A Double Standard Blessing

When a child sees their parents doing something that they have always taught their children not to do, the child will ask "Why can you do it mommy?" and the reply will usually be "Because I'm older." However, there are times when being older doesn't mean a thing. The child may or may not know this, but they will figure out that eventually, it won't matter what age they are, their parents don't want them doing whatever it is they were taught not to do. When they realize that, they will learn the meaning of a double standard.

A double standard:

a set of principles that allows greater freedom to one person or group than to another

The most common form of a double standard is described above with a child and parent. However, in my opinion, the largest and most blatant double standard is in our society today, is right in front of your face. Everyday you will have to face it. It's a double standard involving religious freedom.

As a society, we are taught to "tolerate" those of all religions, backgrounds, cultures etc. Christians are taught to accept those of other religions. But if you swap roles, it appears that Christians aren't meant to be "accepted" or "tolerated."
Don't believe me? Here are some examples taken from The Christan Post. Click here for the whole article


"Colleges making special accommodations for foot baths and Muslim only prayer rooms, while a
Muslim group membership may be suspended or revoked for 57 reasons including but not limited to: unbecoming behavior, insubordination, or inactivity; but DENYING Christian groups campus recognition “because it requires its officers and voting members to agree with its Christian beliefs"

OK....let me get this straight. Muslim members of Muslim only prayer rooms and foot baths have a Muslim belief.
While Christian only groups with Christian members with Christian beliefs can't have the same treatment?


"The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Los Angeles) requested an investigation of the desecration of a Koran, Islam's revealed text, as a hate crime. Conversely, when Palestinians tore up Bibles for toilet paper (May 15, 2002, The Washington Times) there was no outrage, and after a church in the U.S. saved and held fundraisers to afford the cost of buying and shipping requested Bibles in the Pashto and Dari language to an American sergeant in Afghanistan, the Bibles were confiscated, thrown away, and burned. The only official comment about burning the Bibles was this one, by a Defense Department spokesman, “Troops in war zones are required to 'burn their trash.' "

I have no words for this. None.

"A San Diego [public] elementary school created an extra recess period to allow 100 Muslim students to pray, while a federal judge upheld a Knoxville, Ky., jury’s decision that a public school could prohibit its 5th grade Christian students from studying and discussing their Bibles during recess."


You see what I mean by "double standard?" When it comes to "tolerance" Christians get the short end of the stick.

But this is how it is supposed to be.

2 Timothy 3:12 “ALL who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Matthew 5:10 "talks of the BLESSING of those who are persecuted for righteousness sake – not for responding as the world does"

Being persecuted is just a part of our Christian life. It's a fact of life. Our job is accept it, embrace it, and respond to it as God would, not as the world would. When I read the article that had these examples in it, I just wanted to scream it to everyone I know! I wanted to show how unfair everyone is being to Christians. I wanted to shove the word "tolerence" in their faces. But I forgot that persecution is a part of the Christian walk. And I responded, reacted, just as the world does, with outrage, anger, retaliation.
The next time you are persecuted, praise the Lord Jesus Christ. For he has blessed you. :)

I Dare You To Move!

We can sit at our computers, at our desks, in our gaming chairs, under a tree, at the dinner table, in a school, and do NOTHING! Absolutely NOTHING! I'm so beyond guilty of this. We post on Facebook and Twitter, "I'm sooo bored..." and we continue to sit. Why is this? Personally, I can come up with a million and one excuses. All completely legit. But even if they are legit, why should I let them create a wall that stops me from living life? Personally, my biggest wall is the fact that I can't drive yet, so I'm stuck at home...a lot. And all I've wanted to do is get out. Leave. Do something else. Anything else. My new term starts tomorrow, and I'm thinking "I just want to stay home." WHAT?! Why did that thought pass through my head?! I've wanted to leave this whole week! And now I want to STAY?!
This isn't school related, I happen to love school. It's because I know exactly what I'm going to do when I get there. I'm going to go to classes, stay in my shell, spend my free time in the library like a good little nerd and never talk to anyone besides my friends whom I've known for a good portion of my life. I know that I won't share the love of God in my actions because I'm too shy to do so. Because I think that people don't want to be bothered by some 18 year-old girl with strawberry nails (yes I painted them to look like strawberries). When, "I should say hi" goes though my mind and in a second I will think "they probably are busy and don't want to talk" or something of the like. I will do anything, make up any excuse to get out of doing something out of my comfort zone.
I'M TIRED OF IT! What about you? Are you like me? If so, I will pray that you will gain strength as I pray to gain strength. I'm sick and tired of being the quiet, writer, nerd type. You know? In my senior year of high school, I was voted "Miss Friendly." At least, I think it was senior year...it may have been junior year...But the year doesn't matter. What matters is what happened to me? My friendliness is gone! Those who are my friends, don't see that. But when I am surrounded by people I don't know, in a place which I'm not very confident in, I magically turn into a turtle! I will stay in my shell and never leave unless egged out with a treat of some kind. Usually that treat is a friend.
I happen to really like this animation group called GodLimations. They make online mini games and animations. Now, some of their stuff, is really umm, I'm gonna be nice and say "odd." But there is a video that they made called "Dare." This video is soooo inspiring! Now, I have to warn you, the animation isn't the best, but I happen to like it. It's got a quality to it that I particularly like.
Now here's what my speech teacher would call my "Call to action:" I dare you to move! I dare you to say hi to someone you don't know. I dare you to have a conversation with someone in your class whom you've never met. I dare you to show random acts of kindness just because you can. And most importantly, I dare MYSELF to do these things. Tomorrow is a day of new beginnings. It's the first school day while it's in the Spring season, which is Oregon, isn't much different than winter. It's the home run stretch for the seniors graduating this summer. And it is also the day which I will do my best to take down that wall brick by brick and spread the love of God to everyone I meet.
So I dare me to move. I dare you to move!

Here's that video I was talking about. Watch and enjoy! :)

Prologue of My Story

I'm currently writing a hopeful "novel." So far, only the prologue and the first two chapters are written. I thought that I should share the prologue with you and see what you think.

            Her heart beat wildly in her chest. Her bare feet pounded the ground with all her strength. She rapidly approached a soundless lake. The moonlight glistened off of her long white dress. Fear overwhelmed her as she looked to see if she was being followed. Her long black hair got in her face. She struggled to move her hair while she was running and tripped. There was a surprising lack of pain as she tumbled on the shore of the lake.

            She lay there, feeling helpless. She attempted to catch her breath as she lay on the ground. Her heart was pounding in her ears, her chest hurt from a lack of oxygen. She felt weak and did not know if she could get up in her own strength. Her expression remained full of fear and weakness. She starred at the woods in the distance, wondering if all she had done was in vain. A tear fell down her cheek. She knew that she wouldn’t survive this night. She had given up trying to save herself. She just lay on the shore of the lake, like a broken angel.

            She moved her gaze toward the sky. Her eyes met the moon. A glimmer of hope ran through her body. She slowly struggled to get up. She felt a strange strength flow through her joints. She suddenly gained a vitality that she thought she had lost long ago. She rose to her feet and stood facing the moon that shone over the lake. The water gently lapped over her bare feet as she stood, mesmerized by the moon. The moon gave her a security that no one else can. She felt an overwhelming feeling of peace wash over her.

            “He is here.” she whispered.

            “Who is here, my child?” said a voice from behind her.   

            She felt a chill go up her spine. The fear that had left her returned with a vengeance. Her knees almost buckled at the fear that engulfed her when she heard that voice. That retched voice. She knew it all too well.

            She turned and saw the old woman coming from the shadows. Her face was winkled and disfigured. Her blue eyes glowed from the darkness.

            “Who is here?” she repeated. Her voice had a tone of sweetness to it. But underneath the sweet exterior, was a retched woman. Not even a woman, a hollow husk of a woman. Her soulless eyes peered deep into the soul of the frightened young woman.

            “Stay away from me!” the young woman said shakily. Her strength left her for dead. She knew at this moment, that she was doomed. She silently begged the moon for help, but none appeared.

            “You know you can’t be rid of me, princess.” The old woman walked slowly forward. “It’s time to embrace your destiny.” Then everything in her world went black.       

I want to rule the world!

God made us all unique. We all have different tastes and opinions. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. And each one of us has a free will to do what we want to do.
It's good that we are all different. God could've made us robots who all liked the same music, the same shows, the same movies, the same books, the same EVERYTHING! But instead he made each one us unique. No two people are alike. That's what makes the world intersting. Imagine a world with 3 billion of you. It's kinda creepy isn't it?
Even with this in mind, why is it that we bash other people's opinions and tastes because we don't like them? Why do we have to take a side on whether Miley Cyrus is a slut or not? Why do we have to be "Twihards" or complete haters? Why do we have to be screaming fangirls for Justin Beiber, or hate his guts? Do you notice the extreme measures we have taken as a soceity? This isn't just for pop culture, it's for everything. And in everything, there is middle ground that is only explored by those with open minds. Which is NOT the majority of people.
Even with our vast knowledge on how people's opinions differ, we still rely on people, such as movie critics, to tell us what we like and don't like. I despise movie critics, no offense to those who wish to be one. Mostly because almost every movie I like, they give crappy reviews. For example, The Last Airbender. Not just movie critics, but even my friends, even people who are fans of the show, even people who weren't fans of the show, told me this movie stunk on ice. I happened to love it!!! I enjoyed every second of it, except when they pronounced the names differently. I thought the acting was great (which many people didn't think so), I thought the effects were epic, I thought they fit a majority of the storyline well (sure they left some parts out, but in hindsight they made sense), and all in all, I thought it was a great movie. Even being a rabid fan of the show, I thought this movie was great. I could continue with more examples, but I think you get my point.
So why do we push our opinions onto other people? I'm totally guilty of it too. Another good question is why do we give opinions of things which have just looked at and think is stupid and haven't watched it or know anything about it? I'm guilty of this too... The thing is, I don't have an answer to any of these questions because honestly, I don't know. I think it's because we selfish people. All of us, myself included. We want our opinions to matter more than everyone else's. Why? Because we're human. We stink at life. And we want to rule the world. But have to keep in mind, that it's not our opinion that matters. When you die, your opinion dies with you. But God's opinion of you will never die, and will never be negative. It's God's opinion that matters, not yours.
So next time you get in an arguement with someone about something stupid that involves a difference of opinon, remember just how pointless that arugement is. Because in a day or so, it will fall away and won't matter. But God's opinion of you will last forever! :)

"And I am convinced that NOTHING can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love."~Romans 8:38 NLT 

An Amazing Story

What gives a story "amazing" status? Plot? Setting? Theme? Use of words? Characters? The correct answer: D all of the above. However, one stands out from the rest in my mind. When a story is truly amazing, you feel what the characters feel. You feel like you are the character. And no I'm not talking about jumping off a building yelling "I'm superman!" hoping that you will take flight. I'm talking about when you are so involved in the story that you feel like what is happening to the characters is happening to you. Even after you walk away, the emotions won't leave you. When the character's faces get impressed in your mind. When you feel like you have woken up from a dream and you just want to go back. That's when a story reaches "amazing" status.
I recently watched something that not only reached "amazing" status, but it reached "epic" status. It's an anime, by the name of Clannad. If you don't know what anime is, it's basically a Japanese cartoon, in Japanese. They do dub some of them in English, but I would not recommend any English Dub versions to anyone, but if that works for you, fine. Clannad season one is dubbed and English subbed, while season two (Clannad After Story) is only subbed. Why do I bother telling you this? Because I want to recommend this show to you.
This is the most amazing visual story (show, movie, video game..etc) that I have ever seen in my life. I have read some books that reach that status that this show has, but never in my life have I watched a show or a movie that made me feel so much emotion. I was laughing. I was crying of joy and sadness. I felt hopeless and I felt like there was hope. I felt desperate and thankful. But most important of all, I felt love. I felt this overwhelming feeling of love. I felt like I WAS the main character in every aspect....and main character is a man. That takes some serious skill to push beyond the gender boundaries to make me feel like I was Tomoya Okasaki. I feel like I went through everything he went through. When, back in reality, I haven't gone through even ONE of the things that he went through. I had no link to anything in his life, and yet I experienced everything he went through as if I was him. It was the most surreal feeling I have ever felt.
My goal in life is write a story like this. I want to make people feel the same way I felt while watching Clannad. Please, lovers of anime, watch this anime. Please, haters of anime, give this one a chance. Please, people who don't have an opinion on anime, watch this anime. If I was to own a series on DVD, it would be this one. (you can find it online, however it has been taken off where I watched it: Youtube so I cannot give a recommendation)

A rose, trampled on the ground

Music inspires me so much. Sometimes my greatest inspiration to write is from music. I will hear a song and see a story that goes with it. A song could break me down or build me up. A piano piece could make me cry, or laugh. An orchestra could easily bring me to my knees. Music is one of the most beautiful things in this world, and we can't even see it. There is a song that touched my heart at my tonight. We sang it in worship at my weekly bible study. Out of the 5 songs our worship leader sang I only recognized two. The first one, "You're Beautiful", was great, but it didn't effect me like it usually does. But the final song she sang, "Above All"...I was so moved, I was shaking and I almost began to cry. This line hit me so hard I almost lost my breath:


"You lived to die, rejected and alone.
Like a rose trampled on the ground.
You took the fall, and thought of ME,
Above ALL!"

Have you ever seen a rose trampled on the ground? It's pathetic, sad, useless, unkempt, destroyed, humiliated. Something so beautiful, perfect, unique, colorful, sweet smelling, confident: GONE! Can you imagine never seeing a rose again? Not even in a flower shop. Never again seeing one of the most popular flowers of sorrowful mourners and forgetful husbands.


"You lived to die, rejected and alone"


Can you imagine you're only purpose in life is to die? You're ultimate goal in life is to die at a young age. Not just die, murdered! Murdered by the people you trusted. You will be hated by everyone you know. All alone, the only person left who believes in you won't be able to do anything but watch you die. Now imagine knowing all of this from birth on.
You can't can you? Because we don't know our future. We never will. But Jesus did. He knew he would be the rose, trampled on the ground. He knew he would live to die. He knew he would be rejected, and alone. But you know why he did it?

"You took the fall, and thought of ME,
Above ALL!"

He did it for you, for me, for everyone! In all of the things he could've thought about while he was dieing, it wasn't "Oh cool it get to be with my dad now." or "You're wrong you losers!" or "I'll be back!" No, he thought of YOU! YOU! He thought of ME! How amazing is that?! That the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE loves you so much that he would put his son's life up in exchange for yours, but he was HUMILIATED, which could be far worse than death. So next time you see a rose, trampled on the ground. Remember who took the fall, who thought of you, ABOVE ALL!

Today was...odd

To be perfectly honest, I don't have anything insightful to say, I don't have a funny story to tell, and I am not really sure why I felt like I wanted to write a blog right now. Perhaps I have done too much homework and my brain is fried. Perhaps I just want to escape from school, knowing I'm stuck here for another 2 and half hours. But, today was, and still is, odd. I woke up this morning, tired, cranky, and groggy. I wanted to just hit the snooze button and never wake up again. After a few moments (all right....a half hour) of waking up, I started on my homework. My mom calls me from the kitchen "Ashton!" I assume something is wrong. I so spring to life and jog down the hall and I hear "Are you seeing this?" I am confused then I look out the window and BAM! IT'S SNOWING! The dream of every student: a snow day. But it stopped snowing about a half hour later and there was no snow on my campus or at any homes near the campus...so, lovely! I still had to go to school. 
So I go to school at around 10:40ish, my first class of the day starts at noon, so I have time to do homework. I sit in the library and read the skinniest 200 page book you will ever see in your life. I made a good dent in it before I went to eat lunch outside. It's still bitterly cold, but I wanted to be in silence. I grabbed my book and my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and started reading. Then out of nowhere, here comes a skipping friend to join me. She made my day. She was so full of life and joy today. Then a boy by the name of Daniel walked by. He's becoming a friend of mine, I have met him twice before. He was with a friend. He greets me, and then walks away. He comes back out in a short while and sits down next to me. His friend is still with him. I ask him how he's doing, he says fine. His friend chimes in and says "Daniel's got a girlfriend." Now this sounds like me. I have done that to my friends before. But I could tell he didn't like it. I defended him by saying I have only met him twice before. His friend still wouldn't let up. Then the time had come when I had to go to my class. My good friend and I parted ways while Daniel and his friend seemed to be stalking me. Why? I don't know. I do know that Daniel ran in front of me to get the door for me. Oh, how sweet. :) So I walk to the door to my classroom when lo and behold: IT'S CANCELED! Yeah, thanks for letting me know...
I then go back to my place in the library when I run into a friend of mine who is also in the class that was canceled. We sat next to each other and both worked on homework for two hours. I also run into a friend whom I haven't seen in almost 3 months. I go back to my computer and check my e-mail, then I realize that my teacher's Secretary sent me an e-mail telling me that class was canceled....my bad.
I ask my friend if she knows how to set up an advisor appointment. She says I can e-mail them and she shows me how. AWESOME! Now I can get that done...right? WRONG! I filled out the form, hit send.....and the little spinning loading circle of death spun for God knows how long. Then a screen pops up that says "Sever Error." What in cheese puffs is that supposed to mean?! So I try again, this time the spinning circle of death spun for, no lie, 10 MINUTES! I had to log off and go to my next class so I didn't get a chance to e-mail my advisor. ....lame.
I go to my next class that was full of misunderstandings. Now, don't get me wrong, I like my teacher as a friend...but as a teacher...well, sometimes (and this happens to me all the time, hence why I don't want to be a teacher) there's a miscommunication with a question that is asked. So we spent at least half of the class time arguing with the teacher, trying to make him understand what the question was. Me? I stayed out of it and doodled for the duration of the class period.
So, today seems normal to those who don't have my life, but to me, the only word I can use to describe it is odd. Because it was good in some parts, bad in some parts, and in some parts I had mixed feelings. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow here....Thursday too. I wonder what tomorrow will be like.