Nothing's Impossible with God

Hey guys I was thinking... you know how we're growing up and maturing and stuff. Well it occurred to me that God has really been doing a lot of stuff in me and all that stuff I'm doing is forcing me to realize what I'm good at and what I'm not so good at. Part of it is I've realized that I have a passion for farming and farm work. I also to play isnstruments and I hope to get a band started with some of my friends soon. Its been quite an eventful summer this year so I was wondering...what about you? What did God do in you this summer? I was talking with my friends mom and she said to write down everything that God has done for you and to treasure it. Then when you need God you can look back on the other things and remember that nothing is impossible with God.

Writing Songs

Hey you guys. I just wanted to tell you that I wrote a song earlier this week and I think it turned out great! I can't wait to publish it in an album with my band! In case you don't know how to write a song and you want to, I read an article that said to start with the title and write it down on a piece of paper. Then think of things that remind you of that title it could be anything from policemen to gratitude. Next figure out what things really remind you of the title and circle those. then you write the lyrics keeping those things in mind. Afterwards you could change the title to something that means the same thing but sounds better. This method has worked out extremely well for me, I've wrote sevral songs by those guidelines and they turned out great.

Big Red Button

The Big Red Button... if you think about it is kinda like sin. We see it and our friends tell us that is sooo cool and so maybe we want to try it but the Holy Spirit sends up red flags all over the place. We can't resist doing it and we end up wasting part of our life and in real life sin against God. Just like the Big Red Button tempts us to push it satan makes sin look pretty cool by getting our friends to tell us its cool and stuff. While being tempted isn't sin giving in to temptation is so listen to the Holy Spirit. What sin is Satan tempting you to do?

Wait and See Part 2

Okay so its been a few days and I know I'm not going to the farm because I called them and left a message and they didn't call back. But I'm okay with it because I gave it to God and He has provided stuff for me to do to keep my mind off it. I seriously don't know what I would be doing without him. The last day of waiting I just bummed around and didn't do much other than the work that my mom needed me to get done around the house. I was really somber even though I should've been happy that I had a chance to go and help out on a farm for two days, but I wasn't it was almost as if I had a small case of depression. Now I'm enjoying myself, hanging with friends. God kinda' healed me in a way.

Wait and See

Wait and see. Thats what God's teaching me. Sure I can wait and see if my laundry will do itself or if my mom will unload the dishwasher for me, but waiting for an answer from my parents about something thats really important to me is something I can't wait for. When God started to teach me to wait and see was this past week when I particapated in an intermediate day camp at Roselawn Stables. Roselawn Stables is a 60 acre horse ranch with about 45 horses on it. Before then I had helped out as a farm hand during my brother's basic camp. I was invited to stay up there for the week after my camp. I was ecstatic I couldn't believe it that was sooo exciting. They have a son and daughter that are my friends too so I would get to hang out with them and help out on a farm. I don't know if any of you know this but I'd love to be a farmer someday. I was really excited and I couldn't wait 'til I could tell my parents about it! At two 'o clock when my mom picked me, my sister and my friend Jake from camp that day I could wait to tell her so I just burst out and said, "Mom I got invited to stay at Roselawn for all of next week!" I was extremely happy. My mom told me that my sister was having a bday party this week so it wouldn't work out for the whole week but maybe Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday would work out. I couldn't believe it was accually working out for the most part! I told my dad and kept hounding both my parents to try to get an answer frome them but the needed time to think.Then on Sunday morning we got up and went to church. I didn't have any more contacts and I didn't know where my glasses were so I went to the sermon instead of youth group. The pastor talked about how Jesus would've been the worst drive thru person saying that he would say something like can I take your order okay you can pull around to the next window and I'm gonna have to ask you to pull over and wait because the person behind you might need your meal more than you. He said that our culture is a busy drive thru one where we expect what we want when we want it. I thought maybe God was talking to me but I still kept hounding them about it until later in the afternoon my mom got mad and said that if I asked one more time I wouldn't go at all! She also said that it was probably a no anyways because of all my hounding. I really wanted to go but I knew better than to keep hounding so I just tried to tell her that I was sorry and try to excuse it. My mom got annoyed and told me to just leave it up to God and that He'd take care of it. I got kinda upset and so my mom prayed for me and then I went outside to help my dad with an outside project the entire time thinking about that verse in the Bible saying, "Let not your heart be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me." My parents ended up saying I could only go for one night but at least they said yes. I've been talking to my instructor and she told me she needed to wait and see now because she wasn't so sure that she had something for me to do so I'm back to more waiting... Although its still hard to wait for herto call back, it gets easier as I go along.

Thanks

Okay thanks for telling me what you struggle with now will you tell me what you think most teens that are not christian.

What Would Happen

Do you ever wonder why its so hard to be obedient? Like when your mom asks you to take out the garbage or your dad tells you to get off the computer and go to bed. I struggle with those daily I either just ignore it or I might try to obey at first but then kinda get distracted. My cousins go to a church that has a virtue every month. This month it was obedience and the definition for it was Trusting those who lead you by doing what you're asked to do. In the Bible God says That made me think that maybe being disobedient is expressing distrust to the people who lead us. For example our mom, dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles, youth group leaders, teachers, ect. What if we stopped being disobedient and obey? Not just obeying because we have to or because of this post but because God says in Ephesians 6:1 Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is good. What would that do if we followed this command og the Lord? Would our leaders trust us more? Would we get more privelages? Would God trust us more?!

Placing Our Livelihood In God's Hands

We've talked about the widow giving all she had to God. She literally placed her life in God's hands (Amazing!). What would it look like if we followed her example if we placed our life into God's hands! I'm confident that God will bless us richly but are you willing to trust God in the big things? He's extremely reliable but are you willing to rely on Him?

Generosity

Generosity...Thats one I could work on. Its not tithing (giving a tenth of your earnings) but giving extra. In Luke 21:1-4 there's a story when Jesus and his disciples are at the temple watching people tithe and it says. As He looked up Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth" He said, "This poor widow has put more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Generous? I think so. In a way she was trusting God to take care of her. Even though many other people gave a larger sum She gave more because she didn't just give a tenth of what she had. She gave ALL of what she had. Thats whats so hard for me; I have so many things I want to buy or save up for but what would it look like if we gave all of our earnings for once? If we gave everything we had to God?!

Letting God Work Through Us

Well I finally got a post idea. Its letting God work through us.

When Jesus called the disciples to follow Him they were lowly sinners in the Jewish society not a Rabbi. They were humble Fisherman or worse off Tax collectors (who were viewed as really bad sinners). Before I continue I'm going to describe what it normally takes to become a disciple.

There are three stages of school that a disciple would go through. first there was school for mostly everyone from about age 5-8 and they would have to memorize the Torah the Torah is the first five books of the bible thats Genesis, Exedous, Levitcus, Numbers, and Deuteronemy. Thats roughly 280 pages of the bible by heart they were like a living Torah. Then there was the second stagewhich was from about ages 9-14 now there were not as many students because by then some of them were learning the family trade. (I might not have the ages correct but they're close) and after this period the students would have the entire Old Testament by heart. Thats about 2,000 pages. (a living Old Testament!) Following that there was a third stage and by then most of the students were off learning their trade...but...the best of the best of the best would go on to fond a Rabbi that they wanted to be like. Then when a Rabbi would come into town that they wished to follow they would go to the Teacher and ask to be their disciple. Then the Rabbi would just drill him with questions and if the Rabbi thought this guys good...but he doesn't have what it takes to follow me. Then the Rabbi would say to him you're good but you don't have what it takes to follow me. So the student would try to find another Rabbi or begin learning the family trade. But if the Rabbi thought, "This guys got it!" then he would say, "Come follow me," This is what it means to be a disciple

Now Jesus' disciples probably only went through the first stage of education so for Jesus to say "Come follow me" is HUGE but the reason He did it was because God works through the humble people that are open to what God has for them much more than the proud who've got it going and think they don't need Him. We need to be willing to let God work in us for his greater purpose, we need to do the big and little things that goes against the grain that he wants us to do. Lets try to do that!

Finding The Greater Porpose In The Bad Things That Happen

This is one of my friends recent happenings she made the whole post and I didn't have to do anything so here you go!





Every Sunday for the past two months, I have been going to mission training. We were going to go to San Francisco/Oakland area to do some mission work, like working at a local food shelf and tell people along the streets our testimony. I was super excited. I packed, un-packed, and re-packed like three times. I triple questioned everything i was bringing. I went shopping for clothes and other random things for the trip. My friend and I were always texting and emailing each other a count down for how many days. It was going to be a cool trip, full of new friendships, fun, and most importantly a chance to get closer to God. I was positive that this was finally a thing that wouldn't go beserk on me. You see, ever since finishing 7th grade, nothing has gone the way it has been planed. Summer '08 was supposed to be a fun summer full of friends, family and amazing oppurtunities to go new places. Instead it was a frantic summer where everyone was over stressed. We were trying to fix up and stage our house to get it on the market. for the first time ever i was moving. I wanted a change in secenery, but after 6 months of being homeless... well i wasn't really liking it. I hadn't met that many friends. I'm currently living in an apartment and so i don't have a neighborhood to meet new friends in. I'm homeschooled and we don't go to homeschool meetings so i have no friends at school. The only chance to meet friends was at church. Since i have been traveling back and forth to Minnesota, i haven't really had a chance to meet that many people at church. So this trip was going to be big. It was a chance to meet new people. Throughout mission training i was hanging with some girls, that now are my friends, so i guess good came out of that. but the day before the trip i didn't feel good. My whole family had been takeing turns being sick with influenza for the past month, and i hadn't caught it yet. That morning when i wasn't feeling good, i figured it was because i was carsick from riding in the car all day yesterday (we were looking at houses once again). In the back of my head i knew that i wasn't going to get to leave with the group the next day, but i didn't want to accept it. That night around seven my parents told me that i would not be able to leave the next day. I was to sick. They said that i might be able to go around Wedsnday, but we would have to just see. Throughout the next few days i suffered through stages of weakness and very high fevers. If i ate half a piece of toast that day my mom would be happy. When it was Thursday, i sorta gave up the idea of joining the group. I was mad that i was missing this great oppurtunity, but i knew that there was a reason. A week ago, at training, i had just admitied that i was a control freak, and needed to have a plan for everything. Thats why my favorite verse is Jerimiah 29:11-14, "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope, and a future. So come and call and pray to me, and i will listen to you. When you seek me, you find me, when you seek me with your heart. And i will be found by you.' Declares the Lord." I needed to find the reason that i didn't get to go. I figured that going on the trip would be the thing God wanted me to do, considering it would benifit him. I guess he was just trying to teach me a lesson. I think he was trying to get me to fully give him the driver's seat and not worry about what is going to happen tomrrow, or how i'm going to do what i'm going to do. I needed to learn to trust. It's hard for me, not to have control over my life, Not to know what is going to happen, but it's a requirement for life. It always has been and always will be.



I'm going to add to that too (although I couldn't beat it!)

My dad and I had been seaching for a bike for about a month. We made a trip to target one day and we went to the bike section. When we arrived there I saw about five awesome bikes that looked like they fit me. I wanted them so bad but they cost from $175 to $250 and I knew my parents wanted to get me a used one for $100 or less. We figured out what size I was and took that information and looked on craigs list. after a few days my neighbors started to get their bikes out and we began to go off jumps that I had in my garage. I kept having to borrow bikes for like a week. It was so annoying and I was fed up with it. I just wanted to go to target and get one of the cool schwins. My dad kept looking and he found a couple... but they were the wrong color (bright red or light blue) for one and I got more annoyed. towards the end of the week he found one that he thought might work for me. (I wasn't so sure) but on Saturday he picked it up and on sunday morning I saw it! It was AWESOME cannondale and it was $1,000 new! That pretty much sums it up if I would've got a new bike in the store I would've missed out on this amasing bike that I would've never gotter otherwise!



Hope you guys liked it!

Who are Our Enemies?

Thanks for all the comments!! I'm encouraged! By the way if you like the blog tell your friends about it too. Who knows maybe they'll get something out if it!? This topic is about loving your enemies. Like Josh said in his comment. I think most of us have a problem with loving our enemies. First I'll define enemy from a thesarus it says stuff like bad person, bandit and betrayer. Do you think these defenitions are true... is it exactly what it means? About a year ago my family and I were checking out some churches. So we went to one of the churches we were thinking of attending. I remember the person delivering the sermon asked the closing question, "What if our enemies aren't who we hate but who thinks that we hate them?" Whoa what in the world thats the craziest thing on earth! Right? Well thats what I thought at first but after I thought about it for a while it started to make sense. The people who think we hate them need to know that we do love them and the bad people need to know that we along with Jesus love them too! Although both defenitions are true I think we need to show kindness to the people who think we hate them along with the bad people the bandits and the betrayers.

Maybe I'm Just Stupid

Okay so maybe I'm the only one who has that feeling. Maybe its just me who's stupid enough to please my friends instead of God but I'm working on it! Rebakah's friend seems to have it! She told me about a kid in her class named Jenna who is one of the most popular girls. Everyone likes her-why? Because she is different. She stands and sings in church, she doesn't care what people think—and the most popular girls in the class hang out with her, even when they don’t talk to anybody else. She told me, "Who knows? Maybe the kids you sit next to won't think you're un-cool. Maybe they'll respect you for it, and stand with you." What do you struggle with in your walk with the Lord?? Something daily that you know you need to change to become a better believer in Christ Email it to me and I'll post it so we can all comment about it and help you solve it!

Big And Little Decisions For God

Okay guys I was thinking. I just can't seem to go against the grain for God when I think I'll lose my status with friends. Just this morning at church for worship me and some of my friends were sitting and I just kinda felt like God wanted me to stand. I thought I would look uncool in front of my friends though, so I didn't. I regret it now but thats now, not when it really mattered. Why is it so hard to make those key decisions for God!?

Discussion Topics

Guys and Girls I need some discussion topics so if you guys could email me some-maybe an experience you've had that taught you something or just a question you have and I'll publish most of them so everyone can discuss it on the blog.

The Reason for Travels of A Teen

Okay so I've been messing around for hours on this thing figuring out how to blog and stuff and its AWESOME!!!!!!!! you're probably wondering why I named my blog "Travels of A Teen." Well because I want opinions from other teens about God and just life in general. I'm going to share experiences on my blog and maybe ask some questions to start a duscussion. Then I'll let you guys comment and discuss the topic. You can also e-mail me at godisgood55@gmail.com and give me some of your experiences to share on the blog as well!

Hunter

About Travels Of A Teen

Travels of a Teen is a blog in which I narrate the daily struggles I go through, and share the revelations I have. It’s a place where I can journey closer to God. I address some of the issues that this world holds for us Christians and record my thoughts on how to face them. You are welcome to come along, to join in the Travels of a Teen.