Yay!

This is my last academic post! And what do you know its about it being my last post. ha. For those of you who actually read this, (I'm thinking a handful of people) do not worry I will continue to blog after this but I cannot promise that it will be consistent or good. I've really enjoyed doing this, blogging was an entirely new experience for me and it was awesome. I just find that I'm not one of those people who blog very often and that's ok with me. I like the things I say to be really special and have some heart behind them so I will most likely wait to be extremely inspired before I dabble again in the world of blogging. But as I said earlier, don't fret. God definitely inspires me with stuff all the time, its just my willingness to put it online but I'll do it. I would hate for this thing to just end suddenly. I feel like I put too much into already to just drop it. If you read this Brett, I appreciate you making us do this, it has been fun and forcing myself to write almost weekly definitely makes it easier to write things such as essays and papers. This has been very beneficial in my opinion. Well like I said, I promise to keep blogging but it will be at a minimum so don't expect much. I would rather be honest with you guys than pretend like I'm gonna blog a lot. Wish everyone good luck on finals and hope everyone enjoys their break!

Finals

This is the week that is so bitter-sweet! Classes officially end TODAY!!! Unfortunately though, finals start this Friday. I know many of my friends already feel like there in over there heads and are very stressed out. Thankfully, I have only 2 real finals. In my other classes we just have papers that are already finished to count as finals. Its also this time of the semester that the library stays packed regardless of what day it is or the time of day. This is also the time of the semester that I'm sure coffee and energy drink sales must skyrocket! So many students pull all-nighters in the library or a study room in order to finish a huge paper or just study their butts off for an upcoming final. You know, its a shame really, that so many classes put such a huge percentage of a persons grade on a final. Many people work very hard throughout the semester but just freak out for finals and do horrible or just are bad at test taking in general. Its not good for many students to be put in that situation. I don't mind finals at all but when I see others freak out it makes me feel like I should be doing the same thing. Like I should be pulling all-nighters and studying every little chance I get. But I figure that most finals are cumulative and if I don't already know most of the material, then I failed at the whole semester. Sure I might study a little to refresh myself and sharpen myself, but hopefully I will never find myself studying night and day. Thankfully though, we have such a nice break after these coming two weeks. Basically a month off of school, I'll be working mostly but hey, my job is definitely not schoolwork and I appreciate that. Everyone looks forward to this amazing break and selling books, I hope I get like at least $100 back, that would make my day. Until this time ends, I will be seeing students cracked out on caffeine and people frantically studying there life away. Oh what a fun two weeks this will be!

Rodney Louis

This blog is dedicated to my friend Rodney Jean Louis. I first met Rodney my first year of high school before the school year even began. It was the hot summer and I had band camp. I don't remember exactly how we met but Rodney was an individual who everyone knew. He brought so much life wherever he went. He was such an outgoing person that loved to meet new people and welcome them into his life. He also brought much laughter wherever he went. There was never a silent moment with him. I remember that no matter how you felt or what your day had been like so far, Rodney could fix that. I remember how he could make any situation into a joke and even if it was about you, he did it in a way to laugh with you and not at you. He also was an amazing trombone player. He had such a talent for music. I participated in jazz band my sophomore year and Rodney and I had most of the solos, he was amazing at improv. Rodney and Brad used to give me and my friend Ben rides everywhere before we could drive and it is just simple memories like those that I will remember most. When I got the phone call about his death, I did not even know what to think or how to feel. It just did not sink in. His funeral was the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday. Rodney had an amazing impact on so many people, the funeral was way overcrowded and there were people literally having to stand outside for the whole thing. But the most important thing that Rodney ever did in his whole life, was know that Jesus Christ died for him and his sin and came back to life three days later. That by Jesus only, we have eternal life with God the Father. That is the one most important thing anyone can believe in their entire life. With that knowledge of saving grace, sin and death lose their sting entirely and what would be a day of mourning, becomes a day of celebration of life.

Rodney Jean Louis was born March 2, 1988 and died from sleeping at the wheel on
November 20, 2009.

We love you.

Open Doors

So recently I have been really blind to the fact that God has been opening up evangelical doors in my life. In pretty much every aspect of my life, there have been many opportunities to just share my faith and the truth of the Gospel. From work, to class, to hobbies, He has been just opening opportunities for His glory. Tonight at bible study we had a special night that focused on just evangelizing and being preparing to share the Good News whenever to time arises. It was really cool because it just opened my eyes to all the chances I have pretty much daily to share my faith. I think though whats even more important is the chance we have as disciples of Christ at representing Him with EVERYTHING we do! That includes actions, words, and reactions to others. This all has to do with our integrity as individuals. The world is always watching who we are and what we do. Personally one of the things I need to work on is my example in the classroom. I don't cheat on work or anything but even something as simple as being late to class or talking to my neighbor shows what kind of person I am. Its a work in progress for everybody but as Christians we need to be conscious of who we are and what we represent. I'm really thankful for all the doors that God has been opening lately. I hope I take full advantage of those opportunities and fully represent Christ with my life. I hope doors keep opening and that they remain wide open!

A Day of Thanks

So this past Thursday was the much loved holiday of Thanksgiving! I was originally not going to go home because of work and the such but I decided that I needed to spend some quality time with my grandmother because my mom was traveling to Ohio to see her family. Well I woke up at about 9:30 and got on the road at about 10:30, traffic wasn't bad at all. The drive went well and I saved some gas by using cruise control. I got in at about 1 and my friend Ben joined my grandma and I because his parents were out of town as well. It was absolutely delicious!! After wards Ben and I decided to go fire off some ammunition and I took one of my Mosin-Nagants with us. That thing is a beast. The bullet went straight through and 1 1/2 ft. diameter log. Then I decided that I really wanted to go offroading since my truck has 4WD. BIG MISTAKE!! I went on a trail I never had seen before and was just winging it. I was almost through and with 200 ft to the next road over I suddenly fell into a hidden irrigation ditch. That thing was covered with brush, weeds, and grass so it came out of no where! My first reaction was just pure shock. I couldn't believe what just happened. It was good and stuck too, I had no weight on the rear anymore so I had no traction to reverse it out. I had to leave it there overnight in the middle of practically nowhere. It was actually hard for me to sleep that night because I was worried for my truck. The next morning, I headed out there to try and get it out again and luckily some hunters saw me and helped pull me out with their truck. The whole situation just had me really upset, especially since my truck was fairly new to me. But out of all my frustration, the Holy Spirit made me realize, HOLD UP! I should be thankful for getting it out and I should be thankful for even having a vehicle in the first place. Then that thought led to all kinds of other thoughts. I should be thankful that I have a friend who is dumb enough to go with me off roading, I have a grandmother with whom I got to enjoy an awesome meal with, I have a job which put the gas in my truck to get me home, and most of all I have a loving Savior who cared enough to die on a cross so that I could live with Him for an eternity. So often we don't give proper thanks for all the good things in life. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17 There are a lot of amazing things in my life that I fail to give thanks to God for and I'm sure everyone can say the same. A lot of times God takes horrible situations and uses them to humble us so that we can worship Him with fearful reverence. He deserves everything we have to offer because He already gave His life for us...

B90X

So, these past couple of weeks have been pretty exhausting with a lot going on! This blog would have came earlier but better late than never right? Well, on Oct. 30th I finally finished reading the entire Bible from cover to cover. It was amazing! I have wanted to do it but never had enough motivation before. It all started when I saw on Twitter that a pastor in Charlotte was challenging his staff to read the Bible through B90X. NOT P but B! As you can imagine, the B stands for Bible. When I first came across this I was very interested and thought it would be extremely cool to do but then immediately dismissed the idea because I knew it would take a lot of time daily and I did not think that I was capable of it. Later that day, my friend handed me a printed off B90X guide and said your doing this. He had no clue that I was considering it just earlier that day. I definitely took that as God wanting me to step up to the challenge and just as encouragement that I could do it. Let me tell you, at some times it was rough! Some books were just so informative that I had to drag myself through them but I learned a lot. But I really enjoyed reading a lot of the Old Testament and re-familiarizing myself with the storied and learning some for the first time. I had never read much of the prophetic books and just being able to see some of those prophecies play out through time. The most important one being the coming of the Messiah, JESUS CHRIST for the redemption of Israel and the rest of the nations!

Then diving into the New Testament was very refreshing. You can never read the Gospels enough, or any part of the Bible for that matter. But the Gospels are all about Jesus, from who He is to what He did and what He taught. As a Christian, we are called to imitate Christ, we can't do a very good job if we are not very familiar with Jesus in the first place. Particularly though, I really enjoy the writings of Paul, the Holy Spirit gave him much inspiration and intellect and I just love reading his letter because they tackle every issue of the Church and the individual Christian. They are just so thick with knowledge that you can re-read them the rest of your life and learn something new everyday! And finally, Revelation. I love that book. We have such a great promise and hope to look forward to. I can't wait for heaven and earth to be one and for God to live with man! It will be absolutely amazing. Christ tells all the churches to conquer in His name and that has definitely left an impression on me. When my final days near, I want to say that I did the best I could at conquering in the name of Christ for His glory and kingdom. I want everything I am to be for the Lord's service. I want to change the world by His salvation!

Choice of Words

Well for this weeks assignment in ENG, we are blogging about our everyday language and word choice. For myself, I tend to use a more proper style of language then the people around me (this is not directed at my friends at all but rather, my environment on campus). The most likely reason for this is that I am required to speak intelligently in some of my classes. In my philosophical thinking class, we are required to express our thoughts in the most effective and intelligent ways. Even though I often reflect that through everyday language, I'm not sure if my blogging reflects this at all. To me, blogging in this context should be simple and clear. This is a very informal thing, so I choose to speak informally.

A lot of times I find myself throwing in "big" words when I am just speaking with friends, but luckily they don't mind. I can also easily switch from speaking slang to a more formal speech and then back again. I find myself using "man" either to get one's attention or as just an exclamation. I also use "dude" in the same sense. I really enjoy reading literature that is more intellectually composed and I'm sure this has an effect on my word choice. I just tend to take in what I hear from different sources, integrate it into my vocabulary, and then try to make good use of it. As I have aged, so has my word choice, but I'm still young so I can still pull off the occasional slang. So to say the least, I have a funky vocabulary, but hey, I am who I am and I sure do enjoy it!

Quality Time

Last weekend, I had the privilege of going to the N.C. State Fair with 2 friends, Caleb and Yuki! The whole trip had been planned for a while with many other people wanting to come but this is what worked out. It was really amazing to be able to spend time with Yuki. He is an international student from Japan and will be here for the entire school year. Yuki is what I would call a new believer. He believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and has confessed Him as his Savior and it is absolutely amazing to see the Lord work in his life. I first met him at Fall Getaway, he was in the small group that I co-led. God put on my heart though, the need for Yuki to not only feel welcomed and make friends ( he has had no trouble doing that) but to be surrounded by strong believers. It can be a tough thing to totally believe in something new one day and then to devote your life to it. Especially in his shoes because he is in a foreign country and when he gets home he won't be surrounded by believers. The time he has here, I want to make the best of it for him. It just reminds me that God puts people in your life for a reason. He wants us to make genuine friendships with the people around us and to share His love with all. As believers, we need community. We are supposed to do this thing called life with others not alone! We need each others for comfort, support, help, and LOVE! We are all in this together and if you haven't in a while, I suggest you start spending some quality time with the people around you and just let them know that they are a big part of your life! Friends are a blessing, make the best of the time that God gives you!

Unworthy

This past week and a half or so has just been incredible! I've been able to clearly see some of the ways the Lord has been working in my life. Things have happened that I feel were all just for the glory of God alone. At times I felt almost overwhelmed with zeal and passion for the gospel, so much that I didn't know what to do with it. This is a good thing of course! I also caught up with my B90X! For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a program for reading the entire Bible cover to cover in 90 days. I had gotten a bit behind because of school work, my job, and just the college life in general, but now I am finally back on track with it. It has been an incredible blessing just to see the whole picture of the Old Testament and to now be in the New Testament and have a much better understanding of OT reference and just the life of the Jews.

While going through the Gospel of Luke I came across a story of Jesus that I have read before but got revealed to me again and now I'm really thinking on it.

⁷"Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? ⁸Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? ⁹Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"
Luke 17:7-10 (ESV)

Wow! No matter how well I live the "Christian" life, I am still the unworthy, undeserving sinner. God's glory far surpasses my own. Nothing I can do on my own can bring me before the Lord in an acceptable manner. Only by my redemption through Christ's blood by His grace alone am I able to come before the Lord in a manner worthy of Him. I AM UNWORTHY in the eyes of God! Everything I am should be for the glory of God! In my unworthiness, God grace and love is everlasting and everlasting! It reigns over me!

Scooby Doo

So I decided to watch Scooby-Doo for my blog this week. I love some Scooby-Doo, it's a classic! Well in this episode, Scooby and the gang were returning from a fishing trip when they spotted a zombie and stopped to inquire. After talking with a local fellow, he leads them to an old abandoned house. At this house they discover the zombie and a witch hanging around. As the gang goes about solving this puzzle, the usual happens once again.

Daphne gets kidnapped buy the villains, Velma ends up loosing her glasses during a very important moment, Fred comes up with an ingenious idea to catch the villains, and Scooby and Shaggy end up ruining the plan by messing up but still end up catching the villains. In this case, the villains were patrolling the waters for a sunk money truck to steal its contents and used disguises to scare off wondering people. This is the same plot throughout all Scooby-Doo episodes, yet, they are always entertaining. I used to watch this show all the time as a child and I can still enjoy it today! I believe its a great kids show, it involves a talking dog and other funny characters, it shows that being a villain or "bad" never is a good thing and that you always get caught. This show is free of many of the things that could pervert young minds that are on t.v. today. This, however, is a completely innocent cartoon purely for entertainment. I wish that there were more shows like Scooby-Doo on t.v. today!

Home Sweet Home!

So this past weekend, today, and tomorrow is our Fall Break! I decided to go home and not stay in town because I hardly ever get to go home. This is because I have a job here in Wilmington and that job is a necessity right now. I am from good ole' Person County North Carolina! Specifically I live in the quaint farming township of Timberlake. Like its name, it is a lake of timber and does not contain an actual lake. The area is mostly dominated by agriculture of tobacco. All Timberlake has is a post office, a couple of gas stations, an elementary school, a few churches, and a tractor dealership! For school I had to go to Person High School in Roxboro, NC. Roxboro is the "city" of Person County. It is too big to be a town but not really big enough to be a city. It contains the only highshool in all of the county. Its also about a 20 minute drive to get to town. Many times I refer to Roxboro as home and people still don't know where its at. Home doesn't have much to offer but I do enjoy spending time with my family and the few friends I have there. Besides work, its hard to go back because my life is now in Wilmington, so I leave a lot here to go home but its always worth it. When I get there I realize that I really do miss it. Its where I grew up and lived almost all of my life. I'm reminded of many memories which in turn lead to me smiling. In a way I love the old country atmosphere and my grandma's cooking. I absolutely love some country food that will clog my arteries!

There are only very few things that inspire me to go back home, but its worth it every time. I love my family, I love my friends, and I love home!

God of Wonders!

Sooo, right now I'm actually trying to write my second essay prompt for ENG but I felt the need to warm up through blogging and also to share some thoughts. Well I just have to say that God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good! Its been so amazing to enjoy so many of the little things in life that I normally take for granted. The weather has been amazing, fellowship has been fruitful, and I just feel that I have been seeing God work in a lot of crazy ways that I normally don't notice. Its been crazy good. He's been pouring knowledge on me with B90X and I think I'm enjoying His grace like never before. I really have so much to say right now but I don't know how to express it all. I just want to sing to the Lord at the top of my lungs right now. Awesome evangelism opportunities have been coming up and many are coming in the future that I'm really looking forward to. There has just been so many fruitful things happening and I know I'm rambling but I can't help it. God is GOOD! My hope and prayer is that I can do and feel this always! That the distractions of this world and sin won't pull me away. But I know that regardless of what I do or what happens, God reigns and His love and grace are from everlasting to everlasting! This is His promise to us and its the best one ever made!

Sing Unto The Lord!

So... I am going through the Psalms at the moment with B90X and its pretty amazing. From Psalm 95 through about Psalm 101 the psalmists continually proclaim that we sing unto the Lord and make a new song unto Him. God had just laid on my heart his desire for us to sing to Him more than ever before. We all know that music can do amazing things in our lives. We can connect with certain songs and lyrics and song and music has the power to change our moods and lift us up. Now imagine, if all of our song was for the glory of the true living God, we would be head over heels for our Lord and Saviour. We would truly seek to please Him and we would rejoice always in the salvation that comes from Him alone! Psalm 100 is a new favorite of mine that just proclaims the never-ending love of God and how we should come to Him with praise and worship.

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into His presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, He is God!
It is He who made us, we are His;
we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
Give thanks to Him; bless His name!

For the Lord is good;
His steadfast love endures for ever,
and His faithfulness to all generations."

Psalm 100

The word of God says it all. I can't describe it any better than this! Now all I hope is that I will always have a new song to sing and will constantly make a joyful noise for my King!

Argumentation and Letters to the Editor

Well tonight I read I nice essay that described the what I might call "formula" for writing argumentative papers. Especially college writing. In a nutshell, the author claimed that for a argumentative paper to be successful it should have a clear and concise argument that is stated correctly in a non-commanding way. Also "warranties" or evidence for the claim must also be established. Some things need justification such as an opinion, while a mere fact needs no justification. The author also gave examples and definitions of helpful tools needed for having a sound argumentative paper. Such as coming to a potential claim that an opposing person make try to make. Thus, dissolving their claim. And also using words such as occasionally and rarely for those uncertain situations. I enjoyed the essay, with another once-over I think it could definitely help my argumentative writings. To show some examples of arguments against an argument, check this link out http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/ . Under 'Easy Rider' Ruckus you will find people both agreeing and disagreeing with an article that supposedly argued that motorcycles are too loud and are a nuisance in the public eye. Some claim that "loud pipes save lives" which I believe is plausible because drivers sure pay more attention if they can hear the motorcycle passing them. Others say that the same people who want loud pipes for safety also argue against the helmet law. While any of these could be legitimate, none provide evidence or warranty, they simply state their opinion.

Personally I believe that modifications done to ones' motorcycle is perfectly legal and is up to their discretion alone. Besides most aftermarket exhaust pipes are street legal and meet standard noise and exhaust requirements. This might come from my affection towards motorcycles and owning a dirt bike myself, but I stand fast to my opinion. Thanks for reading!

Personal Writing Procedures

Hello world, tonight I read an article about a writer's process of writing! Apparently writers re-read and rewrite their work many many many times. Also, many writers think that the beginning of a piece is after the first draft. Personally most of my effort goes into the first draft alone. Then I only make minor changes to that work in order to produce the final piece. It is probably by that reason that I'm not that great of a writer. I should really take into consideration the things that the author had stated. Its just that I don't care enough about writing to pour my soul into it. It is not something that I have a passion for. Every once in a while I will write a letter or a personal note, but I have all the qualifications necessary for those tasks. I don't believe that I will ever have the need or desire wot write a book or article. The longest paper I ever wrote was for my high school senior research paper. The paper was an argumentative essay that was about 12 pages long. No big deal really but I sure thought that it was long.

Unfortunately I can procrastinate when it comes to papers. I have a slight tendency to wait until the last day or two until I begin. I thhn try to get most of my thoughts together and organize it from there. Sometimes though I will just create a good thesis and let the rest of the paper just flow as write and think ahead a bit. Then I usually edit as I write, so to me, there is not much editing to do in the final draft. If I spent more time on each writing then I'm sure they would be better. I feel contempt with most of my original writings and a lot of times find no need to improve them and am satisfied enough to "publish" that piece. This is normally how things go down for me. Maybe from English class and blogging my writings will get better. I guess you will be able to see down the road from now!

Superstitions...

Well for this week's ENG class blog entry, we were asked to blog about our belief or lack of belief in superstitions. Well I have no superstitions. I believe in the reality of things. That's not to say that I don't believe in what some would call "supernatural". If anything someone could say my beliefs are very supernatural. Because I believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God died and ROSE AGAIN three days later. I bet NO ONE I can meet today has ever seen anything like that. I also believe that there is a heaven and there is a hell. I believe that demons exist and that I probably encounter more demon possessed people than I think I do. I also believe in a virgin birth, that giants used to walk the earth (Nephilim, Google it), I believe in the Great Flood, I believe that Elijah was carried to heaven on a chariot of fire, I believe that Jesus healed the sick the lame and the diseased, I believe that Jesus walked on water, and I believe that I would physically die if I saw God face to face because of His glory.

Some would say that I'm crazy and that these are superstitions but the fact is the Bible proclaims these things and I believe that the Bible is the word of God. I think that I will never be able to fathom all the workings of God and His creation but I know that it is perfect. One day all my questions and all mysteries will be known and until that day comes, my faith will stand firm in Christ alone!

My Descriptive Essay

For English, out first essay prompt is to observe a community, scene, or group and to be able to describe it in a way that would convey what we witnessed to our readers. I haven't thought much about the essay but I believe I have decided to describe downtown Wilmington during the afternoon/evening. I feel that downtown would give me a good variety of things to put in my essay. From the smell of icecream cones, to the reflection of the sun off the dirty Cape Fear. I think it will also be an opportunity to learn more about the city of Wilmington. I spend the least amount of time downtown besides the occasional bike ride. It offers amazing history and culture. I can't wait to walk on some of the broken brick roads and see some of the old shops that line the street. I feel that I can be pretty descriptive just thinking about it so I'm anxious to see what I witness first hand with a notepad in hand.

I also really like that this essay is pretty informal. I dislike writing essays that must meet very strict requirements or ones that because of structure and "rules" take away from my creative side. Though I haven't done much, I like a little free writing. This essay is probably the closest I'm going to get to that so that's nice to know. Also, it only has to be at least 500 words and that is a definite plus!

Well that last sentence helped me to reach the 250 word requirement so I am now done. If I like my essay enough I'll post it on here.

Families

For homework this week, I read an essay named "Stone Soup" by Barbara Kingsolver. In this essay she argues the validity of the "normal" American family. The normal perspective of a family consists of a father, mother, and usually a son and daughter. She argues that this idea of family is because of post-war thoughts on America. She claims that there are many functioning families in America that don't fit this criteria. Many families are "plagued" with divorce and other situations.

It is now common to see blended families. A blended family is one in which one or both parents were previously married with children from the previous marriage. In many cases both of the parents have children already and they blend the families my coming together.

Personally I believe that if a blended family comes about because of previous circumstances, it can go both ways of either being a functional or nonfunctional family. I think it all depends on certain circumstances. First of all the soon to be spouses but be willing to accept their "new" children. They must accept them as their children and love them the same. In some cases though I have witnessed that the parents agree to keep each owns' kids to themselves. Which is different but if both parties agree to it, then it could work. Also the future siblings must be able to get along even if there isn't instant chemistry. Their will be lots of work and effort to be put into creating a good family. I believe though that if the family truly strives to love each other and put off selfish ambitions, then the family will work. They just have to set aside any differences and come to agreements. I truly believe that a blended family can work with real love and effort.

Ahh.. First Blog!

Hello All!

This is my very first and foremost blog! It's for my ENG class this semester but I'm excited! The assignment is to blog about 2 blogs that I read earlier this week. I read one blog from the head Pastor at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC who is Steven Furtick at stevenfurtick.com The other one I read is by a friend named Tyler Miller at tylerjmiller.wordpress.com Steven Furtick's blog was about keeping your spiritual life and relationship with Christ, fresh. Or as he puts it your bread. He goes on to say that people love fresh bread and are more inclined to eat hot, steamy, fresh bread than old, stale, crusty bread. I found this very true and inspiring. I really like this comparison and I think it can relate to anyone who wants to share their bread with the world. He also notes that some bread can still be really good even if its old. Like an old sermon that everyone has heard and even isn't preached well can still hold amazing power and change lives because it is the Word of God. It was a simple yet finely constructed blog which I enjoyed.

Tyler's blog discusses the differences between the world's definition of religion and what true religion really is. He explains that true religion is God acting in one's life and that person's response to God moving within him. The world's definition of religion is a thing that people rely on to please their needs and wants and to serve themselves. It is something that they turn to when they feel threatened or alone. This is the world's definition of religion. I agree with this but since I believe in the Word of God I also have another definition for religion. James 1:26-27 states, "²⁶ If anyone among you^a]">[a] thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. ²⁷ Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." This totally embodies true religion. It evokes self-control which is fruit of the Spirit and creates a life above reproach. Serving widows and orphans is such a great example of sharing the love of Jesus in a very practical way. It truly represents that you care for others and put them before yourself. It shows a lot when you take time to meet peoples needs physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It shows love! Alas, another point on self-control, keeping oneself unspotted from the world. The world is full of sin and ungodliness. If you are of the world, can you be of God? There is a huge difference between being in the world and being of the world. Think about it. This world just doesn't meet the standards of God. But there's still hope, He has sooooo much grace. He still loves us. He just asks that we strive to live like Him and not willfully follow the ways of the world. It's hard but like I said, He has sooooo much grace!

These are just some responses to these blogs and my thoughts on them. I hope you all enjoy it and I look forward to writing much more!