me. If the kids get the news that Jesus isn't something to be ashamed of, then maybe they'll believe. If Christians actually took care of their lives, then much of the divorce, suicide, and the utter destruction taking place in the world right now probably wouldn't even happen. The slavery, poverty, hurt, pain—it would all be gone, and every man, woman, and child would have the chance to accept God before they died. Wait. That would be a perfect world, wouldn't it? I guess that's not going to happen any time soon, but we can try.