Who's your Jesus?

Everyone has a different interpretation or translation of Jesus based on their needs. The basic message of Jesus though, doesn't change. In the Bible, Jesus is the same. So how can he be interpreted so differently for each person? Here are a couple different versions of Jesus, which people see.

Spooky Jesus
This is the Jesus that you are scared of. Literally. Look at that freaky halo around his head. It just makes me want to go and cry. He is looking straight into my soul, and judging me. He can see all my inner sins, and everything I've ever done. He is so creepy looking. I sure wouldn't want to make this Jesus mad.

Buddy Jesus
This is the "hey, wanna hit up the town and watch a movie" Jesus. He is your best friend, the guy you always want to be with. He's a fun loving guy. You share your secrets with him, and hang out. You can just chill with him, and chillax. He's a pretty cool dude.

Sunday School Jesus
This is the "Jesus loves me, this I know" Jesus. He is really simple and easy to understand, even for little kids. Especially little kids. He lives in your Sunday School Bible, and does miracles like making food out of nothing for 5000 people, turning wine into water, and breaking down the walls of Jericho. He loves everyone, and promotes peace in an easy to read sort of way.

Jesus is My Boyfriend
This is the Jesus who you are in love with. You have a relationship that feels almost crazy. You love eachother, so much, and you just can't wait to spend your life with him. You are on fire for Jesus. He's the best thing that ever happened to you. You talk to him for hours every day, and read about him, and learn about him. You want to tell all of your friends about how amazing he is, and how much you love him.

Bearded Jesus
This Jesus is found in churches. Its the most realistic as found in the Bible depiction of Jesus. He is the Jesus found on crucifixes everywhere. Guaranteed, there is a picture like this somewhere in your church (except not mine, since I go to church in a movie theatre... love the Meeting House!). He has wicked flow, and is the most traditional looking Jesus.

Middle Class Jesus
I really like this picture a lot. This is the Jesus that is an everyday, hardworking, tax paying citizen. He shops at Ikea (obviously, who doesn't), pays his taxes on time, and is a good neighbour. He is just like you, and so easy to relate to. He has a 9-5 job, a nice family, and loves God. This is the down to earth Jesus, no fluff, no false religion. Just Jesus. He's plain jane.

So, which Jesus do you follow?

Which one do I follow, you ask?
Well. I follow all of them!

Huh?

Yea. All of them! My Jesus is a little spooky, my best friend, a guy I follow with childlike faith, my perfect husband, a traditional person, and my neighbour across the road. He is scary sometimes; Its hard to follow someone you can't see, and believe in something non tangible. He is my buddy; I love to chill with him, and just talk to him through prayer and reading my bible. He is my Sunday School teacher; somebody I follow with a faith like a child, and with unfathomable hopes and dreams. He is my boyfriend; someone I love like my best friend, and can tell anything too. Someone who I have a run-away-lets-get-married relationship with. He's the perfect guy, and someone I can always talk to. He is the bearded Jesus; the guy they talk about in church, who looks like a homeless man, but has a sick beard. He is the Jesus on a cross, the guy who was chill enough to die for our sins. He's also my neighbour; the guy next door, who is just like me.

Jesus is lots of things... but he can't be restricted to just one. He is an all around guy, the perfect friend, husband, and God. He is more than we can ever dream of, and is so graceful. He loves us even with our sins, and helps us even when we don't deserve it. He's perfect.

-Peace and Love
C

Running from the Future

As summer speeds by us and winds to a close, I look forward. I look into the future, trying to see what is written and what will happen. So much lies ahead of me, so much potential. But as I look harder, I see that my vision is blurred. I can't see what lies ahead, there is so much uncertainty. If you asked me a year ago today what lies ahead in my future, I would've been able to give you a play by play of my whole life. Now, I hardly know what I am going to have for breakfast in the morning, not to mention where I am going to go for university. These choices I make in the next 2 years will affect my ENTIRE LIFE. 

Yea, I know. Stressful right?

My whole life, summed up in these next few years. These decisions will affect everything. My job. Where I live. Who I marry. Who my friends are. My relationship with my family. Even my personality will be affected. 

So, now you see my dilemma. I was so sure, I knew what I was going to do. I was convinced of the life that I would lead. Now I'm not so sure.  My future is muddled from my view, like trying to look through dirty water to see what lies beneath. I want to be able to see what lies under me before I plunge into the icy water. What if there are sharks or eels under the water, just waiting for me to jump in? What if there is seaweed that will tangle my vision and spoil my mind. I want to see ahead. 

In short, I want to see the future.

But, we all know I can't do that. Nobody can. We all reach a point in our lives where we have to make these kind of choices, the big choices in life. I just hope I make the right one.

I believe that God will lead me to the right decision. The future is coming, whether I'm ready or not. I feel like I'm running from the future. I'm letting fear get in the way of my dreams. It's my fears vs. dreams. What I need to do is help my dreams succeed.

I have so many dreams. I want to do so many things with my life. I believe in my dreams and I will fight for my dreams. But, there is the nagging thought in my mind, what if I'm not good enough? What if I can't do it? What if I don't get into Med school? What if something goes wrong? I don't know what's going to go on in the future. I hope my dreams come true. I hope I can make a change in my life. I hope I am called to something greater than myself. 

I do more than just hope. I know.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” 
― Eleanor Roosevelt

http://fearsvsdreams.com/

Peace and Love

-C

Perspective.

      I walk along the sidewalk of a busy street, walking by hundreds of people. It's mind boggling to think that these people all have a life, a story, a beginning and an end. That lady that just bumped into me rudely could be a single mother, struggling to feed her 3 children and just barely scraping by. That angry man with the road rage might have a wife that is fighting for her life in a cancer ward. Everyone has a different situation, and you don't know their story. I grew up in a loving family, but not everybody is as blessed as I am. So many kids grow up in households full of hate, struggle, anger, pain, and fighting. You can't judge someone before you know them, that would be completely unfair. That homeless man could have been thrown into debt after making a bad move on the stock market, worked hard to recover it all, but just couldn't. That prostitute could have fallen into a drug addiction after watching her parents die in a tragic car accident, using drugs to cope with her mounting pain. So much goes on that we don't know about or see. It's all about perspective.

      I flick on the tv to watch an episode of my favorite show, Rookie Blue. As I'm changing channels, I stop on the news for a minute or two. The news story is about Kim Kardashians failing marriage to Chris Humphries. How could something this stupid be newsworthy?! We fill our days obsessing about the lives of our favorite stars while children in 3rd world countries are starving. How could our world be so so upside down, so perverted? The media focuses on our celebrities, and spends its time chasing them when so many of our own kind are dying of HIV and AIDS every day. It's fully preventable, so why are so many dying? Why can't we find a solution to this ever growing problem? We need to shift our focus, and help our fellow man. We live excessively, waste our money on flashy cars, on chasing the proverbial "American Dream". Is it really a dream though? How can we live like this when so many of the worlds population live on less than a dollar a day. Seems kind of unfair to me. We can make a change in these peoples lives so easily. It would take barely any effort on our part, but make a world of a difference on their part. It's all about perspective.

      After spending a week away on a mission trip, my eyes are completely open to the incredible world around me. It's incredible to see how some people can give up their entire life to helping others. They are making a sacrifice on a grand scale, living selflessly. It's so inspiring to see others living this way.
It inspires me to do more with my life and to use the skills and passions God has given me for a greater purpose. Spending a week working with the UrbanPromise team was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. It's great to see how you can impact little lives so much. I urge you to break out of today's culture and bondage, and to open your eyes to this impact. There is so much out there, so much to be done, so much to be discovered. It's easy to live for ourselves and to stick to the status quo, but I urge you, go out and help. Find a local charity, and give your time. It doesn't have to be much. If everyone gave an hour a week, imagine what a change we could make! Lives would change, and with that the world would change. For the better. It's all about perspective.

Peace and Love
-C

Yea, I'm a Jesus Freak

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unbdMFgDEiM
What will people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus freak?
What will people do when they find that its true?
I don't really care if they label me a Jesus freak- there ain't no disguising the truth.
There ain't no disguising the truth.
I ain't into hiding the Truth
-"Jesus Freak", Newsboys

Now, you all may be wondering, what is this? What's a Jesus Freak? Well let me tell you!

Jesus Freak- someone who is crazy about Jesus, and loves Him with all of their heart

I'm proud to say that I'm a Jesus freak. Jesus is my King and Saviour, and he is the best thing that ever happened to me. I am proud that he calls me his daughter, and that I can call him my father. He is always there for me, and is unconditionally loving. Even when I mess up (which happens WAY too often) and even when I sin (same with this, I sin every single day). That kind of love can't be expressed on this earth, except for by Jesus. I have messed up too many times to count, yet God doesn't keep track. He's not like your little brother, who will remember the one time you threw chilli at him forever and never let it go. He forgives you when you ask for it, and BAM, sins are forgiven. There is no keeping tabs of your sins with Jesus.

Sounds like a sweet deal, right? Why wouldn't you love and trust such a loving father?

Well. There is much more to Christianity than just saying, "hey, you seem like a cool guy. I like you, I believe in you. Now, can ya love me? Thanks bro." No, Christianity is believing, but also acting on those beliefs! The point is to live your faith, like Jesus did when he was on our Earth. This may be hard, with all those haters out there. They are gonna try to get you down, try to pressure you into caving to society's norms. But, the great part about loving Jesus is that he gives you strength to overcome these pressures. He gives you power over these people, the power to move on, and not let those haters get to you. Haters gonna hate, yo.

Don't let em get ya down, just keep pushing through. Keep being a Jesus freak, and keep living your life. 

One more thing: This unconditional love, this forgiving and loving nature that Jesus has towards us, its great. It doesn't occur with humans on earth. Even in marriage, this kind of 0 resentment, doesn't happen. There is always some kind of fighting, some kind of trouble. Jesus ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS loves. Jesus is my prince, and I'm his princess. Its the perfect love story. So, I guess you could say that I do believe in a fairy tale.

"People say I'm strange, does that make me a stranger?
My best friend was born in a manger"

Keep It Real
Peace and Love
-C

Another hour wasted...

Hello there! How are you, its been a while! I'm sorry I've been AWOL the past few weeks, its been a crazy while. With exams, friends, youth group, my boyfriend, and sports, its been insanely busy. For this post, I think I am going to do a blog post on exams and the many reasons why I hate them.

1. You have to study your butt off
I absolutley hate studying. For exams, you have to study (or at least I do, I guess you dont have to) for a couple hours a night. It is ridiculous. I get so annoyed while I study as well. I am a perfectionist, so I feel that I need to know every little detail when I study. I go way to in-depth in my studying. It is insanely annoying.

2. Some exams are pointless
Its so pointless, especially when you have to study for a subject like grade 10 math. Like honestly, when am I ever gonna need to calculate the parabola, or figure out the equation of a line? It is completely useless, and has no use in my life. Why must we memorise this? Why can't we learn some math that we will honestly use! Someone said to me the other day, "why don't we have a math course that is devoted to calculating daily math, such as tips?" I think that would be so useful, we would actually use that math!

3. Its a waste of time
You will not remember what you studied on your exam a few months after the course is finished. You will, however, remember the projects and what you learned from applying your learning. I think teachers should just give a series of culminating projects, and we do those as our "exam mark".

4. All that extra stress
I don't know about you, but I get extremely stressed out about exams. I feel that I need to be the best at every thing, as I said earlier. And exams are huge tests on everything that you have learned. So, you can imagine how I study for hours, and get so stressed that I'm going to fail, how this one exam will lower my average, and how I'm not going to get into Med school because of it.

5. Teachers cram during quiet week
So, this isn't directly exam related, but in the final week of school before exams, teachers always cram and try to get all the learning that we should have been taught earlier in the year into one week. They realize, oh dang, I didnt teach this! And the students have to go through an entire unit in one week. Its crazy.

So there you go! Sorry to be a negative Nelly about exams, but I am extremely stressed right now, and needed to vent about my hatred of exams. Have a nice life!

-Peace and Love
C

What's the deal with the language?

Walking down the hall at school. What's the number one word you hear? I'm sure you can guess, it's a four letter word, starts with an f. Every other word, you can hear this one. I have a question for those of you who swear, what's the purpose? What's the deal with swearing? It's detrimental to you in many ways! Here's a list of  reasons why swearing is a terrible idea.

1. It makes you sound stupid
When you swear, it makes you look immature and stupid. If you have to rely on a swear word to express yourself, then you aren't using the English language properly. There are so many other, non-swear words that you can use to express your anger at your English teacher, or use to describe that person you hate. When you swear, it makes you look like a stupid teenager, the stereotypical teenager that grandmas and little children hate. Don't you want to prove this stereotype wrong by using proper language, grammar, and using more intelligent words?

2. It can give a wrong impression
If you swear all the time, it will become a force of habit to swear in all situations. What if you are going in for a job interview? You don't want to be sitting there, going through the interview, and then let out the f-bomb. That will make you look unprofessional, unsophisticated, and unqualified for the job. I'm sure they won't hire you if you do that. This will give the impression that you just don't care, and that you are that stereotypical teenager.

3. It is inconsiderate
What if those around you are offended by your swearing? They don't deserve to be around someone who is constantly swearing. Its rude.

4. It can get you in trouble
There is always that one stickler teacher that doesn't allow any swearing. You don't want to be spending every lunch in her room writing lines of "I will not swear in class", do you? Don't do it.

There are some reasons against swearing, and those, along with a couple more, are the reasons why I don't swear. Just my opinion on swearing.

Peace and Love
-C

What's Your Mission, 007?

Everyone knows what a leader is. It’s someone who takes initiative, has their own ideas and is an individual, as well as can manage and lead people. Being a leader is a great thing, it’s the leaders of this world that make all the decisions and make the changes in our society. Now, servant leadership, that’s a completely different ballgame. This is being a humble leader, leading by example not by being pushy. People like Hitler and Gadhafi were leaders, but they lead their countries to ruins by using tactics of intimidation, false promises and violence. To me, servant leadership is when you lead like Jesus did. It’s when you wash the feet of others, and help them even when they don’t deserve it. It’s loving everyone, even the sluts and stoners and drunks. It’s helping those in need, and giving everything to help them. It’s hanging with the “losers” even when it will hurt your rep and make you seem like a loser. It’s sticking up for those without a voice. It’s searching for peace in a world where a child can die in the middle of the street and nobody cares, nobody even gives a second glance. What kind of world do we live in that this happens? If we had more people like Jesus in our world today, or even people who were striving to be like him, instead of going through the motions, our world would be a much better place. Servant leadership is a trait that I strive to have in my life. I try as much as possible to lay down my life for others, but boy is it hard!

Sometimes I feel unqualified for this job God has given me. But, you don’t need to be qualified to live your life for God. Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, and Paul was a murderer. Both of these people committed immense sins before they came to know God. They were the most unqualified people out there, but God still used them. He chose them over the Pharisees, over the most religious, rule abiding people out there. Mary washed the feet of Jesus, and he was immensely proud of her. The Pharisees followed every rule and rhyme, but they didn’t love those who were sinners. For them, it was a popularity contest; they were living their lofty lives on the outside, while committing heinous acts in secret. These people, in Jesus’ eyes, were much worse than the sinners who repented and asked for forgiveness, and now live for God. Why would God choose the sinners? I don’t know, but I’m so happy that he did. I’m a major sinner; I’m so far from perfect. But God still chose me, and he can choose you too. I’m ready to accept my mission, the mission of being a servant leader. I’m ready to accept my badge, receive my weapon (figuratively speaking, being a pacifist and all), and get out in the field.

It’s a mission of global proportions; are you ready to accept?

 It will be far from easy, I promise you that. In my few years as a Christian, I’ve had so many struggles and trials. It’s been so difficult, but so worth it. Being a Christian is more than just reading your bible, and going to church. It’s more than even just proclaiming the gospel. It’s about relationships, and digging deeper. It’s about being a leader, a leader in Christ. It’s about jumping in, getting your hands dirty. Why preach to the chorus? You have to get in there, with the rebels and the criminals and the prostitutes. Jesus taught a revolutionary message when he did this, imagine what kind of message you would send at school if you decided to go sit with the “losers”. Jesus was all about peace and love. To me, servant leadership is creating peace and loving others.

 That’s my mission in life. What’s yours?

-Peace and Love (for reals)
C

All Sorts'a Friends

Friendship is a funny thing. You can have friends, make friends, be friends and lose friends. Its almost like friendship is your favourite toy. You can lose your plastic dino at the park, but as soon as you realize, you go get a new stuffed bear. If that bear isn’t working for you, if it’s not your style, you throw it out. You sometimes find toys hiding under your bed, and you pick them up and realize “hey, this is an awesome toy... I never thought I would play with a racecar, since I’m the Barbie type, but wow, this is fun”. Friends can be lost when you drift apart, can be found at school or at youth group, and can be made, when you find someone you like, and get along with. Friends can also be lost, through fights, drama and gossip. Especially gossip. Friendship is also a happy thing. I can remember many good times with friends, tobogganing with plastic bags after exams, staying up all night talking about boys, and much laughter and crazy antics. Friendship is a blessing, but in many ways, can also be a curse. I have met several people who I thought were nice enough, maybe not bestie material, but decent people, who turned out to be huge jerks who I was wrong to trust. Friends can hurt you a lot, if you let them into your life. If you are quick to trust people, and often look for the good in people as I do, you get hurt often. Friends can let you down, and stab you in the back when you aren’t looking. But, in my honest opinion, in most cases, the good times of friendships outweigh the occasions of bad times.

There are also many different kinds of friends. I’m positive that you have met one or more of these friends in your life. Here’s a bunch that I have met and experienced.

The Friend:

Let’s start off simple. This is the friend that you get to know, but not that well. This is the friend that you say hi to, can make small talk with, but wouldn’t tell your deepest, darkest secrets to. You get along well enough.

The Good Friend:

This is a friend that you are closer to than the Friend, but not as close as you are to the BFF’S OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER friend. This kind of friend you can tell some of your secrets, and you can talk to them about lots of different things, and have sleepovers and such, but you wouldn’t consider them to be your “Best friend”. You hang out regularly, but you probably wouldn’t choose them to be your bridesmaid in your wedding party if you were to get married.

BFF’S OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER Friend:

This is the friend you tell everything. Literally EVERYTHING. You tell her that you think so and so is cute, what you think about what that girl is wearing (she is wearing shorts in the winter?!? Scandalous!) and everything you are thinking. It’s like you two could be twins, you get each other so much. You can often read each other’s minds and know what each other are thinking. Being around other people with your BFF’S OH MY GOSH I LOVE YOU LIKE A SISTER friend may lead them to being annoyed because you two don’t even need to talk for you two to communicate. I have a few of these friends, and boy, it’s so much fun to hang out with them. This kind of friend is one of the best kinds of friends.

The Gossipy Friend:

This is the friend that absolutely loves to talk. They will tell you all the latest gossip from around the school. This is the kind of friend you shouldn’t tell all your secrets, unless you want them spread around the school. This person is not particularly trustworthy, but they can still be fun! They just aren’t the person you should share your secrets with.

The Frenemy:

Oh, the notorious frenemy. This is the person that pretends to be a friend, but really isn’t. They act nice, seem nice, but really aren’t all that nice. I have no clue why people are like this, as I am generally a nice person and don’t have much drive to do something like this, but there are people out there. Watch out for these people, because they may stab you in the back. This is the worst kind of friend, because they can hurt you really bad. They sometimes gossip about you behind your back to your friends, as I have seen happen before. Be careful around these people, as they may use anything you say against you.

The “Romantic Material” Friend:

This is the kind of “friend” that you are romantically involved with. It could be a boyfriend or girlfriend, spouse or fiancé. Since the first step of a relationship is a good friendship, you and your romantic interest should be very good friends before you move into a relationship. A close friendship is important in a relationship. This friendship should be close, and you can often tell this person as much as you tell your OH MY GOSH friend.

The Quiet Friend:

We all have one of these, this is the quiet friend that is shy and wont talk. They are really introverted, so you need to do some coaxing to get them out of their shell. Once they come out of their shell though, wow! They are often a lot of fun, and can soon become one of your really close friends.

The Crazy Friend:

This is the friend that is incredibly crazy. They are completely nuts. They are so much fun to be around, but can be way too crazy at times. They make life a lot more interesting. I think, and my friends would likely agree, that I am this friend. I am usually hyper and super crazy. But hey, you know being crazy is a lot more fun

So there you have it, the scoop on all the kinds of friends. And I know, I may have missed some, sorry about that!

Peace and Love

-C

Whats in a nickname?

Nicknames. Everybody has one. Everybody needs one. Do you have one? I do, I have several actually. Nicknames make me laugh. There is just something about the way people make up the wackiest, weirdest nicknames for me. Only a few of the nicknames that I have been called make sense. Some are so crazy, that I don't even know how they came to be!  Here is a list of all the nicknames I have been called over the years. There are some very interesting ones in there.

THE GRAND LIST

-Carlos

-Carl

-Carlisita

-Carls

-Carlsefni

-Carlisle

-Carlstein

-Brie

-Peanut

-Farley

-Farley Boat

-Barley

-Harley

-Bean

-Carbot

-Brie Brie

-Sissy (my little brother gets kudos for this one)

-Carlu
-Grand Pooba

And my overall favourite: Lil’ V (shoutout to my bud Rayanne, thanks for this one)

And thats all I got! Some are extremely weird, and each one has its own story. Each one was given by a different person. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for my lovely nicknames. They make my day complete. There is nothing like walking down the halls, hearing the affectionate call of a friend yelling “HEY CARLS”. It makes me feel loved. So friends, continue making up nicknames, and continue to brighten the world of those around you. Go on now, get! Start making nicknames! I dare you! Scratch that, I double dog dare you. No, I triple dog dare you!

As Mr. Rees would say, Make those Nicknames!

Peace and Love

-C

Hello and Welcome

Hey there! It's great to meet you, my pleasure entirely. I'm glad you came, sit down. Would you like some tea? Are you sure, its positively delightful! Fine, suit yourself. Before we begin, let me tell you a bit about myself. I like sports, friends, music and being a little bit crazy. I am not normal, and I will admit it. What is normal, anyways? Normal is a relative term, in my opinion. Is anyone ever normal? I don't think so. I live in a small town, and I'm a small town girl. I have my share of problems, but I like to dwell on the happy things of life. I don't focus on the details. I like to dance and laugh, and I love to drink tea. Thats about it. Thanks for coming, glad you came, nice to meet you. I hope I haven't been a bore. Please come back soon, and don't forget to shut the door on the way out.
Peace and Love
-C