Trust me on this one.

Yeah, it's been a while. See, during the period of time I had time to blog, I had nothing to blog about. And then for the past couple weeks, I have had stuff to blog about but haven't had any time! So today you're going to get a lot of pictures.

My sister starred as the Pirate Queen in the junior high drama production of "Jolly Roger and the Pirate Queen." It was great.

 

 

 

 

I had a fabulous time at the Great Wolf Lodge on a youth retreat with Lifepointe!

 

Fooling around while playing Bananagrams. I'm on the far right and was not ready to have my picture taken, if you couldn't tell.

 

 

Catchphrase (I'm the one in the navy blue Dallas Cowboys t-shirt)

 

 

Photobombing a game of Bananagrams that started without me..

 

 

Worship was awesome, as always.

 

 

We have gone to Eagle Crest a couple times in the past month and a half. It's a resort in Central Oregon, and they have indoor pools, a golf course, a spa, and indoor sports. There's also plenty to do in Redmond, Bend, or Sisters (all of which are very close by) like white water rafting down the Deschutes river or exploring lava tubes.

 

Wallyball is one of my favorite things to do at Eagle Crest (it's like volleyball, but you get to play it off the walls!).

 

 

My grandparents and Uncle Steve and Aunt Kona came over for a visit. Like any Clark gathering, we had a heated game of the Settlers of Catan.

Aside from all my traveling adventures, I have also had my first job interview for a froyo shop opening up on the Ridge next month! I am super excited about that. Hopefully I'll get that job.

But guess what I'm even more excited for? This August, I'm going to El Salvador on a missions trip! I am unbelievably excited about that, since initially there weren't enough people to go. I'll get to share Jesus and practice my Spanish at the same time! Woohoo!

As far as Bible reading goes, I finished the book of Acts just last week. That may be one of my favorite books of the Bible now! Even if it's something that happened two millenniums ago, I still find the spread of God's Word and the gospel to all over the map just incredible and super exciting.

I've set a new Bible reading goal for the next few months, and that is to read the four gospel books straight through. Yesterday morning I started reading the book of Matthew. The genealogy stuff usually isn't that interesting to me (which is why I only read parts of 1 and 2 Chronicles), but a sidenote in my Bible caught my attention:
 

Tamar was a widow who slept with her father-in-law. Rahab was a prostitute who spied for the Israelites. Ruth was a penniless, immigrant widow who cared for her mother-in-law. Bathsheba was King David's partner in adultery. Yet they were all part of God's plan to send the Messiah.

How incredible is that? In spite of all their shortcomings, God still used them in the genealogy of Jesus. It's crazy (crazy awesome, anyway) to think that we have been called by God, sinners though we are. Just trust him - he's gonna use you in ways you don't even know.

Well, that's all I've got today. Have a good rest of your week!

FLOSS and what it has to do with repentance.

Happy new year! I hope you all had fun ringing in 2013. I redecorated my blog so that it looks a little different and a little nicer, in my opinion. Just a little something to kick in the new year. Oh, and I added a few pictures on the side from our trip. I promise: blog post devoted to that trip will come.

Christmas vacation has been great. I haven't woken up before eight for the past week (except I had to wake up at seven on Sunday for church). But even with all this sleep I have somehow managed to catch a nasty cold. This morning I couldn't breathe through my nose and as of right now my head is aching. Plus I got a couple shots yesterday so my left arm is nice and sore.

Oh, well. That's life. Not much I can do except for rest up, drink water, eat healthy and lay low for the next three days. After that I have to go to school and I really hate having a good cold at school.

On a lighter note, Jaci's birthday is in just three days - Sunday! I have yet to buy a present for her (I can really be a procrastinator sometimes), but I plan to do it tomorrow or on Saturday. She's gonna be fourteen. Crazy.

Yep. So. Bible update for ya. Lately I've been reading in Acts. I think my Bible-reading goal for the next month or so is just to read and hang out in Acts. But I'm only through chapter five! I can only read for so long in this book without having my mind blown.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on floss. I think about a week ago, I realized that I hadn't flossed in, well, too long. I'd just gotten a little lazy, that's all. So I got out my floss and started flossing. Within moments, after all the plaque had been rid of, my gums were swollen and bleeding. But after flossing every night for a few days, my gums were less and less swollen and they weren't bleeding very much. Now they don't even bleed when I floss.

So what does this all have to do with repentance, you ask? I don't know how in the world I came up with this analogy, but flossing is like admitting our sins to Jesus. And sin building up is like plaque building up. When we admit our sins to Jesus, he takes some floss and gets rid of all the plaque. But if we've been sinning a lot without asking Jesus to take care of it, the plaque keeps building up. The longer we wait to floss, the worse our sin gets. Then when we finally ask Jesus to floss, it can really hurt, even for a while afterwards.

Admitting our sins is hard for humans to do. The very first sin ever committed was not done by Eve - it was done by Satan. It was pride. We, as humans, don't like admitting that we are sinners. But we have to take up our crosses, right?

Let's floss. It makes for a cleaner smile - and a cleaner life. Thanks for reading! : )

Getting ready for 2013.

Well, today is the last day of 2012. I feel like I should probably write a blog post or something to mark the occasion, so here you go.
 
A couple verses have really stuck out for me during the last few days of randomly roaming around the Bible. I guess you could say that I'm going to make them my theme verses for 2013. I know it sounds slightly cheesy, but these verses seem important to me and I really want to apply these ones specifically in my life.
 
 

Mark 4:12  -  "'They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'"

The context of this verse is that Jesus is talking to his disciples about the parable he just spoke - you know, the one about the sower whose seeds fell: some on the path, some on the rocky soil, some on the thorny soil, and some on the good soil. He's referring to how the Pharisees and "those on the outside" (v. 11) treat the parable and the secret to the Kingdom of Heaven.
 
But the meaning of the parable isn't really what I'm trying to get at here. How often do we do exactly what this verse is describing? Whether it's reading the Word, listening to a sermon, or seeing God's creation, I know I'm guilty of it. I just usually don't really make the effort to understand the deeper meanings of what the Scripture or pastor or whatever is trying to tell me. I don't know, maybe I'm getting the meaning of this passage all mixed up. However, I do know I need to stop just seeing and hearing, but also perceiving and understanding.
 

Jeremiah 10:23  -  "LORD, I know that people's lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps."

This one is kind of a punch in the gut for me and many other people. I'm pretty sure the next year is going to hold a lot of decisions for me, what with thinking about where I'm going to get a job, what colleges I might apply to, and all the other stuff that comes with getting older. I gotta keep this verse in my heart so that when I realize I'm trying to decide things by myself, I remember to give God the steering wheel.
 

Jeremiah 49:38-39  -  "I will set my throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials, yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come."

Okay. So this past year I've been digging around in the Old Testament - specifically, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, bits and pieces of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, and Daniel. I just can't help but wonder why Israel is so dense. I mean, here's God, delivering you from Egypt, Bablyon, and countless other empires. Then you just turn around and worship meaningless gods! Why?! It's really just unbelievable for me. They serve as an example so that we will not follow in their footsteps, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthans 10.
 
I think this verse is a good reminder for me because, even though things in our lives usually aren't as extreme as losing a kingdom, when God takes away things, it is for a reason. Kind of like Job's story. Let's face the trials in life head-on and know that God will restore us someday.
 
 
And this last one doesn't really apply to me (although it is important to know), but I think this will be an encouragement for many:

Luke 18:29-30  -  "No one who has left home or wife or brothers and sisters or parents or children for the sake of God will fail to receive many times as mcuh in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."
 
 

Alright, that's all I've got today. Have a very Happy New Year and may God bless you in 2013 and many more years to come! Thanks for reading! : )