What do you think?

I am not one for political arguments or anything like that, but when something collides with my religious beliefs, I won't stand back and let the government do as it pleases without stating my thoughts on the matter. Now if you are really smart, you have probably figured out that this is about my thoughts on a certain matter that has something to do with the government.

You may have heard of a treaty called U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (the CRC). This is a treaty that the U.N has come up with. And guess what? If it passes here, the United States will be voluntarily ceding its sovereignty to the U.N. Isn't that something? You can read a very interesting article on this here.

Here are a few eye catching excerpts as well:

The treaty clearly bans all corporal punishment, including spanking by parents. Congress would have both the duty as well as the power to implement legislation which directly imposes legal sanctions against parents to spank their children. Spanking could be a federal crime if the CRC is ratified...

The biggest areas of potential conflict, understandably, are the issues of education and religious instruction. If your child decides he no longer wants to be homeschooled and wants to attend the local public school, the decision will likely come down in his favor...

Children will have a legally enforceable right to complain about anything they wish...

So what does this mean? Basically it means that parents will not be allowed to train up their children in the way they should go. It means that parents will have little or no control over what they have birthed, and kids will be allowed to twist people's arms to get what they want.

I don't know about you, but that makes me furious. Sure, I will still be allowed to do my chores and help in the kitchen, but when I have children of my own, they will be able to turn me in for disciplining them. I won't have control in my own home, and my children will, in a way, have more rights than me.

So what do you think? Should we let this stinker of a bill pass, or should we speak up for what we believe? Whatever you think, please be praying for our country. It needs all the prayer we can give.

Too much of a good thing

Last week, on Sunday, I was pretty grumpy. I actually was really mad. So I went in my room and chose to use my evil energy on something not unproductive. I did 100 sit ups. This was quite an accomplishment for me because my previous record was 80 sit ups, and that was 2 years ago. I enjoyed the workout. I did it again the next few nights. But the pain I experienced in the daytime was unbearable, so after four days of agony, I quit. That was on Wednesday. Just today, my abdominal pain has abandoned me, and I am happy about that.

Today we went sledding in Cloquet. That was a great time. You may have read in a much earlier blog post about the hill in Cloquet. If you haven't, it just rocks. This year, the whole bottom of the hill was covered in jumps. I hurt my knees really badly, but it was fun, so I didn't worry about it. I got close to 3 feet of air some of the times, and usually I landed on my side, with my sled landing about 10 feet away.

Then we went bowling. Lynae, Grace, and I were all bowling in the same lane. We agreed that if Grace beat Lynae or me, whoever Grace beat would pay for a game of pool. The end of the first game was discouraging: Lynae won, followed by Grace, and I was 27 points behind Grace. But then we played a second game, and in the end of this one, I had 157 points, Lynae had 97, and Grace had 94. I was much happier with this one, but I had to pay for the game of pool. I paid for the game of pool. Lynae beat me. As of right now, I am still waiting for her to reimburse me for that.

I never thought.....

Facebook has really changed my life quite a bit in the past few months. It eats away at spare time and tempts me daily to join in the word games, war games, and other virtual games it has to offer me.

At the same time, it has become a major motivator for getting my school and chores done. It has helped me connect to people that I haven't seen in years (or seen at all). It is also pretty much the most high-tech thing I have.

I never thought that a little web page could change my life, but my facebook has. I now must work every day avoiding things and resisting things that will drag me down. It has brought me into a big persons world, where I must decide what to do with my time.

Thankfully, my parents have put restraints on what I can do with my time. They have welcomed me to the world in a way that has protected me from many things, while at the same time I've been able to see what's out there. Someday I won't have them there to watch over and guide me, and I will have to make these decisions myself. I'm glad that they are working hard to this day to instill good habits in me, and I dearly hope I don't disappoint them.

Tell me now...

I was at the doctor yesterday. I don't go there often anymore since I upgraded myself to a state of invincibility*, but some things never change, or if they do, it isn't easy. Things that don't really affect your health but you go to the doctor anyway. Shots are a good example, but I never get any shots. The reason I was at the doctor was that I had a wart on the bottom of my foot, and if you ever look at a foot you will quickly notice that the bottom is the part that generally is placed on the ground in an attempt to perform graceful locomotion. During this process, the wart generally hits the ground before the rest of your foot. This requires that the weight of your body drives the wart into your foot every time you step. It isn't pretty.

I had this wart for about two weeks, and then we went to the doctor because it was driving me crazy. Well, wouldn't you know it, halfway to the doctor, we had car trouble. This is not because we are white trash trying to see how much farther we can get our 1986 El Camino to run, these things just happen. So we got it to Deep Rock, and then I ran home to get the car. We finally got to the doctor's office. When we got in the room, the nurse (?) needed to know if I had any health problems. She asked if I was allergic to any medicines, who my doctor is, (to which I replied, "I ain't got one"), how old I was, and then she said, "ok, you're 15, do you smoke?" What do you mean, "do you smoke"? Why would I smoke? Isn't that illegal at my age? Why would I want to do something illegal if it had nothing to do with driving?

So, I told her that I didn't smoke. Then she left and the doctor came in a few minutes later.

The doctor told me all about the method he was going to use, which was the freeze method. I was familiar with this method. I had a wart on the palm of my hand several years ago, and Mom tried to freeze it, but it would not die, and so it stayed there for several years until it just went away. I had a wart on my scalp around the same time, and it too went away after several years. Anyway, I was not too thrilled to hear that the doctor was going to freeze the wart on my foot, but I held still, and it wasn't as bad as I expected.

* This is a joke. Most people my age think they are invincible. I could care less if I'm invincible, all my friends go to the doctor.

Love

Love: a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

Love is a very strong feeling that each of us has for certain things. For instance, I love my family and friends, but I love them each for different reasons.

I love my friends because they treat me kindly and include me. I love my family because they are always there for me; ready to do me a favor, help me with my work, and teach me so I can mature.

There are also other things I can love; such as the smell of fresh flowers or the sound of a flowing river. This is a type of love but isn't the same as the love I feel for my parents. I love the smell of flowers simply because they smell nice, but I love my parents because they have shown me love. That is something that flowers can't do for me. They can never even come close. My parents have worked hard to train me, care for me, and help me become who I am today.

And yet, there is one person that I love more than anyone or anything else that I've ever known. Someone who has done me so big a favor that I can't even begin to repay them. You see, Jesus died for all my sins. That may not seem big when it's put that way, but if he hadn't done that I would have suffered for my sins for all eternity. By putting my trust in Jesus, I can be sure that I won't have to suffer those consequences. That's a big deal, and I can only do a very little in comparison. How can I show him love though? I can thank him for his wonderful gift, and obey his commandments. I can show gratitude by thanking him and respecting him, and I can share the love with others.