Cross Country Trip

Well I'm at college now. I drove cross country and took LOTS of pictures. I'll be posting them on and off over the next month or so. I've been taking lots of pictures and will be posting them at my photo blog: http://declarationphotos.blogspot.com/

On my Way

I'm on my way to college this week, so I won't be posting very often. Feel free to check out older posts.

California Coast

http://clearlyenlight-travels.blogspot.com/2007/08/santa-barbara.html

I visited Santa Barbara when I was looking at colleges. I was looking at Westmont. It's a nice place, but not for me. I prefer places like Monterey and Asilomar. I don't care much for Santa Cruz because I've been there too many times. Plus, it's gotten dirty there over the years. It's full of tourists and there are no seashells. There used to be tons of sand dollars there. All gone now.

http://clearlyenlight-travels.blogspot.com/2007/08/four-day-excersion.html

Did you ever try camping. Only $18 most of the time and you get to spend some great time with God and nature. The stars are beautifula t night and smores are delicious by the camp fire.By the way, I'm so jealous. You hit up all my favorite places in one trip. I miss the coast!

The Infallible Word of God

http://freedomofthespirit.blogspot.com/2007/08/reposting-of-bible-is-infallible-by.html

One of my Bible teachers once said that the Bible is inspired by God, but that God merely told the writers what to write about and the writers put it into their own words and related it to a certain audience. I like to think that God was the one who wrote the Bible in a way that related it to its audience. Is not God able to do wonderful things? Is not God all knowing? Does not God know how to relate to His own people? The word of God is God-breathed. I believe He wrote every word of it.

God: Male or Female?

http://emergingwomen.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-god-my-mother.html

I like to think of God as someone beyond the boundries of gender. God created us in His image, so I would think that He has both female and male qualities. But I would not limit Him to having just those qualities either. What do you think?

Parable of the Sower and Acting out Your Faith

http://confessionsofanunchurchedbeliever.blogspot.com/2007/08/parable-of-sower-addendum.html

Thanks so much for this post. It cleared a lot up for me and has made me reexamine my faith (and works through faith) a lot. I just finished reading a new Max Lucado book called "Every Day Deserves a Chance." Your post kind of goes along with the theme of this book in a way. It teaches us to look at our lives in a positive light, in God's light. It talks about living out your faith with a positive attitude. I also just started his book "It's not about me" which also has this sort of theme of shining as a light through our actions and feeling better inside, having a better day, just because we helped someone.

Absolute Truth

http://bibledude.net/WordPress/?p=25

Great post! I believe in an absolute truth. There are a lot of people who would say that everyone has their own truth, but that would just cause a lot of chaos. You are also right about the truth being misused. If you use one truth with one falsity, does that make the result true? I guess there are a lot of peope who aren't very good at logic because they fall for the falsities that use truth as support. For example, many religions use the Bible to support their beliefs, but they do not use it correctly. Does that make the Bible wrong? No! It makes the interpretation wrong. The absolute truth is the absolute truth. It cannot be changed.

Organ Photo

http://quick-snap.blogspot.com/2007/08/organ-practice.html

I think macro pics are my favorite. This one of an organ is beautiful, very graceful. I went to an organ concert at the Mormon Tabernacle (But I'm not Mormon, just a tourist) and loved the beauty of the instrument. Bach is a favorite classic composer of mine. I read an article about how complicated oragns can be and how hard they are to play. Wow. Amazing.

What's Your Stand on Homosexuality?

http://www.sicarii.net/2007/08/17/you-can-call-me-names-but-ill-persist-in-my-beliefs

I completely agree!!! I, too, have trouble making people understand that I don't judge the homosexual person, just their lifestyle. I was once one of those people who avoided homosexuals and felt extremely uncomfortable around them.

When I participated in a secular acting program that had homosexual members my judging problem got in the way and those members knew I didn't like them. I had not yet learned to treat them rightly and to not judge.

Since then, I've learned to stand up against the lifestyle and gay marriage, but to not treat homosexuals as if they were below me. They have the right to choose that lifestyle, after all.

I've learned that homosexuals are often a lot kinder than straight people. Sometimes I wonder why Christians can't be that nice. Unfortunatetlt they also serve good purposes that should not fall to them. We live in a messed up world. I had a friend once who was sexually abused by men at a young age and thus felt confortable around homosexuals.

As far as homosexuals in the church go, I think that's just disgusting and wrong and should be guarded against by the leaders in the church. We need a makeover in our churches today. There are way too many politics behind the scenes.

Why - Nichole Nordeman

http://lancessoulsearching.blogspot.com/2007/06/inner-peace.html



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