Hard Days

     Has today been a hard day to you?  Was it like when you woke up this morning the rain clouds were above you head and followed you every where you went?  Well everyone has those day, trust me I have those them too!  But you know what, not everything has gone wrong today.  Your still breathing, that's a good sign!  God blessed you another day in this world! Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it." Here is another really good thing about this day... THE TOMB IS STILL EMPTY!!!  You know what that means right?  It means that Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day!  He still forgives us for our sins, and helps us in time of need.  I would rather give everything away than not have eternal salvation.  So the next time you are having a grumpy day remind yourself the tomb is still empty!  Then I believe your day would be a better.

Fear Not!

     Psalms 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid of?"  That's a powerful verse, huh?  But what does it mean?  It means with God on my side why should I fear? Also since God is the stronghold of my life why should I be afraid of death? Here is one of my favorite sayings, "With Him I can move mountains, without Him I can do nothing."  I just love that!  I can do ANYTHING with the Lord's help and without Him I am nothing.  It amazes me all the love God gave us, so why do we fear? 
     Like I said we can do anything with the Lord, if He allows us. So remember...
         FEAR NOT GOD IS WITH YOU!!!

Action!

Have you ever burned yourself?  I mean a real burn that hurts even to tap it gently?  If you have you can remember how bad it felt and how annoyingly painful it was.  If you haven't had that kind of burn then think of a cut or scrape that hurt so much you had fight back the tears.  To me I think burns are the worst kinds of injuries. They stay there longer than a scrape and hurt a lot more to.  They feel like it will never go away!
     Now imagine that kind of pain but multiplied as far as pain itself can be, that would be excruciating!  I could never imagine that kind of pain.  But there is that kind of pain.  That kind of pain is in hell.  If you do not except Jesus in your heart you will go there.  Why am I telling you this?  I am telling you this because it is true, hell is not a story it's the real deal.
     Now you might be saying "Oh I already believe in Christ, you don't have to worry about me!"  If you think that here is a thought for you, are you worried about the other people around you who are not saved?  The reason why me and Seviann picked "The Next Teen Generation in Action" is not just because it's catchy, it's because it means something.  The Next Teen Generation is you!  You are the next generation.
      Are you going to be the teen that says "I am saved I won't go to hell I am fine." and that's it?  Will you ever give a second thought on the people who are not saved?  Here are some facts that I learned.
     There is an estimate of 6.7 billion people in this world.
     75% do NOT know the Lord.
       2 people die each second.
     There is and estimate of 155,000 people who die each day.                                                                                                                                                                That is a lot right?  Can you believe that 75% of the people of the world don't know God?  This is where the action comes in on our title.  Get out there and spread the good news!  Jesus paid much to high of a price for us to pick and chose who should come.(To Heaven)  By Casting Crowns.  I am not saying you should walk up to a complete strangers house, if you want to do that make sure you are working in groups, it's better to be safe than sorry.  But if you are public schooled you can be kind to the other kids, remind yourself 75% of people in the world are not saved.  Then when you get a chance spread God's wonderful news, do it!  Now be expected to be picked on.  But all you have to do is ignore them and eventually they'll stop.  But remind yourself God loved you so much he sent his only son, then I believe it would be easier to love another.

Why am I here?

Have you ever looked in the mirror and said to yourself, "Why am I here?"
 Well I caught myself thinking that today and it wouldn't leave me alone all day. So I decided to Yahoo the word teenager to what the world thinks of us, and do you know what i got! Well first I got the definition  of teenager, then if I kept scrolling down I got, how to raise a rebellious teenager, a parents guide to the teen years, teens and drunk driving, and so one. The world expects nothing out of us, they expect you to have "wild teen years". To get drunk, become pregnant, be lazy, stupid, and rebellious! I don't believe we  don't do anything to stop it, because, we are the next generation, to run this country, sit in the White House. So, this is what the world expects..... Have super regrettable teen years, and then have a miraculous came back from being irresponsible and not run this country in the ground!?! Sounds just brilliant! OK, so that's why we're here, hope the country lasts! Bye!

Just kidding, (about the good bye) we need to stop this! Right now! In the teen years, prove to the world that we are responsible and can stay clean. A little over a hundred years ago you hit 15 and you were an adult, your "teen years" didn't exist! It's SO easy  to not be irresponsible, all you've got to do is, not get drunk or even drink, not have sex, and do a few chores to help your mom out, because one day you'll most likely be in her shoes. Know really how hard do you think that is? Not that hard right, and if you do think it is well, we all love a little challenge!!
Also email me at leeparkgals@hotmail.com I would love to hear your story and the prosses in this challenge, eveyone needs encourgement and thats why I'm here!

Inward and Outward Beauty

  You glance at the T.V.  screen and see a beautiful model showing off her skinny body. You think to yourself why didn’t God make me look pretty like that? Does He think that person is better than me? The answer to both of those questions is God cares about you He made you beautiful and precious just the way you are. Don’t ever think that God treasures someone more because of how they look. If you think something like that then it‘s probably just your bothersome emotions lying to you again. God says in His Word everybody is the same. We all sin.
    Inward beauty is much more different than outward beauty because, you want your heart to be clean and pure. The reason is, if you are a Christian, than your heart becomes the Holy Spirits resting place and you want to keep the Holy spirit’s home clean. By keeping your body clean. I mean you should not dirty your body up with: drugs, alcohol, smoking etc…
    Outward beauty is another part of most teenagers life now a days. Sadly, out of hundreds of teenagers between the ages of thirteen the seventeen there are one to two teenager that develop eating disorders. That’s a lot since there are 25 to 28 million teenagers in the world. The reason is because they don’t feel good about their outward appearance and they see all those skinny and pretty to the eye, stars on T.V. or magazines and think they look ugly when they really are pretty. As days go by lots of teenagers around the world die because of not eating enough or of drugs and other thing that they think will fill the whole in their life that they think bad stuff will fill and make them feel good about themselves. They end up making an awful choice because the thing that they need to fill that whole of longing with is Jesus Christ. He will change their life. Today I found the verses 1Peter 3:3-4 “Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God” when I read those verses, it touched my heart. I love knowing that my God doesn’t care how you look on the outside as long as it’s modest but, that He cares about your heart.

Siblings

Quick! Right now go hug you sibling!!!!
So, who actually did that? Not me! And that's why I'm writing this post, because lots of times when it comes to older and younger sisters and brothers....... well lets not go in to detail;) I must say that i am guilty of having, um.... bad feelings toward them.

Part of being "The Next Teen In Action" is, well, loving EVERYBODY! Including our siblings, that guy next door, and the gangster. We'll get to deeper discussion about the gangster. But what I want to focus on is, loving our (biological) brother and sisters. For example, your younger sister/brother comes barging in your room and decides, I really want to "borrow" that brush my sister/brother uses. Or your older sister/brother decides, I'm going to embarrass my sister/brother in front of their friends. What is your first reaction? "I'm going to kill you!!!" That is probably it, right? But, our reaction should be a blessing. Blessing, what??? Well the bible says in 1 Peter 3:9 "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." So next time your lovely sibling tries to make you go crazy, be nice to them.  No, it will not be easy, but God will reward you in the long run.

Also think about this, if your sister/brother were to die right now, how do you think you would feel? I know my sister an I would joke that we're going to wear yellow to each others funerals, but really I would regret every little mean thing I did or said to them, and be super upset. I would miss my sister and brother if they were to die . We don't really think about that type of stuff, when we do something to them, do we?

Loving God Part One

     There are many people today who believe that if they are good and do more good things than bad things they can go to heaven.  Well I am sorry to bursts any one's bubble, but that's not true.  The only way you can get to heaven is by believing and loving God.  Here is a verses to understand what I mean.  1 Corinthians 13: 1-3,  "If I speak in the tongues of men and angles, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all my posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
What does he mean by that?  Well it means that no matter what you do,what you say you will never get in heavens gates if you don't love God.

Following The Rules

     Before I can tell you about this post I have to tell you a story.  It is in First Samuel chapter 15.  Okay Israel has gotten their first human king, king Saul.  Now before Saul Israel did not have a king, well did not have an earthly king.  Anyways God told Samuel to tell King Saul to destroy the Amalekites. Kill them and leave NOTHING behind.  Basically God said Kill the Amalekites and keep nothing that was theirs, no sheep, no cattle or goats.  Nothing!  King Saul said "Okay"  So King Saul kills all the Amalekites and burns and melts all the idols and clothes and other things.  But what he does not do is destroy all the cattle and goats and sheep.  He and his soldiers takes the best of the animals and keeps them.  That was a BIG mistake.  God tells Samuel that he is rejecting Saul as king, so Samuel says this to Saul.  First Samuel chapter 15 verse 16
     "Stop!" Samuel says to Saul. "Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night"
     "Tell me." Saul replied
     Samuel said "Although you were once small in your eyes, did you not becomes the head of the tribes of Israel?  The Lord anointed you over Israel.  And he sent you on a mission, saying 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites: make war until you have wiped them out'  Why did you not obey the Lord?  Why did you pounced the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?
     "But I did obey the Lord." Saul said.  I went on the mission the Lord assigned me.  I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.  The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.
     But Samuel replied:
     Does the Lord bring delight in burnt offerings and Scarface's as much as obeying the voice of the Lord?"  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of the rams.  For rebellion's like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord he has rejected you as a king.")
     You see what happens when you don't do what God says.  I mean Kings Saul rejected God and looked what happend!  God rejected him!  If you keep reading they annoit a new king.  So when God tells us to do something, we should not do it half way, we should do it all the way.  Saul did it half way and he got in big trouble.  So do all the steps of an order and never skip or change a step.

What is an Idol

     What is an idol?  Well and idol is anything that is put before God.  You don't have to bow down before a golden calf or any other objects for it to become an idol.  Like I said an idol can be ANYTHING, it can be money, books, anything you can think of! 
      How can something be an idol?  When you put that object in front of God.  What do I mean by that?  Well when we care for something more than God or have higher attention for something other than God.  So lets change that, make sure you don't have any idol before God.  The Bible does say "Thou shalt have no other idols before me."

Loving One Another

     God loves EVERYONE in this world.  There is no doubt about that.  So why don't we?  Now let me just say I know there are some people out there that loves everyone to death, so if you are one of those people good job!  Keep it up!  We should want to love everyone.  The Bible does say love you neighbor as you would love yourself.  Why does it say that?  Well there are many reasons why it says that.  One is that the your neighbor might not know God and rejecting or hating them will never bring them to Christ.  The first part of John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world..."  Do you know what that means?  It means that God loved and still loves EVERYTHING in the world, including the animals, and you know what's best.  God loves us so much, so so much that he sent his only son.  You got to remember HIS ONLY SON.  Can you imagine somebody loving you so much they would sacrifice their only son.  Well God did.  So we should love one another, not hate or ignore anyone.  Now I know there will be times when you don't want to do that but you know what, just try your best.  We are sinners and sometimes it is not easy to love everyone.  But I bet if you think "God loves us so much he sent is son to die for everyone sin." Then I think it would be a little easier to love that person.

OMG

I'm sure that you've gotten a text once with omg or t.g.i.f. in it, right? Or you've heard someone say "Oh my God," but what do you think when you hear people say that? Well one of the  ten commandments say "do not misuse the name of God". And if your not using his name to glorify Him, by talking to Him or about Him, then don't say it! So, when you or a friend says, "Oh my god, this and that" remember that's against the law of God. Sometimes when my mom hears someone say it, she'll say back, "he's my God too," so funny to see the look of confusion on their face, but after that my mom will tell them all about God and how he doesn't want us to misuse he's name.
But that was just a quick thought for the day, God be with ya. Oh my God.......He is good;)

Question of the month!

     You are over at a party and there serving alcohol.  You know that you are not suppose to drink it.  But your friends keep pressuring you to drink a glass.  They start calling you a chicken and other things that really are starting to annoy you. What do you do...

A. Scream "Stop it! I will never drink it!"
B. Keep trying to change the subject.
C.Accept the drink.
D. Keep refusing.
E. Say "No" and then call your mom to pick you up and tell every one you're leaving.

Worldly Music

     Some of the music we listen to today is not a good thing.  I am talking about rap and rock and other music like that.  The kind that sings about girlfriends and boyfriends and drinking and all those things.  Teens these days look up to those kind of singers.  Now even some of the country music is bad!  Like the ones that talk about sex before marriage, and drinking till your drunk and have no idea where you are or what you did. 
      Those kind of songs are not ok to listen to.  They can tempted you to do those things.  So if you catch yourself humming or singing those kind of songs just switch to a different song.  If you have no idea what songs are good and which ones are bad,  just scroll down to the bottom of the this blog and click on one of the songs down there.

Teen suicide

I was watching a movie last night that was great. It's called, To Save A Life, maybe some of you have heard of this movie, but if you have or haven't heard of this movie I highly recommend it anyone, I must tell you it is PG-13, for teen suicide, teen partying, two cuss words, and teen pregnecy. They DO NOT show teens actualy having s@$! But what this movie is about is, a "popular" kid, Jake's, best friend, Rodger, commits suicide, because Jake had ditchted Rodger, once he became the popular basketball player. So after this tragedy with Rodger, Jake feels like he could have prevented this, and later on becomes a Christian, and Jake also "saves a life". But that's all I'm going to tell you, you have to watch the movie to find out the rest.
 The basis of the movie is teen suicide, we dont really think that it happens in real life, but the fact is kids all over this contry think about it everyday, and some actually do it. One of the main reasons is they feel alone, rejected, and unloved. My point I'm trying to make is, if you see a kid that sits at a table alone by himself, go at least say hi, invite him to eat lunch with you, or befriend him. If someone just said hi to that person, they'll know someone cares about them. I know some of you maybe like, my friends won't like it or he/she creeps me out, remember that could be you! But GOD gave you the grace to let you have friends. So share the love with people who need you! Remember, be a leader.