Sharing Connections

Theology On Fire is a thought-provoking blog authored by a good friend of mine. Stephen is a talented writer, and he truly gets into the heart of Christianity, and more specifically, reformed theology. Take a moment to check it out. Even if you do not claim Calvinism, it is still very much worth the read.

Birds of a Feather

I dont know a single person who is famous, I dont know anyone who has ever seen a million dollars, and I dont know anyone who has ever done anything miraculous.

But I do know some people who are amazing in their own ways.

I have a wonderful friend who can turn a really freaky moment into something to laugh over. She can make a fear turn into a joy in an instant just by saying, "You've got this because God's already taken care of it." And you believe it without question.

I have two awesome sisters who will take anything that someone else has against me and show me 900 ways that I can use it to my advantage. They are both so blunt and honest, and sometimes that's exactly what the world needs. They are both beautiful, and despite being younger than me, I look up to them daily. They are my very best friends without question

I have a beautiful best friend who, though we dont always agree, always has the best advice. Her clear mind and vibrant outlook on life gives me hope. She can take a "you're an idiot" moment and turn it into a "but you survived and came out stronger" one. She's not afraid to call it like she sees it, yet she does it gently and passionately. She's clever and smart, and heaven forbid that gorgeous girl get angry 'cause someone's going down if her loved one is hurting.

I have an amazing mother who has taught me so much about what a Proverbs 31 woman actually looks like. She isn't perfect, and she doesn't have to try to be. She simply takes things one day at a time and does what she can to make her home a happy one. Some days are tougher than others. Some days it feels like the entire world is fighting you. But taking it one moment at a time--even when you're angry and frustrated--will get you through everything life throws at you.

I have the world's most creative friend and counselor who constantly encourages me to pursue my dreams. She is constantly encouraging me not to bother with what everyone else thinks and just do my own thing. The right people will come along at the right times if I just keep pursuing my own passions. She is such a beautiful picture of what it looks like to be a girl lost in God and not worried about anything else. Everything else will work itself out.

Last but not least, I have a sweet, sweet mentor who doesn't even know that's what she is to me. She has been such a beautiful example of what God can do in the life of a girl who runs after Him. She is so many things besides just a friend. She has shown me what its like to live a life in Jesus' footsteps. It's okay to get angry at people. It's okay to be sad and angry and hurt. It's okay to deal with things in your own way. She has been through so much and she has come out stronger than ever. She has taught me so much just by living her own life. I love her dearly.

These girls are my team. They have given me so much joy in life and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us all. I love them all dearly, and look forward to the years ahead.

Words To Wisdom: My Journey to Literacy

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” (Emilie Buchwald). That was most certainly true of me. I loved it when people would read to me. I would sit in my mother’s lap as a small child for hours on end, begging her to read just one more story. Just one more page, one more paragraph. My entire world was made of stories. When my friends would play dolls and dress-up, I would imagine myself to be Simba and Bambi and Boo, characters that I learned not because of the movies they appeared in, but because of the books that accompanied them. They filled my childhood with wonder and excitement.

It wasn’t until I was five or six years old that I truly began to understand that stories weren’t just something you tell or listen to; stories come to life through words. Suddenly, words became magical to me. The letters I learned in school—the sounds they made, the way you can put them together—suddenly took on an entire new meaning to me. All I ever wanted in the whole world was right in front of me. All I had to do was reach for it!

And that’s where the trouble commenced. At six years old, I knew exactly what I wanted. I understood well enough that I wanted to read. I spent countless hours shedding devastated tears. I knew it could work, but I didn’t have the knowledge to make it work. It didn’t help that I had so little patience. I knew exactly what I wanted, and I was keenly aware that I simply wasn’t able to have it.

I was bored to tears with the things I was able to read, and not yet able to read the things that interested me. The books I hopelessly stumbled through had no meaning. I didn’t want to read about a cat who had yarn. I couldn’t have cared less that Pam had some jam or that Ted had a red bed. I wanted a story, not a bunch of words that had no meaning. I longed for the adventure contained in the books my mother read to me.

By the time I was seven years old, I had given up hope of ever reading anything worth something. The subjects I once loved—history, science, and literature—not longer interested me. The things that once held me captive no longer did. If I couldn’t learn those things on my own, I saw no point in having them taught to me.

One day, I came home from Sunday school with a smile on my face and quite the haughty heart. “They’re doing a contest, Momma, and I’m going to win it.” My mother, who hadn’t heard about the contest, was somewhat concerned as I began to describe to her what the contest entailed. “In the summer, they’re going to see who can read the most books. If you read some, you get a prize. But Momma, if you read fifty books, you get a really cool prize. And I’m going to win it!”

Much later, my mother admitted to being absolutely certain that there was no way I could manage that. But she did her best to help me anyway. That summer, I read through every Watch Out for Joel book, every Cul-de-sac Kids book, and every Magic Tree House book I could get my fingers on. I read daily. Before I knew it, the summer was over, and in those three short months, I had grown to love what I had begun to hate. I had read fifty-four books a single summer. I had done it. I had learned to read.

I finally understood the beauty in words. I knew that people could put letters together to make words and the words made sentences, and if you could string the sentences together just right, you could make stories. It was quite the revelation to me at seven years old. “Literacy is one of the greatest gifts a person could receive.” (Jen Selinsky) This statement means all the more to me because of the struggle I went through to obtain it.  Looking back, I see now that if it had come easily and naturally to me, I wouldn’t see the beauty in it that I am so blessed to see today.

Friday Night Fun

 

I sat down this evening to make a list of fun, safe, legal, parent-approved ideas for Friday nights. I googled, I pinterested, and I asked around.
This is a brief list I've come up with over the last couple hours. (Note: the pictures with them do not belong to me. I found them while I was googling.)


Bowling! 
If there's a teen out there that doesn't appreciate a good night of bowling, I haven't met them. Bowling is great for a very wide age-range. It's a great way to hang out if you want to be able to talk. You can be as competitive or chill as you want and no one will judge. It's just fun, after all. 



Bonfire!
Again, what teen doesn't like an evening with a bonfire? It's a fun, mostly safe way to get to know a new group or hang out with an old one. It can be as relaxed or as crazy as you want it to be. For a twist on this already-epic evening, introduce glow-sticks into the party about half-way through. Encourage a glow-party--which could involve anything from hide-and-seek in the dark to an all-out glow-stick war!

 RAOK Night!
 Sometime's it's fun to do something for others! RAOK stands for Random Act of Kindness (also known as RAK). Get a group of close friends together and go out for pizza, plan the evening while you're there, and then go for it! Here's a list to get you started: Clean up a parking-lot. All those shopping carts that drive you crazy when people leave them around? Take them to a cart-holder-thing. Leave some change (in a ziplock bag) at a vending machine somewhere at a park.Tape an encouraging note in a bathroom stall. This is a great idea for places like parks where people have covered the bathrooms in obscene graffiti. It doesn't take too much to think of more ideas! This is an awesome thing to do!



 I'll be adding to this list soon! But this is enough to get through the weekend at least, anyway! Enjoy! :)

Savannah <3



 

Understanding the World as We Know It

       Last night, a friend and I had a very interesting theological/philosophical discussion on several topics. The conclusion to that discussion was something along these lines.

       If Evolution were true and accurate, and if everything merely came about through an accidental happening in the universe, then everything, by nature is an accident. There are no moral absolutes (to include murder, rape, genocide, etc). Everything survives depending on how strong it is. Anything that anyone can do to survive, they may. Therefore everything should be just as it is supposed to be. Rules and “morals” therefore are only applicable to oneself which means government should have no power over any individual. There are no rules and laws to break because one only answers to oneself concerning what he feels he must do to survive.

        All that said, the conclusion we ought to be able to draw from this is simply: The world is just as it is made to be. There is nothing wrong with it and we have absolutely nothing to be concerned about. There is nothing to “fix” because it isn’t supposed to be perfect. World hunger isn’t an issue because it is simply nature’s way of killing off the weak; to make a place for the strong. The sadistic murderer isn’t really bad. He simply wishes to remove any obstacles from his path.

        Why then, if this is the case, do we all yearn for something better, as though we know it is not supposed to be this way? We should be satisfied in the way we live, but are we? Do we just sit around and think “The world is fine?” Of course not. We are doing everything we can to try to make the world a better place. But what is a better place? How do we have knowledge of such a thing if it isn’t meant to exist?

         But if we consider--just for a moment--starting with a world already perfect in it’s design. A world where there is no hunger, where there is no pain or death or sadness, but where we have everything we desire. We thrive in our existence; we worry about nothing. It is then that we can know what perfect truly means, and we can know how it should be and we truly understand what it takes to return to such a place. Sin and death and heartache and pain enter into our beautiful world when we sin.

        But yet, even when all that is here, we have an element that keeps us going. We have hope because we know there is a better way, and we desire something that can and will once again be.

We understand that there is a way to fix things because we know how they are supposed to be. We have morals and rules that we live by in our slight attempt to perfect a world that we have brought into destruction. We understand that murder and rape and genocide and theft and cruelty and dishonesty is all wrong. We understand that those things shouldn’t exist because they hurt people and hurt shouldn’t exist.

        And so we yearn for the day when the world will be returned to it full glory. When there will be no anger, hurt, or sorrow. When we will stand in Glory with our Maker. That day will come and He will Triumph over evil and death and those who fight His good Fight now will one day stand at His side forever. And He will reign the world as it ought to be forever and ever. Amen.

That's all the critical thinking I can stand at the moment. Thanks for reading!
Yours,
Savannah

Ey-yiy-yiy!

Too much to do; not enough time to get it done!!
Wow! It's been a crazy month.
School, church, chores, friends, football....new job....it all adds up!
And it fills the calendar.

It can be very hard to prioritize things that you really want to do, but know that they're not as important as other things, such as family and school-work. My new job has really crammed that in my face.
I realized today that I have done one day of school-work in three solid days. And I blamed my job. Then at a second glance, I realized that it's not the job; it's my unwillingness to put forth effort into it. To get up in the morning, to not spend so much time on Facebook and Twitter, to not fun-read when I should be school-reading. It's a real problem.
And I'm not the only one.
My youth pastor wrote an article entitled "Are You Lazy."
I read it, thinking, "Not that much."
But I read it, and by the end, I'd come to the conclusion: Yup.
I'm lazy. Along with nearly every other American.
But wait!! How on earth can I be lazy when I'm up at 6:00 or earlier, making/eating breakfast, rushing to work/school, and then coming home to cook dinner? Even on the weekends, I clean some stuff--and go to church!
But BUSY does not equal LAZY, as my pastor argues.
You can be very busy, and still be lazy.
My youth pastor says

"...I don't daydream as much [as I used to] because now I have a smartphone. Instead of allowing my mind to wonder off, I pick up my phone and scroll through tweets, posts, and pics. One sign of our laziness can be distraction. When we feel pressure to work or perform, we want to escape from that so we escape into an online world. Your laziness can often be gauged by how often you're taking out your phone and staring at the screen. I'm not saying that anytime you pull your phone out you're being a lazy bum; however, it can be an indicator of laziness. So be cautious."

I do not have a smartphone.  But I see my laziness manifesting itself in doodling instead of reading, writing for fun instead of studying, walking back and forth multiple times before I actually get to wherever it is that I need to be.

It's not the all-out-late-night-six-hour-Netflix-tv-series-marathons that determine how lazy you are. It's the little things. Everyone needs time to chill and have those all-out-late-night-six-hour-Netflix-tv-series-marathons, but you also need to see that there is a difference in "just chilling/resting" and "being lazy." 

I'm going to run now, because there is a very good chance I'm using this blogging time to be lazy. I have school-work to catch up on, and a Chemistry test to study for.

Chao! 

Savannah

Back The Badge (#BackTheBadge)

Wow, guys! It's been a while since I've actually posted something worth reading.
I think we can all agree that our Military deserves our support.  Those guys and girls are doing so much for us. But while they are constantly in our prayers, we tend to neglect those who are in our own cities; those who wear blue uniforms and keep our streets safe. Our law-enforcement--Police, FBI, Fire-fighters, and medics. These guys deserve our full respect and gratitude as well.

Radio stations in my local area have recently stepped up and are participating in a thing to show our local law-enforcement and first responders how much we appreciate them. (The hashtag #BackTheBadge has been used to promote it.) People are calling in with stories of how their local law-enforcement officers and first responders have helped them in one way or another over the years.
These guys keep us and our families safe. They're there to help us out, and they do it in so many ways. And we so often repay them by fearing them, disrespecting them, getting annoyed with them...killing them.

There have been so many stories on the news lately of our officers who are simply doing their usual jobs--especially just on patrol--and have been shot simply for getting out of their vehicle.
These guys--especially our police-- know that they could lose their lives at any given time. And the know that they are hated by many. But they still put on that jacket, that badge, and those boots and tenaciously walk out their doors every morning.
Not sure about you, but I think they deserve our respect and our thanks.
Facebook, Twitter, etc use #BackTheBadge to show your support.
Thanks for reading!
Savannah