It's Time

It's that time of year. The time of year when people make resolutions that most likely won't ever happen. The holidays are slowing down, and people are getting back into their old patterns. The time that I avoid talking about new year resolutions cause I never even make lists. I always feel like I'm doing something wrong by not writing up one.

So I've decided, I'll make a short, sweet, and somewhat easy one. ;P Like resolutions are ever easy.

Writing:
Finish the first draft of Trio of Light
Finish the first draft of another WIP

Home and Family:
Be nicer to the sibs
Be more helpful around the house
Get in shape

Faith and school:
Finish ten books of the Bible
Learn Spanish and Quenya
Read at least 55 books
Read fifteen non-fiction books

So yep. Short and somewhat sweet. :) Good luck to the rest of you on your resolutions! :)

On Justin Bieber

So first off, I AM NOT A JUSTIN BIEBER FAN! Kapeesh?

Now I'm going to show you some things, remember your reaction.




What was your reaction to those? I bet you laughed didn't you.

Now think about this. Go back and read those, and instead of Justin Bieber's face and name, put in your own. After you laugh at yourself, think about if everyone was posting these things about you, and worse things too. All The Time.

Fit in your own name, "This is why I hate ______ ..." "_______ is so stupid. He/she looks and sings like the opposite gender."

Now I'm not going to go and point fingers in anybody's face. And I'll admit, I've laughed at and made my own jokes about Justin Bieber. But my conscience has been bugging me a lot lately, and I've been thinking. Doesn't the Bible say to love even your enemies. Justin Bieber isn't even an enemy, just an annoying and lost singer, shouldn't I love and be praying for him too?

So he's a celebrity, he's a human being too, he has feelings and emotions, and the things we say affect him just as much as they would affect you. We can't brush aside the fact that when we joke about Justin Bieber or any other celebrity that we are bullying. I bet you never thought of yourself as a bully, I never thought of myself as one either till now.

Guys, when you see that Justin Bieber has done something wrong, making fun of him isn't going to help, it's only going to make the matter worse. Why do you think he's choosing to do the wrong thing? Because everyone loves him? No, because he's trying to get away from all the bad talk, and "harmless" jokes, and critics, but just ends up digging himself deeper. Instead of helping him find his way to sure doom, we need to pray that he straightens his life out, that he finds God as his rock, and we need to try to encourage him to go the right way.

I'm not saying we all need to listen to 'Baby' all the time. Or become 'Beliebers'. But just let everyone know that you are not going to join in the bullying anymore. :)

Do you have any thoughts to share on this?

The Importance of Living Selflessly

  I am entering a contest at Tessa Emily Hall's blog and one of the entries said 'write a blog post on the importance of selfless living', so I figured that would be a great post to get back here with. :)

  Now you might think of living selflessly as becoming a superhero or something. But it doesn't have to be painful or even be your career. 

1. Where you can be selfless
  Anywhere! It is so simple and so rewarding to be selfless if you can just get past that first doubt that nibbles at your mind. You can be selfless at home with your parents and siblings. At the grocery store you can help that little old person who trying to get the coin they dropped by themselves. At school that kid who always sits at that table by themselves. And even when people aren't around, say at an empty park and you see a McDonalds cup roll by, pick it up and throw it away!

2. Why should you be selfless
  It really makes a difference. You know that day when everything is going wrong and you can't do anything right and some stranger helps you in some way. It feels like you've just been handed $100 free. Then when your in their shoes and you see that little girl smile at you 'cause you liked her pink shoes, your heart just melts at how you made some stranger happy with just a couple words. 

3. What exactly is selflessness
  Selflessness is when you stop thinking about how yourself and give just a bit of your time to help someone else. It's not thinking, 'Oh God's really going to be pleased with this one. Wonder how He'll reward me.' or 'Wow I am such a nice person, no wonder everyone loves me.' It should be because you want to make that person happy.

4. Who are some great role models 
  Jesus: He died on the cross so that we might live eternally in Heaven. 

  Florence Nightingale: She stayed up a lot without sleep for days so she could care for men who were sick and dying. She would take their last words and send them home to their families with the news that their son, father, and husband was dead. 

  Amy Carmichael and David Livingstone and other missionaries who served in foreign countries giving their lives to helping spread the word of Jesus Christ.

  George Washington: He didn't want to be president you know. He wanted to go home and live a quiet life after the war. And he definitely didn't want to be king. But he became the 1st president of the USA because we wanted him. Because we knew that he would do his job faithfully and to the best of his abilities.   

  There and lots and lots of people out there who serve just like these people did, but they are often drowned out by the selfish people of this world. The people who only care about themselves. But by being selfless we will spread seeds and the light will grow. 

  Have you ever heard of Passing It On? Well most of the time if you do something nice for someone that someone will want to do someone nice for someone else and it just keeps going. 

I hope you are inspired to do something out of your way today. :) If you have any thoughts leave them in the comments!

Brookie

Why I Believe in Christianity #1

Here is a great video with more info that I as a teenager can't explain very well. :)

And here is what I have to say:
The Bombardier Beetle is one of my favorite bugs, just because he shoots he shoots hot stuff out his bum. Ahem... anyways.

But first here is Wikipedia's introduction to this tiny little ball of fire. (Please when I refer to things this way don't get all technical on about how, it's not really a 'ball of fire'. I'm just goofing around)



Bombardier beetles are ground beetles (Carabidae) in the tribes Brachinini, Paussini, Ozaenini, or Metriini—more than 500 species altogether—which are most notable for the defense mechanism that gives them their name: when disturbed, they eject a hot noxious chemical spray from the tip of their abdomen, with a popping sound.
The spray is produced by a reaction between two chemical compounds, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide, stored in separate reservoirs in the beetle's abdomen and mixed when needed in a third chamber with water and catalytic enzymes. Heat from the reaction brings the mixture to near the boiling point of water and produces gas that drives the ejection. The damage caused can be fatal to attacking insects and small creatures and is painful to human skin. Some bombardier beetles can direct the spray over a wide range of directions.

How can this little guy evolve? If a beetle started getting these chemicals, the first time he tried to use it, he would blow himself up. Pop! (Sorry, it's the teen in me) Evolution takes a long, long time. If he only gets part of these things at once, it won't work correctly. He wouldn't have the right compartments, and he wouldn't have the chemical mixture all set up. Even Wiki admits that Evolutionists admit that they haven't figured out how it could work. They do say they might, maybe, have a lead, but that's ONLY a lead. If they find something I'm game for reading about it. But they don't have anything.

Now if he was created at once by a Creator, it would make sense. He'd be all intact. This little guy at the moment points fully at a Divine Creator.

This isn't the only thing. I'll have more coming. :)

Dear Atheists reading this. Please don't get all offensive.  I don't wish to get into arguments, and I don't want to offend anyone. I'm just presenting my beliefs the same way you present yours. :)

Brookie

100 Hard Things Challenge

So... I've actually been doing it this time. Yea! ;)

Here is what I've done:

Day one: I hate talking on the phone. Even with family. But I called the eye doctor's office! I did it and I didn't mess up or freak out. :D

Day two: I've been helping out more with dinner.

Day three: I've decided to try out for our county rodeo princess!

So I won't be able to do a hard thing every day and post about it. Sometimes I do something not very big, then forget what it was by the end of the day...
But thanks for your support guys! :)

Brookie

Responsibility

So my mom is at the beach with my aunts and nana. My dad is at work. And I have been slacking.

I love to work when I get started, but if I don't have that motivation to get rolling I slack off. Which would be: searching for hours for a picture of one of my characters,(I don't know how I haven't even found one close) writing, (Which isn't bad, it's just doing that instead of helping) blogging ;P, and things like that.

Sooo, I've gotten my motivation today. Piano lessons. ;) And I'm back on track.

But do you guys struggle with this too? I used my future in writing as an excuse. Do you have an excuse that sounds pretty good to you?

We can fall behind in our duties, but laziness is of the Devil. Even being lazy when there isn't much to do is wrong. We should always be investing time to grow, mentally, physically, and emotionally. 

So that's why I'm going to try this again. But this time I won't forget about it the very next day. I'm doing the 100 Hard Things Challenge.

Here is the link to get more info on it: Hard Things Challenge at The Rebelution. You'll have to go to the 'About' page, and then to the challenge. :)

I'm asking you to keep me responsible. At least twice a week I'll update my progress. :)

Thanks for your help!

Brookie