Español

Hola. Mi nombre es Calsie Rael. Mi nombre es el Cielo en la clase de español. Yo vivo en Texas. Me gusta la ciudad donde vivo. Es una pequeña ciudad. Pero me gusta más que una grande ciudad. Soy Cristiano y amo a Dios y Jesús con todo mi corazón. Me gusta el español. Estoy aprendiendo español en la escuela. Su confuso a veces. Pero me gusta lo. Estoy aprendiendo mucho, pero no estoy bien todavía. Pero estoy trabajando en mi español. Y0 quiero aprender español en el futuro. Yo quiero hablar español. El vocabulario es muy difícil. Verbos son difíciles también. No se que es más difícil. Voy a tomar español tres el próximo año. Escribir en español es más fácil de hablar español. Leer en español es más fácil escribir en español. Escuchar en español es más fácil hablar en español. Escribí la palabra "español" mucho.

Lo siento pero mi espanol es no bueno.

I was tagged!

I was tagged by both Ellie and Zoe so here it goes.

What do you enjoy most? Praying, Reading, being with friends and family, writing,

What are some lessons you have taken? Piano, Voice, Gymnastics, Tap, Ballet, saxophone, cello, violin,

Your favorite authors? C.S. Lewis, Francine Rivers, Beverly Lewis, Robin Jones Gunn? Victor Hugo, Joshua Harris, Alex and Brett Harris,

What do you like to sing in the shower? If I do I sing songs I write. Every once in a while something else. But I don't normally sing in the shower.

Have you ever broken any bones? my thumb

What languages do you want to learn? Hebrew, German, Spanish (currently learning), Russian, and Latin

What Jane Austen movie is your favorite? Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice

What are your favorite books of the Bible? Esther, Proverbs, Psalms, John, Philippians, and I think Leviticus is interesting.

Your favorite singers? Downhere, Addison Road, Michael W. Smith, Newsboys, Michael Tait, Legacy, I have a lot more.

Your favorite types of music? Christian, Classical

Your favorite animals? Cats, penguins, manatees, horses, koalas, kangaroos, pandas

Your favorite things about nature? Canyons, Wind, Clouds, Flowers, Skies, Mountains, Trees, hills, waterfalls, forest, sunrises/sunsets (especially in TX) Petrified Wood is pretty cool.

If you were suddenly dropped into a movie, which movie would you like to be in? Narnia or The Second Chance, or Come What May Maybe probably a lot more but I can't think (too early)

Where would you land in Middle-earth? Hmmm, no clue

If you could go back to any time period, where would you go? early 1900s until about the 40s than skip the 50s and then 60s.

What are your favorite writing projects you have done/are doing? I wrote a paper last year about why we should skip Christmas, and about Bergen-Belsen (sp), Also the one I'm currently writing in English (well my friend wrote it but I have to edit it. I helped write it she just took over)

Your favorite fictional characters? Elsie Dinsmore, Hadassah from The Mark of the Lion Trilogy, Christy Miller, Sierra Jenson, I do really read a lot more fiction but can't think of anything.

What phrases do you say/write most often? Sweet, Cool, Pretty much amazing, kinda sorta not really, i have a lot of weird ones

Your favorite piece of jewelry? I really don't like jewelry so i don't normally wear any

Who do you tag next to answer all of these questions themselves? Margaret and Nivek, (but if you are reading this and really want to do this tag I'll tag you too.

Grace

What is Grace?







This can be an easy question. But it could be a very hard question also. Grace sometimes makes sense...but sometimes...it doesn't. I remember a ropes coarse challenge we did at camp one year. We had to get from one spot to another with out touching the ground. I don't remember exactly what the activity was. But it was hard. And we fell often. But every once in a while the leader would say "grace" and we could get back on and continue from where we were (which was really helpful) I guess as a kid in middle school I didn't quite get it. Someone said "grace" and we got to continue so hopefully we could finish the challenge. But as I get older I realize that grace isn't as simple as that. It isn't even close. It's very complex and hard to understand. Especially humans. But it is very important. Without grace...where would we be?







What does the Bible Say?







I went on to Biblegateway.com and found a list of scriptures that use the word grace. Included on that list are.







Psalm 86:6



Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace.







John 1:14



And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.







John 1:16



And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.







John 1:17



For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.







Acts 11:23



When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,







Acts 15:11



But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will







Romans 3:23-24



for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift,







Romans 5:17



For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the



one man Jesus Christ.












There are so many things that those verses say about grace. Here is what I can see...

1. Grace is a gift that we have received




2. Grace is abundant




3. We can saved by the grace of Jesus




4. Grace came through Jesus




5. Jesus is full of grace

Why is grace so important?

I am not a good person to answer this question. I don't hardly know anything. My mind just can't grasp it. But here is what I think. We have all sinned. We have all fallen short. We have broken so many commandments. Everyone has. And we don't deserve anything wonderful. But through grace God gives us what we don't deserve. Grace is freely given because God loves us. We need grace. No one really understands grace.

In Conclusion

I guess I don't have much else to say. But there is a video. It's funny but also serious. It's pertaining to grace. If any of ya'll know me really well you will know that I love The Skit Guys. There is one video dealing with grace. I enjoyed it and I hope you do to.

Skit Guys Video: Grace, We Just Don't Get It

I heard a...I don't know what it's called but it talks about grace.

God's

Riches

At

Christ

Expense

I think that sums it up reasonably. I guess there is a whole lot more that I could say. But I should probably just leave it at that.

Part 2

OK. I'm sorry I kind of just ended that last post with out giving any suggestion. But maybe you needed sometime to think of ideas on you're own if you wanted to. But I completely understand. You decide you want to do something but have no clue what to do. I've had that problem...well...countless times. But God has showed me answers. One way is through a book I got for my birthday. It is called Generation Change by Zach Hunter and it's pretty much a whole bunch of ideas and stories about people who have done similar things and such. I'm going to list some ideas....

1. Skip a meal and use the money you would be spending to feed someone who truly is hungry. If you want to go a step further skip one meal a week and then you can save up a lot of money. You can possible use that to buy one of the animals at World Vision to give to someone in another country. Or you can do something locally and use the money to buy canned goods to donate to your local food bank.



2. Or maybe instead of going out to eat one night eat at home and calculate the money you would save and donate that money to feed someone who is hungry.



3. In Generation Change it suggested a Burrito project. Beans and rice and tortillas aren't expensive. So you can buy the goods make some and then go to a downtown area and eat burritos with the homeless people downtown.



4. If you are an artistic person you can use the gift God has given you in many ways. One is you can paint, draw, knit, crochet, weave, etc. and then sell what you make and use that money to donate to a good organization.



5. For Christmas you can ask for just money and then donate that to a good organization that helps other or buy cans for the food bank or whatever.



6. Make a hut out of cardboard and duct tape and sleep out in it for a night. You can get a whole group. You can get people to sponsor you for the night. You can sleep in front of the school, church building, house, or whatever works for you. In Generation Change it talked about this idea. The book also talked about writing facts about homelessness. It's a really good idea.



7. If you are gifted with being athletic you can run, ride a bike, swim or whatever for a mile or whatever and get people to pay for mile and donate the money.



8. In Generation Change there was a really good idea. I know the closest big city close to me does but some maybe several cities have places where you can paint pottery. In the book students designed bowls and then had a dinner. They invited families from their church and the family paid for dinner and they each got to select a bowl to put on the dining room table. But the bowl was to remain empty to remind the family of the people who don't get to eat.



9. Help with a Habitat for Humanity build.



10. Or simply be kind to people. Open doors when their hands are full, helping people carry things when they look like they need help, saying hi to someone, we both can think of hundreds if not thousands of ways we can be kind to other people. It's just simple and easy.

I honestly had another idea but I forgot. Sorry. I'll post it later if I remember.

UPDATE

11. Collect spare change to donate. Some people say to collect spare change to pay for a vacation but you don't need to go on vacation. Whenever I go to trips I save the coins I have left over. My parents let me keep them. I give them the bills but The change amounts to something after a while. Me and my sister have collected over $20 worth in change. Sure it isn't that much but we plan to donate it to someone.

From personal experience there won't always be people interested in helping. Some ideas require a collaborative effort. And sometimes support is very hard to find. And you might get put down. But pray. I had the problem where my friends didn't care and whenever I suggested anything they just said, "Whatever" and laughed it off. It sure doesn't make a person feel good. And recently I told my friend we needed to do something and she said she wanted to. She had seen a video about Invisible Children and wanted to help with that organization. She wanted to do something big. We weren't quite sure how to get things started but God is sure amazing! So if you want to start something you could get put down by you're friends. But there is someone else out there willing to do great things with you and who wants to. They just might be looking for someone who wants to stand up too.

I highly recommend Generation Change by Zach Hunter as well as Be the Change by Zach Hunter. I just finished Be the Change and am over half way through Generation Change. Great books.

Update:I do realize some of the suggestions aren't really practical for everyone. I think you have to be 16 to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. But some things you can do as a family or with a group of friends. Sorry I should have remembered to put this earlier.

Being Fine Just As You Are

OK, I wasn't sure what to put as the title but I but something.

Something has been bugging me lately, maybe it's because I've been noticing it more often but I'm sure it's been going on for longer than I've been noticing. That thing is apathy. But not exclusively. Let's take a guy named A. This guy is a fictional character, but A is like a lot of people. He wakes up Sunday mornings to go to church because his parents make him or because some of his friends are there. After church his friends go goof off the rest of the day. Goes to school and is the cool guy, cusses because he thinks it's cool, just messes around during the week. But every once in a while he goes to church on Wednesdays but for the same reasons he goes to church on Sundays and goofs off afterward. Rest of the week goes by and then Friday comes and it's party time. Saturday just hangs out with friends. And back on Sunday. He's the guy you see at See You At The Pole (praying in front of the school around the flag pole for those who don't know) and you don't expect to see him there.

Sadly there are a lot of people like that. I could name tons. I could even put my week on here and I'd be ashamed of it. But just living life like every thing's alright. Just going through the motions.

YOU AREN'T THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD

Yes I know, weird title. But it's relevant.

Look outside...I don't know where you live but I know where I live. In a small town. there's cotton fields around my house. But it's a well-to-do neighborhood. But if I go to the downtown area of the nearest big town it's way different. People on street corners with old clothes that are either too big or too small. I remember going to Dallas and seeing people living in cardboard huts. And there are all these people who have never gone hungry, who get whatever they want, and have never had to sacrifice anything. A lot of times these are the people who are complaining about the smallest things.

There are children who are dying from disease and starvation. There are children who are orphans and some people are thinking how "horrible" their parents are because they have to be home by a certain time or that they can't have the newest whatever.

I don't see how people can be OK with people dying and not knowing God. Or people starving, or living in orphanages, or being persecuted for worshiping God. I know plenty of people who go to church but when facing persecution they would run. Sure I'd be hard to stand but it's possible. But it's too hard for some or they don't want to sacrifice popularity, or anything. But in the U.S. you don't have people burning down churches and throwing Christians in prison. How many people would be willing to stand.

I read and article about a group of Christians who were worshiping at the spot their church building use to be before it was burnt down by people who were against them. But they still met there.

I don't know where I'm going with all of this but here's what I'm trying to say. But here i guess is the gist of it all. We cannot be OK with being apathetic, going through the motions, or whatever. We cannot be OK with others suffering and we need to do something about it.

OK I'm 16 years old. I don't know how old you are but maybe you're thinking. What can I do? Do you really want to know? Well I guess to be honest you can't really do that much. But...God can. There are many people he has used to do great things. Just look at the Rebelution website and you will find some.

Then what are you going to do if you have excited to do something? Well that's between you and God. Right now I'm making scarves, baby hats, and other knitted goods to bring with me to Peru (I might haven't said that I'm going to Peru. Now you know) and to send to England. but there are many things that we can do.