Special Olympics Bowling

I enjoyed helping with the Special Olympics Bowling yesterday.  It was a joy to see all of the Olympian's smiling faces and great attitudes.  Hopefully I was able to make the experience better for them and make their day by encouraging them and helping them.  I was reminded of how I take things for granted and I need to be more thankful for what I have and what God has given me.  They were so happy and so thankful for every little thing I did.  Just saying great job would make them smile and say thank you several times.  I learned alot from the men in my group.  At first, I was a little anxious about helping because I didn't know how to interact with them in the best way, but after the first game I figured out how to help them the best.  I am very privileged and thank you Mr. Mendenhall for letting us experience that.  It was all about the bowlers and it was great watching everyone bowl.  Many of them could bowl much better than I could!  I loved the excitement they showed when they did good and I was glad to be able to share the success with them.   Some people may view them as different physically or mentally, but it hardly took any time at all for me to feel no different around them.   It is wrong to think they are different because God created us all in a special way and they are very special and unique.  Thank you God for making us all how you did!
Psalm 139:14Yesterday was a great day and I was very glad I was able to help. 

Spiritual Emphasis Week

            Spiritual Emphasis Week has been very good this year, probably the best I have experienced while being at OBA.  Andy Braner is a great speaker who I have enjoyed very much.  He has challenged me in many areas and he always has a great message.  On Monday he asked,  "how do we know that God is real?"  We need to have reasons and to know for sure why we believe what we believe, such as this previous question.  He shared Matthew 22:36-40 with us and then showed us ways how to love God and put faith into action.  The big question Tuesday was, "BELIEVE?"  Starting off on Tuesday with the questions "Why do I believe what I believe?" and "Who is God?", he challenged me to know why I believe things and not just saying that I believe things.  Genesis 1:1 is the basic foundation for believing and the cornerstone for life.  You can't 100% prove that it is true, but with the small percent left, you have to live by faith.    There is very much evidence that many things in the Bible happened, but the things we can't see, we have to have faith in believing those things are real or really happened.  BEHAVE? was the big question to start things off on Wednesday.  Andy mentioned over and over that ideas have consequences.  We can be healthy if we feed on God's spiritual things and what you put in is what you become.  Junk food changes your physical shape, just like your thoughts change your behavior.  Junk food also causes heart problems and confuses your body's functions, just like unhealthy spiritual things can confuse your spiritual life.  The junk food tastes great in the short term or in that moment, but in the long term it leads to adverse side effects.  What you watch, listen to, think about, and spend time doing is what you become.  You need to make sure everything you do brings glory to God.  Andy showed us some examples of dating through the world's eyes.  At first it can be okay, but then it can keep growing if you are not careful and can become very unhealthy.  The way he showed us the examples was through a few songs.  The first one I thought was okay to listen to, but I wouldn't listen to it much.  It talks about not changing the person because they are amazing just they way they are.  This reminds me of not worrying about image and that looks do not matter.  God made you the way you are and it is perfect!  The next songs he played showed how dating can be unhealthy or bad if you are not careful.  You need to have a relationship built around God and do everything to serve and bring glory to Him.  As Andy was wrapping everything up on Friday, the big question was BELONG?  If we just BELIEVE and BEHAVE correctly, it is not enough.  There will be no benefit if we do not BELONG with everyone else.  We need to be involved and be close to people for the other to actions to do anything.  We need to follow Matthew 22:37-39 which says, "Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  This is a good model to live by: Love God with everything you do and love your neighbor.  Neighbor means everyone, even enemies.  That is a great way to live!!  Like I said before, I really enjoyed Andy Braner as the speaker for Spiritual Emphasis Week.  He challenged me and made me think about everything that I do.  Why do I do what I do? I should do everything to bring honor and Glory to God.  So that is everything that I got out of this week. 

Friends

The most important qualities I look for in close friends is having a relationship with Jesus.  I say this because you need someone that can build you up and someone that can draw you closer to God.  Another quality is being trustworthy.  In any relationship, if there isn't any trust,  the relationship will be strained and it won't work out very well.  I also want someone who can love me for who I am  even when I mess up and make mistakes.   I myself need to work on many qualities and being better at all of them but the biggest quality that I need to work on is truly caring about the person.  I do care but sometimes it seems like the same old thing but I need to always constantly care and try to help the person.  I have a great friend.  We have only known each other for a little over three months, but over that time we have become very close.  This is the most deep and best friendship I have ever had.  She is a Christian and firm believer and we both build each other up and have become closer to God through the relationship.  She is very trustworthy, she cares about me, and she loves me for who I am.  She is one of the most caring people I know and it has been a blast being able to get closer to her over the three months.  I look forward to the time we will continue to have together.  God is great and hasn't just blessed me with her, but many others who are great people to be around...“The righteous should CHOOSE HIS FRIENDS CAREFULLY, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Proverbs 12:26)  "As iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17