Off-Brand Teens

Sorry everyone,

I just now realized that my last post was entirely incoherent and made no sense (redundant)

Anywho, I just thought that the whole six hundred little candles idea was great, especially since they were in the shape of a cross.

Naturally, i have some kooky metaphor to go along with the candles but im still workin on it.

So I got home yesterday from doingthe first ever SBA Thirty Hour Famine and I have to say it was one of the bst experiences of my life. The Friday night candlelight vigil we had was on par with Saturday night at Steubie.

Before we had the vigil, Allie, the “tribe” leaders, and I had taken 600 tea light candles, one representing each child that is lost to preventable hunger in thirty minutes.

We lit every candle and started to blow them out,one by one, as the high schoolers came in the room.

It wasn’t until about the five minute mark when we told the high schoolers what these candles represented and why we were blowing them out.

 This weekend was just a truly awesome experience and I am proud of everybody that was a part of it.

For those of you that don’t know, I’m a very political kind of guy who is always ready for a debate.

Speaking of debates, I’m watching the presidential one at Oxford, MS right now. I’m listening to Obama and I still can’t believe that people are still supporting him. He keeps talking about increasing government control on healthcare. =socialism=bad for us. No other country that has a socialized healthcare system has citizens that think well of it.

Just a break in for a moment, Obama just said ,”I think the question should be if we should have gone to war at all.”

HOW DARE HE SAY THAT! Has he forgotten why we  have gone to war? Saddam Hussein was shooting down American pilots who were flying  into Afghanistan in order to quell Al-Queda presence and to, ultimately, find Osama Bin Laden.

He doesn’t think that we should have entered Iraq to dethrone a corrupt and totalitarianist leader who, once again, SHOT DOWN AND KILLED UNITED STATES AIRMEN!!! 

This man has no understanding of what is going on in the Middle-East, nor has he talked to Gen. David Portrayus as to the situation there. How can he be so sure of what he’s talking about?

Just now, he has said that,”I have said before that we need more troops in Iraq.” When, just moments before, he said that he believes that we should pull out of Iraq as soon as possible. Do i need to comment on that statement.

Watch the debate.

Those that can, vote.

Save us from a moron.

Hey everybody I’m really sorry about my absence on the literary scene but with the start of school and a sudden blizzard relocation (Inside comment) have made it very difficult to get time enough on my hands to write anything but apologies.

Now that I got that apology out of the way, how is everybody? I’ve been doing pretty dern great, myself.  Over the weekend I went to a retreat to earn a religious medal for Boy Scouts. The retreat talks were done by Jesus (and Bob) and made me change a good deal of my perspective on life. I realised that the way that I’ve planned my life has been entirely based on MY desires, not God’s. Because, I mean, what kind of plan can you have for yourself that could be better than God’s plan for you?

Over the weekend I was told a story about how a man got everything that he could’ve possibly wanted and then some. What was amazing about the story was that the man in the story had absolutely nothing to do with it other than that he followed God’s plan for him.

This weekend marks a major turning point in my life.

Good luck, everyone

-louis

Ya know I was looking back at some of my previous posts today and couldn’t help but laugh. It’s been about two months since the start of this blog and I’v already gotten off of the objective. I started this just to share my spiritual journey with you guys and somehow it turned into a classroom-like lecture. Well, this will be the norm for no longer.

So I’ve had a good deal of time on my hands today and I’m outlining what I want to talk about. I’m thinking the Theological Virtues. What’s that you say? You don’t know what they are? Well, they are Faith, Hope, and Charity. Simple, right? Wrong! We must try our very best to not try and over-simplify things. I will do my best to explain these vvirtues to the best of my abilities.

Due to recent changes in the blogging world and the real world, I haven’t been able to write anything for a while and I’m sorry guys. Because I haven’t been able to write anything, I figured it would be a good idea to take a leaf out of Bob’s book and open up the blog to any teen that would like to spread the truth through the internet. Email me if interested.

homer1229@earthlink.net

In The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis speaks of the human self being comprised of two parts. The spiritual and the bodily. If that is true, which I believe it is (I mean, how can you argue with a guy like C.S. Lewis??), then wouldn’t it make sense that we live in both worlds?

In case you haven’t noticed, our bodily world is a battleground. Not just the big wars and the violent conflicts all over the world. But what about all the supposed ” little things” that happen in everyday life? Traffic, family, government, and traffic. Did I mention traffic? Oh well, that’s another thing. The point is, our world is a battleground and not all of the battles are the fault of people. Any guesses as to who the being might be that causes such things as corruption, terrorism, and doubt?

Now that the gears are turning (mine are still a bit rusty) let’s take a look at the flipside of our existence, our spirituality. If you don’t know this already, the spiritual world is a battleground (oh, the redundancy). But it is not a battle that mere people engage in. No, it’s a battle of Good and Evil. As cliche as it sounds, it really is. What’s more is, the battle continually spills over into the bodily world (i.e. traffic, the omnipresent warzone).

For those of you that doubt the presence of the devil in everyday struggles, let me share this from Revelations 12:7-9

“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back,” See what I mean about a battle? “but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. the huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who decieved the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown with it.”

What was that last bit? Where were Satan and his followers thrown? “Down to earth.”

The battle is here. Now, at this very moment. Satan sees God moving in us and he HATES it. He will throw everything he’s got into trying to make us pull away from God. But I have great news. God is doing the EXACT same things, only he uses his power to bring us closer to Him.

But God will not force us to grow close to him. He will not enter and transform our heart unless we give him permission. He is not forceful, he is a gentleman.

More good news, we are not unarmed in our fight. We will look over what we have to use later.

 Please comment,

Louis

I owe the credit for this post to John Eldredge, author of Wild at Heart.

Have you ever felt like the whole world was caving in around you? Did you find yourself thinking Well, I’m not gonna make it out of this one.  Did you make it? Are you still struggling? I have good news. It’s all a test.

That’s right. God is giving you a test. No, it’s not because he is some mean old teacher that just likes giving ridiculously hard tests in biology class.

It’s not because he wants us to prove ourselves to him either. I mean, why would he need to? He knows each and every single one of us better than we do and he absolutely knows if we are worthy of Him or not.

If that’s true, then why would he test us?

The answer: He is trying to show us how worthy we are of Him. No, we didn’t make ourselves worthy. God made us worthy through Jesus.

What do I do if I fail a test?

Do the exact same thing that you would do if you failed a test at school.

                                      1. Do some make-up work (a.k.a. go to Reconciliation)

                                     2. Study for the next one (a.k.a. praying)

                                     3. Help others with their tests

I have to say right now that I am not encouraging cheating on tests at school. I am simply saying that if you have a friend that is going through a tough time, help them out as best as you can. In doing so, you may find out something about yourself that will help you with your next trial.

Oh, by the way, God will never give us a test that we cant pass.

 Let me start by asking a few questions:

How many people do you know?

Of these people, how many can you not stand? How many do you always want to be around?

How many of these people feel the same way about you?

Now here is the important question…..

How many of these people do you love?

I’m not talking about the love that is shared between Hollywood couples that get married in Las Vegas and then divorced the next day. That isn’t love, but it is the topic of a future post.

But really, who do you Love?

This is the hardest and easiest question that I have ever asked myself. It’s easy because when you ask yourself this, several names or faces instantly pop out at you. But what about the others?

What about the people that didn’t pop into your mind when you ask yourself that. Do you love them?

What about that old lady who is driving forty miles an hour on the interstate? Do you love her?

What about that kid in a gang that killed two policemen in a shootout? Do you love him?

I’m not sure who wrote this quote, but it definitely helps me get my point across:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

Stay tuned folks,

Louis