I'm Alive

I promise I am not dead. I haven't posted in a zillion lightyears because school has started in all of its madness and glory, I'm working all the time at Subway, and when I don't have either of those things I either talk to my boyfriend or sleep. I have tons of ideas though, don't worry. 
Stay tuned.
Are you in?


-Kimber

Faith Lessons from Football

Recently, I found a blog from one of the Steelers' rookies. His name is Baron Batch, and he was just signed out of college this season. His blog has been funny, inspirational, and a good read. He is an amazing photographer and the photos he posts are always breathtaking. Today I got on here to check something and I saw he had updated, so I read it and it just blew my mind. 
Baron has been dreaming of a rookie season in the NFL. Last week, that dream took a U-turn. He tore his ACL during Steelers training camp and is now out for the season. He's undergoing surgery today to repair it so he can stand on the sidelines and watch as everyone else on the team plays, living out the dream that he so desperately wanted. But is he letting this get to him?
See for yourself. Your NR challenge is to jump to his blog and read this post. Then ask yourself, am I riding with faith, or fleeing with doubt?
Baron's latest post - Diary 32
Are you in?


-Kimber.

Keep Cheering

What team are you on?

In about two weeks, I'll be turning nineteen. While this isn't a significant birthday - other than the fact that it's my Golden Birthday, 19 on the 19th yeah! - it does have one unfortunate fact: I have officially lived another year of my life without seeing the Pirates have a successful season. I have lived my entire life without seeing the Pirates even somewhat near playoff contention, and I have grown accustomed to this. As a family, we normally go to a few Pirate games every season; it took me until I was 15 to see the Pirates actually win a game.
Now, don't get me wrong. I love the Buccos - yes, I may hate on them at times, but really what Pittsburgh-er doesn't? Even though they may not play the best at times, there's always hope for the next game.
Imagine the thrill, then, of this season...well, this season up to about 9 or 10 games ago. The Pirates were first place in their division and nearing playoff contention - unheard of! For a while I was convinced that it was all a joke. But they had something good going - they were working together as a team and finding the best way to make everything and everyone fit together. Of course, as I'm sure you're well aware, the Bucs are in something like a 10-game losing slump, putting them that many games behind first place. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
If you think about it, there's someone who is an even bigger fan than the most dedicated Pirates fan. (Who, by the way, could easily be my youth pastor. Just saying.) As hard as it is to cheer for the Pirates, who seem to mess up sometimes and never get it right, imagine how hard it would be to cheer for us!
Consider this. We're human. God designed us this way. We are  flawed, and never will be perfect - only Christ is and ever will be. So, naturally, we mess up a whole lot by ourselves anyway. That's already understood. Now, what about all the times that we mess up and we know it? Lying to our parents. Backstabbing a friend. Skipping out on personal time with God. Going farther with our boyfriend or girlfriend and knowing it. Stealing something from a store. Anything like this - it's a sin. Every time something like this happens, it's like another Pirates loss or failed play - just like the fans get upset, God gets upset - but to a much larger scale. 
When the Pirates are losing big time, its easy to just give up and forget about them. Luckily, God doesn't do that for us. God is cheering for us to make it, to overcome the obstacles and learn from our mistakes so that, with His help, we can learn not to make the same bad choices over and over again.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9

This verse is telling us that if we just admit to God that we messed up, He will always wipe that sin away from our name - it's gone, like it never happened. And just like that, we're back in His good standings, .500 in the rankings, ready to move on. However, it's up to us - we can keep moving forward, winning our battles with His help and making the most of what He's given to us and go above and beyond the straight .500 we were at. Or, we can instead turn back to what we were doing, going on a losing slump and not realizing that we're even far worse off than before. 
Your NR challenge for this post is this - figure out how your performance in the game of life is going. Are you heading toward the ultimate game, eternal life in heaven, or are you slowly making your way over to another team - Satan's team? The Bible says there isn't a neutral position in the Lord; every day you're making decisions that either make you more like Him or less like Him. It's up to you to decide what team you're playing for. 
God's cheering for us to make it, and to make the right decisions. No matter our performance in life, whether we live for Him or for ourselves, God loves us. He's still cheering, still rooting that you'll come back to the Home Team. Can you hear Him?
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. As a Pirates fan, I sometimes understand this quote better than other times. The boys can play the same way game after game, producing the same loss statistic and sliding down in the rankings. But, I never give up home that they can turn it around. Call it insanity if you will, but I call it hope, or determination. And I'm not the only one - God continually is hoping and praying for us to make the right choices, say and do the right things, all to glorify Him. And what is the consequence with our performance? Following the One who created us and then DIED for us, so one day we can gain eternal life with Him in heaven? Or living for ourselves for a short number of years, to only be granted with the most devastating result ever - an eternity in Hell, away from the One who loves us more than anything. 
Who is the insane one now?
Are you in?


-Kimber.

It's worth it.

I love love love this song! So true and with such a powerful message. Take a listen!

Your Dream Home.

In sixth grade I had a rather eccentric English teacher, who also happened to be my homeroom teacher. 6th grade is a big year for kids in our school district, because that's when you leave the comforting yellow halls of the  elementary and head up to the scary middle school where everything becomes a whole new ballgame. Mrs. D. was a somewhat strict older woman, but she had a sincere soft spot for kids, especially kids entering middle school. She was passionate about English, clipping coupons from the newspapers people would drop off for her, and, the number one thing she loved - entering incessantly for the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes.
Mrs. D. would tell us every morning in homeroom how she had entered yet again, convinced that one day the people would come to her house with the big check congratulating her on winning. She wanted a huge house where she could retire to and garden, clip coupons, and just relax.
What would you do if you had won a contest like Publisher's Clearing House? Receiving that much money would allow you to buy tons of things that you would want, including a new house, or even let you build the house of your dreams. What would you put in that house? I would have a library filled with tons of books that I could read, because yes, I am a total nerd. I'd have a wrap around porch covered in cute porch furniture, complete with a porch swing. I'd have a sheep-themed kitchen, just because I could. My house would be strange to some, but to me, it would be absolutely everything that I could dream of. It would be perfect.
You know, there is a way that we can get the house of our dreams one day. No, don't go rushing off to get a lottery ticket or enter for contests or things like that. Just read this:

"My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:2-3

In these verses, Jesus is telling us that in Heaven, God has a huge "mansion" of sorts, filled with many rooms. He doesn't list a number, but I'm guessing it would be hard to pinpoint exactly how many there are! Jesus says in the verse prior to this to not let our hearts be troubled. If we believe in God, we also should believe in Jesus. (John 14:1) He's saying that we can trust Him to prepare a room for us in God's house, and when He does, He's going to come back and take us there so we can be with Him. In other places, it says how God has prepared a banquet that we all can enjoy when we're in Heaven with Him.
There's a joke that every Steelers fan loves to tell:

Tom Brady, after living a full life, died. When he got to heaven, God was showing him around. They came to a modest little house with a faded Patriots flag in the window. "This house is yours for eternity, Tom," said God. "This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here." Tom felt special, indeed, and walked up to his house. On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a 3-story mansion with a black and gold sidewalk, a 50-foot tall flagpole with an enormous Steelers logo flag, and in every window, a Terrible Towel. Tom looked at God and said, "God, I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was an all-pro QB, I hold many NFL records, and I even won a few Superbowls." God said, "So what's your point Tom?" "Well, why does Roethlisberger get a better house than me?" God chuckled and said, "Tom, that's not Roethlisberger's house, it's Mine."

Obviously this is just a joke (I'm pretty sure God doesn't have a Steelers themed mansion up in Heaven, but it would be pretty interesting!) but it shows how God will prepare a place for you in Heaven that you would love. Sure, maybe Tom Brady was a bit jealous and convinced that he deserved a bigger house. But really, when we're in Heaven and surrounded by the majesty of God, are we really going to complain about trivial things like that? Someone once told me that once we're in Heaven, all the problems and things of everyday life fade away, because God's glory is all we can focus on. That's pretty sweet! 
It's pretty hard to comprehend how the creator of the universe is up in Heaven right now, preparing a place for me to stay with Him after He calls me home. I can't wait to see what He's done, but even more so, I can't wait to be with Him forever! Forget the swimming pools, or the wrap around porch, or anything else that you would want in your dream home. The best dream home we'll ever get to have is up in Heaven, with the number one aspect of it being Jesus Christ Himself!
Here's your NR challenge for this post. Imagine everything you would ever want in a house on earth - and then compare it to the place God is preparing for you in Heaven, with Him. No matter how fantastic our visions of what we want here on earth are, they'll always be nothing compared to the splendor we will receive with forever living with the King. 
Mrs. D never won the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes, but who knows? Maybe one day she will. I know that there's something far greater than money or a new home that I can have without having to win it, though, and that's an eternity with my Lord and Savior in the place that He has prepared for me. So, think about it yourself. What would you rather have?
Are you in?


-Kimber.

I've always been bad with dates

Whoops.

And I totally missed the fact that it's been a year since I started this blog!
(Well, it was a year on the 6th. But for the sake of arguing, let's just say it's been a solid year since it started!)
I'm not going to make this some long, sappy post or something that compliments myself and says what a totally wicked job I'm doing and how I'm so creative and blah blah blah...because I'm not. From day one, every post on here has been something that God has either opened my eyes to or laid on my heart to share with you guys. So, a big and major thank you to Him! 
Also, I want to say a thank you to you guys, my readers. I would never have kept this blog going and kept it public if I wasn't getting some feedback or a sense that people liked what they were reading, or if I wasn't getting any encouragement. At first, this blog was just going to be something that I did by myself, writing these ideas down in some spiral notebook that the cave under my bed would be sure to eat sometime. Instead, I took a leap of faith of sorts and threw my ideas out there, and you guys were always so loving and supportive. You supported me when I thought my writing was crap, or I thought that the idea didn't leave my head in quite the right manner. You complimented me on my crappy writing style and eccentric topics. You yelled at me when I took a hiatus and didn't post for a while. (Shout out to Pete, ya meathead.) Mostly though, you let me continue doing what God wanted me to do - write all this madness down and be able to use it as an outlet to share God's love with others. So, thank you.
It's been a wild year. Not only have dozens of you responded in some way or form - comments on Facebook, comments on the blog, face-to-face conversations - but my blog has even been mentioned in some pretty cool ways, like being used at Whitehall for ideas for devotions, or when it was featured in my church's monthly newsletter. Pretty awesome stuff just from an idea from an even more awesome God!
So, thank you to everyone for sticking around and reading this jumbled mess of post. I hope you like what you read, and I hope something that God gives me to tell you sticks with you.
No challenge for this post other than to stay tuned - I can't wait to see what God will do in this next year!
Are you in?


-Kimber. 

Whiplash

Oh, Willow Smith. Only the daughter of someone as insanely great as Will Smith could get away with a song based on, well, whipping your hair back and forth. In this incredibly repetitive but strangely addictive song, Willow sings of whipping her hair back in forth in just about every situation. When she arrives at a party, she whips her hair around. When she goes onstage and hears some applause, she whips her hair around. After she hops out of bed and turns her swag on (sorry, couldn't resist) she ignores all of the people who speak and think badly of her and she - once again - whips her hair back and forth.
It seems like her fix-all solution to every situation is to throw her head  around and whip her hair. Let's look at a line in the bridge: (before the 238927382 "I whip my hair back and forths")

Don't let haters keep me off my grindKeep my head up and I know I'll be fineKeep fighting until I get thereAm down and I feel like giving upI whip my hair back and forth! I whip my hair back and forth!

Haha, sorry. Got a bit carried away there.
Here we see how Willow is feeling a bit down, thanks to all of the people that are thinking poorly or speaking poorly about her. She knows that she shouldn't feel bad because of it, and that she'll be fine, but she's feeling at the end of her rope - and what does she do? Whips her hair back and forth, of course.
Doesn't really seem like a logical solution, does it? Well, maybe, for the sake of the song. Still, though! It's not really what you should do when you're "down and you feel like giving up," right?

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30

God is telling us in these verses that, whenever we're feeling tired and run down, unable to go on with whatever we're struggling with, we're to turn to Him. Instead of head banging along with Willow, ask God to take over and stop trying to fight whatever battle you're facing by yourself. Psalm 28:8 says that "The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one." In chapter 27 verse 1, it says "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" 
This is one of my favorite verses, which I think goes along with this pretty well:

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." - Psalm 46:1

The common theme in all of these verses is that, no matter what we're dealing with or what we're going through, what we've done or what we're facing, God is always there to turn to. We can give Him all of our troubles and problems, and He will willingly take them on and guide us, helping us fight whatever we're struggling with.
I don't know about you, but when things get tough, I'd much rather turn to the Creator of the heavens and the earth for help and relief, rather than whip my hair back and forth for a supposed confidence boost. 
So here's your NR challenge for this post - I challenge you to forget about what Willow says, and instead turn to the only one who can fight your battles and carry your worries and burdens - Jesus. Realize that, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to do these things on your own. Your strength should come from God, not anything from a song! You have a choice - turning to the One who made you for strength, or relying on something as silly as whipping your hair back and forth. One option will give you strength, and the other will leave you with a nice case of whiplash. What do you choose?
Are you in?


-Kimber.