Parenting

Some parents are hurting their children more than they could help them. Why do parents think they can protect them from every harm? Has it occurred to them that maybe they are protecting their children from something that God doesn't want them to be protected from. How does a child have a story if parents force their child to have the same story? What good is a clone to society? What's the point of having children if you don't let them struggle and grow. Nobody wants them to become like you. Oswald Chambers says that we make a huge mistake by trying to rescue our loved ones from pain. If we rescue them there is no chance for growth. And the parents know they're this way. They hide behind the mask of being "overprotective." Overprotective doesn't do it justice. In reality, they stand in the way of God's will. And when God's will is manifested, it will be overwhelming and seem too much to bear. Why? Because their parents did not allow gradual growth. This is after a child may rebel. Children may rebel because they are waiting to show their power and control when the parents give slight room. So parents give your children to God. If you don't, God will make sure He gets them...with or without you.

UN Policy on Trafficking

For one of my classes, I had to take an issue and explore it in every rhetorical situation. I decided to take the issue of the United Nation's policy on human trafficking. This policy is well-rounded and thorough; however, it is not complete. The policy explains that human trafficking is a terrible crime and explains their zero-tolerance approach. But the policy does not do anything for the victims of trafficking. It does not provide any compensation and rehabilitation. So...many of the victims either die for lack of resources or go back to their old way of life because they do not know any better.

I explored the issue and covered reasons that the policy may not extend to the victims. After I explored the entire rhetorical situation, I created a speech that I would give to the United Nations. It explained why the policy needed to be fixed and what it needed to cover. I explained that the UN should provide victims with different aspects of rehabilitation: counseling, family support, occupational opportunities, healthcare, and transportation.

I have continued addressing the issue of human trafficking and until I can make a bigger impact, I am trying to raise awareness. Two of my friends and I played a song at Unplugged, a concert-type thing at King, where anyone can perform. I sang Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. The first time I heard this song was when she performed it in the movie "Call and Response" in honor of the trafficked victims. We performed it in honor of those victims...The fight still continues.

Commonplace Book

A "Commonplace Book" is an ancient tradition in the rhetorical world. Many famous leaders have created commonplace books. It is like a collection of things that have been important to you over time. We had to make a commonplace book this semester (for my advanced composition class) and it was very good for me. The theme of my book ended up being my spiritual journey over the semester. It contains florilegia (flowers of reading), journal-type entries, and progymnasmata (different things I have written).

I have collected and copied down portions of books that have meant something to me, including books that I have read for class and leisure. I have written down parts of songs, quotes, and scriptures that have been meaningful during the semester. It has become a valuable collection for me. I have kept journals based on the things I have collected and they somewhat correlate. In the progymnasmata, I have collected all of my writings for this class and some for other classes. I have learned the importance of collecting meaningful things in my life. It has been really creative and neat for me to see what kind of things that I carry with me.

Christian Jargon

This semester, I wrote a ten page paper about "Christian Jargon." It is interesting that every person is a part of a discourse community, where there is a sublanguage. In that sublanguage, jargon exists. Jargon is defined as, "speech that is unfamiliar or peculiar to a group of people; it is terminology for a given group" (OED). The Christian jargon is more familiar in the southern part of the U.S. where religion is more established. I looked up nine words for the meaning, etymology, and usage. The nine words were: atonement, blessing, confession, gospel, hymn, justification, pastor, redemption, and theology. I learned what each word really means and the first time it was used in print. It was very interesting to learn where we got this "jargon" in our discourse community. The sublanguage was revived during the Reformation and Awakenings. It is important to understand which discourse community we are a part of and the jargon we may use. Although it must be appreciated, it may be like a foreign language to many. Understanding the discourse communities in which we are involved help aid in a person's explanation of beliefs, ideologies, backgrounds, and feelings.

My health

I have been battling with my health for over a month now. My body wants to shut down. I have bruises on both of my arms to show all the blood that different doctors have taken. They don't know what is wrong with me. After going to the hospital because of a seizure, the doctors realized they should do something about it. I was put on Topimax and had serious side effects. You know when you see the commercials for medicine and it says, "Side effects include mood changes and thoughts of suicide" and you think, "Geez, that's intense. Does that really happen?" Yes. It happens. I'm proof. So, my doctor took me off of that and put me on a new medicine, Lyrica. We'll see how I react to it. I'm nervous and I'm tired. My body doesn't want to fight off the pain anymore. God has shown His faithfulness in the last couple days. I have had two pain free days. Jeremy Camp sings a song, "I still believe in your faithfulness. I still believe in your truth. Even when I don't see, I still believe."

The picture is me playing in the Spring tournament. You can probably tell I don't feel well. I was on narcotics. This is our new family bunny, flower. She is precious and I love animals.

New York City - A Place of Change

Why do so many people come to New York City? People who grew up here ask this question every day. It makes sense that people would leave NYC to venture into something new, but why would people come to The Big City? Why would people want to be caught in the “hustle and bustle?”

It seems that most people move here to start over. In NYC, there is enough going on to forget about our past. We can easily be distracted by things around us and not dwell on the things we do not want to think or talk about. So people move to NYC to express themselves, to start over, to forget about the past. But why?

Why is it necessary to physically move to a new place to start new things? Why do we struggle so much staying in a place of pain? We, humans, are so limited. We feel that we cannot grow or change if we stay in the same place. What about the people who have always lived in one of the five busy boroughs in New York City? Should they move to a more serene place to start over? Perhaps. I came to NYC to experience new things…to get away from the “same.” I wonder why we struggle to start over when we do not literally move. My huge conversion experience happened when God rescued me from one state and moved me to another state. God makes “all things new.”

We make choices every day. One of those choices is living in freedom. Why do we choose to live in bondage consistently? Because it is what we are accustomed to? Jesus says, “The truth will set you free.” If Jesus is the truth, then freedom comes from having an intimate relationship with the only incredible God. How amazing is this whole idea of salvation!

It is not the critic who counts.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” –Theodore Roosevelt

I am pretty sure that I have been the critic more than I have been the person in the arena. How incredible would it be if we decided to not be critics? I am critical, by personality…a huge weakness of mine. I can be critical of anything. I am critical of a dying dog. It really is such a tragedy.

I have decided that being a critic is the easy way out. It is easy to be a skeptic. The hard thing in life is to be the person who is alone, being criticized. It is difficult to fail and fail and fail again. It is hard to struggle, to stumble, and to fall. It is hard to live for a worthy cause. It is hard to know only defeat.

But oh, how sweet when there is victory. How wonderful when you can say for once, “I was not the critic. I took the road less travelled.” This is a challenge for all of us to be “the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strove valiantly, who spent himself in a worthy cause, who knew the triumph of high achievement, and who dared greatly.”