Keep Your Feet In The Water

We all know (even the person that kills everything they try to grow- at least I hope they do...) that you have to water a plant for it to survive. It's the same thing for Christians only our water is the bible. Many of us barely crack a bible in a week- and many times not even on Sunday now that they conveniently place the verses up on the screen during church services.

A while ago my friend was over doing homework and asked to borrow my bible for her bible homework. I hadn't read my bible that day so we ended up doing it together. Somewhere along the line I happened to mention that I had read through the entire bible several times. I don't know who was more surprised- she that I had read it or I that she hadn't. Why is it not a given that we need to crack open the bible and read it instead of allowing it to collect dust on a shelf?

I love summer! One of my favorite parts is grilling out, over the years I've learned that you have to marinate certain kinds of meat before cooking it. Otherwise, it's dry, tough and gross. That is a great picture for us. We need that time in God's word to keep us from being dry and tough and letting the world overcome us with trials and hardships.

The same thing with tea- I live in the south always have (alright finicky people who are going,"you're from California"- I was born in southern California. See... From the south.) The south loves its tea. But to make a good batch it has to be steeped, the tea bag has to sit and allowed to flavor the water. We are like that. We have to be steeped in the word and just like a cup of tea the longer we are allowed to steep the stronger we are. 

Risen And The Young Messiah Movie Reviews

If you're looking for a movie to go see as a family or your just bored and looking for something to do, try these out.

Note: These are HISTORICAL FICTION. If you are looking for something 100% historically accurate these ARE NOT FOR YOU.

Risen:
A roman tribune arrives at a crossroad when he's tasked to investigate the disappearance of Jesus's body following the Crucifixion. His quest is to disprove rumors of a risen Messiah. As his journey takes him to places never dreamed of, the tribune discovers the truth that he's been seeking.

Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Cliff Curtis & Tom Felton

Content: This movie is free of cussing and doesn't have much violence except for a few battles and a few flashback memories but nothing gory and NO sexual content. May not be appropriate for children of a young age, viewer discretion advised for children 9 and under.

The Young Messiah:
Have you ever wondered what Jesus might have been like as a little boy? Here's your chance to find out. Follow a fictional year in the life of Mary, Joseph and 7-year-old Jesus as they embark on a journey from Egypt to Nazareth after the young boy brings someone back to life. After hearing about the incident a scared King Herod orders the death of the child. A roman centurion -tasked with orders to take care of the threat- searches for them. As his parents worry about his safety, Jesus's curiosity pushes him to understand more about the world and his gift.

Based on the novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice.

Starring: Sara Lazzaro, Vincent Walsh, Adam Greaves-Neal, Jonathan Bailey & Sean Bean

Content: This movie has one cussing incident where Satan calls Jesus's mother the word for a prostitute to get under his skin. It doesn't have much violence except for a few battles etc. but nothing gory and NO sexual content. May not be appropriate for children of a young age, viewer discretion advised for children 10 and under.

Love Or Hate? It's Your Choice.

Over the last few months, I have been kind of stunned by the amount of hate and anger that has been spewed over Facebook during this election. I find myself losing a little respect for some friends for their choice of who to support for the president. Why are people so attracted to people who openly lie, abuse the power they have been entrusted with, have no respect for others and trample on the same constitutional rights they claim to support and defend. People they encourage us to hate instead of love.

The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. Proverbs 12:22

Eloquent lips are unsuited to a godless fool— how much worse lying lips to a ruler! Proverbs 17:7

Shouldn't the person we choose to lead us, to represent us a nation be a person that calls us to love each other- not give us a scapegoat to hate. Shouldn't they be someone who tells the truth, even when it's not popular and stands for what is right even when no one else will.

Act justly... love mercy... walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Proverbs 29:11

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:19 

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, Ephesians 4:26

I have heard people say that this is the most important election since the founding of our country. Let's not make the choice of a president out of anger or a desire for revenge. Let's do it out of love. Nothing good happens we act out of fear or anger. It's how we ended up with the Salem Witch Trials and so many other horrible things.
  

Fish Bone Braid Hairstyle

Brush your hair back away from your face and separate into two even pieces in the back.

Take a section from the outside of the right side and place it on the inside of the left side.  Then do the same with the left side placing it on the right.  

The Adventures Of The Daughter Of A Hollywood Actress - Act 5

Sorry it's taken so long to get act 5 out, my life has been a little, well...hectic...lately.

Updates:

The Play - The play went very well, and the cast parties were a lot of fun, the first of which involved three or four of my friends dancing in Taco Bell. Oh, and did I mention that we got locked in. That's right I said we were locked in the restaurant. That was a first!

The second night we went to a restaurant called the Corner Pub- can anyone say fish and chips! We pushed a couple of tables together and then went around signing each other's scripts. I laughed so hard I had a headache- but it was great!

Life - Since the play I've been trying to get back into my exercise routine of walking, jogging or biking 5 miles a day as well as well as HIIT, T-Tapp, Kick-Boxing and/or Dance Fitness a few times a week. I recently went Paleo-mostly- and I lost 24 pounds in 4 weeks. So I'm very excited about that.

 Also, I'm trying to get back on track and finish up with school, considering I graduate in June. (News flash, turns out I love science, more specifically, physical science and I am really good at learning languages. I have a knack for accents-hence the reason I've had an English accent since I was three- which makes it easier.) Then there's college and majors to decide about. I know I want to be an actor, but I also like fashion/costume design. And then there's the bakery that I kind of started, thanks to my dad's coworkers. One of my friends from Africa said I should do all three. Become an actor, have the bakery to make money in between the lull of acting and auditioning for roles and design and sell my own fashion/costume line.

But I'm not sure that is where I am being led right now... Don't get me wrong, I can come up with a punch line that could match Richard Dimond on a good case (yes, I listen to old crime time radio programs, doesn't everybody?).

So here is my bucket list for the immediate, and not so immediate future:

1. Get my driver's license

2. Get a part-time job 

3. Get fit/in shape

4. Buy a violin

5. Take violin lessons

7. Make an (actors) resume (how exactly do you make that kind of a resume when you've only been in one high school production your senior year and a couple of church plays????)

8. Go to auditions/casting calls/cattle calls (how exactly does one find those?)

9. Learn martial arts, self-defence & kickboxing

10. Actually, write more than the character descriptions for some of the books I started

11. Learn parkour/freerunning (again, once I get in shape)

12. Become a better archer, knife thrower & swordsmen (skills I've always enjoyed learning)

13. Learn stunt fighting (I do love a good fight)

& 14. Take some dance classes (ballroom, swing, Irish, jazz, contemporary maybe some pop or hip-hop)

That's all for now, I have to finish school and then exercise. Hmmm, should I do kick-boxing or belly dancing.  Daughter Of A Hollywood Actress signing off. 

Respect For The House

Last Sunday we happened to sit in front of a row of teenage boys. Through the entire service they messed around, talked, laughed, jostled and were disruptive. After the service the guy at the end of our row turned around and said Maybe you boys should attend children's church so you can learn how to behave in church. My parents would have yanked my butt out of that pew and outside before I knew what hit me- that was never allowed in my family,  and no I did not go to children's church to learn how to behave.

Yesterday as I was sitting in church this Sunday I happened to look down at the hymnals- someone had written all over the ends of the pages. Where did they learn that that was OK? Is it OK to draw on walls? Is it ok to talk in school? We have a family friend who literally will escort misbehaving children to the front of the church, to sit with her. Lets just say they behaved from then on. This is why my parents didn't let me sit with the other kids- we sat with them so they could teach us how to behave and then yank our sorry behinds out of their if we acted up.

"Keep my Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:30

How did we get the point that we take church so lightly that we will do things that we know would land us in trouble anywhere else? I understand younger children getting figgity but for the most part they shouldn't get away with half of the stuff they do in church- and as for my piers, you generations of teens you should know better. You are supposed to be an example to the younger kids, while you sit there on your phone, or messing around with your friends what are you teaching them? You may not realize it but they are watching you. You are teaching them that they don't need to pay attention to the sermon and you are also distracting everyone else around you from listening.

My mom has a great analogy... if you were to die right there, or if Jesus was to come back would He be disappointed in what you are doing?

I was taught that you enter the House of God with reverence, it is not a playground, you are not there to check your phone, your social media or that text.

You can talk to your friends after the service.

Why I Think Its Important To Vote As A Christian

(My sister and I after registering to vote)

A couple weeks ago a friend asked why I was so excited that I got to vote this year and why I was so into politics. I kind of just looked at her like 'Why wouldn't I be?????' But I bit my tongue and just shrugged- after all, we all know the line; Never talk about politics and religion in polite company. {Enter the absolute unladylike snort} yeah right. If you hear someone laughing after that one it's my mom. After 18 years she knows me way too well.

In my family voting is a HUGE honor and a very great responsibility. Not just because as a girl it was not always a right. For 17 years I watched my grandmother show up to the voting office to cast her ballot. Even when she couldn't see the screen very well and had to use her wheelchair she showed up. She would have me read it and tell her where the buttons were and then she would be so proud when she pushed that last one that cast her vote. My grandma was a woman of prayer. She did everything with it- I think she even pushed that button while saying a prayer for our country.

Maybe this is why I am so excited. Or maybe it's the fact that several of my family members signed the Declaration of Independence all those years ago, an act that resulted in my ability to vote for what I believe in. Maybe it's because I am a second generation Navy brat. I don't know really- maybe it's all of them. Maybe it's just that I refuse to apathetic. Maybe it's because I love this beautiful country too much not to help direct her course.

As a student and a Christian, I have grown up on a steady dose of the original writings and speeches of the men who founded this country and the Bible. I firmly believe that it is not only our right as Americans but our duty to vote. Not just for a party... not for a 'first' but for a candidate that represents our values and will not be swayed by pressure.

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the bible. ~ George Washington 

At the end of our discussion, she said something that amounted to she still didn't care about politics and it was a waste of time. To be honest I am kind of struck by the apathy of people- especially Christians who refuse to get into politics or in some cases even speak about their faith in  public or in their homes. Why is this? Since when has it become wrong to respectfully disagree with another person? My friend and I disagree - quite a bit actually. We're still friends. So why have we become so apathetic? We're all big kids- we can take someone disagreeing with us. Maybe it's time we grew our skin a little thicker and start changing the direction of the ship- because if we don't someone else will and you may not like it. 

• So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelations 3:16

• The price of apathy toward public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. ~ Plato

• The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who watch them without doing anything ~ Albert Einstein 

• The hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict ~ Martin Luther King J.R. 

• Any society that will give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. ~ Benjamin Franklin 

 If you haven't gotten out to vote yet, please pray and then get out there cast your ballot. Personally, I've had enough change and promises of something new. I think it's time we restored our country to the values and standards we were founded on. 

"Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness . . . it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several States to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement thereof." ~ Continental Congress, 1778

"[T]he Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence." ~ Noah Webster 

Nine Ways To Know If My Friendship Is Healthy

Friendship is so important. From the swings at the park to giggling girls on a slumber party and meeting your friend at the coffee shop for a time to catch up, the idea of having a multitude of friends or even a best friend is something that warms the heart of every girl and woman alike. I think that God smiles at our friendships - at least our healthy attempts at them.

There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity. Samuel Johnson

What is a friendship and what should I be looking for in a friend?

Webster's Dictionary of 1828 says
A Friend: One who is attached to another by affection; one who entertains for another sentiments of esteem, respect, and affection, which lead him to desire his company, and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity; opposed to foe or enemy.

 Let's See What God Has To Say About Our Friendships:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant, does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  John 15:12-15

Here Jesus explains to us how we become his friend. How his ultimate act of friendship is to lay down his life for us and how our obedience to him in doing what he has instructed us shows our love and friendship of others. He tells us how to be friends with others by loving them like he has already loved us and showing a sacrificial love for others. A love that costs us something.

Let's see what else the bible has to say about friendship.

• Do for others what you want them to do for you Luke 6:31 (ERV) 

• Good people are careful about choosing their friends, but evil people always choose the wrong ones. Proverbs 12:26 (ERV) 

• Be with wise men and become wise. Be with evil men and become evil. Proverbs 13:20

• A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none [for his ears are closed to wisdom], But knowledge is easy for one who understands [because he is willing to learn]. Leave the presence of a [shortsighted] fool, For you will not find knowledge or hear godly wisdom from his lips. Proverbs 14:6-7 (AMP) 

• Don’t be friends with people who become angry easily. Don’t stay around quick-tempered people. If you do, you may learn to be like them. Then you will have the same problems they do. Proverbs 22:24-25 (ERV) 

• Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” or as the ERV says even more clearly Don’t be fooled: “Bad friends will ruin good habits.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 

• Be devoted to one another with [authentic] brotherly affection [as members of one family], give preference to one another in honor; Romans 12:10 (AMP) 

•  Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin]. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].  Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave [a]you. Ephesians 4:29-32 (AMP)

• Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14 

Ok, so what have we learned?
 What are the nine ways to know my friendship is healthy?

1. Our relationships with our friends and loved ones should be sacrificial.

2. Be the friend that you would love to have. Be that person to others. Be the person God called you to be.

3. Take time and be careful the kind of person that you choose as your close friends. I am not saying we don't have a chance to minister to others that are lost, but our close friends should be someone that is a believer and living a righteous lifestyle.

4. Spend time with wise and godly people - and you will encourage one another to become wise and godly.

5. Don't hang out with people who mess around and who never let you know who they really are. You become who you hang out with.

6. Christ should be the center of every friendship.

7. Don't be around angry people. They will rub off on you and you will end up acting like them.

8. We are supposed to treat one another as brothers and sisters and treat others with honor. We are called to be compassionate, forgiving, humble, kind, loving and patient. But we are also to be holy. We are to be the iron that sharpens iron in Proverbs 27:17 as we live out life with one another. We are to spur one another on to live a life pleasing to God and not tempt one another to sin and live lives that we know are not pleasing to Him.

9. It is so hard and there are so many temptations in life. All around us, we hear cursing and compromise. We see sin heralded and a godly lifestyle made fun of. We need to make sure we are the kind of friend that helps our friends to live out our lives in a way that is pleasing to God. The words that we and our friends speak should be kind and helpful. We shouldn't be profane in our speech or our joking but helping one another to be the best we can be.

Bible Quotes Came from The Bible Gateway



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