Well, it has been an interesting year. Although, I probably say that after every year. But the truth is, every year is a new experience.
This year has been full of fun, friends, family, etc. Events have been a big thing, from going skiing last February, to who knows what... Many things have really happened this year. I was able to come closer to my friends, and even make a few new ones (Wade ;)). I was really happy to be able to keep in contact with my friends, especially since HEDGE moved, and we all didn't really know what this year was going to be like. Luckally, a lot of us stayed, and that brought new experiences.
As you have already noticed, friends are a big factor in what determines how a year goes. But the truth is, that is what really makes a year. What you do with family and friends (family can be friends :D). But I have had some good experiences with my friends. Some like going camping, having parties, goofing off, making videos of random stuff, the list goes on. It is great that I was able to participate in all of that, and hopefully, next year as well :).
Family... That has been an interesting subject for this year as well. One of the biggest factors, is that Kristin went to collage in Tennessee this year. It has been quiet around the house without her. :( But when she visits for Christmas/New Years, you DEFIANTLY get your Kristinness in... Trust me. Other than that, my grandparents have also been in good health. Which is always good, because they really are cool. The only real problem is that my grandfather had to have surgery a couple days before Christmas, but he is making a good recovery.
There are a lot of other things, but I might make a follow-up to this blog post. Right now, I have to get ready for the New Year. I wish everyone a great New Year, and hopefully, great memories to go with it.
-Ryan
I was watching the TV and saw the Allstate commercial for the Parent-Teen contract. It really does put it in perspective the add they made. Also just the music video from Lifehouse. When watching it, you really do understand how sad these fatalities can be. As of now, car fatalities are the no. 1 killer of teenagers in the United States. 70% of those are from not wearing a seatbelt.
Every one of those teens had a chance to make it into something, but their life was cut short. Safe driving is something that really needs to be addressed.
Here are some statistics about this (taken from MSNBC)
-Ryan
I was just thinking about it, and what is one of the best ways to show what we believe in? It is to show it in our actions. When we are acting around people, we need to show that we are different from the world and not have conformed to it.
Conforming to the world isn't always a bad thing though, but, it also can go against all you believe. Now as humans, there has to be an opening for change. Without change, there can't be anything. Change is what makes us who we are as Christians, and as a nation. We must always admit change to come into what we do. But if we conform to the bad habits and ideas, then thats when things go to the negative.
As Christians, we don't need to conform to bad habit or ideas. Lets say you conformed into smoking. Well, that not only is a bad thing for your health, but it also is falling into peer pressure. And from falling into peer pressure, it can end up in a lot of problems in the future. The example I gave can lead to a LOT of physical problems. If we are going to take a stand, then we need to show we are not like that. If we stand up for whats right, and help friends who are having problems, then we will show that we do live for whats right. Letting God help you with all that you do, is another way to take a stand. Even if times are hard, God always has a plan, and to show you can be strong during the hardest of times, shows that you can be strong.
When we are taking a stand, we always need to remember that we are not doing it for popularity, show, or any other reason for your personal gain. When taking a stand, the reason is to show what you are standing against. You don't need to fall to pressures, and you need to stand strong for what you are standing upon. Never waiver no matter what challenges come up.
With the elections coming up, this is a urge to tell you to be active. Participate in with your party. If you are voting, look at the candidates....ALL of them, and compare your morals with them. Try to look away from the "pushed candidates" and look at some who are not as well know. They might have some very interesting views that might align up with your morals, and viewpoint. For those who can't vote, be active. Participate in the party you support. Help with the polls, show your support, help with campaigns, etc. Being active is always a very good thing to do. And other than that, God Bless America.
-Ryan
I was talking to my parents last night and we got on the subject of the Bible and dinosaurs. Well, this is an odd enough subject as it is already, and it proved to be very interesting. The only real record of any dinosaurs in the Bible is in these following passages:
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Job Chapter 41: Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down
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Psalms 104:25:
[So is] this great and wide sea, wherein [are] things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
104:26:
There go the ships: [there is] that leviathan, [whom] thou hast made to play therein.
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Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
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Now what are these leviathans that are mentioned? A lot of Biblical scholars believe these are references to dinosaurs. But the question is, why are they not around these days? When the water came down to earth in the Great Flood, that is to have been said dramatically changed the climate, and a lot of species of animals died because of it. So, if they did die off from the Great Flood, then that would mean that these passages came before it. But wait. The book of Isaiah came after the Great Flood. So that would mean they were still around. So were are they now?
I think that they are still around. They haven't "evolved" or anything like that. They could be animals that we think are normal.
But I just thought that was interesting.
-Ryan
Yea, it is getting kinda scary. The elections are coming up and the tallies do not look good. Hilary is leading the polls with 40% of the votes right now. The next in line is the republican Giuliani. I really pray that Hilary doesn't receive the title of United States President. I really worry about what would happy. Especially since she supports communism, gun control, anti-Christianity, and a lot of other things. This is were we need to stand up. We need to VOTE! This coming up election will be about more than just a normal election, it will be about standing up for morals, freedom, and Christ. If you can't vote yet, then get connected. Find a local republican group and help them out. You might not be able to vote, but you still can stand and fight. Freedom is not free! We must keep our freedom. That is the entire reason why American was established. Our founding fathers helped found America to be separate of tyranny, dictatorship, communism, etc. If we allow ourselves to fall, then we will be undoing all the sweat, blood, and morals that were put into America. We MUST stand firm, and stay strong. HELP THE FIGHT!
-Ryan
Ok, so in government class the other day we watched a video of how America is today...And it was quite sad..
Lets start off with Christianity in schools. A while back (I think 1963 was the date), the supreme court ruled that praying, having a Bible, or showing Christianity in school was not allowed. NOW they DID accept atheism as an "acceptable" religion! SAD! And you can also go and pray to Allah and still not be banned, unlike Christianity! To make it worse, they banned the 10 commandments. They for a while had it posted on the walls of a school, but they removed it saying, "if you follow these laws, then it is showing Christianity, and that is unlawful". Now lets look at this. If they say following laws such as: do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not murder, etc. as following a religion, then it is sad... It was the first time in history that they ruled something without looking back to the constitution or court cases in history. At the time before they ruled it, they made a poll and found that 97% of American's accepted they realized there was a God and they followed the basic if not all of the 10 commandments. BUT THEY SIDED WITH THE 3%!!!! Since that ruling, SAT scores for public schools dropped dramatically, pregnate teenagers shot up 300%, divorce rates 200% and countless more things followed. Now, for private/Christian schools, the SAT rates stayed around the same if not higher. The reason? Because of the ruling, Christians wanted the atmosphere that WAS in schools of having a Christian perspective. Now the 23% of children who are in private/Christian/homeschoolers, have an 80 point DIFFERENCE! (The poll was taken in 1997, before the SAT was made bigger). That was a HUGE difference. AND to make things better, those children who are in the private, Christian setting has 57% of the highest scores IN THE NATION! That itself proves that schools without Christ do worse. We need to keep our government constantly in our prayers, and STAND! If we don't stand, then we fall into chaos. God is the ruler, and we must acknowledge that.
Well thats about it for now.
-Ryan
`Well...The environmentalist are VERY funny.
We were at the grocery store the other day and my mom made a comment on how the milk prices had spiked dramatically. Later that evening I brought this into discussion with my dad and we he told me about how corn was spiking in price as well for the making of natural gas. Corn though is one of the main things that are used to feed cows. More corn demand=higher prices for things produced from cows. WELL...Continuing our discussion, we got on the track of natural gas. The environmentalist are pushing for it because it saves us from tapping into our earth's supply. But in Brazil, the way they are making natural gas is through sugar cane. The irony of it is that for the demand of sugar cane, they are cutting down the rainforests. Ironic...The same people who are calling for Save the Trees!, Save the Rainforest!, etc...Are actually helping cause destruction.
Silly environmentalists...
Well, thats about it for now.
-Ryan
Well I officially hate Rosetta Stone. Not only because I used it to take my language courses. I was helping set it up and it has a REALLY annoying system called SMS or Student Management System. Basically this is what it does. It helps a teacher set up a class by using one computer as a server. The class schedual then gets transmitted over LAN to other computers that has the programming on it. In doing so it helps make a nice, clean, set-up. Well obviously, this might be great for a public school, but since my little sister who is taking it at home has to use the program, it is an entire different matter. After the installation of the program, it was denying logging in. Saying the server wasn't connecting. Seeing the SMS option, I explored to see what it was. After watching 30 minutes of a stupid tutorial on how to set up SMS (the tutorial was designed for people who had NO SKILL WHATSOEVER with computers.....Which made for ANNOYINGNESS!!!!). I set up the SMS server to how it was supposed to be. Well....After taking 20 mins to set up the stupid server, we try again. Still...No connection to server. Now it is really starting to be annoying. Going into the programming of it, I find this small option....An option to be a stand-alone program. After seeing that, it really gets me mad for all the annoying, and worthless work I did... So now, I am really annoyed at Rosetta Stone...They should have set it up to be independent other than being set up by SMS originally. Sigh...I feel so sorry for all those teachers who DO have to watch that tutorial for their classes though. Probably shot the computer afterwards....
Well, thats about it.
-Ryan
I was reading in my government book and I came across something. The Puritans originally founded the American government to be limited. Now keep this in mind. How is it that the government has so much power now? Getting on to people for disciplining their children, thinking that if a baby has an accident it is now considered as child neglect. Lawsuits over sad issues like being burned by coffee winning. Does this sound like a limited government now? What happened? Well the government might be making a few bad decisions. That is why we need keep active with our government and keep praying for our nation. That is all.
-Ryan
I was talking to a friend today and came up with something. You have heard the saying that everything tastes like chicken. But, lets look at that saying a different way. If everything taste like chicken, then does chicken taste like everything? Well if we look at it in that perspective, then lets change the situation. People conform to what happens in the world. So does that mean the world conforms to us? If it did, it would go against the Christian Perspective that God has complete control of what happens to the world. But lets give and example...I.E. Lets say that there is a bad word, and people start to spread that it isn't a bad word...Then eventually, the world would conform and it would change the perspective of the word. Even if it still is bad. Or...The environmentalists use this perspective to their gain. Saying that with all the pollution that we put out, it harms the world (world conforming to us). But if it did, then why are problems not happening today? God has a hold of everything that happens. But in both cases, we need to stand strong as Christians. We need to hold strong, and always trust in God that he will help us stand firm. But it is an interesting theory to think about. Especially when applying it to other things.
-Ryan
Well since some wanted this to be more "professional". I created a new blog.
More posts soon...
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