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.