What's the Point?

Tonight, Lee and I hosted the youth at our house for a movie night. We ate pizza and other junk food and watched the movie, “To Save a Life.” If you haven’t seen this movie, you should go rent it and watch it.

I appreciate all of the people who work to make Christian movies to send out a powerful message to the world through the outlet of movies. However, a lot of these movies tend to be kind of “cheesy.” Some of them also make it look like being a Christian is easy or everything will work out for you when you become a Christian. This movie was not like that. It has a PG-13 rating because it includes issues that teenagers really have to deal with-drinking, drugs, partying, sex, suicide, cutting, bullying, etc. It was more realistic because unfortunately this is the world we live in.

I also enjoy this movie because it touches on something that is close to my heart as a teacher-bullying. It breaks my heart to think about the way children/teenagers treat certain people. It breaks my heart even more to hear of how this can lead some young people to feel like their only option is to take their own life. Why do we put a value on people? Why are some people worth more than others to us? What makes us think we’re better than anyone else? This is a huge problem that only seems to be getting worse. This scares me.

The main thing I got from this movie tonight was a quote that should be every church’s motto. During a youth group gathering, the youth pastor in the movie asked the students to take a moment to think about something he had just spoke on. During this time, the students start to whisper, play, text, etc. This upsets the main character in the movie so he stands up and basically tells off the youth group for their hypocritical actions. One thing he said stuck out to me.

“What’s the point of all this if you’re not going to let it change you?”

What is the point of church, bible study, or any other Christian related activity if we’re not going to let it change our lives?

Too often, we think it’s enough to just go to church or be a “good” person. Maybe we just go to church because that’s what we’ve always done or because it’s the “right” thing to do. Maybe we go because everyone else does and it makes us look good. We may also think it’s enough to simply believe in God. James 2:19 says “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

Matthew 7:16 tells us that we will be able to recognize true Christians by their fruit. Fruit can only be produced if we have a changed life because we have Christ living in us.

Christianity should be about a relationship not religion. I have so much more I could say on this subject. This is something that God is constantly showing me more about. The state of many churches today scares me. It makes me ask “What is the point?” Why are you going to church? Are you letting it change your life? Or is church just something you do on Sunday’s? Is God an active, living part of your life? Are you bearing fruit?

What is the point…

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Recently, I mentioned to Lee how it would be neat (in the future) when we have children to grow a small garden. I thought it would be a fun learning activity plus we could have some fresh fruits or vegetables. Shortly after this statement, I find myself in the Wal-Mart gardening department with Lee telling me to pick out what I want to grow. We got caught up in the moment and bought some flower seeds, gardening tools, pots, soil, and vegetable and fruit seeds.

Later, I’m thinking….what in the world are we doing? I’ve never worked out in the yard in my life. It was the one thing at home that I begged not to do. I made a deal with my parents that I would do ANYTHING to clean inside the house as long as they didn’t make me work in the yard.

Well, this weekend…I worked in our yard. We spent the whole day Saturday outside. Lee worked in the backyard tilling up land for our garden and I worked along the side and front of the house cleaning out flowerbeds and planting new flowers. Every pack of seeds we bought said “Guaranteed to Grow.” So, we’ll see about that!

I’m planning to blog about our progress. Below are some pictures of our yard before and after. Also, there are some pictures of the work that took place Saturday.

Corner between house and laundry room
Before:


After:


Flowerbeds beside steps leading to laundry room
Before:




After:



Our Garden Spot (it's still a work in progress, so there's no after pic yet)
Before:


Working Hard:




I hope everything turns out like it is supposed to. I will keep you posted.

O' Spring, Where Art Thou?!?

While living in Alabama, I always loved fall/winter. I couldn’t wait for it to get cold. However, it was never cold for very long. Now that we’re in North Carolina, I’ve been able to experience cold. It has been a cold winter and now I can’t wait for warmer weather. The nice thing about North Carolina is that the weather will be pleasant for a while before it gets hot. Even better is the fact that when it gets hot, it’s not “OMG I can’t breath. I don’t want to go outside or even move” hot. I miss a lot about home, but I don’t miss Alabama summers.

Recently, I’ve been crafting in preparation for Spring.

While walking through Hobby Lobby one day, I see a craft idea paper for bandana strip flip flops. I bought some materials to make myself a pair. Then, I decided to use this craft for a youth girls’ weekend retreat. So, now I have two pairs. They are very easy to make and VERY cheap. One pair of flip flops and two bandanas from Hobby Lobby was less than $5.





My second spring craft is a tulle wreath. I love how it turned out, but it was a pain to make. Cutting tons of tulle strips was no fun. I do have plans to make a second tulle wreath, though. I am very excited about this one. I think it’s going to be very cute.



Now that I have my spring wreath hanging up…it’s time for that warm, spring weather to arrive!