Humble.

Want to know something amazing? God will meet you where you are. You can be the doubter, insanely in love with Christ, or anywhere in between and God can meet you there and touch your heart. There is always more to learn about God. A huge thing I have been learning about God is humility.
In our culture, as Americans, we are taught to be first and to be the best and to have the most and to do whatever it takes to get it. The truth is, that is all wrong. Our God is a god that looks as far as the east is from the west over all humanity and He is looking for humility. What is humility? It is NOT hating yourself or thinking that you are crappy. It is realizing it's not about you, that life is about God and others. Humble people bring a smile to the face of God, that's how much God esteems humility. The God who brought everything into exsistence isn't looking for the prettiest or the smartest or the strongest, but instead He is looking for those with a humble heart.
How do we become humble? Well that's difficult because you can't just say you are humble because that would make you not humble. We all naturally have pride and are selfish, we were born that way; HOWEVER, the more we see God for who He is, not who we think He is, but for who He really is, the closer we get to humility. We can begin to see God for who He is in some different ways but the easiest way to get to know God is to read the bible. I know that sounds cliche, but it couldn't be more true. You'll find that who God really is will affect every part of your life. You'll be frying the bigger fish in life if you know what I'm saying there.
How do you know when you are getting closer to humility if you can't just be able to say I'm humble? Obedience. When you have a humble heart, you are able to submit yourself to God and others and do what they ask of you because God's priorities matter more than your own. Jesus was the ultimate example of humility. God never needed you, He wanted you but because you were foolish and ignorant and sinful He could not be around you so He asked His son to die on the cross so that He could be with you. Then, Jesus gave up his home in heaven and became a weak and fragile human because even he recognizes God's authority and is humble enough to submit to it and because he loves you as much as the Father. I think if Jesus could do that for us and for God, we could submit to God for him.

Personal.

"To know me is to love me, and to love me is to know me." That's a phrase that has stuck with me for quite some time from a video I watched a few years back. It was about the woman at the well and how Jesus knew her. He knew her sins and flaws and heart to the core of who she was and still wanted her. He knew her and He loved her. I applied it to my life in the sense that I could know the God of the universe knows ME and loves ME, just as He does for you. That alone is an amazing truth to grasp.

The real turning point for me was when I actually flipped the phrase around to God. To know God is to really love Him, and to love God is to really know Him. Do you know God? When you are faced with hard situations do you flip through the bible for the answer? Do you know what Jesus would really do or say? The bible isn't an answer booklet to life. The bible is God telling you who He is so you can know Him. You can know the God of the universe. Then, you will just know in hard situations what He would do. For example, you know your friends or family well enough to know how a certain person would handle situations. The same should be true for God. They don't call Christianity a personal relationship with Christ for nothing. There's truth in that! Take the time to get to know your God. Pray asking Him to reveal Himself and read the bible, not for you or your benefit, but because you want to get to know your God on a personal level and then you will benefit.

God knew you before you were born, you've got your whole life to get to know Him back, will you?

Life's Tough

Get a helmet. I'm kidding! As people we go through so many hard times and as believers there are added pressures and higher standards. For example, a lot of people struggle financially and that's really hard but for Christians they also have to ensure that making money doesn't become an idol, or something put before God. There are many different ways of dealing with issues some successful and others not so much. I thought I would make a list of Do's and Don't's:

DON'T:
Ignore the fact that you're hurting
Base everything you do off sadness
Blame God
Hide everything inside
Believe things can't be better
Wait around on life
Focus on being hurt
Say "My life would be better if.."
Be ashamed
Lose heart

DO:
Pray!!
Tell God your hurts
Open up to Christian friends
Accept God's peace
Remain in God's love


And lastly on the DO list:
Realize that it is okay to be sad, but it's not okay to dwell on sadness. You have got to come to grips with the fact that everything here is only temporary, it cannot last. Why focus on temporary discomfort given by the world when you have the Hope of the world in you? We are fighting a battle already won, so let God have the battle and focus on the victory of it all! In that how could you be left feeling badly? Glory to God. :)

Open

Hey friends, it's been a really tough past couple of months for me so I just wanted to share something that I've learned along the way but I'm going to be very brief.

First, I've learned that you've got to be open. What does that mean? Let me break it down for you, being open is all about having a transparent heart and being honest and letting everyone enjoy the love you have inside of you. Sometimes in order to move past things you have to say them out loud to somebody and get it all out on the table. Do so. Find someone who will always be there and let them be just an ear so you can work through somethings, but also let God be an ear because He is the one that will fix your problems, not your friend who will listen. Always be honest about who you are and how you feel, bottling things up may seem like the best but it can be so hurtful. Also, just know that the love of God is in you and whether you feel it or not it consumes your heart at the very core of who you are, don't keep that from the world! The love of God is for everyone so radiate it.

Wanting and Wishing

So I was thinking about my life and trying to see if it was how it needed to be because let me tell you, it hasn't been near what I want. Soon I realized that my spiritual life is not where it should be because of my wants. When I gave my life to Christ that was me saying I will die to myself everyday so that You may be glorified through me. My wants and desires must die as well. For God to truly be able to use you, you have to be a vessel and your greatest obstacle will be yourself. For example, I was so consumed with what I wanted and what I thought I needed that I spent time praying (because I need God) and then I would go get all dressed up (because I need "that guy") and then I would dance around (because I need to be fit..and not bored) etc.

Now check this out:
"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other."
"Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be."
"Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?"
"And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?"

All of those quotes were pulled right out of Matthew 6. God cares so much about you and He wants what best for you.. so why are you turning away from Him and saying "but I want what I want and You aren't giving it to me so You just hold on" and then going back to Him and saying "I didn't get what I wanted and it didn't turn out the way I planned. Comfort me!" It all seems so foolish, doesn't it?

God has got to be the MOST important thing in your life and NOTHING can matter more or you are being unfaithful. I would say God should be your number one, but He should be your only one. He deserves your best and everything you are.

Here is a great example that I heard:
A little girl holding her two favorite stuffed animals asked her father what he would be preaching about that coming sunday. He turned to his precious 4 year old daughter and said, "I will be talking about how we need to give God our best." She looked down at the toys in her hands and replied, "Well, He ain't getting these!"

Now you may sit there and laugh or just kinda smile at that because I know I did, but so often we are that girl and it is so true. We "love" God but heck! He ain't getting what we want! I mean, we want it. If you take a step back though, it shows two things. First, it shows that God is not as important as whatever it is that we want. Second, we are leaving this life with what we brought into it: absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, God is all that matters because He is all you will have when its all over.

Following Christ is not easy. It may look easier to just quit and live your life the way you want to, but I promise you will find that life is meaningless without Jesus Christ.. so take up your cross daily and follow Him to the end.

Randommm..

I haven't blogged in forever, obviously, so I'm just going to throw in a bunch of little things I've learned lately and hope it makes some sense but if not...nobody really reads this anyway.. I think.

ANYWAY! First, this is something I struggle with so often but it's a simple truth. God loves you and He loves you a lot, but not only does He love you, He actually likes you. He knows everything about you from your greatest moment to your best kept secret and He likes it all.. So why would there be any reason for you not to? Answer: there isn't a reason. Be you! In Christ. You're absolutely treasured and valued by the Kings of Kings and that's totally AMAZING! So love it. :)

Second, God loves you..but don't go thinking it's because of anything you have ever done. God loves you because He made you and because if you are a Christian He sees His son in you. So not only does He not just love you because you baked cookies for the homeless, but it also shows that you can't earn or lose His love by anything you do. HE LOVES YOU! End of story.

Third, life has really rough patches. There are always those days where you want to crawl in bed and never crawl out. BUT! God is comfort. God is love. God is hope..and so much more. Turning to God in time of need is the wisest and most satisfying way to live your life. He wants to help you. He wants to turn those moments of sorrow into an opportunity to draw near to Him..so do it.

Fourth, God's love never leaves us. If you aren't feeling it, you don't have to go look for it! It's right inside you in your soul. Spend time in His word and you will see the depths of His love and then in prayer you can experience how personal the love really is. Our God is the God that is everywhere and in everything. He plays a role in everyone's life everyday. He is for YOU. The best part is: He is completely and totally alive and living..IN YOU!

Last thing for tonight, I love you! Just learn to accept God's love and give it (because you can!). So again, I really love you. :)

Testimony Time!

Okay, so I know the title is so corny but whatever. I'm not creative!! ;) Let me break it down for you. Next week I am going on a mission trip to Phoenix, Arizona. I am so pumped! Now not only do I need prayer for the trip and for me, but I need to work on getting my testimony in simple terms so I can tell people!

Well first, what is a testimony? Dictionary definition says: A public declaration regarding a religious experience. What does that mean? A testimony is basically your story. How did you get to where you are? That's basically what I have to sum up into an understandable fairly short but deep story.

So here's my testimony: I grew up in a "Christian home" basically my family went to church every week and my parents were Christians. When I was very young my sister accepted Christ and I got this idea that I probably should too. I knew that with Jesus I would go to heaven and without Him I would go to hell and..well it wasn't a hard choice for a 6 year old girl. I wanted to be seeing some angels! For most people their testimony would stop here, but mine can't stop there because that isn't when I really think I gave my life to Christ. After I prayed "the prayer" as a little girl I still went to church and memorized verses, but there was church life and other life. Jesus was off in His own category and they never mixed. I put Him off to the side and continued life because I wasn't a bad kid! I made good grades, I respected adults, I believed in Jesus, and I hardly had conflicts with the few friends I had. Life was..good.

Then this weird thing happened. I got older. Then life got harder. I was strong and I took on a lot. I dealt with family, friends, school, hormones, heartbreaks, and the world of the preteen. Then suddenly I was in for a world of hurt. I got to the world of the teenage. OH BOY! If you can't say nightmare I can yell it for you! I realized that life is hard and no matter how "good" I am I CAN NOT do this alone. Life is so meaningless and stressful and hurtful all by yourself. I found God last summer in a way I'm not sure I can describe. I stopped living in the way I wanted to and I connected with my best friend, Lord of my life everyday. I felt a joy I can't express and I found comfort and healing through it all. I gained a new life in Christ with a new heart and a new mind that came with new loves and new priorities. Was life still hard? Oh, you bet your rear end, but I didn't have to storm through it alone. I could just rest in God's peace and love.

I've realized something else too. My testimony doesn't even end there. This is a daily thing where everyday I am called to give up what I want for what He wants and to be honest i don't always, but I wish I did because when I take matters into my own hands I FAIL. Like epic. Yet God never lets me down. I love the Lord with all my heart and follow Him. And that's my testimony.

What's yours?

Like a flame in a forest..

I know I haven't kept up with my blog and I really ought to and I've said I would but no promises. I will certainly try to better about it though. Today I just wanted to share something that I learned today and it really hit home with me.

In James chapter 3, the Bible talks about how the tongue is like the rudder of a ship. You don't even see it and it is so small but so powerful that it controls the direction of a huge ship. It also uses a couple other metaphors for the tongue, like a flame in a forest (hence the title).

Picture this: You are flying over a forest in a helicopter. As far as you can see in every direction there is only a sea of deep green. Now, unknown to you, one man has one cigarette and throws that seemingly harmless lit cigarette to the ground. It ignites a single blade of grass with its dim burning embers..but one blade turns to two..three..four..and threre's still no visible problem. The next week you fly over again only to your surprise there is no green. There where you used to have your sea of God's creation there is vast darkness. Every tree is charred and blackened and dead...and so are the animals.

It's not exactly the image of happiness but in a way that happens all around us and we hardly ever see it coming. Do you know what I'm talking about? Let me put it in terms that seem a little more applicable.

Imagine this: You have an amazing friend, you haven't been friends for very long but you hit it off really well. You are still getting to know each other and you decide to go to a party. Your friend gets to not feeling so well and heads home early. Now the hottie across the room (you know what I'm talking about) walks over and asks if they can hitch a ride home with you because they aren't feeling well. You figure something must be going around and the party is lame without your friend and they are hot so you give them a ride to their house and then head home. It's all innocent and you didn't do anything wrong..but someone saw them get in your car and told someone else that..but that person adds a little more to the story..and it continues to grow. Monday morning rolls around and you head to school. You walk up to your friend to ask them how they are doing but they give you the cold shoulder and start to walk away. You stop them and ask what the deal is. Well, they don't want to be seen with you because they heard you hooked up with someone in the back of your car and then went to their house after.

Was that true? No. Does gossip happen? Yes. It doesn't even have to be that severe. You might just have one friend who tells another friend that you trash talk them and then your on bad terms. Or maybe the tongue destroys in a way that isn't even gossip. Maybe you told someone they didn't look good in that goofy sweater and you didn't mean to hurt them and they act like it's no big deal..but they feel self consious all day. Maybe someone hacked you off and you called them something you shouldn't have and maybe it hurt them a little more than you know.

The words you say matter. Every last one. Your tongue is the most powerful thing in your body. It will make or break people. It will save or destroy people. I'm going to challenge you to something: Next time you have something mean to say and its burning inside you, yell out a compliment. You may get a goofy look, but you'll be much happier with a funny look than a ruined relationship. I promise.

So I have to ask, are your words showing love or spreading hate?

Thanks Ya!!

Have you ever just needed a reason to smile? Have you ever thought of trying to be thankful? I know it sounds a little weird but when you become thankful it causes you to think of all the blessings instead of bad things and makes you a little happier! That's another gift from God, He calls us to be humble which makes us thankful which makes us happy. God is a pretty smart, nice dude if you ask me!! :)

Here are some things I am so thankful for:

Thanks Lord for giving me the very breath I am breathing right now.
Thanks for deciding to create me so I can live!!
Thanks for giving me a family.
And a home.
Thanks for putting me in a country where I can praise You.
And say what I feel.
And not be killed because of who I was.
Or what I look like.
Thanks for Your grace!!
Thanks for not setting a limit on how many times we can sin.
Thanks for the never ending mercy!
Thanks for love.
A love beyond compare.
Thanks for hope.
You are my hope Lord.
Thanks for friends!!
Thanks for people who care.
Thanks for caring about me Yourself!!
Thanks for CHRISTMAS!!
LESS THAN 2 MONTHS!!
Thanks for sending Your son to die for me.
Thanks for the best gift I've recieved.
Ever.
Thanks for giving it freely.
To anyone.
Anytime.
Thanks for creating hugs!
And teddy bears!
And snow.
And rain.
And music.
Thanks for thinking of me.
Every second.
I'm eternally thankful to You!
THANKS!!!

Changes.

If your mind hasn't concluded this: time passes. As time passes things change. It's so simple but when it happens we act so surprised. Why is that? I think the worst is when the people we know change over time. It's like one day you know them and the next day you don't. The thing I've had to realize is you have to accept change. Things don't go back to the way they were. The past is the past and it's over and gone... Whether we like it like that or not. Suck much? Umm, yes.

Now for some good news! God never changes! God is the same God He was even back during creation. He is always going to be something stable in your life even when everything else around you is changing. It is just another truth in the saying "On Christ the solid rock I stand" and you can find it to be very true.

So I'm going to make this short and go ahead and wrap up. Things change for better and for worse as your life goes on. God will never change on you.

Please Read This.

I want to start off by saying.. I AM SO SORRY!!

These are the things I'm sorry for not doing:
I'm sorry for not keeping up with my blog like I'm called to do.
I'm sorry for not being as prayerful as I should be.
I'm sorry for not holding my friend's accountable.
I'm sorry for not sharing my faith.
I'm sorry for not showing Christ's love.
I'm sorry for not being real with all of you.
I'm sorry for not being the encouragement I need to be.
I'm sorry for not lifting you guys up, but instead bringing you down.

These are the things I'm sorry for doing:
I'm sorry for being so negative.
I'm sorry for building a wall around my heart.
I'm sorry for caring so much about myself I couldn't stop being sad long enough to help you guys.
I'm sorry for blowing some of you off.
I'm sorry for letting you down.
I'm sorry for everything.

I wanted to make that list so that you guys could see point blank my faults. I'm not going to try to cover them up because that's pride and let's be honest, you guys know that I'm not perfect so I don't see why I should pretend to be. I am so sorry for pushing you guys further out of my life just because I was afraid if you got too close you would hurt me...

I learned recently that by pushing you guys away I was only hurting myself more. I would rather be backstabbed or brokenhearted or ANYTHING than be alone. It's not fair to you if I don't even give you a chance. I never understood how my friends could really like me, but I've got Jesus in me! And I'm so blessed to have friends that love Jesus. When I saw this it made sense.

SO! I want to say again that I'm so sorry and whether you choose to forgive me or not is up to you.. And I can't blame you either way.. I just don't want to leave things the way they are because in life I want to improve my relationship with God and my relationships with others.

I love you guys so much.

Why?

Please watch this first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX-lafNe3cc&feature=related

This is short, but after I watched this I jotted something down and I want to share it with you.

Jesus was beaten and He was hated on. He carried His cross to where He was to die. He wore a crown of thorns and was flogged; He was in so much pain. Then my Jesus was nailed to His cross and instead of coming down He hung there and died. He never did anything to deserve this. So why? Why did He die? Why did God have to watch His son die? For you. But more specifically, for you in Christ. If you aren't in Christ then all He did was a waste. Don't let it go to waste.

Help?

So far all I've blogged about is just all stuff I've learned. Well, now I've hit a snag. I'm in the middle of a spiritual drought. Which really sucks, because I was doing better than I have in my whole life. Now, things are happening and I'm swamped with life and I can't find God in all this. I want to be so lost in God again. I want to be in awe. I want to be passionate. I want to be forever changed. I just want my life to be for God. I need people to help hold me accountable.

Does anyone know how to help me? Any advice? Any encouragement? Anything?

Lead

Why aren't things different? How come every time you go back to school everything is the same? Should they be different? First of all, yes things should be different. Second, the change you ought to be looking for is in you. When you change everything else will too. Be a leader.

You need to lead, you need to be an example of how a Christian should be and other people may follow and even if they don't you still need to lead just for your sake. You need to trust that God will show and be with you, in you and constantly showing you what to do to be a leader. It's a cycle, you in God and then God in you.

Be a picture of Christ, you should no longer be you, but instead be just like Christ. Is this all coming together? Connect with God and with others to improve realationships like the one you have with God, He loves you and knows you, believe that, and get to know Him through praying and reading the Bible so you can do God's will and be just like Him so you can lead. That's the summary of my most recent blogs. They all go hand in hand together, but then I realized they all do. With God things just seem to fall together. It's so perfect.

In conclusion, Connect, Pray, Read, Have A Relationship, Lead. Step it up, right now is the perfect time.

Relationship

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49BbfgJbto

To be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be known.

God knows every little thing about us and therefore He has right to say He loves us because He actually knows us. I don't know about you, but I want to be known, I want to be loved. It is all I could ask for. God gave that to me. Now think about this, God wants that from you. Do you love Him? Do you want to get to know Him? Now get this, no matter your answer to those questions be yes or no, He still knows and loves you. The love of God surpasses any love ever and it is so satisfying.

Are you taking the time to experience it?

Believe

Okay, this is something I struggled with big time. I just talked about reading the Bible then you can know all this stuff and it's all good right? Wrong. Knowing is great, but I discovered knowing is nothing if you don't believe. What the heck do I mean? Well, I'll give you an example:

God loves you, you can talk to Him anytime you want and you can always turn to Him. Great, you know that. You know God loves you. You know you can talk to Him anytime about anything. You know that He is always there for you. You know, you know, you know... Awesome. Now, do you believe that?

I hope it makes a bit more sense now. I struggled a ton with this. I grew up in church and I know a whole lot, but it doesn't matter how long I've gone to church or anything like that. Believing is all in you. Either you believe it or you don't.

Next, you may be thinking I know this stuff, why do I have to believe it? You have to believe. I'll show you an example of when it might matter and because I'm a girl I'm thinking of something that applies to girls, so sorry guys, but:

You are a beautiful child of God. You know that. Do you believe that? It matters if you believe that, it really truly does. God made you just the way you are and you are His masterpiece and you are beautiful no matter what you look like. You need to believe that and not just know it because it'll change the way you think about yourself. It effects you.

So do you believe?

Pray and Read

Being a Christian has a lot to do with doing God's will. God's will is basically just what He intended for us to do, that's my simple definition for it. Now, many times people want to do God's will they just don't know how to do it. It breaks down to two things, if you couldn't have guessed, it breaks down to prayer and reading the Bible.

Prayer is simply having a conversation with God. Talk with Him, that's all. It is so important to pray. It helps you grow closer to God and learn more about Him, which will help you learn His will. Let's face it, you have to do what God wants you to, you simply must in order to have the life God intended for you which is far better than any life you could have ever planned for yourself. Talk with God, connect (seen that before) with God.

Read the Bible. I'm guessing you hear that maybe not a lot, but you hear it and maybe you don't know why that's so important. WWJD? Well, that's simple to determine sometimes. For example, if someone tells you to steal something you can ask yourself "WWJD?" and it's pretty obvious. Now think about this, your friends are fighting and they want you to pick a side,WWJD? Sometimes it's so hard to tell. BAM! Haha, I wanted to get your attention because this is important. This is where reading the Bible comes into place, reading the Bible will help you get to know God and what He is like so you can know better what He would do.. or even later what He wants you to do. For example, I've never read Twilight but it's popular so when you read Twilight you know what Edward is like and in parts in the book you can probably guess what he will do just because of what you've read about him. Same with Jesus! Read the Bible and you can more likely determine His will because you'll know Him better.

Learn more than just about God. Learn who God is.

Lazy

Originally I had planned out 4 blogs to write, Connecting was the first one and then there were 3 more. Let me tell you, this is not one of them. I need to read more verses about them and pray about them more before I blog about them, but see I've had so much time to do that and I just haven't. Laziness. I have a tendency to be lazy and say to God, I will obey You.... Later. Do you ever say that to God? Do you ever want to do what He is telling you, but you just don't do it and not because you don't want to, but because you want to do it later? The answer is probably at a point in your life, you were lazy and maybe you still are and if you've never been eventually you probably will be. Let's just face it. Okay great, so now we are all lazy children of God, yay.... Woah, too much sarcasm to handle there.

Moving on, how do we stop being lazy? Well, first off you have to know it'll take a lot of work and if you aren't up for that, why are you a Christian? The Bible said it was never gonna be easy. Second, you have to have a change of heart. You have to want to be different. If you don't want to be different, it's going to be hard to get the drive to actually BE different. Third, you have to, I'm going to repeat for emphasis, YOU HAVE TO PRAY. You have to pray that God will help you become different. You can't become closer to God without Him, you big dummy. I'm saying all this to myself, so I hope none of you think I'm calling you personally a big dummy. The next step, is to LISTEN. After you pray, you have to listen to what God is saying back or else you are having a monologue, you want a conversation. That's what real prayer is. I'll get more into the importance of prayer in another blog. Then lastly, you need to BE different. Yes, God will change you, but you have to help Him out, work with Him or hinder Him, but you need to do something because if you're doing nothing at all you are just putting yourself in a big hole.

So this blog is cut short, but be expecting more. 3 more very soon. I'm so tired of being lazy and so I choose not to be and God's gonna help me out on that. I ask my friends to hold me accountable and if you don't see those 3 blogs on here pronto, find me and tell me I'm being lazy and to pull myself together. I love you guys and I can't wait to grow in God with you. :)

Connect

Connecting is a big part of being a Christian. What exactly am I talking about? Well, there are two ways we connect: connect to God and connect with others. It's our responsibility to improve our relationships with God and others. I'd like to begin with connecting with God because it is far easier to connect with others once you've connected with God.

Everday you have the chance to "connect" with God. What I mean by this is you have the oppurtunity to talk with God, be with God, learn about God and ultimately become more like God. This is really important because you have to learn to be in God and of God and that's a big deal. Be truly passionate about God. Want to connect with Him. How could you not want to be more like God? God's a good guy. If you be like Christ you can most likely bring people to Christ. How do you connect with God? Well, many ways, you can pray, read the Bible, worship or even sit in the presence of God. I'm not gonna lie, it's not always easy, but it's completely worth it.

The second connection, is the connection with others. To bring people to Christ (which is our purpose) you have to have relationships with others. You have to reach out to people. You need to LOVE one another. I can't stress that enough, it is so important to love each other. When you go to school or wherever you go where you come into contact with people you have the oppurtunity to build a relationship with someone. You have the chance to reach out and make a difference just by caring. Why would you let that slip away? Seize every oppurtunity. It's vital. Be DESPERATE with passion to LOVE others.

LOVE GOD. LOVE PEOPLE.

Breakin' In The School Year

As we go back in to the school year we might get swept in to our routine. Maybe you're thinking you don't have a "routine" but then what would you call this: get up, go to school, come home, avoid homework, do homework when forced, eat and go to bed. I'd call that a routine and I know we all do it, but this summer I really had a change of heart and I don't want to go back into the flow of things. We shouldn't have a summer life and a school life, we should have one life and live that one life for God.

Now you still need to do all those things in the routine (except for the avoiding homework, don't do that) but don't fall into a cycle and let be the focus of your life. In the big scheme of things school isn't what matters, yes getting good grades is important, but not as important as showing God's love. This year when you go to school don't worry about the tests, homework, popularity, teachers, etc. but instead focus on being as Christ like as you can be.

For example, at lunch time your friends save you a spot at their table, but you see a person sitting all by themselves at a different table.. What do you do? Most likely you would go sit with your friends, I mean they even saved you a seat! In all actuality though, Jesus would go sit with the lonely person and be their friend, everybody wants to be loved and if we show God's love they get a greater love than they bargained for.

This year it is really important that we stay focused on Christ! Do not focus on school! Be a good student, but first be a good Christian. Show people you care about them. Be a salt and a light to the world. Make a differnce. Don't sit there and think you can't, you're perfectly capable of impacting someone's life so do it, and have fun. :)