something to think about

My mom just sent me this through e-mail and when I finished reading, it was just too good to pass up on:

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart. In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent. I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy - it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,

Your words are empty air.

You've stripped away our heritage,

You've outlawed simple prayer.

Now gunshots fill our classrooms,

And precious children die.

You seek for answers everywhere,

And ask the question "Why?"

You regulate restrictive laws,

Through legislative creed.

And yet you fail to understand,

That God is what we need!

Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. Whathas happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes - he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

Reminds me of what Jesus, Himself, said: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Mr. Scott is absolutely right. How dare we place blame on the NRA!! They didn't force Eric and Dylan to shoot up the school. They didn't bribe them both with money to shoot up the school. No, Eric and Dylan shooted up the school because they, themselves, wanted to. I remember watching a preview for an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation. It was about this poor guy who was forever being bullied, so he took it upon himself to shoot a couple of people at school. Now I don't watch the show, didn't even tune in to see what happened, but I'm willing to bet that the guy felt as if he had no other option. I bet that he thought that if he got revenge on those who bullied him, he would finally get the respect that he felt he deserved. Maybe that's what Eric and Dylan felt like. Maybe that's what you feel right now. Like you don't have the respect that you, yourself, deserve. Maybe you feel as if there's nobody in the world who would understand what you're going through. Maybe you feel as if you're drowning in a sea of hopelessness so deep there couldn't possibly be a way of getting out of there. God understands; He knows what you're going through. When you cry out in pain and sadness and you think that nobody cares...He cares. He's crying right there with you. You may say that it is other people's fault that you're lost in sadness, pain, and/or hopelessness. It's not. If you haven't told others about it, then how could it possibly be their fault? But God knows you. He knows you and He loves you.

I, myself, care about you too. So drop me a line if you ever want to talk (if people are actually reading this).

i totally get it!

Okay, this happened a couple of weeks ago, but I still feel that it is true so I've decided to share it:

While I was working, I felt the call of God so strongly that I could hardly pay attention. All I wanted to do was bow before the Lord and weep. He told me that He is coming soon and everybody should be prepared. The time has come for us to not only acknowledge him with our lips but with our lifestyles as well. Everything has to take a backseat when it comes to him. We are standing on the edge of something that is about to break - spiritually - and we should no longer deny it. The time has come for us to act as God's people. Be bold. Be direct. No longer should we be apologetic when it comes to God. Don't hide or deny your birthright. We have to become freedom fighters now.

And this, this was from God Himself:

Behold! I am with you now and forever. You are my people therefore nothing can harm you. Take risks; do not be afraid for you will do great things. It is time for you to stand up and fight. No should we dwell on earthly things but we should focus on godly things instead. Become disciples and start preaching the Lord's Word to the nations. Depend solely on the Lord your God.

At the time God revealed it to me, I had no idea what He was really saying. Well, I did, but I didn't you know? Anyway, in the following days, and the confirmations are still coming, I began to receive messages from the sirit realm that all this will be coming true. Not through weird experiences but through ordinary people. They all said the same things, even if they didn't say it the same way. The gist of it is clear: He is coming soon and we should all start preparing. There is a war brewing you guys, and we all are going to have to take part sooner or later. Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not and whether you want to or not. This is not some spectator sport; this is the real deal.

innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent?

What is wrong with the law system today, huh? Everybody is up in arms over Scott Peterson killing his beautiful wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner. Now I'm not condoning murder but I wonder if Scott's "team" looked into his having enemies or something. Hey, I wouldn't be surprised if he had some. A good looking guy like him, with the seemingly perfect life? Nah, I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone had framed the poor guy. Everybody is attacking him for the murders of Laci and Conner, pratically from the beginning of this investigation, but did anyone even think of wondering if he was innocent? It wouldn't be the first time some poor guy got the rap for something he didn't do. Onthe other hand, he very well might've murdered them. But...if he had, wouldn't McKenzie, Scott and Laci's dog, attacked Scott in an effort to save his mistress? Peterson had said over and over that McKenzie was really protective of her. You'd think the dog would've start attacking the moment he heard Laci's cry for help or the struggle depending on whose side you're on.

Dudes! It's only my opinion!

back from new brunswick

For everyone who didn't already know, I was away for the weekend at a youth conference in New Brunswick. It was called Deeper 2005 and it wasn't what I thought it'd be, but I still had an amazing time, if only away from the conference.

The trip up there was so loooooooooooooooooong! I didn't mind though because we went up through Quebec and Maine and the scenery there was so gorgeous! We went through the Appalachians and they were so beautiful I wished I had my camera with me the first leg of the trip. We made some stops along the way because you know, bathrooms and food and everything.

We arrived in Saint John, New Brunswick around 12 AM their time (we left around 3 AM our time) and we headed straight to the Hilton Saint John hotel (it was a Hilton; we felt felt so classy we made jokes about it) since the conference was probably closed. So we herded everyone inside and we waited for our room numbers (we had some peeps from Guelph and Peterborough with us as well) and then we headed up. We were on the seventh floor and our (I was sharing with Melissa and Jessica, Gabrielle and Ashley) room had an awesome view! OMG!! It was so beautiful! It was pretty during the daytime but when it came nighttime, it was so gorgeous with the lights and the water. Our window was overlooking Saint John harbour. Unfortunately, the rooms there don't have a balcony.

Anyway, the next day was Good Friday. So we left for the conference around 10 and get this: the conference center was across from our hotel! LOL! It was literally a hop, skip and a jump away! I didn't even need my coat while I was there. It was cold, yes, but not that cold. Anyway, it was just across the street (it may sound like I'm being defensive, but I'm not). So we went in for worship and the weirdest thing happened: I couldn't get into it. It was so weird because I was so psyched about going and worshipping God and I couldn't even get into it! And then, when the speaker came on, I couldn't get into that either!! I was so pissed! Ah well. After that, we went for lunch. It was so cool because there's a little square adjacent to the convention center...actuallyt it was in the same building and it had neat little shops. LOL! And it also had Timmy's and an A&W. It also had a museum and a library. Did I check them both out? No. The museum was closed and I couldn't be bothered looking for the library. Hehe.

Anyways, me, Melissa and Maddy went looking for a small store that sells Halls. She needed some. So we walked over to the hotel and went lookioing all over the hotel to find one of those crappy hotel gift shops. So when we couldn't find one we went to the front desk and asked if there was one. He told us that there was a store a few blocks over and he gave us directions on how to get there.

So we walked back to the market square and went up the escalator. We went down a hall that had little cafès and went past city hall. We then went over a skywalk and went through some sort of aquatic thing and went over another skywalk only to find that it was closed. Yay. So we walked all the way back and caught up with Mandy, Dustin and Kevin. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and went up to our rooms. There, I caught up with Jessica, Ashley and Trina and we went down to the exercise room. I went on the treadmill and burned 12 calories. LOL!

Then we went back to the convention and went to a class called "How NOT to Marry a Jerk". LOL! It wasn't as interesting as we all thought. LOL! Then we went to this place called Jungle Jim's for supper. I had nachos. They were quite good and then I had a large sundae for dessert. Muahaha! We walked there and walked back. LOL! All in all I probably walked 90% of Friday.

My legs still hurt Saturday but not that much. We went top the Bay of Fundy. It was fun. We played in caves and climbed rocks. I whacked my elbow pretty hard on rock and it was all I could do to keep from screaming a word that begins with the letter 'f' and ended with the letters u, c, and k. LOL! Sorry, Uncle Cory! It was the truth though! And it still hurts! Saturday night we went to the conference and I wanted to dance but my legs were aching pretty bad.Sunday we came home and I brought my camera and took pictures of the scenery. Then my batteries fell out of the camera so I had to stop because they fell under the seat.

And that was that.

Also...

Okay, I lied. The speaker who spoke Friday morning sucked but the speaker who spoke Friday night was good. I liked his speech. Wait. Or was he Friday morning? Ah, I forget. He spoke about his kids in his youth group and how they are totally going for God. No matter what. And I thought, Gee, I wish I were like them. It was so cool because they are so filled with God! And they totally are doing stuff in His name! I want to be like them, what about you?

The speaker on Saturday, both morning and night, was so cool! He was hysterical! LOL! In the morning he talked about about how sin looks good and feels good but it isn't good. It was quite good. And the other topic is how some of us should start walking on the wild side...that was the morning's actually. I know because I went up there. I feel as if I've been called to do something wild. Actually, no. I don't really know what he spoke on. He jumped from a bunch of topics. Anyway, Friday night Me and my room mates got together with Emily from Guelph, and talked and talked and talked. It was so much fun!! And on Saturday night, Gabby and Ashley were making juicy, wet fart noises. Sort of what mom makes. It was so much fun!

Also on Saturday night, there was a rap group called The Game and the hotel was filled with losers who drink and do drugs. Not of the good. Anyway, I was a little nervous and all these peeps who reminded me of the Secret Service were on hand to make sure all was well.

That was pretty much it except that I got along with everybody from River City! It was awesome! I'm in favour of going again next year!

"If you don't tell them, who will?"

That's what God asked me Monday night. Hi. I decided to put all my 'talks' about God and the like on here instead of a message board. Why? Well, let's just say that I've become deeply involved in a topic about God and that I now can't and will not guarantee I will 'force' my beliefs on anyone. So, since I couldn't guarantee it, I might as well post it here, where all the world can see. AFter all, it's better to cut out now than regret it later. Right? Right.

Ho-hum *sighs*

You know how when you're bored, and you don't know what to do so you try various things to try to kick your boredom, but you're so bored your heart isn't in it? I'm feeling it right now. I tried watching The O.C., didn't work, I tried working on my board, didn't work and I tried posting on various message boards and guess what? Yep. Still didn't work. So now what?

Oh, yes, I have to watch what I'm going to say so I won't offend people. When I get enough entries I'm going to tell people, people that I know, about this and they'll want to see if I'm writing about them. hehe. Well, they're going to be surprised. I'm only going to use a letter for whomever so they won't know who I'm talking about! Unless I go into extravagant detail....

My brother's coming home from uni tomorrow. Joy. And he's staying a week because of spring break. Double joy.

Howdy!

Hey! Welcome to my blog! Sorry if the first entry is short, this is my first time putting my inner-most thoughts online. It's kind of scary, actually. Well, bye.