Our Light's Aint Shinin'

Christians, more specifically Adventists, have lost their purpose in this world. I'm not talking about everyone, but I am talking about A LOT of us. We have latched onto "the world's" mentality of having our cake, and eating it too. We want to do what Maria did in The Sound of Music and be one with the church, while we do whatever the heck we want. We want to have a personal relationship with God, while listening to what we want, going where we want, and watching what we want. Do we not realize that our goal, our purpose in this world isn't just having that close relationship with God?

My Journalism class was have a heated, LONG discussion today about movies, how they effect us, and Christians and what movies they watch. I quickly realized that the state of mind of many of the "christians" in our class was completely and utterly WRONG. A verse came to my head during that discussion. It comes from Matthew 5:15-17 and it says "...Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

I mean, that verse perfectly describes what Christians should be in this world. That light is us, it's who we should be. And that bowl is the movies we watch, the TV shows we expose ourselves to. When we watch movies like Saw, movies that glorify murder and violence, we are suffocating the light that God gave us! We are supposed to be shining examples of God's mercy, His love, His character. How can we be examples, how can people see the difference in us, if we are watching the same garbage they watch and enjoying it. One person gave the excuse that we watch that stuff to see where people we are trying to reach are coming from. Which is the most ridiculous thing I've heard of. We don't need to wallow in garbage to know it smells. Our lights should shine, people should look at us and say hey, that person is different, that person is a christian.

Christians don't want to give up what they have grown to love to do. We don't want to stop watching things that somehow appeal to our senses. If stuff that God is expressly against appeals to us, then we've got some digging and some praying to do. Someone said that the stuff they watch doesn't effect their relationship with Christ. But this can't be true! You can't do something that God says "I find this wrong, this is evil" and think that He's fine with you beholding that. That's like being in a relationship, and yet sleeping with other people. You have that person you connect with, and yet you are sharing pieces of you with all these other people. It's not possible to have a healthy relationship if you are doing that. But people have stopped thinking of Jesus as a real being, something that is really there, standing over your shoulder, seeing, knowing, caring. So to us a "good relationship with Him" is talking to Him before bed and when we wake up, skimming through the Bible. But this isn't how it should be.

I could go on forever on this. And trust me, I'm preaching to myself. I'm not the perfect Christian, but I try my best. It just made me incredibly sad to see the mindset that young Christians have allowed themselves to get into. It's mind boggling.

Chicken or the Egg?

I'm in computer class. 

In my journalism class today we were talking about movies. The whole "movie theaters are evil" argument came up, which  most of the class shot down immediately. Then just the general, what we should and shouldn't watch argument came up. Most of the class made pretty good, solid, christian points. And I agreed with most of them. I thought I'd just, share my opinion.

The media has a bad wrap. We blame it constantly for societies problems. But what came first? Who influenced who first? I believe that it started with the rebellious people who wanted to... challenge "the man." The people who wanted to be different and to be the spotlight of society. We went from being a very conservative nation when it came to media. But then everyone wanted to do their own thing, people want to break down berriers and not conform to molds. Sometimes it was good, but in the case of movies/television/media, it isn't so good. People like the gritty, dirty stuff that no one wants to mention, but everyone wants to watch. 

To be continued...

Forever I Will Run...

I have a new favorite song. It's called "I Will Run" by Freddy Rodriguez. It's so beautiful! I seriously, wow, love this song. I just heard it yesterday, and I've listened to it a quadrillion times. It's amazing. Forever I will run to God. . . :) 

Today is Valentine's Day. A day really only good for people who have a significant other. Completely pointless for us single's. I'm not lonely, I'm not sad, I don't mind it. And I'm not.. "looking" as some people put it. I'm... stagnate. I'm waiting for God, who is the ultimate matchmaker. What He says goes, you know? But, I would like to say Happy Valentine's Day to all the people out there who may be reading this (who I'm pretty sure is no one...lol) 

I love Sabbath. It's so refreshing. I love not worrying about anything, or doing anything. And it's not actually doing nothing. It's getting rid of all the junk you worry about and focusing on God. Not on the other stuff... :) 

The Curse of the Multitasker...

I am in computer class right now as my teacher tells the most pointless story ever. I mean, don't get me wrong, I appreciate his fascinating adventures from living in Africa and being a rebel. But what does a grenade, dead bodies, and trucks, have to do with Using system software?  Nothing. Seriously. Nothing. I guess he is just trying to somehow entertain us and show how cool he is, because there isn't anything that interesting about system software. 

I read an amazing feature story yesterday called "An Autumn of the Multitaskers" by Walter Kirn. It was really funny, and really engaging, and I have not enjoyed reading a non-fiction piece of writing in a long time. If you want to check it out, read here. I suggest you read it. Anyway, it really made me think about the fact that I don't use my brain to its full potential. Instead of focusing on one thing and really doing my best at it, I become  mediocre at many things. I think Hollywood is full of multitaskers, so they make it seem "cool." A lot of them do many  many things at one time, and never have any time to relax. They are always going. 

Have you ever had a "who had the least amount of sleep" contests with a friend? Someone says "Man I'm so tired. I got 2 hours of sleep last night. I have a 10 page paper to due, and a book to write, and a plane to fly..." and then you say "well, I got 10 minutes of sleep, I have 2 books to write, and a space shuttle to launch.." that sort of thing. People actually competing with who can throw their bodies into over exhaust mode the fastest! It's ridiculous.

This article made me want to take my life slower. Not be lazy, but to really focus on each task I'm doing one at a time. Being able to multitask is not a gift. It's a curse to your brain. It stops you from really full achieving what you could be doing. 

So read that article. It'll change your life. :) (ok maybe not change it. . . but it'll get you thinking.)

Love you...

Ever had a moment where you looked in the mirror and thought, "Who IS that?" Yeah. That's happened to me a few times in life. But I've never thought for a single second of physically altering the features that God gave me. 

I was watching Tyra today (I KNOW, I know.. I know.. don't ask) and she had an actually good episode. It was about these black women who are on the darker side, and bleach their skin daily to achieve a lighter complexion. I could go on forever about how ridiculous it is, and how stupid these women are, but I won't go there. But I DO want to say a few things. First all, Tyra said that "these women are victims of society." I get it. I GET it. But we can't keep blaming our actions and our lack of COMMON SENSE on society. We can allow society to influence us, or we can wise up and make our own decisions. I mean, in this society, there is enough access to education, books, and just people in general to learn how to make informed decisions. 

...

My brain just turned off. This thought will have to continue later. 

Not A Snowball's chance in what..?

I recant. I RECANT. This school does have a heart. There is love. There IS LOVE.

Yeah. That's right. We finally got our snow day. :)

Cold Hearts on a Cold Day..

It is freezing outside. And I'm not talking, "Oh man I gotta wear a blazer because it's nippy" freezing. I'm talking, if you let your face make direct contact with the snow and wind it'll freeze off freezing. According to the weather channel, its 2 degrees, but if feels like -5.

I woke up this morning with a prayer on my tongue, hoping that the Administration would show us a bit of kindness by shutting down. Just for a day. That's all I asked for. ONE DAY of not having to brave the frigid temperatures to go to class. But guess what? I called the weather hotline and I got the cold, calculating, heartless voice of some woman telling me there was no schedule change and to dress warmly and drive safetly. I'm not sure how many words there are for angry, so lets just say I was pretty ticked off.

I've only seen the top administration of this school when they come to BIG events in the Howard or church. When they come to grace us with their prescence and put together some well thought out words that are supposed to inspire us, but instead bore us to tears. I've never passed them on the sidewalk, or seen them in the cafe. I don't know where their offices are, nor do I care to know. The thing I know of them is that they charge me an arm and a leg to go to school here, and then some to participate in ANY and ALL activities. Well now I know something else. They don't give a crap about the welfare of their students. They worry more about the cost of shutting down for ONE day, then the danger their own employees and students have to go through to get to campus. Even for those who live ON campus its dangerous because the sidewalks are jagged, and not well shoveled at all.

So yeah, I'm mad. It makes no sense to me why they won't give us a snow day. It's almost in the negatives out there, its been snowing for days. But who cares, right? Because all they have to do is sit in the snuggly offices all day doing whatEVER they do whereEVER they are. We won't go bankrupt if we cancel for a day. Even though my righteous anger wont' change their minds, at least I got that off my chest.