Love this saying & this shirt, I actually own this shirt. 

I wanted to write a post about this topic. Yesterday on The View (Which I only watch now that Candace Cameron Bure is on it) they were talking about an atheist billboard that said "Go ahead & skip church, just be good for goodness sake, Happy Holidays" & Joy asked Candace if this offended her being that she is a christian woman & I love her response, "You couldn't feed me something better to say to have a conversation that would then lead into sharing the gospel message. I would then say well what is good & what's the standard of goodness & what's God's standard of goodness?"

God's standard of goodness is the 10 Commandments, here is a list of them:

Now, I know most of us haven't murdered someone or stolen anything or committed adultery, etc. But have you lied? Have you always honored your parents? Have you ever used God's name in vain? Have you ever coveted, wishing you had something someone else has? The list goes on...

The bible says that, "For whoever keeps the whole law & yet 

stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." - James 2:10

Also it says, "Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, & 

you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him." -1 John 3:15

So by that standard non of us are "Good" & "Being Good isn't Good Enough."

BUT, 

THE GOOD NEWS IS THIS:

The price has already been paid in FULL for us. God sent his 

son Jesus Christ to pay that price for us by dying on the cross.

Any questions, thoughts, comments, please feel free to share below! Thanks!

1:10 PM

Only in America are we thankful for all that we have on Thanksgiving

& then Black Friday comes & we're fighting over the things we don't have.

Am I the ONLY one who find this crazy?

There is something wrong with this picture.

Sure who doesn't love getting new things on sale? But I just find it

ironic. Especially, because Thanksgiving is about being thankful!

Before I went into work today I saw on the news where two guys

broke out into a fist fight, fighting over some BIG Black Friday deal.

Really? Have we stooped so low that we can't even be civil anymore?

I remember a couple years back when I worked Black Friday at
Toys R Us, I had to work a 12 hour shift & it was crazy busy the
entire time & yes people were fighting over toys! Insanity!

There's nothing wrong with going Black Friday shopping &

getting these awesome deals if you want to go in these MASSIVE

crowds, not for me. Maybe because I have been one of those
 retail workers on the ohter side of things. But be my guest if that's
for you. Just please act like normal human beings & don't fight over
petty things that you don't really even need anyway. I saw pictures of

adults taking things out of childrens' hands. Couldn't believe it!

Personally, I'd rather shop online... you know Cyber Monday!?

Also, I saw this picture as well & thought I'd share because this

really is truly the only savings that really matters...

Thoughts? Leave a comment! Thanks! :)

6:58 PM

"The thief comes only to steal, kill, & destroy, I have 

come that they may have life & have it to the full"

This past weekend my youth group & I went on our annual Fall Retreat! We had such an amazing weekend & the students & leaders both had awesome experiences with God & with each other.

The theme was all about living life to the fullest & how Satan tries to take that away & he tries to hold us back from having that full life whether it's from fear or worry or whatever else. We had quiet times in the woods where we went off on our own and prayed about this & just let God speak to us & then we would get into our small groups and discuss our experience from the quiet time & it was awesome to see what everyone got out of it. I l always love hearing what the students get out of it.

We also had all of our services & worship outside around the fire & the second night the sky was clear & you could see all the stars & so alot of us during worship are looking up at the stars & just standing in awe of his creation. Also in the evening me & a couple other people just sat around the fire & talked & I think that was one of my favorite things of the whole weekend. I love getting to spend time with some of my favorite people and just getting to know them better. Definitely a highlight for me!

Hiking was another one of the highlights for me. We went to Salt Fork & there are so many cool places there to hike to. We went to a cave & there's a lake that has a stonehouse & lots of rocks to climb. So peaceful & beautiful there & a great place to just practice photography. I got alot of awesome shots!

Here are a few more pictures from the trip...

5:15 PM