God is Good

Hey everybody, Sage here.

I am feeling fabulous today, and I just wanted to share my joy with you! I hope you are enjoying whatever God has brought your way today. It is very, very beautiful here, and I am thanking Him for the sunshine, the green everywhere, and my family. What can you thank Him for today?

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Sage

Welcome our new Poet to the S.J.

Hello Readers,

As of recently we have had the opportunity to post one of our good friend's poems here on the S.J.!

*Applause*

Here it is: enjoy "All I am" by Wynter Strapps.

P.S. We want feedback! Tell us what you think of Wynter's poem.

ALL I AM

All I am,
And all I’ll be,
I lay them down before your feet.
Now I pray for you to speak through me,
As I have foreseen.

All I see,
And all I hear,
To you I hold them dear.
Now I ask for you to come,
And leave a lot, not just some.

All I hope,
And all I ask,
Is for me to complete my task.
And to help me along the way,
To be complete someday.

All I want,
And all I need,
Is for you to take the lead.
To someday be made whole,
That is my dream and goal.

All that exists,
And all I live for,
Not just tales of old lore.
Make your way clear to me,
So I am all you want me to be.

All the memories,
And all the dreams,
Are not always as they seem.
They come and go,
Over which I have no control.

All my faith,
And all my beliefs,
Will never begin to cease.
Let your will be done,
By earth and by your Son.

All I persevere,
And all I feel,
Goes away with just one kneel.
And with the coming of night,
You shine through with you light.

All the hurt,
And all the pain,
Will never be in vain.
‘Cause when I pray,
It goes away for a day.

All my longing,
And all my suffering,
Never seems to have an ending.
It just goes on and on,
Sometimes I wish I were gone.

All the suffering,
And all the tears,
Fall on us through our fears.
And when all hope is lost,
Our Lord and Savior pays the cost.

All I think,
And all I’m here for,
I look to you evermore.
Someday I’ll walk those streets of gold,
But while I’m here I’ll be bold.

All I achieve,
And all I aspire,
I must strive for before I retire.
And all the world has faded to grey,
Before the dawn of another day.

All I trust,
And all I foresee,
Is unlocked with just one key.
That key is to my heart,
The Lord owns it all, not just a part.

All my life,
Is like a song,
The road is narrow and long.
But it will all be worth it,

When I am gone, and eternity is perfect.

Owen!

Hello to all my friends, it's Sage here. I'm ecstatic about this summer! I can just smell great adventures ahead of us.

It feels great to be writing here again, this is undoubtably one of my favorite things to do.

Our new mascot at the Serendipity Journal is going to be a small, but highly intelligent hedgehog. I am going to introduce this series with his first new diary entry. I hope by the end of this, you will be as much as in love with Owen as we are here at the S.J.

"The Adventures of Owen the Hedgehog."

Adventure one - told as from the diary of Owen, the hedgehog

Dear Diary,

I am most content on this rainy day in my humble dwelling. Since all of my laundry is washed, the kitchen floors are swept, the kettle is set on to boil, and my frog vault is securely sealed, I am at liberty to write in you, my new diary. I suppose I will have to start relatively from the beginning. You need an explanation of how I got to my current situation. That way, you will be up-to-date, in a sense, on my wonderful hedgehog life. First, you should know that I am partial to referring to myself as a civilized being, not a mere, mindless hedgehog. Second, I love living outdoors; although, mind you, I sincerely dislike bugs. Even though my species generally diets on those sorts of organisms, I am accustomed to my European diet of fresh vegetation. I do enjoy an occasional snail or two now and then. As for my frog vault, I assume you have been wondering about that from the start. Well, I often refer to it as my "order Anura protection agency." In return for the protection I give them with my highly technical vault [which I will explain later], the frogs catch those unruly bugs around my abode. You see diary, some hedgehogs and other predators thoroughly enjoy the taste of frogs. Personally, I detest that leathery skin and cold blood, but that's just personal opinion. For more about me, I love to read, going for long walks in the woods and parks around my house is on of my favorite thing, oh, and kittens! Now that I have got most of that nonsense out of the way, I would like to explain to you my line of work. It is somewhat classified, but I have been given permission to tell the majority of it to helpless civilians. I work for a government, but this is most definitely not any government [more on this in the next entry.] It is called the faerie, or fairy government for those of you who are not familiar with these highly intellectual words. I have a diary tendency to tone my vocabulary down for that group of you I have just finished mentioning. Most of my friends are actually not who you would expect. With the exceptions of my family, Nolan Rabbit, and Mr. and Mrs. Feline, the majority of my friends are [oh, and of course the frogs] part of the faerie district. That story will be for another time, but I do spinely promise, [that sort of promise is very, very sincere in the hedgehog species] that I will explain all of that in due time. As for the current moment, the rain has stopped and there is a rainbow in the sky. And, to keep tradition, I must leave and go wish my [faerie] friends well, at the end of the rainbow. Au revoir, diary.

Yours truly,

Owen

SUMMER

Hey, it's Carrie!

Well this might be the most disfunctional (apparently that is not a word) SJ post you have ever read in the short course of this d life.

I've got my summer all planned out:

-I'm going to try to complete the Susie Mag 30-Day Challenge (see http://www.susiemagazine.com/ in June)

-Twice a week, my friend and I will jog because she needs to get in shape for track next year. I'll go over to her house and sleep over, then we'll wake up really early and go running for a little while. Then she'll come to my house and sleep over and in the morning we'll do the same thing. (we'll see if this works)

-Every other weekend another friend from school will sleep over at my house and go to church with me

-I'm going to a wedding!

-Right after that I'm going to Student Life Conference w/ my youth group!

Then I don't know what I'll do for a month and a half till school starts!

Speaking of school... Yesterday was my last day. I go to a Christian school and we have weird rules like: If you have an A in a class with 4 or less absences, you don't have to take the final in that class. Finals were today, and I have all A's with 4 or less absences. So I don't have to take finals, which are today! Otherwise today would be my last day of school. It is for everyone else.

Which makes me sad! I hope I get to hang out with all the friends I made this year at school! I will miss them if I never get to see them for 3 months!

Hey, let me know what you're doing this summer! I'd Looove to know! Write funny stories about your summer, too, that we can post.

Guess what I learned the other day? Apparently it's an old-ish, 80s or 90s saying:

H.A.G.S. = HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!!

Epic Crash[es] By Sage Anderson

My whole story launches from a van overflowing with sleds, tubes, skis, snowboards, and too many sweaty and adrenaline-filled high schoolers. Our crazy group anticipated the run as the overloaded vehicle reached the top of the mountain. This my friends, is where I began my trip. Unfortunately, my friend Sarah and I were making this journey together on a “Microsoft Windowsish” sled. No one would have guessed what was in store for me and my daring partner. It all started when I was standing smack in the middle of a high-speed pathway. That is not too much of a bright idea, as I quickly found out. We crashed further down the slope and lost control, and the sled lurched and threw us into a clump of alders and a fellow sledder. My neck did not feel too well, and Sarah’s arm was hurt. Joel was on his hands and knees groaning about his ankle. Was it broken?

“I think it’s going to be o.k.”

“Thank God!” Sarah and I still felt terrible, and we should have stopped our attempt of the slope right then and there.

Not three minutes after our ankle-bashing failure, we started descending the hill again. Our wimpy foam board gained speed. Spinning around backwards, we careened towards yet another bank filled with trees. Extraordinary instincts in my gut told me we were headed toward something hard and painful. (Actually, the shouts of all the people closely watching us might have possibly, somewhat, maybe a lot to do with it, too.) Sorry to say, we didn’t get off the sled in time, eventually ending in another pileup with a few more sledders. Thankfully God loves us enough to have saved us from a catastrophic death. Due to our newly acclaimed fame, people came over and congratulated us on our amazing lack of skills. We officially became the most esteemed klutzes of all time.

Sarah and I decided to walk down the hill for a while to regain our broken confidence. After a while, our fear was replaced with excitement, and we tried once more to go down the hill on that horrible sled. These attempts only resulted in splats on our faces.

As we finally came close to the end of the hill, the realization hit us that we hadn’t gone through the worst. One more gnarly drop awaited us and our failure of a sled. Did I mention how this also led to a snow-covered bridge over a small creek? We heard it calling us to make a monumental attempt. After all, it was our last run, we had to try to sled down. My brave friend sat with me for the absolute perfect moment. Pushing off into the unknown and trusting the self-willed piece of plastic was the only thing we could manage. To even remotely think that we should try this was probably not a fabulous idea. Down the steep hill we went, bouncing over the jumps, and rounding the curve.

There it was; the bridge. The same feeling that I felt so strongly earlier surged over me, for we had whirled backwards for the thousandth time. I could not tell which way we were going, or what was happening. My pathetic, slow-motion groping was not enough. At that moment, thoughts were wiped out of my head from the force and shock of the fall. Whipping around and forcefully catapulting into the icy creek, I could hear the sounds of water gushing and the blurred voices of my friends. The water poured over me, washing my senses out. Stunned, I realized that worthless, evil piece of foam threw me in the water. Everyone gave me a hand to pull me, who stood soaking-wet, out of the creek.

I got out and as I peeled my drenched coat off I told them I was wasn’t hurt. Also, it was hard not to help but join them in laughing. It was such a typical episode from me, the person who gets hurt walking around her house by knocking into stationary objects. (i.e., tables, walls, door frames, creeks, etc...) Some people would call this predicament an awesome wipeout, a freshman initiation, and a gift from God that I wasn’t hurt. I am sure many would describe it as beyond hilarious. It was epic, and I won’t ever forget it!

Favorite Books Anyone?

Dear Readers,

Carrie and I were wondering if you have some titles you would like to share with us. We would love to hear from you. Tell us what books you absolutely couldn't live without, what you are reading currently, or ones that you might want to read and need a review of. Tell us anything and everything you know about books.....well, maybe not everything. We do want some suggestions, though.

I am super excited to hear your feedback!

-Sage Anderson for Carrie and the S.J.

P.S. Email us if you would like to have a job reviewing books for our readers! serendipityjournal@gmail.com

Honesty

Honesty is a highly acclaimed virtue. This virtue is established through words and actions. It is simple, yet also difficult to attain absolute honesty. According to the dictionary, honesty is truthfulness, justice, equity, genuineness, reality, sincerity, and morality. In contrast, honesty is not: deceit, dishonesty, lies, tricks, or cheating. Any of these acts do not resemble total honesty.

There are numerous causes for people to not achieve perfect honesty. The most prevalent of these is fear. Fear of embarrassment, punishment, or negative consequences. Branch Rickey once stated, “Basic honesty allows a man never to be ashamed.” This tells us we have no cause to be dishonest. Being honest has many advantages, some of which include trust from others and opportunities for the future. If youth are honest they are enabled to make wise decisions, and to become good students, adults, citizens, employees, and employers. These reasons are only a couple of examples of why youth need to regard honesty highly.

It is very sensible for youth to be honest in all situations. William Shakespeare once said, “No legacy is as rich as honesty.” And Lise Meitner also said, “Justice is inseparable from truth.” We should be careful to speak and act in the truth at all times. School, home, church, social situations, [such as purchasing supplies at a store, or attending parties and sporting events] in legal situations, [such as probation hearings or being stopped by a peace officer] entertainment, and employment are great places to show complete honesty. Demosthenes, an ancient Greek orator, declared, “What we have in us of the image of God, is the love of truth and justice.” This statement finalizes the topic of having absolute honesty in everything.

Melvin the Evil Black Fox by Carrie Hiller

Melvin the Evil Black Fox

There once was a country called... well, that I am not permitted to tell you. In the country, an evil loomed. It was called (“I love this story!” “Christopher! Would you shut up? I’m trying to write a story here!”) Melvin. Melvin, the Evil Black Fox. (“Oh, yeah, Melvin’s a really evil name.” “Christopher!”) The Evil Fox roamed the land, and the king took many precautions against it. (“Wait, isn’t this the king of Cau-” “Christopher! I’m not permitted to hear or speak the the name of the country!” “Gosh, sorry.”) The king, named King Huron, set up a barrier around the kingdom, doubled his army, and increased the work force to dig a trench. But somehow Melvin (“I laugh every time I hear that name.” “Christopher!” “Well-“ “I said be quiet!”) got through all of these traps, and the king became depressed. The people of the land were also angered, for Melvin was ravaging their homes in the dead of night, stealing their food, and taking their money. Many soldiers lost their lives in search of the Fox to destroy him. Finally, one boy came along (“Oh yeah, this part.” “CHRISTOPHER!”) and challenged all the knights and soldiers. This is what he said: “O hail, thou knights and soldiers, for I challenge thee! Listen carefully to my words, for I shall henceforth speaketh only once. (“This kid is weird. What’s with the old English?” “It’s part of the story.” “Oh.”) Here is my request: That thy swords be sharpened and unsheathed, thy chivalry be diminished, and thy feet be quick as fire! For I challenge thee to a race! A race to find Melvin, this Evil Black Fox thou speaketh so much of. My name is Nivlem, the knight from a country I am not permitted to speak of, and I challenge thee, (“Hasn’t he already said that enough?” “Shut up! This is my story, not yours!”) once and for all, to find this Melvin! The first to do so shall be rewarded in full by me. I shall givest thou eight gold pieces if you are successful in bring Melvin to me-alive. Now, find Melvin, and then-find me!” And he disappeared. The crowd gasped in stunned silence. They did not know what to do. Then suddenly, (“Hey! This is where that one knight gives a battle cry or something and then runs into the forest to find Melvin, who is actually-“ “CHRISTOPHER SHANE WILLIAMS! How many times do I have to tell you?” “Yikes, a little aggressive, are we?”) a knight lifted his sword and gave a battle cry and raced into the forest. Five other knights, coming to their senses, raced after him.

Behind a tree, Melvin the Evil Black Fox snickered. “They’ll never find me. Or this 'Nivlem'.”

And they haven’t. Not yet. (“Except for your brother!” “Yes, except for my annoying brother-“ “I forgot what the country was called.” “Don’t try me.”) Not ever. For here he sits, writing this now, and those six knights are still running all over the forests. (“Wasn’t it Caudland?” “CHRISTOPHER!!”)

Hey, Readers, it's Carrie

As you can see this is a very short story that needs a little bit of work. There are things I need to change, but I'm not sure how to do it. That is where you come in. Here are a few questions for you to answer. You can make up a story or do a short answer, whatever you like.

-Who exactly is Melvin, why does the king fear him, and how did he come to be?

-Why can't he speak or hear the name of the town he was in? (Caudland)

-Why is with his brother?

-And why is he writing this story anyway??

You only need to answer one or two of the questions, not all of them. Send your answers to serendipityjournal@gmail.com Thanks for your help!

~Carrie for the S.J.

Poem Club!

Here is a new club for October!

Personally, I love to write poems. If you like to, here is your chance to share them! We may publish your poems, if they meet our standards on the list below. Just email your poems to serendipityjournal@gmail.com and our editors will check for any spelling errors, contact you, and publish your poem as one of the S.J.'s own posts!

I cannot wait to see everything you have.

~Carrie for the S.J.

P.S.

Here is some criteria for sent-in poems:

1. Give us a only a first name, fake name, or have us post it as anonymous.

2. Include a title or 'theme' (if you wish.)

3. No crude or profane items. (thank you!)

4. Have fun with it!

More info for the first debate

Hello Readers,

For a while, we have been getting some opposition to our answer to the first debate. (Can science prove anything?) So here is some more references for you to check out.

This one is an article that is definitely worth reading all the way through.

The Universe Confirms the Bible - Answers in Genesis

Here is a quote from a book I am reading.

.....Science work by experiments. It watches how things behave. Every scientific statement in the long run, however complicated it looks, really means something like, 'I pointed the telescope to such and such a part of the sky at 2:20 a.m. on January 15th and saw so-and-so,' or, 'I put some of this stuff in a pot and heated it to such-and-such a temperature and it did so-and-so.' Do not think I am saying anything against science: I am only saying what its job is. And the more scientific a man is, the more (I believe) he would agree with me that this is the job of science-and a very useful and necessary job it is too.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. © HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 2001.

I hope this helps you in your search of the answer.

Sage and Carrie for the S.J.

Peanut Butter Club!

Here is the official post for the opening of the Peanut Butter Lovers Club!

Everyone- Please tell us your favorite peanut butter recipe or peanut butter memories! =]

Thank you!

The Breath-Taker by Carrie Hiller

Well, for most of you, summer is over and school has started. Some of you may already be ready for summer. So for everyone who has the school blues, I have a remedy! Here's a story to take you back to summer camp....

Strapping my white helmet painfully over my head, I walk towards the one-foot tall plank platform. I check my harnesses next - they are tight and secure. Perhaps a little too tight, but better safe than sorry.

"I need two spotters!" the counselor monitoring the rope swing called the Breath-taker calls. Two of my friends, similarly decked in harnesses, stride forward. As I climb the rickety ladder to be attached to a rope, their arms are extended upward to catch me if I fall.

The counselor double-checks all of my harnesses, then attaches the rope that everyone will pull me up with. "Everyone go to the rope!" she yells. "Now, Carrie is going to say, 'Spotters ready?' And you will say, 'Ready!' She will say, 'Trusting,' and you will reply, 'Trust us, Carrie.' Then you will all pull the rope."

After a moment I repeat what I am supposed to say. The ladder is taken out from under me. I feel myself suspended ten feet into the air. Suddenly the rope jerks, and I begin to go up. Now I am twenty feet high. Now twenty-five feet, and thirty. Forty feet, fifty....

Someone yells, "You're at the top!" I open my eyes quickly; the ground spins beneath me. The height, probably seventy-five feet, makes me dizzy with fear and excitement all at the same time, and I immediately clamp my eyes shut.

I clutch the harness straps near my shoulders, only to hold on to something. As if it will keep me from falling off of the rope. Taking a deep breath, I shout, "One, two, three, Breath-taker!" Then, I yank the small rope at my side, which disconnects me from the pulley rope, and I plummet down, hanging merely from a cable. As I swing diagonally toward the platform, I open my eyes quickly, to see that I am about to crash - Whoosh! I miss it by inches (or perhaps a foot or two). Then I swing up again. Soon I am falling back down again, and up, and down, like the pendulum on a clock, all the while clinging to the harness' shoulder straps.

Just when I have a sick churning in my belly and can stand it no longer, the counselor hits her forearm against my leg, to slow me down. I go up and down once more; again, she hits my legs.

All of my muscles are still taught as I come to a halt. The ladder is put in front of me once more, so with trembling hands and knocking knees I carefully climb down.

Shaking, I unbuckle my helmet and unstrap my harnesses while walking over to my friends. They bombard me with questions.

"How was it?"

"Why'd you close your eyes the whole time?"

"Did you like it?"

Now, all in all, I must say it was pretty fun. And the name truly fits it, for it really does take your breath away.

Clubs

Hello S.J. readers!

What do you think about adding a new aspect to The Serendipity Journal?

Well, we thought to make the blog a little more fun, we could form clubs. This kind of club is a good kind, and it also is only an idea, don't get us wrong.

Listen to our thoughts and see what you think.

1. Anyone, no matter what, can join.

2. They will be to inspire others and get inspired yourself.

3. If none of you readers like them, we can take them away.

It's that simple.

Let us give you an example;

I (Sage) am going to start this new idea by making a club myself.

It will be a Peanut Butter Lovers club! Anyone can join this club.

Mostly it will consist of favorite recipes from readers, but other stuff is great too!

We might want to start a Poetry club where people submit their favorite poems and ones they have written.

(Do you mostly get the idea?)

If you have an idea for a S.J. club (we will call them S.J.C.s to make it easier.), just email us at serendipityjournal@gmail.com and Carrie and I will approve them and put up a post about is A.S.A.P! Have fun with this!

Your friends at the Serendipity Journal,

Sage Anderson and Carrie Hiller

The Third Debate

Welcome, Readers! 

Once again, the time has come for the infamous debate question! There are two questions to this debate that tie together. As always, your answer is strictly up to your opinion, especially this one. Here it is:

Why do you think Jesus, after he performed a miracle, told the person that he healed not to tell anyone what had happened? (For example, after healing a deaf man, 'Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.' - Mark 7:36) But even after he told them (commanded them), they still talked about it. Why do you think that is?

Thanks for reading, and let the discussion commence!

Sincerely,

Carrie H. and Sage A. 

 for the Serendipity Journal

Summer Action-reported from the perspective of Agent Sage

Disclaimer: To all whom this may concern: this allegory is not intended to offend, hurt or otherwise render any victim helpless. It is strictly for entertainment, fun and other random purposes.

Note: No real names have been used in the making of this story. These actions have been taken to protect and guard the real identities of the under-cover characters. Thank you.

-Begin Report-

7/09

Agent Sage Anderson signing in:

I love the smell of summer! What makes it even more wonderful is when there is something else to smell; action and adventure! Let me tell you about my summer adventure this week.

First, you have to understand that I have a friend named Connie. She is my age and a great friend. Connie loves soccer, in fact, she absolutely adores it! Her whole summer is packed with practices and games. (She is quite a player too! That girl can kick the ball high enough to be out of sight and all the way across the entire field! She is an amazing player.) She only has one brother named Will who also loves sports, but he plays LaCrosse. Their family also has a dog with a food name, which I think is very sweet!

Connie and I have been getting together to play some tag some mornings this week. Although this might not seem very interesting to you now, just listen please. On Wednesday of this week, Connie told me how she had really enjoyed the awesome games of tag we have had together.

Pause the story please, sorry, but you also need to know that I have been getting letters randomly in my mailbox from someone named Wynter. I think this person sent me about five, I really don't remember though. I had no clue for a while who this was, but when I find a pen name, I intend to find out about who the pen name belongs to.

Now, back to the story.

When we were walking home, I told her about those letters I was getting. She told me she hadn't heard of such a thing ever happening to someone in our neighborhood. I asked her if she had gotten any of them or sent any anonymous letters in the past. She replied with a definite no, and then gave me a sort-of sheepish look that was trying to be hidden......but that didn't work for me. I knew right away who this mysterious Wynter was, and why Connie had posed as her.

Later in the walk, Connie tried to cover it up by saying something about how she just remembered right then that she had gotten some letters from this "Wynter". I just played along and pretended like I believed her, but I still was positive Wynter was Connie.

For those of you who may be wondering what I did to let Connie know that I knew she was acting as Wynter, and totally turn her in to the Department Of Using A Fake Name Towards Your Friend And Not Telling Her It Is You (DOUAFNTYFANTHIIY), listen to this, I didn't turn her in. Yep, you heard me right, I didn't turn her in; I wrote a story.

So Wynter, (you know who you are) this summer I not only smell action and adventure, but I also smell something burning...because you are so toast!

Agent Sage Anderson signing out.

-End Report-

Answer to the first debate

Ok, here is our opinion on what the answer is to, "Can science prove anything?"

There are many things we know about science. However, since the world is constantly 

under change, it is difficult to prove things. If data used to support a theory or law changes, that theory or law is disproved. What was once "proved by science" is not any longer. 

At one point, science "proved" that we would never go to outer space, walk on the moon, fly faster than the speed of sound, but you know what? We have done all of those things and more!  Science in and of itself cannot give us sound, unchanging answers to things such as that. That is why we base our beliefs on the Bible, God's word, because it does not change and never will.

Sage Anderson and Carrie Hiller

The Second Debate!

Hello, Everyone!

Yes, the time has come again for a debate! The answer to the previous question will be answered directly.

And now, the question is about the 4th of July. What was your favorite part about celebrating America's Independence Day? We hope you did not go to Wal-Mart prior to celebrating.

Also, which term do you use? Independence Day or the 4th of July?

Please feel free to talk about others' comments and leave comments of your own. This is not very much of a debate but we would like to know how your 4th of July (or Independence Day) was.

Have a wonderfully fantabulously great day!

Carrie H. and Sage A.

Fourth of July, sea salt. Huh? Wow!

The other day we needed some Fourth of July flair, so we decided to go to wal-mart. For those of you who are against wal-mart, please just listen to the story. Walking into any store you always have an expectation of what you will see, our expectation was to be blasted with the seasonal stuff. You know like Easter they have bunnies, baskets, eggs and glitter. Christmas they have all of that and more, but that day when we opened the doors of the blue wonderland, we had an utter disappointment, no red white and blue!! AHH! What were we going to do? This was traumatic!

After overcoming our first initial shock, we advanced  on the newly finished, squeaky, laminate tiles.  We turned and saw a lady hanging clothes on a rack. If we were smart enough, we would have turned back and ran away screaming right then. We didn't know better, so we proceeded. 

She was doing something with a rack and clothes but I really don't remember that part in detail. Her Blue shirt and larger glasses made her quite the wal-mart type. My mom wanted to find this Fourth stuff right away and get out of there, so she started the conversation.

"Hi, we are looking for some Fourth of July decorations. Usually wal-mart has all of that seasonal stuff right when you walk in, but we didn't see any!" 

"Oh, you are looking for that, do you want the kind of sea salt that you use to make ice cream, or just regular kitchen sea salt?" 

"Um hm, yeah..." This was a little bit strange.

"Oh, you don't have any of that yet, nope!" The employee said with a nice grin on her face.

"Ok, thank you!"

We just walked away trying not to bust out laughing while we were still in earshot.

And this, reader, is why you don't ask questions to wal-mart employee.

The End

What a Real Hero Is by Carrie Hiller

Note: Before you read this you must understand that, because I am a Christian, I could not think of any ways to write this without mentioning any Christian attributes in a hero.

What do you first think of when someone says the word ‘hero’? Spiderman? The Incredibles? C. S. Lewis? A movie star, or a writer, or a singer? That is what most people think of. But what about your best friend? Or perhaps a family member or a teacher?

This is what I think a hero is. 

A hero is someone who genuinely cares about what you are feeling, and when they ask, “How are you?” they actually mean it. They are there for you, not only when you are sad or depressed, but when you just want to talk about life. A real hero will look out for you and love you no matter what.

 

A hero makes you feel good and brightens your day. They are happy and constantly have a smile on their face. It doesn’t matter if you are popular or not. They don’t care what other people think about them because they are doing what’s right.

 

So, you may be thinking, how do I do that? You can try really really hard to be nice to everyone you meet and let them know you care, but even then, it’s difficult. There is always that one kid at school or one person you work with that just doesn’t click with everyone else. This is where faith comes in. I have found that if you have God in your life you are automatically happier, more joyful. This makes it so much easier to be a hero in the ways I discussed, to love and care for people. 

Some think only famous people can be heros, but they were normal once too. With God, all things are possible. You can be a hero. Either that, or you can just sit on your couch and wish you could be like them. You choose what you want to do.

The First Debate!

Hello Everyone,

We have decided on a question to keep you thinking for a while.

This post is meant for discussion and of course, debates! Please leave your opinion, we want responses!

Thanks, Sage A and Carrie H for the S.J.

Here is the question:

Can science prove anything? Give examples to support your answer.

There you go, let the debate begin!