Memorial Day!

        Memorial Day is a day that is every year observed by Americans all across the United Sates of America.  This holiday was first called Decoration Day and was first established as a federal holiday in 1971 following the civil war.  This holiday is usually celebrated with barbecues, visits to cemeteries, parades, and gatherings in family's, but we should always honor those men and women  who have laid down their lives for our country.  I had a wonderful day with my family, but I also prayed fro those who have died for our country and those who are still fighting for it, even if I disagree with the conflict.
        I just wanted to say thank you to our troops who have given their lives throughout our countries history and all who are buried in cemeteries such as Arlington cemetery, United States Soldiers' & Airmen's Home National Cemetery, and also those US cemeteries over sea's.
        There is a hymnal that came to mind while i was writing this, our national hymn "God of Our Fathers".  Here are the lyrics:

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand 

Leads forth in beauty all the starry band

Of shining worlds in splendor thro' the skies,

Our grateful songs before thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,

In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;

Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,

Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence

Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;

Thy true religion in our hearts increase,

Thy bountous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh thy people on their toilsome way,

Lead us from night to never ending day;

Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,

And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.

There is a clip of this sing being played by the National Marine band:

Just Saying . . .

        While I was reading the book, Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper,  i was reminded of my philosophy class in my freshman year of college.  One of the key philosophical concepts we discussed was existentialism.  This was mentioned in his first chapter.  Existentialism is described as existence precedes essence.  Many people today in this world still believe this although this is a century old concept.  He mentions that many people believe that, "there is no essence outside you to pursue or conform to . . . it is not there until you create it by your own courageous existence" (Piper 14).  I believe, like John Piper that God created our essence and gives us a purpose to live.  
        I thank you God for giving us a purpose to live so we can follow you and not waste our life!  i was also going to post a song the last blog but here it is:

         

Don't Waste your Life !!

        It has been almost a year since I have written a post on my blog.  Today I want to talk about a book I received about the time of valentine's day from my parents that I have started to read.  It is called "Don't Waste you Life" by John Piper.  I got a gift edition so I also got the DVD of when he talked about this at a conference.   So I watched the DVD and was so touched by it.  

        When John Piper first starts talking at the conference, which was in 2003, he mentions an earthquake that had happened in southeastern Iran, near Bam.  he mentions that more than 25,000 people were dead  and about 30,000 more were left injured by the time the earthquake was over.  He then goes on to talk about a time in Luke 13 when the Jews come to Jesus to ask questions about the past tragedies like the how the tower in Siloam fell on eighteen people and how Pilate kills Jews and mixes their blood with their sacrifices, and Jesus answers in a sense of saying "unless you repent, you  will likewise perish" (Luke 13: 5).  Jesus responds as if he is saying, are you astonished at all the tragedies that have happened?  Well i will tell you what to be astonished at, be astonished that you were not under the tower or that you were not in Jerusalem at that time with Pilate, because everyone here deserves to die, unless you repent.  Jesus does not respond to get God off the hook but to make the Jews realize that they have to repent and not waste their life   He then goes back to the earthquake and relates it to what Jesus might say to us about the earthquake, "our wonderment shouldn't be the 25, 000 perished in a moment, but that we have not yet been snuffed out" (Piper).  

        John Piper then concludes with this point that our lives hang by a thread of God's grace and that God made us and knows our purpose and also has the right to take away and give life whenever he pleases.  he relates Job and Hannah to this.  Job had his ten children taken away in a moment and Job says in Job 12:10, "In his hand is the life and the breath of all mankind.".  Hannah wanted a baby so much and prays about it so hard and he gives her a son and she sings praises to God and he relates this to Deuteronomy 32:39.  We should know that every day and every moment we live because of God;s choosing and grace.  It is only by God's will that when I am done with this message I might not fall dead right on the spot.  We live every moment by God's grace and the only way to not waste our life is to keep on living with God.

        Then he mentions Matthew 16:24-25 and starts to talk about his book and mentions a poem that used to hang in his kitchen that said: 

Only one life,

 'Twill soon be past;

 Only what's done

for Christ will last.

This means that only what we do for God will matter in the end, not we do for ourselves and others.  He then mentions that one part of life in the United states that draws people to waste their life is retirement, which is a time when older people sit back and "play" while the states, sink under poverty and no evangelism.  he says this retirement draws healthy sixty-five year old to play golf and bridge right into the presence of God, the judge of life to come and he says that we will be pulled in unless there are choices made in earlier life of where our treasure will be. 

        John Piper then goes on to explain the life of unwasted life.  he gives the text of Philipians 1:20-21.  In this passage he explains that Paul's wish and our wish to honor or magnify God through our life and death.  Paul shows this example in Philipians 3:7 when he acknowledges everything compared to his relationship with God as loss.  How do we honor and magnify God in everything we do in life?, by doing it all to show that that thing on earth is not our treasure, but God.  We should eat to show that food is not our treasure, but God is, and we should use money to show that God is our treasure, not money.  In death there may be certain ways God may plan for us to die to honor God.  This is shown in Philipians 1:21 when Paul says "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  This means that in order to honor God in dying we have to experience "our dying as gain because it means more of Christ" (Piper).  Christ has to be more precious to you than everything you leave behind.

Essentials in an unwasted life:

1. life and death are given to you as a gift in order to display the supreme value of Jesus.

2. The way to do this is to consider God above everything in your life.

3. This treasuring is seen by what you risk and sacrifice for more Jesus. 

This movie was amazing and taught me to embrace God above everything else and so should our generation!!

France!!

      It has been almost two weeks after me and my sister came back from our trip to France.  It went from May 22nd to May 31st, 2012.  We went with the Honors Program at Molloy College.  There were 37 students and 3 professors.  I thank God for keeping everyone safe and letting us have really nice weather and no trouble while we were in France.  We had three main stops to stay in France.  First we went to Caen; in the Normandy region (4 nights), then we went to Chartres (1 night), and finally ended up in Paris (5 nights).  
       First we were in the Normandy region in Caen, France.  We saw some castle ruins in Caen, which are the center of Caen.  These ruins were made of limestone and were amazing.  There was a moat that used to surround the castle, but now it is all grass and open to the public. While we were in Caen we also saw the University of Caen, which was huge.  It was kind of funny when we were in Caen because our whole group of 40 people went to a restaurant that was closing, but then they saw us and kept it open although none of them spoke English (luckily three of our people spoke a little french).  When we were staying in Caen we also went to Omaha Beach where the USA marines and armies invaded on D-Day (June 6, 1947).  We were actually on US territory for a little while.  One of the girls on the trip found her grandfathers grave in the American cemetery.  I was a little disappointed because we only spent about 45 minutes having a tour and we had no time to just walk around on our own.  We also went to Rouen while we were in the Normandy region.  We saw the first cathedral of our trip.  It was beautiful, and like all the cathedrals there was beautiful stained glass windows and a very nice designed facade.  There were many shops, so the group split up into smaller groups and we went shopping for a while.  We saw where Joan of Arc was put to death, on a stake.  She was accused of cross-dressing as a man.  The people in charge of her trial told her to stop, but while in prison still, she was tempted by the guards and put the manly clothes on again.  This is what sentenced her to death.  There was also a church built in her honor, after she was dead and found not guilty.  

      My favorite part of the trip is when we went to Mont. Saint Michel which is an island off the coast of Normandy.  There is a causeway going to this island, so it is not completely surrounded by water, but in three years there is going to just be a bridge to connect it to land, so it will be an island again. This island is unique because it has an abbey on the top and it was also a fortress.  This was the only part of France that the English could not conquer.  Today there are 26 people who live on this island, including; 5 monks, 6 nuns, a few storekeepers, a baby, and a young girl. This abbey also had beautiful stained glass, although it was more romaesque than most of the cathedrals which were gothic.
        The last five days were spent in the fashion capital of the world, Paris.  This was such a fun city.  Although some parts of this city are historical, it is still pretty modern.  As a group we went to see the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Conciergge, Saint Chapelle, and the Arc de Triumph.  Me and my sister went with 5 other girls up the Eifel Tower the last night and it was beautiful.  This is when the group was allowed to go to different locations all around Paris and shop.  We also walked down champ d'alesse and walked into some shops, and we saw that they were overpriced. 
         Overall France was an amazing country and it was fun to think that I had went to a different country when I was still 18.    

Are You Thirsty?

       My sister and I are in a christian group at Molloy College called BASIC.  My sister and I had the pleasure to help host a BASIC (Brothers And Sisters In Christ) and YFL event at Molloy College where I go to school.  It was called Praise Night and the theme was Are You Thirsty?.  Me and my sister helped set up and were so excited to join in.  The Basic group at Molloy put on a skit and it turned out very good and alot of the other people liked it alot.  Then the YFL Band went up on stage and played some songs for everyone to sing; including one of my favorites "The Stand" by Hillsong United.  All the songs turned out to be from Hillsong groups.  
     Then a speaker from Boston spoke to us.  He had just came back from a missions trip in Africa and spoke to us a little about that.  Then he spoke to us about the story in the Bible.  He first asked us how many books in the Bible and everyone said 66.  Then he asked us how many stories are in the Bible.  Our answer was alot.  Then he told us that there is only one epic story in the Bible about a man who worked from heaven,came down to earth, died for our sins unjustly at the hands of his own chosen people, rose again and now is creating a place for us in heaven.  It's an epic story about Jesus Christ!  All the other stories in the Bible are just about other characters in his story to make his points.  He told us that the story starts from the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 2:9 and ends with the tree of life mentioned in Revelations 22:2.  Since humans sinned after the tree of life mentioned in Genesis, humans could not right away go to the tree of life mentioned in Revelations because they had sinned.  There had to be another tree in between these  two trees.  It was the tree of Calvary, where Jesus died for us.  That is when Jesus made the way for us to go to the tree mentioned in Revelations.  He also went through what criminals felt on the cross, and let us know what Jesus went through on the cross.  At one point he brought in a story about him and his coworker at his old job.  His coworker was an atheist and told him once that he did not know why he was living and what would fill him up.  He responded by comparing God  and us to Shakespeare and Hamlet.  Shakespeare wrote Hamlet and could tell Hamlet what to do, but Hamlet could never have any say because he did not know Shakespeare.  This is different than God and us because even though God created us and has a plan for us; we also know him and can see what he is doing in our lives.  His main message was, that God has a plan for us and by following God we can fill up our cup with him and have joy in heaven when we die. 
     It was such an encouraging time with fellow christians.                 

Kony 2012

Who is Kony, you ask?  
Joseph Kony (born c. 1961) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government throughout Uganda. The LRA say that spirits have been sent to communicate this mission directly to Kony.  Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan.  It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986. In 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in the Hague, Netherlands, but has evaded capture. 
Also, We need to pray for those under Kony's power so, please spread the word and feel free to watch this video I am going to post!

Growing Spiritually

"I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have overcome the evil one. I am writing to you, children, because you know the father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one." 1 John 2:12-14

My siblings and I went to a winter youth retreat with some of the churches affiliated with ours and we met God in such a special way. We learned about spiritual growth in God. There are three stages which are;

1. Believe (Children)
2. Belong (Young People)
3. Become (Fathers)

The first stage, believe, refers to new birth in Christ.  First though we have to make a decision or choice to follow God or sin.  The story of Adam and Eve shows when this decision is made the first time.  God gave Adam and Eve a choice to either listen to the serpent (Satan) or stand up and say no, and follow God's rule.  We all know that in this choice Adam and Eve make the decision to follow Satan, not God.  Even though this was back when life first started we can still apply it to this day and age, also.  God gives us choices everyday and also the will and power to decide if we want to follow God's direction or Satan's .  By choosing this way, Adam and Eve sinned and therefore "as by one man sin entered into the world" (Romans 5:12-13), and led to the fall of men.  This is when the war between Satan and God begins.  In Revelation 12:7-12 tells of a great dragon and God fighting over the world.  The devil will strike furiously because the devil knows his time will be short (vs.12).  Also out of this choice of Adam and Eve, there were two offspring; those of Cain and those of Seth (Gen. 4:13-14, 25-26).  Seth's are followers of God and Cain's are not, although they profess to be.  After this decision to follow God is made, we have to understand the great work of Christ and what he did for us on the cross.  In order to find this out, we have to ask, why the cross?.  There are four P's that answer this question.

• Promise -- Genesis 3:15  
• Principle -- Genesis 22:8 and Hebrews 9:22
• Prophesies -- Isaiah 53: 6-7
• Propitiation --  1 John 1:36, 2:2
• He became us! (Heb. 2:14-15)
• He fulfilled the law for us! (Rom. 8:34)
• He paid the price of sin for us!
• He reconciled us to the Father!
• He transformed us!         

The second stage, refers  to belonging to the family of God and recognizing the family resemblance because now we have believed God and what he did for us.  In 2 Corinthians 3 vs.18 it says that we who are "contemplating the Lord's glory are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory".  We also have to recognize the family anointing which is found in 2 Corinthians 1:20-22.  King David is a good example of belonging to the family of God.  He is anointed in 1 Samuel 16:10-13 by Samuel, then is appointed in 1 Samuel 16:18-19 as a King, and lastly is Jointed, or joined together into the family of God (Jesus is part of David's lineage). 
The third stage is becoming fathers, and being bold to spread God's love to others.  There are four steps to spiritual maturity and they are; a desire to grow, nourishment, exercise and practice, and then time and patience.  these will lead you to know God and spread his word to others who are lost. Moses shows a good example of a father in Hebrews 15:24-27. 
One song i heard at the retreat was "Something's Gotta Change", and i would like to share it with everyone who reads this post: