From The Inside Out

This song has the most beautiful lyrics. "Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades. Never ending, you glory goes beyond all fame and the cry of my heart is to bring you praise. From the inside out, oh my soul cries out."

God is never ending, he does not change, and he hears us when we cry to him and ask him to come inside and help us work through our broken hearts. He hears us when we praise him and he loves it when we do! Do not forget to be thankful even when tragedies happen, God did not send the weather or the pain. He will be there for you in the thick of everything and love you regardless of what that may require. Do not give up.

Watch "Seventh Day Slumber - From the Inside Out" on YouTube

Tornados

Everyone please pray for everyone in Oklahoma. Some have lost homes, family members, lots have been injured, and there are more storms expected today.

When things like this happen, we always pray for the injured and lost. But shouldn't that be a constant thing we do? Why don't we pray even when there is no tragedy? There are always lost and hurt people, its just more obvious during times like this. Food for thought.

Lazy Teachers

Lately I have been hearing a lot about education and people yelling about how many kids drop out of high school every year, and this video just backs up my statement on this problem.
Just like with discissions of gun regulations, those in authority are blind to the root issue entirely. With the guns, the problem is in the people and society, not the weapon. In the light of education, the problem is the system. Ask any high school student, most of them will say school is:
*boring
*depressing
*annoying
*not interesting

And going to school makes them angry. So much that high school students even make posts on Twitter and/or Facebook like this:
"I walk into school like 'what up, wanna die'."
"Does anyone else ever get the urge to just push someone down the stairs at school?"
"Exams are just a test of my memory, not my intellegence."

I could give lots more examples, but the point is that this is obviously a very big problem with a lot of factors to weigh. I can't wrap up my full opinion in one sentence, so I will just let Jeff Bliss say it for me. Watch this video.

Note: I have been having some technical issues with my blog, so if there is no media showing, just search "Jeff Bliss" on Youtube and click on "jeff bliss, a high school student gives a lesson to his teacher at Duncanville".

Watch "Jeff Bliss, a High School student gives a lesson to his teacher at Duncanville [Original]" on YouTube

Deloze

Deloze. It means "lay it down" in Haitian Creole. It is pronounced, 'day-low-zay'.

As some of my readers know, I recently spent a week in Haiti and I just got back last Wednesday. The whole trip was amazing-the kids, the food, the music, just the people and culture in general were both shocking and fascinating. But for some reason it felt so normal to me. Minus the poverty, it seemed that the Haitians were thriving. Even the ones who were not Christian appreciated the things they had and the kids were very joyful and playful even though they probably had more life experience than any kid their age should. I thought, "Wow, this is the way we should all be living. Being thankful no matter what." I really miss them.

In Haiti, I prayed for God to show me something specific and help me pay attention and remember every single thing. I wasn't about to let the entire week pass and not get anything out of it, especially after working as hard as I did and paying 1500 dollars to go.

All week I was looking, and even though I was seeing new things, nothing had just jumped out at me yet. Tuesday night, the last night we were there, was when I finally saw it.

It was worship night at the Mission of Hope, and all the Haitians and even Americans were singing and clapping and by the end of the night there were hundreds of them all out in the rows and in front of the stage dancing, jumping and shouting. They sang a song I hadn't heard before (sometimes you can recognize the tune of American worship songs). It was a loud song and it just kept repeating at the end, "deloze, deloze, deloze, deloze." I could hear them all yelling it. Then I saw the English translation on the screen, and my mouth dropped.
I knew right then that God wanted me to lay everything down and let them go. Let go of people I hadn't forgiven, memories I held on to, things I feel responsible for, even the things I like that I maybe like too much. These people put us Americans to shame when it comes to sincerity and faithfulness to Christ. I was glad I could help them, but they also helped me learn some really important things about life.

Laying our things down is something that's really hard for humans to do; we grip our pennies so tight that we don't see that Jesus is offering us gold. I'm still working on it, but I've been able to let go of a lot of things since Haiti. Life is so much less painful when you choose to trust and let God take care of things that aren't in your control. I'm not perfect by any stretch, but because of him I have a much better chance and so do you.

Deloze.