Hehehe...

That's a good one, guys, but I'm too smart. :D

Oh, by the way, it's about 7 pm Sunday... and I'm off to "astronomy group!" You guys rock!

Check this out!

Everyone raise your left hand and repeat after me: I will... click on the link... on the right side of the page... that says Lora's Xanga... and I will either post a comment on her xanga... or leave a comment here for Rachel to post on her xanga if I don't want to sign up. She needs some readers, people! So get yourselves over there! Thank you. :D

On another note, Hannah and I went over to Kaitlin's house tonight to watch the last episode of Sue Thomas with her and Kara. IT WAS AWFUL!!!!!!!!!! Or it looked like it was going to end alright, but it didn't because she ended up staying on her job which meant that she and Jack couldn't get together, and Jack was about to tell her he loved her, but got wimpy and then found out she was staying so he couldn't!!! GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

No, Sara, it is NOT a soap opera. I can give you MANY reasons why it isn't but I won't here.

Anyway, afterwards we were all sitting (or collapsing) on Katie's couch moaning and being traumatized. Poor Kara was taking it especially hard. I swear, I watch it—ahem, MOSTLY—for the action and excitement, but Kara's ESPECIALLY into the whole Sue/Jack thing. She was one traumatized girl! An example of our conversation:

All of us: WAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!
Rachel: That was one of the worst ones EVER!!!!!! WAAAAAAHHH!!!!
Kaitlin: And it looked like it was going to be good!! Why did she have to stay?? WAAAAAHH!!!
Kara: IT'S NOT FAIRRRR!!!!!!!
Hannah: Kara, you're squishing me, and I'm getting hot.
Kara: WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! I think I'm going to go eat worms and DIE!!!!!
Kaitlin: They're in the refrigerator if you want them.
Kara: THAT'S IT!!! I WON'T eat worms, just to SPITE YOU!!!
Rachel: Why didn't he tell her??? He was THIS close....
Kara: Because he's a DWEEB, that's why!!
Kaitlin and Rachel and Hannah: He's NOT a dweeb!!
Kara: He is too a dweeb!!
Hannah: Well, he would have told her if Miles hadn't interrupted!
Rachel: But he didn't!!!! WAAAAAHHH!!!!
Everyone: WAAAAAHHH!!!!! MIMIMIMIMIIMIMIMI!!!!!!!
Hannah: Kara, I'm getting REALLY hot under here. And I'm squished.
Kara: THAT'S IT!!! I'm going to go eat worms and die, just to SPITE YOU!!!!

And so on. I think Kara said "just to spite you" about 40 times within 15 minutes. And Kev, Chris, Caleb and Connor had a wonderful time, I'm sure, laughing about our sorry state in the adjacent rooms. Every so often Kevin would walk in and stare at us with the quizzical eye of someone watching a group of people trying to dig a hole to China by jumping on pogo sticks. He finally concluded (or not "finally," he actually concluded this very early into the show) that girls are crazier than guys.

I disagree. After riding home from my first CIY in a van full of mostly girl-crazy, short-on-sleep guys who liked to roughhouse, I can tell you that guys are most definitely the crazier sex.

One more thing: NEVER ride for 4 hours in the middle of a van full of girl-crazy, short-on-sleep guys who like to roughhouse. EVER. I mean it.

1 Cor. 10:23-11:1

Okay, we've been having an interesting discussion in the comments for my previous post! I spent so much time writing my own point of view on the issue at hand that I thought I might as well post it here, too! If you want the background, read the comments, but you don't have to in order to understand what I'm saying. So here are my views on... drumroll please... the Grey Areas of Life!!

~~~~~~~
Stephen said this: "Ok, I can understand the detriment of watching senseless violence, but this is getting ridiculous."

I have to agree with him. I think it's pointless to go over every single act of violence or language (or whatever else!) in this setting. Every person has their own limits that God has placed in us with what we can handle and what we can't. We can't just say that because one thing effects someone in a bad way that it is therefore totally bad and that EVERYONE should shun it. I'm not talking about stuff like murder and adultery and stealing—those are specific sins that God has most definitely given us specific commandments about. I'm talking about the grey areas like, for instance, playing poker, drinking things with alchohol, or watching movies with violence and language. You might feel a conviction to stay away from one of these things. Another perfectly normal and God-following Christian might not.

For instance: I know that for me, I feel a conviction that I shouldn't play poker. I disagree with betting the money. But I know many Christians who play it (friends... some of you, actually!) and I'm not about to judge them for it because it may not be a sin for them. I NEVER KNOW. I am not God, and God as far as I know did not say in the Bible that POKER (or gambling) IS A SIN and that NO ONE should play it. No person can judge a man's heart but God. Only one thing I do know: it would be a sin for me myself to play it.

On the other hand, I'm perfectly fine with having a little bit of wine at a banquet, Passover, etc. WHEN I'm of age. As long as it is not an addiction, I'm fine with that. If I ever got to the point where it was something I craved though, that would be either an addiction or dangerously close, and the Bible tells us not to be addicted to alcohol (in Proverbs, I believe, and probably elsewhere, too). So of course if it came to that it's a sin! But as long as my conscience is clear on the matter (where it's grey, I mean), I would be doing no wrong.

Again, one thing that we absolutely can NOT do in these grey areas is to make everyone else accept and shun things according to one person's convictions (lol, unless, of course, that person is Christ!). That would be legalistic and would, in fact, go against Biblical teaching.

You wanna know where I'm getting all of this, what this "Biblical teaching" is that I'm talking about? Read 1 Cor. 10:23-11:1, and think about it for awhile. Our youth pastor did an AWESOME talk on this passage a few months ago... remember, my fellow Wildwoodians? That one rocked, n'est-ce pas?

Just to ward off a question that might come up, I do think though that this does not apply the parents' direction of their family. They are supposed to set godly rules for what their family is and is not allowed to do, and the children need to obey 1. because it is commanded and 2. because God has placed them under the authority of their parents. Of course this changes when the children grow up and become adults themselves, and are no longer under the jurisdiction of their parents.

I think it is important to note that in the 1 Cor. passage it also makes it clear that we ARE to honor the convictions of those who are with us. In other words, we can't cause someone else to stumble. Something that is okay for us might not be for them, and we have to realize and respect that, and not try and make them do something that they can't and we can.

Hmm... that made me realize: I really like this passage, because it's an argument against both legalism and liberalism all at once! How cool is that!

A thought.

I think it's so sad when teenagers and adults get all caught up in their "grownupness." It's a wonderful thing when people take off the pretenses of what the world envisions as an adult. I know as I graduate and move towards adulthood, I need to remember that more than ever. I can still imagine, I can still dream. Jesus praised the heart of a child. We do not have to give up that heart for maturity—part of maturity is holding onto it.

Guess what day today is?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ROCK! Hope you're having fun on your choir tour!!