How was your first day of school? Was it nice to see old friends? Was it nice to make new friends? Was it scary trying to find your classes or where to sit at lunch?

The first day of school always comes with an end to the summer and the start of the school year. It is a moment of renewal and refreshing.

Take this time to also see if you need spiritual renewing. Have you been feeling burdened or heavy-hearted? Have you not been able to connect with God whether through reading your Bible, praying, or serving others? Have you felt that you needed to take a break from work, family, and friends to restore your personal relationship with God?

Find ways this week (and maybe even plan for this year before the school year gets too busy!) to take time out and also renew yourself in God. After all, He is the one who has given you a new life in Christ. Before you were a slave to your sins, destined for eternal separation from anything good. But as a Christian, you have been given a new life, a restored life to live eternally with God.

Jeremiah 31:25 "I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint."

Until next time

School is about to start and summer is almost over! What cool things will you do before your break ends?
My favorite part about the school year was being able to buy school supplies!

Schools usually give you a list of things you need to bring so that you will be prepared on the first day of school: scissors, pens, pencils, paper, and notebooks. I loved shopping for all of these things!

Each of the items that a teacher puts on their list of necessary school supplies has a purpose. Sometime in the school year, you will need to write a paper, take a test, create an artistic project to understand a concept, or do journal entries.

Did you know that God has a "school supply list" for us as Christians? Or at least He has a hope for us to be prepared for life:

1 Peter 3:15-16 says "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to  everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this  with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

God asks us to always be prepared to give an answer to anyone (Christian or not Christian) who asks us to give a reason for the hope that we have.

Do you know why we have hope? We have hope because we know that when we accept Christ as our Savior, we admit that we are sinners, unable to save ourselves from our sin. But we acknowledge that Christ, who has never sinned, took the place for us on the cross, dying the death we should have died, so that we could be free from our sin. We don't have to worry, and we can hope in a world after  this life we have here that we will have complete freedom in  Christ.

That is our hope, and we must learn to prepare ourselves by reading the Word and praying so that we can always have an answer to anyone who asks us about why we have hope!

If you have any questions about what I may have shared, please let me know!

Until next time,

How many of you watched the Olympics in the past few weeks? This Sunday, as I watched the closing ceremony (and even the opening ceremony), I found myself overcome with emotions for the atheletes. I could tell from their faces as they walked in that whether they won or lost, medaled or not, they had just accomplished something--something great. I understood how much they had to sacrifice and dedicate to get to this stage in their lives, and how so many people were looking up to them for inspiration and motivation. It was truly moving!

After the 1996 Olympics when the Magnificent 7 women's gymnastics team won the gold for the US, my sister and I (along with millions of other little girls) enrolled in gymnastics. I continued on to compete for another 5 years, but sadly, the Olympics were not a part of God's plan for me.

Instead God had a different "sport" lined up for me. 

2 Timothy 4:6-8 says " For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

God's sport for me is to live a righteous life. Instead of running, jumping, or swimming, He calls me instead to endure a race of righteousness and keeping of my faith and longing for His return. Instead of training in the gym, God calls me to train every day wherever I am (work, school, home). Instead of lifting weights or doing pushups, I am to build strength by putting into practice the disciplines He has laid out in the Bible (praying, reading my Bible evangelizing, forgiving). Instead of the Olympics and gold medals, He promises me that I will instead receive an eternal crown of righteousness at the end of my life or when He returns.

I believe this is what He has in store for anyone who is a Christian. As much as the Olympians sacrifice and dedicate themselves to a sport, we, as Christians, should dedicate ourselves with that same passion, fervor, and discipline to a life of living as Christ lived. At the end of our lives, I hope that someone would become emotional not about the worldly accomplishments we have achieved (or not achieved), but instead for the life lived with Christ and the expansion of His Kingdom.

What can you do to be running this race with Christ? Do you need to build more strength and discipline by praying/reading the Bible/or serving others? Do you need to sacrifice areas of your life and surrender them to Christ so that you can focus on His sport? Whatever it is, remember that you are not alone--God is always running right by your side.

Until Next time,

A few weeks ago, a few of my friends and I decided to go zip lining. For those of you who don't know what zip lining is, here is a picture.

You basically hook yourself up to a harness and to a long rope. To get to the part where you zip line off, you had to walk across two ropes high up in the air. Then the instructor would attach you to the rope. Then you could jump off and zoom down the line!

Because I was taking pictures, I ended up going last. I saw everyone else before me go across the ropes and then enjoy the jump down. But as I was going across the two ropes, I started to get nervous. I started to fear that maybe I would fall or maybe I wouldn't be able to get to the other side or that I would look silly walking across. Even though I know I could make it, I was still unsure. Finally, I made it to the other side and soon the instructor hooked me to the rope, and I jumped off, enjoying the rush from the zip line down.

Zip lining reminded me of persevering through sin. God promises to us that if we continue to resist sin and strive for a righteous life, we will live a completely satisfying life, a life better and more pleasurable than the pleasures we think we will receive from sin. Like walking along the two ropes, it seemed too hard to get through, that sin was too tempting, and that the reward at the end of the line wasn't worth what I had to go through at the present moment.

But what I needed was faith to keep going and that is the same as we face sin. We keep going, even when it's hard and even when it's not something we want to do so that we can receive a greater reward at the end. Sometimes we receive the reward of peace or joy or righteousness but at the end of our lives, after many rides down the zip line, the greatest reward is becoming more like Christ and pleasing Him while receiving ultimate and complete satisfaction in Him.

When sin seems too tempting to resist and you fear you won't make it through life without sin or others will think you are silly for not participating in sinful activities or you might fall, ask God for faith to persevere.

Until Next time,