Wash Me Over and Over Again

okay first of all I haven't posted in ages but what can I say? are you people surprised??? I didn't think so. Anyways so I've had this song idea for a while now and I finally found a Psalm that pretty much sums up what I've been thinking. Its Psalm 51 and its about when David was confronted by Nathan the prophet of that time about his whole Bathsheba ordeal. The reason I relate to this and want to write a song about it is because sometimes I do some things that are really stupid-like lying to get out of trouble. I do it alot and I don't even flinch about it anymore (I know thats horrible) but than when I go and tell God I'm sorry and ask Him for forgiveness for lying to my mom about telling my brother he's a brat, its so pointless if I'm not intending to stop myself the next time...when you apologize its like telling someone "I'm gonna stop doing this from now on." With me I always seem to forget that I told God I'm sorry and just remember that I've been forgiven. I know David only sinned with Bathsheba once, but I have some things that I just keep doing over and over and over again. The chorus that I've written is right out of Psalm 51.

Wash me
and cleanse my life
Shape me
from the chaos and the strife
Tune me
to your wonderful songs
Keep me
from where I don't belong

For me its a plea to God saying "Lord wash me and help me to stop doing the things I do over and over and over again. Lord shape me and make me everything You want me to be amidst the junk that there is in me. Lord tune me so that I can sing your praises and not be ashamed. Lord Keep me away from all the things I used to do, don't let me fall back into those traps." And so I find myself saying with my actions "Lord wash me and prepare to keep washing me over and over again." This is a really hard battle for me. I don't know about you, but the more I keep doing that one sin over and over again, the harder it is to stop.

P.S. I'll show you the finished song when I have it.

Using What I've Been Given

Okay I've totally been negligent with posting again I know no surprise.  But on Memorial Day my dad and I were running a couple errands for my mom and we got to talking about Jesus' parable of the talents.  I narrated it to him so we could both refresh our memories and then we discussed it.  It was really cool to be able to talk so openly about God's word with my dad.  Anyways I got to thinking about how Jesus' parable applies to our lives and came up with the partial answer that the talents that God have given us are things we need to use for His will.  And then I remembered that when the Master came back after entrusting the various amounts of money to all three of his servants, the servants that used their money and doubled it were richly rewarded and put in charge of much.  and then the third servant that buried his master's money was reprimanded because he didn't use his talents to multiply what the Master had.  I was thinking about this and wondered.  Am I using what God has given me--my time, my resources, my talents--for God's will?  What about you guys? 

My dog

Hey guys I just took some pictures of my dog with my cheap sunglasses.  You can check them out to the right.

Band Name

Well I'm actually able to consistently post again for a while hopefully until things start picking up for the summer.  Anyways I'm in a band and we're trying to find a really good, really meaningful name that is easy to remember.  So I'm asking you guys to either search the Bible or just think about good band names.  If one of you guys name our band, the person who names our band will receive a great prize that I'm still trying to think of.  As you come up with band names just leave a comment under this post no matter how long ago it is and even if I haven't posted in a while because I'll check that first when I get on my blogger.  Thanks and happy band naming!!!

I've Failed Again

Again I've failed to post for the longest time on earth. What can I say I absolutely stink at posting consistently. Anyways, I've been reading this book called Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Rob Bell is the pastor of a church called Mars Hill in Grandville, Michigan. He's a great guy and I would highly recommend his book. He also helps to clarify the scriptures by taking key words in some of our favorite verses and going back to the Hebrew, Greek, or Latin word for it and defining those words with more precision. In this book he gives great food for thought and helps clear up some of the confusing things that we as Christians do just because the generation before us did so. He also helps me to probe everything I hear and do currently and check it to find the truth in all of it. Rob Bell definitely gets me thinking about many things.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!  Oh man okay so on Friday, I watched The Passion for the very first time and wow that movie is intense!  But it was really good and it really showed me how much God really loves me.  Before, I knew that God did love me and I knew that I couldn't even imagine how much he loved me to do that for me but I really didn't have any grasp at all of how much Jesus really does love me.  Even though this movie is rated R, I still would recommend this movie to give you more of a picture of how much Jesus really did suffer and how much he really loves you!

Critic vs Master

Okay so my church has been doing this series and the last two sermons have been about what a master does and a critic does.  During the first sermon I first though to myself "Oh I'm closer to a master than a critic"  but little did I know I was far from right.  Throughout the second sermon, I finally had a wake up call and realized that I had been a complete moron during the last service.  I am a critic!  that was the conclusion that I came to.  The difference between a critic and a master is kinda like this.  Brett Favre is a master.  He plays the game of football with such expertise and everyone admires him.  Whereas a critic is someone who reads books and does everything short of playing professional football and then points out the things that Brett Favre has done wrong.  I'd say I'm more of a critic but I'm a critic of masters of life not just of football.  I'm constantly critiquing something that someone has done wrong and feeding off of that saying to myself "Oh I wouldn't have made that decision!  I wouldn't have done that." How do I get from critic to master?  I know where I am but how do I get to being a master?

Don't Just Swallow What I'm Saying

Hey I just thought of something.  When I put this stuff out on my blog I don't want you guys to just agree because it sounds sensible.  I want you to use God's Word to test it and probe it to make sure I'm not making erroneous blog posts.  If I'm wrong, then I'd like to know so I can take that blog post off my blog I want it to be true to The Word.  And although most of the time I make sure my blog posts are true, I'm extremely human and I make many stupid mistakes!  So don't just swallow what I'm saying.  Comment on the stuff I've left out and stuff I'm just plain wrong on.

Regulations

Okay guys what do you guys thing I should be looking for in people to help with Travels of a Teen?  I mean sure I could ask any old person but then this blog would become something totally stupid that no one would want to read.  what should the regulations be???

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  That's the way my life's been for the last I don't know how long.  Anyways I'm sooooooo sorry that I haven't blogged forever even after I promised to blog again!  Like I said I've been really busy and most of the time I don't even think about blogger at all.  but I think I'll be able to bring it back if I can form a team to do the upkeep and help brainstorm ideas to blog about.  I have no idea who the team's members are going to be but I know I need some help!

Sorry for not posting in ages

I'm soooo sorry for not posting in almost a year I've just been so busy its not even real. So I decided to post today. I'd also like to invite Bekah from The Word Crafter to help me with my blog. My reasoning behind that is that I need someone who will help me remember to post and so I don't have to do all the upkeep that I don't enjoy as much as just posting. I do not have as many widgits, maybe add a nav bar and some other things that have to do with html to my blog like bekah and hannah do and so I decided I needed someone to either teach me or do it for me and I decided to have someone do it for me :)