School = Blah

Welp, nothing too much has been going on. Um, tomorrow i have to go into school at the normal time (while freshmans, sophomores, and seniors get to come in late) because ALL juniors have to attend ACT Prep classes. Last year it was only required for people with poor grades. BUMMER! But oh well, it will probably pay off in the end - I hope. It will be boring though... An hour and a half of prep classes every other Tuesday, not cool. And tomorrow, sometime before second block, I have to finish a powerpoint for my Health class. I would have done it today in lunch but all the computers were being used. Again, not cool! lol.

So, tomorrow is another fun meeting of H2O. I am going to play the "Dark Forest" CD and my basic reason for that is to remind them of what Jesus did accept to me, the CD personalizes it as a father to a daughter, like Jesus for the world. And also I am going to emphasize freedom of worship - like dont be scared to stand up or sit or kneel of lift your hands or hold your heart or whatever! Just, act physically how you think God would want you to. So, Im hoping that goes well so we can possibly incorporate a worship day once a month. Also dealing with H2O is the Wednesday prayer meetings that we are trying to get started in the mornings. I'll be getting more information on that tomorrow but as far as I know it is all good. And then lastly is the t-shirt situation. I dont know where we can go to get them made and if we'll be able to put a separate verse on each t-shirt. Anyone know or have ideas? Email me please.

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Ballerina

Boring update

So basically I have been distracted lately. If you've kept up on reading my many other blogs, you'll know why, otherwise, meh. lol. For short, I saw the new harry potter and I thought it was very good. [minus the many things they left out from the book] it was extremely good in intself. Something still bothers me about the most recent book; and that is Snape. He was never a bad guy up until the major event in the 6th book! He let guy go and sent him back to Azkaban! If he was really sooo bad, he would have found a way to keep him out and serve voldemort. But whatever. Besides that, I have just been writing a lot, and reading the "Hobbit" for Creative Comp. Ah, Creative Comp, such a controversial class. Half of the things my teachers reads to the class are extremely offensive - either to me on the religious stance or to others on a racial stance. I hate it but I'm trying to deal with it and kind of get used to things like that because I know its only going to get worse and its going to happen a lot more. Also, as I said, I have been writing. I've written abuot 6-8 poems this month - and that's good for me compared to how many I've written in the last year! You can go to http://acidictear.blogspot.com for some of the poems. Then, I've been leading H2O club at school. The website for H2O is http://h2oclub.blogspot.com . And uhm, yeah, that's pretty much all I feel like updating right now. All I have left to say is: "God is love." Amen to that!

"How-To Pray Correctly" (Creative Comp. class)

There is many times where people feel the need to pray. When someone dies, when they don’t know what to do, or even when they want to grow closer to God. But I have found many times where I, or someone I was with, wasn’t comfortable praying aloud. There is an unacknowledged fear that follows the mere thought of praying out loud – and I am here to acknowledge it. I acknowledge the fact that everyone prays differently and I want to embrace it.

If its your first time it is key that you close your eyes and breathe deeply for a few moments. This is necessary because your heart is racing and you’re already beginning to plan out the exact words you are going to say. Don’t. Don’t worry about using “deep” words and, for whatever reason, trying to prove yourself worthy to the rest of the group that you’re praying with. You don’t have to justify yourself to them or anyone else. And if, at the end, they do judge you by how you prayed – then just brush it off because their opinion means nothing to you.

Now that you’ve taken your deep, cleansing breath you can prepare for the praying. BUT that does not mean you can begin planning words because the point of prayer is to have it come from the heart; not to sound like a monotone recording. Wait for a moment of silence where your prayer will be much welcomed through the pause but do not wait too long because soon enough, someone will decide to close the prayer. “Christians” are impatient like that.

Okay, so now is the time to shut up. I know, this is also where you want to begin to talk but this is when you need to make your mind shut-up – Stop thinking about what to say. When you’re ready to start, don’t worry about how to address God. Say whatever your comfortable with: “Father God,” “Heavenly Father,” “Dear God,” or even “Yo Lord.” Just say it in a way that you are comfortable. I find a lot of times when I start to pray I forget everything I was going to say. When that happens, and it will, you can say “Please bless us all, and “thank you for allowing us to be here.” Basically you can say anything generic that you’ve heard a hundred times before because all your doing is filling the gap so you can regain your composure. Once your composure is regained, you can begin to pray for the things you initially wanted to.

Most times people pray for current world issues loved ones health problems, or money issues. Those are all really great things to pray about but I can tell you what will be the real kicker. Pray about something you’re going through. Make a confession. Confessions within a prayer group will make everyone look up to you as you humble yourself and what not. (Because as we all know “all Christians just want to be praised.”) But really now, confessions are a great thing to do because a lot of times it gives others the courage to admit things they otherwise wouldn’t have mentioned. It can strengthen accountability, fellowship, and a bunch of other Christian-ese terms that probably mean nothing to you.

DO NOT take that last tip the wrong way. I am, by no means, telling you to confess your sins to a person because that is clearly a ridiculous concept. For how can another human being, equally sinful as you, help in any way but by giving you advice that they think will help – even though they also did not take the time to pray about it.

Another way you can get people to look up to you through how you pray is by praying while quoting the bible. Please though, steer clear of John 3:16 and Proverbs 3:5-6 because every Christian knows both verses by heart and will not be impressed by your bible biceps; cute Christian-ese term for Scripture Memory.) Otherwise, choose a verse that really fits what you’re praying for. If you’re praying about money, don’t throw in some genesis 1-let there by light stuff. Rather, throw in a verse that’s relevant to what you’re praying about. For example, if you’re praying about a hard situation – like a loved one died- maybe mix in a little James 1:12 and see where that gets you. If you never regained your composure from the very beginning, you’re a helpless case. All you can do is end the prayer. If you’re so stuck that you cant even think of a way to end it, say: “Thank you Lord, Amen.”

- - - Keep in mind, How-To papers are supposed to be stereotypical.