NIPTO, Day 350

You know how sometimes you get to that point at night where you have a headache and too much to do before you go to bed and you just want to cry? Yeah, well I'm at that point.
Here's a quick rundown of my day: Got up this morning and got ready. Went to church. Church went: band practice, 1st service worship, sunday school, last song, sunday school, 2nd service, talked to people, went to Kent, ate lunch with Hannah, drove home, relaxed a little bit, skyped with Katie for a long while, worked on some homework, ate a tiny bit, went to youth group (which was fantastic! And I recorded... yay! Even I want to listen to it again :). Cleaned up the youth room a bit, looked at some of BK's advertising stuff, came home, watched last week's Chuck, finished my homework, and here I am.

Alright. NIPTO.
1 Timothy 3:1-7
 ¹ Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.


Whoever wants to be a manager (overseer, deacon, pastor) wants to do a noble job. Simple, eh?




² Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)


This person has to be an  honorable person. One who is above reproach, faithful to their spouse, controlled, welcoming, has the ability to teach, not a drunkard, is gentle, doesn't argue and doesn't love money. That is a HIGH standard. This person must also be able to manage their family well. He should "see that his children obey him" and he needs to do that in such a way as garners respect. If someone doesn't know how to take care of their immediate family, how can they take care of the extended family of God, that is, the church?




 ⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.


This person should be a long-time Christian. If they aren't, they could easily become conceited, which, as heard in Pastor Mike's sermon today, is a legitimate concern. This person should also have a good reputation with people not from teh church so that they won't be disgraced. 






Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That was a half scream half sigh of contentment. Well, not really contentment. Because my contacts are bothering me, I have a headache, and still need to take a shower along with getting completely ready for bed. 
Hello not getting 8 hours of sleep on a school night. How dare you keep me up late, homework... or something. 
I'm going to bed now. I'm having problems typing, which means I should definitely sleep.
G'night.



P.S. please excuse any spelling errors that I did not catch. Like I said, it's late.
Goodnight, again.

Movie Marathon Conversation Collage

The ridiculous ramblings sayings that are taken out of context from our Johnny Depp movie marathon! [Tuesday night&Wednesday]. Enjoy! (I'm posting this on facebook too... :)


... short people are awkward and weird.

"I speak broken punnish" is even funnier than "I speak punnish"!

Helicopters are aerodynamically weird. They shouldn't be able to fly.

They have pre-dug holes!

Is this an inter-racial relationship because your socks are colored?

I don't care about anything.

We would have a lot more purple and orange in the world. I'll tell you that!

Jesus is a cop-out for anything. Except squirrels.

You think he's not listening until he is.

I just happened. Oh man.

I'd really rather that Jesus was not your feet.

It's like two people with braces kissing. They figure it out.

I don't like Hollywood. No one gets shot!

It would take off and take your pants with it!

Our dad is an estrogen-hardy man.

The brown one was beautiful. Why does he need a grey one?

It's a Twix commercial!

Her dress is like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!

It's Hannah Yackley!

As if there's a thing as lawful seduction?

Nooo! Why?!?! So she's a witch! (I have this written down, but have NO recollection of what it was about...)

She went off with the government censorship guy!

"I think that's proper for 'dead.'" "Oh! So that means you're available?"

You can run and tell that, homeboy!

Oh my gosh they took the back of the house off!

They were dead the whole time?!

He's snoring. *bursts of giggles*

It's like there's a tiny man being strangled in your freezer.

I had to literally remove him!

NIPTO, Day 267

Whew. Today. Has. Been. Slightly. Insane.

Got up. Got my bowl and what I thought was a spoon out and  poured my cereal and milk, lifted what I thought was a spoon, and discovered a fork. Bummer. That's kind of how I feel like the rest of my day went....

I went upstairs and started getting ready when I remembered that I still needed to print off my questions. So I go to print my questions and the printer is just spitting paper through. So I get Dad. And he fixes it. Or something. I think the printer was just on the fritz. Soooo that took up my 15 minutes of getting ready time. So I mostly finished getting ready and then ran around like a chicken with its head cut off getting my school stuff together, got in the car and drove to school and then got to school and put tables up in Mom's room. Then I went to study hall and put my makeup on in the computer's webcam. Oh yeah, I'm talented. hahaha. I talked to Carrie for a little bit... then it was time for classes to start and I went to study hall and read blogs and then read Civil Disobedience by Thoreau (it's way too long to be... enjoyable) annnnnd then I did a little bit of history... and then moved to Mom's room and did more history... did personal finance... cleaned up my stuff... ate lunch... went to Lit and talked about Uncle Tom's Cabin... went to ACT prep and talked about reading. Then we came home.  And I chillaxed for a while. Did some Spanish. Took my Physics test. Ate dinner. Cleaned up. And here I am.
I didn't have to babysit today. Which was super nice. Because I got a little bit more done than if I had to babysit. So that was good.

The 'rents have their small group tonight, so I'm babysitting for that. There are supposed to be 2 more kids coming, so Kayla-la is coming to help me babysit :) So that should be fun. I'll have someone "adult-ish" to talk to.
Annnnd people should be here any minute, so I'll finish this after they leave :)

-about 5 hours elapse-

Alrighty. Everyone is gone. Finally. Not that I don't like those people. But it's late.
Babysitting was good! Having Kayla-la was a lifesaver because having an extra pair of hands and eyes is fantastic! We got to talk too, so that was good :)
We came upstairs after they were done and people were figuring things out and Justin&Laura figured out that they locked their keys in the car... sooooo they were here until about 11:30. They ended up taking our car so Justin could take Laura&Emerson home and then come back with keys and get their car. So everything worked out. But it took some time!
And now I'm here.
So. NIPTO.


Ecclesiastes 3:9-22

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

The author of Ecclesiastes repeats himself kind of a lot. He asks the same questions and states the same things. But when someone repeats themselves, it's usually important. The author tells how he's seen this burden that's been placed on the human race by God. He's also seen how God has made everything beautiful in its own time. Then he says something that's been coming up a lot in my life: He has also set eternity in the human heart... Wow. That's... intense. We're supposed to be living for eternity. Yet (there's always a FANBOYS in there! haha), no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. It's too big!


¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

This person knew that you can't do anything better than to be happy and do good while you live. Each person may eat and drink and find satisfaction in their work. That's God's gift to us. Everything that God does will last forever. Nothing can be added to God's work and nothing can be taken away from his work. He makes it like that so that people will fear him. There's not enough healthy fear of God these days... *sigh*


 ¹⁵ Whatever is has already been,
   and what will be has been before;
   and God will call the past to account.
 ¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:
   In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
   in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
Whatever is has already been. And what will be has been before. Interesting: God will call the past to account. He doesn't let things go unnoticed that have happened in the past. Something that the author noticed was that on earth there was wickedness in the place of judgement and justice. Sad.


 ¹⁷ I said to myself,
   “God will bring into judgment
   both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
   a time to judge every deed.”
But God will judge both the righteous and the wicked. There will come a time when every single thing, good and bad, will be taken into account and will be judged.


 ¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹ Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

God tests us. He tests us to see that we're... like... animals. Okayyyy. Reading on: the fate of the human race is the same as every other race: death. We all breathe the same air. We don't really have that much of an advantage over animals. Huh. Because everything is meaningless. Everyone goes to the same place. We all come from dust and go back to dust. Who knows where our spirits go when we die? 


 ²² So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
So the author saw that there was nothing better than to enjoy the work that you do, because that's what you're supposed to do. That's your lot. Who can tell you what's going to happen after your life? No one. Live the life you have today and live it to the full.






And with that, I'm going to live my life to the full by going to sleep. Because, once again, it's late.
I hope someone gets something out of my blog... If no one else, it keeps me accountable! 267 days of blogging every day. I'm pretty proud of myself! :)

On that note, goodnight! 

NIPTO, Day 244

I'm not even going to go into my day. Because it's currently 2:15 (am!) and I want to go to bed.
That can wait till tomorrow. When you'll read this anyways. Unless you're insane or an insomniac.


Starting Hosea today for NIPTO! Should be a good study.

Hosea 1:1-11
 ¹ The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:


Hosea was a prophet. Or in other words God told him what to say to the people at large. (Isn't that a wonderful beginning?)

Hosea's Wife and Children

 ² When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the LORD." ³ So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

Well then! When God first started speaking through Hosea, he told him to go marry a prostitute. Why would God tell his prophet to do this? Good question. Well, God told him to marry a prostitute because the people of the time were acting like prostitutes. They were parting from God.
So Hosea married Gomar. And they had a son.


 ⁴ Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵ In that day I will break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel."

God told Hosea to name the baby Jezreel. Names in the Bible are very symbolic. They all mean something. I mean, sure our names today mean something, but not quite like this.
God told Hosea to name the baby Jezreel because he was going to punish the house of Jehu. And when he did that, he was going to "break Israel's bow in the Valley of Jezreel."
Huh. Interesting...


 ⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, "Call her Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer show love to the house of Israel, that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the LORD their God."
Then Hosea and Gomer had a daughter! God told him to name her Lo-Ruhamah because he wasn't going to show love to the house of Israel. But he was going to show love to the house of Judah. He would save them. Not by their might, but by their God.


 ⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
 ¹⁰ "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' ¹¹ The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Then they had another son. God told them to call him Lo-Ammi because they weren't his people and he wasn't their God.
But Israel was going to be like the sand on the seashore. Sand can't be counted or measured. There's just tooooo much of it. Why that's said, I'm not sure. I might just be super tired and not putting two and two together. (And is it "two and two" or "one and one," because I can't remember! hah. I think it's two and two...)
But where God told them that they weren't his people and he wasn't their God, they would also be called 'sons of the living God.'
And the people of Judah (whom God was favoring at the moment) would be reunited with Israel. And they would have one leader. And it would be great!




And now... I'm going to go to sleep. Because I have to get up for church in the morning. YAAAAY. hah.
I'm tired.
Okay.
Goodnight!

Abby

NIPTO, Day 215

Hey alll!
How are you guys doing? I feel like I'm having a one-sided conversation.

I am tired today. But it's Friday. And tomorrow is Saturday. It's going to be a good weekend. I can tell!

Today I basically did school. I watched an episode of Chuck (or half of one that I started yesterday) during lunch.
Took a physics test. Got 100%! And I was worried... psh. God helped me through it. That's all I can say.

Tonight is small group... I'm babysitting... should be... interesting... and I use ellipses wayyy too much... =P

Acts 26:1-32
 ¹Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: ²"King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, ³and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.


Paul is polite. And I think that's all I'm going to say.

 ⁴"The Jews all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. ⁵They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁶And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. ⁷This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me. ⁸Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

The people who were prosecuting (is that the right word?) him knew how he had lived since his childhood. They knew that he had been a Pharisee in the strictest sense. And now he is on trial for having hope in something. Having hope in a promise that one day the twelve tribes will see the promise fulfilled as they serve God. 

Persecution because of a hope. And why is it so amazing that God can raise the dead? He created people, why can't he bring them back to life?

 ⁹"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.

Paul is open about his past. He doesn't try to hide anything. He's honest and, again, he's polite.

 ¹²"On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. ¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

 ¹⁵"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'

   " 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. ¹⁶'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. ¹⁷I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them ¹⁸to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

Paul tells his story. Again. 

 ¹⁹"So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. ²⁰First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. ²¹That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. ²²But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— ²³that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles."

Paul wasn't being disobedient to God. Just to the Jews. (Shouldn't they have the same views? God and the Jews? Yeah. I thought so too.)

Paul went around and he taught people about God. That even the worst person, the person who was completely against Christianity from the start could still be forgiven.

And that's why they were trying to kill him. But Paul isn't discouraged by that. He knows he has God's help to this very day and will stand and tell his story until it's believed.

He points out that he wasn't saying anything that Moses didn't say. Hey, Moses is a great source! haha

 ²⁴At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane."

 ²⁵"I am not insane, most excellent Festus," Paul replied. "What I am saying is true and reasonable. ²⁶The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do."

 ²⁸Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

 ²⁹Paul replied, "Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."

 ³⁰The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. ³¹They left the room, and while talking with one another, they said, "This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment."

 ³²Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."

Festus interrupts Paul because he thinks he's insane. Paul responds that he is, in fact, not insane and that the king was familiar with this stuff and could speak as he pleased in front of him. He asked the king if he believed the prophets and then answered his own question with an "I know you do." (I feel like Paul could be really cocky sometimes!)
King Agrippa asked Paul if he thought he could persuade him to become a Christian in such a short time. Paul didn't care if it was a short time or a long time just that he prayed he would become what he [Paul] was, minus the chains.
The king stood up and left to talk for a little bit and came to the conclusion that he hadn't done anything worth imprisonment or death.


And the sad thing (kind of) is that Paul could've been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar. 




Whew. It is way pas my bedtime! So I'm going to go to sleeep now. G'night blog world!

Let me explain... no there is too much. Let me sum up.

Ahhhhh yes, a Princess Bride quote... that isn't quite accurate because this turned into something that was way longer than I intended =P


A lot has happened in the past two days. And I can't believe that our service project&stuff was yesterday!

Sooooo Yesterday. After breakfast we went to a church to get briefed on what we were doing. Then we walked down to the Boys&Girls club to do some work there. We were split into groups and some people went outside and weeded, one group went to a middle school where they helped do some yard work (me thinks) and then some of us stayed inside and cleaned the locker rooms and helped clean out the sports closet.

I was in the cleaning brigade. And Christina, Jen, Catherine, and I cleaned the showers... Noelle mopped... and it looked goood when we were done. And we got done fairly quickly, so we went out into the gym where there were boxes of stuff everywhere! So we just kinda asked what we could do and did what they asked. We had about half an hour and a lot of stuff to sort/put in boxes/label/put back into the room. But it all got done and I'm sure it looks much better than when they started.

After our service project we went back to the dorm and ate lunch. We were planning on going to the beach afterwards, but we didn't have enough time. So we kinda just chilled out and played some games... I played Euchre with Zach, Luke, and Josh. Then we left for evangelism.
Our group went to Cape Fear Community College. We weren't really sure what it would be like. But there were a lot of people around since they were signing up for fall classes (I believe). So we were able to talk to a lot of people. We didn't pray with anyone, but we handed out a lot of fliers for Wednesday (Tom Short is speaking on campus). So that was cool. We also talked to a lot of people who were already Christians.
I also didn't really do a lot. I kind of asked the questions (we did surveys) the first few times, then Erin&Nathan took over. Nathan was a beast! He kept on talking to more&more people. And Erin talked to a lot of people. And I just kind of sat back and watched them like a proud mom :) Jon and I were the only ones who had ever done evangelism like that, and I really haven't had much experience with it, so it was super super cool to see the younger kids really stepping up to be leaders! (The Seniors were with Tom @ Unleashed)

We came back after evangelism and went to dinner. It was good. The lines were long. But we got food.

Then we headed over to the church. Tom spoke again... the topic was "My turn to walk" So it was like about walking with God. It was good. I would have to go over my notes again to remember anything =P

We came back to the dorms after that and had our "home group" (we called it "tie-down" at past LTs) and then split into guys&girls and talked and stuff. Some really good advice was given from the senior girls to the upcoming freshman girls. It was sweet to hear the older girls giving the younger girls wisdom. From their experiences. It was just cool.

Then we slept...

Annnd today: WOW! Yesterday was long. Today was probably longer!

We got up&ate breakfast in the common area outside of the girl's block of rooms.
After that we had to book it out of there to get to the church for our first session (at 9:00 am). Greg Burlile from Darby Creek spoke about loving one another. "My turn to love." It was super good.

After Pastor Greg finished speaking, we had a 5ish minute break (where they made us work&take all the chairs out of the room for tonight) and then Shea Willis (who did the Creative Evangelism breakout that I went to on Sunday) spoke about service. That was good too... (I'm having trouble remembering everything. It's so packed! But it's good to kind of decompress.)
After Shea spoke we went back to the dorms for lunch and after lunch we got ready to go to the beach for our "Church Initiative" (I think everyone went to the beach... to play frisbee or football or play music or whatever to draw people in so we can share the gospel with them). It was windy. Too windy to play frisbee. So we ended up walking up the beach and doing beach evangelism. We talked to more people... didn't really get into any deep conversations. But I'm hoping and praying that we at least got people thinking about spiritual stuff.

After the beach we rushed back to the dorms to shower and get to dinner. We ate dinner and then went back to the dorms to get stuff. And then we headed out for the famous "Tuesday night Worship night."

It was fantastic. We got there and were standing outside talking to people. It was fun. Then we went inside and everything got quiet&serious. I don't really remember what all happened. David Root, the worship leader, probably sang a couple songs... And he told the story of Jesus's ministry from John's perspective. Like, he was John and was telling us what happened. It was interesting. It was different and made you listen.
We sang a lot... I wrote some... I read Psalm 139 and Isaiah 40... I cried a lot. I prayed for people. I prayed for myself. I worshipped God. I let go of anger. I let go of fear of other people's expectations of me. And I worshipped God with all that I was. It was so amazing. I have a couple videos from tonight... One of Jesus Paid it All, a little bit of Salvation is Here, all of How He Loves by John Mark McMillan. Google that and listen to the song... or wait until I get around to posting it on YouTube&embedding it on here =P

One thing that we did tonight was write down what was keeping us from God... or whatever. And we were able to nail them to the cross. Sooo freeing. So fantastic. I loved tonight.

Ross spoke a little bit at the end. And he talked about how we have to make a conscious decision to worship God every single day. Not for it to just be a one night "this was a fantastic feeling" type deal. But to really worship God every single day in every moment.

Wow. That was probably long. I'm not going to go over it... I might run spell-check, but that's the best you're going to get at almost 1am! =P

I'm glad I typed all this out though. It's a lot less to think about. There's still a lot left to think about, but it's a lot less than there was before.

If you've read this far, you are awesome!
Also, if you've read this far, would you take a few minutes to pray for everyone at LT?
We're tired. And when people are tired tempers tend to get short. Pray that we would all be able to love one another and not get "short" with each other.
Also, my dad is talking tomorrow morning at 9ish! So pray for him too. That he'd be able to speak what the students need to hear. I know he's excited. I'm excited too! Just not for the bad jokes that I know are going to be in there ;P
Pray for the other speakers too. That God would speak clearly and effectively through them.
And feel free to add whatever other prayers you want to that! All of them are appreciated!

Thank you soooo much for reading this. You are a truely awesome person.
So I guess it's time for a "thank you and goodnight!"


P.S. This is my 200th post! Yay LT posts making the "records"! =)

NIPTO, Day 60

A post in which I cover dessert, driving, lock-ins, TOMS, home-schooling, school-homing, and NIPTO.


Mmmmmmmm. I love Chocolate Heath Blizzards from Dairy Queen. They're the best. I can't wait to have another one in a week! (For my birthday!!)

Sooo I turn 16 in a week. With 16 comes TEMPS!
My mom thinks I need to study for my temps test.
My best friend doesn't think I need to study.
I'm not sure about what my dad thinks...
But I don't think I need to study.
But I'm reading the "Digest of Ohio Motor Vehicle Laws" anyways. WOOT. heh. Not. It's not that great. I feel like I already know everything... (I'm 16 and I know everything-Tony Marette) But I know I don't sooooo yeah... hopefully I'll be able to get my temps sometime next week! Maybe next Wednesday? That would be sweet! =P I've been wanting to learn how to drive foreverrrrr. But I'm pretty sure I'm going to freak out once I actually get behind the wheel and start driving. Ya know?

Pirates vs Ninjas is tomorrow! I'm excited. I'm captain of the Ninja team... Yeah. I know. I'mma beast. (or not...) It should be a good time! I really need to make an effort to get enough sleep because I can feel the start of a tiny bit of a cold coming on. NOOOOO. I hate being sick.

Today was TOMS Shoes' A Day Without Shoes day. I participated. I haven't worn shoes all day. I even went on a walk in about 45 degree weather w/o shoes. My mom told me I was going to get sick. I didn't tell her that I could tell I was getting sick before  I walked... she doesn't read this as far as I know... maybe she should start reading it! haha. But it was good. My neighbors asked me what the heck I was doing without shoes on! And I told them about TOMS and whatnot. It's cool. I hope that today raised a lot of awareness. (How cool would it be to actually work for TOMS and have to not wear shoes to work!)

We are THAT Family posted something last night about being a home-schooling Mom. Her kids go to public school, but she still teaches them at home. It reminded me of something that my sister posted on Facebook last weekish. It was from The Onion. And it was about Parents Opting to Have Their Children School-Homed. Here's the article if you want to read it. I think it's kind of hilarious... yet sadly true. Thoughts anyone?

Ah sweet NIPTO. We meet again. Late at night... again. We really need to stop meeting late at night. It's not like we have anything we're trying to hide. I'd much rather meet in the morning, but, unfortunately, I've been lazy. I promise that I will try very hard to wake up at 6:30 tomorrow to meet with you. I promise I will try. But there are no guarantees.
Love,
Abby

Matthew 27:57-28:20
Matthew 27:63-"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that the deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.'" 


So interesting. They call him 'the deceiver.' That's generally a name reserved for Satan. It's just so weird to have it used in reference to Jesus. Jesus was perfect. He never deceived anyone. (Well, except when he didn't reveal himself to people, but he didn't make people think he was actually someone else!) Just interesting, eh?


Revelation 1:10-On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. 


Sooo Sunday? (The Lord's Day?) John was in the Spirit. What exactly does that mean? Was it all a vision? Was he physically taken somewhere? Was only his spirit taken? I don't know. Those are questions I won't know the answers to until heaven... unless anyone has some answers of what they think! (hint hint... comment!) I think tomorrow I'll post who the voice was... (You could read the rest of Revelation 1 and "ruin" the suspense, but I'll leave it till tomorrow. It'll be tomorrow morning *crosses fingers*)


OKAY. NOW: SLEEP. YAY! I like sleep. But I don't love sleep... most of the time. I love God more than sleep and that's all that really matters, right? hah

G'night!

NIPTO, Day 48

Ahhhhhh. Today has been a fantastic day. Sleeping in: good. Setting up for/the Easter egg hunt: fun. Eating lunch and jamming to Queen: faaaantastic. Going to see Alice In Wonderland in 3D:... SO MUCH FUN! Alice In Wonderland was an amazing movie. It was the first 3D movie I've ever been to. It was sweeeet. Definitely cool. Johnny Depp is an amazing actor. The graphics were amazing. It was great.

After dinner we went on a walk... it was sunset-y and gorgeous. I took some pictures.  

Robin. Tree. Moon.

Tree. Pretty.

Pretty sky...

The sky looked soft... I wanted to touch it.

Trees.

Today was great. It's nice to just be around my family... and laugh. And sing. We laugh so much that it's ridiculous. And we burst into song at random times throughout the day whenever anyone makes a reference to a song or just thinks of a song. It's great. I love it. 

Right now I'm just chilling in the living room, waiting for my dad to get Chuck set up so Katie can catch up!! (Have I mentioned that Chuck's my favorite tv show?? haha)

One Scotcharoo (rice-crispy-treat w/ chocolate&butterscotch) and one episode of Chuck later.... NIPTO time!

Acts 13:30-But God raised him [Jesus] from the dead. That's what it's all about. It's about Jesus dying on the cross. It's about him being dead for 3 days. It's about God raising Jesus from the dead. 

Proverbs 27:19-As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man. I've heard again and again that your heart reflects your actions. But really, whatever you prioritize in your heart, you're going to prioritize in life. It's a good practice (that I don't do very often... heh) to take some time to examine your heart and what's goin' on in there. 

Revelation 22:5-There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. I've been picking verses that tell about light this week. I think it's extremely symbolic. Light=God/holiness, Dark=Satan/sin. Simple as that. 

bwahhhh. it's late. I'm going to SLEEP now! WOOT! Doing music at church tomorrow. Should be a good time. NOW: onwards to the land of dreams... 

[What do a writing desk and a raven have in common?]

NIPTO, Day 34

Wow. Today has been another whirlwind of a day. I slept in: Amazing. I went to the mall: and re-discovered how gross consumerism is. I also discovered that the economy must not be doing too badly since we couldn't find a place to park... and once we got inside, it was packed... and people were buying stuff. We need to teach America how to entertain themselves on a rainy day! While we were at the mall, my mom and I saw a fine example of irony: Extremely (extremely!!) conservative Mennonite girls wearing their home-made dresses and headcoverings... a couple of them wearing tennis-shoes. BUT one of the ones wearing tennis-shoes was wearing Abercrombie. Really? Abercrombie? I don't wear Abercrombie. And another one was wearing Uggs. Uhmmm... can someone please explain this to me?!?! I was very confused. hahah

After we (my mom and I) got home from the mall, I worked on my Pride&Prejudice paper... then we ate dinner... thennnnnn (drum roll please...) we went to SEE Pride and Prejudice on the stage at Weathervane Playhouse in Akron! It was SO much fun!! The characters were awesome and the acting was pretty good for high school/college students! So that was fun. But now it's late... and I have to do NIPTO still... but it's all good. Even though this time tomorrow it will be TWELVE (12!) thirty (30) instead of ELEVEN (11) thirty (30)... Oh well. I'll live.

Acts 6:1-In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the  Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. What I noticed about this, and to be honest, Pastor Mike talked about this in a sermon I do believe, was the division of the "Grecian" Jews and the "Hebraic" Jews.  I think we kind of do this today but don't realize it. There are so many denominations of churches who are all aiming for the same thing, but we can't work together. (That wasn't exactly a grammatically correct sentence, but I don't feel like finding the error. I acknowledged it. Deal with it.)  Churches need to work together. We can't do things on our own. The church isn't a building. It's a group of people. So why are there so many "churches"?? Why can't we all be one big happy church? Because someone (man) had to come along and put rules on the church so now there's division. Lovely.


Proverbs 13:15- Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard (or does not endure) Being understanding is hard. I'm learning that. It's hard when you've never experienced something to accept it from someone else, ya know? I'm a very "set in my ways" type of person, and it's hard for me to understand why someone else is not set in my ways. So I'm trying to be faithful so the way is a little easier :)


Revelation 13:4-Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" I've got an answer to that last question. God can. What now beast? haha. We as people are easily persuaded to follow anyone/thing that has authority/can give authority. Kinda scary seeing as that's what happened here. But God is on our side. And that's sweet.


Hebrews 11:5-By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Enoch's story is incredible. God liked Enoch so much that he took him away to be with him all the time. (I hope all those him's and he's aren't too confusing!) But anyways. Enoch was extremely faithful. That's why he was taken from this life so that he wouldn't have to die. Because he was faithful. Oh that I might have faith like Enoch.


OH dear. It's late. Not even TODAY late... it's Tomorrow late... aka it's past midnight and I need to SLEEP. Tomorrow I am GOING to post in the afternoon. I'm going to come home from church, get my homework done, do NIPTO, then I'm going to go to NIPTO maybe... then youth group. And that is how it's going to work ladies and gentlemen.

Goodnight!

NIPTO, Day 33

Bounding

in

the sunshine

These two pictures were taken on Monday. It was another gorgeous day today. I realized today that I hadn't gone outside since TUESDAY. Being sick does funny things to a person. I went outside to get the mail today. I didn't put on shoes. It was glorious. I can't wait until it's sunny and warm all the time. I LOVE summer time. It's probably my favorite time of the year. No school... It's warm... I love it. Only a two more months really until this all happens for good. =P

Now. It's night (LATE at night I might add.) I'm sitting in my room. (In my room that happens to be on the side of the house so I can hear the wind. I don't like the wind. Especially since there are trees behind our house. That could fall on me. While I'm asleep... or doing NIPTO. Heh. I think I'll be okay. But still, it's scary to hear the wind, okay?) On my bed. Under my covers. Teeth brushed. Ready to do NIPTO. Then ready to fall asleep. :) (I still have my glasses on. So that's a good sign that I'll actually stay up to finish =P I don't think I've ever fallen asleep with glasses on, but I have fallen asleep with contacts in... ew. haha. Not pleasant when you wake up.)

Acts 5:1-10-This passage is about a man and his wife. The man's name is Ananias. He lied about the amount of money that he got for a field. God smote him. (He actually just died. But it's more fun to say that God smote him hah).  A couple hours later, Ananias' wife comes home. Not knowing that Ananias has been smote, she's asked how much Ananias got for this field. She lied too. Peter told her that her husband had died. She was smote too. So I guess the moral of this story is, don't lie to God. He'll find out. Actually, he knows before you even lie. So you should really think twice about it... or God might smite you. Just kidding... maybe. (Really. I'm just kidding. But don't lie to God. It's not a fun thing to do. There's a lot of pain involved when you figure out that you're lying to God... and usually yourself. Maybe some tears... Not a pretty picture.)

Proverbs 12:1-Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. I do love knowledge, but I don't always love discipline. It's hard to accept discipline. It's hard to accept correction. Nobody likes being told "You're wrong" all the time. There's no way anyone likes that. But to be able to accept it without complaining shows true knowledge. It shows that you know that "Hey, this might help me grow in *such and such an area*" I know I'm going to try my best to not be stupid! heh. 

Revelation 12:7-And there was a war in Heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. War. I'm reading a book called Fallen Angels for school. And right up until now, I didn't realize the irony of what I'm about to say. Fallen Angels is about the war in Vietnam. The war in heaven that's happening in this verse, ended with angels falling to earth. Weird. 

Hebrews 11:25-He [Moses] chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.  Courage man. Moses was basically royalty in Egypt. But he chose to become lowly and mistreated to obey God's commands. Crazy. There is so much we can learn from the people of the Bible. It's insane. 

I'm hungry. Which means it's either time to eat my 4th meal or to go to sleep... I'm choosing sleep right now. Goodnight!

NIPTO, Day 21

Why is it late every time I post?!? This awful pattern needs to end. Tomorrow. I am GOING to get up early, exercise, and have my quiet time before school. It is GOING to happen. I'm posting this on here so it will happen. Because I might just shrug it off tomorrow morning when my alarm goes off. I shall fight the battle of the blankets tomorrow morning. (I cannot take credit for that statement, seeing as it was in Rick Warren's book about bible study methods =P We were talking about that today)

(Saved/sozo(Greek)) σῴζω

(To wash/Nipto (Greek))νίπτω

sozo has been one of my favorite words for a long time. I'm not sure when it started, but I reallly like it. More on that below. I decided today to go to Blue Letter Bible and look up what the Greek is for nipto. I knew that it meant "to wash" so I just put that into the search engine, looked for a verse in the New Testament (Important: The NT is written in Greek, OT in Hebrew. I wasn't going to find the Greek for a word in the OT (Which part of the bible is written in Aramaic?) =P There is a handy dandy little button that you can push. I believe it's the icon "C" that has a concordance/lexicon. It breaks down the verse into the different words in their original language. I think it's sweet. My sunday-school teacher, Matt, introduced BLB to me and my sisters, and I love it. I should tell him that :)

σῴζω (sozo/saved) is something that I kind of want to get a tattoo of at some point in my life. This is the point in my post where adults in my life (my parents/grandparents/any other adults (tee hee hee)) vehemently discourage me from getting a tattoo. =P We'll see. I'm still definitely not old enough to get a tattoo, but we'll see once the time comes. I think it's just a sweet reminder that we are saved. Not by our works but by the blood of Christ. SWEET. =D

John 3:9, 21. 9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. I tend to ask a lot of questions. It sometimes gets me in trouble with my classmates at school. They don't like it when I bring something up that they don't want to talk about in class. My teacher loves it, but my friends, not so much =P But sometimes we find ourselves asking "How can this happen?" or "Why did this happen?" Whenever questions like this come up, I love love LOVE this verse: Lamentations 3:37 "Can anything happen without the Lord's permission?" NLT How COOL is that. NOTHING happens without the Lord "decreeing" it as the NIV puts it. That verse has brought me tremendous peace when I've been dealing with something stressful or kind of off putting. It's great. I love it. I've gone to that verse multiple times. It's definitely a good one :)

Proverbs 28:23- He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue. This is interesting to me, just because in the world that we live in today, it's not really "normal" to "rebuke" someone. We like to be all nice and kind to people. But in the end, the person who is kind of brutally honest, in a good way, will have more favor than a person who just kind of glosses over mistakes and things that need to be fixed. Interesting.

Revelation 22:20- He who testifies these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. This verse just gives me chills. It's fantastic. He's coming soon. To be able to say "come, Lord Jesus" is fantastical. I love it. Annnnd I'm going to end with that :)

Come, Lord Jesus. Come.