One Thing you Can't do in Heaven...

For everyone that goes to Porter, you know what I mean when I say God has been doing some amazing things. Revival is getting ready to break out and I can't wait for it to happen!

I have been reading One Thing You Can't do in Heaven by Mark Cahill with our FAITH class. Kenneth asked us to read the first chapter by next week, but I'm pretty positive I will be done with the whole thing long before then. The book is awesome. If you haven’t read it before, I strongly encourage you to do so. It really makes you wake up and puts your butt in gear.

Cahill has made it his life objective to witness to as many people as possible. For four years straight, he has talked about eternity with everyone he has sat next to on a flight. He prays for them long before he meets them. I love it when he says, "And since I pray for those people before we meet, I don't consider them strangers but friends." If we honestly pray that God will bring people in our lives to witness to, then when the time comes, it won't be a surprise. You will not be shocked or uncomfortable, because you expected it. That is one thing this book has encouraged me to start doing. Pray and it will happen. To be quite honest, I use to not believe in the power of prayer. It was just a "duty" I thought I had to do to be a believer. I learned on Tour two years ago though, that prayer really does work. It isn't a duty but an awesome privilege. Another line Cahill uses is, "Isn't it amazing that the God who is in total control of this universe will take time out of His day to hear us pray to Him?" We are so lucky to be able to talk to GOD.

Think about it...what is the one thing you can't do in Heaven? We can worship. We can sing songs. We can praise. We can learn God's word. But what is there in the Christian walk that we do on Earth, but can't in Heaven? We can't witness. NOW is our only time to reach the lost. This book explains no matter when we witness, it's a winning situation. There are three outcomes- they will accept Christ, you will plant a seed, or they will reject Christ. Rejecting Christ may not seem like a “winning” situation but the Bible tells us we are blessed when this happens. When do we lose, then? When we don't witness. I'm only on page 62 so I haven't even heard half the things Mark Cahill has to offer, but he says some pretty neat stuff so far. In this book, he describes many ways to strike up a conversation that can lead into Christ. I have decided to start trying some of these techniques this week at school. Before I would wait for witnessing opportunities to fall into my lap. I would think that people would take me as annoying or weird, and that no one really wanted to talk about God. This book has helped me overcome that. Cahill mentions, "We typically think that people don't want to talk about eternity and Jesus, but that's just another lie from the devil." I learned this week that eternity is a matter everyone wants to talk about! They just need someone to talk about them with it!

Last night, I thought the prayer service at church was great. After I got home, God laid on my heart that I should try and start FCA at Henry Clay. I called Mrs. Noble(Brother Wayne's wife, who is a Spanish teacher at my school), and she agreed to sponsor it in her room. She just told me to bring a few kids by this week who are interested with me and we can begin to plan. I hung up the phone and realized, I really have no Christian friends at school, and the two that I do have, I never even see. I didn't really know what I had gotten myself into, but I prayed God would let it work out. Well, today in Political Science our class had a "debate"(even though everyone in that class is a Democrat and agrees with each other besides me and another girl). It was over separation of church and state. I am usually pretty quiet in that class but some ridiculous things were being said, such as "FCA should be illegal" and "Students shouldn't even be allowed to express their religion." So, needless to say, I got involved. When I thought the entire class was just about ready to pull a gun out on me, the only other Republican, Rachel started helping me out. After class, we got into a discussion. She has gone to LCA her entire life, and it is her first year of public school. She looked at me and said, “I just don’t understand how people at this school can see so much that points to God, and completely be so against Him.” We started talking about Christ and I told her about possibly starting a FCA. She literally asked me if she could help out. We started talking and she has some great ideas, and a few friends that she said would definitely come if we did it. How amazing is God!

There is a poem Cahill found that really hit me:


My Friend
My friend, I stand in judgment now,
And feel that you’re to blame somehow.
On Earth I walked with you day by day,
And never did you point the way.
You knew the Lord in truth and glory,
But never did you tell the story.
My knowledge then was very dim;
You could have led me safe to Him.

Though we lived together here on Earth,
You never told me of the second birth.
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because you failed to mention Him.

You taught me many things, that’s true,
I called you “friend” and trusted you.
But I learn now that it’s too late,
And you could have kept me from this fate.

We walked by day and talked by night,
And yet you showed me not the light,
You let me live, and love, and die,
You knew I’d never live on high.

Yes, I called you “friend” in life,
And trusted you through joy and strife.
And, yet, on coming to this dreadful end,
I cannot, now, call you my “ friend.”

It is time for us, as Believers, to take a stand and use our life how God intends for it to be used. 150,000 people die a day. It is up to us that those people don’t go to Hell. If we really want a Revival, lets stop living our lives like we want to and start living our lives how God intends for us to. We are just a blink in eternity, so lets leave a mark.

My Moments

I'm so glad we don't have school today. I don't know that I could take another day this week. I have had some pretty embarrassing moments.
Moment #1:
I only read one of the four books we were suppose to this summer(That's a lot better than last year). We had all the tests over them this week. On Monday we had East of Eden, which is the one I actually read. I was pretty confident, and knew I should do pretty well.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I ALWAYS rest my elbow on the desk and put my hand on my forehead when I'm working. It just helps me concentrate. Well, the teacher obviously doesn't know me yet. He walks over in front of me and starts clearing his throat very loudly until I look at him, along with the rest of the class.
him-"It wasn't that long ago since I was in high school, Missy. I know all the tricks in the book."
He then glances at my hand, like he might find the answers written on them. When he doesn't, he proceeds to tell me that he knows I was blocking my eyes so he wouldn't be able see me looking at my neighbor's paper.
me-"Um..I wasn't cheating, I always do my work like this."
him-"So you always cheat?"
me- "No, I swear I wasn't cheating!" and without thinking continued, "This is the one book I actually read!"
NOT GOOD to tell your teacher you only read one of the books. So after I finally got him off with a "warning" for cheating, he now knows that I bull crapped the essays on all the other tests because I didn't read the books. Meaning, I probably don't have a great average right now in that class. O well, I got an A on East of Eden. (The girl next to me failed, though..now how exactly would I be cheating off of someone and get 4 letter grades higher??) Anyways, this experience was very embarrassing.
Moment #2:
I completely forgot about my physics homework. We do it online so it has to be in by midnight, the day before. Well, I remember at 11:45ish. I pull it out, and realize there is no way I can do it. I didn't even know what the problems were saying. I decide that I just might be able to get away with turning it in late on the first assignment. So I e mail the teacher a sob story about how I didn't understand the homework(true), and wasn't sure exactly how the web homework worked yet(also true). The next day in class, Mrs. Gill in the middle of lecture, looks at me and says, "O by the way, Jordan, you need to start reading the instructions. That homework isn't due until next week, and even if it was due last night, the instructions on how to do it are on the worksheet at the top." This was very embarrassing.
Moment #3:
After fifth hour the other day, I was walking to my class when someone started to push me. They were using me as a shield to get through all the people. I ran into a group of those annoying girls that think they are cool because they walk .4 miles an hour screaming to their friends as they go. They weren't too excited about this and all turn to look at me. One girl gets a little too angry, like I did it on purpose, and gets her finger up in my face screaming at me. And I mean, screaming. I look behind me to find whoever pushed me. When I didn't see anyone, I looked in front of me and see Ben Cooper laughing. This was embarrassing.
Moment #4:
The teachers decided yesterday, that they all would hand out their textbooks. All 6 classes on the same day. I didn't even have room for all of them in my backpack, so I carried two of them along with one of my binders. This would be fine, if they had given lockers yet. But of course they didn't think that one through, so I was stuck all day with them. Well, anyways, the bell rang for lunch and I quickly got up to try and beat the crowd. It is crazy crowded on the way to lunch, and is dangerous to get in the middle of it(people like their food). I was walking up the stairs with a herd of people behind me when my friend pulls back on my backpack to slow me down so she could walk with me. Well, she doesn't know I have two binders and four books in it. So my whole body starts to go backwards down the stairs. My feet are racing back trying to keep up with my backpack as I run into everyone on the way down. I was just about to lose balance after going down about five steps when a huge body stopped me. It was my buddy Sonny(we use to be in the sixth grade together, but he got held back twice so now he's just a freshman.) It's a good thing he was there or I'm pretty sure I would be in the hospital right now. This experience was very embarrassing.

Priorities and Sacrifice.

Ok, school sucks. It is 7:40 exactly, and I have 40 math problems, 2 essays for psychology, 3 chapters for English, and a huge headache. Have I started? Unfortunately...no, I just haven’t had the time. But I have done a lot of other important things. For instance: I got online. Checked my mail. Played a few computer games. Called a few people. Ate(mama made cookies!). Talked online. Played more games. And ate some more. You see, you just have to have priorities.

I soon ran out of reasons not to do my homework and sat down to begin when... I remembered that I was due for a blog! So yes, everyone reading this, I made a sacrifice out of my very busy day just to give you a few words. Hopefully you now understand what the pastor means by "sacrificial love." I really, really, really, wanted to do my homework but I decided that it was my duty to put you all first. So it is now 7:45 and I don't know what to blog about. But no worries, I won't leave you hanging. I will just have to put my homework aside, as sad as it is, and focus. HmMmm..what to talk about..

So have I ever told you my favorite food is crab legs? Yep, I love them. But you want to know what is funny? I hate all seafood besides that. I think that is pretty weird. Speaking of weird... I also hate honey, and I hate mustard. But I LOVE honey mustard! Crazy, huh?

I am trying to think of something interesting that happened today…. O! My biggest pet peeve is when people say, "I did good." Seriously, welcome to high school, it's, "I did WELL." Like are you off the streets or something. Well anyways, sometimes I say things when I get frustrated that I really don't mean to say. For example when a girl in class said today to one of her friends, "I didn't do too good on my summer reading test.", I automatically turned to her and said, "it's WELL, you didn’t do too WELL.” I'm pretty sure my cheeks got a little pink when her and her little preppy friends just looked at me like I was an absolute retard, and I realized I actually just corrected a girl's grammar that I didn't even know. So needless to say, I heard a few derogatory whispers between her and her friend the remainder of class. Ooops.

Alright, so I just went in the other room for a minute to help Banks with his Scooby Doo Video Game. Now it is 8:14. As much as I hate to do it, I think I will have to get off and start my homework (well maybe Banks needs a little more help with that game.). I'm sorry people, but I can only do so much. Please, please, don't thank me for the post. I don't like to draw attention to myself. Remember, you have to have priorities.

Count Me Out

I have come to a conclusion- it is much harder for family members to deal with a two year old in a body cast than it is for the two year old. It might sound selfish or foolish but it's true. (For those of you who don't know my brother, Hayes, broke his leg a couple weeks ago and has to stay in a cast from his toes to past his waist. I know, I know, it's sad but after the first 2 weeks of it, he is just plain annoying.)

We might as well call the Family Room, "Hayes' Room" now. I haven't seen anything on the television in the past two weeks besides The Wiggles, Veggie Tales, Scooby Doo, Carebears(gay), and The Teletubbies(gayer). And of course what are his two new favorites? Carebears and Teletubbies. That's not right. My mom just will let the kid watch anything now. Seriously---it is 24/7 'Love Bear', 'Sunshine Bear'..'Rainbow Bear'..whatever. Too many bears. And for the Teletubbies... well I don't even know what those things are but they just shouldn't be allowed.

Today I made a big mistake. While Hayes was playing with one of his cars, I accidentally sat on the remote, thus changing the channel. NOT good. Mr. Spoiled screams at the top of his lungs until I find the right channel again..and it took me a while to find it. When I finally did get to it, he decides during that time he "missed it" and doesn't want to watch the cartoon anymore. I don't know what "it" is that he missed, but I do know before the channel changed he was paying no attention to the show. For the next 10 minutes at least, I flipped through all the channels and let him look at all his movies to pick whatever he wanted. I was so nice I even put Carebears and Teletubbies in the stack. He decided he didn't want any of them because he "missed it". So what did we do? Sat on the couch with no TV at all. That's right, I had enough. I just pressed the "OFF" button. We just sat and stared at a black screen. He crossed his arms and put his nose up until he got bored. After he finally gave up and asked, we turned the TV back on and the first cartoon we came too, he watched. Just call me Super Nanny.

Here's my conclusion: He's milkin' it. Mark my word, as soon as that cast is cut off he will still be the ruler of the television. I bet he expects to still be waited on hand and foot. And I bet that everyone is so use to it, he still gets his way. But no...not sissy. She won't do it. Cause you wanna know why? He's spoiled, and I won't stand for that. I don't think Super Nanny would either.