New book!

  Starting 5/11/11, I began reading a new book, and it is very good.

Heaven is for Real. It's a true story about a little boy who became very sick, and he was taken to heaven. He sat with Jesus and talked to him, met John the Baptist, etc. And the kid was only 3 years old. It's a cute book, and I recommend it.

But one thing that I think is particularly interesting is that, since the little boy met Jesus and knew what he looked like, lots of artists were drawing pictures of ways that Jesus might look, and asking him if the picture looked like the real Jesus, and the kid kept saying, "no, that's not quite right." And then there was a little girl who drew a picture of what she thought Jesus might look like, and the little boy immediately said that it looked exactly like him. And the picture is in the book.
It looks similar to our interpretation of Jesus' looks, but yet it's different.

I found that to be interesting. So, if you read the book, you can see what Jesus looks like. Incentive, I know :P

When Jesus Isn't Enough

  I have been into stumbleupon lately...
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/68jg18/storybleed.com/2011/01/when-jesus-isnt-enough/
And I found this just now, and I thought it was so true. And then I thought, "I can write a whole saga about that on my blog!" So that's what I'm doing.

  First off, every American, no matter how poor, is so spoiled. Americans always want more and more, and then aren't truly thankful for any of it. I think the main problem here is that we receive too much.  If we only received material blessings every so often, we would be thankful when we did receive them. I don't know how often you receive material things, but I am gifted them constantly. If we are at the store and I see something I really want, I ask my mom if I can get it, and she usually says yes. And then when I get it home, I feel almost like I deserve to have it, and I'm not thankful at all.

  People in poor countries have absolutely nothing, but it is so easy for them to love and follow the Lord. Why is that? Personally, I believe that material possessions are a huge barrier between God and us. Those who have absolutely nothing - no food, necessities, hope - live so simply. Their lives aren't cluttered with unnecessary junk. So when they hear about Jesus, and how He will always sustain those who are weak, give hope to the hopeless, and everything else that they need, they simply trust and have faith, and that's all there is to it. Isn't that amazing to you? It amazes me. They just accept it so easily, and completely rely on God. And relying on God is what you are supposed to do, but if you're like me, we don't always trust Him with the important things, or sometimes even the little things, for fear that he won't give us the answer we want, or that he won't come through for us. (Or maybe that's just me....) I wish I had simple faith, but I don't. Do you have simple, child-like faith? The Bible says that we must have this kind of faith. But what should you do if you don't?

 There are always a thousand things we could do instead of go read our Bible or spend time praying, and usually I do the thousand other things. Watch tv, watch movies, get on the internet, call a friend, clean, eat out of boredom, etc. But for those that don't have any of those things, they most likely spend a lot more time meditating on the Word, and wanting to go more in-depth with their relationship with God. If you have ever just meditated on God, then you know that it has that effect. The more you think about how awesome, loving, and forgiving He is, the more you want to become closer and closer with Him. But, as I said, we only meditate on Him every so often, because we are distracted by other things. But those who have nothing to distract them think of God so much more, and so much more often - thus putting them in a better place spiritually.

  This whole topic always gets me. How simple and childlike the faith is of people who have absolutely nothing. Not a single thing of value. Yet, I think of how wonderful it would be to live and think like that, but would I ever really renounce all of my possessions and go live somewhere dirty and sleep on the ground? Probably not of my own accord. I probably wouldn't do that unless God gave me a huge calling.