Exciting News

I know that posted this in the last post, but I got accepted to CSBS! I'm beyond excited. After I wrote the last post, I got conformation that I was going to move out to LA instead of New York, so I already knew where I was going, just not when. I'll be leaving in September, since it starts on 16 September. All during the school, I'll be looking for an apartment, or house to rent, and a job. When I graduate from CSBS, the family will bring all my stuff and my dog with them when they come to the graduation. Hopefully by that time, I'll have a place to live and a job 'secured.'
Prayer is appreciated, needed, all that jazz. :)

You Should Totally Read This Blog Update

Yeah, you're looking at this update, wondering why you should read this update. Don't deny it. You know you were.
I got accepted to CSBS!!!! I have to get $500 in ASAP, but I got that covered. But I will need to raise the rest of it. I don't remember exactly how much I said it would cost, but I think it's somewhere around $7500-$8000 for the entire school, but it's only $2700 for the first quarter. Time to start praying about money again...

Dear Followers

Dear Followers,

I want to thank you for reading my blog. I also want to thank those of you who read it and decided to support me during my DTS. As you might have been able to tell, the DTS changed my life. I have figured out what happens next in my life so I'll let you know.
In September of this year, I hope to go back to LA, and do another YWAM school called Chronological School of Biblical Studies (CSBS) at the same YWAM base. This particular school is 9 months long, and it cost about $7500. Big number, I know. After CSBS, I plan on going to Paragon Culinary School in Colorado Springs, which is attached to YWAM and will give me the culinary degree I want, but also teach me a way to use the degree in a ministry-focused way. Then, depending on what God says, I will either move up to New York City, or move back to LA to work with the homeless. Either way, I'll be opening a cafe and cookie bakery. I'm just focusing on the CSBS right now, since it is in the near future. I have the job mention in the post before this on so I can start saving money for it, but doing the math, I probably won't have enough, just a little over half. If your church wants to support a missionary, suggest me, if you think it's a good idea.

Sincerely,
Madeline
The Writer of this Blog

PS. Here's the website for CSBS, so you can find out more about it. :)

http://www.csbsla.org/

Adjusting

I didn't think coming home would be this hard. But it was. I'm actually ready to head back to LA. I got the sample of living 'on my own' and now I definitely want to do it long term, for the rest of my life like every other college-aged person. I got a job, working at a medical supply company. I'm on a production line. It's pretty boring, but hey, it's a paycheck. And the people I work with are great. East Texas is still it's quiet, slow-moving self. I'm definitely a city-girl now. While In LA I learned that I had a slight Texas drawl. *Insert long scream here*. Scary. Not that a slight drawl is a bad thing, it just doesn't suit me.
I'm kind of an old friend visiting the family now. Don't get me wrong, the family's great, but after being gone for so long, I kind of missed out on a lot. The family dynamics are totally changed. I'm no longer oldest sister/second mother, which is cool, but makes it harder when the parents are gone, cause the sibs don't actually want to listen any more.
Well, that all I have to say for now so I'm peacin' out, yo.

American Christianity--What's Wrong?

You might not care what I have to say. You might have looked at the title and laughed. But it’s important for you to read this. It might change the way you see American Christianity.

American Christianity is different from Christianity in the rest of the world. If you’re a Christian, new or old, you might know this. Christians in China and the Middle East and in Africa are killed for their faith. They meet in small rooms, hidden from the authorities. Most only have one or two Bibles to a group of twenty or thirty. If they meet in groups too large, people might get suspicious. Christians in American meet in large auditoriums. Everyone has their own Bible. Hundreds of people are free to meet together. You might have read about the underground churches, and how some of the people are imprisoned and tortured just because of their faith. If you compare it to people in America, if they’re tired or want to watch something on TV, they stay home from church. It’s not the lack of transportation, it’s the lack of actual faith. It’s one thing if you’re sick or you can’t get to church because you’re snowed in or there’s absolutely no way you can get there. But you can have your own little house church. You have a Bible, and you can pray.

It doesn’t matter whether your church is traditional or contemporary . If you look around you when you enter the sanctuary, you’ll see stage lights, instruments, cushioned pews or chairs and clean windows. Church has become a social event. It’s a checkmark on your calendar. We go to see and be seen. We listen to the sermon, sing a few songs, and leave. We decide to stop going to this church because we didn’t like the music, or we don’t go to that church because we don’t like the pastor. We don’t apply what we learned to our lives (if we learned anything at all). We go about our lives living like we want.

What would happen if America suddenly became a communist nation, and you are told to deny Jesus Christ and become a Muslim, or be executed. Would you refuse or agree? Would you give up everything to stay a Christian? Would you openly disobey the government and announce that you will never deny Jesus because he is your Lord and Savior? I think most people would say they would deny Jesus, but on the inside say, ‘I will still recognize Jesus’ just because they don’t want to die. I know I would rather be killed for my faith than deny Jesus.

I have several friends who just don’t get it. they show up on Wednesday nights for youth group ‘worship,’ but they don’t actually worship. They joke around during prayer or text during the lesson. They claim they’re Christians, but their actions say otherwise. I think a lot of American Christians take Christianity for granted. If you are a Christian, did you just say the prayer and walk down the aisle and now live your live the way you did before you became a Christian, or do you actually follow Jesus? Do you try to be a witness for your friends and family and strangers around you? Do your friends ask you, “What do you have that I don’t? Why are you so happy?”
I’m not going to apologize for stepping on any toes. If you find yourself hating this article because you are one of those who said the right words and have your ticket to Heaven, I really don’t care. I won’t feel any loss. I hope you change your views, though. It’s not hard to change. I did.

Why the World Needs a Savior

In the 2006 film Superman Returns, Lois Lane writes and article for the Daily Planet titled ‘Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.’ Later in the movie, when Superman takes Lois for a flight, he asks her what she hears. Of course being miles up in the sky, and lacking super-hearing, she says, “Nothing.” To which he replies, “I hear everything. People crying out for a savior.”
Lois eventually realizes that she was wrong. The world needs Superman. She needs Superman. At the end of the movie, after Superman sees Jason, Lois’s son, one last time, Jason wakes up and calls out the window to him. Lois, who is standing in her yard, wishing that Superman isn’t dead, looks up to see Superman hovering in front of her, over the river. She says, “Will we see you…around?”
Superman smiles and says, “I’m always around.”

I don’t have super-hearing, but I hear people crying out for a savior. In the news, on Facebook, on the street, at the library, in Wal-Mart. They might not always think that’s what they’re doing, but they are. They have problems. I don’t know what they are. Maybe it’s drugs or alcohol. They might have family issues. But no matter what they’re all going through, they are all thinking the same thing. “I need a savior.” Not necessarily those words, but something similar.
The world needs a Savior, and there’s only one. Jesus. You probably think I’m a lunatic, but it’s true. The only one who can save this world is Jesus.
Next time you have a problem, remember, He’s always around.

Hate

Hate
It’s ugly
Hate
It’s evil
Hate
It’s unfriendly
Hate
Why do we hate when it’s easier to love
Why do we hate when it’s an awful feeling
When love would be better we do the opposite
When we know it feels bad, we hate
Just for one minute, think,
Is it better to hate, or is it better to love?