The Christian 10 Commandments

1. Apart from me you can do nothing
2. Apart from me you can do nothing
3. Apart from me you can do nothing
4. Apart from me you can do nothing
5. Apart from me you can do nothing
6. Apart from me you can do nothing
7. Apart from me you can do nothing
8. Apart from me you can do nothing
9. Apart from me you can do nothing
10. Apart from me you can do nothing

In other words, no (fixed it) amount of legalism or tradition can save you or make you a "good Christian".

5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15

Only Christ abiding in us can save us, only the Holy Spirit's working in us will make us a "good Christian." We MUST abide in Him. We must be in the word, we must be praying always, we must continually be dying to self (our sinful desires).

In Bible study on Thursday we were talking about this passage, actually we were talking about traditions and how we all have them. For instance, a tradition of the churches I've gone to is being very reserved in Church. But really, if I wanted to raise my hand to praise God, He would accept that. Even if some people thought I was being too charismatic. All that I do should be to please God and not men. I need to always abide in Him and not abiding in what other people might think.

Traditions are not necessary to being a Christian, we obviously need to be following the Bible and what it says about orderly worship, sometimes the traditions that I am so used to can hinder my relationship with God. It's similar to legalism, I like to have things set out. I like to know my boundaries. But even if I stand with my hands upraised all of the time and my heart is not being lifted to God as well.... There is no value. Outward shows of praise mean nothing to God if our hearts aren't in it.

We need to abide in Him, not traditions. God wants our hearts, He wants us to abide in Him.

The Answers

If you have not taken the test, do not read this post. Proceed to the post below and take the test!

Just in case you were wondering what you got wrong here you go.

Numero uno: My FAVORITE CAR is the Mini Cooper.

Di: Cats are moody, unicorns are not. The end.

3: Disliking the metal in my leg would be like disliking my leg. I dislike the thing that caused the metal to be in my leg, a zip line.

Tetra: I inch in all dangerous situations. You will most likely never see me doing anything dangerous full speed.

Cinco: "issues" = problems. I don't have problems singing, quoting Star Trek thingies OR driving (you sarcastic people... MAYBE YOU JUST HAVEN'T RIDDEN WITH ME SINCE THE BEGINNING! I have improved... Moving on!) I have issues blobbing (jumping off a decky thing onto a large air filled rubber bladder. Out of the 5 or so times I tried I successfully blobbed once. I am a failure.

Hexa: Diesel is his name. Today he grabbed onto my arm and held onto it, while biting me. I had to shake him off. He's like a Piranha, I tell you.

Hepta: NACHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! "Stephen, I am concerned for your soul.... *BAM!*"

Seriously go to that last link.

Eight: I would like a Mini Cooper and a Scottie dog.

Nona: Although Christian Bale is amazing, James Stewart was the BIZ-OMB. Oh and for those of you who were trying to remind me of my younger, more immature days.... Orlando Bloom is not my favorite actor. *shudder*

Deca: Cap guns....

I feel so.... Xanga-ish

Create your own Friend Quiz here

Soo.... I was wondering. Would you like to join me in my quarters for some toast?

So, I've been doing yoga and oh my word, it's a really good workout. I kept slipping on the carpet though and Mom bought me a yoga mat. It works quite well and I'm pretty sore today, so it must be helping.

Can anyone guess what color it is?

Well, I think I only have like 4 more weeks of this quarter left and about 6 more years to go before I become an NP. (not to be confused with an MP, seriously)

I need to visit my sister because I haven't really laughed-so-hard-I-cried in a while, and I'm thinkin' it's about time. Or maybe I should chill with my homies Maryizzle and Caroizzle. Hmmm....

It's Official

I have now, officially, been driving for one year. Yes everyone, I got my permit on the 17th Of February in the year 2006.

And today, for the first time I drove all by myself.

BTW there is a sad lack of good unicorn pictures on the web. I might just have to put up the "mythaseal kreatoore" LOL.... I'll have to get the band or artists together again. :)

...

Happy Valumtimes Day!

Several reasons why you should beware of....

Something to remember

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me."

Isaiah 49:15-16

We are engraved in the palms of His hands. Our Saviour showed us this when they nailed his hands and feet to the cross. We are not forgotten, we are constantly on our Lord's mind!

"The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

When your week seems crazy (as in key to the razy) remember that God is with you. The word is near, yes it is in our hearts. He's never left us and He never will. Nothing can take us out of His hands.

And a side note, I helped with a service project last night where we went and fed the homeless in our area. Definitely eye opening and SO different from the well.... Nordstrom shopping, "No, this is actually my 3rd steamer for the day" people that live in my town. I'm reminded of how Jesus didn't hang out with the acceptable people most of the time. He was out working with the people that actually were willing to hear (more so than the "religious people").

God has not forgotten the homeless people that mostly everyone sees and goes, "You know, they are really all panhandlersand we should get them off the street" Then they drive away and they don't do a thing except to complain. I forget, as I eat my homemade yummy dinner, that there are two beautiful little girls that might go hungry because their Mom hasn't got a job or a house. I forget. Thank God He has never forgotten about me.

Because really, without Christ we are the homeless ones.

[a note, this was not intended to be a guilt tripping post.. So sorry. :) But there are things that we can do. I don't suggest handing money to guys on the street. Find out when you can go with your church, or another church. There are options.]

Where my homies at?

Let us again speak of such things as, why wasn't Dom shown in Lost? He should always be in each episode, he's awesome. Let us speak of why I wish Kate and Sawyer would get "kicked off the island." And why I think Claire should have a superpower.

In other words, where are my LOST homies at? Let us talk of such things.

Where are my Heroes homies at? Brian and Kristy? Anyone else? Let's talk about the BIG surprise when we found out about who Claire's real father is.

Let's have a nerd convention....

Snark?

A congratulatory post shall now commence. Once my dear sister posts it will be "Happy 500th post day!!!" (hint, hint....). ANNNND.... I am now a licensed driver. Such a happy post needs something more.... PICTURES OF MORY!!!!!!!!!!!! (these are for you Kristy!)

Chew on this!

I wrote this for my English class. The assignment was to write a persuasive essay, with 2 or three points supporting your thesis and having a counter argument which was thoroughly defeated. Anyway, offer suggestions if you want.... Just try not to make me cry! :)

What is homeschooling exactly? Homeschooling is basically parents teaching their children at home. There is a proven success rate for homeschoolers. Homeschoolers are overall more involved in their communities and in politics as noted in Dr. D Ray’s Homeschooling Grows Up study. There is much debate about homeschooling, some people believe that homeschooling does not provide enough educational or social opportunities. On the other side of the debate is the pro-homeschoolers, these people believe that homeschooling provides ample educational and social experiences. In fact, pro-homeschool people believe that homeschooling is better than public or private education and prepares their children to deal with others on an adult level. Homeschooling is an excellent way of teaching a child.

First, homeschooling is an excellent way of teaching responsibility to children. Successful homeschooling requires personal discipline and responsibility. This discipline is taught by the parents, first by telling their children that they have to do their work. After some time the child knows that in order to be done with school by a certain time of day that they need to apply themselves when working. I have learned to apply myself during the day to be done with school and have fun later in the day. I have also learned to be responsible for turning in my work on time and by doing that being diligent. This responsibility and diligence homeschooled children learn in their early years, taught by their parents, will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Homeschooling is excellent at teaching children diligence and responsibility.

Next, homeschooling is excellent at teaching children at their own pace, without labeling them as special needs. So many times a public school teacher will label a child only because the child does not learn in the way that the rest of the class learns. When a child is homeschooled their parents will be able to spend one-on-one time with the child and go at the best speed of learning for the child. For ADD affected children it is easier to learn at home without all of the distractions at a school. The parents also know their child better than a teacher would and are able to help their child in ways a public school teacher just wouldn’t have time to do. Homeschooling is excellent for teaching children at their own pace.

Homeschooling is excellent at teaching children how to interact with older people. In public or private school the majority of contact a child has, is with people their own age, this hinders their ability to interact with older people. There is no aspiration to learn more from people with more knowledge than them, with only peers there is no higher standard to wish to achieve. In my own life I have had higher standards to achieve, my siblings are all quite a bit older than me and I have learned a lot from them. Instead of just learning things from people my age I’ve heard new perspectives and learned about issues that are bigger than the usual 7 year old talks about. My vocabulary when I was young surprised my sister, who is an elementary school teacher, because not too many children my age knew big words and would actually use them correctly. Because I was homeschooled I was able to talk to adults on a higher level than my peers. Having a home education is excellent at teaching children how to intermingle with people of all ages.

Some people, however, believe that homeschooled children have trouble interacting socially with others because they don’t go to school. This is simply not true. Homeschoolers do not “live in a box” as some people think, since homeschoolers generally are able to be done with their homework quickly (due to the fact that since there aren’t 30 children in a classroom the school day goes quickly) and are able to participate in several activities. In the Homeschooling Achievement survey by Dr. Brian D Ray the mean number of activities homeschoolers participate in is 5.2. These activities include many things, sports, scouts, church, dance, music and the list goes on. There are groups for homeschooling families that involve sports or that offer classes to supplement the homeschooling process. Homeschooling is excellent at offering opportunities to learn and play due to having more time.

Homeschooling is an excellent way of teaching a child. Homeschooling teaches children responsibility, diligence and discipline. The traits (responsibility…) a child learns while a child is young will benefit that child for his or her whole life. Children are able to learn at their own pace when they are homeschooled. Children also learn how to interact with people of all ages because they learn at home, with their families (who happen to be different ages). Some people continue to believe that homeschoolers don’t get enough opportunities to learn, they are wrong. When homeschoolers go out into sports, or co-ops (supplemental classes are offered at these places) they get opportunities to learn. Homeschoolers are in no way limited because they do not go to public or private school.

Works Cited

“Homeschooling Grows Up” by Dr. Brian D Ray (http://www.hslda.org/research/ray2003/HomeschoolingGrowsUp.pdf)

“Homeschooling Achievement” by Dr. Brian D Ray

(http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/comp2001/HomeSchoolAchievement.pdf)