Democratic National Convention

Last night, while I was asleep, the Democratic National Convention met and debated and discussed. Hilary released her deleagtes and turned her support over to Obama. I must say, out of the three (Hilary, Obama, and McCain) I was a Clinton supporter, even if she does believe in abortion and gay marriage, youjust have to believe that God will come through and out obstacles in the way of those things. Anyway, I am a bit dissapointed, I thought she would be more stubborn than that. I have a suspicion that Obama may have a supernatrual power over her, but I also believe that Hilary is not stupid. This is not the last of Hilary Rodham Clinton, she will be back. And I think.. That just may be a good thing.

Friday, August 15, 2008, around 9:00 p.m.

I remember being eight years old and seeing girls at Wal-Mart or church and thinking "I want to look like them when I grow up." It went beyond that, of course. I also wanted to sound as smart as them when I talked, or walk the same way. (I don't think that a lot of high schoolers realize how much they impact elementary school kids by simply being.) Now, I have come to realize, I am one of them. It's an amazing revelation. I have, today and yesterday, spent the first two days of the the four years that I will be in that high school. And with that comes a sense of pride and realization.
Okay, switching gears, back to that memory from when I was eight. Only now I'm twelve. (Confusing, I know.) I watched movies and TV shows, I read books that made high school sound like a HUGE deal. In shows like Degrassi, (and several other peices of media that I can't quite recall the names of) there were always different crisises. And that makes me realize.. some point in hgih school.. I will face some kind of major dilema. Whether it's personal.. or at home.. or at school with friends or a boyfriend. It's scary. But at the same time it's comforting to know that in no way is high school the end of the world. That's what the TV shows, books, and movies don't teach you. There is life afterwards, for most. (God, bless those who jhave had the misfortune to deal with school shootings) And it is also comforting to know me, and know that I will survive (cue theme music, *dances*). As long as I keep my eyes on the goal, remeber my friends, and stay true to my Jesus I will survive.

Sunday, August 3, 2008, around 10:30 p.m.

It has been awhile since I've blogged. Well, two or three weeks and I had only posted two before that. But still. I have big news. In that short amount of time, I went to fifth grade camp as a counselor, I got a new computer, went to Warped Tour, turned fifteen, went to a Breaking Dawn release party, and I'm getting ready to go to a four to five day trip to northern Indiana with Elizabeth. Everything was so fun. I will list one or two of the best things from each event.

• Camp-launching water baloons with and without the kids, eating Taco Bell after midnight, (okay, a third) playing extreme spoons.
• new computer- (I know, it IS sad that this is a major event in my life) I now have Vista. which, by the way, isn't as crappy so far as everyone says it is.
• Warped Tour- seeing We The Kings live. They are some fo the best performers I have ever had the oppourtunity to see. And their songs are amazing. My friend and I split up from the rest of the group to see them spcifically and it was by far the best experience of the day. I'm totally buying their album.
• my birthday- spending the day with two of my best friends, Luke and Elizabeth and then getting presents.
• Breaking Dawn release party- haha. It was definitely hiding from the rest of the group with Chelsea.

So that's what I have been up to. Check me out later.

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!