A person of great integrity.

Last year, my family and I went on a trip to Pennsylvania for a Christian family conference. While there, my parents were often playing worship for the conference, and I was the one that watched my little brother. In the morning, my parents would leave early for breakfast, and I'd rally the troops (my younger siblings) and take them to breakfast. Then, my parents would go to practice, and I'd drop my little sister off at VBS and take my little brother to nursery. I'd go to the youth service and after that, lunch. When lunch was finished, I'd take my little brother to the place we were staying, so my mom could put him down for a nap. I'd have the afternoon to do whatever, then I'd take my brother and sister to dinner and then drop my brother off at nursery, and my sister and I sat in the evening service. And repeat the next day.

The last day of the conference, I was getting tired of taking care of my younger siblings. It didn't help that my friends were saying how unfair it was that I had to watch them all the time, and I was getting no positive feedback from anyone. So I told my mom so, and this is what she told me, "I know that you've been watching your little brother and sister a lot this week, and I want you to know that I'm very grateful for it. A lot of people have been coming up to me saying, 'Cecelia is such a good sister to her little siblings, I wish my kids were more like that.'"

Ouch.

Guilt rolls in and I realize that even though I didn't feel like watching my little brother and sister, I should do it anyway. Not only did it honor my parents, but it made people think about teenagers differently. Maybe my generation aren't all lazy, ignorant bums after all. On top of all that, the Bible says that we should do what's right whether or not we get praised for it. You can tell a lot about a person's integrity by the way they take praise. A person of little integrity will do anything to get people to praise them, but a person of great integrity will do what's right no matter the criticism or praise.

After searching myself, I found that I had more integrity than some, but not near as much as I should have. So I did a lot of praying and Bible reading, and God began to change my heart. Now, I could care less about being number one on the popularity scale. As long as it brings glory to God, who cares about what people think?

So what about you? Are you a person of great integrity?

Baptism.

I'm getting baptized on April seventh at my church. It's the Saturday night service at six pm. I am thrilled to finally do it!! I think the only thing I'll miss about not being baptized is the shocked look on people's face when they discover I've not been baptized. I'm a strong Christian, and I haven't ever committed a really 'bad' sin before. I'm not perfect, but I've always been more mature than others my age. So everyone expects me to already be baptized. I find that rather funny.

See, I became a Christian at age five, but my parents wanted me to wait until I was thirteen to get baptized. I didn't see why they were making me wait, and I was mad at them for quite some time. Then, when I turned thirteen, I realized that my parents wanted me to wait because they wanted me to understand what I was doing by getting baptized. I don't believe baptism is something to take lightly. While it doesn't get you saved, it publicly symbolizes that from here on out, you're giving your life to Christ to advance his Kingdom. I know plenty of people that are baptized, but aren't acting Christ-like at all.

Which brings me to this point: I'm so thankful that my parents didn't fling me into the baptism pool as soon as I accepted Christ. Had they done that, it wouldn't have really meant anything because it wouldn't have really been something that I was choosing to do. Now that I'm older and more mature, baptism is the true profession that I no longer care about my plans and dreams, but I'm giving the few broken, worthless gifts I have to God, and he's going to turn that into something beyond anything I could achieve without him.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried wth him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:1-4

Beowulf

This is a short bit from the old poem Beowulf:

Leading up to the action in this selection, we are told of Beowulf, price of the Geats, and his journey to the lair of Grendel and Grendel's mother, monsters that have long terrorized the Danish king Hrothgar and his people. Once at the lair, Beowulf enters and fights Grendel's mother with Hrunting, a sword given to him by the Danish warrior Unferth. The sword fails to injure the monster, and Beowulf is almost killed. However, Beowulf finds an old sword in the lair and slays Grendel's mother by cutting off her head. He then cuts of the head of Grendel, who is also n the lair. The blood of the monsters melts the blade so that only the hilt remains. With this and the head of Grendel, Beowulf returns to Herot, the king's banquet hall, to tell Hrothgar of his victory...

The Celebration at Herot

Beowulf spoke:

"Hrothgar! Behold,

Great Healfdane's son, this glorious sign,

Of victory brought you by joyful Geats.

My life was almost lost, fighting for it,

Struggling under water: I'd have been dead at once,

And the fight finished, the she-devil victorious,

If our Father in Heaven had not helped me. Hrunting,

Unferth's noble weapon, could do nothing,

Nor could I, until the Ruler of the world

Showed me, hanging shining and beautiful

On a wall, a mighty old sword--so God

Gives guidance to those who can find it from no one else..."

Here, Beowulf is giving God obviously-deserved credit for helping him kill Grendel's mother. It would seem many of us fail to do that. In the Mighty Hrothgar's reply to Beowulf's triumph, he reminds Beowulf just that:

"...Our eternal Lord

Grants some men wisdom, some wealth, makes others

Great. The world is God's, He allows

A man to grow famous, and his family rich.

Gives him land and towns to rule

And delight in, lets his kingdom reach

As far as the world runs--and who

In human unwisdom, in the middle of such power,

Remembers that it all will end, and too soon?

Prosperity, prosperity, prosperity: nothing

Troubles him, no sickness, not passing time,

No sorrows, no sudden war breaking

Out of nowhere, but all the world turns

When he spins it. How can he know when he sins?

And then pride grows in his heart, planted

Quietly but flourishing. And while the keeper of his soul

Sleeps on, while conscience rest and the world

Turns faster, a murderer creeps closer, comes carrying

A tight-strung bow with terrible arrows.

And those sharp points strike home, are shot

In his breast, under his helmet. He's helpless.

And so the Devil's dark urgings wound him, for he can't

Remember how he clung to the rotting wealth

Of this world, how he clawed to keep it, how he earned

No honor, no glory, in giving golden

Rings, how he forgot the future glory

God gave him at his birth, and forgetting did not care.

And finally his body fails him, these bones

And flesh quickened by God fall and die-- and some other soul

Inherits his place in heaven, some open handed

Giver of old treasurers, who takes no delight

In mere gold. Guard against such wickedness,

Beloved Beowulf, best of warriors,

And choose, instead, eternal happiness;

Push away pride! Your strength, your power,

Are yours for how many years? Soon

You'll return them where they came from,

sickness or a sword's edge will end them,

Or a grasping fire, or the flight of a spear,

Or surging waves, or a knife's bite,

Or the terror of old age, or your eyes darkening over.

It will come, death comes faster than you think, no one can flee it..."

Here, Hrothgar is pleading Beowulf to choose character over coins and righteousness over riches. The Bible says the same thing:

• Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15)

• A man is destined to die once, and after that face judgement. (Hebrews 9:27)

• "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any long to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing, and perfect will." (Romans 12:1)

• "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." (Matthew 6:24)

I find it intriguing how you can take something like Beowulf and apply biblical truths to it! Go ahead and try it sometime.

Beloved: The Last Supper

Check this out:

I've never thought about the Last Supper this way before. Once again, Tenth Avenue North is helping to make the Bible come to life in modern times. Love it!!!!

The world of music.

I've been playing piano since age four. When people learn this, they always go, "Wow! You must be really good!" I simply smile and look down at the ground, but inside I'm thinking, Not really.

See, I started out playing easy versions of Mary had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. I worked my way up to Chopsticks. Then Fields of Gold. Now those are just recital songs that I've played. I've also played through many lesson books, theory books, and the list goes on.

I couple years ago, I memorized Fur Elise and Linus and Lucy. Then it was more lesson books, scales, and intervals. I've spent about an twentieth of my life on the piano bench. I started out practicing for fifteen minutes a day, and now I practice for around an hour a day.

A few weeks ago, I spent around five hours putting my heart and soul into learning chord charts. My grandmother had let me borrow her keyboard, so I went late into the night jamming out on it. I figured out how to play a chord chart practically by myself, although thanks goes to my parents for helping me a bit.

Still, I'm not as good as I could be.

If I actually had a keyboard, I could put it in my parent's basement. Then I'd be able to practice so much more. But unfortunately I don't, so I'm going to have to use what I have.

In any case, learning how to play chord charts opens up a whole new world to explore. With recital and classical pieces, I'm limited to how much I can do with it, especially popular pieces, because people expect it to sound a certain way. But with chords charts, I'm given the chord I'm supposed to play at a certain time, and I can do so much more with it! I can break up the chord, I can just hold the chord, I can add anything within the chord notes. I can play it anyway I want to, within reason, and I'll usually be able to tell whether or not it's going to sound good in the particular song. Plus, once I've figured out how chords fit together, I can make up my own songs.

My brother has a friend (I guess he's kind of my friend too) who plays piano, and he's very good. He come up with songs and posts them on Facebook. Sweet, right?

Without music, life would be rather dull.

Just in case you were interested...

I told you guys about me bringing muffins for the Student Ministry Team's breakfast. I made apple streudel muffins, and everyone loved them! Oh yeah!!

Germany.

Germany. Lovely Germany. You know what today reminds me of? Germany. That's right. Do you want to know why? No? Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.

This morning at church, I was sitting in the Student lobby having a conversation with Ms. Jessica. I think we were talking about Tiny Towers, that game app for iPads and iPhones and whatnot. It was funny, because she has it on her iPad, and my mom used to have it on her iPad, and I would play it all the time! Getting off track here.

So Ms. Jessica and I were talking, and this girl walks up. She looks like she's about sixteen or seventeen. We introduce ourselves, and I find out she's an exchange student from Germany. All the while I'm thinking: Sweet! I've never met anyone from Germany, let alone visited there. She's a Junior in highschool, and has been in the United States since August. We went on an errand for Ms. Jessica, then we hung out until the Student service started. Afterwords, she said that services here were way different in Germany. We talked about it some, then bought some coffee and went into 'big church' (the main service... I think everyone calls it big church, though. I know I do). I introduced her to my mother and aunt and cousin. They asked a few questions, and then we went to sit down. We sat at the very top of stadium seats and talked some more about the differences between Germany and America. It was very interesting. After big church, we parted ways.

She was a very sweet, beautiful young lady. Very courteous. She spoke English very well. I really enjoyed spending time with her and I hope to see her again before she leaves for Germany in June.

Auf Wiedersehen, liebe Leser! (Gotta love Google Translate.)

The big guy turns into an owl.

I was taking care of my little brother while my mother was out. It was around 9:30 p.m. and he was getting a little feisty, so I sat him on my lap and asked him if he wanted to watch a video on the computer. He said yes, he wanted to watch the 'big guy turn into an owl'. Translation: He wanted to watch Owl City's To The Sky music video. So I turned it on for him, and he sat perfectly still, humming along to the music. His eyes lit up as he watched the 'big guy turn into an owl'.

That's when I had the random thought: What's the world going to be like when he's my age?

Right now, he's just an innocent, sweet three-year-old. But in ten or eleven years, his mind will get so polluted with all the junk that's in the world. All this talk about war, the end of the world, woman's rights, homosexuality, and so on. It's not the same world I grew up in. And it's only going to get worse.

I try to push this stuff out of my mind, but I get reminded of it everyday. It's on TV, my computer's homepage, the newspaper. It's literally everywhere.

So maybe I'm not supposed to just forget about this stuff. Maybe I'm supposed to do something about it. I try not to get involved in politics because, one, it just shows how screwed-up this world is and, two, apparently I don't understand half of it.

America is the land of dreams. It's also the land of failures.

America is the land of opportunity. It's also the land of 'sit-down-and-shut-up'.

America is the land of the brave. It's also the land of the cowards.

America is the land of the free. It also has many people behind bars.

Who gets to decide what right or wrong? The president? A judge? What about God? Have we completely shut him out? The Founding Fathers grounded faith of God into this amazing land, and not a day goes by where somebody doesn't use his name in vain. We do it almost without thinking about it, it's disgusting how easily it comes out of our mouths.

God set the stars in place and know them each by name. He know how many hairs are on your head. He separated light and darkness, land and water. Angels exalt him, they worship him day and night. He sent his one and only son to die so we could have the chance to live with him for eternity in heaven.

So why aren't we giving our all for him?

I can imagine in about two-hundred years from now, some kids will be sitting in a classroom and a teacher will ask, "Does anyone remember The United States of America?" One kid raises his hand and says, "I do. America started out as a great country, greater then any country before. It was young and free, and many people expected an amazing future for America. But after only a couple hundred years, the country started to fall apart because everyone thought that their beliefs were the right ones, and they had no faith in God."

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

John 3:16-21

God's perfect plan

I woke up at six o' clock this morning. I stayed in bed for about five minutes thinking about one of the many dreams I had the previous night, then, I got up, grabbed my Bible, pen, and notebook, and did my daily devotionals. After I finished, I started praying. My prayer was along the lines of this:


"Dear Father, please give me the wisdom to tell from right and wrong. And not just any wisdom, I pray that you'll give me your wisdom. I also pray that you'll give me the courage to speak up when someone I know is doing wrong, and that I'll be able to love them enough to correct them..."

I stopped here to see if God had anything to speak to my heart. He didn't, so I continued:

"... I pray that you'll use me. Even though I'm not near what I should be, and you'll work me into your plan..."

I stopped again, not to see if God had anything to say, but because something sounded wrong about that prayer. I pray that you'll use me. Nothing wrong about that, I always pray for God to use me.

Then it hit me.

... You'll work me into your plan...

That was it. God isn't going to 'work' me into his plan, because his plan is already perfect and is unchangeable. God was trying to tell me just that. I thought about this for a while, then realized that it was God's plan that was to be placed into me, not me into his plan. There's a big difference here.

See, if God were to put me into his plan, he would have to change his plan. But if God were to put his plan into me, it would be me who needed to change. He's not asking that I give up who I am, but he is asking that I am willing to give up my selfish hopes and dreams to do whatever it takes to put his plan into action.

God asks that same question to you, as well, dear readers.

Will you answer that question?

Morning owl or night bird?

For those who don't know, I'm going to Atlanta next month on a mission trip. My brother and I are going with the Student Ministry from our church. Tomorrow is our last meeting before we leave, and the excitement mounts as the date gets closer and closer. Hopefully I'll get a camera by then, and will be able to post a few pictures of the great adventure on here.

This Sunday, Daylight Saving Time begins. Meaning the clock goes forward an hour, and I'll wake up on 5:45 Sunday morning, but it'll really feel like 4:45. It isn't nearly as bad as it seems. I can run on very little sleep if needed. I'm neither a night owl or a morning bird, but both. Does that make me a morning owl or a night bird?

I guess I've dubbed my church's Student Band and Ministry Team official muffin-tasters, as I've been bringing them muffins for breakfast on Sunday, usually using recipes I haven't tried before. I'm going to experiment with apples, nutmeg, and cinnamon this time. Not sure how this will turn out...