Those Whispers

About  a couple months ago I walked into my homeroom and there was a friend of mine wearing makeup. I didn't think anything of it. This wasn't the first time he has done anything out of the ordinary. He had showed up with green spikes on his head and covered his binder with woven duct tape. Out of the ordinary was his ordinary, it's mine too. That's how we became friends in the first place.

I started  hearing the whispers in the hall "You know that kid John? He's gay", I didn't believe them. It spread one whisper at a time, in less than four hours it was known throughout the school. He had always been made fun of, always whispered about,  but this was a new low. He had always known. He didn't have any enemies, he had a handful of friends.

He didn't show up for school the next day. I found out he was made fun of so much that he wanted to be home schooled. As a Christian I don't approve of being gay but I'm not letting it effect my friendship with him. He is a son of God just like you and me. He is still they funniest guy I know and the friendliest. Shame on those people who picked on John. Shame  on the whispers. Shame on those who turned their backs on him and joined the laughing crowd. The Bible says  that to the extent you judge others, others will judge you to the same extent. Shame on those who judged him. All those whispers drove one of the smartest, nicest, funniest kids from school because he told his handful of friends he was gay. Shame on the person that back stabbed him and gave him a label. Shame on all those kids who let that label define him. Shame on those that whisper about him today.Those whispers will never be forgotten.

No Freakshow

Yesterday I went to a play with my school. Everyone had filled out permission slips but no information as to what the play was about was given. It wasn't very far from our school so all the students snaked their way along the sidewalk to the theater.

We sat in the rows of seats before a stage and soon the lights were dimmed and the play began. The opening scene was a girl complaining about being made fun of in high school. Then suddenly she was meeting a leader of a freak show. The freak show claimed her as their own even though she was reluctant. I thought this was just another bullying campaign activity or something, then it got a little weird. There was a cage on the back of the stage and inside it was a highschooler dressed in yellow shaking around, the freaks told her never to open the cage but didn't tell her why. The freaks reveal to her that they were made fun of too and that they killed themselves because they were so depressed. Then they reveal that the girl had killed herself. I was starting to question how this was "educational" at all (and if the play writer was sane when the play was written) but I kept watching. This lady tells her that things happen based on decisions you make and this is the fate the freaks chose and that once your life is over that's all you have. The lady told her that (for some reason) she was given a second chance. Then the freaks unlocked the cage and they set the boy free. I later learned that the boy represented hope. Anyway, the master of the freaks found out and got really mad, the freaks blamed the girl for setting it free. I didn't get that part. Then they boy known as hope comes back on stage and takes the girls hand, they exit the stage. The end.

The more I thought  about the play, the more I didn't like it. There are a lot of teens like that without hope, and they aren't going to find it from going to a freakshow afterlife. There is hope, but the only way to find it is through Jesus. Having a relationship with God gives us a reason to live and to make something of our lives. The reason for teen suicide is that they don't know what to do with their lives. They think it wouldn't matter if they went missing. That no one would care. So they think that there is no use in living.  Jesus said in John 16:33 "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (NIV)

Jesus doesn't say "It's all going to be fine, it's just hormones", he says that you will have trouble.  God has a plan for you, a reason for you to live. Gods plan for all of us is to be in a relationship with Him and to witness so others will be able to know Him too. It's a journey that is different for every one of us. Without God my life would be pointless. Jesus says in John 15:4, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."(NIV) Walking with God is definitely hard, but it's definitely worth it. So take heart. Jesus overcame the world. So can you.

Who Needs Coke? Drink Jesus!

In science class my teacher was talking about how there is no place on this earth where nature has not filled. There is air everywhere, there is no vacuum anywhere on earth. That made me think back to the last post I did about Jesus in our hearts. The hole in our hearts need to be filled. We try and fill our hearts with earthly things, sometimes good, sometimes bad. In the end we can never fill that hole completely unless we fill it with Jesus. Just like Jesus said in John 4:14, "but whoever drinks the water I give them  will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"(NIV).

If we have a relationship with Jesus that is all we need, we won't need earthly things. That hole in our heart is filled, it gets filled so much it becomes a spring. Jesus is waiting for you to let him overflow your heart, all you have to do is let him. Thirsty anyone?

Jesus Saved My Tooth

I have been thinking about what an adventure it is to be a Christian. I never know how God is going to work in my life tomorrow. God can do what seems really bizarre to us most of the time, the cool thing is it's all part of Gods plan. Trusting in God can be so difficult for us because we don't like the thought of losing control of our life. God can do things with our lives that we would have never thought possible. If I didn't give my life to God in the 6th grade there is no telling where my life would be right now, and honestly, I don't want to know. Whenever I think of a heart I think of a tooth. A tooth with rotting cavities inside and out. That heart/tooth looks brand new when Jesus fills all the blackened crevices. To think that a lot of people have been faced with that opportunity and had the nerve to say "no". They have no idea what they are missing.

Beyond Friends

I just read a post from another blog that has changed the way I think forever. We all feel lonely at times and want a friend to lean on but it seems we always forget about the God who doesn't let us down when life slaps us.

This is the part where I stop ranting and give you the link to the post.

http://iwu2012breanna.wordpress.com/2011/04/