So I randomly sat down and decided I would write another poem...

Rhyming lyrics of a song
So cliche yet it still goes on
A lyrical burst upon a page
Is it filled with joy or full of rage?
Sometimes they speak of wars we wage
Or how you feel you're in a cage
Sometimes it speaks of broken hearts
Or the way it feels when love first starts

The notes they bounce upon our brains
A song stuck in your head
To make a permanent stain
You can't get it out and it won't go away
All during homework your thoughts run astray
It feels so right, don't you need a break?
Set down your pencil as music overtakes
Bob your head to the beat during the work you fake

Why do we make it? How does it come?
And how easily by it we're overrun
Perhaps lyrics for me can fit for everyone
Because we never know, do we not,
The kind of power a song has got?
Write up a tune, let the lyrics all flow
Grab a guitar and let it all go
How far could it take ya? You never do know...

Philosophical Munchie Attack

Okay, I feel suddenly inspired once more to write another blog post, but at the same time my stomach had an inspiration of it's own here at 10'o clock at night. So now that I'm back at my desk again, occompanied by a couple of cherry flavor pop tarts and a big glass of milk with a straw, I must remember one thing: Where was I going with this before my stomach so rudely interrupted my train of thought?

Hmm....

Actually my sudden hunger reminds me of this Bible verse I came across this evening: "When goods increase, they increase those who eat them." - Ecclesiastes 5:11. So, so true! That's probably why there is such a problem with obiecity in America. I just thought that was so well put; I had to share it with you guys :-) I think Ecclesiastes now ranks in my top fave books of the Bible. I randomly flipped open my Bible this evening, letting the pages fall where they may as I prayed to God to lead me to whatever it is He needs me to hear. I ended up there, in Ecclesiastes, and somehow just couldn't stop reading it. So I read through the whole 12 chapter book in about 45 minutes... Then realized it was time to go downstairs for evening devotions with the family and looked down, realizing that I never did finish that chart in home ec. that I should have done hours ago. Oh well... "procrastinators unite, tomorrow!", I guess. Now that I think of it, I STILL haven't finished it. I should probably be getting that done soon...mom says if I don't she won't let me go airsofting tomorrow with my brother :-/ But of course I won't let it go to that extreme- 'sides I'm rather excited to go cause I haven't gotten to go to an airsoft war since Nathaniel's 13th birthday back in March.

Home Ec... hey that reminds me of something else. Something I found somewhat funny and ironic earlier when I was working on it. So right now I'm studying in it about nutrition and vitamins 'n that sorta thing... As I was reading the lesson I was listening to my mp3 player, which was playing the song "Dental Care" by Owl City. All the while as I was doing these two things, I was munching away from my massive stash of skittles that I keep. *Laughs* of course I suddenly noticed the irony of this and decided it would make a terrific photo-op, so once again today I found myself procrastinating on my chart project so that I could take the following photograph:



...Hm, and speaking of irony, another thought just crossed my mind. You ever thought about how contradictory money is? Seriously. Read a penny. In little print around it it says "In God We Trust". Yet so many people tend to forget about God altogether in the pursuit of riches. Funny, isn't it? I think people should take more time to study their cash before they put it into savings.

Well, one thing seems to be leading to another here tonight. The thought of pennies brings up one more thing into mind. Don't worry, I promise this is the last of my "wannabe philosopher" moments here tonight :-) Actually this isn't really something I came up with; my youth leader told it to me.... So there was this guy walking down the street and he finds a penny. He stops, picks it up, and holds it up to the light staring at it a few minutes. His friend stares at him asking what is so special about this penny. He points out the spot that says "In God We Trust" and says "Whenever I find a penny lying around, it is something to make me stop and realize that I'm stressing too much. It is a reminder of the soverign power of God in my life, so every time I see a penny, I stop, pick it up, and say a prayer." How cool is that? I don't know where Mr.Gunkel found this story, but I love the idea. Pennies will forever remind me now :-)

Alright, well this post perhaps wasn't as genius and flowing as I had originally pictured before the poptarts started calling my name... It was more bits and pieces than anything. So I hope you don't mind. lol, oh well. Anywho, it's nearing upon 10:45 now and I need to go finish home ec and then get myself some sleep so I can have some good energy tomorrow for Airsoft, to bake Dad's birthday cake, and possibly to rearrange my bedroom furniture if I so happen to have the time (heh we'll see on the last one. I've been throwing this idea around for weeks.)

I bid you all good night! (or perhaps good afternoon or morning, depending upon what time you end up laying eyes on this post)

Sarah/Misty, signing off. <3

Don't Always Put a Helmet On; Some Things Were Meant To Hurt

My friend David and my brother Nathaniel have this joke they do to me at youth group from time to time, and usually when I'm least expecting it: One or the other (heh, or sometimes both) will suddenly run at me with his Bible raised over his head as if he is going to hit me with it and then shouts "THE TRUTH HURTS!" and fakes like they hit me. While being a somewhat amusing joke, there is also a tremendous amount of truth behind those words as well. The truth can hurt, and often times does.

In these times where feel-good sermons are all of what people come looking for, the truth can be highly overlooked. People don't like to go to church and hear a convicting sermon that causes them pain inside as they realize all of the things they have done wrong or need to fix in their lives. lol, that is probably why the church I go to is so little (it has grown over the past 4 years though; we've got usually around 30 people who come regularly, last I counted).

I've gotta say that between sermons, the Bible, and this other book that I'm reading entitled "Before You Meet Your Prince Charming", I've had that "convicted" feeling a lot lately. Ya know what's funny? Unlike so many people in this world, I actually *like* that feeling. I suppose maybe that's something unique about Christians...either that or once again I'm the strange one in the bunch :-) I just for some reason enjoy hearing or reading Biblically sound stuff that continually points out my errors in life to me.

I'm one of those people who just enjoys fixing things. When I succeed, weather the project is for myself or somebody else, I feel a great sense of accomplishment and joy. Especially if I was fixing something for another person, weather it be repairing an object, fixing a misunderstanding, or answering a techie question, or whatever. I guess this whole scripturally convicted thing works similarly for me; when I can see my errors in the light of God's Word, I can understand better where I went wrong and then ask forgiveness and try to fix my mistakes. If nothing else, at least know what to do in a future situation so I'm less likely to screw up in the first place, or just know to fix my attitude and thinking patterns on issues.

You don't have to be Bob The Builder to be able to say "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" With God on your side, anything can be fixed if it's within His plan.

And with that said, there is only one thing left for me to do....



*Fakes hitting you* THE TRUTH HURTS! *grin*

Verses Vs. Verses

I had just got to thinking recently... so often I'm finding that I've gotten to the end of a day and then suddenly think as I'm about to go to sleep "Man, I never read my Bible today...again." It's sad. I'm not in the Word nearly as much as I know I ought to be. But what if I read one verse for every song I listened to each day? I listen to music *so* much. I'm cranking the tunes all morning most of the time as I do my school work, while I draw, when I'm repairing clothes for dad, cleaning my room, doing internet, on car trips... or even the occasional time when I'm tired out and am just lying around on my bed. Anytime, anywhere. Heck, I'm sitting here pumping techno music as I write this post while reloading my mp3 player! But seriously, every song is AT LEAST a minute and 30 seconds long, and that's an unusually short one. Most songs are between 2:30 and 5:00 minutes. A single Bible verse on average takes 30 seconds or less to read. Think about it, it doesn't take NEARLY as long to read one verse as it does to listen to one song, and yet we (or at least I anyway...) seem to find time in the day to listen to song after song, yet don't tend to get nearly as many Bible verses in than song verses. How pathetically lame can I get? I guess it's good that God gave me a little brother, because this is one area in life where he puts me to shame. I'm continually walking past his room, seeing him on his bed reading his Bible. He's just so dilligent about it! And while I'm sitting on a road trip with my face in a copy of Lord of The Rings, he's on the opposite end of the back seat reading of the Lord of the world. If that's not convicting, I dunno what is.

Although I feel my walk with God has strengthened a ton this year from where I had been before, I know I could do so much better. And I SHOULD do far better.
But it can be hard sometimes, cause it's a constant battle between the flesh and the spirit. All these things I'd like to do and all these things that I should be doing.

I hate how I'm such a procrastinator; maybe tomorrow I'll fix that ;-)
^^^And that would be my problem.

So I'm going to attempt my own challenge: a verse for a song. Or at least a verse per song on estimate...because for how much music I listen to, and how often I space out while listening, it would be pretty dang hard to count exactly =P

I would say I'm going to try, but that brings me around to what we learned at youth group last week; "Do or do not; there is no try!" Because to allow for the possibility of failure is a sure thing that you will fail.

Please pray for me :-)

Sarah/Misty, signing off.

...hm I wonder how many songs I just listened to while writing this post?

And it all came from the weirdest connection!

I keep realizing more and more how true that verse is; "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose".

Things had been really tough, and it's all too easy to just launch into the whole "Why me?" attitude and just get mad at the whole scenario and anyone involved... and ya know what? It seriously solves nothing; it can only make matters worse. Yes, okay, I know you're thinking it so if you so have the urge, go ahead and shout "DUHHHH!" at your computer screen right now. (And I'll laugh if somebody suddenly walks into the room giving you weird looks for speaking aloud to an innanimate object *grin*). Now above when I said "had been", I'm not in anyway trying to say things aren't still tough for me. But they are better, and the more I think back on things, the happier I am that they have happened the way they did. Yes, you did just read that sentance correctly; I'm glad. Not that I enjoy all the pain invloved; I quite detest it, and had it all been up to me, none of this would have ever happened. But the fact is it wasn't up to me, and it is probably a good thing it wasn't. I've learned so much because of it...I've learned to search for the lesson in a trial instead of complaining until it's over, learned to better identify and admit my mistakes, learned that I've been blessed with amazing, caring, and loyal friends, And learned to better rely on God as well. As Pastor Harris told me on chat yesterday, "God doesn't test our faith because he doesn't know what it is, but because we don't."

Pastor Harris...heh, it was rather funny, just out of the blue my gmail started flashing "New Message from Steve!" yesterday while I was on Facebook. I looked at it rather confused at first wondering who the heck this "Steve" was... I clicked the gmail tab up and realized it was him! We ended up talking for an hour and a half, and I'm so very glad that we did. I found the conversation extremely interesting and beneficial, in fact I'm going to post a piece of it. He had some really great advice that I think should be shared with more than just me.

9 minutes

5:47 PM Steve: On the first one.... let me preface by saying that in many ways you are in the toughest time of life. You are growing up... You are beginning to want a personal identity not so closely linked to mom and dad. I don't mean or even hint at a rebellious independence but merely the desire to move toward adulthood. And also you have chemistry changing inside of you that makes the whole boy girl thing something rather volitable. (I know I spelled that wrong.... it got the funny line under it. anyway, I mean it can explode or burn if give a spark). Our society makes it worse..... it encourages young dating and old marrying. That is a bad combination that will lead to either frustration or sin. The solution (to the degree there can be one. It will still be hard at times) is to correctly understand our stage in life and make the most of that. You are not, and I think you would agree, at an age where you want to get married. So if you put a spark to the chemistry that is developing within you it will ignite. The Bible calls that burning with desire. and that burning is tough. SO.... what can you do at this stage that will help you the most without bringing the frustration, hurt feeling, and confusing circumstances. You can use this time to learn the skills of friendships with boys. Most marital problems, and I have counseled quite a few, boil down not at an inablility to work out the circumstances unique to marriage but simply not being able to be good friends. (More coming, I'll hit enter so you can read)

5:51 PM We are not designed to begin romance and then wait years before being old enough to marry. If you leave romance alone until you are ready to go where romance leads you will avoid a lot of heartache and you will be a better equipped young woman for romance and marriage when the time comes. Your friendship skills will be better perfected and you won't enter into a courtship with the doubts that come if you have cared, been disappointed, been hurt before. You will enter it new and fresh with high and hopeful expectations and not the past hurts that nag you and rob the joy.

5:53 PM sorry, by "brief" comment wasn't so brief.

... Wow, and to think all this came because I met his friend Pastor McKinnon last week, who made the connection and told him that both of them and my dad lived in the same area and attended Kelso High School. Crazy how stuff like that happens!

There's questions & answers you'll never understand

So over my half-hour break from school a couple days ago, I was reading Bo's blog post having to do with questioning authority- it was quite interesting and a great post. It's so true how everywhere you go, especially for teenagers it seems, we're encouraged to question authority. But like in the quote that was posted with his post, there are always things that we have to take and believe because they are from reliable authorities.

Directly after I read his post, mom walks into the room ranting about the latest political video she's watched having to do with government conspiracy theories. It got me to thinking... although in a lot of cases it is wise and beneficial to follow authority and believe in things from authoritative sources, at times authority is meant to be questioned. Sometimes we need to look for facts and proof in other sources than from those who lord over us and speak the loudest- we can't always just sit back and be blind followers. In some cases I believe we need to test the voice of authority; just because they're higher in ranks than us doesn't mean they're always right... or that they always tell us the truth.

Yet on the other hand of things, sometimes we need to question those who question authority, as those voices are not always for a fact in the right either.

Yeah, life. It's confusilating, huh?

The latest story I've been informed of is this government conspiracy theory that the attack on the Twin Towers back on 9/11 was actually planned and staged by our government. Yeah, that's right. It seems a little far-fetched, huh? Yet... you never know. People have been searching the issue out; they've noticed on the videos of the plane crashes that there were things on the bottom of the aircraft that look suspiciously like missles, and that the planes exploded before it seems they should have-- before the fuel tanks made impact. The other piece is that there was no video of the first plane hitting the towers shown on the news because the only people who happened to have video footage of it didn't release it until three months after the event. The weird thing? When President Bush was asked by a kid what he thought when he saw the twin towers go, he said "Well, my thoughts when I saw the first plane hit were, 'My, what a bad pilot!'" - yet he COULDN'T posibly have seen the first plane hit as he was watching the news that day as he said he was. Suposedly he was watching the news before he went into the classroom to talk to the kids. But he went into the class to speak before the second plane had hit, and when it did hit, apparently there was a secret service agent who went in and whispered something in his ear. Suspicious? Perhaps. And when Boeing was ased about the missle-looking things they made no comment what so ever. The people pointing these things out are saying that it is all in the mission to ruin the country's economy and force us into a one-world government.

I'm not sure what to think on all this. Any more, I don't hold much trust for our government, and thinking biblically, it all could be quite possible-- a one world government? Hey, things are leading up to the End Times, people! It would make sense. Yet, on the other side of things, Boeing may not have commented because they didn't want anything they said to be possibly held against them in court in the future, and therefore decided to give the media no quotes to run with to try and incriminate them later. With the quote from George Bush, he may very well have not been thinking and just spouted out a quick and funny answer to apease the kid. Who knows? We live in a world full of explanations, and for every situation there is only one true story...but which one is it?

Power corrupts
Situations errupt
Who can you trust
When things all blow up?
When evil constantly comes
There's only One
Cause every person has a dark side
And swords won't save us this time