Bible?

Reading your Bible- I never thought it could be so... difficult sometimes. Y'know when sometimes you feel your so disconnected and in a slump with God? Like there's been too long of a time of no communication, and you feel terrible about it, but you're just too... absorbed with everything: Christmas, presents, things to do on your days off from school, that you just brush aside time in the day for God? Well, that's what I've struggled with the past week or two. I mean, for me, the slump starts when I wake up, and on that day, I don't go immediately and read my Bible. If I break the cycle, it's easier to continue doing so until I've completely stopped reading. The good thing though, is that whenever I stop, I'm convicted in a way. Whenever I'm at church or listening to a sermon, I feel... distraught. Like half of me is listening to the message, but the other half is screaming that you're not even spending time with God, how is this going to help you? And so I finally went to my Bible this morning. Not novels, not computer, not any kind of other distraction; my Bible. And I feel so good after reading it and just praying... Personally, I think the Bible's essential to me in my faith. It somehow... Just gets me back on track with God. I don't know how. It just... does...
My two favorite quotes about the Bible are these:

Sin will keep you from this book,
but this book will keep you from sin
-Anonymous

And then:

Show me a Bible that's falling apart,
and I'll show you a life that isn't.
-Anonymous

They're amazing and a 100% true.
I don't know if any of you have ever gotten in a slump like that, where you've just needed something to pull you out. And for me, it's God's Word.

Jake

Chistmas is Here

One word- CHRISTMAS!!! Since my family is leaving tomorrow for Pipestone, Minnesota for Christmas with my mom's side of the family, my parents decided to have our own family Chrstimas today. P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S-!!! I got such awesome ones. First of all, I received a hooded aeropostale sweatshirt (I needed one of those so badly) :D. And secondly... *drum roll* the newest cd from Hawk Nelson, Live Life Loud!

And thirdly... (this one is totally the best) Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper's latest novel, Curse of the Spider King!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D AHHHHH!!!! I can't wait to read it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And lastly, $20.00 dollars to Barnes & Noble. *grins* Now I can get another book! *rubs hands together in anticipation* I wonder what I'll buy...

And that's it! I'm so happy. :D

Well, there's really only one thing left for me to say...

Have A Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Jake

Horseback Riding

My dad is AWESOME! He made this video for me last night and just showed it to me. *sigh* I miss riding... The thing is, the place I have been going to is so expensive! I mean, like 400 dollars for five days of riding, and, since I'm only twelve and don't have a job, is a real struggle to make...Oh well.. Enjoy! :D

It's One of Those Amazing Moments...

Amazing is almost an understatement. I cannot believe this... Okay, I'll stop rambling and tell you what's so incredible: 41-39. That was the score of my game at my team's Middle School. We were triumphant... against Buffalo: the city boasting the best seventh-grade school basketball team in our conference. And we defeated them! It came to the last 10 seconds, where Buffalo was desperately trying to intercept the ball when it was passed in bounds and score a basket to tie up the game. But our team managed to hold'em off. We WON!!!!!!!!!!!! *tries to stop shaking with exuberance* Ah, the looks on the Buffalo team's faces when we beat them. They were astonished. It was David and Goliath moment kind of. The team with a record of 1 win and 9 losses taking on a team, flawless and undefeated. When we won, all my teammates when crazy. I'm still going crazy! I'm awed, flabbergasted, astounded- AMAZED.
So enough about my amazement, here's an update on how my mom's doing: She went into surgery Monday and stayed in the hospital overnight. Then late in the afternoon Tuesday, she came back with my dad. She was extremely nauseous and in reasonable pain. On Wednesday, she was feeling a little better, but still just laid in bed and slept most of the day. And today, she's starting to be her normal self again. Although still tired and achy, she's feeling a lot better. Want to know what's awesome though? The doctor's who extracted half of her thyroid said that when they took it out, it didn't look cancerous! I'm so happy about that, but still, it's not a final judgement. The complete report comes Monday I think, so yeah... My family just has to wait and see.
By the way, does anyone know anything about the Bartimaeus trilogy? I'm starting the first book, and I want to hear other people's opinion on it before engross myself in it. Is it bad? Okay? Good? Great? Outstanding?

Namarie,

Jake

At last... Victorious

After eight games for basketball, my team finally emerged as the victor in one. It was an amazing game, and the score was astounding: 69-4. We demolished this team. I mean, it was steal after steal, swish after swish. We were unstoppable! I'm so glad we've finally won. I've stopped making it so the losses are all about me and how I performed, but still, it's kind of frustrating continuously losing. So yeah, I'm exhilarated.
I haven't posted forever so here's a brief update on how Thanksgiving went:
One word, AWESOME. I attended three thanksgiving dinners: One at one of my best friend's (Hunter) house, one with my mom's side of the family, and one with my dad's side of the family. It was a blast and very satisfying devouring so much food. (contented sigh) :D It's crazy cause now Christmas is in less than THREE WEEKS!!!!!!!! I can't wait. My whole house has already been adorned in Christmas accouterments, and our Christmas tree is up in our family room. *rubs hands together in anticipation* It's going to be great.
But amidst all the awesomeness, there's one thing that's troubling me... My mom has been lately having numerous doctor appointments concerning a growth on a section of her neck called the thyroid. Although scanned and scrutinized, the doctors can't distinguish wether the growth is harmful or not. Two days ago, they informed my mom that there's a fifteen percent chance it's cancer. So... It has to be removed. Luckily, they're only removing half of her thyroid and leaving the other half so she won't have to use medications for the rest of her life to perform tasks completed by the thyroid. She's going in Monday for surgery to get the growth extracted to be examined more closely to discover what is causing it. I'm praying it's not cancer... I'd appreciate if you'd keep her in your prayers too. It's pretty scary for her and my family having to wait to find out about something so serious...


Jake