Boasting

I have been listening to Lecrae a lot recently. Lecrae is a rap artist. He is an extremely passionate artist and challenges me in many ways with his songs. The song Boasting is an amazing song. I am loving this song so much right now.

Hook:

If this life has anything to gain at all
I count it lost if I can't hear you, feel you, 'cause I need you
Can't walk this earth alone
I recognize I am not my own, so before I fall
I need to hear you, feel you, as I live to make my boast in you alone

Verse 1:
With every breath I take, with every heart beat,
Sunrise and the moon lights in the dark street
Every glance, every dance, every note of a song
It's all a gift undeserved that I shouldn't have known
Every day that I lie, every moment I covet
I'm deserving to die, I'm just earning your judgment
I, without the cross there's only condemnation
If Jesus wasn't executed there's no celebration
So in times that are good, in times that are bad
For any times that I've had it all I will be glad
And I will boast in the cross, I boast in my pains
I will boast in the sunshine, boast in his reign (rain)
What's my life if it's not praising you
Another dollar in my bank account of vain pursuit, I do
That count my life as any value or precious at all
Let me finish my race, let me answer my call

(Hook)

Verse 2:
Tomorrow's never promised, but it is we swear
Think we holding our own, just a fist full of air
God has never been obligated to give us life
If we fought for our rights, we be in hell tonight
Mere sinners own nothing but a fierce hand
We never loved him we pushed away his pierced hands
I rejected his love, grace, kindness, and mercy
Dying of thirst, yet, willing to die thirsty
Eternally worthy, how could I live for less?
Patiently you turn my heart away from selfishness
I volunteer for your sanctifying surgery
I know the spirits purging me of everything that's hurting me
Remove the veil from my darkened eyes
So now every morning I open Your Word and see the Son (Sun) rise
I hope in nothin', boast in nothin', only in your sufferin'
I live to show your glory, dyin' to tell your story

(Hook)

Bridge:
Glory was solely meant for you
Doing what no one else could do
With all I have to give, (With all I have to give)
I'll use my life, I'll use my lips (My Lips, Yaaa)
I'll only glory in your Word
What gift to me I don't deserve
I'll live in such a way that it reflects to you, my Praise

(Hook)

Boasting in HIM alone is the message i receive when hearing this song. It is not about myself. "I recognize I am not my own" is one line that sticks out to me. On my own, i cannot overcome my sins. --Ecclesiastes 4:12 "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."-- His Word, the Bible, backs up this line. By myself, i am weak. With one other person, i may be able to stand. With 2 others, we can do amazing things.

Imagine if i am with God. Forget being with one or two other people. If i am with God, the Creator, then i can overcome anything. He knows the ins and outs of every person. Even though humanity and God are seperated because of humanity's fall, God is big enough to overcome the gap. It's because of His Grace that i can live.

"If we fought for our rights, we be in hell tonight" is another amazing line. Think about it... So many times we are worried about doing 'good works' so that we can be with God. Yes, doing 'good works' and following His commands will strengthen our relationship with Him. Before we reach any of that, we must accept His Grace. --Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."-- Lets face it, NO amount of works can get us into Heaven. We must accept that God came to earth to be like us and show us how to live. He then died and rose from the grave. We must accept that His death has covered ALL of our sins. His rising from the grave represents the defeat of Satan. He stormed the gates of hell and defeated death.

--Matthew 16:18 "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."--

New post.

It has been awhile since ive posted...this isnt good :). but owell i dont mind. ..NEW POST COMING VERY SOON..

Postseason.

So here is some of my bragging... i picked the winner of each of the division series correctly :). the only thing i missed was that the Yankees won in 3 games and not 4. bummer ;) heres some more predictions

ALCS
Rangers are winning on the road and they are going to win at least 2 at home this series. Josh Hamilton is going to start hitting and these Rangers will win by any means possible. Yes the Yankees are the ideal veterns but i feel like the Rangers pitchers will get in a groove and that will be plenty for their bats in a very hard fought series.
Rangers over Yankees in 7

NLCS
Now this is some great pitching: Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels against Lincecum, Sanchez, Cain. The big edge in this is Philly has much better bats than the Giants. In low scoring games the Phillies will easily find ways to score. i think they will display how hot this team is right now.
Philadelphia over Giants in 5

Chocolate.

choc·o·late 
–noun
1. a preparation of the seeds of cacao, roasted, husked, and ground, often sweetened and flavored, as with vanilla.
2. a beverage made by dissolving such a preparation in milk or water, served hot or cold: a cup of hot chocolate.
3. candy made from such a preparation.
4. an individual piece of this candy.
5. any syrup or flavoring made from this preparation or artificially imitating its flavor.


Chocolate is such a great snack. In the form of bars, ice cream, milk, candy, or even fountains. Chocolate is used in so many ways and many people use it in their daily diet too. But has anyone ever stopped to think about how the chocolate they are eating got to where it is now? Have they ever stopped to think about who's hands made this chocolate?


Friday morning, October 8, my family and i begin our car drive toward Havana, Illinois to attend my cousin's wedding. The car ride would last about 5.5 hours. i figured this would be a great time to once again pick up my book "Stop the Traffik" by Steve Chalke. It is about illegal trafficking of innocent people. These people are used to many things; they are mainly forced to have sex with strangers or work as slaves for farms or businesses. That is my very very brief summary of what "Stop the Traffik" is about.



When i picked up my book i began in chapter 5: BUY (A chocolate bar: just a harmless treat? But who picked those cocoa beans? Is there a darker side to your chocolate? Money to spend, choices to make - don't buy into the global trade of people.) So where does the very beginning of our chocolate in the U.S. take place? It begins with the farmers where people, mostly children aged from 6 or 7 to 13 (im sure there are places with younger and older people forced to work), are forced to farm the cocoa plant which is our chocolate.


This is slavery. These children are not volunteering to work. They are sometimes tricked into this trap by people promising a chance for an education or work with good pay. Mostly children in poverty-stricken areas are tricked into slavery. In some cases even the family can turn against these children.


May these REAL quotes from REAL people break your heart as they have broken mine.

"If you eat chocolate that isn't traffick free, then you've got blood on your teeth." -Rhys Ifans


"When you eat chocolate, you eat my flesh." -A boy, eleven, trafficked into the Ivory Coast to work on a cocoa plantation.



Is there chocolate that is slave free? Gladly i can say YES!!! Try searching Fair Trade Foundation on Google someday or visiting fairtrade.org.uk. Fair Trade is based on 4 principles: 1. Pay a reasonable prices to farmers that at least covers the cost of production and basic living costs. 2. Pay a premium that the farmers have to invest in their community. 3. Ensure that it is possible for farmers to be paid an advance to meet costs. 4. Contracts are long-term, which allows for planning and stability. i strongly suggest researching or gaining awareness about Fair Trade.

How can i tell if a product has been fairly traded? Well, thankfully fairtrade has an official mark (above) and it appears on products that are approved by Fair Trade. For a product to display the FAIRTRADE Mark it must meet international Fairtrade standards which are set by the international certification body Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International(FLO). These standards are agreed through a process of research and consultation with key participants in the Fairtrade scheme, including producers themselves, traders, NGOs, academic institutions and labelling organisations such as the Fairtrade Foundation. (fairtrade.org.uk)

"When Cadbury's and Hershey, and Mars and Lindt and Nestle and all of the others, produce chocolate that is traffick free, you cna be sure that they will be the first to put a little mark on those bars telling us that. If a chocolate bar doesn't say it's traffick free; if it doesn't say it's fairly traded it's just not. It's as simple as that." -Steve Chalke, Founder of Stop the Traffick


"The chocolate industry can give us chocolate that is sugar-free, fat-free, nut-free and additive-free... so why can't they proudly tell us it's slave-free as well?" -Ruth Dearnley, CEO of Stop the Traffik

Here are some what ifs im beginning to ask myself:
What if i decided to buy ONLY chocolate that has the fair trade mark?
What if i do not eat any chocolate unless i know that it has met the international Fairtrade standards?
What if the money i spent on chocolate was used for Teens In Need or People Being Trafficked across the world?

time for an update.

It has been quite a while since I last blogged. I am already in the 8th week of my senior year. ONLY 28 MORE!!! (i think) A lot has happened and is starting to happen.

First of all football started...YES!! Although I am not too pleased with my fantasy record, 1-3, it will turn around. The Bears are 3-1, a much better start than expected. And Illinois played half descent against Ohio State this last weekend. Yes football is pretty much awesome...Staying in sports: Baseball. The postseason begins today!! Predictions for the Division Round are as follows:

Yankees over Twins in 4 games
-You see I would love to see the Twins finally do something in my lifetime but I do not think its gonna happen this year. The Yankees are defending champs.

Rangers over Rays in 5
-I really love the Rangers and Josh Hamilton. Its a great story. I think they finally pull off a win although the Rays are very tough and always play their best.

Phillies over Reds in 3
-The Reds have struggled all season against the top teams. Philly is just now getting healthy and playing better than ever. I think they go on a run and demolish Cincinnati.

Giants over Braves in 4
-The Giants have great pitching, the Braves do too at times. The Braves have the better bats in this series. For some reason I think the Giants will win this series even though I think the Braves are better.

ENOUGH SPORTS!!!!!

Yes, I mentioned school earlier. Let us just say that this year is already flying by. Ive been super busy with college stuff and high school stuff. I will say it has been ok though.

ENOUGH SCHOOL!!!!!

Coming into the school year I figured my relationship with God would grow. I thought I would get into a schedule and therefore have a daily time for only God and I. It has been tough making that a habit thus far. Being completely honest with myself and God, I have definitely been indifferent about our relationship recently. Even though I have not struggled much thus far, I have put off being with my Lord and Savior. He deserves me. I haven't given me to Him completely. Its time i stop slacking, its time i stop dwelling on the past, its time i start desiring Him, its time i start living for Him.

NOT ENOUGH GOD!!!!!

Football.

Alright, i'm very excited that football is finally back. And well since i've read many blogs about predictions in the NFL, i decided to share some of my opinion. Brandon Snodgrass and i did our own little predictions while on one of our flights to Haiti this past summer. Keep in mind we did this about 2 and a half months ago. I considered changing some but nah i like it, kinda haha. Enjoy. (Division winners in bold, wildcard in italics, and they are in order of finish)

AFC North:
We both thought the Ravens and Bengals would fight over the division this year. The Steelers are always tough but too many distractions right now. The Ravens are so complete and the Bengals really started to turn things around last year. I think the Bengals will put up a fight till the end but it may not be enough for the division or a wildcard. As for the Browns, well yeah.

Ravens
Bengals
Steelers
Browns

AFC South:
The Colts once again will take this division. It is way too hard to pick against them, especially with the smartest player in the game on their team (oh and he's not too bad athletically too). The Titans and Texans will both fight over 2nd place and a wildcard spot. Yes most think the Texans will finally make it this year but for some reason we picked the Titans haha. So im sticking with that. The Jaguars really dont have much other than Maurice Jones-Drew. Its really hard to even pick them finishing 2nd or 3rd.

Colts
Titans
Texans
Jaguars

AFC East:
Now this was a fun division in my opinion. I dont know why but maybe it because of where we picked the Patriots to end up. We really think that are getting up there and this year could be the beginning of some losing for them. They'll fight for a wildcard but their division is finally catching up to them and their age may just do the same. We went with the Jets because we feel they are going to improve even more this year and much sooner than the end of the year. They are similar to the Ravens in my opinion, just a year or two behind. But, we feel they can pull it out. The Dolphins for some reason attracted us too so we went with them. :) The Bills just really aren't that good. They have some pieces but thats it.

Jets
Dolphins
Patriots
Bills

AFC West:
As most people think, this division sucks. Thats kinda harsh but they will easily be the worst in the AFC. On our papar, we wrote them in this order: Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos. So im not sure whether or not we truly thought the Broncos would finish last or not but owell im going with it. The Chargers will easily take this division cuz they could easily win all 6 of their division games and maybe 2 or 3 outside of it.

Chargers
Chiefs
Raiders
Broncos

NFC North:
So yeah, we did this in the month of June when Brett Favre hadn't decided yet. We assumed he would be back and hey look at that, he's back! Although the Packers could be extremely good and take the division we went with the Vikings because we think Favre has ONE last year left. The Packers have the potential to have the best offense in the league but sometimes that defense can give up quite a bit of points. The Bears and Lions, well neither one really has a shot this year at the division...maybe wildcard if they can really show up each week but not likely (As a bears fan, i hope they do but im trying to be realistic).

Vikings
Packers
Bears
Lions

NFC South:
This should turn out to be a fun division. Each team really is fun to watch. The Saints are still too complete for everyone else but the Falcons could really push them. Matty Ice is pretty talented. The Panthers dont quite have that really important position filled with a permanent guy..QB. Maybe if they did but i dont see them fighting for the division, possibly a wildcard though. The Bucs just dont have much of a defense and Freeman is still young but improving.

Saints
Falcons
Panthers
Bucaneers

NFC East:
This division usually has 4 pretty solid teams but not this year. I feel like the Eagles lost too much to put up a real fight. And the team that received some of their players, Redskins, well i dont see them doing too much either. I think it'll be the Giants and Cowboys fighting for the division. They'll all beat each other up because they normally do and i think that'll hurt them in non-division play. The Cowboys have received too much hype and won't pull through. Eli is going to lead the Giants to win the division but in a close race.

Giants
Cowboys
Eagles
Redskins

NFC West:
Very similar to that other Western division. They'll probably fight them for the worst in the league. It's not good. The 49ers are improving behind their coach of Singletary. The Cardinals really lost quite a bit in Warner but Derek Anderson could surprise some people this year. The Seahawks will be in the race for the division but they are going downhill. The Rams, well, still very young. Sam Bradford could make an impact but not enough to put them in the race.

Cardinals
Seahawks
49ers
Rams

Super Bowl:
The Indianapolis Colts make another great run and face off with the Minnesota Vikings. This year Favre does not throw that interception against the Saints, but against the Colts. Indianapolis is Super Bowl Champions.

Raffle

So this weekend my family had our Yoder Camp-out. It consisted of around 50-60 people this year. It is a time of fellowship, food, and fun. Usually occurs on two days, saturday and sunday.

This year a family inside our big family had faced some struggles. As a result the big family decided to support this family. They put together a raffle which consisted of a lot of random prizes. Each ticket cost $1. But it was mentioned that you could purchase them for more if you choose to. All of the money raised went toward the family in need.

Coming into the day i did not know we were doing a raffle and it took me by surprise. But i was entirely impressed by my family. In one day we raised/gave $840. There was only 300 tickets so figure that one out! :) it was so awesome to see my family come around and support this one family. God can do great things if we just give Him what we have!