One Word At A Time: Reflection

By Ginny (MAD21)

Nothing is usually ever as it appears. We may be lucky enough every now and then to have something be genuinely what we see before us, but it is unlikely to be 100% face value.

I once had someone tell me there are four different ways that we are seen:

Things only God sees in us;

Things only we see in ourselves;

Things only other see in us; and

Things everyone sees.

Only God. He knows it all. What's the "it?" Everything, that's what. The beginning, the end, and everything in between. He knows us and our children, and our children's children. He knows all the choices we have made and will make, and what choices others will make that will affect our lives forever. He knows what he wants us to become, and who we will choose to be.

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A Challenge to Consider the Person of Jesus

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

“I believe witnesses who get their throats cut.” – Blaise Pascal

I would like to issue a challenge to all skeptics: Try to think of a massive conspiracy in history where 12 ring-leaders maintained their storyline consistently in the face of the death penalty, refusing to recant even when threatened with beheading, crucifixion and being run through with a sword. I have a second challenge: Name one person who has been more universally regarded and admired over the past 2,000 years than Jesus of Nazareth. (Hint: The answer to both challenges is the same: "There isn't one.")

The point of the first challenge is to ask you to seriously consider the truth claims of the Gospels and indeed the whole New Testament. The second challenge should make you weigh why such a consideration should be valuable. Yet I have one more challenge before we proceed: Think of any movement, philosophy, value system, religion or political system which has no jerks, hypocrites, idiots and bozos in its ranks. Of course, there are none. Liberalism and conservatism, atheism and Hinduism, Islam and environmentalism, humanism and astrology all have deeply flawed followers. So does Christianity. It’s not fair to judge any belief system by the actions of its worst believers.

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Where Do You Belong? (Re-Post)

By Erika

  “...thought I belonged
but I know I don't
thought I had love
but it is not enough
an aching inside speaking to me
how could I feel like this
so aimless
I've always known this wasn't home...”

- Aimless -
[Bethany Dillon]

I was hit with a thought tonight while I was doing my quiet time. The funny thing is, it did didn’t really have too much to do with my designated reading - it came by way of my ipod. I wasn’t paying much attention to the music playing in my headphones until I heard the line I've always known this wasn't home ring in my ears.

Something clicked.

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Identity Theft? (Re-Post)

By MR, Age 14

The word identity is used in many different ways, but when you apply it to a person, its most essential definition is: "the distinguishing character or personality of an individual." A distinctive personality is what every teenager strives to find. "Coming into their own" or "discovering who they really are" have become common ways to define the search for an identity that a young person undergoes. Everyone is unique with indivdual ambitions, weaknesses, hopes and plans. Each of these things plays into how our ultimate identity is shaped.

In our world, there are so many places for a teenage girl to find her identity. The friends she has, the boys who like her, the clothes she wears, the music she listens to, the movies and television she watches, the places she goes, the size she wears, the way she looks, the list goes on and on. For the typical teenager, it isn't surprising if these things consume them and become their identity.

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Identity Theft?

By MR, Age 14

The word identity is used in many different ways, but when you apply it to a person, its most essential definition is: "the distinguishing character or personality of an individual." A distinctive personality is what every teenager strives to find. "Coming into their own" or "discovering who they really are" have become common ways to define the search for an identity that a young person undergoes. Everyone is unique with indivdual ambitions, weaknesses, hopes and plans. Each of these things plays into how our ultimate identity is shaped.

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