Poem I found

If I knew it would be the last time that I'd see you fall asleep, I would tuck you in more tightly and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door, I would give you a hug and kiss and call you back for one more.
If I knew it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise, I would tape each action and word, so I could play them back day after day.
If I knew if would be the last time, I could spare an extra minute or two to stop and say "I love you," instead of assuming you would know I do
If I knew it would be the last time I would be there to share your day, well I'm sure you'll have so many more, so I can just let this one slip away.
For surely there's always tomorrow to make up for an oversight, and we always get a second chance to make everything right.
There will always be another day to say our "I love you's," and certainly there's another chance to say our "Anything I can do's?"
But just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get, I'd like to say how much I love you and I hope we never forget,
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike, and today may be the last chance you get to hold your loved one tight
So if you're waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today? For if tomorrow never comes, you'll surely regret the day,
That you didn't take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss and you were too busy to grant someone, what turned out to be their one last wish.
So hold your loved ones close today, and whisper in their ear, tell them how much you love them and that you'll always hold them dear
Take time to say "I'm sorry," "Please forgive me," "Thank you," or "It's ok." And if tomorrow never comes, you'll have no regrets about today.

Prayer request- URGENT!

Ok, this is a message my Aunt Beka sent my mom this morning...I'm just going to paste what she said....

"Hey, can you join us in prayer for little Leila from our church. She is 2 years old and she and her mom and brother were in a car accident last night, her Mom was killed and her brother has a lot of broken bones, but Leila has swelling on the brain and the doctors's do not expect her to live. I KNOW God can work a miracle and I am praying for that! She is SUCH a sweet little girl, always smiling and so cuddly....

The pastor's wife said that when she left last night, the swelling was down some, but there was no brain activity.

I am praying that if the Lord allows her to live that she will not have any life long effects from this...she is such a smart little girl!"

PLEASE pray with us for little Leila!

Ok, so I had a chance to witness (in a sense) tonight to about...10 people. I went on this thing to ask questions about where to find wheat, corn, and soy free foods, and actually got responses and sites that sell these foods! Along with ideas for other food mixtures that I hadn't thought of, it was really cool! I guess a thought came to mind about what I had just read in my "Do Hard Things" book, about how we should use our advanced electronic world to reach other people. We have cell phones, computers, email, facebook, chat rooms...all sorts of places that reach people that go all across the world, yet we use them for chit chat and nothing of importance. So...I sort of wrote out the question "Anyone knows that, to have a creation, there MUST (no doubt whatsoever) be a creator. Then why do people doubt there is a God, when His creation is shown all around!?!" And, wowee...got lots of replies and stated why there is proof of God, and why I believed what I believed (even got asked if I was homeschooled! Weird.) Anyways...Mama said it wasn't a good idea, told me to stop replying. I find it amazing the amount of people who actually DID believe in God, but thought people in today's world pushed too harsh of views on other people, so, they were sorry, if you do that then you're not really a Christian. Then someone brought up the fact that Jesus wasn't associated in politics, and told His disciples not to either...so therefore politics are bad and we shouldn't go anywhere near them! Yikes! I am starting to wonder where these people find their views on things...and NO WONDER there aren't many people understanding what being a Christian is all about! There are a bunch of weirdoes out there! I now have lots of people to pray for, however. I so wish I could make my own website where things like this could be brought up and discussed, without having the fear that someone will say something inappropriate or...just...bad. I was shaking SO BAD, and I wasn't even TALKING to these people! Oh my word! But, it felt so great to get the gospel out there, the little amount it was...to people who were obviously confused about Christianity! Most people on there said something about "religion" and I said that being a Christian isn't a religion, and it's not that we're a bunch of high and mightiest who are trying to be better people than everyone else out there. I don't understand why people think we should become Christians simply to make people think we're good people. I'm no better than anyone else in the world, I don't have ONE DROP of more worth than all these other people, I have just chosen to repent of all the wrong I've done, and place my faith, trust, a life in the hand of Jesus Christ.

Anyway, please pray for these people...and all others who have been blinded or lied to as much as them about who God is, and what He's done. I do feel so sorry for all the people who live in confusion. An Atheist wrote on there and said he didn't believe in God, but a high power...or something like that, but he didn't KNOW anything for sure. How horrible to live your life like that! Not knowing if you would live again after you die on earth, not knowing if you're simply supposed to do good to get to heaven...not believing there IS a heaven! *shaking head* Made me sad, actually.

Anyways...got my prayer cut out for me now! I know I most likely won't ever meet, or talk to these people again...but I so wish they could have their eyes opened.

God bless, and have a wonderful night!

My turn..buckle yourself up and get ready for a long ride.

I'm over halfway through with my book, and the more I read, the more excited I get! I honestly had NO IDEA teenagers had the sort of maturity I'm seeing with, not only the authors, but the people they have had impacts on! See, I've always been frustrated with the little amount of effort teenagers put into their lives and the lives of others. What I'm about to write about will be my thoughts on what I've read, and some feelings I've had for a long time. Get ready, because this one will be long.

We are told to spend time around those who are Godly, wise, and will help us grow. Not only that, but people who are older than we are, for they will have wisdom of a longer life lived, more things they've done wrong and can warn you about. What better place to find that kind of person than our church. And honestly, that's where most Christian teens SHOULD look for that sort of people, only problem is...where are they? I have seen a MAJOR lack in elders wisdom, because they just don't care. Their lives are being lived for their job, and keeping their family "looking good" for other people. So, you all know the saying "you are what you eat" right? Would seem to reason the same would go for the people we hang around, "you are who you spend time with." Seems reasonable...and best yet, it's very true. Has anyone ever noticed who teen spend their time around? What most people don't understand, is the major impact "friends" have on our young people's lives. You notice your child drifting away, changing in lots of negative ways, and your first thought isn't "who are they spending time around that would influence them like this?" of course it's not that thought! It's the "normal parents thought" of, "well, they're a teenager, and every teen rebels some time or another, it's just normal teenage rebellion." Now let me ask you something...since when have we excused rebelling against God, parental authority, and elder authority as "normal?" The book I'm reading has many reason why we teens are the way we are...best of all, the book was written by teens, and has letters other teenagers have written telling their feelings. You know why teenagers have such bog problems? Low expectations. Yup, "simple" as that. That's what this whole book is about. I honestly didn't think there was a mature teen left on this earth anymore...non the less ones who would admit what they're problem was!! It was exciting and gave me hope! Did you know that a teen will give you exactly what you want? Sure, and you may complain about them not doing anything, but it's your fault, mine and everyone else's. Since what we expect from teenagers is not very much at all, or even just a simple "failure" that is what they gladly give us! They are giving you exactly what we've ordered: nothing. We don't expect them to do anything that involves work, getting outside their comfort zone, or that takes any sort of thought or effort. Everyone knows these sayings: "Well, I did my best" or "at least I did better than he did" or maybe it's that PEOPLE say, "just do your best, that's good enough." Even when that is said by teens or other people, do we really do our "best"? In school...we realize we can get by with doing the minimum amount of work required and still come out ahead of our class! Good job for us, a big pat on the back! If that's what we did...we didn't really do our best, now did we? No. That's what I thought. We simply did what was required, no more, no ..well, some people it might even be "less" than the required...that's why DOING only what is required makes you ahead of everyone else! Since we did (or didn't) only the required amount of studying and homework, we didn't REALLY learn anything, now did we?

You know, with the exception of the past two years, I did my school, read what I was supposed to, and did however many hours my mom told me to do...and what do you know, I got A's and A+! Woo hoo for me! That's what school is supposed to be, getting good grade, who cares if I actually LEARNED that stuff, right? Wrong. I lived in a lie, for all those years, telling myself school was about the best and highest grades. *sad laugh* Do you realize how many YEARS I wasted? I never actually 'learned' anything because I was lazy and bought into the lie of school. (Sorry teens, that doesn't mean I'm saying learning school is a lie.) I mean, if I was actually LEARNING everything, that would take studying, time taken that I could go play, or hang out with people! Nobody would actually expect me to sacrifice MY time just to learn a lot of (what I thought was) boring stuff! Truth is, these past two years of my life have been two of THE BEST years ever. Because now, I LOVE to learn! Even if it's something that seems boring at first, I stick with it and I end up really enjoying it! Yes, there might be some things that I won't ever find terribly interesting...but I don't know what God's plan for my life is, what if He wants me to learn it because it has to do with what He's going to have me to when I get older? I know to a lot of teens all of this sounds really corny..."learning is NEVER fun! You're delusional!" How would you know if learning is fun or not? You've never even tried it! Think of everything you could accomplish by stretching yourself, building knowledge, and going above and beyond the "normal" or "expected" of our lives. Shock people with the large amount of want you have to grow and mature. You'd be VERY surprised with their response!

Something that almost every single one of these teens said, was the huge disappointment they had when given an award in school for turning in their paperwork, and not goofing off in class. Uh, excuse me, but WHEN did teenagers start getting praised, and AWARDED for doing what's right!?! Something else they said...parents, and adults in their CHURCH would say how nice it was to see a few teens out doing community service instead of doing drugs, drinking, smoking, and partying with their friends. Wait, wait, wait. We are getting praised because we don't do BAD things? Yes, that's all very well and nice, and I suppose it does help teens stay out of that stuff (sometimes,) but aren't we needing to do good, ALONG WITH not doing bad? And, half the time when we DO go out and do something immoral or such like, we are told "it's ok, you messed up and I'm sure you'll do better next time." Why couldn't we have stopped it in the FIRST PLACE! I'm not saying chain your children up or lock them in the house...but don't you see? No wonder teen girls are getting pregnant, most teens leave home at age 18 (most of the time EARLIER than that) and who hasn't met a family that doesn't have a teen who rebels against EVERY AUTHORITY set before them!?! Worst part, it's only getting worse, and not a SINGLE person cares enough to change it, and it's ruining and destroying our teenagers life. I mean...even when someone hears the word "teenager" it's thought of as a time for relaxing before having to have..oh, what's that word...??...oh yes! R.E.S.P.O.N.S.I.B.I.L.I.T.Y. I'm not done yet, a few other things that come to mind when they hear "teenager" is the party life, and the "vacation time" and the best one..."a time where there aren't any responsibilities. And because we have our drivers license and this amazing car my parents bought for me, I can go anywhere I want! Hey, I'm old enough!" everyone KNOWS that whatever we get into in our teen years, we can simply get out of when it's time for us to grow up! No big deal, right? I wish you could see the amount of people Alex and Brett (the authors of this book) have talked to that are in their 40's and older, that got into all sorts of things when they were a teenager, thinking they could just drop out of it when it was "time to stop the fun." You know what happened to them? They are STILL chained to those things, and regret ever second they were a teen. What Alex and Brett say teen years are SUPPOSED TO BE, is "the launching pad for our lives." What you learn, grow, and mature in through your youth will help you ALL through your life. So, if you learn how to party, do drugs, have endless time of zero responsibility...what do you think will happen to your adult life? Yup...that's what you'll be stuck with! If you don't learn all you can and stretch yourself when you're a teen, young, and healthy, it will take longer, and be MUCH harder when you're older. People just don't understand HOW CAPABLE we teenagers are. A persons mind and body are able to do SO much more when they're in their youth than any other time. Yet what do we do with those years? Of course, what everyone around us expects us to...waste it away.

Can we not ever learn? Can we not open our eyes and see how much we're hurting this coming generation by having such horribly low expectations for them? If we say we expect them to fail in life, that is what they will do 90% of the time. We MUST change, otherwise they're lives are completely wasted, and will never amount to anything worth while. Ok, so they may get a job, they may get a family...but, if they haven't been taught to be mature, have responsibility, and grow in life BOTH of those things that we thought were "so good" are now gone, and it's all because we never expected a single thing from them.

Book, part 3

- - - - A Just and Enduring Government - - - -

If a nation were founded on this basis, it seems to me that order would prevail among the people, in thought as well as in deed. It seems to me that such a nation would have the most simple, easy to accept, economical, limited, nonoppressive, just, and enduring government imaginable — whatever its political form might be.
Under such an administration, everyone would understand that he possessed all the privileges as well as all the responsibilities of his existence. No one would have any argument with government, provided that his person was respected, his labor was free, and the fruits of his labor were protected against all unjust attack. When successful, we would not have to thank the state for our success. And, conversely, when unsuccessful, we would no more think of blaming the state for our misfortune than would the farmers blame the state because of hail or frost. The state would be felt only by the invaluable blessings of safety provided by this concept of government.
It can be further stated that, thanks to the non-intervention of the state in private affairs, our wants and their satisfactions would develop themselves in a logical manner. We would not see poor families seeking literary instruction before they have bread. We would not see cities populated at the expense of rural districts, nor rural districts at the expense of cities. We would not see the great displacements of capital, labor, and population that are caused by legislative decisions.
The sources of our existence are made uncertain and precarious by these state-created displacements. And, furthermore, these acts burden the government with increased responsibilities.

Book, part 2

- - - - What Is Law? - - - -

What, then, is law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.
Each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties? If every person has the right to defend even by force — his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right — its reason for existing, its lawfulness — is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force — for the same reason — cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.
Such a perversion of force would be, in both cases, contrary to our premise. Force has been given to us to defend our own individual rights. Who will dare to say that force has been given to us to destroy the equal rights of our brothers? Since no individual acting separately can lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not logically follow that the same principle also applies to the common force that is nothing more than the organized combination of the individual forces?
If this is true, then nothing can be more evident than this: The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense. It is the substitution of a common force for individual forces. And this common force is to do only what the individual forces have a natural and lawful right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and properties; to maintain the right of each, and to cause justice to reign over us all.

Book I'm reading

This book is called "The Law" and is written by a man named, Frederic Bastiat and I think it's just too awesome! I'll try to post a part from it every day, this way there will (hopefully) be a post for you daily for when I don't have time to write on here.

Life is a Gift From God

"We hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life — physical, intellectual, and moral life.
But life cannot maintain itself alone. The Creator of life has entrusted us with the responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. In order that we may accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvelous faculties. And He has put us in the midst of a variety of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources we convert them into products, and use them. This process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course.
Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. "

Tennis, and SO sore now!!!

Wow, the past two days I've been doing this certain exercise, and it KILLS your calf muscles! Then, I jumped rope a lot, and played tennis with the Dunklin's, Koops, and Becker's yesterday, then had tennis today! Man, *laughing* I am limping I'm so sore! Isn't it great though, to be sore from doing so much and not from sitting around all day?!

So, group was....hectic tonight! It was the Hoovers (us,) the Dunklin's, the Becker's, and the Millers (Mrs. Jennifer and Brett) so we were quite full!!! :-) I still stunk at serving, but I'm ok with it, I know I'm not a terrific player, but I am trying my best to get better, and if I do my best, that's all I can do. *smile* I went out to pick up a tennis ball that had been hit outside the fence today, and Coach Jarrett (yet again) picked me up, and carried me back in the courts...I am beginning to wonder if I will get picked up EVERY time I see him! Tuesday when Josh asked Coach Jarrett is he had ever given me a tennis lesson (which he has JFYI) he said, "No, I wok on hugs and bursting personal bubbles." Mam said, "Oh, is that what I pay you for?!" *laughing* He is getting me out of my shell, I must admit. Though don't tell him that! He might ask me to admit it to him! :-)

I think that's all I've got for tonight. I'm going to try and write about this new book I'm reading later on, but I'm just too tired right now. :-) It's about the low expectations people have for teenagers. It's really awesome!!!

God bless,
~ Jessie ~

Tennis fun...and being totally weird!

I had this....EXTREMELY HYPER mood Monday night on our way home from Emily's orchestra practice, so much so, that by the time we got home I was "yelling" (not really) through the house, talking NON stop about totally random things without even taking a breath! I was writing on Facebook all sorts of status' that made NO SENSE whatsoever! Everyone was asking my mom "is Jessica alright? I think she's gone crazy!" Anyways, totally fun (for me, I think my parents were about to kick me out, or scream one!)

So, we've got this joke that the times I get goofy is when Coach Jarrett gives me a hug (which is when it usually happens, either then or when it's just Em and I in the same room together) but anyways...Mama was telling Coach Jarrett is was all his fault I was hyper...even though, he didn't give me a hug...mothers reasoning I guess. Funny thing was, he ended up sending me a thing that said "since I'm not there to give you a hug, pretend I just did" and Mama thought it was SO funny, and said my brain just knew I was going to get it, so it was acting hyper ahead of time! *laughing* Man, I seriously was going crazy...ask anyone who was around me!

To, tennis went great. I didn't do wonderful with all my hitting, but I had LOADS of fun anyways! When Coach Jarrett got to the tennis courts, he called me over to him. I walked slowly, and then stopped about halfway to him and said, "yes?" he said, "come here" I said, "now I'm scared!" he said he'd had a bad day and needed a hug. Seriously? Me? The one who has a major personal bubble? Yeah, he WAS serious! I gave him a hug, and he said, "Oh, that was weak!" (yeah, since when he gives ME a hug he squeezes me to death! :-) so throughout the day, I think I gave him, like, 5 hugs, and every one of them he said they weren't good enough. He came up behind me and grabbed me, and gave me a REALLY tight hug, and said, "now THAT'S a hug!" I shook my head, and said I wasn't used to giving people hugs...I don't really ever do it you see...he said I'd better learn! :-)

So, that was the tennis experience yesterday...sound interesting? It SURE WAS!!!! I never know what to expect on tennis days!!!

Life

Sometimes it seems as though life will never get better. At other times it seems God gives us a gift, or someone special, then simply takes it away. Believe me, I know what you're going through if you have this feeling, and I also know there's not a whole lot we can do about it...we have to understand God has a plan for everything, and everything happens for a reason. Whatever happens, whether it's someone dying, or whatever...God uses it to glorify Him. If there's a man who's a missionary, his family is not saved, and he gets murdered...God might just use that in a special way to save the rest of the family. If something is a lie, people won't die for it...that doesn't mean everyone who dies in the same of something or for something, is real, but you have to believe with all your heart to be able to give your OWN life for that cause. Sorry, got off the subject a little. So, if that young man died for the cause of Christ (which IS true, no matter what other people tell you) his family might start to understand how important Jesus Christ was to him, and ultimately, it might bring his family to Christ. For you see, if that man would have lived the rest of his life, his family might not have become Christians...but through something WE would think is horrible, God used it for good! And even better, the family would not be mourning over the death of this man, but more praising God that they will see him again one day!

No matter how hard life gets and even everything bad that happens...life is still a gift, still a time for us to learn, grow, mature, and yes, even have fun! People say that when one becomes an "adult" they need to be mature and stop playing (in a sense;) but the truth is, nobody ever needs to "grow up." Yes, mature in ways where you can deal with life in a way that a child could not, but you NEVER want to stop having fun and enjoying life! God didn't give us life to cry about, moan about how hard things are (though they seem pretty rough sometimes) He gave us life as a gift, just as He took His sons life to give us the gift of everlasting life.

You know, as I sit here thinking of what I'm going to say next, I thought of something. We sit and complain about how hard life is, like, ALL the time! Yet, when someone dies, or we have to move, we cry and groan because we had such a great life before that happened! *shaking head* People don't realize what a good thing they have until they don't have it anymore. I have realized this a little bit too late in my life. I've taken too many things for granted, and not realized a blessing if it was starring me right in the face! The times when I was a kid and could just have a care free life...running through the woods with my brother, playing army in the garden (dirt grenades too ;-) and all sorts of things I just enjoyed having the freedom to do, now I wish things could be as simple as they were then. However, life can be that good again, not as careless maybe, but I can still enjoy it, I just have to make that choice. It life has gotten SO hard, but only since this past year. Not all bad things, or hard thing. I've met ew people that I'm SO blessed to know now, and totally thank God for them every day! Other people who have just made my life miserable, mistakes I've made, things I made a good choice about, I'm working more often, trying to focus on school more (though it seems when I do that I end up getting held back *sigh*) all these things getting thrown at me at once, it seems as if I get caught up in the things that are bad, and don't focus on all the blessings I've received this year!

Alright...bed time.

God bless, and always remember to count your blessings, you cannot be told that too many times throughout your life! You never know when those blessings will be taken away because they don't seem to be appreciated.

~ Jessie ~

Well, it seems life gets more difficult as we get older, and since I'm getting older, life is getting harder.