Washington, D.C.

I thought I should write up a little summary (as if any summary can be little with me) of my trip to D.C. so I could share it with you all, so here it is-Enjoy!

First of all, before I start, I should say this: I've had three dreams for as long as I can remember. First- To participate in a major Bible memorization competition. Second- To visit Washington D.C. Third- (This dream not for as long) To meet one of my online friends I met through the forums on the CBH Ministries website four years ago.

K, so anyways, that out of the way. Wednesday morning, November 4, my family woke up at 3:30 AM to leave our house at four. We all piled into our van (my friend Susanna got to come with us. I was SO excited!) which had luggage packed to the ceiling, under the seats, and on our laps. We’d had the brilliant idea of borrowing my sister's GPS for the trip, and after we'd traveled for a half hour (yes, we DO live in the middle of nowhere) the satellites finally started picking up reception.

So far so good...

Well, not really...my brother James came down with a bad cold (fever, headache, etc.) the day before we left, and my brother Matthew woke up that morning with it. But life must go on, and we still headed off to D.C.

As the day wore on, I began to start developing a headache. I had slept literally an hour or two the night before at best, so I felt exhausted, too, but I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to just study, study, study so I didn't do terribly in testing the next day! My headache kept getting worse, but I kept studying. I was almost to the end of the second category passages, and had just begun quoting I Peter 3:9-12 when things started getting crazy.

We were about 20 minutes from the J.W. Marriott hotel when we found another van headed to The National Bible Bee. When the highway split, they went one way, and we the other. Ahhh, the GPS found a shortcut for us, right?

Ummm…

Yeaaa….

We found ourselves in some woods. Interesting for just outside our nation's capital. Theeeeennnn we started nearing the city (somehow I doubt we took a "shortcut") and the GPS lost satellite completely.

IN D.C.


IT LOST SATELLITE!

Apparently it doesn't do too well around tall buildings. So now we're lost, and when it finally DOES get signal, it says, "Recalculating!" over and over again as it tries to get us back to where we need to be. When we finally DID get back on track, there was this whole roundabout thing where we kept getting off at the wrong exit and of course the GPS could be heard "Recalculating" again!

Finally, we arrived at our destination...or so the GPS told us. There was just one slight problem- there was NO hotel, especially not the J.W. Marriott, where we were. That’s when we figured out we were really lost. My dad was getting REALLY annoyed by the constant "recalculating" at this point, AND the heavy traffic was NOT helping things, especially all the crazy D.C. drivers!

So as we're stopped at a traffic light, my mom rolls down the window and tries to get directions from this random security guard which D.C. seems to have PLENTY of. He told her to call information and ask for the hotel number.
Meanwhile, two things are happening. One: My sister Alisha has called my sister-in-law Laura who happens to be at home near a computer that can easily access maps. Two- my brother Matthew starts shouting, I guess a little louder than he's been the last few hours, that he needs a bathroom NOW!

So taxis are honking their horns, the GPS is recalculating, Mom's on the phone with the hotel, Alisha's on the phone with Laura, Matthew's shouting that he NEEDS a bathroom, and I'm STILL trying to get through I Peter 3:9-12.

Dad decided to stop in the MIDDLE of the street to let Matthew out (and just decides to stay there as traffic maneuvers around us), Mom got a NEW address from the hotel (apparently, we somehow had the zip code where the address number was supposed to be?) and Laura finds a D.C. map.

Yay! Happy ending, right?

Uh, yea...sure...NOT!!!

NOW the GPS is saying, "Turn right here," and Laura with a map is saying, "Turn left here."

AHHHHH!

An hour and a half later (I'll spare u the rest of the details) we arrived at the hotel. Dad dropped my mom and I off so we could register, cuz if I wasn't registered by a certain time, I was automatically eliminated from the competition. We walk inside and, lol, I don’t know if I can describe the scene I met...The lobby was immaculate-the chandeliers were the size of our van. BUT it's not the chandeliers I noticed first. It was the HOMESCHOOLERS! How do I know they were all homeschooled?

Well, clue number one was the fact that all the girls were wearing floor-length dresses.

Clue number two was that their hair fell past their waist...

Clue number three...well, they were all knitting.

Clue four…they all had ten kids. Ok not all, but it seemed like it! I felt like it was attack of the homeschool conservatives on this ritzy upscale hotel! And now I was suddenly feeling intimidated by the fact that I’d had dreams about such homeschoolers putting me to terrible shame at the Bible Bee!

I will have to say, though, that while the atmosphere was entirely conservative, and while I was afraid most of the contestants would be forced into this by their parents, the group was amazing. Every contestant I talked to was entirely THRILLED to be there and infatuated with the Bible.

We registered then left to go back to the van cuz my dad and brothers were staying across the Potomac River in Virginia cuz of the price difference. We got them settled in, then they drove us back.

Remember the GPS?

We relied on it for directions again...

Bad, bad, bad idea...

Next thing we knew, we were lost AGAIN! Funny thing...poor Matthew needed the bathroom AGAIN! So after a thousand "recalculating"s and random stopping on street corners to try to find a bathroom we FINALLY made it to the hotel.

Now I need to explain something else. My mom HATES the thought of eating out, so whenever we go anywhere, we bring our own food. We had two LARGE coolers, and about 5? 6? totes full of food. PLUS all our suitcases. We overflowed two bellhop carts AND all our arms were full. We eventually managed to get our luggage upstairs.

Remember my headache? It never left, but steadily got worse. After seeing all those homeschoolers, I was now studying with urgency, but after a little while, I couldn't even think, my head hurt so badly. At eight I went to bed, setting my alarm for 5:15 AM, and praying for God to take away my headache, allow me to sleep, and give me peace.

I woke up at 5:15 the next morning and my headache was completely gone! Praise God! I studied for the next hour and half then got ready for our first session that began (or was supposed to) at 7:45 PROMPTLY (with risk of elimination for late people).

The session was really cool, and included many of the sponsors of the National Bible Bee including the president of HSLDA, Patrick Henry College, founder of World Magazine, etc. Then they showed an awesome movie about the Bible Bee which u can actually watch...http://www.biblebee.org/nationals2009/videos.php

After that, during final instructions, they told us to be sure we wore our huge placard (picture the signs hung around National Spelling Bee competitors' necks) all day.

Ok...that was NEVER mentioned at registration. I knew there was NO way I was getting back up that elevator. There were a couple thousand people in the hotel. ALL of them LOVED the elevators. Sooo, wonderful Susanna came to the rescue and braved the looooooong lines to bring me my placard.

K...this is where the homeschoolers' traits started coming out. Soooo...there are 300 contestants, right? Now each of those 300 contestants had a registered parent who was to sign them in and out of testing rooms, then leave.

LEAVE!!

Did u get that? LEAVE!

300 contestants...2 parents and 10 siblings each...

I looked at the line waiting to get into the room and thought; "You know, we're never gonna make it into this room." I happened to find a way to squeeze into the room (they actually opened another door so two contestants at a time, not one, could sign in.) The room was full after fifteen minutes, and the crowd outside looked like no one had even entered. It was insane.

The Bible Bee staff kept calling out on their microphones, "Parents, please leave your children and exit the room. Say your goodbyes, and leave! Please! We CANNOT fit you all in this room!" SOME parents (and their ten children minus the one contestant) left.

Then the Bible Bee people realized the groups they had assigned us to for testing rooms were all screwed up. They had Seniors testing with Primaries and vice versa. We were NOT given the same study material, so that wouldn't have worked so well! They tried to rearrange the groups. Did I mention testing was SUPPOSED to have begun an hour and a half before this point?

Yea...then there was the whole problem of having all thee age groups scattered across this room. They finally got us semi-divided into groups, and began randomly taking people into testing rooms.

Theeeen...someone realized, "Oh, silly us, we have kids testing just above this room where these 300 contestants (and the random parents now disguised as contestants) are waiting, and naturally, they’re all talking."

OH! side note- The groups of people talking? Boy groups and girl groups. They were COMPLETELY separated. There was ONE group of a mixture of guys and girls, and they didn't even LOOK homeschooled! *gasp*

Anyways, for the next three hours, over and over and over again we heard "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" randomly repeated over the loudspeakers.
BUT... Bright side-I met two cool girls who BOTH memorized from NKJV and it was amazing to be able to quote chapters in unison with them. ABSOLUTELY amazing! I can't explain how it felt to know we'd all worked hard at those verses and they'd encouraged all of us so now we could speak them to others.

I waited awhile, avoiding the eyes of the runners taking us to testing rooms and enjoying my time meeting the contestants and quoting with them, then realized God was giving me HIS perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3-4) and I needed to just go and get tested and not put it off. As I volunteered to be taken up for testing, I felt like I was signing my life over to meet my final fate, but oddly I wasn't really that nervous. I made it up to the testing room and the FIRST passage I was asked to quote, I HONESTLY thought the lady asked me to recite "2 Timothy 3:15-17" I was soooo excited cuz I knew that passage sooo well! I jumped right into it and finished with a loud, "2 Timothy 3:15-17".

The judges looked at each other with sick looks and I knew something was wrong. "I think u misheard her," one judge told me. All I could think was "What? No...that's what she said!" The judge repeated the reference for me.

"1 Timothy 1:15-17."

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it, but they let me redo the passage. I was so grateful cuz a guy came in after me and did the same thing (although he repeated the 1 Timothy reference) and they didn't let him repeat it. I knew all four passages they asked me, and I also knew all four Bible knowledge questions. I felt great!

That afternoon the Bible Bee staff improved things from the chaos that had ensued all morning. After it had taken an hour and a half to get contestants into the testing room that morning, they decided to move us to the downstairs ballroom and tape off the sections so we were easily divided. OH! And parents were asked not to enter the room.

The first part of the afternoon was a written test. I felt confident cuz the one at locals was soooo easy. This is the part where God decided to teach me who to place my confidence in. The test was the hardest thing I'd ever encountered. I knew hardly ANYthing. I mean, seriously, who knows who drilled an underground well or something in the old Testament that was named after him and what other name Solomon was called by?

I made it through the test, thoroughly reminded that it is GOD who arms me with strength (Psalm 18:30). After the written test we went back to the ballroom and found a seat. I sat in the back row next to one of the girls I had quoted with that morning. I found out that the chair I was sitting in meant I would be the 300th contestant tested... Yay me! It was actually a fun afternoon. I'll admit. I even met a girl who knew my youth pastor's wife's cousin...weird...

Finally, after four hours of waiting, I was led up to the testing room and I sat in a chair outside the room, waiting to be called. A middle-aged African American man came to the door with a HUGE grin on his face and called me into the room. "What's your name?" He asked me. "Hannah? Hannah is a beautiful name. Hannah, do you know what your name means? Hannah means grace of God and comes from the Hebrew word _____. The origin of the word ____________. It was interesting that Hannah named her son Samuel which derived from the word ________ meaning__________. But anyways, Hannah, what is your favorite Bible passage?" He made me feel so comfortable and “at home”.

I named Philippians 3:7-10 in which Paul pleads to know God more.
Then the man said, "Well, Hannah, may I pray for u before we begin?" He began his prayer, and I have never heard a prayer so filled with Scripture. The first Bible passage he prayed for me was Philippians 3:7-10. I jerked my head up, astonished that he'd known those verses word perfect, but then, he proceeded to pray a dozen or so more various verses for me. It was amazing.

That oral round didn't go so well, and I had to pass two of my passages cuz I didn't know them at all. But that judge...wow...I'll never forget him. Especially after what happened next. After I had finished, the others in the room told me he had done the same thing for every one of them. He knew every passage they had named and prayed over 100 verses throughout the afternoon for different contestants.

When he talked, it was Scripture. He knew His Bible, and literally everything he said was the Bible. Someone asked him how he knew so much and he asked us to quote Malachi something or other that talks about giving God a tithe of everything we have. He told us that included our time, he believed, and since he became a Christian at age 18, he had spent at least 2 hours and 40 minutes every day reading the Bible. He reads the ENTIRE Bible through every 17 days.

EVERY 17 DAYS!

He has never sat down and tried to memorize, yet he knows most of the Bible by heart. I got his autograph! I'll never forget him and his challenge to us to do the same.

After dinner, we had "evening entertainment" which consisted of two VERY GOOD sermons by Alex and Brett Harris first about "Learning It!" then "Speaking it"! and "Living it!" which is the Bible Bee's motto (“it”, obviously being the Bible.) Brett's sermon was an incredible challenge to not just know what we know in our head, but know it in our hearts. It is possible to win the National Bible Bee and still go straight to hell. It is so possible. And sooo scary. Brett was crying by the time he finished his messgae and so was I, for that is what I've been so afraid of about this Bible Bee and AWANA at our chuch; that we fill kids' heads with knowledge about God and all the right answers, but in their hearts, they would never know the Savior.

Brett told us, "In fifteen minutes from now, you will know who is advancing to compete tomorrow. In fifteen hours from now, you will know who won the Bible Bee. In fifteen days from now, you will just be recovering from this event, and in fifteen years from now, no one will remember you were here." It scares me and makes my heart ache when I realize how much knowledge I am feeding my little kids at Awana every week, but how easy it is to skip right over to what it means to their heart.

After Alex and Brett’s messages, Joel Belz stood up to anounce the finalists, but instead of reading a list of names, he told us that like so many elections, there was a “precint in the left wing of the hotel” that had not sent in their test results. Apparently their scan tron machines were down for awhile, slowing down the grading process. To fill the time, Mr. Belz put Alex and Brett on the spot, allowing anyone in the room to ask them any question to which they must give an answer. That was pretty exciting!

I didn’t make it into the semi finals, but I felt like I’d won. Only 20 people advanced. The ones who advanced knew every passage mostly word perfect, which is saying a lot when nearly 2000 verses are involved. They were under intense pressure. I slept sooooo well that night! Friday, I listened to the Bible be recited from 8 AM to 6 PM.

The little kids reciting were ADORABLE! They spoke with such passion and knew their verses so well. I definitely recommend watching the video!
http://www.biblebee.org/nationals2009/webcast.php

K, so another little side note; I read one of the boy's (Truman Falkner) favorite Bible verse and why he loved the Bible Bee before going to D.C. and I was immediately amazed by what I could tell was an intense love for and devotion to God. I really wanted him to win.

Thursday, I tried to find him and eventually did. He was sitting in a chair with a Bible on his lap. A group of guys sat around him as he instructed them from the Bible. Then I really, really wanted him to win.

THEN I ended up in his testing group for the first oral round. He recited all the verses word perfect and answered all the knowledge questions correctly, so he was given a bonus question, which he also answered correctly. Then I really, really, really wanted him to win. Then I noticed that as we sat in the testing room as others were tested, instead of aimlessly looking around the room, his head was bowed (nearly hidden behind another chair) and his lips were moving in silent prayer the entire time.

He advanced to the second day! Then to the final round! His voice was completely gone, and all he could do was whisper. He didn’t win first place, but he took second.

The guy who took first place was the guy I dreamed about 6 months before the Bible Bee-the conservative homeschooler…Yes, I literally DID have a dream about him and my entire family recognized him from my dream description as he kept advancing throughout the competition.

The banquet was delayed for two hours, because tiebreaker rounds had to keep being held cuz the contestants knew all the verses word perfect!

Each contestant was given a certificate and "The Word of Promise" Audio dramatized Bible on CD at the banquet, which is proving to be a pretty amazing help! I got to meet the AWANA president and the former president of HSLDA at the banquet. However, I doubt they knew as much of the Bible as Truman did. Those winners are my new heroes, especially the little kids.

I stayed up until past 12:30 meeting other contestants and talking with them.
It was truly amazing. I met MANY godly young men and women who are already doing amazing things for God. One boy I met preaches every week at a church in Africa! He said they didn’t have a teacher and new converts were trying to teach the Bible which they did not know. Although he may be young, he knew the Bible, so he was asked to preach. I could see his passions for Africa as he told us of the beliefs they had and how mighty Jesus is to save them. He explained their entire belief system and how to combat it with the Bible.

Then my mom made me go to bed. I doubt I'll ever see any of the contestants again, but this has definitely had a big impact on my life.

The next three days as we toured the city and visited places I’d only dreamed of seeing like Ford’s Theater, the Washington Monument, the White House, The Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson’s Memorial, Theodore Roosevelt Island, Arlington Cemetery, and many Smithsonian museums, I couldn’t help but think how useless the touring was. Compared to learning, speaking, and living the Bible, touring seemed tasteless now.

We were looking at dead people’s statues, dead people’s tombstones, and hearing dead people’s stories. All those were huge reminders to me that the other tourists we came into contact with would soon be dead. I would soon be dead. What am I doing here on earth that will last? Am I building on the true foundation, Jesus Christ, and what am I building on it? Gold, silver and precious stones or wood, hay and straw? When my works are tested by fire in the day of judgment, will they stand? God really challenged me with those thoughts.

There were actually two more neat things that happened in D.C. One- I was interviewed by someone from the Washington D.C. Public Library about the National Bible Bee and Martin Luther King Jr. (pretty sure those have hardly any connection), and I got to share the gospel on a DVD that will be played in that library!

Two-Remember my third dream? Randomly, a week before we left, Hosanna, one of my good online friends, mentioned that I'd only be two hours from her. I randomly (jokingly) mentioned that it'd be nice to meet. She randomly (seriously) replied back that her mom thought she should. Ok...so background info; we actually haven't talked much in the last year, but before that we talked a LOT. Anyways, the people she had plans with that day which hindered her from immediately jumping at it, cancelled on her, and she ended up making the drive and spending the afternoon with my family! It wasn't even awkward as I'd imagined!

So, yea...one week...three dreams...one AMAZING God! Isn’t it cool that of all the vastness of the universe and the intricacies of creation God would take time to write in my story an amazing week including the fulfilling of my three dreams? God is so amazing and good!

Now how’s that for a short summary?

Right or wrong?

I’ve recently found my mind dwelling on a topic. It has dominated my conversations in the past week and kept me up (one night) to 3:30 the following morning in my pursuit to the answer to my question. I think, in some obscure ways, the question has been on my mind for years, but recently, it’s been staring me in the face in a way it never has. It has become more personal, and as a result, I’ve been on edge about anything remotely close to the topic surrounding my question.

The question jumped in front of me about a week ago, and I jumped up with an answer before truly thinking about what I was saying. After I’d contemplated what I’d just said, I realized the implications of what I’d just said were far deeper than I’d originally imagined.

But now I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself. “What’s the question?” you scream. Ok, ok; calm down! My question is this; where do you draw the line between what is right and wrong when it comes to media, and do the same standards apply to everyone? How far can we actually go in listening to and watching media that only glorifies Christ? All movies are created by sinful people and therefore tend to include sinful practices. Even in the most family-friendly movies we see the characters sinning, and their sin brushed off as good because of the outcome it brings in the end. How is that avoiding ‘every appearance of evil’ as we are encouraged to do in Scripture?

One afternoon last week, I began discussing with a friend the topic of a certain popular movie that has been recently released. Many of my friends had fallen in love with the film and its characters, while I’d also heard others rail against the film and condemn it as a wrong, sinful movie, unfit for Christians to see. I was curious why my friend had enjoyed the film, so I was glad when she began to elaborate. She told me of the many biblical parallels she found throughout the movie, and how encouraging the movie had been to her commitment to save herself completely for her future husband. I was amused and a bit shocked since I’d heard the exact opposite from other Christians. I was confused as to how one Christian could uphold the movie as good and another denounce it as sinful. Was someone lying to me or unjustly prejudiced about the film?

A few days later, I happened upon the topic of that same recently released movie with another friend. She had not seen the movie, but was certain she would hate it since her boyfriend had told her it was not a pure movie. She then directed all my comments to her boyfriend, and we began discussing the movie. He told me right off the bat that the movie was inappropriate for Christians to see as it represented the embodiment of sin and included other inappropriate behavior by the characters. We didn’t end up talking to much about the film after his initial comments because we were derailed onto a subject that was only a subtopic of the movie.

However, we were then quickly pulled into another discussion about music genres in which he said, “People portray using rock music as being okay if it's about God and spiritual things. But labeling something like rap as "Christian" doesn't make rap any better.” Interesting. I immediately disagreed, arguing that the style of the music doesn’t make it bad, but the words and message behind the songs. I don’t listen to secular music; only Christian music with God-honoring lyrics. But he was arguing that even some supposedly “Christian songs” were bad because of the style of music. The second part of the question I had been pondering crossed my mind. Can something truly be right for one person and wrong for another? Why did grey areas like this create so much confusion?

I sat down the next day and tried to come to a conclusion on the matter. Does all this mean we should only watch Christian moves and listen to Christian hymns? Is that the only way to avoid the pitfalls of watching and inadvertently buying into the unbiblical message the writer is ‘preaching’?

Hmmm…maybe we should start by defining Christian media. I was listening to a sermon by Matt Chandler as I did the dishes and vacuumed the house this morning, and found something he said to be particularly helpful. “I find the idea of Christian music to be humorous. Music can not be Christian; it does not have a soul. It can’t get saved. Music is music…the very serious matter of following Christ looks like this: Find the things that stir your affections for Christ and saturate your life in them. And find the things that rob you of that affection and walk away from them. That’s the Christian life as easy as I can make it for you.” Movies are amoral. Music is amoral. Hmmm, then maybe something CAN be right for one person and wrong for another. That movie brought one friend closer to God and drew another away from Him. Certain styles of music draw me closer to God while drawing others away from Him. How that is possible, I don’t distinctly understand; however, the apostle Paul tries to explain this for us in Romans chapter 14.

1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.
2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

Ok let’s (as Matt Chandler so commonly says) unpack this. The foods discussed here are the unclean animals discussed in the Old Testament, correct? Some Christians were still living under the requirement of the law that said they should abstain from certain unclean animals, and Paul said that was ok. Other Christians were living apart from the law and eating those animals, and Paul said that this too was ok. Both were ok as long as they were done in faith. Why was it ok for one to eat a certain food and another to abstain from it? Because eating or abstaining from eating that food stirred their passion for Christ:

5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

I think Paul’s key point here is that we should do all things with thanksgiving to God. If attending church on one day over another creates in us more vibrant worship of Jesus, we should chase after that. If eating certain foods cause us to take our focus off Jesus, we should avoid that. The same thing goes for the kind of music and movies we allow ourselves to come under the influence. If something stirs our affections for Jesus, we should follow that and enjoy it. If it distracts us from Him, it has to be removed from our lives. We need to be fully convinced in our own minds that what we are doing is bringing us into closer communion with Christ.

14 As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
23 But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

God created all food. Food is not unclean; however, if you’re struggling because you’re unsure whether the food will create worship and thanksgiving for Christ in you, by all means, abstain from the food. Once again, we see the same application for media. For one, a movie does not stir in them affections for Jesus but directs them to focus on themselves or the world, but to another, that same movie is vibrant with biblical parallels that encourage and strengthen their relationship with Christ. Each one must watch or abstain from that movie in faith, knowing the reaction of their own heart.

3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.
4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.
13a Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.

Paul knew the sinful tendency we all have to compare our lives to others. “My walk with Christ is stronger than theirs because I don’t listen to a certain type of music,” we may be tempted to say. Or maybe, “They’re walking in legalism! Never in the Bible does it say that we should avoid certain types of music!” But Paul warns us to examine our own lives and not to judge what others are doing. God will judge each in the end; He doesn’t need our help. I like how Paul finishes verses 13 and transitions into his next main topic.

13b Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
15 If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.
20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

No food (or type of music) is inherently sinful by itself; however, if because we are eating it, listening to it, etc, we are causing a fellow Christian to desire it even though they know it will rob them of their affections for Jesus, then we should abstain from doing that or speaking of that while we are around them.

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

This is the final guideline Paul places on Christians concerning this matter; if it causes division or fighting, just stay away from it. Our focus should not be on the activity itself, but on the joy and intimacy with Christ it produces within us.

Paul said, “I count everything loss compared to knowing Christ.” Matt Chandler paraphrases this: “The question’s not ‘Is it right or is it wrong?’” But rather, ‘Does it get me more of Christ, or does it rob my awareness of Him?’ That’s how Paul lived his life. He’d say, ‘I count that as loss. I’m not interested in that. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s ok to do it. When I do it, it robs me, so I’ll have nothing to do with it.’”

What if we viewed all of life with that kind of attitude? What if instead of searching Scripture to find what is right and wrong (and end up stumped on all the ‘grey issues’ not clearly outlined in the Bible) we simply asked ourselves whether something would bring us closer to God or draw us away from Him? What if we stopped judging other Christians by what they did or didn’t do on controversial issues, but instead followed what we know Christ wants for us and sought peace in our relationships with others? Just a little something to chew on and ponder...

The Future...

I listened to a humorous children's audio story the other day at sign language class about a nine-year-old boy who couldn't ride his bike. All his friends could ride their bikes. Even his five-year-old sister could ride her bike. But every time he started picking up speed, he got scared, wobbled, and fell. Then he would say to himself, "If I can't ride a bike now, what's going to heappen when I get older?" The music would then switch to a techno, 'futuristic' music as a low radio anouncer called out, "The future." The little boy would dream of the terrible things that would happen in the future all because he hadn't learned to ride his bike.

Random? Uh, I guess? Not really...I'm a senior this year. Lately, evereryone's been asking me about (you guessed it) *insert techno, futuristic music* "the future". Now that I've hit the magic age of 18, everyone naturally assumes that God has walked up and handed me an envelope with the words "What you are to do with your life" clearly etched on the outside. Yea. It's getting annoying, not to mention, I'm suddenly having all these fearful thoughts. Everyone else knows what they're doing when they graduate. Even people who are younger than me know what they're doing. But I don't. What's going to happen when I graduate? And then the future becomes some sort of scary thing and I start to panic. I can really identify with that little boy.

I was thinking (translation: panicking) today about what I'm going to tell everyone this summer at camp who ask me what I'm doing with my life. Some very overused (yet painfully true) verses popped into my mind. "Trust in the LORD with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." My own understanding tells me that I need a plan for my life, but that's not what God says. God says, "Trust me and I will give you direction." That's so hard to do right now because everyone is watching and waiting for my next step. I want to acknowledge God in every area of my life. I want Him to give me absolute assurance and guidance on what my next step should be.

I really don't think it's college at this point, because I don't have one definite career I'd like to pursue. A college degree would be useless if I don't plan on using it. I don't have thousands of dollars to invest in something I'm not sure I wanna do with my life. I also definitely don't think it's God's will for me to get married any time soon. I feel God calling me towards doing something with missions, but I'm not sure yet to what extent.

So I'm trying to stop leaning on my preconceived notions of what my future will be like and ideas for what to do this fall and keep an open mind, trusting that God knows what He's doing and will reveal it to me when He's ready, opening the right doors at the right times. While I wait, I will continue to worship and serve Him as John Waller's song "While I'm waiting" says. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3b2jw1rjBc I tried to embed it here, but it wasn't cooperating. :D

Beginning explanations...

When the thought of starting a blog first crossed my mind, I had this brilliantly brilliant idea that I decided wasn't so brilliant upon further contemplation. Funny how that always seems to happen with me... My idea was to set myself apart from all other blogs by NOT having my first post say basically the same thing as every other first post by every other blogger: "I'm starting a blog for such and such a reason [normally not really a reason at all]. Here's an explanation of my name." End of first post. Guess what? I'm about to do the same boringly predictable thing. So if you expected something randomly different (just because I am the definition of randomly different), you can quit reading now, k?

(Here comes the boring part.)I know I won't be able to fully explain why I chose the blog name that I did, but I'm going to attempt to at least try. I was listening to a sermon the other day (Saturday, if you happen to be a stalker and are taking notes) by Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village in Highland Village, Texas (and no, I don't have an address for you stalkers). The sermon was about how passionately in love with God Old Testament heroes and early church leaders were, and Chandler questioned why we are not so passionate about Him as they were.

David's soul yearned for God like a deer in the middle of a desert during a drought. The deer desired water and knew he would die without it, and David desired to know God in the same way. David yearned to know God more (O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water"). This wasn't just a want like, "Oh I want that iPod sooooo bad!" It was a deep inner longing that had to be filled. It kept David awake at night, contemplating how he could know God more ("On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night"). David was grieved when he found his soul no longer wholeheartdly pursuing God and prayed, "Return to me the joy of my Salvation!"

David says other radical things in the Psalms like "Your steadfast love is better than life" and "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere" and "One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life" and many, many others. David was chasing after one thing with his entire life-knowing God more.

David recognized what so many of us miss; we are all gonna die some day. "Well, duh," you think. No, think about it. When we die, everything we've worked for on this earth is going to be worthless. Solomon, David's son, was the wisest and one of the richest men who ever lived. He had everything anyone could have ever asked for. He had money, fame, women (yes, that's plural), wisdom, etc. He had EVERYTHING, and yet he wrote an entire book (Ecclesiastes) about how worthless everything is because we can't take anything with us when we die. (No U-Hauls will follow your hearse.) When we stand before God someday, He's not gonna care whether we drove a fancy car, lived in a nice house, had the highest college degree possible, or were popular. All that's going to matter in that day is whether we truly know Him or not.

The apostle Paul in Philippians three lists ways he could take pride in Himself: "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless." He is basically the epitome of the godly man of his time. Yet in the very next verse he says, "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...I want to know Christ." Compared to knowing God, all those things were like filthy trash. Paul recognized the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, and we see just how much he longed to know God fully by what he says in Philippians 1:21 and then 3:8: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings." Paul wasn't just interested in following God when things were easy. His pursuit of knowing God wasn't about to stop in the face of suffering or even death. Paul knew he would never fully know God until his death, so he longed for death. No matter what it took to know God more, Paul was willing to do it.

Habakkuk expressed this same unconditional pursuit of God in Habakkuk three. "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior." This is such an unusual attitude-'Who cares how everything else goes if I get God?' is what he says.

Chandler ended the sermon with a question: Do we know God? Are we passionately pursuing the only thing in life that truly matters? Knowing Him? "The question about an activity should never be, 'Is this right or wrong?'" Chandler admonished. "The question should be, 'Will I get more of God by pursuing this activity?'"

With this blog, I hope to know God more and make Him known. By the power of the Holy Spirit working in my life, I hope to be able to catch a small glimpse of just who my Savior is and think through some of His amazing attributes by writing. My life is a novel God has written. As I live out every chapter, I hope to grow to know Him and long for Him more.