Hello my dear readers!
It's been far too long since I have written a blog post. I've just been so swamped with school and life, but I've had a lot on my mind lately that needs to come out in a form of a blog post. So here it goes.
Forever. Always. These are two words of stability, of permanence; words which meanings we come to expect, words that are used often, but aren't thought or talked of nearly enough. Think about it. How many times have you told a friend that you'll always be there for them; a boyfriend that the two of you will be together forever? At the time they are spoken, we may mean these words with all of our hearts, but do we ever really think about these words and the responsibility that comes with speaking them? Until quite recently, I know I never did.
So what do they mean?
According to Dicionary.com, "always" can be defined as:
1. every time; every occasion; without exception.
2. all the time; continuously, uninterruptedly.
3. forever.
4. in every event; at any time; if necessary.
"forever" is defined as:
1. without ever ending; eternally.
2. continuously; incessantly; always.
Okay, so you may have known the meanings of these words, but have you thought about the problem with them? There are only so many things one can always count on; not much lasts forever. These words are eternal, infinite, are consistent to the ultimate point, are permanent. But very few things in this life are permanent.
So what is?
I'm the type of person who longs for deep, life-long friendships. And I don't need that many friends, I just need close ones. Therefore, I often have the mindset that my friendships will last forever - that nothing will come between my friends and me. I know things will change, but I always expect my friendships to adapt to change. This leaves me completely and overwhelmingly shocked when a person I was once close to drifts away, or something happens that causes a break in the friendship. I can easily remove myself from unhealthy situations, but I never see them coming, and I am always hit square in the face with the fact that no matter how much I want them to, friendships don't last forever. People grow up, change, and move away, and I have to move on. Friendships aren't permanent.
Circumstances aren't permanent either. I know a lot of people who get so shaken up when something in their life changes. If they have to move, change schools, change jobs, etc., it's like they expect everything to always remain the same. But it doesn't.
The truth of the matter is, there is only one thing that is permanent. Only one thing that will always last forever. And that is love. But not the kind of love that popular culture promotes these days - the kind that one can "fall out of", the kind that demands something in return, but the kind of love that can only come from Jesus. The perfect, sacrificial, intense, all-consuming love of Jesus. The kind of love that inspired him to die for us, the kind of love that promised us life. That love is something we can always count on no matter what, something that lasts forever, that is infinite, that is consistent, true, and real.
Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't use forever and always unless speaking of God's love, but I am saying that in this temporary life, we as Christians can have hope. We can have hope because we know of something that these can be applied to truthfully. We have something that is permanent.
These are my favorite brownies:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
6 oz chocolate, chopped OR 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Oven 350°F (175°C)
Instructions:
1. Melt butter on stovetop or in microwave. Lightly grease 9x13 pan.
2. While the butter is melting, whisk flour and cocoa together with salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Combine melted butter, sugar, and vanilla together.
4. Beat the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.
5. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
6. Toss the chocolate in a light dusting of flour and stir them into the batter with a spoon or spatula. (The flour will keep the chocolate pieces suspended in the brownies so you have nice bites of pure chocolate.)
7. Pour batter into prepared pan. Spread the batter in the pan, slightly mounding on sides so it will all bake evenly.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from http://www.instructables.com/id/Brownie-Recipe/
Differences
Ummm. Hi. Sara's asked me to write on something, because she couldn't find anything to write on. I've never really done this before, (maybe once?) so I'm not sure how it will turn out. Much different than the way Sara and Malea would post, but I'll give it a go anyway.
So, something I, and most likely all of us, am trying to do is to fit in. To not stand out. To not be different. Sometimes we hold back from doing our best, or make a decision that maybe wasn't the best choice, or hurt someone else so you're not seen with them, all because we don't want to be labeled a freak or unpopular. The Weirdo.
But what if God wants us to be different? You can see it all through out the Bible. The first reference I found was in Genesis 6. Noah. He was different. He was righteous. And probably not very popular about it. I mean, he built an ARK in his back yard. Can you imagine? He would be the definite winner of "Laughingstock of the neighborhood." And he worked on it for 120 years! But his reward was great. He was saved from the flood that killed all the other people and animals. He made a covenant with God. Would you rather be laughed at and live, or not do anything and die?
Or what about the Israelites? God called them out to be a set apart people. He enabled them to defeat nations 2-3 times lager then themselves. He gave their enemies into their hands. He preformed miracles for them. He did stuff that made other nations tremble in fear and wonder who these people were. He made sure that they were noted as different.
But if Jesus wasn't the odd guy out, nobody was! While everyone else was cowering behind the pharisees, he confronted them to their face and told them how very wrong they were. Everyone hated the Gentiles, and he said that they, too, were allowed to believe in God. He cared for people not worth caring for, cripples, lepers, blind men. He did miracles. He raised the dead. He could explain the bible better than the teachers could. He had people calling him Lord. The worst thing he did was he claimed to be the Son of God! 'GASP!' That really sent the 'righteous' people recoiling. Yep! Jesus claims the title of Different! God wants us to be like Jesus. He wants us to follow Jesus's example.
Look at the following verses. They both say something about being different.
Romans 12:2a
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
1 Corinthians 3:3
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
Romans 12:2 is clear. We need to stop following the patterns of this world. 1 Corinthians 3:3 hints that we should stop acting like mere men, not called to do anything to change the world men who can't be called disciples of Jesus. 1 John tells us not to worry if we are different like this.
1 John 2:17
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
The world will not be remembered. The people who laughed at you or called you names will die and they will be forgotten. But if you have changed the world, loved Jesus, been different, you will live forever. Also, if you look back at people who have dared to be different, see how they are remembered. We learn about them, who they were and what they did. And we don't remember the people who mocked them. For instance, David Livingstone, or Martin Luther.
David Livingstone discovered Africa. But people tried to stop him from going, saying he would get killed by the savages, or the diseases that ran rampage. He took a chance and went anyways. Now, we have Africa to remember him by, and nobody knows off the top of their head who told David Livingstone not to be different.
Martin Luther started the protestant movement. The Roman Catholic church were the dissuaders in this case. Martin Luther was put under house arrest, but he still managed to create a new church and the archbishop who is responsible for house arresting Martin Luther- Well, I don't know his name. I've never read it. And if you know of Sara's love for books, I'm the same way. And I have been given some strange looks (My mom calls them 'third eye' looks) when I say I can read a book or two in a day, no problem.
So go out there and change the world. And if people give you third eye stare because you are making a difference, just hold you head high, smile, and wave. Be who you are. Don't hold back anything.
Basic life concept: Weather men don't have a great reputation for predicting the weather.
Basic science concept: Mass cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form.
Not-quite-so-basic science concept: Surface tension in water is what causes it to have that curved look when it seems to have overflowed the glass. Water molecules want to cling to each other, and at the top of the glass they have less other water molecules to cling to, so they cling to the existing ones even more strongly. At 20°C, the surface tension of water is 0.0728 Newtons/meter. It doesn't take very much to break that surface tension, though!
Now think about this:
Jesus didn't just predict the weather. He controlled it. (Matthew 8:23-27)
There have only been a few points in history when matter and mass have been created or destroyed. Jesus was present at and behind all of them. (Matthew 14:13-21, Genesis 1, John 2:1-11)
The average force a 30-year-old man applies downwards (due to the force of gravity) is 175 Newtons. Even if Jesus was a midget who only applied 100 Newtons of force, He still, according the "laws" of our world, should have sunk through the water. Yet He did not! (Matthew 14:22-33)
Jesus is God, and God is Sovereign. He created this world and He is in control. Small things like scientific laws don't get in His way.
I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my favorite Christian authors with you. I've found them to produce good storylines and uplifting messages, and want to be sure you know where you can turn for good Christian novels. Bryan Davis is author of Dragons in our Midst, I Know Why the Angels Dance, and the Echoes from the Edge series. Ted Dekker wrote the Circle books, the Heaven trilogy, and Blessed Child. Karen Kingsbury has written the Baxter series (all four of them), the 9/11 series, and Between Sundays. Check them out!
Bryan Davis:
Website - http://www.daviscrossing.com/
Shopping page - http://www.daviscrossing.com/shopping.htm
Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/BryanDavis.Fans
Ted Dekker:
Website - http://www.teddekker.com/
Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/teddekker?fref=ts
Karen Kingsbury:
Website - http://www.karenkingsbury.com/
Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/AuthorKarenKingsbury?fref=ts
While this statement isn't entirely true, and you're not going to turn into a banana if you eat three bananas every day, there's a lot of meaning behind it that, sadly, gets ignored. Americans are stereotyped as being fat, as I've discovered after being asked several times why I'm NOT fat. There are plenty of people over here who are just as overweight as Americans are. I see a lot of girls my age who were fit a year ago when I showed up starting to put on weight as they stop growing upwards but don't stop eating as much and don't exercise enough. Our body is a temple and we need to take care of it.
We can't gorge ourselves on candy, chips, and McDonalds every day. Actually, most of us don't, but we'll have a piece of chocolate here, a handful of MnM's there, a coke now or then. I'm not saying don't ever touch any junk food ever, but we need to think about what we're putting in our body.
To consider another point of this, there is a passage in the Bible where Jesus talks about the inside and the outside of the cup:
37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal.
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?
Now, making sure your eating is healthy and you exercise enough is all well and good, but that's just taking care of the "outside" of the cup. The outside is your physical body; the inside is your spiritual, emotional, and mental being. What are you feeding your mind? Are you reading your Bible everyday? Are you listening to music that swears and elevates sex? Do you listen to your mentors and leaders, or are you following the way of tv shows, magazines, and giving in to peer pressure?
I challenge you to think about what you eat. What are you putting into your body - both physical and spiritual, and does it honor God?
A little background information: 1) My school year, in South Africa, begins in January, so as well as this time of year being the beginning of the whole year, it's also the beginning of the new school year for me.
2) I attend a private school, and as well as being required to wear a uniform, I'm also required to keep my hair pulled back and preferably up.
So, with these facts in mind, I've recently been looking for some new hairdos. I have medium length, thick, very straight (and frequently slippery!) hair, so finding hairdos that work well can be difficult. Below are pictures of my hair, as well as links to the tutorials I used online.
Fishtail braid:
http://www.runningonhappiness.com/2011/07/diy-fishtail-braid.html
Top Knot:
http://www.runningonhappiness.com/2011/09/how-to-top-knot.html
*Note: If your hair is still damp, this one may be a bit difficult. If you have the time, dry your hair completely, or, if your like me and can't be bothered, attempt it anyways!
Partially Pulled Back variation (aka Half French Twist):
http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/2011/08/half-french-twist.html
Braided Braid:
http://thebeautydepartment.com/2012/02/you-asked-for-it/
