What I do in Speech and Debate

Ok guys so if you read my post  "Been a While" here, then you probably remember me talking about starting Speech and Debate again (I did it last year). So I thought I would take some time to tell everyone about what Speech and Debate is, and what I will be competing in.

First of all I compete in STOA, which is one of three main main homeschool speech and debate leagues, the other two being NCFCA and NSDA. Why did my family choose STOA? I HAVE NO CLUE but I am glad we did because of all of the really cool people that I have met and already knew that I get to see more often!

So, what events am I competing in you may be wondering? Well that I can answer. This year (season) I am competing in Lincoln Douglas Debate (I will go into more detail on each individual event a little later), Cold Reading, and quite possibly a Duo
So, now about each individual event.

My main event will be LD (Lincoln Douglas). As I said in a previous post, LD is basically Philosophical debate unlike TP, which is Evidence based. The resolution this year (what we are debating) is;

 Resolved: The needs of the public ought to be valued more than private property rights.

That's a really good resolution. About the most common case that people are running is Taxes (which is what I am running because it is really good), because Taxes are an example of when you relinquish your private property (your money) in order to be protected by a military, and police force and to have a judicial system and a public school system (all public NEEDS not WANTS).

So yeah, LD is my main event. After that comes Cold Reading. According to Wikipedia, (I know all debaters reading this are cringing but it is a good definition...just wait and see it...ok you ready to see it?)

"cold reading is reading aloud from a script or other text with little or no rehearsal, practice or study in advance. Sometimes also referred to as sight reading, it is a technique used by actors and other performers in theatre, television, and film performance fields."

Sounds fun right? Well it should be, you get to read from whatever small piece of literature they give you using different voices and accents for different people, I think it should be fun!

So yeah, that's Cold Reading. Last, and basically my wild card event that I will hopefully get to compete in, is a Duo. Most people probably know what a Duo is, basically you take a book and create a script that you and another person can act out in about 8-10 minutes. So yeah, it's pretty fun.

Anyway, that's all I am doing in Speech and Debate this year. It will be a fun rest of the season!

Time!

Hey guys, I have another post that someone I know sent me and requested that I post for everyone, this post is all about time and what we may be doing wrong in how we use/manage the precious ammount of time to have on this earth, so with ought further ado *drum roll* I am proud to introduce...........TIME!

                                          Time

 The alarm goes off. Immediately you are up and fanatically getting ready for the day. You wolf down breakfast, kiss your children, hug a loved one, grab a bag and with a hurried goodbye over your shoulder head out the door. If this was your day, an example your busy life and you realized that it could be about to end, is there anything you would have done differently? Would you have managed your time to have family moments? What about just spending more time at home or taking that one last moment to say "I love you"? Often our time flies too fast for us to realize that it is going by or remember that our days are numbered. Today I would like to point out the importance of valuing every second of our time and how often it gets taken for granted. Well, of course, the first step would be to define time. Psalm 90 says, (Psalm 90:10." New King James Bible. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1989. N. pag. Print.) “The days of our lives are seventy years” however time is a mystery. We sense its passing in our consciousness. We measure its progress with delicately adjusted instruments. We mark its flight and read the record it leaves behind. But the one thing we cannot do is define it.

        The Bible teaches that time and life are tied together. Nature is like a huge clockmaker’s shop in which thousands of timepieces are ticking. The rotation of the earth marks the passing of day and night; the phases of the moon are the moving on of the months; the revolutions of the planets point to the march of the years. We speak of Father Time and visualize an old man with a long white beard who is holding a scythe in one hand and an hourglass in the other hand. But time is a thief. Time robs us of our health and strips us at last of everything that we have. So we have to learn to manage it around what is really important. In Psalm 90 verse 12, the author writes, “Lord, teach us to number our days that we might have a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12." The New King James Bible. N.p.: Thomas Nelson, 1979. N. pag. Print.)  The concept of numbering our days was explained to me like this: say you had a jar full of skittles, you wouldn’t think much of eating three or four, or eight. However when there’s clearly only six or seven left, you start valuing them more, scheming over how you can make them last a little longer or enjoy them a more. Same thing with our days, if we didn’t know exactly how many we had left, which we don’t, shouldn’t we value them as if every skittle, moment was our last? 

    Of course we all have plans and ideas and probably even a schedule of how your day or week is supposed to work. However, unless God wills it, our calendar is useless. Proverbs 16:9 says “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps." (Proverbs 16:9." New American Standard Bible: Text Edition. Anaheim, CA: Foundation Publications, for the Lockman Foundation, 1997. N. pag. Print.) Only what the Lord determines will get done. Now, that doesn’t mean we shouldn't plan, if I never wrote down at least what I needed to do each day I would never accomplish anything. However, it does mean two things that; 1, we cannot put stock completely in schedules, but in the Lord; And 2: we must put what is most important first. Our days are numbered and when our hour does come, we should not have to regret our use of time.

       Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with 86,400 dollars it carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do with all of it?  Of course you would draw out every cent! Each of us has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every single morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.  It allows no overdraft. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow”. You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost. Time is often referred to as money, but it way more valuable than the riches of the earth, because time is the one thing you can never get more of. The clock is running. We must make the most of today.

      Then what qualifies as a "good investment" you ask. And does that mean no leisure? No, having fun and relaxing is important. But there are 3 things that you should invest in week to week; they are devotion, spending time with the Lord as well as reading from His word, work, supporting your family, and third spending time with your family. Let’s pretend these three balls are the time you spend in devotion, work, and with you loved ones, and the sand is leisure time. If you focus first on the leisure, there will be no room for the important activities. But, if good investments are prioritized, the leisure will fit in around them.

      So we need to use every moment of our time in worthwhile activities, but that’s not just in everyday decisions, if you get a platform to influence the crowds, how would you use it. The Bible speaks of the young Jew, Esther, who was never expecting the change in her life when she became queen, and as she was struggling with what to do about the plans to kill her people, the Bible tells us that Mordecai said to her, “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”( Mordecai. "Esther 4:14." Holy Bible Esv Bible. N.p.: Crossway, 2016. N. pag. Print.)  Esther was able to use the unexpected change in her life that God provided her to save the Jews. We won’t always have the clear platform though. Sometimes we must seek out opportunities to speak out and proclaim Gods Excellency. Amid the stormy seas of life and against the background of eternity, the present moment flickers like the flicker of a lighted match. What will you do with your moment? Proclaim Gods glory? Will what you choose honor Him? Maybe you were brought in to the world for a certain time, to make a certain decision to honor God. The clock is always ticking. Time in itself is neither good nor bad except as we make it so. But it becomes a crucial test, sifting us through and through, minute by minute. How are you reacting to that test? How does it affect you? Are you growing daily in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you take advantage of every opportunity to study the Scriptures and to pray? Do you take advantage of every opportunity to witness for Jesus Christ? Every second of your life counts.

        Often I worry about the time I have, thinking it may not be enough to do everything necessary. My motto often seems to be the words of Shakespeare, “Better three hours too soon than a minute to late.”(Shakespeare, William. "{{ Meta('og_title') || 'Quote Catalog | Love, Inspirational & More Quotes | Quote Catalog' }}." Quote Catalog. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://quotecatalog.com/quote/william-shakespeare-better-three-ho-O1MlERa>.)  Before an activity starts or we need to go somewhere, I will run around in a frenzy making sure everyone is ready to go to be exactly on time.  When we get panicked about the time we have we need to remember Psalm 118:24 which says, “This is the day which the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it.” (Psalm 118:24." Holy Bible Esv Bible. N.p.: Crossway, 2016. N. pag. Print.) No matter what comes our way we need to rejoice in the time that God has given us and use every moment of it to honor Him. Bill Keane says, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, that is why we call it the present.” (Kaene, Bill. "A Quote by Bil Keane." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016) Today is God’s gift and we need to enjoy every second. God will give us time in the day to do everything He needs us to accomplish, but it is our job to make sure we accomplish everything He has given us time for. Time management is a skill that comes with practice, and we won’t always make right choices about using our time, but it is about progression, not perfection, every day striving to spend more time in the important events.

Abraham Lincoln says, “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”( Lincoln, Abraham. "Quote Investigator." Quote Investigator. N.p., 14 July 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. <http://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/14/life-years-count/>.)  Is your life making a difference? How will you be remembered? Did you impact someone in such a way to change that person for good? As Christens we should be leaving a legacy for Christ, filling our years with life. Maybe, just maybe, we won’t all change the world, but we can influence those around us, sometimes without even realizing it. 

  The Huffington Post (Gregoire, Carolyn. "What 8 Highly Successful People Wish They Had Done Differently." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/successful-people-mistakes_n_3829864.html>.) writes in 2013 that one of the top regrets of successful people is that they did not spend more time with their family. So if your life flashes before your eyes, will you find that you did not spend enough time at work or in free time? Or will you wish you had spent more time with your family and in God’s word? There’s a balance we have to find in time management, but if what is necessary comes first there will be time for everything else later. So the question that faces you today is what will you do with your time? 

Devotion Work Family

86,400

Finding Peace in Tragedy

Today a friend sent me this speech that she wrote and requested (if I was willing) that I post this on my blog. So without further ado here it is *drum roll*

Riots, shootings, plane crashes, car accidents, murders.... The list of tragedies in this world can go on and on. This is a sinful world, none of us are perfect, and there will always be problems. But, sometimes we dare to hope, I mean come on this is the 21st century we have solutions to almost everything, except the worst thing, sin. We hope soon this world might get better, but then something else happens, something worse… and our hearts break again. Our nation is crying out in need, praying to God for peace. Finding peace in the midst of a heart ache is something our nation suffers with, it’s something we suffer with. We have all had trials, great and small, and sometimes the last thing we feel like doing is resting in God’s promises. So, today I want to show you how you can always find that peace in the storm.

But first it is important to understand what we are trying to achieve, what peace is. Peace is tranquility, it is rest. Now what this doesn’t mean is that the pain of loss is going to go away. We are still going to mourn during loss. However, it does mean that during trials we can rest in God’s promises and our souls can be calm because we know the Lord.

And I’m going to show you how to have that peace though Ephesians 3: 17-21. In this passage Paul is telling the Ephesians what he is praying for. And he is praying:

^"17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; ¹⁹ And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, ²¹ Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." ("Ephesians 3: 17-21." Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.) (NASB) 

Paul wrote this as prayer and instruction for the Ephesians. Today I want to look at the main points of instruction that Paul gives. And we are going to take this verse by verse and uncover what we can do to find peace when tragedy occurs.

When tragedy occurs, we can find peace in God by…………

1. 17-19: Letting Christ dwell in our hearts,

a. Comprehending God, and his love

b. Filled with the fullness of God

2. 20: Trusting Him to do more than we ask=faith

a. Power in us=Spirit

3. 21: Giving Him glory

a. He will always be there

4. 21b: Hoping in the world without end

Con: Finding peace in His Word

Verses 17-19 say, "¹⁷ That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; ¹⁹ And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." ." ("Ephesians 3: 17-21." Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.) (NASB) 

Starting these three verses Paul asks that Christ would live in us by faith. Obviously that has to be the first step because without faith Christ can’t live in is us. But we also need love. Christ can't dwell in our hearts unless we are rooted in love. Because as John tells us, God is love. And if we don't have love, we don't know God. So we need to be grounded in love so that Christ can dwell in our hearts. Then we will be able to understand the breadth and length and depth and height of God. Now we know we will never be able to fully grasp that knowledge because God is greater than we could ever fathom. However, with Christ in our hearts, we can realize that God is greater and stronger than anything in this world. And we can better understand the love of God because we have experienced it and therefore we can be filled with the fullness of God. Filled with the fullness of God? What does that mean? That His glory and love fill us. As we love and understand God more, we love Him more which means He lives more fully in us. To be filled with the fullness of God means that we know Gods love and glory so much that we show it to others because we are so overwhelmed with it that we can't contain it.  Then we need to trust Him

Verse 20 says: "²⁰ Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"  ." ("Ephesians 3: 17-21." Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.) (NASB) What we see here we can trust God to do more then we even ask, more then we could even think. The Lord can perform miracles so awesome that we can't even think about, therefore we need to trust Him. Now this doesn't mean that we shouldn't pray. We still need to pray and ask God to bless us and others. In fact Paul writes in Philippians 4:6-7: "⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (“Philippians 4: 6-7” Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.), (NKJV) 

We are told to pray about everything, and then we will have the peace of God that surpasses understanding. When we pray however, we need to understand that Christ can accomplish more then we ask for. But it is not always in the way we think. He has a plan and if our requests are outside of that plan, He is not going to grant them. So, does that mean that suffering is a part of God's plan? Jeremiah 29:11 says "¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (“Jeremiah 29:11” Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.) (NIV). So yes, God's plans do involve suffering sometimes. But, He tells us that it is for our good, to prosper us. Suffering brings us closer to God because to know how bright the light is, we have to know how dark the darkness is. So we need to constantly have faith that God knows what he is doing, and no matter what comes into our lives He controls it. Before a heart ache can ever touch our lives it has to go through God’s hands and that should give us extraordinary peace.

But that's not all that can give us comfort. The second part of verse 20 says that God will answer our prayers according to the power that works in us. This power is the Holy Spirit. And it is constantly changing us on our way to sanctification. But the Holy Spirit is also there as our comforter. In John 14:26 Jesus says "²⁶ But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.", (“John 14: 26” Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. ) (KJV). The Holy Spirit is there to comport us and help us. We know that in hard times we can always have peace because of the Spirits presence in us.

So, we need to have faith and trust Him, then we need to give Him glory.  "²¹ Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." ." ("Ephesians 3: 17-21." Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.) (NASB) The first thing we see in this verse is that it starts by giving God the glory. That is how we always need to start and finish. No matter what happens we know, as we saw earlier, that it is all God’s plan, and therefore, we can always glorify Him. This isn't always going to be easy. We always are ready to praise God in the good moments. We enjoy singing praises when we are in church, surrounded by people we know and love. But it is not so easy to sing praises when we hear that 84 innocent people were murdered in Nice, France, or when something happens in our life that just leaves us shocked and hurting. In those moments, we can't help but feel distressed and ask God "Why?” We need to recognize that we might never understand His plan until we are in heaven, but it is better than we can ever imagine.

The hope. World without end is what Paul says. That is our goal. That is the promise our hearts need to hold on for. That world that will never end. It is the home that Jesus went to prepare for us. It is heaven. When this world fills with pain, we can hold on to the hope of heaven. We can trust in the promise that the day is coming when our Lord will make the darkness disappear. And He will take away all the pain of this shattered world.

What we’ve seen today is that every day we should pray with Paul that we would: Let Christ dwell in our hearts, trust him to do more than we ask, give him the glory, know that He will always be there, and hope in the world without end.

These are the steps we need to take in the tragedy of this world to find peace. But, there is one more, it is what we have been doing in these past ten minutes. Studying God's Word. When we read the Scripture we can find peace, even in the hardest time. And not just reading it, studying it, learning it, and hiding it in our hearts forever. So that when five officers get shot in Dallas, when 84 die in France, when you can’t turn on the news without hearing of disaster, or something happens to a loved one, we know that God is close to the broken hearted. We know that there is only one who can wipe away every tear, and we can trust that He knows what he is doing, even if it hurts us. Because in the middle of tragedy we can only find true peace in the Lord God.

Citations

"Ephesians 3:17-21." Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

“Philippians 4:6-7” Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. 

“John 14:26” Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016. 

“Jeremiah 29:11” Bible Gateway. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2016.

Been Awhile

So I have not wrote anything in like forever.... Man since I wrote last so much has happened. I started doing Lincoln Douglas debate. Most people say I am really good at it, I don't know...you tell me. Basically what Lincoln Douglas Debate is, is *cues drum roll* Lincoln–Douglas debate is a type of one-on-one debate practiced mainly in the United States at the high school level. It is sometimes also called values debate because the format traditionally places a heavy emphasis on logic, ethical values, and philosophy *ends drum roll.* Sounds fun right? There are 2 answers and they can both be used to describe LD (Lincoln Douglas) Yes it can be fun if you don't get destroyed in the round and no if you get absolutely destroyed.

Also since I wrote last I started doing Jacob's geometry (random...) Oh yeah and the Cowboys are doing beast! (Cowboys=My team) (Cowboys=America's team)

Anyway this was just supposed to be a quick update on whats going on in my life. Hopefully I start writing more and more people start reading... But I guess if I want people to read I have to write more, and write well. Oh well that's the end on my ramblings.

That moment when...

You go downstairs at 11PM to get a drink and kick the open dishwasher door with the top of your foot in the dark...

(for the record, I used to be on WordPress, just transferring all the posts right now)

Maui, Hi

According to, To-Hawaii.com Hawaii is the most isolated population center on Earth. It is 2,390 miles from California, 3,850 miles from Japan and 4,900 miles from China. I have been to Maui, Hawaii many times and I am getting ready to go there again so I thought I would tell all of y'all a little bit about my favorite place to go on vacation! I hope that one y'all finish reading this you all know a lot more about Maui than you did when this started. I believe that there is something for everyone in a vacation to the Hawaiian island of Maui. Today I will be telling you about a couple of resorts where you may enjoy staying, a few places that you would probably like eating, and a few activities you and your wallet would probably enjoy

That said let me tell you about a couple of resorts that you may enjoy staying at. U.S.News Travel tells us that there are well over 100 great hotels and resorts to choose from on Maui but I have chosen two that are my favorite to talk about, the Maui Eldorado, and the Sheraton.The Maui Eldorado is condos divided into several buildings with individual rooms in each building so it is more private. At the Eldorado you will have full access to 3 pools, the beach, and a cabana (The only cabana on the island.) with a full kitchen, bathrooms, lounge chairs as well as normal chairs and tables Now lets discuss the Sheraton. The Sheraton is a luxury hotel building, one of the nicest on the island! At the Sheraton you will have direct beach access, access to many pools and tennis courts, and very nice rooms!

What is the next best thing to good rooms and beaches on an island vacation? Of course the food! Here are three restaurants you would probably love eating at! The first restaurant I will be telling you about is Bubba Gump, here its all about the life of Forrest Gump, the movie Forrest Gump and especially their wonderful seafood specifically shrimp. Next on the list we have Cheeseburger in Paradise, Here its all in the name, you can have one of the best cheeseburgers (or just about any other burger) in paradise right on the beach, whats not to like about that deal!? Last but certainly not least we have Aloha Mixed Plate, this is a restaurant for the slightly more adventurous, here you will find a lot of foods the locals enjoy but also normal foods. If you want something exotic this is the place to go!

After Rooms and food whats next? ENTERTAINMENT of course!

here are three fun activities in Maui that you and your wallet should enjoy!First we have Snorkeling, the Maui Information Guide lists black rock as the second rated snorkeling spot on the island, if you remember from earlier the two resorts I talked about are both built on either side of black rock. At black rock I have seen many giant turtles, rays, sharks and eels. Next is Surfing! If you have the balance and the patience you can have a full day of fun for only the cost of renting a board if you don't already own one! According to THESURFSITE.COM There are more than 30 good surfing beaches on the island of Maui, many right by the resorts we talked about earlier. And finally if the beach is not really your thing, no problem EveryTrail tells us that on the island of Maui there are 15-20 awesome hiking trails that you could walk, or if you just want to see it and not walk it we have personal friends on the island that own a tour company and they can show it all to you from  their car or on foot.

Alright lets quickly review, I talked about two awesome resorts, three great restaurants, and a few awesome activities for you and your wallet. In summary I believe that there is something fun for everyone in a vacation to the Hawaiian Island of Maui! Maui is my favorite vacation spot and I hope each of you gets to visit Maui and try some of the things we talked about! That said, ALOHA! (Hello or goodby in Hawaiian)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

"Hawaii Fun Facts and Trivia." Hawaii Fun Facts and Trivia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2016.

U.S.News Travel “Best Hotels in Maui http://travel.usnews.com/Hotels/Maui_HI/

"Where to Snorkel in Maui?" Where to Snorkel in Maui Hawaii. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2016.

"Maui Surf Spots & Surfing Information | The Surfing Site." The Surfing Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2016.

"Hiking on Maui, Hawaii." EveryTrail. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2016.

Self Esteem

In today's day and age low self esteem affects between 25%-75% of people today. Up until a few weeks ago I used to be in that 25%-75%. People can suffer from self esteem issues because of being underweight, overweight, getting bullied or any number of things.

I USED to have minor self esteem issues nothing like what some kids deal with because of cyber bullying and other more serious issues, just minor negative self thoughts about my size. Small size runs in my family. My dad is 6'2" and super buff but it took him forever to get buff like he is. Like years of serious working out. 

After a while of feeling poorly about myself I asked myself this question, Is feeling bad about myself going to do anything to help the situation? The answer is an obvious NO! So now rather than feeling poorly about myself and doing nothing I have started doing stuff to help solve the issue. Also thinking positive thoughts about myself. For instance, "great job Christian, you just ran two miles non-stop in under 20 minutes!"

What could be done to solve any number of self esteem issues? A few things that should help anyone that is dealing with self esteem issues would be first of all look at who you are spending time with. Do the people you spend time with make you feel good about yourself? Do they Compliment you? If you answered no are even hesitated a little in your answer to any of those questions you may need to re-consider how much time you spend with these people. The next thing that I personally did in my road to great self esteem is I started working out. Sometimes I workout with my dad (Who is totally awesome guys!) More recently I started a little routine before a go to sleep so I am really tired when I go to sleep which has really improved my sleep quality lately. Most recently of all I have added a 1 mile sprint and another mile of speed walking/jogging which has been a great addition to my daily routine.

Those are the steps I took towards better self esteem I hope that if you are dealing with any issues related to anything that I talked about earlier that I was able to help and that you don't feel bad about yourself anymore. Remember we are all sons and daughters of the King. Kings and Queens united through Christ. We are all GOLD.

God Bless!

Sin and Redemption

His name was Adam her’s was Eve

Instructed to care for a garden they were

With but one rule

Don’t eat from one tree

Or death will come to thee

Then came a test

Along with a pest

His name was Satan

He wished only the worst

They did not pass the test

and thus lost the best

Years later

There came a savior

Born in a manger

To a stranger

Born a savior

Died a Martyr

Paid for all sin

And cleared a path

To Heaven

For all who want in

E-cigarettes, Crutch or Bridge?

“There’s no way e-cigarettes are totally safe. The only things our lungs were meant to take in is oxygen”

that is simply how God designed us, to JUST breathe air. Today we will be discussing that not only are electric-cigarettes not healthy but that tobacco companies lie to us any time that they tell us that electric-cigarettes are tobacco free and also when ever they tell us that they are healthy. I will be doing this in several steps, first I will tell you about why they were invented, I will tell you a few of their many health concerns, I will tell you how they are being misused, and finally I will tell you what you could do to help solve this problem.

According to Matthew Stanbrook of the Canadian Medical Association Journal,

“Addiction now comes in its own “e” version: electronic cigarettes. By allowing the user to inhale a vapor in a manner resembling smoking a cigarette, e-cigarettes provide a uniquely appealing means of obtaining nicotine without exposure to the other harmful constituents of tobacco smoke. Their increasing popularity is paralleled by growing controversy over whether e-cigarettes represent a highly promising therapeutic intervention for smoking cessation or a Trojan horse that will allow the tobacco industry to reverse decades of global progress in reducing smoking prevalence.”

Electric cigarettes were originally designed in 1963 by Herbert Gilbert as a crutch for smokers to help them quit smoking. Smoking E-Cigarettes was supposed to  provide a similar feeling to smoking an actual cigarette. E-Cigarettes  are actually being used as a bridge, a bridge for non-smokers to get addicted to nicotine because electric cigarettes are marketed as a healthy substitute for smoking, but while they are somewhat healthier than regular cigarettes they are still horrible for your body.

Now does this information make you want to smoke E-Cigarettes? When I saw that E-Cigarettes were marketed as healthy I was much more interested in learning more about them. Fortunately when I researched to see if E-Cigarettes were as healthy as they were marketed to be I found out that they contain cancer causing chemicals such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde at such levels as high as 15 times that which is considered acceptable in normal cigarettes.

E-Cigarettes are composed of four main parts, there is a mouthpiece, a nicotine cartridge or a re-fillable tank for the liquid nicotine, a built in atomizer and a rechargeable battery. Although electric cigarettes are supposed to be tobacco free the liquid nicotine in E-Cigarettes is extracted directly from the actual tobacco plant so technically these should still be considered tobacco products.

Unlike plain tobacco leaves liquid nicotine can be deadly. Even amounts such as one tablespoon of liquid nicotine could prove deadly to an adult and one teaspoon could kill a child. Two main harmful chemicals in liquid nicotine are formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. There is actually more formaldehyde in electric cigarettes than there is in a normal cigarette. Formaldehyde is a known cause of throat cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. It has also been proven that formaldehyde kills off brain cells. it can also harm lung growth in children, so juvenile e-cigarette users may grow up with under developed lungs.

Acetaldehyde, though less known than formaldehyde, still presents some major health risks, such as impairing your breathing, harming your lungs, and damaging your skin and eyes. It can also cause amnesia.

Another problem with E-Cigarettes right now is they are not necessarily being used how they were designed to be used. E-Cigarettes were originally designed to help smokers quit smoking. What is actually happening with them now is many people think that they are 100% safe so more and more people that would never have picked up an actual cigarette are trying E-Cigarettes and getting addicted.

So far I have shown you that E-Cigarettes are not being used as a crutch like they were designed to be but instead they are being used as a bridge for non-smokers to become addicted to nicotine. I have also shown you that E-Cigarettes are technically still tobacco products and that just small amounts of liquid nicotine could kill someone or make them extremely sick.

What I think could be done about this is to make smoking electric cigarettes as unattractive to smokers and non-smokers as possible. I suggest that we raise e-cigarette prices to the breaking point to make smokers more hesitant to pay massive amounts of money to smoke. I would also like to suggest that there be a limit to how much liquified nicotine a person can purchase each week. I think that e-cigarettes should not be sold in grocery stores and gas stations and only be sold in authorized cigarette stores. I would also like to propose that since e-cigarettes are just as harmful as regular cigarettes that we regulate them the same way. And finally I suggest that we follow New South Wales and ban the practice of selling e-cigarettes to minors. Now for what you could do, I recommend that each of you call your local congressman by going to contactingthecongress.org and urge that he place regulations to prevent the smoking of electric cigarettes in your general public area.

According to Reuters formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, are just a couple of toxic chemicals that about one out of every 10 people you meet have been exposed to and are exposed to every time they smoke because about 10% of all people in the U.S. are e-cigarette smokers. These chemicals have the potential to do serious harm to your body. Formaldehyde is a known cause of throat cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. It has also been proven that formaldehyde kills off brain cells and also significantly harms lung growth in children. Acetaldehyde  also presents some major health risks, such as impairing your breathing, harming your lungs, and damaging your skin and eyes. It can also cause amnesia. As I said before 1 in 10 people you know and interact with are e-cigarette smokers and they risk having any of these things happen to them on a daily basis, wouldn’t you like to help them?

“If not us who? And If not now when?”

- Ronald Reagan

Bibliography

http://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/files/acetaldehydefaq.pdf

https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/e-cigarettes-release-toxic-chemicals-indoors-should-be-included-clean-indoor-air-laws-and-policies

http://thebrainbank.scienceblog.com/2015/01/25/e-cigarettes-whats-the-harm/

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2015-07/23/e-cigarette-dangers-vape-cloud-health-nhs-doctor

http://www.livescience.com/46053-e-cigarettes-myths-safety-facts.html

http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20150121/high-levels-of-cancer-linked-chemical-in-e-cigarette-vapor-study-finds

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153383/

http://www.cmaj.ca/content/185/16/1379.extract

Jesus Freak

I started this blog because someone (not going to say who) encouraged me to start a blog, obviously. I am 16 years old my name is Christian Linn. I live in the best place you could possibly live...TEXAS and no... contrary to popular belief I am not a country hick I am a normal person..Sort of... I am a Jesus Freak and a homeschooler. I am a Christian but you probably already guessed the from my name, I have also been homeschooled my entire life. But I am still normal...Wait no I'm not...There is no such thing as normal...Or average. We are all Kings and Queens through Christ who died to save us so that one day when we die we can live for ever with him in Heaven. So to anyone that thinks they are normal or average or below average just remember you are a King, you are a Queen, you are the son or daughter of the Emperor and no one can take that from you no matter what people try to make you believe! YOU ARE GOLD!!

Jesus Freak, this song has really been an inspiration to me as it is really a message to all Christians saying that yeah people are going to think of us as strange when they learn that we are Christians but that's OK because we are all united through Christ who strengthens us and if me being a Christian makes me a Jesus freak then I want to be the freakiest of the freaks because I know that my identity is in Christ and no one can take that from me.