The Step of Faith Challenge

On Friday January 23, 2009 I challenged myself to take a step of faith every day for the rest of my life. I deicded that I was tired of being too scared to do what I felt God wanted me to do. Everytime I tried to do anything, help someone in need, talk to someone who looked lonely, stand up for God, I would chicken out. So my goal is that every day for the rest of my life I will do atleast one thing outside of my comfort zone that brings glory to God! So far its going great, I saw someone who I had never met standing alone at Campus Crusade and left my friends to go talk to him. And today at church, as the sermon ended and the music began I felt like I could no longer stay seated. For the first verse of the song I sat there, but when the chorus came I could not keep myself seated, so I took a step of faith and was the first one in my church to stand up for worship, and as soon as I stood, others followed!


I have been amazed at how easy it now is to get out of my comfort zone! And every day I pray for more and more opportunities to take a step of faith!

My prayer is that as my life countinues, I will be able to take bigger and bigger steps of faith. I want to have the faith to be able to share Jesus with strangers and help someone in need. When I feel God telling me to do something, I want to have the faith to do it and not be afraid!


I challenge you to take The Step of Faith Challenge!


Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
"He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."'

The Dog Metaphor

The other day I was thinking about my dog. I thought "he is so lucky!" He does not have to worry about anything. How he is going to afford food, where he is going to sleep, how he will buy his new favorite toy. He trusts his masters to supply for all of his needs! And I thought about my own worries in midst of this economical crisis. How I will afford college, if I will be able to move out of my parents house, how I will be able to buy text books, clothes or food. Then I realized that I am like my dog. I have a loving master. I do not need to worry about how I will afford college, how I will eat, where I will sleep, how I will buy new clothes or the latest gadget, because my loving God will provide for all of my needs. Just like I lovingly provide for my dogs needs, God lovingly provides for mine.


Then I was thinking about all the times I got mad at my dog...when he would steal my shoes right as I was running late for school, chew on my power cord, or go potty in my room. I would get mad at him, but loved him so much that quickly the anger was over, and all was forgiven. Then I realized that is like how God forgives me. When I disobey Him, He may be angry at first, but He forgives me because He loves me so much. God loves me so much that He sent His only son, Jesus, to die for my sins so that I can spend eternity in Heaven with Him.


So next time you are worried, don't know how you will pay that next bill or afford that next meal, remember The Dog Metaphor. We have a loving and carring God who will take care of us.



And next time you think you've pulled the last straw, and God wont give you another chance, remember God is forgiving and loves you, you just have to accept his free gift of forgiveness.


Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

Watch History be Made on 1/20/09!

The Weather and the Beauty

I am sitting here outside of my house on a winter day, staring at the ocean and worried I am going to get sunburned. It is 82 degree Fahrenheit in a town with summer highs of 70! I am not minding global warming so much. But isn't God amazing? He allows me to sit here enjoying the beautiful heat from the sun He created, while staring at His beautiful Pacific Ocean! Yesterday I went to a place called Fern Canyon. Its walls are covered in ferns, and to explore it you have to climb over logs and jump over water. We kept going until we found a pile of fallen trees so huge we decided it was not worth going over. So we headed back to our car just to find a herd of elk grazing along the trail! We got to our car and drove home, a drive surrounded by redwood trees, lagoons, elk, mountains and the Pacific Ocean! I praise God every night as I get home from work and turn to watch the sun set over the ocean. And I praise Him because even with all the hardships, the wars, disease, economy, all the people without jobs, all of the natural disasters, we still have a beautiful world to enjoy. And then I walk in my door to enjoy another part of Gods creation, my dog. As soon as he sees me he starts jumping up and down, excited for my attention. He brings joy to my life as I watch him play and explore. Lord, I thank you for all you have given us, this world you created for us.

My game of the year

I've been playing Sim City a lot lately. It seems to be the most pointless game on the planet. You place roads and buildings, and hope people move in and find jobs. I can never get the roads to connect how I want, and I think "someone's going to drive up to this road and see another road a few feet away and wonder why they don't connect..." then I feel stupid for not being able to connect them. I always end up over polluting the planet, and my city always has way to much crime. Yet it has entertained me for hours these last few days. The funnest part is when I feel it is time to make a new city, I destroy my current one with natural disasters. A city never lasts more then a few hours in my hands.
I have played a few other Sim games, but this is the only one that has stuck. This game bugs me though because its so unrealistic. Buildings take mere milliseconds to be built, and the town seems to not need water or sewage. When you build a house that claims to hold 15 people, thousands move in. I played an older Sim City a few years ago, and it drove me crazy because you had to place water pipes underground and there had to be power lines connected to the buildings before the workers would even start building. And you couldn't build just any building you wanted, you could only build categories and the game would decide what would show up there. I need an in between game...close to reality but not quite there.
Even though sometimes it drives me crazy, Sim City Societies is my game of the year!

2009 and on...

So 2009 came. I have been wanting to start a blog for a while, so here I go. 2008 was a good, interesting, sad, bad, happy year. I went on a road trip, graduated from high school, a few friends died, started college, the stock market crashed, the economy fell, gas prices fell, I voted in a historical election, the guy I didn't vote for got elected, Russia invaded Georgia, Mumbai was attacked, yet another Israeli war started and gas prices started going back up. I'm not sure what to expect of 2009. I hope the economy will get better, stocks will rise, gas prices will fall again and so will food prices. I hope that college tuition will go down, and I will get enough scholarships to afford an education. I hope that I will have the courage to change the world, starting with my own town. I hope that I will have the courage to feed the hungry and comfort the lonely. I hope that my faith will grow, but mostly I hope that I will be a great witness for Christ in 2009 and that I will bring glory to God through all that I do, no matter what 2009 throws at me.