Jesus loves me, this I know

Sometimes in this world, we feel very alone. Whatever the situation may be that leads to the conclusion of loneliness or emptiness, God is the answer. He loves you no matter what. He will never turn His back on you or be cruel to you. Today is September 11th, a day that will go down in America's history and the world's history forever. Nine years ago today I sat in a classroom watching the news footage from 9/11, too young to understand what was really happening. All I saw were skyscrapers tumbling down as if they were made from twigs and sticks, people screaming, running, and crying, and the teachers in my classroom crying along with them. Little did I know that scene would be burned into my memory forever. Thousands of lives were lost that day; many of them heroic deaths of American citizens trying to save their fellow countrymen. However, those citizens whose lives were forever affected by the loss of loved ones that day had a serious choice to make. They could either turn to God for help in healing their broken hearts, or they could blame Him for letting such a terrible thing happen. Many people, no matter what the situation, choose the latter, unfortunately. We blame God for the terrible things happening in our lives, instead of asking Him to fix it. Why is it so easy to turn to anger towards God when things go south? Instances like 9/11, and all other situations of despair, are when we should turn to God and ask for His help. God is the Almighty, the Creator, the Alpha and Omega, and He loves us with all of His gigantic heart! If we break our arm, we go to the doctor because we know he can fix it. But if we break our heart, we don't turn to the only being who can. Instead we are mad at Him. I hate to break it to you, but life is not a pleasant picnic. Life can really bear down on us sometimes, and God is the only one who can truly bring us back up to our feet for eternity. So turn to Him. Please, my friend, turn to Him.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Because you care

Many people take many different approaches when witnessing to people. However, as a Christian, you do not witness to people because you wish to prove you are right and the other person is wrong. You witness to them because you care about them. You want them to experience the same wonderful things you have experienced by being a Christian and living a life for God. You witness to someone because you care about their soul and what happens to that precious, precious soul when that person passes on. And whether you are witnessing to your best friend or a complete stranger, you will get much farther and touch them much deeper if you do not try to shove information down their throat. It is the Christian thing to do when you witness someone out of kindness and not condescension. And I know many of those whom you witness to will not return the kindness. They will get into a debate with you and ask you questions to try and stump you. Just pray that you handle these people with God's grace and honor their opinions and simply share your own. There is a three-way win-win situation when you witness to someone. The outcome can result in the person being saved which is the most awesome "win" there is; it can result in the person not being saved, but you have still planted a seed which may someday grow which is also a win; and it can also result in the person rejecting you entirely which is not great by any means although God realizes what you are doing for Him and rewards you for such works which is a win for yourself. But if you show those you witness to respect for their own opinions (which are usually formed from their own life experiences) and the kindness that Christ showed the world, you are that much closer to changing some one's life forever.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

"Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts"

1 Chronicles 16:9. It is hard to describe the impact music can have on our lives. Music can express the innermost corners of our mind; all of our thoughts and feelings. It can put feelings into words when there are no words. Music is also a universal language. People can tell serious songs from happy-go-lucky songs no matter what language they are sung in. Music can touch people down to their very core, no matter how tough they may seem to be. I listen to so many different types of music and I have learned to appreciate every single genre of music from ragtime to rap and everything in between. However, since becoming Christian, I realize how much music out there today is so un-Godly! Some of the lyrics are so terrible; parents may not even know how bad. I am not ready to give up all that music (that I spent hundreds of dollars on!) so now I take the lyrics I am listening to and turn them back to God. For example, I regret to admit I am a big fan of Adam Lambert's music. I simply cannot deny how talented he is. The first song on his first album is called Music Again. The lyrics go, "oh, you make me wanna listen to music again." I simply change it to, "oh, You make me wanna listen to music again." Even though I know Adam is talking about a guy probably, I sing it to God. He does make me wanna listen to music! I wanna sing as loud as I can as much as I can in His name! Music is also wonderful in the fact that there are so many ways to produce music! Singing, countless instruments, all sorts of percussion instruments, listening to recorded music, and getting a song or tune stuck in your head. Which I admit does get annoying after a while. But each method of music can touch people so deep and give them words to describe the hardships and issues in their lives which often times gives people courage ironically because they now know what they are fighting. Music can be a message to people that God often uses to help us through struggles and tell us how to fight back in His name. I am a very musically based person, but even if you are not, God has given us the language of music so that we might sing to Him and tell of all His wonderful acts.
God Bless!
ChristianKid

Choices

Our lives are not defined by our talents - they are defined by our choices. Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter said that in the movie The Chamber of Secrets (or something to that effect). This is very true. God may give us talents that we can use to further our experiences with Christ as well as others, but we have to choose to do so. God gave us free will, and He gave us our talents for a reason. So that we might be able to use them in glorifying God's name. And there are other types of choices, too. Such as turning the other cheek on a mean person, how to go about witnessing to someone, following Christ 24/7, and choosing Christ-like manners so that our lives might be a testament to God's good fellowship. We might have all of the talent in the world at any given subject, but if our talents are not used to glorify God, what good are they? Sure a great guitarist might impact a few million people through a popular career, but in the end, what is he left with? Unless he has God, he is left with nothing. So think about the God-given talents you have been blessed with and how you might be able to use them to glorify God's name. Are you musically talented? Get involved with the church choir or band of sorts. Academically talented? Learn God's word and teach it to others. Conversationally talented? Mission to people you may or may not know. The list goes on and on. I strive everyday to find out ways that I can further my talents in His name. I pray you will too!
God Bless!
ChristianKid

God doesn't care

This statement is true on ONE occasion: how you pray!! He doesn't care if you are alone, with a group, in church, on a river, in jail, or with a priest; if you say it out loud, in your head, write it down, or shout it from the mountain tops. All that matters is that you pray. God wants to hear what's on your mind. He wants conscious effort on our part to show we are still dedicated to Him and always will be. And I don't know about you all, but I always feel so refreshed after praying. I can conquer the world! Personally I like to close my eyes no matter how I pray or who I'm with because I like it to just be me and Christ, no distractions from our world. I have also started writing things down in a prayer because unfortunately, God has not blessed me with a terrific memory by any means. And when I tell someone I am going to pray for them, I want to keep my word! But it's whatever works best for you. Some people meditate on God's word (which is awesome but I have no idea how!), some people just pray in church, some people only pray before meals, some people pray only when they need help, and some people think that the devil will steal your spoken prayers, but some people pray all the time! I like to think that's me. Whenever I see something pretty, experience something cool, listening to an awesome song about Christ, or when I am in trouble, I pray to Him. Sometimes out loud, sometimes in my head. As long as you have a relationship with God, you have to have communication!! This is through prayer. And there is nothing more powerful in this world than prayer. I only ask one thing: don't get into a rut. Don't say the same exact thing or ask for the same exact things every day and nothing more. Why? Because after some time, it becomes simply routine and loses its meaning. For example, I think the Lord's Prayer is a beautiful prayer, but the prayer is just words to me. I have no idea what all the individual lines mean in the grand scheme of things, let alone what they mean to me. My church doesn't say such prayers, so I will give you another example. Millions of people around the globe are Catholic, and I had the chance to go to a Catholic mass this year. When I walked in, they were saying the Hail Mary. Now these people were saying it so fast, I bet you very few people truly knew what they were saying. Prayers are not competitions of speed, people. They are holy words spoken by us to our Heavenly Father. They become sacred. So let me give you an alternative idea. Next time you say the Lord's Prayer or a Hail Mary, etc, go home and break it down line by line. Many of these such prayers are found in the Bible, often times said by Christ Himself. Think about each line and try to understand what Christ was trying to say, and what you are trying to say by repeating it back to Him. Use references you or your Pastor trusts if you run into a line or two you can't crack. God does care if you say these words without understanding them because you are not glorifying Him by doing so. Understand them, and then God will not care how or where you say them.
God Bless!
ChristianKid