Freedom Isn't Free

With the fourth of July soon approaching, I wanted to post this poem which probably many of you have heard before. It's a good reminder of the true cost of freedom. To God be the glory that in America, we are still free to worship Him. And may He bless our troops.

I watched the flag
Pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine Saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..

I looked at
Him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square
And eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men
Like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign
Soil
How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes
Shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers'
Graves ?
No, freedom isn't free

I heard the sound of Taps
One night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the
Bugler
Play And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant 'Amen,'
When a flag had draped a
Coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the Children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and
Husbands
With interrupted lives.

I Thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington .
No, freedom isn't free.

Your First Love

I wrote this post a while ago, but it still rings true. Let my love burn with passion for you, Lord!

Billy Graham said this prayer for our nation:

“Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your word says, ‘Woe to those Who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we’ve done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We confess that. ...
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism;
...We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism;
...We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle;
...We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery;
...We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation;
...We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare;
...We have killed our unborn and called it choice;
...We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable;
...We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self- esteem;
...We have abused power and called it political savvy;
...We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition;
...We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression; ...We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will, to open ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Is our society really one that is ambitious, pluralistic, and enlightened? Or is it simply one that does not properly fear God? My heart is saddened by the words of Matthew 24:12 “Because of the increase of wickedness the love of many will grow cold.” Sometimes I wonder if our love as Christians is growing colder. Oh, I’m not saying that we’ve deliberately or completely stopped loving the Lord. As Christians, that is our greatest command! But I do think we have stopped loving Him completely in different ways that may seem to us very small, but indeed are not. Think about it. Whenever sin seems "normal" to us, our love has grown cold. Whenever we are not bothered by things strictly forbidden in God's holy Word, our love has grown cold.

In my devotions a few days ago I was reading Revelations, and I was struck by this verse (2:4), "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love." Have we, too, left our first love, Jesus Christ, by letting our love grow cold? This sincere cry of my heart: Let not my love grow cold, oh Lord!

Why Not Gold?

Today I was reading Gracie, Titus, and Matthew a Bible story about Joseph and his brothers-- how he was sold into slavery for pieces of silver, forced to leave his home, punished for something he didn't do, yet in the end God used all of this for something good: so that Joseph could forgive his brothers and give them food. At the end, we started talking about how another King was similar. He had to leave His Father and home, He was sold for pieces of silver, people wished Him dead, He was punished for something He didn't do-- yet in the end, God used it for good: so that He could forgive the sins of anyone who asked Him to. I explained that this King was Jesus. Then I asked Grace and Titus, "Do you remember that Jesus was sold for pieces of silver?" They shook their heads as I explained, "One of Jesus' disciples, Judas, decided to sell Jesus to some very bad people so that they would give him silver."

Titus then piped up, "Why not gold?"

Um... I think we're kind of missing the point here...

Play List

Hi all! I was wondering if everyone could do me a favor and leave a comment telling me what songs on my playlist you like/ don't like. Thanks! :)

Something Even Greater Than Worship

"No one else holds or has held the place in the heart of the world which Jesus holds. Other gods have been as devoutly worshipped; no other man has been so devoutly loved."

--John Knox

In Ancient times, and even still today, many people worship(ed) false gods whose whims 'demanded' human sacrifice. When Jesus came to earth, He proved, through humbling Himself, that He not only wants to show His power and glory to gain our worship-- He also desires our love. You can worship, like the pagans, out of fear. But you can only love out of love.

Is It Love or a Corset?

There is a book that I read about a year ago called, A Proper Pursuit. It's basically about a shallow but naive twenty-year-old girl whose mother ran away when she was a child and whose father is about to be remarried. She decides to go stay with her grandmother and three great aunts for a while to search for her mother-- the catch? They each have their own idea of what they want Violet to do with her life. Her grandmother just wants her to marry a pastor. One great aunt just wants her to marry well (read: someone rich). Another great aunt just doesn't want her to marry AT ALL. And the last great aunt-- well, she just encourages Violet to marry someone she loves. By the end of the story, Violet has completely changed and becomes a Christian.

Now, Violet is quite the humorous young lady. The only knowledge she has of the world at large comes from reading romance and mystery and adventure novels. *Ahem* dime novels. Below is a section of her thoughts during a lecture that one of her great aunts took her to. I hope you find it as amusing as I did. By the way, this story is set at the end of the 19th century and is written in the first person.

"'Ladies,' she began, 'I'm well aware that the majority of you are, at this very moment, trapped in the confines of a whalebone corset. But you might be shocked to learn that, according to my research, your tightly laced corsets are responsible for more than fifty female ailments.' She proceeded to enumerate them, one by one, but my mind began to wander after 'heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, and lightheadedness.' The symptoms sounded suspiciously like a romance novel's description of love. Could it be that thousands of women had married their husbands in the mistaken belief that they were in love, when all along their corsets had been too tight? How disappointing to watch their love mysteriously vanish once their corsets were unlaced. I made up my mind that if I ever felt love's symptoms, I would loosen my corset immediately before accepting a proposal of marriage."

Pure in Heart-- a Prestigious Award

Hello one and all! Okay, so I was awarded with this 'Pure in Heart Award' by a couple of friends this last week. Partake in the observation of the award, if you please:

Yep. It's just that cool.

If you are tagged:
1. Post about the tag.
2. Pick 10 bloggers who deserve this award.
3. Leave a comment on the blogs of the people you tagged letting them know they were awarded.
4. Answer the questions along with your post.

I've already posted about the tag. I'll do the questions next.

Ready- set- go!

1: Apples, Oranges or Bananas? I would have to say oranges. Since moving to Japan, they have become my #1 staple as far as food goes.
2: How many siblings do you have? Two comedic brothers, Matthew (11) and Titus (5) and one adorable sister, Grace (5)
3: How old are you? I'm fifteen. I'll be sixteen this month. Kind of funny-- this year has flown by!
4: Do you live on a prairie, woodland, swamp, city or other? City, dahlin.

5: Scissors or glue? Scissors are always winners with me! I used to LOVE cutting things out.

6: Describe your dream house. I seriously do not have a dream house whatsoever. I don't really care what my house is like. However, I do want to live in an orphanage one day, for some amount of time -- maybe in China or Mexico or Haiti, or wherever God would have me.

7: Is your room clean? Clean is a relative term.

8: If you could be a movie character for a day, who would you be? Definitely Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Pride and Prejudice is my favorite movie!!!

9: Italy, Greece, France, Spain or England? England, of course. I'd love to go there! Although any of those would be fun, none of them are the main places that I truly want to go to.

10: What denomination are you? 1 Corinthians 3:4-6, "For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men? What after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-- as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."

And 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 says, "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment... Is Christ divided?

"Ephesians 4:3-6"Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."

As you can see, I'm not really into the whole 'denomination' thing. I believe in what the God of the Bible says. In America, and currently in Nagoya, I go to non-denominational churches (ironic, no? :) but I've also gone to Baptist and Presbyterian churches in the past.

11: Do you sleep with a stuffed toy (BE HONEST!)? No.


12: Gum, chocolate, or jelly beans? Hum.... depends on the chocolate. If it has nuts and caramel or toffee then I'm in. But if it's just plain chocolate or has fruity stuff then there is nothing to tempt me.

13: What is your favorite book? Oh, dear. I knew this one was coming. I have so many! I love historical fiction. Some of my favorite books in the past are Elsie Dinsmore and Millie Keith and Violet Travilla books--they're so good. And I love the somewhat comical A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin, and Candle in the Darkness and Fire by Night. I also love A Case for Christmas and A Case for Easter by Lee Strobel when I'm in an investigating mood. I love Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris. I like Yellow Rose Bride. I enjoy Silas Marner which we read for Lit. 10 this year. And... hum. I still haven't finished Pride and Prejudice (Sorry Haley!!) but I really want to as soon as I get back to America (I don't have access here in Japan...) because I forgot to pack it and like I said, it's my favorite movie. Ever. But anyway, although I love all these books, none of them can really compare to my very favorite book. Hands down, the winner is the Bible. No other book or writing can ever touch my heart like it has. So it wins. Definitely.

14: Favorite ice cream flavor? Cookie dough and Mint Chocolate Chip.

15: If you had to eat one type of food for two weeks, what would that food be? Mexican. Right now, you could say for the next year and I wouldn't mind if it were Mexican food. We don't have much in Japan, so bring it on!! :)

16: What is your favorite Olympic sport? Hum-- ice skating, maybe. Or gymnastics. But I don't really watch the olympics (Except I watched some this year-- long story.)

17: If you woke up and discovered that you had turned into Miley Cyrus for the day, what would you do? Heaven forbid.

18: Describe yourself in three words. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, tall order! A sister, a friend, a Daughter of God

19: What chore do you hate? Maybe weeding? I don't know, my favorite is probably doing the dishes. But I don't know what my least favorite is.

20: If Elmo came into your room with a gun, what would you do? Gotta love THAT! haha-- I don't know. maybe call Gracie and Titus in to practice their karate on him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH. So now I choose my victims. I mean *ahem* friends.

(I'm gonna award some of you who I know have already done this, just because I feel like it. )

Kals over at "Adventures in the Life of a Daughter of Christ"

Haley over at "Singing in the Rain"

Problematic over at "It's Raining"

Hannah over at "My Book of Days"

Hannah over at "These Little Wonders"

Heidi over at "Heidi's Musings"

Hosanna over at "Hosanna's Messings"

Gray over at "The Locket"

Whoever happens to be reading this write now. If you are reading this blog post, you are tagged. It's official.

And, sorry that's only nine. Too bad. :'(