El Libro de Dios

So....I was sitting in a meeting for the Navigators (a religious group a USC) and heard the pastor mention the book of Joel, and I realized that I didn't remember ever hearing/reading from that book. So I thought about it and went through the list of the books of the Bible in my head and realized that there were a ton that I've never even read a single verse from. Then I thought, "wow, there is that much that I don't know about God!". Now, the Bible does not tell me every single detail about God, but it teaches me what I need to know and brings me closer to him.
This brings me to another thing. A lot of people I know who are definitely Christians, often struggle with knowing what God's plans are for them or knowing what to do in certain difficult situations. And it occurs to me, that these are the same people who don't read the Bible unless they need some sort of answer from God and think "oh, I'll just ask God a question, then let the Bible fall open and the first verse I see will be my answer!" (I am not going to lie, I've done that before....fyi it didn't work for me). The problem with this method is, hypothetically of course, lets say I asked God whether I should kill myself (not that Im going to, this is just a hypothetical situation remember, but thank you for your concern). So if I asked that, then the Bible flipped to a page about Judas killing himself, does that mean I should? Is that God's answer? I don't think so.
I think that if you need an answer from God, you should probably pray about it. And if you are coming to him just when your life is going rough and not following Him otherwise, you probably haven't been studying the word, and how can you expect an answer when you haven't been speaking or learning about him. That's like calling up a friend that you haven't spoken to in months and expecting them to solve all your problems, granted that God does know all the answers, but how are you supposed to know what He wants if you haven't even been listening until you are in trouble?
I, in the past, would pull out my Bible and read whenever I was depressed or just needed something to make me feel better. Then it occurred to me the other day, that after I read my Bible and talk to God I always feel better. So if I read the Bible and spent time with Him everyday, I would feel better every day. Makes sense right?
Now, Im not saying that if you spend time with God everyday and read the Bible that your life is going to be perfect, you will have all the answers, you wont experience pain/suffering/agony/heartbreak/depression/sadness/confusion/loss, or that everything will be wonderful all the time; but I know that I feel much better about my roller coaster, often crazy, never normal or easy life, knowing that God is watching out for me and that each day I am learning more and more about Him as well as more and more about myself and my status as His child, rather than a follower of the world.

the beach

The beach is pretty much the best place in the world (in my opinion of course, you are entitled to your own as long as it isn't pathetic and stupid...or wrong). I love the feeling of the sand between my toes, and the cool salt water lapping agianst my feet. Its even a wonderful feeling to stand alone on the shore, gaze out into the vast blue/green ocean and realize that i am a teeny tiny speck on the enormous globe that is my home planet. Also, realizing that creatures so much more interesting than me exist, such as dolphins and crabs.
I learned the past year that if you go walking on the beach after the sun goes down, it is better if you cant see the hundreds of scurrying little crustaceans that may or may not be adventurous and attempt to take a bite out of you. This is one of the instances when ignorance keeps you from sheer panic if you have an irrational fear of anything with more than four legs.
The beach is a place where you can escape and feel free, insignificant, and amazing all at once. Everytime I visit the beach I am reminded that I am not important,except that I am important to God. I am insignificant, unless God choses to make me matter. I love to just sit and listen to the ocean which I imagine is crying out with all its crashing might, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty!" just as all creation is doing incessantly and will continue to do as long as it exists. Just as we should do with all the might within our small, insignificant beings.
Sometimes I just stand on the empty beach at night, close my eyes, and listen as the waves beat against the shore and the wind storms against me and I imagine that each wave is praising God with each time it crashes on the shore. There is an amazing song by Philips, Craig and Dean called "Revelation Song" these are the lyrics:

Worthy is the,
Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to Him who sits on
Heaven's Mercy Seat


Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!
Yeah!

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King,
Yeah


Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore You!
Yeah!

Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...


Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore You!

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come,
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And – I - will - adore YOU…


Come up lift up His Name
To the King of Kings…
We will adore YOU Lord…
King of heaven and earth
King Jesus, King Jesus
Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya!
Majesty, awestruck Honor
And Power and Strength and Dominion
To You Lord,
To the King, to King
To the King of Glory

This is one of my favorite worship songs, because it simply proclaims the glory, holiness, and greatness of God. Galatians 6:14 says "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" and this entire song boasts of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the greatest power ever to create or exist.

politics

so seriously, i'm soooo tired of hearing all this political stuff even though the election is over. its soo annoying when everyone is bickering back and forth about how if you vote for one party's candidate than your not following the biblical views etc. etc.
seriously people, if obama is the president-elect than he was elected by the people and it was in God's will for him to be. all government is sanctioned by God and all christians are meant to obey the government unless its laws go against those of God, like if it was illegal to worship anyone/thing other than.....a monkey (this is just an example, i do not support worshipping monkeys). In that case, Christians have the right to peacefully disobey the government, following the examples of Shadrack, Meshack, and Obednigo (these are probably all spelled wrong, deal with it) or even Daniel. Just because a lot of people dont think God would approve of Obama as President doesn't mean God can use obama for his will. God can do everything, and will do what pleases him. Psalm 115: 3 says "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases him" whatever happens to this nation or this world, God can use it for his plan, and he will.

Opposite day

The most awesome thing ever would be to have the students and the teachers switch places for a day. Here's what it would be like. At 7:40 in the morning when the student usually arrive, instead we would be sitting in the classrooms grading papers or drinking coffee (eww!!). the teachers would be outside in the 40 degree weather, wearing very thin jackets, some in shorts and flip-flops, freezing their tails off as the student (now the teachers) locked them out of the highschool until the bell rang because they would be too loud. then when class started we would count them late if any arrived after or while the bell was ringing. all day long they would suffer from the d-halls for gum, infractions for "dress-code infractions" and be overloaded with homework. Then at the end of the day when certain student(teacher) found out they had three tests in one day (not alowed at my school) they would ask to take one on a later date, but all of the teachers would refuse to allow it. and that is a small version of how the students would reak revenge.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming!!!!!!!!! Okay! so I love thanksgiving and pretty much my entire family is coming so i am really psyched. Since not much of my family lives in town i dont get to see them much so this is a pretty special time when we all get to hang out and talk about what's going on in eachother's lives. So this thanksgiving don't forget to be thankful for your family, and remember. not everyone has a family to be thankful for. so pray for those who are alone this week and be thankful that you aren't

Life passage

so i was just sitting here (at my desk) thinking (which is dangerous). and I was thinking about the passage that I have chosen to be my life verses and this is what they are:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ----2 Cor. 4:76-18

The middle verse was in a book that i read. It was the perfect moment for me to read that verse and i almost cried when i read it (i was in studyhall) because it spoke to me sooooo loudly. This is what it means to me. No matter what hapens to my body, or any physical fault that i have, my soul is renewed each day by Jesus. No matter what trials or troubles I face, they are light compared to Jesus' and temporary compared to eternity. I will fix my eyes on God (who is physically unseen) and not on what is seen by my eyes. because why I see every day will become dust with time, and what I see through my soul (but is unseen by my physical eyes) is God who is eternal!!

Hey guess what!??!?! more ponderings

So i was just sitting, "studying" because i forgot to bring home my papers. And I was just finishing an essay about how people were blaming the government for their problems. So you know what I think, the united states boasts of having a government for and by the people. So if they think the government is doing such a bad job, why don't they just suck it up and do something about it. I mean... women may never of had the right to vote if some women didn't stand up for their rights. So if there is something going on where it is obvious the government is neglecting it, it's our job as citizens to bring attention to it. now on the flip side. some people need to take responsibility for their mistakes and stop blaming the authority figures in their lives. Its definately a pet peeve when someone doesn't listen in class and then blames the teacher for their bad grades. So basically, people (myself included) need to be more proactive.