Year in Review

As 2008 comes to a close and 2009 becomes foreseeable, we can simply look back on the good moments - and the bad. But for now, I think I'll review the spiritual and positive happenings of life in 2008 for me. (In the comment box below, feel free to type up your own retrospective timeline about what God or someone or something has done for you.)


Songs that Impacted My Life in 2008:

- Life In Your Way - Reach the End
- Skillet - The Older I Get
- James Newton Howard - Thought I'd Never Call

Movies that Impacted My Life in 2008:

- Blood Diamond
- The Passion of the Christ

Books that Impacted My Life in 2008:

- Greater Than You Think - Thomas Williams

Timeline of 2008:

- March 2 - First time I paid a visit to my church's Senior High Youth Group, which was one night that truly changed my walk with Christ - through new friends and an awesome small group. This was also a time that God had set me free from an absence of a true heart for Jesus in my life which had been a burden throughout my winter season.

- March 19 - Day that I participated in my first science fair competition, in which I brought home second place in my division.

- April 3 - Day that I participated in the regional science fair, in which I brought home third place and a special award from the Philadelphia Society of Coatings Technology.

- April 20 - The day on which I was baptized - a very blessed day.

- May 8 - Yet there was no real significance to this day, I was unnormally happy throughout the course of the day in which I could literally [feel] God working in my life. That was pretty cool.

- May 20 - The day that I broke a minute split in the 400m - my time was a 59.6.

- June 12 - Last day I was able to visit one of my best friends, Joshua Tibbetts as his family and himself moved to Thailand to work in mission with God - way to go Tibbetts family!!!

- June 14 - My 16th birthday took place when I received my iPod Touch.

- June 16 - School ended as I would then leave Indian Crest to go to Souderton High School - and I would enter the second greatest summer of my life.

- June 22-28 - Week that my family and I visited our relatives in Maine, and also celebrated my Granparent's 50th Anniversary.

- July 14-19 - Week retreat with my church's youth group to Harvey Cedars Bible Conference, which made an internal impact that was inspiring and life-changing.

- July 19-August 4 - The weeks I was able to spend with my Chinese exchange student, Fu Yao. These weeks were powerful not only because they followed Harvey Cedars but also because it gave me an opportunity to share the Gospel with a person who otherwise may have never learned of it. The weeks of Harvey Cedars and Fu Yao totally strengthened my walk with Christ even more.

- August 4-8 - I was a camp counselor for Branch Creek Arts Camp where I was again able to make an impact on the lives of children through sharing the Gospel.

- August 17-23 - My family and I did our usual vacation time in New Hampshire with out relatives from Massachusetts - this was also the week that I suffered from heat stroke.

- August 31-September 1 - Weekend of astronomy at Cherry Springs.

- September 2-18 - The time when school was delayed due to a teacher's strike, which resulted in a lot of family time - such as a trip to Baltimore, Philadelphia, Longwood Gardens and Atlantic City.

- October 4-5 - The weekend that my father and I paid a visit to my Grandparents in Massachusetts.

- October 18 - The day that began my strong spiritual doubt in result of a convincing conversation with an atheist. (Which was also the beginning of my spiritual investigating.)

- October 29 - My father and I paid a visit to the NanoDay convention at University of Pennsylvania, which was inspiring toward my love for science.

- December 7 - The day that one of my best friends, Luke Moyer and I - along with a friend of his - went to New York City to celebrate his birthday.

- December 23-27 - My Grandparents from Maine visited with us for Christmas on their way to Florida, in which we were able to celebrate the birth of Jesus as a family.


And in all of this, God has never left me for a day. Although my spiritual walk with Him - as of now - isn't at its greatest or happiest, know that not always will it be. God will allow obstacles to come into our lives in order to make us stronger in our walk with Him. And as we approach 2009, just remember what God has done for you in your life, and if at all possible, try and comprehend what He may do in the future. Happy New Year!

Candy Cane

As Christmas approaches and 2008 comes to end, I feel that I begin to realize and look back on what God has done in my life this past year. But too begin, because Christmas is merely hours away, consider the following and why Candy Canes are the way they are.

If you take a look at a Candy Cane, you'll notice how it is striped in red and white - unless you buy them from Wal-Mart where it comes in various colors. Anyways, in originality, the red represents the blood that Jesus shed for our sins against God - a perfect man died for imperfect humans so that we could be sinless, and that is why there is white, because our sins were wiped clean. "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool." - Isaiah 1:18.

And if you take a look at the shape of the Candy Cane, you can see that upside down it is a J, which stands for the crucifixion that Jesus paid for our sins - and out of crucifixion you get the letter C. But standing up, it is a Shepard's staff, which resembles God who guides us and gave us eternal life through Jesus - and out of eternal life you get the letter E. And you come up with CE, which stands for Christmas Eve, being the night and day before the birth of Jesus - the Eve of Hope and Faith.

So remembering why Jesus came to earth on Christmas, I wish to all of you a Merry Christmas and a strong remembrance of the Hope that He gives.

Picture Show #1

Just look at these pictures and consider how majestic and wonderful our God truly is.

Sunset over Greenland

M13

Auckland, New Zealand

Fireworks over Nuuk, Greenland

Northern Lights

Church in Moscow, Russia

Night Look at New York City

Helix Nebula

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Prayer Request of the Month - December 08

As I have started the Verses of the Month, also I am going to be doing the Prayer Request of the Month, leaving anything open to people in need anonymously, because truly nothing is better than having people care for you unconditionally - without even knowing you. So if ever there is a need that is on your heart and you simply have to have prayers, you can Facebook, email or call me and I'll post the prayer request anonymously - whether if its for you or a person you know.

This month, a friend of my has been diagnosed with a thyroid condition that is harming his blood pressure. He has been stressed out by it lately and schoolwork has been tough. Please pray for him with an open heart and in hope that he will get better through the treatments he undergoes and that his anxiety will be released. Thanks for being open to read this as it is appreciated by him and myself. May God bless you in your daily walk.

Atheism and Christianity - Part II (Creation)

There is one thing that is for sure in the fate of humanity: neither Atheism or Christianity will be proven fully wrong or fully correct through visual and physical means. We as humans can prove that cars exist because we can physically feel and visually see that they are there. But as for both of these beliefs, neither of them can be proven through humanity's eyesight or physical observation. [That is why it is a matter of believing.]

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In today's time, the topics of Creation and Evolution haunt many as it is a factual debate of how the universe came into existence. This is presently going into my personal belief, but science has determined - through the Theory of Relativity - that our universe expands and separates daily as we are moving in an outward direction. That backs up the Big Bang Theory which has many connections to what many people call the Theory of Evolution. Personally, I feel that the past is tough to determine because we don't have the beginning visual to humans. [That is why it is a matter of believing.] Most atheists deny that God exists because "He simply doesn't" and you can't see him. Well we can't see humans evolving can we? Most say "It takes millions of years." Problem here is that the Theory of Evolution has only existed under 200 years, so how do we officially know it takes millions of years to evolve? We don't. [That is why it is a matter of believing.] And one other thing to consider is that science has had its wrongs many times before. When we think back to Galileo's time when he was arrested for [believing] that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not what the church and scientists believed, which was that the Sun revolved around the Earth. This goes to show that scientific evidence always improves and always has downfalls. So in that sense, how do we know that Evolution truly exists? How do we know that "what carbon dating says is accurate?" How do we know that all mathematics calculations are right? We don't. That is why everything is truly based through believing.

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And although this doesn't correlate much to Creation, just consider that the Bible has existed for so long and its words have never changed. Translation has made it easier to read, but God's word will never change. His messages are clear, and though many scientists and Evolutionists will say wrong against Christianity, we know one thing: that as science comes and goes in theories, God will always remain the same. That is why the subject of Creation has never changed from what it originally was, because that is how God made the Earth.

Book Idea

Recently - on top of school work, track and field and Chinese class - I have been considering to write [another] book in hope to actually complete it and possibly have it published. I know I have written many books before and dropped them during the writing process - in fact all of the lengthy books I have tried to write have failed, but my record is 115 pages. My new goal is to rather than worry about the length and plot, worry more about the message, and nobody could present with me a better purpose and message than God.

I'm going to be writing on the messages God presents in 1 Samuel. That happens to be my favorite chapter of the Bible and after all of this time in enjoying it, I just thought: "What if I based one of my books on that?" But the one thing that holds me back is my distraction disorder. All I ask of you is for continuous support and guidance in what I do, and I know God can help me accomplish this, because in the end I'll admit that writing without help is tough, with support is a piece-of-cake. So in thanks for your support already, I want to say that you can contact me anytime if you need anything such as support, encouragement or guidance. And yes, I mean [you.]

Thanks for hearing out my newest book idea. God bless!

Atheism and Christianity - Part I (Invisible God)

Atheism... Atheism... Atheism... Definitely a difficult subject to talk about publicly as Christians. For one, it is merely the right thing to do just by loving them and respecting them for their beliefs. Jesus even said it, "'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.'" - Matthew 22:39. That verse is spoken of all over the Bible, so it is pretty clear that God wants us to care for the atheists rather than argue with them.

So for now, I just want to bring up the topic as a comparison rather than a debate. Because truly if there are any atheists reading this text I wouldn't want it to be offensive in their view. To begin, I'll start with: "God being invisible" and later move onto Creation and Messages.

If there is one thing I struggle with myself it is the fact that my loving and caring God is invisible. And this invisible figure helps me go through my day pleasurably. That is common for Followers of Christ and Atheists alike to struggle with: believing in an invisible God and living for a figure in history (Jesus.) For one, many accuse Jesus of never existing. Personally I feel that it is hard to believe history but it is also out of denial that one would not believe Jesus existed yet believe - for example - that Julius Caesar existed. Julius Caesar was simply a recorded figure in times past that many wouldn't say: "He never existed!" So if it is this way with Caesar, then why would Jesus be any different? Many write books on why Christ [never] existed, but has one ever written a book on why Caesar didn't exist? There is obviously a point here that relates to what the Bible says:

"For certain men whose condemnation as written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." - Jude 1:4

That is the point right there about God's word being denied. And there is much denial in our world. For example, atheist author Christopher Hitchens wrote a book known as "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." ... Really? Poisons [everything.] So I guess religion apparently poisons my pet dog and fish. But according to God, my dog and fish will be alright, because God says that there will be [denial.]

And one last point is that God is invisible. He will be invisible as long as we are here on Earth. But He exists within us. "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." - John 4:13-14. He exists within us because if we believe that Jesus [is] history and was truly real, we won't need to search nor will we need to thirst. It is that many atheists have never truly felt the presence of God, but there are plenty of people who say they have felt the workmanship of God on their life. I am one of those witnesses. That is why God says to minister to the world, because there are so many who haven't felt the work of God; they haven't fulfilled their thirst. Because only God can fulfill it.

And one last thing to consider is that God is great. It says in the Bible so many times about how the workmanship of God always works for the better, and how stupid we are as humans to assume our ways are better. So when many claim that God doesn't exist, just remember that we are puny and dumb and that the definition of a God is: A Supreme, Everlasting Being that has control over Everything. So as God is defined, what makes an individual claim of the absense of God any better?

Verse of the Month - December 08

What I'll do from here is once a month there will be a verse posted just in relation to provoking thought. Things to consider are "what does the verse speak to you, or maybe what kind of message could it have not only on you but on other individuals too?"

"The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy from the ash heap, to seat them among princes, and to make them inherit a throne of honor: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them." - 1 Samuel 2:7-8 (King James Version)

So how does this verse resonate with you?