not just now, but forever

so here i am at almost one in the morning finding yet another way to procrastinate. blogging. i'd like to share a thought i had driving to school this morning, well, technically yesterday morning, but whatever. anyways. i was thinking about how stressed out i was feeling this week because of all the major assignments that were due. i decided to pray about and naturally said, "just help me through today." then i kept thinking, "just help me through this week." after that i can handle it myself. i still continued thinking, "i could keep going on like this forever." i can't just ask God to help me through a short time. i need to ask Him to help me forever. i can't just rely  on him for a while while things are hard until i feel as though i can handle it on my own. when i try to handle things on my own is when the stress arrives and i need God's help the most. so those were my early morning thoughts today. i know, pretty deep for being sleep-deprived, but maybe it's just what God needed me to hear. so there's that. think about it, as i continue to think about it too.

missions

note: this post was written on the ninth, i just never got to post it since i was without wifi.

i, along with the rest of my senior class, am currently embarking on my senior missions trip. it's three o'clock in the morning and almost everyone is asleep and i have time to think about what our time will be like over the next week. we are going to a place in the dominican republic that has poorer conditions than most of my class, me included, has ever experienced. we are going to be pouring out our servant's hearts that we have nurtured during our time in christian schooling. i think about the term "missions trip." missions. we are going on a mission for god. think about all the "mission impossible" movies. the secret agents are given a task to complete from someone in authority to them. we, as christians, are completing what god wants us to do, except this is not a mission that's "impossible" but one that is possible, since we have god on our side, who will strengthen us and care for us while we carry out his mission. he is sending us out to fulfill his plans for our lives. i'm excited to see how he will stretch each and every one of my classmates during the next week.

a servant's heart

recently, i got news that my absolute favorite teacher is resigning from him position. i was really quite shocked at this news and cried several times. you see, he's the kind of teacher that everyone likes. and i mean everyone. not only was he a good teacher in that he explained the course content well, but he was such a dedicated christian. my favorite part about him was how he started each and every class with prayer. this is more than you can expect from other teachers, even in a christian school. you may ask, what does this have to do with service? the answer to this comes with the reason of his resignation. he has decided to leave due to his mother's ailing condition. she is in her nineties and is bad off. his sister came up to help, but he feels that he needs to spend more time with her, so his sister won't have to. this is an extremely respectable reason, which helps with the sadness of it all. later in day we were told of his upcoming departure, my bible teacher provided some comforting thoughts about the subject. he talked about how people often do what is good in life, but do not strive to do what is better or what is best. my favorite teacher truly is striving to do what is best by giving up what is recognizably good. he is having a servant's heart towards his mother in her final days. he is a great example of service and living life to the fullest.

thank you mr. cashman.

j.o.y.

i remember singing a song back in elementary school called j.o.y. it was basically an instruction of perspective that will cause you to have joy.

j.o.y.
j.o.y.
this is what it means
jesus first
your own self last
and others in between

its message is so simple and so true. but it needs to be applied in order to obtain true joy. most people don't have a problem putting others before themselves. that's the easy part. what people have a hard time with is having jesus as their top priority. but that's the most important part. everyone says it's hard to find the time and be consistent in devotions and prayer. they use their busy schedules as excuses for not having a good relationship with christ. the truth is, it's not hard to find the time. that's the great thing about having a relationship with god. we can have a conversation with him wherever and whenever when we're driving to or from work, school, practice, the movies, when we're getting ready for the day, when we're doing chores around the house -- the possibilities are endless. what we need to do is make a point to have conversation with god, the one, true, living god, at some point everyday. this is how we put god first in our lives. i challenge you to have at least one conversation with god today and everyday for the rest of the week. god bless.

introduction

in contrast to my other blog, i'd like to focus on my perspective, opinions, thoughts, and emotions in this blog. i look forward to having you learn more about my views on things that happen around me, whether in my school, my church, or my country. i hope you learn something or are challenged by what i say. i'd love to hear your feedback on any of my entries. enjoy.