Should a man see only popularity, he becomes a mirror, reflecting whatever needs to be reflected to gain acceptance. He is everyone and no one.

Should a man see only power, he becomes a wolf — prowling, hunting and stalking the elusive game. Recognition is his prey and people are his prizes. His quest is endless. As a result, he who sees only power is degraded to an animal, an insatiable scavenger, controlled not by a will from within, but by luring from without.

Should a man see only pleasure, he becomes a carnival thrill-seeker, alive only in bright lights, wild rides, and titillating entertainment. With lustful fever he races from ride to ride, satisfying his insatiable passion for sensations only long enough to look for another.

Seeker of popularity, power, and pleasure. The end result is the same: painful unfulfillment.

Only in seeking his Maker does a man truly become man. For in seeing his Creator man catches a glimpse of what he was intended to be. He who would see his God would then see the reason for death and the purpose of time. Destiny? Tomorrow? Truth? All are questions within the reach of the man who knows his source.

-Max Lucado

This World Is Not My Home

In 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, we are told that if our earthly tent is destroyed, we have a heavenly home. While we are here, we groan because we long to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling. This world is not our home. We are burdened on this earth because this world is not our home. We suffer, endure hardships, go through difficulties because this is not our home. Our eternal home is in heaven. If we are comfortable and content with living on this earth, there is something wrong! We shouldn't be comfortable here, we shouldn't be satisfied with this life. Verse 6 in 2 Corinthians 5 says that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We cannot feel at home here and still be near to God. Having this knowledge encourages me to fix my eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). This world is not my home. The things here are temporary and will no longer matter when I make it to my eternal heavenly home. And God did not create us for time; he created us for eternity (Experiencing God). We can't just focus on the here and now. Matthew 6:19-21 tells us to avoid storing up treasures of the world and start storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy. This world is not our home. Once we die, the things of this world will no longer matter. What will matter is how we lived our life; how we lived out our faith, how we shared God's love, how we served God, how we loved God, how devoted we were to Christ, how much we trusted God, how well we followed God, how well we committed to surrendering daily to God and His will.

This world is not our home. Focus on what is unseen. Store up on eternal treasures.

Thankful to Greedy

My uncle put this as his Facebook status this morning and I thought it was interesting: "Thanksgiving Day/Black Friday - How ironic these two days back to back. Within 24 hours we go from being thankful for what we have, to fighting for what we want! Let's remain thankful all year!"

I had never thought of that irony, but it is unfortunately true. People complain about the long lines, the cold weather, items being out of stock, ect. but in reality, we should all be thankful that we have the money to buy those things, that we have jackets and gloves and scarfs to keep us warm, that we even have the ability to move beyond our front porch.

As we continue into the Christmas season, a time where the words "I Want" are heard more than any one person can count, I want to encourage each of you to continue being thankful. Shut out the greediness and selfishness, and instead be grateful for what God has given you this year. It's so easy to take things for granted, I know, but if we learn to count our blessings instead of overlooking them, we will begin to realize we have A LOT to be thankful for.

If I Could Go Back In Time I Would Tell Myself...

I am not too young.

Although the title of this post implies that I can no longer tell myself that I am not too young, that is not true. I'm not too young to lead someone to an everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm not too young to dream God-sized dreams. I'm not too young BE Jesus to someone. I'm not too young to change the world.

Although I realize this now, I wish I would have realized it 5 years ago. I had been told "You aren't too young!" a hundred times by multiple different people, but I never actually believed it. My mindset was always that things would be so much easier when I was older and could drive and have more freedom, which is true to an extent. The only problem with that is, now that I am older and I can drive and I have that freedom, it has become harder to share my faith with non-believers at school because of the fear of being judged. It has become harder to lead my peers to Jesus because in their mind, their ways are set and there's no changing them now. It saddens me that it took me so long to realize I'M NOT TOO YOUNG. And if there is one thing I hope young believers learn, it is that they are not too young to make an impact, to change the world, to be Jesus, to set an example for other believers.

I'm still young. It's time for me to start living like I can change the world, because I can.

Back Again .......(for now at least....)

First, I'd really like to thank all of you who are reading this, aka Mom and Jordan. You guys rock.
Now onto the part of the blog post where I talk about what's going on in my life and pretend like people actually read this and care:
WHADDUP JUNIOR YEAR. Freaking hardest school year of my life. I am soooo overwhelmed with homework and tests and more homework and quizzes and I also have a ton of homework. AND on top of all of that, I have even more homework.
I have a job! Yeah, Culver's of Mishawaka, REPRESENT.
For the past 8 or so weeks I've been rehearsing for a Christmas production. I'm a dancer and (lip) singer. It's a ton of fun! We had our first two performances last weekend and we have performances the next two weekends!
I have no social life and my only friend is my dog, Bella. I love her. I have also learned that I am my own best friend, so that's been a really cool experience. hahahaha just kidding. but seriously, I can't wait for Christmas Break or something so I can finally get my social life back for two weeks.
So basically, that is why I have fell of the face of the blogger world. But this is my attempt at making a comeback, so stay tuned for more!

Summer Playlist

Hypocrite

"Do as I say, not as I do."
That saying is absolutely ridiculous! How can anyone expect someone else to do what they can't even do themselves? It's so easy for us to see the stick in someone else's eye before we see the plank in our own. It's easy to give good advice but when advice is given to you, it's sometimes hard to take. That's where we become hypocritical as human beings. We seem to know what's right for everyone else, what's wrong with their life, why it's like that, how to fix it, what to do and what not to do, it all comes so easy until it circles around and you're the one on the other end. It's hard to listen to advice from someone who doesn't listen to it themselve. I want to be someone my friends feel comfortable going to for advice and I want them to be able to trust that I will listen to my own advice. In an odd way, giving advice forces me to hold myself accountable to certain things because I don't want to be a hypocrite. I think its definitely a good thing and I've gotta give props to the Holy Spirit for making my conscience so conscience-y. Sometimes I hate it in the moment, but later on, I'm thankful for it. I value the advice I get from anyone, but I value it even more if the person takes their own advice.

I'm Still Alive!

I fail at blogging.

This is my attempt at starting to blog again so I guess we'll see how it goes. No promises.


And on that note, I'm going to bed so my next post will actually make sense and be gramatically correct tomorrow morning when I write it.

Good night fellow bloggers!