Taking in The World Through New Eyes

The grocery store was busy for a Wednesday afternoon. People buzzed in and out of the aisles. As I stood there, waiting for my mom to hurry up her shopping, I watched these busy people. I looked at their clothing, and their external features. I watched how they walked, how they priced each article of food to make the large amount of things they wanted fit into their shrinking budget.

 Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head, not a dim one, but a bright white light.

             

 God spoke to me right then and there

             

 Guess what He told me;

He told me to look deeper than just the outside. He told me to look at their heart not their external features. I saw these people with hearts as black as coal. Just like mine was until Jesus Christ changed it and made it sparkle like snow.

He showed me that these people, who didn’t have Jesus, were going to go to Hell, unless someone told them about the love of Jesus.

As Christians that is our call.

Matthew 28:19 says “Go therefore and make disciple of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

This time when I looked around I saw people who needed Jesus desperately just like I still do.

My eyes didn’t change, but my view and the way I looked at the world did.

My question for you is, how do you see people? When you look at someone ask yourself “This person could be destined to hell and I could, through the power of the Holy Spirit, stop this, but will I make the move to do it?”

Brandon Heath- Give Me Your Eyes

Why Some College Age Kids Leave Chruch

Someone in my church recently asked me if I could write on this huge topic that is greatly debated in Christian circles.   

Wait for it…..

Why Some College Age Kids Leave the Church (Notice I underlined the ‘some’ because thankfully there are still many young adults that attend church!)

I have to be honest with y’all I have no idea about this topic at all!! I’m going solely off of what I feel in my heart, and the responses I got when I posed this question on Facebook.  I’m not even in the college age group yet! I have grown up in church my whole life and the thought of leaving hasn’t even crossed my mind yet! So I have no personal experience and know scholarly knowledge about this!

Now that I have shown how non-creditable I am, I will proceed to share with you mine and other people’s (who, I might add, are all people currently attending church- super creditable I know!) opinions on this topic.

#1 Kids are too “busy” to go to church

I’m still in High School and I’m even busy, I can’t imagine how someone can possibly juggle school, work, and relationships! That sounds way complicated! No wonder they are too busy for church! Church is clearly not a big deal to some kids for them to drop their attendance to church.

#2 The Desire for Complete Independence

Um, I’m pretty sure when you are 18yrs old you are pretty sick of your parent nagging you and telling you to do stuff. I even get tired of it sometimes!!

#3 there isn’t any kind of group or study for that age group

I know how helpful my youth group is in my walk with the Lord so I’m sure it’s really hard if there isn’t always that kind of option for a college age person.

#4 The Hypocrisy in the Church is Unbearable

This would really turn me off too. There is a lot of hypocrisy in the church and many college age kids see that and turn away because they see that the church isn’t perfect and they don’t want to be associated with it! I guess that is the church’s problem, we don’t have these kids trust.

#5. I’m probably going to get some heat for this one, but I think it is necessary to say. If a person is truly a 

Christian they will not be turned off by their parents when they tell them to go to church. In fact, parents won’t even have to push their kids to go because their child will want to go on their own. So when a young person doesn’t want to go to church at all maybe there is no heart change towards Christ. Obviously I’m not saying that when a young person doesn’t go to church he/she is not saved because I am in no place to judge that person’s heart. That is between them and God. But since I am writing on this topic I would say that is a pretty big indicator on why someone doesn’t want to go to church.  

Those are just a couple reasons that myself and some other people I know came up with! Obviously, seeing how I am clearly not an expert I wouldn’t go using this as a source for a paper! Okay I’m done! Until next time dear friends!
~Caitlin 

Forgetting God

Tuesday’s are crazy for me! From 9:25am – 8:30pm I am running around like a mad woman trying to get to college, co-op, my sister’s gymnastics, LASOS (where I tutor Hispanic children) and finally piano lessons. Whew, I’m worn out just typing it! I don’t know about you, but my school work and social activities consume me! I’m always running from place to place, class to homework! Yes, it’s consuming.

 I recently realized that I was leaving something crucial out of my day. Something that I had been forgetting for weeks now! It was something that should be in the front of my mind every second of the day. I was not spending time in prayer or reading the Bible. What worries me more is that it took a couple weeks of this before actually realizing this! I knew what was supposed to be the most important part of my day, but clearly I didn’t really believe it! If I believed it, spending time with my heavenly Father would be first in my mind, not several weeks after!

 So how do we put God first? 

First of all there has to be a heart change before anything is actually going to happen. I had to pray and ask Jesus to give me a desire to spend time with him because I honestly didn’t want to give up my free time for him. I thought of a couple of my best friends and realized that if they had called or texted me, wanting  me to spend time with them, I would have dropped what I was doing and gone to hang out (except if I was doing school….sorry guys!). I realized I didn’t have that same relationship with Jesus… He was kind of on the back burner and that wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

 So I asked God for a heart change and He did. He gave me a desire to spend time with Him! Now that I had that desire, I just had to do it!

 I decided I needed a set time with Him in the beginning. I’m not saying that I was carving a spot for God out of MY busy schedule-Not saying that at all! I just needed a time that would hold me accountable. Since I am a schedule person, it helped me remember. I don’t have a set time that I do my quiet time, but I do it in the morning before the craziness begins. I feel like doing it in the morning helps me get a right attitude before a day starts! 

So that is what has been going through my head lately and I thought I would share!! Have a great day guys!!!

I would like to take a minute to introduce myself before you begin reading all of my posts! I believe that you should have a good understanding of a person before you truly take in their point of view! So here it goes!

I am a passionate 16 ( almost 17 in October) year old, who is extremely stubborn! Once I get something in my head, good luck trying to talk me out of it!

I am the oldest of seven children, three of which were adopted 3 years ago from Colombia. ( You will hear a lot about that and my struggles through it) I have two amazing parents, who love me and teach me!

I am a VERY outgoing person, who LOVES to talk! It is not uncommon for one of my best friends tell me to shut up! I love people, but am not necessarily the best at making friends ( weird I know!) Once you get to know me though I will be you most loyal companion (except for maybe your dog!) and will stick with you through thick and thin! I value friendship and friends sometimes too much!

I am a Senior in High School. I go to school in my basement, living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and at times the bathroom! Sorry if that was a bit descriptive! Okay, I'm homeschooled if you couldn't figure that out! I also go to the local community college in my area. My major is Nursing so I am trying to get a head start on my education....you may now call me a nerd!

I am a Republican so if you are not- too bad! Just kidding... I will take a conservative view on things so if you don't agree with something I said then please don't take it personally!

Okay some random things about me...
I love horses and dogs- I want a Rottweiler one day!
My favorite color is blue, for now!
Hmmm, let me think something else that is random about me.... nope can't think of anything else!

Last, but definitely not least, I am a Christian! I love Jesus and wish to devote my entire life to Him ! I pray all my posts on here will reflect that love!

My main audience I am writing to is teenagers, people who are in the same point of life I am. If you are not a teenager than you are more that welcome to read! My sole purpose is to show young people that there is so much you can do to make a difference in this world. 1 Timothy 4:12 says "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." This is the verse that will be our motto so keep this in mind as you read!

Well I think that is it! I hope you have a good understanding of who I am and what I stand for!
~Cait