what would happen if.....

well hello again there, good lookin' ;) YES! That means you:)
This past week I was helpin out at DVBS here in oak lake with my awesome friend Carime. (daily vacation bible school) yay! Good times had by allll. As late as I was every single morning. Goodness, 9:30am is just too early for this girl!
Apart from loving little kids and their innocence, it's also awesome to just be around them sharing God with them. This one little Asian girl (i think her name was Katya, cool eh?) was so beautiful and her smile just lit me up inside. Oh goodness! God makes such beautiful people. Anyway, one boy was just hilarious. There wasn't one day where he didn't crack me up. Especially when he read from the Bible and used different accents for Jesus, and other people etc. etc. This kid is one funny duck, i believe he'd make an awesome actor. Anyway! The last day got pretty serious as we were talking about Jesus' crucifixion and the resurrection and what that truly meant. He asked, what would happen if Jesus didn't die for us on the cross?
What would happen? I thought to myself. Oh my word I can't even imagine. We'd all be doomed for hell...life would have no purpose....So many things just poured into my head. But what can you say to a 10-12 year old that wouldn't freak the crap out of him? I felt really bad cuz we didn't really elaborate for him, and I know how much it sucks when those questions in your brain don't get answered. So what I wanted to basically ask is, what would you say to a little kid who asked you that? I think I should be prepared, you know? That'd be sweet if anyone had any idea.
Thank you Jesus for saving us.....man. I can't believe He would suffer all that pain and agony when He knew alot of us would turn our backs on Him anyway. That's real love. I love you Jesus! That sounds so sunday-school-ish, but I don't care! Give Jesus your praise today!
-carly

Love or Lust? (yes, the big s-e-x)

I just read this amazingly cool diddly today by a dude named Duncan Moore. I figured I'd write it out on here for all you guys to read, it REALLY REALLY helped me alot. I know it's long, but don't make that a lousy exscuse to not read it! So, Enjoy!

Dating advice: if lust is driving your relationship, it will never work. Here's why.

I was brought up in an atheistic family and it wasn't until I arrived at university that I met lots of Christians. They seemed nice people and there was a quality to their friendships that I envied. However, they seemed to me to be painfully naive and their innocence, particularly in the area of sexual morality, evoked my patronizing sympathy. Since then my thinking has radically changed. In this article I want to ask whether there are good reasons for taking the Bible's teaching on sex seriously.

Contrary to popular belief, Christians don't view sex as a bad thing, tolerated as a concession. God invented sex and he meant it to be good, very good. Sex is not just a means to pregnancy, but is meant to be an intense, joyful, passionate expression of love. God also designed a context for sex -- lifelong marriage between one man and one woman. Contemporary English culture has now mostly abandoned this idea. Should Christians abandon it as irrelevant or does it point to timeless principles?

Pragmatic Reasons (practical)

From a practical viewpoint there are plenty of advantages to following the Bible's blueprint for sex. It protects against STD's - no small thing for us and a huge issue in parts of the world where AIDS is wiping out whole communities and destroying the economy. It also protects against unwanted pregnancies outside of marriage.
Keeping sex exclusively for marriage avoids the pain and destructiveness of comparing different sexual partners. It also guards against the very painful situation where one partner is very in love and the other is purely interested in having an orgasm.
A final thought is that our sexual drives and desires are addictive. Someone once pointed out that our sexual desires have the engine of a Ferrari and the brakes of a bicycle. If we stir up and feed our sexual desires in unhealthy ways it becomes harder and harder to reamin faithful in marriage, with all the emotional agony unfaithfulness brings. The divorce statistics reflect the consequences of our sexual values.

Ideological Reasons

The practical reasons alone are strong enough in themselves to support the case for the Bible's teaching on sex. However, there are more fundamental reasons for setting sexual relationships aside for marriage. God didn't design sex simply to give us orgasms, he designed sex as an expression of love and physical intimacy.
To have sex with someone is a profoundly meaningful thing and if misused the effects can be devastating. There's a wonderful story of a court case where a man sued the manufacturers of his lawnmower. The man had injured himself while using his mower to trim a hedge and claimed that the instructions didn't say that the mower couldn't be used for that purpose. Similarly, sex has a purpose but because it's such a powerful thing, it can do a lot of damage if not used as per the maker's instructions.
To understand the Bible's view of sex we must understand the difference between love and lust. Love honors, values, and seeks the best for the beloved. It focuses on the other person. It's selfless, sacrificial and inseparable from commitment. Lust, on the other hand, seeks to use things or people to meet its needs and gratify its desires. It focuses inward on itself, is inherently selfish, and rejects commitment.
Love and lust are opposites. They are in direct conflict with each other. The question to be asked is whether our sexual relationships are an expression of love or lust: "I want to honor and value you, giving myself to you," or "I want to use you as a tool to satisfy my urge for an orgasm, using you and taking from you." If God really has designed sex as an expression of love, to use it for lust is an extremely destructive lie.

The role of Marriage

Marriage is a profound mystery, the joining of two people to become one. It doesn't guarantee or enforce love, but if taken seriously as an unconditional lifelong commitment of faithfulness and fidelity, it certainly helps to distinguish between love and lust. Just as litmus paper tests for the presence of acid, marriage tests for the presence of commitment. How do we know if we truly love someone enough to have sex with them? Marriage asks are we willing to commit ourselves to them for life?
Marriage is also a safety net. We're all fragile and fallible. How can we be confident and secure in the love of our partner in light of our shortcomings and failings? The answer again is commitment. If commitment is absent, then love isn't genuine and sex is reduced to a physical orgasm which technically you don't need two people for.

Conclusion (ie: the ending! haha)

Lust is powerful and seductive, but it's inherently selfish and opposed to love. As we foster and feed lust in our lives we're dragged inexorably ( unyielding, unrelenting) towards isolation, loneliness, insecurity and emptiness. What do we have left when orgasm becomes boring and unsatisfying, left alone to face the pain of guilt and loneliness?
Love with commitment is clearly very expensive and hard work. It requires honor, respect, forgiveness, and sacrifice. However it's the road out of the loneliness, suspicion and despair that plagues our culture. If we substitute lust for love we end up with a meaningless sensation which eventually loses its novelty and can never satisfy beyond the physical.

God's intention for us is that we should be set free from the power and slavery of lust and become men and woman of genuine love. Everyones falls short of a God who views sleeping around and entertaining lustful thoughts alike. However, ( and i'm glad of this however:))He offers us all the forgiveness we need to bring us into a deep personal relationship with Him.
The love we experience in our relationship with God begins to be worked out in our relationships with each other. Our choice is either to respond to God's offer and pursue a life of love empowered by his love or to reject him and set off on our own.

Tell me what you guys think!
-Carly

alicia, me, mando 

lead guitar doin some solo 

lead guitarist 

lights and people 

the Foo 

taylor and dave 

too long!....is she dead?!

wow..so i guess i haven't been on here in what? about 3 months? sorry guys, i understand if you've all given up on checkin out this site and no one's really reading this haha.
well i don't have too much to say, but i will give you these sweet, awesome, funktastic verses that i just read last night. do with 'em as you wish:)

Isaiah 40:28Have you never heard or understood? Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. 29He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. 30Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. 31But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

hmm...i really LOVE verses like these. don't forget that through all the crap, God is everlasting.

did any one get a chance to go see the Foo last wednesday!??!?! if you didn't, well. that really sucks i guess. I'll try and leave you some pictures tho:) Have a great week everyone!

check out: www.ask.sonlife.ca really good site for ANY questions you have.
-carly

Hey everyone,

It's been a really long time, I know. I just read this post of a friend of mine, and he basically poured out his heart and soul. We all get a little tired of life sometimes, and we need eachother to build eachother up in those times. Soo, what I'm trying to get at, I want to pray for you guys, and we can pray for eachother. If you feel the need to talk about something going on in your life, please do. Any thing you want to give God praise for, anything. You don't have to leave your name, God will sort it out. I just really think this is a cool idea (compliments of Jer!) So go on, leave some comments. I can start with a prayer request of mine:

I have a lot of trouble keeping the faith when life gets hectic. This usually results in me taking it out on my family, i just get crusty with them and tear them down with hurtful words. Please pray that I can get a grip on my anger and just be a witness for my family. And also that i wouldn't base my love for God on my emotions. I love you guys, thanks.

Phew, that feels cool. Just try it guys, let some stuff go. Hope to hear from you guys soon.
love your sis in Jesus,
carly

I lift it up, I lift it up, lift it up so you can see, I lift it up, I lift it up, lift it up from inside of me;

So I lift it, I lift it up to you, and I will never forget, the times that we've been through, so I lift it, I said I lift it up to you; And I surrender all of me, to you, to you, to you, and everything I'll ever be, to you, to you, to you, and I surrender all of me...

~TFK~

jesse + no dreads = what the crap junk crap!?!

yes, it's the sad truth. his beloved dreads are dead. (hence the red font. you know, red=blood..haha, anyway!)

kenneth and him came over to bring me some cds. and kenny was like, "hey, look at jesse!" and that i did. i think my mouth was wide open for at least 3 minutes. he sat there....then got out of the car...then walked toward me....and yep. i was in shock. you'll all see the new doo fairly soon, i just thought it was crazy so i thought i'd announce it. and yep, if ya don't know him...well, this blog is useless to ya ain't it!?
but for now, he better be growing a mohawk!!

if you're readin this buddy, leave me a comment!

until next time *sniff sniff*
holy wow it sounds like i was completely obsessed with his dreads...haha. i'm not that creepy, really!..shut up!
love car

are you real?

so much stress keeps running through my mind now

i fell into a mess that i wish i could climb out

i guess i'll hide it so nobody will find out

that way everyone thinks everything is fine now

at home things are messed up with mom and dad

and at school all my friends stab me in my back

no one is real anymore i hate the way they act

there is so many things that i wish i had

so God if you're there do you understand

don't you care about anything that's happening

it's not fair to put me through all this junk again

you see that i'm scared so help me if you can

so please speak loud and clear cuz i'm listening

i need to know that your real cuz i'm struggling

you need to show that you're here cuz i'm stumbling

show me that you care and this is why i'm saying this

are you real, i want to know? are you real, then let it go.

are you real, i want to know. are you real then let is show.

it was right then when everything began to change

i started looking at these things in a different way

i saw life through God's eyes and it wasn't the same

that was right at the time i called on your name

and then i saw all the lies that was thrown my way

i recognized that i need you and on that day

i cried out and sought you that was when you came

now that i see you i've been through a major change

i believe you are real cuz it's so plain

and finally i feel that i can make it through anything

it don't matter what they speak or if they hate

they can't keep me down no more cuz i've seen your face

and from now never will i be ashamed

cuz ima stand strong i won't bend or sway

now that i know that you're real it's gonna be ok

i hear you speaking in my ear and this is what you say

are you real, i want to know? are you real, then let it go

are you real, i want to know? are you real, then let it show

see there is a war that's going on outside

you can try and ignore it and just run and hide

but everyday more and more people die

see the battle is for souls and we are on the front lines

so many soldiers are too scared to fight

they're too worried about what people thinking of they life

how can you fight if you won't lay down your pride

and how will anyone see if you won't shine your light

so many of your friends is walking around blind

and you've got the source that can open up their eyes

it's yalls choice what you'll do with your lives

but i'm gonna go to war cuz i've made up my mind

Jesus gave his life when he went and died

so the least that i could do is just give him all of mine

so how many of yall are ready to fight by my side

cuz this is what he's saying right now here tonight

are you real, i want to know? are you real, then let it go

are you real, i want to know? are you real, then let it show...

KJ-52

god only knows

hey guys,

so i've kind of been deserting the people who read this i guess. woops. haha, like becca said, i just can't come up with anything. but i figured, i think i'll just babble today. today just feels like one a those days.
i'm not sure what week it was, maybe last week i think, but i wasn't doing so well. no one to blame but my stupid self really. i just started work, festival was going on, choir, piano, and not to mention the piles and piles of chem homework and other such things that teachers love to load on ya. we've all been there, so i will try not to have that poor-me attitude. for some reason i just cant handle these things too well. i freak out, worry myself sick, and focus in only on my problems. it got to the point where i wasn't sleeping. all because of stupid freaking stuff that isn't going to matter in the end. but hey, we're humans right? (which doesn't make it right, but we just do this sort of thing) "heyyy lets see how much i can fit into my life this week! no time for you god...sorry, maybe next week. after all, things are going well, i don't need you right now."
this was basically my attitude all week. ha. OBVIOUSLY god was trying to desperately shake me out of this vicous thought process. i was just blinded at the time, didn't really see it coming.
soo...everything started to spin out of control. and what did i do? hmm, this girl tried to take it on allll by her lonesome. you know, the whole, i can do it, my strength is enough. that is so wrong guys. i can tell you that much.
i was always crusty at school, i wasn't praying heartfelt prayers, my bible time was raunchy, and i just didn't give a damn about anyone else. (sorry about the language but it's really true i'm so mad at myself)
so i gave up. i was toast at the end of the week. and you know, all i had to do was just kneel before god, and TELL him, i can't do this alone. that's all he wants. and trust me he knows, he just wants us to admit it. so i told him, i don't want control over my life at school, work, even during sleeping, when i'm around friends, and spending time with You. just get rid of me, cuz i'm sick of this.
and honestly, when you start putting god first, before every stupid thing, things fall into place. i'm not saying there won't be struggles, but you will get through them with god's help. believe me, you will. i'm just so thankful to have a best friend like Him i don't know what i would do without Him.
so, if you've had a crap week, weeks, month, months, year, whatever. check yourself, and see where your desires really lie. are u trying to accomplish things for yourself, or are u working to give god the glory?

love car