Thrsday, July 17, 2008, around 1:45 a.m.

I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy blogging.
It's way early in the morning, and I'm hoping that the clacking of the keys won't wake up my parents or brother. I also have a sister, more on her later, but she's away at camp this week. I think sometimes about the meaning of life. This subject reminds me of that old Disney Channel cartoon I used to watch sometime. There was a small naked mole rat names Rufus that belonged to Kim Possible's best friend, Ron. [This show was disappointing because towards the end she ended up with her best friend as her love interest. Why can't girls an guys stay friends, no love or sex involved?] Anyway, Rufus was once asked by a giant naked mole rat what the meaning of life was. Rufus replied "Cheese!". I think this is funny. How many people out there think that the only reason we are alive is to bask in the pleasures of the world? How many think that we, as humans, are freaks of nature, have no purpose or "meaning to life" and should go through doing whatever feels good? I, for one, am not one of those people. I believe everyone has been put here by our maker to serve a purpose, whether we believe so or not. Maybe you completely ignore that purpose and go and party all night long, but I think that God still uses you in some way. Maybe to influence another person, maybe to set into action events that are somehow glorifying to Him. As for those who constantly pray and seek his direction, we are used in a larger way. That is the meaning of life. To glorify God and fulfill the purpose that we have been put on this Earth for.
For some reason this reminds me of predestination. I have a friend who disagrees with her husband about this, I've been told to the point where they are both so set in there ways that neither can approach the subject with the other. Predestination, according to m-w.com, is : the doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation. Or in more simple choices of words, the idea that God chose a long time ago who will go to heaven. That we never have to worry about living our lives according to his word, we'll go to heaven or hell regardless. That works out well for say, atheists, but not well for Christians. I personally can see how this would make sense because God knows all. However, this is the way I look at it. God gives us the Bible as an instruction manual for life. We are to follow it, because it is how He talks to us. If we do well in his eyes, accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and ask forgiveness for our sins, we will go into heaven. We have been given free will, we make the choice about where our soul goes after our physical deaths. But hang in there, this is where the "God knows all" concept [well, it isn't really a concept, but you get what I mean] comes in. He already knows the choices we will make, and where we end up staying for all of our eternity. He knows, and has prepared our place in heaven [help me out, I can't think of what verse that is]. All we have to do is make the choice. Give ourselves completely over to him [which, admittedly, isn't something that I have totally accomplished yet] and suffer for fifty, sixty, seventy years; or take the risk and do what we want, basking in the pleasures of the world, and go to Hell for eternity? I'm not condemning anyone. Just.. think about it.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008. around 8:30 p.m.

Well, I found this site through a guy I know. I haven't ever really blogged, except the stupid MySpace stuff that no one really does anything with. So currently, I'm hoping that my mom will actually take me to Warped Tour with Elizabeth and Callie, like she said. She hasn't ever actually said she'd do something and not go through with it, but there's a first for everything. This is a bit bigger. I'm really excited about seeing Relient K, The Academy Is.., Cobra Starship [!!!], Danger Radio, and several others I can't even think of. They're coming to my area the day before my birthday. So there's that on the 31, on the first of August I will have my birthday and at ten that night I get to go to the local Barnes and Noble with Elizabeth, and hopefully Luke if he ever calls me back, to experience the release party for Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer. It's the fourth book to the Twilight series. What's great about this book series is that it's excellent writing, one of the main conflicts is about whether vampires have souls or not and whether or not they are accepted by God. Also, I'm a romantic, and it's a wonderful, clean story about a vampire falling in love with the human whose blood calls out to him the strongest. That poor guy! The vampire's name is Edward Cullen, but there is also another boy vying for Bella's love, Jacob Black. He's a werewolf. I'm on Team Edward, I think that the two are meant to be together. If they're not, Stephanie and I are going to "chat". I can't wait for August 2. I made the mistake of reading a bit about what this book will be about, and I had to stop because I was about to pull my hair out. It was sad. So I'm starting high school next year, and I don't know what to think. Everyone says I'll be fine, and I usually agree, but I do get the occasional doubt. I'm just afraid that I won't make good decisions. But I think, as long as I stay true to my Faith and keep my God in my heart, I'll do fine. What I need though is for my friends and family to keep me accountable. I just don't exactly know how to get them to do that. I'm also trying to reach out to a friend of mine, who doesn't believe in God. I told her recently that I felt like I hadn't been a good friend, that I didn't care about her soul enough. I told her I wanted to talk to her about God more. I've been praying for her heart to open up to HIS word, and she what she said in response to me was that she didn't care what I said to her as long as I didn't condemn her to hell. Then I told her that I won't because Jesus is about love and salvation, not condemnation. I've also been praying for another friend who is finding God again to know how to take the next step, whatever that may be for them. At CIY, the conference I went to with my church a few weeks ago, what hit me hardest was how important community and working together as the Body of Christ is. Also, I realized that my approach to ministering was completely wrong. We need more people for Christ. More people to be able to hold each other accountable, more people to get more people, more people to congregate with on that glorious day in heaven. And while it's great to say "he died for us, he died for us" it's all about the RESURRECTION! The gods of other religions died too. I'm not going into that too much so that I don't offend anyone with my lack of knowledge, but what is important is that while he died, just like all of the other "gods", he rose again. He is coming back for us one day. John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the father except through me." I'm done ranting about that for now, but there is more where that came from. Well, I'll update later. Bye!