A new computer

I will admit, when our new, blue Dell desktop showed up next to the garage, I was a little more than excited. After all, how often does a new computer come in the mail?

I broke the Wii, as some of you may know, while playing a game of (my favorite video game) Beatles Rock Band one afternoon when my parents were out. My lovely father bought me a new one not two weeks ago and I am happy to announce that I've almost beat the game for a second time. I was pretty much exploding with happiness when we got that white box of fun.

And what about my first mp3 player I've ever gotten? Santick Sansa, I think, held a pathetic amount of space but had blue earphones. Man, that thing was like magic. I had my, what, twenty CDs on there, and gosh, things couldn't get any better then 658 bytes. (It can, now I have a seven-gig Sony WalkMan which is the next best thing to an eight gig Nano)

But of course, there are problems.

This new computer is great, but it doesn't have Google Chrome. The laptop's got Chrome, and I think it rocks. It's newer, faster, and ultimately, my friend Krista had it first.

Oh, the Wii is wondrous, but who here's heard about Kinect, the Xbox game where you're the controller? Dude, the commercial came out and the first thing I said was, "that looks SO cool!" It did NOT help that my cousin Hunter and buddy Zach both got it for Christmas.

My mp3, like I said, is awesome quality, great storage, holds pics, vids, all my downloads, and other important stuff, like, say, music. But, then again, the iPod Nano is better. It's brand name and apparently a lot better. It takes pictures and, hey, holds an extra gig of space. Also, a girl at my church named Morgan has one and has proclaimed to us how awesome it is.

So, as you can see, my friends seem to be ahead of me in most departments. And when you first about the newest thing, you think, Oh, man, I don't have one of those! Man, you're so lucky! New things are coming out all the time. And our friends don't help.

Last year I really wanted a cell phone. After, all, EVERYBODY had a cell phone. Krista, Shannon, Jessica, Zach, Ozzy, Megan, all of my friends had cell phones before I did! So I talked it over with my parents, and they said very straight-forward: no.

And so while my friends rubbed it in my face, I just sat there, utterly phoneless.

But then I realized the things that I wasn't really missing, like spam texts, losing my phone or charger,  having to pay for minutes, and having to turn it off most of the time in movie theaters, church, ect. Most of my friends actually DIDN'T like having phones more than liking their convenience.

Of course, I would LOVE a cell phone. But it's not at the top of my wish list. I also learned that my friend Jordan didn't have one, neither did my old friend Katie, or my cousin Felicia. So I was NOT the only person on the planet without one.

The same thing goes for everything else. I don't need a Kinect, or Chrome, or a Nano. We get too wrapped up in the things we DON'T have rather than the things we DO have. After all, I'm quite happy with my new, blue Dell, my black Sony WalkMan, and my brand-new, much-missed Wii.

If there's something you want really badly (cell phone, video games, your own laptop, a pet, a shirt) that your parents don't want you to have or that you can't afford, don't sweat it. When you're older, maybe you can get one, or save up your money. Be thankful for the little things, like sleeping over a friend's house, or your pet fish. This world might only care about what we DON'T have, but we should be thankful for what we DO.

My Calling

Ezekiel 2:3-8

Heaven

"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."-David Crowder

"Heaven is breaking open, we are not there yet."-Gungor

"All the earth begins to shake. Can you feel his spirit move you, calling all hearts to break."-Barlowgirl

Heaven is there. How sure are you that you'll be there?

Been a while...

I guess it's been a while, huh? Hi again. I've been very busy lately, but that's not really an excuse. You can't be too busy to do a three-second post, eh?

Speaking of which, this is also the topic. Sometimes, we're busy. School, chores, homework, babysitting, reports, phone calls, friends, lots of things can take up time. Some of which we'd really rather push off.

But this isn't a good habit to get into. Like when you say you'll do your homework later...then you forget and have to do it on the bus ride to school. And in all that rush, you completely forgot to pray, which you usually do on the bus ride.

Sometimes God becomes last priority. I've done this many times, of course. We all procrastinate sometimes. Some more then others. We need to take time for God...even five minutes is better then none. Pray, read your Bible or devotionals, if not both, and set some time aside.

You're never too busy for God.

Every day

Every day, something new happens.

Some days are great. Things go your way. Life is okay. You thank God for giving you such a nice day.

Some days are okay. Nothing really goes horribly wrong. Then again, it wasn't the best day ever. You thank God for giving you a good day.

But some days are lousy. One wrong thing after another, it seems. Everything crumbles. Nothing good happens. Trust me, we've all had days like this. I have. Everyone does.

So, why thank God for THAT? Why thank him if you failed your science quiz? Why thank him if your dog ran away? Why be thankful for days like that?

Because God MEANT those things to happen. God made those things happen. And God deserves to be praised in bad or good weather.

When Paul was in prison, was he saying, "oh, this totally stinks!" No. He was SINGING. He was praising God! In PRISON, he was thanking God.

And guess what? The shackles crumbled. He was released. And he was happy. He was thankful to God.

No matter what happens, you need to thank God. Every day.