Don't Be a Demas!!!

  Hello all!! I'm back again! This post shouldn't be too long, but I really wanted to share this thing I found!
First of all, hello again! I haven't blogged in a long time, and it's for the same old reasons (laziness and lack of inspiration), so we won't go there. But I've been doing pretty good! I crochet, if you didn't know that, and we have ANOTHER bunch of babies blooming up in our church, and I'm also selling a bunch of these Anna and Elsa dolls, so my life has basically been a long almost non stop time of crochet! That sentence wasn't quite right, but I think it helps to illustrate the point a bit more. :) But anyway, let's get to the point of this post, shall we?

   I'm in the midst of re-reading through my Bible, and at the moment I am on 2 Timothy. I literally JUST FINISHED chapter four of said book, and I found a verse there that really caught me eye. Paul says in the first part of 2 Timothy 4:10,

"For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica."

  Did you catch that? Demas, a man that was with Paul during this time in his life, forsook what he was doing, and pretty much turned his back on Jesus Christ and God, the Creator of everything, for the temporal, worthless things of this world. I don't know what exactly these things were, but compared to God and what he was doing, they are absolutely nothing, whatever they are! 
   I know that this definitely applies to my life, and I'm pretty sure it applies to everyone's in some way. We reject Jesus and the things he has planned for us everyday to follow after the empty promises the world feeds us. Whether it be our dreams, or the things we enjoy, or some kind of fulfillment we're seeking, we do it all of the time. And guess what? It NEVER WORKS!!! In the end, we usually end up with our lives a tangled mess of mistakes, our hearts shattered to pieces, and left all alone with no one to turn to. Now this doesn't always happen, but when we choose the things of the world, something along these lines does occur.  At the very least, we break our Saviour's heart, and it's a good long while later before our relationship with Him is back to what it was. 
   Now I want you to take a look at the first part of the very next verse, 2 Timothy 4:11:

"Only Luke is with me."

   Demas wasn't the only one to leave Paul. If you look back in verse ten, it says that a man named Crescens and Titus left Paul too. Though it sounds like they left Paul on good terms, Luke was still the only one to remain with Paul during his time of need. We should be faithful like this! To our friends, our relatives, our church family. Don't give up on people, even if they irritate you, or if they seem hopeless, or whatever be the case! Luke stood by Paul through thick and thin, and we should do the same for the people we love. But more importantly, remain steadfast in your faith. Don't leave God for the things of this world! He stays faithful to you, and we should do the same! I don't know if you understand this, but Jesus Christ the Son of God, left Heaven, to come down to our sin filled earth, and gave his precious life for you! Jesus Christ died for YOU,  and we leave him behind for some whim or fancy. Remain faithful! Never lose hope! Jesus is always with you, even when it's tough. Don't be a Demas. Be a Luke! 

   Thank you to whoever reads this, and I pray it encourages you in some way! Goodnight all!

                                  MR

Oodles of Doodles!

Hello all!
Lookee there! I DID post today after all! :D Well, I really wanted to share some of my drawings with you all. So, here's a couple. :)

 This one (above) is a picture of one of the main characters from my book. Her name is Breeta Valliny Kap,  and she's a lot of fun. Not just writing her, but she's just a fun person. :) Er, character that is....

This one is my version of the Slavemark from the How to Train Your Dragon books.

You see little doodles of this model all over scrap pieces of paper in my house. :P

And that's all I have for now. :P Maybe I'll out a few more on later...

Anyway, have a good evening! I'll try to blog again sometime next week! :D

MR

Forgiveness In BIG THINGS and little things

 

Oh my! Guess who didn't blog when she said she would??? Yeah, that's right. Me. I had valid excuses for the first few weeks, like writing a short story for a competition, then strep throat, then the flu. But after that, I just kept procrastinating. So, here I am, asking you to forgive me again. :P
   Well, I thought I'd blog about something I read in my Bible yesterday. I just started going through Matthew a few days ago, and wow! I'm already convicted over so many things, but this one little passage really stuck out to me.

"38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

"39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

   Do we really ever think about these verses? Not only should we show mercy in the big things, but in the little everyday things too. Like when a sibling is rude to you, and you could so easily give him a burn that will hurt for weeks. But if you "resist not evil", like it says here, you just turn and walk away. Or when someone is grating on your nerves, and all you want to do is snap at them and tell them to quit. But instead, you remain calm and show mercy.
   I can't help but think of Betsie Ten Boom when I think of forgiveness. My family and I recently finished The Hiding Place, and boy, can we all learn lesson on forgiveness from Betsie! If you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about. Even though the prison guards surrounding her were cruel and heartless to the prisoners and to each other, Betsie felt no hatred toward them. All through the book, we see Betsie asking Jesus to forgive these people, even as they beat fellow prisoners! And we can't even forgive the cashier at Taco Bell for being a little grumpy!
  We all forget to show mercy, in little things or big things. I know I do! So I thought I'd write this as a reminder to all of us to show mercy this week, and every week. Before you open your mouth to speak, think, "Is what I'm about to say pleasing to God? Will it help this person, or the people around me?" If not, then don't even say anything! Sometimes, that's best. :)

(( Keep your eyes open for my next post! I might even do another one tomorrow! But no promises, mind you. :P))
MR

This picture comes from: http://scriptoriumdaily.com/

Alas! (A Post in Which I Beg the Forgiveness of Those Who Follow Me)

Oh, for Millie's Sake!! Has it truly been this long since I last posted something?? I would say that I couldn't believe it, but alas. I can. I have come to humbly beg the forgiveness of my followers. I have failed you greatly! But, I have returned! I shall hopefully post something more meaningful and deep tomorrow. But at the moment, I have not enough time.  And also, you must pardon the poetic speech that I am using. I know not what has gotten into me! Perhaps it is the late hour. Or, perhaps I have become far too engrossed in the way Cruedwynn Creed speaks....
   Ooo!! There's something I can post about! The Legends of Karac Tor, by D. Barkley Briggs! Now, there's an excellent piece of literature for you. He has such a superb writing style! And the characters are extremely well written! And the plot is magnificent! I have read The Book of Names, and I am halfway through Corus the Champion. Which I have fondly nicknamed "Corus" for short. :) But anyway, if you haven't read them, DO IT NOW. NOW, I say!
   And on that note, I must bid you all a very fond farewell. I shall (hopefully) post on here again tomorrow!
                            Goodnight, and joy be to you all!!
                                           MR

Music

   For my post this Friday, I decided to do a little something on music. A favorite song from each of my favorite genres. :) Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this melodic feast!


1.Classical

I love Classical music. From Beethoven to Mozart, and Chopin to Vivaldi, I could probably listen to it all day. There's nothing like a Classical piece to soothe a weary soul. For this category, I decided to choose 'Moonlight Sonata' by the wonderful pianist Ludwig Van Beethoven.       

2.Celtic

This is another category that I absolutely adore. A very kind couple in our church blessed me with a Celtic album recently, and I was thrilled, to say the least. :) For Celtic, I have decided to post 'May it Be' by Celtic Woman

3.Hymns

Who doesn't love a good old fashioned hymn? Songs like 'Amazing Grace', 'How Great Thou Art', and 'The Old Rugged Cross' are pretty well known throughout our culture. This is probably the most difficult of all the categories I've listed for me to choose a favorite. There are so many wonderful songs to choose from! But, I would have to say that 'It Is Well With My Soul' by Horatio G. Spafford would be my favorite. :) 

((In this video, the band Selah sings this song. So, not only is this my favorite hymn, but one of my favorite bands is singing it too!)) 

    

4. Contemporary Christian

My last genre! :D This is another tough category to pick a favorite song from. But, I would have to say that 'Redeemed' by Big Daddy Weave is my favorite. 

Thank you for reading! 

MR

P.S. This is my very first time doing links, so hopefully they work! :D 

Not ashamed

First off, I would like to apologize. I haven't blogged since Mother's Day. That means it's been, what, almost six weeks? If you didn't believe I was a slacker when I mentioned it before, I bet you do now, huh? But, I'm going to try to do better. In fact I'm going to try to post every Friday. We'll see how that goes... :)

Last week in my Sunday School class, we were talking about the stoning of Stephen. And (believe it or not) we got around to talking about witnessing. My Sunday School teacher asked us, "If someone was holding a gun to your head, and told you that if you didn't recant your faith in Jesus he would kill you, what would you do?" This in and of itself is a pretty hard question. But, most of us probably would say that we wouldn't recant Jesus. How could we reject our Saviour, who shed His own precious, holy, perfect blood for our sins? And even though we would die, we would fly straight to His arms. And we all answered that we wouldn't deny our faith. But then, we were faced with a much more difficult question. What if, instead of us, the gunman was threatening our sibling? Or our mother? Or our father? Or our best friend? What would we do then? None of us could answer. Tears filled many of our eyes as we thought about it. How could we sacrifice someone else's life by not recanting? But, how could we recant?
   Now, I'm not going to make you answer that question. But, did you know that other people in different countries are being forced to answer it? Their lives are being threatened because of their faith. They are presented with this question on a daily basis. Why? Because they're Christians. When they accept God's gift of salvation, they are putting their lives on the line. There are pastors, preachers, and Christians who risk the lives of themselves and their loved ones so they can share the gospel with a lost soul. But we Christians in America? We don't have to worry about that. We live in comfort. The only thing we have to fear when we share the gospel with someone else is being mocked and picked on. But that's just it. We don't like it when people make fun of us, we don't like it when people laugh at us and point at us and call us names. So, we keep quiet. We're 'Anonymous Christians', living the Christian life quietly and secretly while other Christians are enduring severe persecution for just knowing Jesus as their Saviour. And we're not sharing because we're afraid of a little ribbing. May we realize the horrible mistake we are making before it's too late to fix it.
  This week, for those of you who read this, I have a challenge. I challenge, no, Triple Dog Dare you  to witness to someone, or pass out a tract to someone this week. This goes for me to. If you do it, comment and tell me about it. :)

Have a good Father's Day weekend,

MR  

   I have two cuter-than-average beagles. The eldest's name is Buck, and the younger one's Beulah (even their names herald their cuteness!).  And, as all beagle owners/admirers know, these dogs love food.
   A few days ago, we had brought home the leftover cookies from our Wednesday night program at church. They were the really good M&M kind that you get from the store. My favorites.
   The next day, my parents were working and my brother and I were still in bed. That left the dogs upstairs, all alone with the cookies. Keep in mind that these cookies were in a plastic box. And those plastic cookie boxes aren't that easy to open. So, one would think the cookies were safe. But apparantly, dog teeth make for a great box opener. When my brother came upstairs, he found Buck licking the crumbs from the bottom of the opened cookie box.  The dogs had eaten all of my beautiful M&M cookies. Well, I probably shouldn't say 'dogs'. I have a feeling most, if not all of the cookies were consumed by Beulah. Since she's a pig. And I think this because she gained close to six pounds that day, while Buck retained his normal figure. But I think it's safe to say that she learned her lesson. Eating over two dozen cookies does strange things to a dog...


Here's a picture of the victim:

And the culprits:

(I told you they were cute!:D)

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

              MR