Mother's Day - By Beatrix C.

Mother's Day

By Beatrix C.

Mother's Day: The day where America decided to honor our country's moms. This is a good thing, too; mothers are very important in a family. Without them, they would likely fall to pieces. Never mind the fact they gave us life.

Jesus honored his mother by helping the couple who was getting married. It was because of her that the first miracle was set into motion, by Mary asking Jesus for help when the marriage they were at ran out of wine (John 2:1-11).

Like Jesus did, we should honor our mothers and do what they ask us to do. Even the Bible tell us to, in the 10 commandments. "Honor thy father and thy mother," Exodus 20:12.


We have a lot to be thankful for. Moms are great. They clean up your "ouches," they feed you, and read you bedtime stories; they do a lot. You may not appreciate your mom now, but you will in the future. Trust me, you will.

Church (Part 1) - By Leah F.

Church (Part 1)

By Leah F.

I was looking at my emails/subscriptions and this website showed up in my inbox: http://stevesimms.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/c-h-u-r-c-h-a-poetic-acrostic/ 

In it, there was an acrostic poem that looked like this:

C-Christ followers 

H-hanging out together 

U-under the influence of the Spirit 

R-responding directly to His promptings 

C-celebrating the glory of 

H-his only presence! 

For a couple months, I'm going to grow through 1-2 letters at a time, going into each of these descriptions into detail. Today we start with: C-Christ followers

 ----- 

What does it mean to "follow Christ?" Does it mean doing exactly what Christ did in the exact events? Sorry, but that isn't possible. Matthew 16:24 puts in a simple way; saying, "Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'" 

 Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him.

 Denying yourself- you need to realize that you are a sinner, and that you need God in order to get eternal salvation. Pray to God, repent for your sins, and ask him to love inside of you and be your God. 

Taking up Your Cross- Some might believe that this means bearing suffering and pain, and it does, but in Jesus' day; a cross meant death. You have to be willing to die for Jesus and your God everyday and every hour. 

Following Christ- 1 Peter 2:21 says, "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." We need to follow in God's example. Yes, we need to do good works; helping the poor, being kind to those who hurt you, but it means more. Praying to God in every hardship, preaching out to those who don't know Christ, loving people who don't love you, and even praying for them. 

As you can see, all of these points can't happen over night. They take practice, perseverance, and prayer. You need to *want* God in your life, and you have to realize you *need* to follow God. I understand that it's hard to realize what God wants from you, but I pray that we'll find the courage inside of us to pick up our cross, and follow Jesus.

Parable of the Lost Shoe - By Kaitlyn F.

Parable of the Lost Shoe

By Kaitlyn F.

When Jesus was alive, he would talk in parables or stories. One of 

my favorite parables is the one of the lost sheep. The parable goes,  

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. 

Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after 

the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts

it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and 

neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost

sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in

heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous

persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:4-7) 

Now we can get the idea of the parable, but it can be hard for us to

relate. So instead of sheep, we think of the loss of one shoe. The 

parable would go, 

“Suppose one of you has a hundred pairs of shoes and loses one of

them that goes perfectly with your blue sequined dress. Doesn’t she

leave the ninety-nine in the open closet and go after the lost shoe until

she finds it? And when she finds it, she joyfully puts it on her foot and

goes to her room to get ready for the dance. Then she calls her friends

 and boyfriend together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my 

lost shoe.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in

heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous 

persons who do not need to repent.” 

When we place the parable in modern times, it is easier to see the 

significance. Imagine if you did really lose your show that goes 

perfectly with your dress for the prom. Wouldn’t you look 

everywhere to find it? That is exactly what God does. He hunts 

you down like you hunt down your lost shoe. Another reason why 

I like to use the parable with shoes is that each pair goes to a 

specific outfit. Some shoes are meant to go with dresses and some

 are meant to go with jeans and a T-shirt. One isn’t better than the 

other they just have specific tasks to do. If we all are shoes, then 

we each have a specific task to do. We can’t all go with each outfit.

 That why some of us have a specific skill, that someone else my 

not have. But we were all created for the same reason, and we are

all equally loved.

White Boots - By Leah F.

White Boots

By Leah F.

Recently, Jamie Grace's new album came out; Ready to Fly. In that album, there is a song called "White Boots." Here are the lyrics to the chorus:
"I got my white boots, I got my white dress
And I ain't getting them dusty
All I need you to bring; are love rings
And I know in time I'll be ready
'Cause I've been waiting waiting waiting for you;
In my white boots"

Now, to most people (including me) you might just think this is about a girl in a wedding dress waiting for love. But this song is all a metaphor. The white boots and dress represent purity, and the dust represents sexual sin.

God's Holy Word says your body is a temple, to keep it sacred and holy. You shouldn't abuse it
stain it. A part in Galatians 5 says, "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious; sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Culture goes against these things today. Over drinking and hurting your brain is allowed as long as
your not driving. Hatred against people and yourself seems to be okay. It causes awful things; like
murder, suicide, destruction, and even war. But most of all; you can just have sex with whoever and
whenever. As Christians, we should know that this is wrong. You should keep your body pure and holy, for that's what God commands. The Bible goes on and on about how commuting adultery is wrong, but some people just refuse to accept it. People think that because society is okay, we must just be thinking wrong.

Exodus 20:14 says, "You shall not commit adultery." Guess where this is from: the Ten Commandments. If God wasn't serious about this topic, I'm 100% certain it wouldn't be in the ten laws given to Moses by God, written in stone; literally!!!!

Proverbs 6:32 says, "He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself." This verse shows how that by commuting adultery, you lack a certain wisdom. And if you commit adultery, you ruin yourself; you ruin the temple that God made you to be.

Romans 13:13 says, "Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." This verse shows how you need to not follow the world's example, but Jesus' example. We need to live as if we were Jesus, leaving a good example, and standing up to what we think is right (based on Biblical beliefs.)

Now I leave you with this; I pray that you will keep your white boots and your white dress. I also pray that you help pass on this message.

Easter Testimony - Rebecca U.

Jesus death and resurrection has changed my life because I have hope for a future. A future in heaven with Christ! I know that because I have trusted Jesus as my savior; I will go to heaven one day and live eternally with God. I also have hope that no matter how rough my life on earth is, one day I will be in heaven where everything is perfect.

Easter Testimony - Kaitlyn F.

I grew up in a Christian home all my life.  Around the end of elementary school, and the beginning of middle school, my faith wasn’t as strong as it should have been. Most of my friends had betrayed me, and around 7^th grade I started to watch videos that I knew my parents didn’t want me watching.  My self-esteem was really low but I kept acting like everything was okay. At the beginning of 11^th grade, God took every comfort I had and stripped it from me. I started from square one during my mission trip to Panama. That week, I got a renewed passion for God, and I slowly started to see myself as a beautiful girl who could do anything she wanted. All the lies that I was told all through middle school, started to melt away when I chose to believe what God tells me. This whole year has just been a year of growth for me. I have gained so much confidence in myself, and I started to mend broken relations and I made new friends. Most of all, my love, my trust, my faith in God has grown the most. God will break us, but we will come back stronger then we were before because we stopped relying on what we can do, and we start relying on what God can do. And as I have found out, God can do a lo more then I could every imagine doing on my own.

Easter Testimony - Emily M.

Emily M.

Before I really Knew Christ and experienced Him I had no idea what it meant to say it as David did. I had been going down the wrong path and yet the God who loves people more than anything reached down and gave me his hand and his heart and now I can say it with much humbleness

Psalm 103
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

³ Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;⁴ Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.⁹ He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.¹¹ For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.¹² As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.¹³ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.¹⁴ For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.