Okay, what should you buy a teen? So many things out there for the holidays are just not right. So here’s a few suggestions…

-A subscription to Justine magazine (http://justinemagazine.com/aug_sept07/home.htm) It is a teen magazine without all the smut and other objectional material. It’s intended for teenage girls. I’ve read it before, it is just as intresting as the other magazines for teenage girls.

Revovle/Refuel (http://www.amazon.com/Revolve-2007-Complete-Testament-Biblezines/dp/0718016483/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195056545&sr=8-1) Revovle is a Bible ‘zine for girls and the Refuel is for boys. It puts together articles about applying the Bible to everyday life for teens and is intresting at the same time.

-

I figured since many people start Christmas shopping around now that an article on toys would be great. (not to mention fun to write!) I shop all year round. Sooo….here’s some cool ones I found on the ‘net:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=479451&netp_id=278743&event=EBRN&item_code=WW&view=details

Robot Kit! This kit lets children build 5 different robots. All of the parts are included. Didn’t you dream as a kid of making your own robot? Well, these can’t clean your room, but they can drive, bounce, climb, and gobble. Kids can also construct their own robots out of the parts included. This is so cool I’d play with it myself!

A dart set! Kids love to play with the regular dart set, so why not get them a kid-friendly dart set? The ones I’ve found best are the velcro ones. The magnetic ones seem to be hard to get the darts to stick. I don’t include a link on this one because you can find them at almost any store with toys, and they are pretty cheap!

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=03730&netp_id=294183&event=EBRN&item_code=WW&view=details

This is a “Kitty Prayer friend” I love it. It is so cute! It will pray with your child when you squeeze it’s tummy. I’ve noticed my sisters like to press the speaker over and over on toys. If they do that, why not make it something that encourages them in prayer?

Well it’s been a while since I posted! I would like to thank everybody who prayed for my uncle, he is doing much better. I recently went to an advance screening of the Bee movie. I recommend the movie, it is a kid’s movie that has (clean) humor adults will be amused by too. Currently I’m sewing bags to sell on Etsy.com When I finish them, maybe I’ll put a photo up here of them. I also got baptasied not too long ago, it was a big step for me (I don’t like water or being in front of people) I am glad I did it. I hope everybody reading this is doing well. Thanks for reading!

Please pray for my uncle. He had a stroke. This is not his first and they are not sure what caused it (he is 38) so he is staying at the hospital. Thank you.

I was reminded of how wonderful it is to praise God earlier upon reading my friend Gracie’s post on MyLifeMinistries’s message board. It is so good to hear from others how God is blessing others in the world. It is an encouragement. We as Christians should praise God when he does good, no matter how big or small it is. It doesn’t matter how, just lay on that praise! Oh, and here’s what Kitty thinks of those darn it squirrels:

The other night I picked up my Bible and turned to a random page. It came upon Ezekiel 2. I had not payed attention to this passage before, but I felt as though it was important. Here is what caught my attention: “3 He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. 7 You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” (NIV) ”

It was amazing at the advice from this. We should not be afraid to share God’s word even to those who are hostile to it and to us. We must not give into their ways, we should listen to God’s ways. The passage has strong images of
“briars and thorns” and as the hostile being “scorpions” that we live among. I learned from this passage that I should stand by God’s word and not give into others just to avoid conflict.

Of course the Bible doesn’t have the word internet anywhere in it, but there are many helpful guidelines we can find in it. Let’s look at them!

First, examine Proverbs 7. It is a tale of a man who foolishly follows an indecent woman into her house and she kills him. He followed his sense of lust, not what was right. From this we can take at least two lessons that relate to the internet. You should not have inappropiate relations with a woman whom you are not married to.  Having online sex and steamy e-mails or IMs is just as bad as physically being with this woman. Second, you can see lust is not what you should follow. Pornography serves no purpose other than to feed lust.

Addiction is another concern. One of the more common addictions related to the internet is pornography, but there are other kinds. If you feel you cannot live without something, that is addiction. There are some addicted to games and some addicted to e-mail or websites. The Bible says in Eph. 5:18-20: “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Although this says wine, it is true of an addiction. God cannot be the center of your life if you are addicted to something. You must not let your mind get confused into putting a game or website before God.

Lastly, we look at 2 Cor. 6:14 -”Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” This can be your guide when deciding who to spend time with online.

Perhaps you frown upon poker. You might play it yourself. Is it moral? I say it is not good or bad, it is neutral. If you’re going and spending your rent money to play, then, yes it is bad! However, there are many people who help pay the bills through careful managing of a bankroll that they use to play poker. Obviously if you shoot somebody over it, that’s bad. But it’s the shooting that’s bad, not the poker playing itself. We must not be on a quest to earn more and more money for the sake of money. Consider though the man (or woman) who studies, sets aside a controlled amount of money, and does it in spare time. They help pay the bills with that money they earn. Or consider the poker players that donate their winnings to charity. Wouldn’t this be good compared to a person that sits around all day watching TV and says poker is evil?

When I clean up around the house, I admit I do mess up on things or out of pure laziness decide to ’skip’ over parts that need to be cleaned. Why am I saying this? Well, a thought occured to me. As Christians, we need to do a little house cleaning of our lives, but I think many of us ‘mess up’ or are lazy. For example, I’ll decide I need to stop getting angry so much. For instance, a sibling breaks something of mine and I start yelling at them. But wait, anger is a sin that I just said I wanted to ‘rid’ of from myself! Why doesn’t it work? Because Christians are humans too. We continue to sin, even after being saved. It is well to aspire to ‘clean house’ of all that are our sins, but we must be reasonable and remember our Father understands the effort, he knows we cannot be perfect as He is. Don’t be so hard on yourself for goofing up, just clean up the mess it makes and repent.

You probably have people at your church who are Autistic. One out of every 150 people in the United States has a form of Autism. It could be a child in Sunday School or it could be an adult sitting next to you in the regular service. To a person with Autism, church can be very bewildering. Taking things literally can cause great confusion over the talk of ‘taking the blood and flesh of Christ’. An Autistic person would think of this as cannibalism, not a symbolic act. Social situations that are entertaining to others may be awkward and scary to a person with Autism. People with Autism are not trying to be ‘bad’, they simply process the world differently. Spend a few minutes educating yourself about what Autism is. Ask the family of an Autistic child or adult how you can help. Take a minute to explain something again, differently, or slower. Some helpful resources can be found here:

http://www.autistics.org/library/whatis.html What is Autism? (and other questions and answers)

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_lwa_religion Many helpful suggestions about how Christians can include Autistics in church.

http://nathhan.com/church.htm How Churchs Can Support