Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Fruit Loops

Labels: Just a Thought

Birthday Wishes

So this one is going out to one of my favourite people in the world (and the best part is, I can say this honestly)....dah dah dah da da da daaaaaaaaaah (imagine some music here for the effect of a dramatic entrance) Jenna (a.k.a. the "Funkmaster")!

Jenna: you are an amazing person! Your energy and enthusiasm is not only encouraging to me, but contageous! Your love for God is awesome and I am praying that throughout this year he will continue to build you and make you stronger, especially as you prepare to go to Mexico and as you spend time there. I can truly say that you are a friend who is always there, willing to listen, and willing to help. Don't worry about math tonight (or any night for that matter, just do your best in all that you do!); have a fantastic birthday! So these are my birthday wishes for you: that you would grow in love (for others, and for yourself, and most importantly for God), and in wisdom, and in faith, and always continue to be yourself.

Labels: Erika's Life Updates

Monday, February 26, 2007
Faith

Sometimes you don't know how much you miss something until it is gone. We missed Christian Ethics for the past week because of Drivers Ed., and even though it can be a little boring just sitting there reading "Just Like Jesus" every day (which, by the way, is not a bad book...but the way we are reading it has made me become uninterested, to say the least), I have missed listening to Mr. Nickel's strange rants. He makes me think.

Personally, I have missed ranting lately too.

So here it goes: Mr. Nickel stated today that our faith is "completely irrational". This kind of stuck with me for the rest of the day...because I think he kind of stated the obvious. Could any faith be rational?

Think about it: with simple things that can be drawn out in black and white there is no need for a faith of any sort! This is a lame example, but think about the batteries you use in your iPod or mp3 player...eventually they will die, right? So you would never say, "I have faith that my batteries will die!" You would just sound like an idiot. Obviously, they will die; it's rational. It's just the way things work. So there is no faith in that, because faith is defined as being sure of the things we cannot see.

Now say for example you said, "I have faith that my batteries will never run out of juice!" You would sound like an idiot saying that too! This is an example of an irrational belief. It doesn't make sense by any laws of science that your batteries could live forever on their own. However, there is a solution: a charger. The Bible states that "faith without action is dead", and so is a rechargeable battery without a charger. What's the point? So why would you even choose to say "I'm a Christian, I believe what the Bible says" unless you actually choose to live it out?

Just like a charger can revive a battery, Christ can make our lives new. It takes a certain kind of faith to know that electricity is running through your outlet, and a similar type to trust that Christ is working to transform you, every day you allow him to. The results can be amazing...but only after you put the batteries in your iPod and press play.

So the fact that I would give up my scars to an "abstract being" in some minds may be totally irrational...but if it were not so, I would not have a faith.

He takes over my scars and I put my life in His.

Just a thought.

Labels: Spiritual Life

Sunday, February 18, 2007
This Just In!

Just looking back at my blog I have realized that I have not been on here in a while and have forgotten to give everyone the news: I got accepted to go to Mexico! More details on that one later too...I spent last night in the airport and now I am exhausted, to say the least.

Labels: Erika's Life Updates

I'm Back (en Español)

Hi everyone! I'm back from Florida; I had a really great time (except for all the rows between my mother and I, but that's nothing new. It just so happened that two very different people were crammed into a smaller than usual space with less bathrooms. This is scientifically proven to cause more arguments. Actually.) So I wrote this poem tonight and then just for fun translated it (very, very, roughly) into Spanish. It's funny...because no one knows what it means, not even Spanish people because I'm sure my grammar is horrible and some of the words probably aren't even right. Oh well.

Rojo en las mejillas en amor
Suave, delicado pétalo de flor
Cuándo es de sustantivo?
Cuándo poder yo uno noche con tú?
Venir, sí, amor, viajar de noche y beso las estrella con mí
Las despierto nuevo días.

So I just barely spent half an hour trying to log on to Blogger because mine is being so dumb right now, so I will give you full trip updates (probably with pictures!) in the near future.

Labels: Erika's Life Updates