Monday, February 28, 2011

Follow-Up on FreeRice

I would encourage you to read the most recent blogpost from FreeRice.com
It is about a girl who wanted to do something about world hunger, and who moved on that desire. She started selling lemonade, and ended up collecting enough money to feed over 2000 children in Pakistan. Check it out :)

Saturday, February 26, 2011

FreeRice.com

FreeRice is a great website. In fact, I would suggest you try it out, right now :)
Unless you only have time to read, in that case, I would ask that you check it out another time, because it is a game. But it also generates money for charity (the World Food Programme) and helps you learn things. For example, the primary mode of FreeRice is English Vocabulary. The website gives you a word, and then you have to pick from four other words the closest synonym. The beginning levels are easy (Bad = Not Good) but eventually you get to harder words (Nepotism = Favoritism to Relatives) and then they get nearly impossible (Lapstrake = Surf Bird, Overlapping Planks, Blanket, or Swimming Style?).
There are also other topics, such as Elemental Symbols, Math, Geography, and even other languages. I really enjoy the website, and there is even a group for the University of Nebraska, which records how much rice all the players who join the group donate.
(The website donates 10 grains of rice per correct answer, I should have mentioned that earlier, haha my bad!)
You can also create a username to record how much you donate and under which topic(s). However, if you prefer to play anonymously, you can play without signing up/in.
Either way, (the people who get to eat because of the website) and I would appreciate if you would try it out, and pass it along to your friends :)

PS- The answer for Lapstrake is Overlapping Planks.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

And we know...

that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28

For we live by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7

Still I'm afraid to tell you all that I've done
Are you done forgiving?
Oh can you look past my pretending Lord?
I'm so tired of defending what I've become...what have I become?
Times - Tenth Avenue North

Now obviously TAN does not write Scripture, but God can still speak through us today, right? Even if those words are not God's, I feel like they still have the capacity to act as a prayer for those of us who are wandering through this world. Maybe even for those of us who know where we are going in this world. haha today, I am with the former group of people. (I had to look up the difference between 'former' and 'latter' to be sure.)

So, what is it I am getting at now? I know the feeling that I am trying to write about. I do not know which words to use. Otherwise I would (hopefully) not be ranting like this. Rambling. Whatever it is.
Have you felt like that before? Where you really want to talk about something, there is just something that you want to let out! But how?? As long as it stays within your chest, you can feel it making a more significant and more noticeable impact.

Anyway, the past couple of days, I have not been feeling so great. I've been really tired, especially the past couple of weeks. Seriously, more tired than I can remember being ever before. It is not because of work, it is simply because I have (relatively) early classes. And I am not good at going to bed at a decent time. Now, I am not sure if it is just physical tiredness, but something has been causing me to feel mentally/emotionally drained as well. I noticed it mostly on Wednesday. As long as I am in class, I don't notice the mental side of it too much. But as soon as I was done with classes on Wednesday, I felt like I wanted to crawl into a hole and sleep for several hours. Obviously, I did not do that.
Instead, I hoped it would get better. And it did, for a time. Prayer group is always great, encouraging, and I like being around other Christians. Especially ones that I get to see on a semi-daily basis :)
But, alas, this leads to another late night, which is followed by an early morning. Sort of. I know it isn't actually early, but it feels like it. Instead of getting up and seeing people that I always enjoy being around, I went back to sleep. I don't like that. I don't like being that tired. Yet here I am...pushing the limits, knowing and somewhat hoping that I will crash, possibly tomorrow. Knowing I will crash because, hey, everyone has their limits; everyone has a breaking point (as I call it). Hoping, because I know that when that finally happens...maybe I will get it through my thick pride that I need to rely on God more. (thick hide, thick pride, get it? I just realized that O_o)
So here I am. Another late night. Feeling somewhat lonely, mostly tired, and having this feeling in my chest that I know is real, and wondering what it means. What it is, where it comes from. I trust that God has a plan for it, and I am confident that everything will turn out just great. And again, I can move onto something else...as if the feeling were transformed, changed into something so much better. And by what? Naught else but worship music. Thinking about and thanking God for what He has done. For His great love. For His endless blessings. For His great power. For His mercy. Remembering and re-realizing who God is.
haha Ok I will admit, I just started having fun with that after a while...knowing some HTML has its benefits ;)

Lead me to Your heart
Lead me to the cross, where Your love poured out
Bring me to my knees, Lord I lay me down
Rid me of myself, I belong to You
Oh lead me, lead me to the cross

There is just something about music, isn't there? I have heard it called the language of the soul...I think I can understand why. Words have their limits. They have specific (or vague) definitions. Music on the other hand...it can mean the same thing to hundreds of people, or it can mean several different things to several different people, or it can just captivate you. I suppose I should have put 'and/or' for each of those 'or's.
When did music come about? When was that skill evolved?
When did art appear in human history? Why was that important?
Eh. Another time.
For now...bed time?
I hope so.

God is good. And you are His child. He loves you more than words can express. More than matter can show. And more than you can understand. You are made in His image; you are beautiful, you are lovely. You are more than what you have done. You are more than who you have become (to quote The Lion King). In God, you are who you were meant to be. In your weakness, His strength becomes more evident. Hosanna in the highest!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

This one will probably be short.

So my friend seems to be afraid of a lot of things. I feel like this keeps her from enjoying things in life. For example, she is afraid of fire. Now a fear of fire is not bad, but this seems to be more of a phobia. Another friend was just playing with a lighter (just flicking it on and off, nothing big don't worry!) and my other friend was hiding her face in her hands. Maybe I am being unreasonable, that is possible, but it made me think:
What is it that I am afraid of that keeps me from living the life that God wants me to live?

Then I noticed that I started getting defensive (I tend to have conversations in my head about things, I think it helps me see an event or whatever from multiple perspectives). I thought, what if the thing that I am prevented from doing (because of my fear) are things that are not really necessary? Well now that just sounds like an excuse. I think it is time for prayer.

So what is it that you fear, that is holding you back? What do you think God desires for you to do but you are saying 'No' because you are afraid?
And after that, what is that fear compared to the chance (which is a very good one at that!) that God actually knows what He is talking about?
People ask for faith, don't we? And how do you gain faith except by trusting in God and taking that step of faith? Practice makes perfect right?

I would appreciate your thoughts :)

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Christianity. Noun?

I was asked tonight, by someone who I met perhaps an hour and half, two hours max, before he asked me this question: What is Christianity to you?
Ok, it wasn't exactly that, but it was the gist of the question.

I have to say, the question took me by surprise. At first I thought, well, Christianity is the religion that is specified by people who follow Christ. After considering that, I realized how vague and inadequate/unnecessary it was. I then thought, perhaps, as many contemporaries seem to put it, Christianity is a relationship. A relationship with a God who is invisible and infinite, by His incarnation as a human on this earth around 2000 years ago. My first reaction to that is, well, you are crazy. To think that God would become incarnate, would be restricted by flesh, by a stomach, liver, kidneys, and matter...well that is incomprehensible in my opinion.
Next, I considered that perhaps Christianity is a lifestyle. It is living by putting God first, and those around you second (on your list of priorities in life). But that is still so vague!

Of course, this all happened over the course of 5 or 10 minutes, and I ended up saying nothing in particular in response to his question. But I appreciated it. He challenged me.

Is Christianity a religion, relationship, lifestyle, or something else entirely? Let me know what you think, and mayhaps we will have a discussion going on. I would like to hear your thoughts on this, that is why I am asking ;)