Happy New Year + Happy Valentine's Day + An update of sorts

Happy New Year! Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello hello.

How has y'all's New Year been going so far? How was your Valentine's Day? I hope all of you wonderful people have been doing well! :)

So... I've been rather absent here since Christmas, haven't I? Except for that last Super Bowl/sports post thing, I haven't done any real blogging since last year...

So, what's been going on? Where have I been? What have I been up to? Am I ever going to start blogging consistently? .(..And whatever happened to that Q&A post I was supposed to be doing for my 3rd year blogiversary back in November?? Heh heh...)

Well, friends, let me tell ya.

First off, yes, I WANT to start blogging more consistently. But then the answers to these other questions above have been kind of keeping me from being able to do that. Where have I been? What have I been up to? What's been going on?

Well, mainly right now for me it's been... College. Yes, indeed, college.

I've been mainly studying for CLEP exams, which has been going pretty good! (What are CLEP exams, you ask? In a nutshell they're basically exams you can take to get out of taking a regular one semester college class, and by passing the exam, you earn the same college credit you would in that class. They can save you a lot of time and money! I would definitely recommend looking into them, fellow college friends! Make sure to check out the official CLEP website to find out more about it. It's definitely worth looking into!)

So anywho, yeah, that's what I've been doing a lot of recently. But besides that, a few other random things I've been doing with my year so far has been... keeping the score book at my brother's basketball games, winning a free Dominoes pizza (two different times) from a halftime 3-point shot competition thing at two of said basketball games, seeing and hanging out with friends at basketball games... yeah, a lot of basketball games. xD Especially last month anyway. But besides that, there's been church, Bible studies, sending out church letters and calendars, taking care of adorable, yet mischievous kitties, tidying up around the house, trying to ACTUALLY write and work on my stories, finally getting my driver's license, celebrating my birthday.... and now trying to get back into blogging!

Alright. But what about that other question... the Q&A? Whatever happened to that???

Okay.

So.

This Q&A WILL happen.

Eventually.

IT WILL.

Just be patient with me, guys. :P

So, as I'm trying to get back into blogging more, one other thing that I thought would be fun, and hopefully motivating for me, would be to blog about my college adventures I'm now up to! I've been on the college road since September of last year, but it seems like I'm just now really picking up on it, and I'd like to share some of the things I'm doing for college, helpful programs/websites/etc. I've found, and just share my learning experience with you all so that maybe you can learn something about how to do college better, too! And I also would like to share more of my story writing projects that I've been working on some as well. So... we'll see how that goes! ;)

Anywho, that's all for now. I just wanted to come say "hi" again, and give you all an update of sorts. I really do hope to be able to do more with this blog this year!

I hope you're having a lovely evening, and I'll write to ya later! God bless! :D
~Faith

Dedication // God vs. The Super Bowl

Happy New Year! How has your all's year been going so far? :)

So yes, I realize that I should probably have done some sort of New Years thing for my first post of the year, but this is just something I've been thinking about today and thought it just needed to be said, so... here ya go!

So. Today is the day. The BIG day. The day that all the frenzied football fanatics everywhere gather together with friends and family around their TVs to watch -- yes, my friends -- none other than the great Super Bowl.

I'm not much into watching football or the Super Bowl myself. So of course, because of this, I'm not very dedicated to watching this big game and all that. I mean, if I go to a Super Bowl party (which is a rather rare occasion), I'd honestly just mainly be there for the socialization and snacks. Pretty much.

#I'dratherbewatchingTheSoundofMusic

So yeah, basically my not caring so much for the game makes me to look at some of the super dedicated fans of it in a bit of awe. It's so interesting to see how pumped and excited people can be for something..... something as seemingly simple as a man throwing a leather ball to another guy who runs as fast as he can while the other team tries to clobber him. Thrilling, eh? I mean I get it, it is rather impressive the length that those guys can throw the ball, and how fast they can run, etc. But... well yeah, you get what I'm saying. At least I think you do... Do you?

BASICALLY WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS that I've been thinking a lot about this today... that is, how people get so excited and pumped and dedicated to the Super Bowl, and football in general really. It's incredible. And as I've watched this phenomenon more and more, over time, I got to thinking about it in a different way than I had before.

Recently, there was a football game on TV that either my dad or one of my brothers were flipping past one day. I wasn't really involved in watching it; I was just passing through the room when I saw people and players running out on the field at the end of the game, jumping, shouting, and SO EXCITED. Then I stopped. I watched all these joyful, excited, exuberant people. They were so excited, I suddenly thought with an internal chuckle, "Did someone just get saved? You would think so..." Then it hit me. If these people can be so excited about winning a temporary football game... Christians should go WILD when someone accepts Jesus as their Lord, and is saved from eternal torment! How EXCITING is that?!?! I thought. Christians should be SO MUCH MORE excited about this, right?! Why aren't more excited when someone gets saved?! Why haven't... I been more excited....?

So, I started thinking more about this lately. And especially today with the Super Bowl happening and all, I've begun to wonder...

What if Christians were as dedicated and excited and pumped about God and what He's done like people are about sports?

What if we treated God and His Word like so many do football and the Super Bowl? What if we spent hundreds, or even thousands of dollars to be able to get a seat in an outdoor arena in the cold of winter to be able to hear God's Word preached and taught to us, to be able to praise and worship and go wild about Jesus with other like-minded believers, and to be able to see God work miracles in people's lives?

WHAT IF WE SO ESTEEMED GOD AND HIS WORD LIKE THAT? Like all these other dedicated people, who paint their faces and cheer and shout, excited, exhilarated, invigorated -- all in hope of a football player catching a ball and running down a field across a line in order to make a touchdown to outscore the other team. What if we were as excited as they are about what God did and is doing??

GUYS. We have SUCH a greater hope, SUCH greater news than a certain football team winning a game that will be soon forgotten in years to come. We have an ETERNAL, LASTING hope! An ETERNAL, LASTING destination with God in Heaven! Jesus scored the ultimate touchdown -- He loved us so much, so he decided that he would touch down to earth to come and save us from all our sin! The God who created this whole universe -- who created YOU -- KNOWS you and LOVES you and CARES about you SO MUCH! WHAT AWESOME NEWS THIS IS!!!

So guys...

Seriously.

Let's get more excited about God!!!!! If people in this world can be so excited like they are about a football game that will only last for one day -- HOW MUCH MORE excited should we be about this amazing hope that we have in our Lord Jesus, and in His grace and mercy toward us that will last FOREVER AND EVER!!! WE SHOULD BE SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

Oh come on, y'all, it's okay! You can get excited for things like this... we were created for it!!! Let's not hold back our excitement and joy for our Great God and in what He's done for us!!!

"Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. 
For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations." 
~Psalm 100

Don't ever forget how loved you are by your Heavenly Father, and never be afraid to show your excitement for Him! :) Of course, we don't HAVE to take time to praise and worship and show excitement for God -- He will of course still love us just the same! But He's been so good and done so much for us... why don't we do something for Him for a change? He deserves and is worthy of our praise!

I hope all of you have a great rest of your evening, and I'll write to ya later! God bless!

~Faith

P.S. If you like football and watching the Super Bowl, please don't think that I'm trying to say that that's a bad thing -- I'm just trying to say that we need to keep our priorities straight. Watching and playing sports is fine, but as God's Children, our relationship with our Father should come FIRST and should be placed ABOVE all these other things. So, please don't let me spoil your Super Bowl/ football fun... just always remember to keep God FIRST in everything you watch and do! :)