Isaiah 1:11-17 (The Message)

11-12"Why this frenzy of sacrifices?"
God's asking.
"Don't you think I've had my fill of burnt sacrifices,
rams and plump grain-fed calves?
Don't you think I've had my fill
of blood from bulls, lambs, and goats?
When you come before me,
whoever gave you the idea of acting like this,
Running here and there, doing this and that—
all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?

13-17"Quit your worship charades.
I can't stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings—
meetings, meetings, meetings—I can't stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You've worn me out!
I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.
When you put on your next prayer-performance,
I'll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I'll not be listening.
And do you know why? Because you've been tearing
people to pieces, and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up.
Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don't have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong.
Learn to do good.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.

The other night I read this passage and it really spoke to me. Basically, God is frustrated with all of the craziness in worship. I related this to the church and how we can sometimes get all wrapped up in meetings, and events that need to be planned. We get stressed, and in such of a hurry that it becomes more about the event than about God. I especially like the part where God says, "When you come before me, who ever gave you the idea of acting like this, running here and there, doing this and that- all this sheer commotion in the place provided for worship?" God just lays it out there that we have become too busy and that we should just take a break and focus on God. Be still, and know that I am God. God demands our time, so why don't we just take some time out of our day to sit down, be still, and know that he is God.

Viva La Vida

Have you heard Coldplay's new song "Viva La Vida?" It's a great song that I really enjoy! But there are many explanations to what the song means. Here's one I found on another website:

"If we analyze the lyrics, the song has obvious biblical references and I think it's a song about Jesus Christ.

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sweep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

All catholics should know that Jesus Christ gave the word and he controlled the seas - I think that the line now in the morning I sweep alone clearly means that Jesus Christ was betrayed and had to endure many things alone! The first verse is talking about a decline from wealth and fame to a nobody, just like Jesus Christ experienced on his life! He used to be a king, but he had to die for all human beings..So on a certain way he turned over his kingship (I used to rule the world). Clear reference of someone giving God kingship over his life.

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing,
"Now the old king is dead, long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, pillars of sand

The line upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand, possibly is a reference to the sermon on the mount where Jesus speaks of a wise man building is house on a rock while the foolish man builds his house on the sand, only to be washed away.

Those days, there were different kings! Ones thought the king was Jesus Christ himself, others thought the king was the Roman authority and other thought the king was the Jewish priests.

I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you know there was never, never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

Jerusalem bells and Roman Cavalry, it's obvious it's a biblical allusion. I think the line Be my mirror my sword and shield, it's a praying to God for strength. Also, the line my missionaries in a foreign field, has to do with the idea of taking the message of God and Jesus Christ all around the world. Finally, never an honest word, meaning the betrayal to Jesus Christ and his subsequent death.

I know St. Peter won't call my name, referring to the fact that Saint Peter denied Jesus 3 times.

It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever wanna be king?

This could be a reference to John the Baptist of the New Testament.

In The Book of Mark, John is noted as the one that comes before Jesus to announce His coming to Earth. A lot of people thought he (John) was going to be their Messiah, however he corrected them and told them that it was the One after him that would fill that role. I, also, argue that point because it is said somewhere that John's head was brought to king Herod on a Silver Platter.

Blew down the doors to let me in, meaning when Jesus Christ got furious because they turned the temple into a market!

EDIT: After thinking about it, the line "The old king is dead, long live the king" could be a reference to Jesus being on the cross. All of the people mocking him, and King of Jews above his head."

The person who wrote this really thought out this song. Here's a link to the lyrics in case you want to look at them. I agree with this analysis because the song really does make sense if you think about it along with Christ's life.

Just a random bit from me!

Why hello everyone! Ha ha...sorry. I've decided to write on my blog for the first time in forever about something totally random! Yay! So I got an email from my Cuban Papi, and I must say that I was super excited! We email a lot back and forth but he hasn't written in a while, so this email was super special. So when I got the email, I read it and wrote him back. I wanted to print the email so I could put it in my notebook at school because the email was so kind with a lot of encouragement in it. So I copied and pasted it in Microsoft Word and it came up with a lot of misspellings. One of the words that was spelled wrong was "abundantly." So I right-clicked on it and it said, "abundantly?". This question mark made me think that it was wrong. You don't need a question mark beside abundantly! The sentence was talking about how God would bless abundantly. There doesn't need to be a question mark! Do you know how I know that? It's because as Christians, we believe that the Lord will provide and bless you! There is no question whether the Lord will provide or not. He will provide!

"The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

1 Timothy 1:14

Cuba: Day Five

Today was a great day! We got to the house church at 9:30 and we headed out to evangelize. The first group went to Eduardo #2's house, while the second and third group went to Santiago de Las Vegas. I sat with Leonel on the bus and we talked some. We also got lots of snacks from Margaret and we talked about eating popcorn! Yay! We went to one of the poorest places I've ever seen in my life. People lived in shacks with tin roofs and there were homeless dogs everywhere. But even amidst the darkness Jesus was at work. We had a bunch of people get saved which was great! We walked around until about 2:00 and then we left to eat lunch. The lunch was SUPER good! We then sat around and talked to Juan Carlos because everyone else was gone. Me, Ashleigh, and Juan Carlos talked about college and school. Somehow we got off on a story about a woman that was really ugly, and she looked like a monkey! (that's what Juan Carlos said!) He said that people called her the monster! Then she got plastic surgery and was beautiful! He said she had a beautiful face, like mine, and a "sexy body!" (this is what he said!) We also talked about a Cuban singer that had plastic surgery, and I won't get into that, but it was HILARIOUS! After that we went to a kids club and we mat a lady that had been waiting for 12 years for the government to give her a house! It was so sad! We then came back to Alamar and at tasty food and I hung out with Juan Carlos and Leonel. Tomorrow is our last day! :(

Cuba: Day Four

Ok so I haven't written in 2 days which means that I get to write extra! Yay! Yesterday we went to Pinar del Rio and we swam! On the way there me, Juan Carlos Jr., Keren, Diana, Ashleigh, Ashley, and Braden played cards. We had a lot of fun! We got there and we took some pictures and then we all jumped in. It was SUPER cold! Eduardo got in and shivered! Juan Carlos Jr. hurt his foot when he was going to jump off the rock. We all swam and had so much fun! We got out to eat and I didn't have a towel! I stole Maureen's and me and Leonel held each other and shivered! It has been very cold the past two days. We all ate and had fun and then Juan Carlos Jr., Leonel, and I went to the bus to give David and Andres some food. We all talked and got to know each other and laughed! They made fun of me when I would sigh because I was tired. Me and Leonel hung out for a while and I love him! They are all great people. Today, we were the first ones to breakfast AGAIN! We all piled on the bus and went to Alamar where we got assigned our house church groups! It was me, Ashley, Bobbie, Suzanne, Brent, Daisy, and Miriam. All of the people we talked to got saved! Six people! Gloria a Dios! We got finished and had to wait for the bus for like a hour! We thought they left us! We were the last ones back for lunch and it was good! Juan Carlos Jr. gave me a bracelet today also! So now he has my bracelet, and I have his! After lunch we went with Juan Carlos to visit and we ended up sleeping! Ha ha! We then went to a kids group where we sang songs and told our little story! The waves were so big outside that they came up over the malecon onto the street! It was scary! After that Brent, Kevin, and I went with my "aunt" Miriam to her home group and man was it scary! We got there and we had no translator at all! They made Brent say a testimony and they didn't know what he was saying! It was crazy and fun! Then they brought out this thing of tea and Kevin drank it all! After he drank it, Alfredo told us to read this passage first. It was about poisonous snakes and drinks! Ah! It was scary! But in the end, it was all a joke! I so don't want to leave yet! I'm so happy where I am! I love it here and I want to stay forever! I'm so tired! Goodnight! Gloria a Dios!

-Bye the way, these are my journal entries from March when we were in Cuba. We're not actually there now! :)

Cuba: Day Two

Today was another great day in Cuba. It was a late start for us four girls, three of which had to take a shower!! By the time we got to breakfast we were late! But it was all good in the omelet line! Yay! After we ate, we planned everything out and we decided what needed to be taken. We then gathered at the pool to leave, and found out that we had only one bus. David didn't come and so Andres came to pick us up. Ashleigh, Erin, and I were in one kid's group. Unfortunately, we were split up. So Ashleigh and I panicked because Erin was supposed to tell the story. By the time we got to Alamar, we saw Juan Carlos, Leonel, Daisy, Karen, and even Isaac. It was great to see everyone again and be home. Cristian and Jordan came later with Rosanna. After we got there, we started out lesson. We decided to do the bear hunt first, along with the chicken dance. Everything went great and it was HOT!!! Especially when we went to play beisbol it was very hot. That part was fun also. We were on a totally different field with a kung-fu stage! Yay! Ashleigh got hit in the leg which wasn't fun! Maureen, Leonel, and I walked down to the post office but we had to come back or else we would have had to wait thirty minutes! After that we headed to the house church to eat because I convinced Juan Carlos to take us back. The food was great (as usual)! Then it rained for three hours straight! We had the party outside at first and then we had to move it back inside because it rained. The dance party was GREAT!!! They played Rihanna, Sean Kingston, and Elvis! It was great! I got to dance with one of Juan Carlos Jr.'s friends who was really good! He told me that Juan Carlos Jr. was my boyfriend. The one thing he could say in English was "boyfriend." We also got to play some fun games!! I played one where I had to hold a bowl of merengue while Juan Carlos Jr. had to eat it without hands! I shoved the whole bowl in his face! The bowl stuck to his face as he pulled back! It was great! That was the most fun I've ever had! Once we got home and I took a shower and of course I couldn't get it to turn off! Lucky me! Well it's late! Night! Gloria a Dios!

Cuba: Day One

Today was a long and hard day that started at 12:47 am for me, and 4:00 am for the others. Of course of all people I'm the one that doesn't sleep, and that rolls around all night long. My aunt snored all night, so that didn't help either. We left at 4:00 am from the airport and headed out to Atlanta! The airport was packed with people moving to their planes. We got all of our luggage in without a problem and we boarded the plane easily. Take off was a little nerve racking, but Erin's laughter and support cheered me up! I seem to have a constant theme for this week. PEACE. The whole time on the planes I prayed for peace; and God gave it. We landed safely in Miami as we hurried to our concourse to meet Magaley. It turns out that the concourse is closed, and we are approached by a police officer with two guns. They weren't just any guns! One of them was a machine gun! It turned out that we were lost, and he escorted us around. His name was Heath, and he loves Jesus! How amazing! We sat and sat for an hour and a half. Magaley calls and says that she had a family emergency but is on her way. She finally showed up, and again they changed the concourse! We had to go halfway across the airport to get to the gate! And, by the time we got there, we had 15 minutes to get all of our baggage checked! It turned out that we all made it and got on the plane without a problem. Our plane was different this time; it was bigger. It held like 60 passengers! It made me a lot better about our flight. We arrived in Cuba at 12:08 pm and we preceded into the airport. We all got through quickly and smoothly. No problems at all! We got all of our luggage and prepared to meet Eduardo at the van. We met them and put our things in the two buses. It was really cool to be back again with "mi familia" in Cuba. Eduardo treated us to a special dinner of Cuban pizza! Delicioso! After we had fun and ate we went to see the Christ of Havana and we prayed over the city. It was a long, stressful day but a fun one. Gloria a Dios!

Strange Dreams...

Have you ever had a dream that was so real to you it was scary? You lay in bed at night thinking you are somewhere else, in another time. Well lately, I've been having those dreams often. Last night was really the first time in a long time I've had one of those dreams. Now that I think about it, it seemed like a vision. Like I got a second chance to do something, or accomplish something I never got the chance to do. As many of you know, my heart is in Cuba. I left it there many months ago on my first trip there on spring break. Ever since then, I have been dreaming about being there. Smelling the air, feeling the cool breeze of the ocean on my face, and the warmth of hugs and kisses from our brothers and sisters in Christ. I miss them dearly, and to this day I'm already excited about going back. My dreams have been so real, and when I wake up, I get up so happy because I think I'm in Cuba. Then I look around and my heart sinks to find that I'm at home in my bed. Well my dream last night was very bizarre. As everyone knows, our friend Leonel passed away. It happened so fast, and no one got to say goodbye. I dreamed that we were all in the funeral home sitting around. But what was weird was Leonel was sitting there with us. He wasn't dead, or in a casket; he was sitting there. And all I did was latch on to him. I could hear him talk, just like he was really beside me in real life. I sat there and just hugged him the whole time. We all knew he was going to die the next day in my dream. We all knew that we'd have to say goodbye to him. Everyone from the team was there and Juan Carlos, Rosanna, and the kids were there also. It was like everyone already knew what was going to happen. Now back to reality. After we got the news about Leonel, I would wake up in the mornings with wet eyes. I cried in my sleep. I was so sad, so empty. It's funny how you can be so close to a person that you barely know. It was like a family member passed away. But now after this dream, I have peace. I think that this was God's way of telling me that everything was ok. That I got my chance to say goodbye to him. They always say that God works in mysterious ways, and the Lord knows what I need. The whole trip I prayed for peace; and I got it! God is amazing! Gloria A Dios!

Cuba is in Less Than 48 Hours!!!

Ok so these last few days have been unbearable. I've been so tired and pumped at the same time, it's been crazy! Sunday night I couldn't sleep at all because I was so tired. This is why I try not to think about Cuba because I will get extremely pumped and I won't be able to calm down. These are times when I think I have ADD. But that's a completely other story! I'm still in shock that we leave Thursday afternoon. It feels like just yesterday we were signing up to go on the trip. My how time flies! School is crazy right now, because we have exams the next two days. Maybe that will take my mind off of Cuba. Thank the Lord that I'm not in Mr. Beaver's Spanish class, because he's giving them a SUPER hard exam! I'm going to pray for those Spanish one students! This has totally nothing to do with anything, but our school is probably the coldest school in the world! Our school has that system where at a certain date, the heat will shut off and the air stays on constantly! It's warmer outside than it is inside!! It's crazy and it makes me not want to learn and long for my warm bed. Ok, well here is a video I'd like you to see for no reason whatsoever, just because I say so...Mr. Beaver will appreciate this...



And this!

Random Thoughts from Engineering Class...

Ok so Mr. Littlejohn is hilarious because we were talking about religions, and Jenna was like, whose the Dali-Llama? She accidently said the Deli-Llama, and Mr. Littlejohn was like, oh he works down there at Subway! It was so funny! Today has been a very long day, and I have decided the my brains stops working after lunch. My class right after lunch is World History Honnors, and so I'm totally dead in there. We were talking about reincarnation and I was like, what's the religion where if you're bad you turn into a termite? And then after I asked that, I realized that it was from the movie End of the Spear...wow...good job Claire...well, the bell's about to ring! Bye!

TGIF!!

Today has been a seemingly uneventful day. I'm in Engineering right now and we have a substitute. He is pretty much deaf, and we have had him for a sub since like 3rd grade. Our teacher has a sinus infection so we are sitting here doing pretty much nothing. I'm super tired, and our teachers presume to give us a bunch of homework and a test on Monday!! It's simply unacceptable! I mean, the purpose of a weekend is to give us a break from school. Not send us home with more work than we did the whole week! This janitor man just waltzed in and took the fire extinguisher out of the case and wrote something down. I promise you that the janitors own this school. They do whatever they want, they sit around and talk, and they do pretty much nothing besides clean the tables. They held us back in class for like 5 minutes because this kid fell and busted his head on the wall. There was blood and they took him out on a stretcher. Wow, that kid had a bad day. I also have a cold that developed two nights ago and it continues to live on inside of me. The only sounds I've heard today are the constant sniffing and coughing. So as you can see these are the random thoughts that I have had for the past, oh 30 minutes or so. Exciting huh? I don't even know what we are supposed to be doing...I think we are supposed to be researching our topic. I already have mine, so it's all good. Today I sat with Elizabeth at lunch and she was like starving. I had some peanut butter cookies though! Yum! Umm...what else. Oh yeah! We have Saturday Servants tomorrow which is going to be awesome! I'm pumped to wrap burgers while my friend Stacy, aka George Foreman, grills the burgers and hot dogs. It's actually rather quiet in here for once. All of the freshman aren't playing stupid music or laughing about stuff that isn't funny. Half of the class period the other day they talked about their teachers last year in eighth grade and how Mr. Jackson had a heart attack in class. They were talking about the Engineering team last year and how Mr. Little was the best. I wanted to tell them that they didn't even know how great he was as a teacher! Now he doesn't teach, but instead he coaches the Engineering team. So yeah life is pretty boring as you can tell right now. It may be exciting for you to read my life thoughts, but for me it's not all that exciting. So that's about all for now. If I get bored between now and 3:40, maybe I'll write some more! Bye!

My New Favorite Song!!

Ok so this is most definitely my new favorite song! It's called. "Signature of Divine" by Need to Breathe. I heard this song on the new radio station Shine 96.7, which is great I might add, and it's amazing! Here are the lyrics if you would like to see them.

Cathedrals have tried in vain

To show the image of your face

But we are, by your design

The signature of divine

We’ll always sing your name

Forever and today

Yahweh, Yahweh

Great is your glory when you go before me

Oh, we sing

Holy, Holy

Your ways are lovely. So high above me.

Yahweh

The fortunes of kings and queens

Are wasted chasing what we’ve seen.

Cause we are, by your reprieve,

The beauty framed by your suffering

We’ll always sing your name

Forever and today

Yahweh, Yahweh

Great is your glory when you go before me

Oh, we sing

Holy, Holy

Your ways are lovely. So high above me

Yahweh

Take me, and pull me through.

Cause I can’t move without you.

I won’t leave you alone, you say.

It will be ok

Yahweh, Yahweh

Great is your glory when you go before me

Oh, we sing

Holy, Holy

Your ways are lovely. So high above me.

Yahweh.

Yahweh, Yahweh

Great is your glory when you go before me

Oh, we sing

Holy, Holy

Your ways are lovely. So high above me.

Yahweh

Ancient of Days

Yahweh!

My Church is Amazing!!

It's amazing how many servants we have in our church. This morning we had probably 20 people come out at 9:30 this morning to make sack lunches for the soup kitchen. We had one of our home groups organize it and it was so much fun laughing and sticking cheese on sandwiches. The people are amazing to come out so early in the morning on their Saturday off, and serve with our church. Our church is so blessed with people who have servant's hearts. I appreciate my church so much, and I'm not saying this just because I'm the pastor's daughter. I'm saying this because it is true. Some people go to church just because it's the right thing to do or because they have to. I go to church because I enjoy it and I look forward to it. Church isn't meant to be a burden. The typical thought of a church is a big southern baptist preacher standing at the pulpit with a bible in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. He's sweating and pounding on the wooden pulpit, a 100 people sitting in the long pews fanning and screaming hallelujah. Hymnals in every pew and pencils to fill out your guest form and shaking the preacher's hand before you leave. Wednesday night church and paying five dollars to get in for your meal, and of course Sunday night church always. Church doesn't have to be this way! It can be fun! No doubt some people's tastes are different, and they enjoy traditional church but not everyone had the same opinion. I attended traditional church for most of my life until a couple of years ago when we started Capstone. I believe that our church has a different air about it as in the feeling is different when you walk in the room. Also, I love that our church doesn't meet in a traditional church building with a steeple. People don't believe me when I tell them that we meet in a movie theater for church but it's amazing! I usually get asked why we meet there and I'm like, it's perfect! We have so much fun, and the environment is so relaxed that it's more of a party with God than a boring 2 hour sermon and Sunday school. I believe that church can be fun! If you don't believe it then I'll show you!