One thing I love about programs that require apps

I'm applying to a month-long summer program offered by a local Christian college. It looks awesome and it has three parts - wilderness "adventure," sampling of a seminary education, and overseas short-term missions trip. There's only one problem, and that 's the problem of acceptance. The program only takes 27 people, and it's primarily for juniors, although "exceptional sophomores and seniors may also apply." I happen to be a sophomore.
So I'm going to pray about it, but that's what I like about programs that require applications. I send in the forms and then it's out of my hands and there's no point worrying. If God wants me to go, I go, and if not, I don't. It's that simple.

He's listening...

My youth group meets on Friday nights at my church, and before the meeting starts, whoever wants to can go pray with anyone else who wants to in another room downstairs. So last week I went down and prayed with the group that turned up. One of the things I prayed for was for God to bless the efforts of one of our youth leaders, Audrey, who was trying to write a book.
Our youth leaders are kind of like older siblings. They goof off with us, chat with us and all that, and are only in charge when they need to be.
So last night Audrey came over to me, and after the big-hug-how-are-you greetings, she told me breathlessly, "Guess what, the day after you prayed for my writing was, like, my best writing day I've had yet!"
I was really taken aback, and it was so awesome to get this reminder that when I pray, He's listening.

Facebook-speak part II

Really obvious here, but isn't interesting how some people talk in emails and on Facebook in letters, numbers and shortened words with no punctuation, while a shrinking minority insists on talking in complete sentences?

Well, THAT'S revealing...

I'm going to give you a list of words in the order that it was given to me. Ready?

• Violence
• Racism
• Death
• Murder
• Religious faith
• Sexuality
• Incest

One of these things is not like the other... (it's "religious faith" in case you hadn't guessed)

That was the list of topics that my English Composition said was "sensitive" but that we would "have to discuss intelligently." This was while he was on the topic of things that would crop up that he said we'd have to deal with. Along with the sh- word and the f- word. And the way he said this stuff was really obvious.
I'm not stupid. I can take a hint.

I assume that at one point or another this semester, I'm going to have to take him up on his word - he said that he stressed argument and that if we disagreed with each other and with him, it was fine to argue. If at some point he openly starts insulting my faith, I'm going to have to answer him back.

First Day of School

Well, today's the first day of the new semester of college. This is a big-ish event for me because it's actually the first time I've started a semester with a general idea of what I'm supposed to expect. My courses are Public Speaking and English Composition II, and if I want to keep my 4.0 GPA I need to do really well. Also, I have high hopes for this semester, and I'm open to any ways that God could use me here. Of course, His plans will be better than mine.

Facebook-speak

I have at least seven Facebook friends who I met on short events, just a week or a weekend. We still talk on Facebook, and we're still getting to know each other. The day before the MA special election, I was talking to one of them and we had this huge debate on politics, friendly but intense, and wound up on different topics, eventually sharing life plans. I'm sure you know how that can work.
Well, I had to go, and I said so, and he said, "Fare well." Not "Farewell," two words. Fancy. So I responded, "Peace be with you." I was serious, of course, and it seemed apposite to his goodbye.
Ever since, when we talk on Facebook, when one of us has to leave the computer, he's said, "Peace go with you," and I respond, "And also with you." I think this is one of those things that is just going to stick. I like it :) and anyway, it's nice to have something that means that we're friends, despite the fact that we haven't seen each other in months, and that we can keep in touch.
I love Facebook for just that kind of reason.

Eeeek - College!

Scary word, isn't it. I take dual-enrollment classes at a local community college. For those of you who aren't familiar with the concept, it means that I take college classes with college students like a full-time college student, only I only take a couple and I have my high school classes on top of it all. My classes for my second semester start this Tuesday, and because of last semester I have a general idea of what to expect. I also learned NOT to tell people that I'm a fifteen-year-old high school student. (Technically I'm going on sixteen, but nobody cares.) It usually has no unwelcome effects, but once one of my classmates used age bias while peer-editing one of my drafts. Ick. The conversation when someone hears my age usually goes something like this:

Mr./Ms. So-and-So: You're fifteen?!? How are you here????
Me: Um, it's a dual-enrollment program. I take college and high school classes.
Mr./Ms. So-and-So: That's really cool! I'm really impressed!
Me: It's really nothing...the classes aren't that bad...
Mr./Ms. So-and-So: So what high school do you go to?
Me: I'm homeschooled.
Mr./Ms. So-and-So (shocked at this second fact): Wow! Do you like it?

And so on. And so forth. So this semester nobody needs to know. It's fun in a way, because everyone assumes I'm an adult. The most extreme part of this came when I sent letters to the campus paper. The editors ran them, and for all the rest of the campus knew when reading them, I could have been a forty-eight-year-old mother of six children.
Anyway, classes for me start up again on the 26th. I hope it goes fine.

Sledding Day --> Out-of-it People

I'm having a friend of mine over tonight, so she came over around two and we went to the local sledding hill with one of my brothers. After a while my brother had to leave to get ready for a tournament. My friend and I had had some major wipeouts, and the snow was tightly packed.
After my brother left, we got on a sled together and set off down the hill. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but both of us were thrown from the sled - again. We hit pretty hard and as there was no one else at the hill, neither of us was motivated to get up for a good few minutes. We have no idea why, but there is something insanely comfortable about lying on hard-packed snow. We just lay there and stared at the sky or had our eyes closed, and we talked.
After a while, it occurred to one of us that maybe maybe we should get up. When I stood up, it felt so weird, and I wondered how long I had been lying on the ground. It hadn't been more than a few minutes, of course, but it felt like so much more.
When we got back, I was so out-of-it and sleepish that I was running on autopilot for a little while. It was fun...but it makes me wonder why people love to do things like roller coasters and sledding and skiing and snowboarding and white water rafting and such, things that give us about three minutes of believing in our guts that we are about to die... It is really fun though!

Interesting People

It's funny how many different kinds of people there are in the world. I've met people who can't stand heavy metal music and people who think that any other kind, like classical, isn't worth the time. I've met people who have strong opinions on anything whatsoever ("Do you have a strong opinion about this floor?" "Yeah. Those yellow tiles are ugly.") and people who just chill, you know, don't really care. Then there are a bunch of other contrasts.
For instance, tonight at youth group I was watching a ping-pong game between a friend of mine and a boy who was new to youth group. The new boy accidentally bonked me on the head with his ping-pong paddle, causing a momentary disturbance that resulted in the ball finding its way into the garbage can.
After the apology and all that, he stuck out his hand, told me his name, I told him mine and we launched into a conversation about how long each of us had been at the church (he's new to it and I grew up there) and how he came to be there and how he and his sister had come to Christianity. The conversation was extremely fast-paced, compared with virtually every other first conversation I have had with everyone else I know.
Well, I enjoyed it because I love to make friends and I love to make friends with people who also love to make friends, and maybe it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

My Nightmare is the World That Atheists Live In

The worst nightmare I can think of is a world in which God doesn't exist and no one cares. So I got to thinking about how some people actually (in their own minds) live in that world. Seriously, what a nightmare it is. It's our job as Christians to offer people the chance to wake up. So please everyone, don't hide what you believe. Make sure people know it so that they can make a choice. And the most important thing you can do is to pray for them.

5-Minute Chocolate Cake

You need:
1 normal coffee mug
4 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of milk
A pinch of vanilla
4 tablespoons of chocolate chips (optional, for true chocolate lovers)

Mix together the "dry ingredients;" the flour, sugar and baking cocoa, in the mug. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and oil and mix well again. Add the vanilla and chocolate chips and mix well again, then microwave on high for three minutes and fifteen seconds.

POOF! Warm chocolate cake.

"...that would be the mark of a bad politician."

There's this old and mostly obsolete by now computer game called Oregon Trail, where you are the leader of a covered wagon and you have to fight the weather, sickness, starvation and all that to get everyone across from the East Coast to the West Coast. My little brother loves to do it wrong - he will be careless with the lives of the others, shoot a rifle like crazy to cause terrible accidents and wind up with everyone but himself dead. So I told him that I wished that you had to run for the office of wagon leader. He'd have to promise to do it right.
"So I could just break all those promises."
"You'd have to keep at least SOME of your promises-" I protested.
"Why?" he said. "That would be the mark of a bad politician."
My older brother said, "He has a point."

It reminded me of something I said to a friend of mine on Facebook the other day. We were debating Scott Brown vs. Martha Coakley, and he said, "The difference between a government and a corporation is that a government has more shareholders."
I told him, "No. The difference between a government and a corporation is that you can boycott a corporation."

Not to be a hypocrite, but...

I'm not going to stay up all night celebrating and I'm going to be over this by the day after tomorrow, possibly, but I just want to say...
YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!! SCOTT BROWN WON THE SENATE RACE!!!!!

Election Day Again...

...and wow, look how important Massachusetts is now. Both those who support the healthcare bill and those who don't are looking to Massachusetts for the vote that they need. So I think it's good to remember that as Christians our true citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven, and however patriotic we are and should be, win or lose, it is not the end of the world (not yet anyway). So whatever the result, life goes on and it'll all be fine. (I do hope, though, that you voted for Brown!)

Scott Brown Bus Tour

Scott Brown toured around MA today, and my mom, brothers and I went to one of the stop sites. There was a large and enthusiastic crowd standing around with signs and yelling and waving at the passing cars. It was quite a sight! The police spoke through these megaphones or whatever and told people not to crowd Brown, but no one listened, and it took a while for him to work his way up the street, shaking hands on both sides. I got to shake his hand, and so did Mom and my brothers. It was quite a battle, trying to get in to do so. It was an important event, the first time in a long time a Republican has had a chance to win Massachusetts.

Awesome sermon this morning

I work the nursery most Sundays, so when we stay extra long I always attend the second service. Today the sermon was "Reality Check" and it was about prayer and how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ. It was also about how we need to remember that we are children of God and how we need to try to act accordingly (even though we are major fails at it, or at least I am). It was a powerful reminder.
The most interesting part was when the preacher told us recently that he had recently been touched by a Disney movie, namely The Lion King. It was at the part where Simba, who feels unworthy and miserable, talks to a vision of his dad, who tells him in this deep and majestic voice, "Remember who you are." The pastor told us that he had felt like it could be God's voice talking to him.
I love that movie. So when I thought about it, I thought, That works. Really amazing how God can use anything, even Disney cartoons, to speak to us. Really incredible.

Things That Are Irrational #1: Blind Panic

Today was the youth group ski-treat, and we went to a mountain in New Hampshire. It was just generally a great time. I got my ski legs back (I hadn't been skiing in about two years) and it was incredible to fly down the mountain, as we got to all day.
This morning I was chatting with one of my friends about being scared of the slopes. We're a Christian youth group, so no one debated my statement that there was really no logical reason to be scared on the lift or on a steep hill. I mean, I had been skiing on a steep hill all morning and there had been no reasons for worry yet.
So later I was with another friend and a youth leader, and we were on the freestyle terrain slopes. When they say freestyle, they mean the works - insane jumps, an awesomely deep pipeline (I love those things) and long high fun boxes. I decided to go off of a fun box. It was only about a foot and a half off the ground and I thought I had gotten completely used to skiing again. So I headed down toward the box, picking up lots of speed and momentum.
I was about five feet from the box when suddenly I thought, Oh my gosh, I am going to go off that fun box!!! I totally freaked out, but it was too late. The jump was fine, but the landing left much to be desired. I crashed onto my side, losing both skis in the process. I stood up, laughing because it was funny once it was over, and remembered that I had said distinctly that being scared of the hill was irrational. No duh I couldn't stop it.

Musical worldviews

I'll leave the school on volunteering days, get two steps away from the door and pull out my iPod. I plug myself in, press play and all of a sudden, it's like I just put on a pair of color-tinged glasses.
Music changes the way we see the world by changing how we feel at any given time. If someone is listening to, say, a calm and gentle tune tinged with melancholy, that person will see it very differently than someone standing in the exact same spot listening to hard rock.
The words are also an important part of the musical experience; I would imagine that the way I feel listening to my favorite Christian rock would be extremely different from how someone would feel listening to angry, rebellious music about drugs and violence.
It's amazing the extent to which music influences our emotions. Maybe we should all take a moment to stop, turn on a particular song and examine ourselves to see exactly how that music changes our immediate worldview.

Reading Styles

I work two days a week in a kindergarten classroom near my house. The students have just finished learning the alphabet and have begun learning to read. They are doing partner reading and solo reading fairly well, if the books are phonetic "See Sam run. Run, Sam, run." You know the type.
There's one exception. One little boy can already read at maybe a fifth grade level. Instead of having him read what the other students are reading, the teacher had me sit with him and have him read to me the first two chapters of Junie B. Jones, First Grader. Okay, I thought. This should be quick.
Forty-five minutes and sixteen pages later, the rest of the class was finished and my charge rejoined the rest of the class, stopping first to inquire to the teacher what "slumped" means. (I think it means how I was feeling at the time.) He read this word with no problems other than those of comprehension. The other children were understanding what they were reading. This boy was reading more, but understanding less of what he read.
Conclusion? More focus in public school on general vocabulary.

Martha Coakley vs. Scott Brown

Well, in the Massachusetts special election, things are not going well for Martha Coakley. I would go so far as to say that the odds of each candidate winning are 50-50. As this is Massachusetts, that's a big deal. Finally, as a conservative, I get to be optimistic about the election. According to Lyflines, "the environment is bad for Democrats and Scott Brown is an appealing, moderate candidate who has run a smart, aggressive and positive campaign."
Lyflines is my dad's blog, and he gets 100% of the political information that I don't, so when I talk about politics I'm going to link you to him a lot.
Anyway, it looks like we have a chance at this! It'll be huge for the nation if a Republican wins this election, and we have a chance at stopping the government takeover of healthcare.

Hi

Hi there! This is the first post but I'm going to try to blog daily... Sometimes I'm thinking and I just need to say something. This is a sounding board. But hey, if you agree with my opinions, feel free to say so...