Socialism-Communism's Brother and Capitalisms Arch Enemy

This is something I just can't get my head around. Maybe you all can help me. As far as I know, we are still living in the United States of America. Correct me on that if I am wrong. I don't think I am wrong so I am going to proceed under the assumption that we are. If that is true, then there is something that is really hard for me to fathom. It is just this: How can the country that has spent every year from its formation fighting for freedom, justice, and the American way now be turning into the very things we fought so hard against?

I know the reasons why. We have become a humanistic self-centered country and culture. We have erased God from every part of our government and our own minds. I get the "why" we are turning into the very evil we have fought against. I am just asking "how". I know that the "why" kind of answers the "how", and that may be the only reasons for how we are turning into what we are turning into, but I just CAN NOT get over the fact that we are turning into the very things we have fought AGAINST for so long.

In the late 40's and into the 50's there was a time period called "the red scare". The people in our country were terrified by the thought of communism and what it would do to our system of Capitalism. It was a TOTALLY anti-communism time period. It was so anti-communism that it got a little bit out of control. People were being accused of being communists with really no real evidence against them to prove it and it led to "the red scare". People were afraid of communists infiltrating our government and people were afraid of being accused of being a communist themselves.

Now, although that time period was a little chaotic, it epitomizes what America's attitude toward communism is: we hate it and we don't want it here! We are for freedom, justice, and Capitalism. Communism is the opposite of ALL those things. I can not say everyone hates it though, because some of our politicians are dragging us into it. I will explain that in a moment.

The "red scare" was a little overkill, but I have to say that I would prefer a little over zealousness in making sure we do not become a communist nation rather than letting our country be dragged into socialism and communism. That is what has happened though. We have let our guard down and let progressive, left-wing, socialistic, and anti-capitalistic people run our government.

During the "red scare" the progressives saw that there was no way that they were just going to bring communism into America. They had to disguise it. Make it more subtle and harder to see. This is where socialism comes in handy. You see, Americans know that communism is bad. If you were alive back in the 50's and 60's you saw what it did to Russia and if you weren't alive back then, then you have probably read about it. The point is that American's would not just let communism come into our country and make itself at home. We know that it's a dead end.

Socialism on the other hand is not so black and white; not so cut and dry. Socialism sounds good (unless you have a working brain). It makes people think that everyone will be equal and everyone will enjoy all the same freedoms and liberties. And you will. Only the freedoms and liberties you enjoy will be chosen for you by the government. Gee, that doesn't exactly sound like freedom or liberty. Socialism says: "no more letting people who have worked hard for themselves reap the profit from their work. NO! Everyone, whether you deserve it or not, is getting an equal portion in EVERYTHING!" That's why I said it sounds good unless you have a working brain.

Socialism, as the title of this post says, is the brother of communism. Actually it is the "little brother" of communism. Because as socialism grows and matures it emulates it's older brother to the point where you can't tell them apart. Like TWINS!

Socialism is just one step away from communism, and we are heading that way. If this Health Care Bill passes, that will be the first step toward socialism and it will only get worse from their unless our country turns around in a dramatic way.

I know this sounds dismal, but my philosophy with this whole thing is "plan for the worst; hope and pray for the best". Keep praying. Pray for our leaders, especially our president. God knows that I do not care one bit for our president or almost ALL of our other government officials, but you can pray for them and still not agree with them. I do not agree with a single thing that Obama has done so far, but I still pray that God would change his heart. There is nothing wrong that. I encourage you to do it.

Also, stay active and aware. Help in whatever way you can to wake people up and let them see that we are headed down a bad road. Keep calling your senators and congressmen. Tell them what you want them to do. Tell them to start doing their jobs! They are our representatives. You think it's about time they started representing us? I do. Aside form a choice few, our senators and congressmen are ding nothing more than working to advance themselves, their careers, and their own personal agendas. It's time that they start doing their jobs and start earning those six figure salaries that WE are paying for!

I know this was all a bit heated and if you all have any concerns, questions, or comments, don't hesitate to let me know. If you are concerned for my sanity or sanctification, let me know. Also, if you think I am losing my mind or going off the deep end, let me know. I love the feedback and I need input, because I can get a little frustrated with this stuff sometimes and I can go a little crazy. Thanks for reading.

Better Late Than Never Right?

So I feel like a total blogging loser right now, cause I didn't put up a "Merry Christmas" post. So here it is...just imagine I had this up since the day before yesterday.


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

Climate Change--The Eminent Crisis!

The Earth is heating up! We have to stop climate change! Blah...blah...blah. Personally I would welcome climate change if it were actually happening, cause if the Earth is heating up then we are probably getting closer to when the Lord returns.

Ok, that was my sarcastic and cynical side coming out. But seriously, climate change? First of all I would like you to realize that I titled this post "Climate Change-The Eminent Crisis", just so you all realize that I used the politically correct term. Yeah...not really, I just wanted to make it that much more ridiculous, because they are not calling it "Global Warming" any more cause they found out that portions of the Earth are actually getting cooler. "Uh-oh, that kind of throws a monkey wrench into our Global Warming scam....Wait! We can just call it climate change and scam people that way! Yes! The plan is saved!"

So yeah I was not trying to be politically correct when I named this post. I am actually sitting on a post about political correctness that I think will be the next one I post, but let me get back to this post for now.

As most of you, or some of you, know, our President, along with hundreds of other world leaders went to Copenhagen Denmark to discuss, debate, and try and solve the "climate change crisis". I personally think there is no such thing as a "climate change crisis", so I thought the meetings were totally pointless in the first place. If you are like me, then you probably think that same thing and I guess neither of us should be surprised by the ridiculous results of these meetings.

Well first off, climate change is just too out of control to not do anything about. I mean, have you seen those videos of the ice caps melting?!?!?! All of our precious ice is melting away! Yeah....whatever. Al Gore said that "over 40% of the North Polar ice cap has melted in the last few decades" and it may be totally gone in the next 10-15 years. Oh My Gosh! If that were true, it might get me concerned. It's not though, so you all can relax.

The next thing is that, get this, climate change isn't the biggest problem anymore....I know I just said it was, but I just can't keep up with which things are really the big problems, they change so fast! No actually the real problem is....overpopulation. Yeah, there are just too dawg gone many of us human beings. Really? There are too many human beings on planet Earth? Well maybe we should look for a new planet to inhabit since this one isn't big enough for us. That's my solution. What do you think?

You wanna hear their solution? That was a rhetorical questions guys, I'm going to tell you anyway. Well here is a solution that Canada's Financial Post published in it's newspaper a couple days ago. "A planetary law such as China's 'One-Child' policy is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four days". Let you mind dwell on that a little bit... The only way to stop this so called overpopulation is to limit the amount of children we are allowed to have to one. That's their solution. All in favor of my solution please signify by saying "aye".

I know, it's ridiculous, but that's what they are coming up with. They are using these "crisis'" to gain more power.

Glenn Beck used an example in his one show, where he showed a visual illustration of where power comes from. He started way back before the United States was a nation, back when it was Kings, Queens, and the people. Back in those days the power came from God, to the Kings and Queens and then they told the people what to do.

Then our Country got started and our founders said "No, it shouldn't be like that". So they made it so that the power came from God, to the people, and the people told the government what to do. It was a radical idea, and it worked!

Then came, as Glenn Beck likes to call it, the Progressive Era. the progressives are all about changing our government, making it bigger, and gaining more power and more control. They couldn't just come in and do that though. One thing stood in their way....God. Yes, God was a problem for them, because they couldn't just come in start telling us what to do and take away our freedoms. We are endowed with our rights and freedoms from God. So they had to get rid of Him. And they did. You have seen it happen all over our country for the past 50 or so years. God came out of schools, out of our courts, and eventually out of our lives altogether. Now it is just the us telling the government what to do. But wait, that doesn't work, where do we get our power from, if not from God? But the government can't just tell us what to do, cause where do they get their power from if not from God?

Do you see the problem here? There has to be something, that is bigger than us, to give us power. The progressives needed to find something to replace God with. What do you think they decided to use?

If you guessed the Earth, then you are one hundred percent correct. Take God out, put the Earth in His place and you have something that gives the politicians power to tell us what to do. Because after all, they are only doing all this to "save the Earth". Yeah, whatever. It isn't about "saving the Earth" it's about power and control. That is all they want, and they will use whatever means possible to attain it.

Just so you all know, most of my information comes from watching Glenn Beck. I watch the little clips of Glenn Beck's show that Fox News puts up on their website so that is where I am getting most of my info. If you guys want more information, you could just stop reading my blog and watch his show; you'd get the same information, just from a more intelligent source.

In closing, let me say this: pray, ask God to change our nation's leaders' hearts. We need godly leaders. But don't just pray. Take action. I know most of you already do this, but take it to the next level. Call your congressmen, senators, governor, or any other official who holds a government office and tell them to start pulling their acts together in Washington. We tell them what to do! It is "WE THE PEOPLE" not "WE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT". It's the only way out. Thanks for reading.

ACORN

Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. That is what ACORN stands for. Ever heard of it? If this is the first time you heard about it then you probably think it's a good organization. I mean, what could be wrong with organizing our communities, right? They are just trying to help out the needy and "less privileged", there's nothing wrong with that, right? If you can't see the sarcasm in the words you are reading, then let me tell you that I was being COMPLETELY sarcastic.

ACORN was founded by a woman named Bertha Lewis in 1970. ACORN: "advocates for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues." Doesn't sound bad, right? No, not a bad thing necessarily. Everyone needs a helping hand now and again. So why am I about to bust on this organization? Please, keep reading.

ACORN is an organization that, until recently, was receiving taxpayer dollars for it's funding. If you are an adult reading this (or a teenager who pays taxes) then that's your money that was being used to fund this organization. Well, there are lots of organizations that are government funded, what's so big about ACORN? Well, tell me if you think this is big.

A couple, posing as a prostitute and a pimp, went to an ACORN office to get advice on some "problems" they were facing. The couple was trying to start up a business, and they need some help getting the banks to loan them money. It seems that the banks aren't to quick to loan money to people who are trying to start a brothel. The employees explain that the couple can just launder the money the woman makes, so that the bank will give them a loan, and then they can purchase a house. Nothing wrong there, just money laundering. Who hasn't done some of that right? Not to mention that they only need to house to start a sex business. What's the big deal? (Sarcasm again). Keep reading, it gets worse.

They then tell the employees that they are trying to bring in underage girls from El Salvador to employ in their sex business, and they want to know how they can do that without being arrested. You would think that these employees would have just thrown them out right? No, they didn't, this gets worse. The employees proceed to tell them that they need to find a different name for their business, because they need to be able to find a code that they can use to file it under. Also because prostitution doesn't "look good" and it's illegal, who knew that? Prostitution is illegal, who knew? (Sarcasm...again). So they look through their book of codes trying to find a way to call prostitution something other than what it is. They finally come up with "Performing arts". Cause prostitution is kinda like a performing art, right? (I know, it's ridiculous, and that was more sarcasm). So now they can falsely file their business as something that it's not.

Then there is the issue of the underage girls that they are trying to bring in. The girls are all under the age of 16 so they can be claimed as "dependents" and then the couple can collect federal tax credits on the underage girls. But when the couple tells the employee that there are about 13 of the girls coming in, the employee tells them to only claim one or two, because if they put down "thirteen" that will "send up a flag". So there you go! You can bring 'em in, just lie about how many there are! It's simple, just break the law! You can also cheat on your taxes and collect the federal tax credits unlawfully! It's really not that big of a deal.....What?!?!? I know, it's unbelievable, but this is all true and it gets even worse.

What happens when the couple tells them employees that the girls are not even legal citizens? Surely that would be the last straw. They would never cross that line. Oh, but they do. Illegal citizens are ok too apparently, because underage girls that are trafficked in from El Salvador for the sex trade, are basically like "exchange students". That's all they are, "exchange students". Cause after all they're "performing artists". (Once again, sarcasm).

There are numerous other laws that the employees showed the couple how to break or get around, but I just want to see if you all are getting this. I mean, not only are they saying it's ok cheat on their taxes and bring illegal citizens, they are telling this couple that prostitution is a "performing art" and trafficking in underage girls for the sex trade is ok. It's hard to believe, but I'm sad to say that it is very true.

Now, I want to say that I don't like writing about this stuff. It's uncomfortable for me and it infuriates me, but this is absolutely atrocious and I feel like I need to make more people aware of what is happening (even if it is only the 10 people who read this blog). Just so you all don't think I somehow love writing about all these problems our government has.

Regardless of the fact that they are no longer receiving government funding, ACORN is still in business. After an internal investigation (emphasis on "internal") the investigators decided that there was nothing wrong with ACORN, but rather it was just those couple employees. Mike Flynn from BigGovernment.com says this:

"Well, ACORN retained a law firm to investigate its operations and, surprise, the law firm found that ACORN hadn’t done anything wrong in the undercover videos filmed by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles. The review, overseen by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harschbarger, a long-time ally of ACORN, found that any problems within ACORN are, gosh darn it, simply because ACORN was too successful, i.e. grew too big and too fast. The problems are also mostly, conveniently, the result of people who are no longer employed by ACORN, i.e. Wade Rathke."

Well thank goodness this was just a problem with those couple employees, and not ACORN as an whole...it was just those employees right? No, actually there have been other incidents very similar to this one popping up all over. This is just the most prominent one. It seems ACORN has a few more bad nuts to deal with then the media says it does.

This is just one more thing that our government is seeing fit to excuse and sweep under the rug. Don't let them do that! Call your Senators, call your Congressmen, and tell them to get on this! We can not let this kind of corruption exist in any organization, let alone ones that are funded and/or endorsed by our government and our representatives. Thanks for reading.

President Obama's West Point Speech

Did any of you get to see president Obama give his speech at West Point? Or at least read about it in the news? Or at least hear about it at all? I am guessing you probably have, but just in case you haven't I would advise you to go check it out.

President Obama's speech was really a surprise to me...wait, no it wasn't. Obama's speech at West Point only epitomized what he has been doing since before he took office and what he is now doing in office, and that is walking the line on important issues. From before he took office to this very day president Obama has always walked the line on major issues; trying to appease one side without losing the support of the other, and that is exactly what he did again when he spoke at West Point.

In his speech he announced that he would be sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in response to General McCrystal's request. Sounds good right? I mean, get them over there and lets end this thing! Well that would be a good thing, if General McCrystal had requested 30,000 troops. In reality though, he requested 60,000 troops with a minimum of 40,000. Obviously president Obama knows better than the General on the field, otherwise he wouldn't have ignored his request for 60,000 more troops, right? Wrong. All he is doing is playing his "keep everyone happy" game.

A lot of people want the president to pull our troops out of Afghanistan, they want our sons, husbands, wives, brothers, and other loved ones home (and rightfully so). But to pull out now would only give the Al Qaeda another chance to re-organize and launch more terrorist attacks, and so, there are other people who want president Obama to just send the troops over, end it now, and then get our boys back. I personally am not a fan of the first plan, because I think it would jeopardize our national security. President Obama though, decided he needed to play his game with this issue. He sends over half of the soldiers what General McCrystal requested, and then said that in 18 months we will pull our troops out. A perfect example of walking the line and keeping everyone happy.

Not everyone is happy though. Think of what this means for our soldiers. General McCrystal wanted those 60,000 troops to do a once and for all elimination of the Al Qaeda and other terrorist forces. When president Obama sends him only 30,000, how is he supposed to carry out his plan, when he had expected 60,000? All president Obama is doing is: hampering General McCrystal's plan, dragging out the war, and, ultimately, getting more of our troops killed. I can say that last part because every day that our troops spend over there is another day that they run the risk of dying. When you drag out the war like president Obama is doing, it increases the chances of getting more of our troops killed. All of that so that the president can "keep everyone happy". How do you think our troops feel about this? I will tell you what. If I was a soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq and I heard that the president had just done that I would not be happy at all. Now, I am not saying that president Obama is trying to get our troops killed, I do not think he would do that, but by only sending 30,000 troops and dragging out the war the chances of more troops being killed increases.

I just want to say one last thing. I believe pulling the troops out now would be a mistake. We have come this far, I think we should finish it. But, pulling them out now, I think, is a lot better of an idea than what he has decided to do. I think We should send the 60,000 troops and finish it once and for all, but I would pull them all our right now rather than drag it out and then not finish the job anyway. President Obama needs to start taking a side. Even if it it not the side that I personally agree with. It is impossible to win when the president plays the "keep everyone happy" game. Comments, questions, critiques, and corrections are welcome anytime. Thanks for reading.

Glenn Beck Video

Since I am a technically challenged little homeschooler who doesn't know how to get the "ad link" thing to work, I am just going to ask you all to just copy and paste this url into your address bar and watch the video. It is kinda long, but it is definitely worth it. New post coming soon ;).

http://video.foxnews.com/12310623/the-one-thing-127

Just a Little Side Note

I just checked out the national debt and I just thought I'd add to my last post that by 2018 (8 years from now) they are projecting that we will be 24 trillion dollars in debt. That's doubling our debt in 8 years.

Also, that is just our debt right now. Our unfunded liabilities are at 106 trillion. That is what our we, the children of this nation, and our children will be paying off after we are dead. Just thought I'd add that little bit. Thanks for reading.

World Government Cont.

So I just read my last post and I realized that I have some gaping holes in it. Sorry about that, but this post is going to shore those up a bit for you. So let me explain a little more about what's happening.


With all of the excessive spending out government is doing right now we, we are amassing an incredible national debt. Right now we are just over 12 trillion dollars. Yes, that is trillion. And it is rising as I type these words. By the end of next year we will be pushing 14 Trillion, with still no end in sight. It does not take a genius to tell that this is absolute insanity and must be stopped. The government is not stopping though. We already had the $787 billion dollar stimulus (yeah that worked like a charm). Now we have the health care bill which is going to cost $848 billion...seems like they are getting bigger and bigger. Anyway, the point is that the amount of spending our government is doing is totally ridiculous and UNSUSTAINABLE! I used all caps on that word because it is very important. All of this unsustainable spending is taking a toll on many different things, but one thing in particular...our dollar. The dollar's value is plummeting. If our dollar collapses, we could see a global currency crisis unfold. Yes, global. If that happens we will see a "re-alignment" happen, under a new global government. We will have a new world currency and a new world order. That is pretty shocking stuff. Now, I am not saying that this is definitely going to happen, but with how we are spending this is a realistic possibility, and if we do not stop the government spending it will become closer and closer to a reality.

Now, you may be asking "Ok, if this spending is obviously so stupid, why is our government doing it?" Well, have any of you ever heard the names Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven? I am going to guess that none of you have, because they are pretty obscure, but let me give you a little history lesson. These two men came up with what is now called the "Cloward and Piven Strategy" and and article was published about it in the May 2, 1966 issue of The Nation. A brief description of the strategy is as follows: "The "Cloward-Piven Strategy" seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse." Does that sound like something that is happening in our country? I don't know, maybe it's just me, but that seems scarily similar to what is happening in our country. I would strongly encourage you to copy and paste this URL into your address bar and read what this website says about the Cloward and Piven Strategy.

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6967

Again, I know this may seem like I am out of my mind, but I am just thinking logically here. Even if you don't believe that our government is full of people who support this kind of Marxist and Socialist thinking, that only leaves the explanation that they are just totally incompetent. Either way you slice it you still come to the conclusion that we need to get serious about who we are electing and start holding our representatives and Senators accountable. Again, thanks for reading.

World Government?

Hey! How about this? Lets start a world government! Bring the nations of the world together! Everybody unite!

Ok, now some of you read that and may have gone "Hm, sounds pretty good, why not?" Others read that and went "Wow! Taylor's off his rocker!" Well if you thought the second you are right. I am not the one say that though, our government officials are. If you thought the first then open your bible up to Revelation and start reading...and don't stop.

I just have to ask...WHAT ARE WE THINKING?!?!?!?! They (our congressmen, Senators, and President) are talking about a one world government like it would be the answer to our problems and it is seriously making me crazy! Just think for a minute about what our lives would look like if we were government by International Law. Not our laws; International Laws. Now think about what that would do to our country. Do you get a rose colored picture in your head? I hope not.

Now I will be the first to say that America is not perfect. We have our problems and as of recent years our problems are growing, but I will say that I am still proud to be an American. Because no matter how bad things get here we are still citizens of the most powerful, wealthy, and influential country in the world. And you know what? I am not willing to give that up to become a part of some insane one world government.

As a country, America has become very immoral and sinful, but it is still the only place where ANYONE can worship in whatever manner they choose to. People can say whatever they want to. People can meet together and organize themselves in support of a cause. We are free! Other countries, they're not free. Even countries that we sometimes think are free are not really free. Almost every other country in the world has restrictions on it's citizens in some way or another. And guess what? Do you think that all that is going to go away when we come under this one world government? No. Our country will become the same as the others. Is that something you want? You get a pretty bad looking picture in your head now don't you?

These are only some of the implications that a one world government has. I would encourage you all to learn more about what is going on in our country so that you will be able to think for yourself and discern what is right and what isn't. I will be posting more on this and other subjects soon. Till then, thanks for reading.

I.T.N.

Political Correctness

Political correctness, you gotta love it. If for nothing more than to laugh your head off at the absurdity of it all.

Political correctness is why the media calls Osama Bin Laden a "freedom fighter". Yeah, the man who is responsible for the deaths of over 2000 American citizens is a "freedom fighter". I'm sorry, wait no I'm not, but Osama Bin Laden is a radical Muslim terrorist. There is no other way to say it. He is a radical Muslim terrorist! How can the media even think of calling someone like that a "freedom fighter"?!?

Political correctness is also why the media calls the maniac that shot and killed 4 cops in Washington state "morally challenged" or an "unsavory character" instead of what he really is; a cold blooded murderer. But wait, think of how he would feel about being called a murderer. He has feelings too you know? I do not care. He is a murderer and there is no way that I would call anyone who kills 4 other people anything but a murderer! But God forbid we offend the man that killed 4 cops or the man responsible for the deaths of over 2000 Americans by calling them what they really are. No, no, we can't let that happen now can we? It's ridiculous!

Political correctness goes beyond these two examples. Oh yeah, these are just two of the millions of examples I could have used (they are also two of the ones that I find to be the most ridiculous and infuriating).

Let me talk about how political correctness is killing our country. There may have been one before I knew anything about politics, but for what I know, president Obama is the most politically correct president we have ever had. Have you noticed that he spent most of 2009 on a world apology tour? He went to something like 30 countries to apologize for the U.S. and how greedy and oppressing we are. Yes, we are all just a bunch of greedy, rich, oppressing warmongers and we are so sorry! No! We are the United States of America! The greatest country in the world and the greatest country the world has ever known! We are also the only truly free country in the world! No other country in the world enjoys the freedoms that we do! And you wanna know something else? Not a SINGLE natural disaster, war, or other kind of catastrophe happens ANYWHERE in the world that the U.S. is not there to help the country that is suffering out! Heck! we even help our enemies! So president Obama, stop apologizing! There is nothing we need to apologize for as a country and I sure never will apologize for being an American citizen!

There is nothing anyone can say or do to me that will ever make me be anything but proud to be an American. I hope it's the same for you. If you feel the same or even if you don't then let me ask you this: why is our president so obviously ashamed of being an American? This is the man who's wife said on the campaign trail that "for the first time in my life I feel proud to be an American". I have a problem with that statement. I don't know how you feel, but to me it doesn't matter who you are, what you do for a living, who your family is, or where you live in this country, if you are an American citizen then you should be proud of it! I don't care if you are a homeless person! The homeless in our country live better than 80 percent of the rest of the world anyway!

So why is our president going around the world apologizing for us? The answer is political correctness. Keep everyone happy, keep everyone appeased, and don't offend anyone. You can't call a spade a spade anymore! We have made it so that no matter what a person has done we can't bring ourselves to call them what they are and all because we do not want to offend them! It's the same thing with other countries, religions, and political systems. It doesn't matter what the country has done or what they stand for, we can't say anything about them that may be offensive, even if it's the truth! Religions are the same way. It doesn't matter if a religion's whole purpose is to exterminate another religion and rule the world *cough Radical Islam cough*, we can't say anything, whether it's true or not doesn't matter, that will offend them! Political systems; same old story. Even if a political system is completely un-biblical and proven to be a failure, we can't protest against it, because it would offend the people who believe in it.

So there you are, political correctness in a nutshell. Don't you love it? (That's a joke guys). I am about sick of it. How about you? Thanks for reading.

Political Rants of an Insignificant Teenager

Well first off I'd like to apologize for not posting in a while. Things have been beyond crazy in my life for the last few weeks/months. I am however going to start posting a "series" of posts on the political insanity that is happening all around us on a daily basis. Most of this will just be me "venting", but that is the beauty of a blog, you can say whatever you want! Also, there will be a lot of true hard fact presented in the next few posts, but there will also be some of my personal opinions on certain issues. I will not be posting anything that is false though. Everything will be either hard fact, or fairly debatable. Anyway, I hope you get some new information that you can use from these upcoming posts, and if nothing else I hope you get a couple laughs at me :).

Research Paper

Alright, I need you all to tell me what you think of my research paper. It's on the shift our government has taken from the principles it was founded on to where it is today. This is only the rough draft, but I need some input so if you have the time to read through it and leave me a comment I would really appreciate it. And don't be afraid to tell me something is whacked! Thanks! Here it is:


In the two hundred and thirty three years that the United States has been a country, we have never experienced the kind of economic and moral crisis we are experiencing right now, nor have we been farther ideologically from the principles that our country was founded on. If we are ever to truly pull out of this crisis then we must return to the principles that this country was founded on.

When this country was founded, over 200 years ago, we were established as a Christian nation. We were considered a Christian nation, because the principles and morals we were founded on were derived from the Bible. As the years have gone by though, we have moved farther and farther away from our Christian roots. We have moved away from the God-centered nation that we were founded as and have become, instead, a man-centered nation. Gary Demar, in his book God and Government, says:
The values and laws of the United States reflect the beliefs of the people who
make up the nation. If the people and the representatives they elect view
themselves as the final authority in lawmaking, then the Constitution will
implement man-centered (humanistic) laws. If the people and the representatives
the elect see God as their judge, law-giver, and savior (Isaiah 33:22), then the
Constitution will implement biblical laws and values. Thus, elected
representatives will either implement the laws of God or the laws of men. There is
no third way. (151)
Every decision that our elected representatives have made that has gone against the principles of the bible has also gone against the principles of the founding fathers. The removal of the bible and prayer from schools is something the founding fathers never would have even thought about doing. They knew that the continuance of our nation would depend on having the young people of the nation educated in sound biblical teachings. The legalization of abortion is another example of a move toward a humanistic form of government. Abortion is direct violation of the Right of Life as well as a violation of what the Bible says about the sanctity of life, in that “God created man in His own image” (Gen. 1:27). There is no stronger statement about the value of human life than that.

The founding fathers also knew the importance of having a sound biblical structure for our national government. In his book The Beginning of the Republic, Clarence B. Carson says it like this:
They [the founding fathers] believed that government was necessary, of course. It
is necessary because men without government would do violence to one another;
the strong would prey on the weak; the clever would take unjust advantage of
others; disorder would prevail. (107)
They knew government was necessary, but they also knew it must be limited and restrained. They understood that the government is a living organism and that if given the opportunity it would grow and seek to obtain more and more power. With that in mind the founding fathers set our government up so that the power would be in the hands of the people. Not directly, or course, but through the election of representatives. The people elect representatives that they feel will best protect the country and their personal freedom. That is what our government’s original purpose was: to protect our country and our freedom. As of recent years though, we have seen the government grow in power as a result of we as a people becoming more and more dependent on it. We want the government to do everything for us instead of doing the work ourselves. We would rather, as Glenn Beck says, “…be cared for, fed, clothed, housed, and told what’s best for us by the parent-like state” (Common Sense 13) instead of working for ourselves and bettering ourselves through our own labor. This dependence on the government has made us forget what it means to work for something. We are like children, as illustrated in the quote above; apparently not capable of supporting ourselves, so the government has to do it for us. The government is there to hold our hand and give us everything we “need” and in turn we do whatever they tell us without hesitation. That is not freedom, that’s bondage, and it is what is happening to us as a nation. We live in fear of the government instead of the government living in fear of us (the people). Glenn Beck remarks that “the power of the government is limited to the power we have lent it” (Common Sense 78). What will it take for us to realize that the only power the government has comes from us?

Capitalism by definition is: “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision rather than state control, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.” (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary 204) It means that anyone that possesses capital goods is free to invest them, sell them, or distribute them as they see fit. The state (government) has no say in what they can or can’t do with their property, as long as it is nothing illegal. Capitalism is what has made this country great. We have grown from the thirteen original colonies to the most powerful country in the world in two hundred and thirty three years and that is because of capitalism. People who are free to work and reap the benefits of that work have greater incentive to work than those who are under a system such as socialism where no matter how hard you work you always get the same amount of profit or gain. Capitalism follows the biblical teaching of sowing and reaping in that if you are willing to work hard at something you will be rewarded in the end. The Bible says that “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6). Socialism, on the other hand, is set up so that even if you work twice as hard as another person you still get the same amount of profit. Likewise, the person who barely works at all will still get as much as the person who was working diligently. History has shown that this system does not work. The colony of Jamestown and how it was started is one of the best examples from our own country’s past. In American Government and Economics they explain that when Jamestown was first being established they tried a communal economic system where all the food was gathered into one big community store house and was distributed evenly among the people. This system failed miserably. Most of the English gentlemen were more interested in finding gold than working in the fields to grow crops, but after a long day of doing nothing they expected to be fed just as much as those who had spent the day working in the fields. It wasn’t long before the settlement had changed from the communal economic system to a system of private ownership of property and individual responsibility (375). Captain John Smith wrote an entrée in his diary after this change was made, this is what it said:
When our people were fed out of the common storehouse and labored jointly together, glad was he who could slip away from his labor or slumber over his task. He cared not, presuming that howsoever the harvest prospered, the general storehouse must maintain him. Even the most honest among them would hardly take so much true pains in a week under the public ownership and common storehouse system, as now for themselves they will do in a day. So that, we reaped not so much corn from the labor of thirty as now three or four will provide for themselves. (375)
It is very easy to see the prosperity that comes from a private ownership and individual responsibility system versus a socialistic communal or state regulated system. It is this system of private ownership and individual responsibility that has made America great, but we our government is changing. The bigger our government gets, the more regulation there is going to be on our personal property and freedom and when that happens, we are not too far from becoming a socialistic country.

The "Usual"

Well, over the last few weeks, it has been pretty crazy around here. I apologize for being a "sellout" to Facebook and not updating my blog, but it really has been crazy around here. So let me explain myself and then you all can decide whether or not you forgive me.

About a week or so after I got back from Haiti I was at the beach with a bunch of the kids from Metro and Daytona and we were all having a good ol' time =D. We were basically just hanging by the pool at the Lightfoot's condo, walking on the beach, doing a little swimming, and eating hot dogs and hamburgers. Sounds like a good time right? Yeah, it was! At least until Nolan and I decided to go do some body surfing (not my best sport). We were out riding the waves for about 20 minutes or so and I decided I was going to go get something to eat. I tell Nolan: " hey bro I am going to ride one last wave in and get something to eat".......famous last words. That one wave totally thrashed me and sent me to the bottom in a very awkward position making it so that I landed right on the back of my right shoulder. Right as I hit the bottom I heard a very unpleasant "pop" in my shoulder. I got up and knew immediately that I had done something bad. I started walking toward the condo and as I was I tried to move my arm and as I did I saw that my bone was not where it was supposed to be :/. Luckily I just lifted my arm and gave it a little push and it popped back in, but it did continue to hurt pretty bad and swell up a lot. Long and the short of it; we had to go to Gainsville to get it checked out, because it was my throwing shoulder and this type of injury can end people's career. When we went to the doctor's they told us that they were going to have to do an MRI to see what kind of surgery I would need. Notice I didn't say "if" I would need surgery. They basically told us that the chances of it dislocating and not needing surgery to repair it are small at best, and especially for a pitcher if I was ever going to throw again I would probably need surgery. The MRI wasn't till the next day so we went home and we let some people know about what they told us and asked as many people as we could to be praying for me. By the end of the week I had a small army of people praying for me. I had people in my church, the metro church, the Titusville church, the Gainsville church, my sister's in-law's church (in North Carolina), and so many others that I can't list. I had so many people praying for me and a lot of them did not even know me, it was really amazing to know that that many people care and were lifting me up in prayer. So, as it turns out I go for the MRI and it goes good, but we won't know till the following Tuesday if I need surgery. So over the whole weekend we continued to pray that I wouldn't need surgery. When we went back on Tuesday the doctor came in and said "Well, I am really surprised. His MRI looks great he has no cartilage or tendon damage. He isn't going to need surgery at all". When he told me that I was like "really?". I couldn't believe it. God had answered my prayers and the prayers of so many others, it was an amazing experience! They did tell me that I would need to go through some pretty extensive Physical Therapy before I could go back to playing, specifically throwing, but that was WAY better than having to have surgery and then Therapy =). So that is the firs thing that has been going on.

The second thing has not affected my schedule too much, but I do want to tell you all that my brother Keith and his wife Aimee are expecting!!!! This will be their first child and we are all really excited for them =).

The third thing, which is the saddest of all of these concerns my other older brother Barrett. Barrett left day before yesterday for Texas where he will be working for a company called Galco Steel. Jason Link, who used to go to our church, offered Barrett a job in Texas working for Galco. He is moving out there to be trained to do what Jason does, which is the selling of steel. So Barrett is out in Texas now =(. Yes, I am VERY sad. Barrett is not only my brother, but he is also my best friend, and one of the biggest reasons I am who I am today. He is a constant encouragement to me whenever I am mad or frustrated, he is a seemingly never ending supply of Godly wisdom on basically any subject or any circumstance, and he is also just one of the best people to hang out with and be around. So, that's it guys. That's what has been happening at the Nugent house =). Again, I apologize for being a sellout (Kaylee) hahaha. I will be trying to post again soon. Don't give up on me yet! =D

Haiti

Here it is people, the post you've all been waiting for =P. I spent 9 days in Haiti last week and let me say before I get into this post too far, I would STRONGLY encourage everyone I know to go on a missions trip to a country like Haiti, if the opportunity ever arose. That is not to say that other missions trips are any less important, not at all! But there is something about going to a foreign country (especially one as poor as Haiti) and seeing how the rest of the world lives that just changes your perspective on your own life completely. I know for me personally, seeing the extreme poverty that is everywhere in Haiti is something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Haiti is not without hope though, quite to the contrary the people that we had the privilege to work with and serve with were some of the most hope-filled and joy-filled people I have EVER met. That in itself is a testimony to God's spirit at work in Haiti. That is another thing that God was challenging me with throughout the trip. See, when I thought of Haiti I thought that for some reason God's presence was not there as much as it was in the U.S. or in other places of the world. I saw Haiti as "God-forsaken", and God made quick work of showing me how wrong I was. The people and the children at the Boys and Girls home that we were working at had such a passion for worshiping and praising God. The one Sunday that we were there three of the men from our team (Jesse Philips, Derek Walley, and my dad) had the opportunity to preach at 3 different churches. We split up the rest of the team in three and sent some team members with each speaker. I ended up going to the boys and girls home for their Sunday service and Derek Walley was the speaker there. Before Derek gave his sermon though they had a time of worship by singing praise to our God. That time of praise and worship is something I will never forget. They sang half the songs in French and half of them in English, so there was a time when we (as stupid little Americans) had no idea what they were singing, but they just sang and sang and sang. They didn't know all the verses to all the songs in English so they just repeated one verse and the chorus over and over, it seemed like they could go on singing non-stop for the whole day.The joy and the thankfulness that they had in the way they sang was just unbelievable and it really challenged me to be more passionate in my own worship.


As far as the work that was done, here it goes. We mixed and poured 45 TONS of concrete over the course of 4 days. All by His grace let me tell you, God was so gracious to us in keeping us all free from injury and giving us excellent weather to work in. We also had one heck of a construction team working on this wall. We had 14 guys "officially" on the construction team, but the childrens ministry team ( made up of all girls) were made honorary members of the construction team after the first day. The childrens ministry team spent the first half of the day at the babies home and then the second half of the day came to help the construction team. They didn't do any mixing (except one batch =DDDDD) but they performed and invaluable task of filling buckets with rock and dirt so that we could keep mixing as fast as we possibly could. So you can fully appreciate how this all worked let me tell you how the mixing and pouring process went. First, there was 3 teams on our construction team: bucket fillers, mixers (WOLF PACK), and the pouring crew. This is how it went. The bucket fillers filled 12 buckets with rock and dirt then sent them to the mixers. The mixers poured out the buckets into a pile, then dumped a bag of concrete onto it. Then, they added water and mixed the pile with shovels till it was ready to be put into buckets and then lifted up to the pouring crew that was standing on the scaffolding. The pouring crew grabbed the buckets from the mixers and dumped the freshly mixed concrete into the wall. So yeah, that's what the construction team did in Haiti. I can't tell you anything about the medical crew, other than the fact that they also worked their butts off down there. They saw over 800 people over the course of 4 days. God was so good and so gracious to all of us through the whole trip. He is worthy of all praise and all glory. Thanks for reading.

Haiti

Well, as most of you know, I am leaving for Haiti tomorrow night (very late). So this will be my last post till I get home. Please be in prayer for this trip. I am SUPER excited about what God is going to do in us and through us on this trip so please be praying. Pray for everyone's safety, pray for good weather, pray for everyone's health, and most of all pray that the gospel will be proclaimed and God will be glorified. I will try and post as soon as possible when I get back, but until then you all will have to try and survive without regular posts from my blog. I know that is going to be super hard for some of you, but I have confidence in you guys and I will be praying for you. ......Ok that was a joke *Laugh Out Loud* lol. Talk to you all later =D.

All Stars

Okay, well I could go on and on about how my life is just "so busy" and that's why I haven't been posting, but what it comes down to is...I didn't post. These past three weeks have been crazy though. Owen, Dewey, and Daniel had their All Star Tournaments. I'm going to break it down into a little equation for you so you can truly appreciate how crazy this is. Dewey's tournament was in Marianna Fl (6 hours away) July 11-16. His team was eliminated early so he was only up there from the 10th-12th, but Daniels tournament was that same week but in Paxton Fl (7 1/2 hours away). Daniel's team stayed in a bit longer than Dewey's so they were up there from the 10th to the 15th. Then we had Owen's tournament, which was from the 18th-22nd. My mom drove ALL THE WAY back to our house on the 15th only to leave for Marianna again on the 17th (yeah she's the greatest). Owen's team got eliminated quickly also, but we decided to stay up there and just have a little vacation time. So we spent Monday and Tuesday enjoying the springs up there in the Panhandle. We went to De Leon Springs and Blue Springs (yes they have the same name as ours down here). Anyway the springs were awesome. The water was so refreshing and Blue Springs had a diving board that just made my day =D. I was flipping off that thing in just about every way that you could lol. We got home last night just after 10:30, unpacked the car, and then we spent the better part of today getting all of the stuff put away and getting the house back in shape. So that is what we have BEEN doing. This weekend my sister Keri my brother in-law Adam, and their 4 kids Elliott, Coleton, Emerald, and Lily-Kate are going to be here at our house visiting. And then next Friday I am leaving for Haiti. Then when I get back from Haiti I will have 2 weeks till my Dual-enrollment starts at DSC. I will also hopefully be getting onto a traveling baseball team somewhere in the middle of all that. So it is has and will be busy for me. I will be trying as hard as I can to post more frequently though. I have a couple of posts breweing in my mind so hopefully I will be able to get them up soon. Thanks for reading.

Mission X

Well this is a bit late to be doing this post.....ok it's REALLY late, but you know that old saying "Better late then never"? Well, I am a firm believer in that statement, so here it goes. I was only able to take part in 2 days of Mission X Daytona, but from the 2 days that I was there helping out I could see the Holy Spirit at work. The first day I was a part of was day 3 of the missions trip, and for the first part of the day Jed Smith and myself were talking to the other people involved with the missions trip about our experiences in sharing the gospel. We were basically just recounting stories of people we had encountered and giving "advice" to everyone on how to communicate with people who they are sharing the gospel with. I felt so unqualified to be chosen to do that, because before last month I had never really done any extensive evangelizing and when Jonathan and I were doing that I felt like Jonathan was far bolder than I was in talking to people and just responding to what he felt the Holy Spirit was calling him to do. I was very pleased to be able to talk to all of them though, because it really wasn't about me or what I did it was about what the Holy Spirit had done in me. So that day was quite enjoyable for me, and after the talking time and after everyone had gotten lunch, we got to work mowing the church's lawn, pulling weeds, and digging a ditch to re-route the water drainage behind the church. The working part of the day was definitely the hard part, because it was getting into the hottest part of the day and the sun was completely unforgiving. Thankfully we had many hands pitching in wherever help was needed and we were able to get everything we needed to get done, done. Just the fact that we had 20 something TEENAGERS out in the heat of the day working to help maintain the landscape of the church is a testimony to the work of the Holy Spirit working in their lives. I mean how many teens do you know that would give up a week of their Summer Vacation to go and work out in the sun, and talk to complete strangers about the gospel?

The second day that I was able to take part in was the last day of the trip. This was the "big day" of the missions trip. We had a free concert happening at the Badnshell, with Acrobat, Generation Letter, and Curtis Allen all performing. All three performances were AMAZING! Both Acrobat and Generation Letter put on great performances and Curtis' rap performance was great. Curtis walked through his entire testimony from the time he was 10 to 2009 and he shared about how the gospel had trnasformed his life. He did that while rapping! It was unbelievable! People were hearing the gopel preached through Curtis' gift of Rap. And while he was sharing and while Acrobat and Generation Letter were putting on their performances we were able to engage people in conversation and talk to them about the gospel. It was an amazing time to just see how th eHoly Spirit was moving and working in each person there. Another thing we were doing as part of the outreach was giving out free watermelon to anyone who wanted some. So we handed out free watermelon, talked to people about the gospel, and listened to three great artists put on three great shows. It was an amazing week for me and I was only able to be there for a small part of the missions trip. You can read a more detailed account of what all happened on the Mission X Daytona blog. Thanks for reading.

An Uncle Again!

I am an uncle again! My sister Keri gave birth to Lilyanne Kathryn Sereika around 7:45 tonight! She weighs 8 pounds 15 ounces (quite the porker lol) and she is 21 inches long! She is totally gorgeous and has tons of dark hair on her little head. I will get a picture up as soon as possible. Till then I am just going to be SUPER EXCITED!

Dreams

I recently started reading a book by Bruce Wilkinson called The Dream Giver. The book is all about dreams, how everyone has a "Big Dream", and why we should pursue our dreams. I personally have found the first 3/4 of this book AMAZING. My mom told me to read it, knowing that I have been having some struggles with how to pursue my dream. Now, I personally think my mom knows everything, but I think it was also a little bit of a Godsend because the timing of it was just too perfect. Anyway for those of you who don't know my "Big Dream" is to be a professional baseball player. I am fully aware of the "chances of making it", the "percentages", and the amount of people who do not end up making it to a career in professional sports (baseball in particular). But even with all of that I want to pursue my dream as far as God will let me. If that means just playing through high school or college then so be it. If I end up making it pro HALLELUJAH! The thing is, I want to pursue my dream. Now in my pursuit of my dream I have come upon road block upon roadblock and slow down upon slow down. I won't go into the details, but lets just say I was having some serious doubts about what I was doing and I was becoming more and more unbelieving about what God wanted me to do with my life. I went through about 5 months of this craziness, of not knowing what I was doing. Then, through the encouragement of a few friends and reading this book, God started to open doors for me to get back on the road to my dream. I didn't really understand why He was doing it when I was going through it, but now that I am out of it and I'm pursuing my dream at full force again I am realizing that he used that time of unsureness and confusion as a way to strengthen my relationship with Him, particularly in the area of trusting Him. I'm still not certain about how far God will have me pursue my dream, but no matter how far I get with it doesn't really matter, because what he is teaching me through my pursuit of my dream is far more valuable than making it to the professional level of baseball. If you have a dream you are pursuing, or were pursuing, or haven't yet started pursuing I would encourage you to read The Dream Giver. It will dramatically change the outlook you have on your dream and the way pursuit your dream.

Viewer Discretion Advised

Hey, here is a change; a baseball related blogpost! A couple games ago Dewey was playing a really intense game against one of the better teams in the league when disaster stuck! Dewey was playing Shortstop (for those of you who don't know, that is a position in the middle of the infield) when a throw came to him from the pitcher. He was getting ready to catch it when a player from the opposite team (who was on the bases) ran in front of him causing him to lose sight of the ball. Right as the kid ran passed him the ball came right through and slammed Dewey right in the face (WOOHOO!). Dewey, being the tough guy that he is, was ready just to shake it off and keep playing, but then he started spitting blood so the umpire called time so that they could take a closer look at his face. What they saw was pretty gruesome. After a little on-field examination we discovered that the ball had lodged Dewey's braces in his lip and they had to be forcibly removed (Dewey's coach did the honors on that one). When we got the braces out of the way we surveyed the damage.... It wasn't a pretty sight. Here are a couple of pictures to show you what I mean. After we got home and everything was winding down, Dewey came out of the bathroom and was like "Hey mom, I think I lost a tooth". Yes, he had lost a tooth we made the confirmation the next day when we looked at his dental records, thankfully it was a baby tooth. So, yeah, if you ever hear anyone saying baseball is a sissy sport, remember this post.

Cause Life's Too Short

Over this past week I have come to realize that life is too short, God it too good, and I do not have enough energy to live my life caring about what what people think of me. My very very good friend Jonathan Stemberger and I spent the week backpacking around Ormond Beach and Holly Hill, visiting friends, reaching out to people, and getting extremely strong shoulder muscles. As you all know it rained this week in a way that it has not rained since Noah and The Flood. Yes, Jonathan and I were walking in that. It was a cold, rainy, windy week of walking, but I would not trade the time we had for anything. Jonathan and I started our "Grand Adventure" on Monday morning when we walked to our good friend's the Baloa's house. That first day was probably the hardest for us, because we were pretty unprepared for what the weather was throwing at us. We got a lot of our stuff wet, even though I had a poncho and Jonathan had a couple garbage bags covering his stuff. We were completely soaked head to toe by the end of the day and when we arrived at the Baloas and we both got hot showers and got into dry clothes both Jonathan and I agreed that showers had never felt so good. The second day we had gotten just a little bit wiser and so when we walked to the Dunlop's house (which was only about 1/2 mile)we had all of our gear completely covered and protected. Since it was so close to the Baloa's house we dropped off our bags and just headed out to do some evangelizing. Our main thing with evangelizing was getting people to talk to us by using a survey on the "Impact of Religious Expression In A Free Society". I am writing a Sociology paper so my mom thought it would be a good idea to survey people on what they believe as a lead in to sharing the gospel. So the first thing we did on the second day was go to Office Depot to get our survey laminated, which paid off in a HUGE way because on the first day three of our copies had already been claimed by the rain. So after that we headed to the Ormond Library to survey people. We used the library as our central spot through the whole trip because it was really close to the middle of everywhere we were going. Talking to people at the library was a very fun experience for me, but it was very enlightening and eye-opening as well. As the title of this post reads: Life it too short. At the start of the surveying process I was very hesitant about talking to people, because of what they would think of me, I mean god forbid they think I am some kind of weird Christian guy right?!?!?!? It was totally absurd to be worried about something like that, but I was and thankfully God changed my heart by showing me that life is too short and he has done too much for me to be worried about what other people think of me. After I got over being a total idiot the talking to people and reaching out to people became so much easier, Jonathan and I even prayed for two complete strangers who were having some relationship issues, and it was just because Jonathan said "Hey, I think God wants us to pray for them" and he was right. It was totally amazing how God worked on my heart through this past week. The rest of the week we spent one night with the Smiths, the Urquharts, the Moores, and finally Jesse and Tiffany Jarvis. All of our host families were so gracious and welcoming. Every family we stayed with opened up their houses to us and made us feel like we were completely at home. Thank you all so much! I don't know how many of you will read this, but I just wanted to make mention of it anyway. God also used this week to really build Jonathan and my friendship. While we were walking in the cold, wet, windy weather we had a lot of time to talk and really just get to know each other better (maybe even a little more than we wanted to) lol. Seriously though, whether it was just walking along in the pouring rain singing songs and talking about how God is working in our lives or walking over the Grenada bridge screaming "GOD IS BIG! HE'S REALLY REALLY BIG!" at the top of our lungs God used this trip to make Joanthan and my relationship even stronger than when we had started. In closing I would just like to encourage any of you who read this unusually long post. Don't be afraid to talk to people and don't be ashamed of God. If you are trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are carrying the news that the ENTIRE WORLD wants to hear! "JESUS LOVES THEM!" Even if they don't want to admit it, they do and that is another thing this trip has taught me; there are SO many people out there that are searching, looking, yearning, and dying to hear that they are loved and that they can have peace. So many people out there do not know the peace that you you know if you are trusting in Jesus as your savior. And let me tell you, just from what I saw in ONE WEEK of talking to people, it is a very uncertain and hopeless life if you are not trusting in Jesus. So please "Live the Commission", I am not saying go hiking all over your hometown talking to people, but wherever you go if you feel like there is ANY WAY you can reach out to some one DO IT! Ok, thank you for reading.

...And The Holy Spirit

Most of you (if not all) know what the Holy Trinity is: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian than you know all about The Father (God) and The Son (Jesus Christ), but I think that there are a fair amount of Christians out there that do not know a lot about the third member of the Trinity...The Holy Spirit. I will tell you, that before last Saturday I did not know too much about the holy Spirit either. I knew that the it was part of the Trinity and that Jesus had sent it to Christians to be a "Helper", but other than that I did not know anything whatsoever about it's purpose or it's role in a Christian's life. That all changed last Saturday when I attended the Mission X Training Day at Metro Life Church in Orlando. The Training day was excellent, the teaching was amazing, the questions I had coming into it were all answered, and it was an awesome time of fellowship and worship. After the Training Day though, came Deluge (Metro's Youth Group meeting). Deluge was led by Jesse Phillips and his message was great, but it was what happened after the message that was the highlight for me. After the message was over and we were closing in worship Mr.Phillips came up and asked if anyone wanted to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. I went forward not really knowing what to expect, because I knew so little about the Holy Spirit and what it's purpose was. Thankfully Mr. Phillips separated the people who came forward into two groups-those who had already been baptized and wanted to be refreshed, and those who hadn't been baptized yet. While we were being prayed for Mr. Phillips all of the people who were being baptized for the first time to go to another room so that he could discuss it more in depth with us. So while we went into another room the rest of the people finished up the worship and concluded Deluge. When we got to the room we were a fairly small group of maybe 15 to 20 people (that includes the people who came to pray for those who were being baptized). Mr. Phillips started out by just giving us all a "rundown" of what being baptized with the Holy Spirit means and what will happen once we are. After that was done people began praying for all of us who had come forward to be baptized. What followed was by far the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. People were praying, singing, prophesying, speaking in tongues, crying, and laughing. There was such a strong presence of the Holy Spirit there that night that you would have to have been there to understand what I mean. I don't mean to sounds cliche in saying this, but the way I felt that night was so amazing I wanted it never to end. I was filled with so much faith that night, faith, that I had never experienced before and it was amazing to feel. We were in that room for about an hour and a half just feeling the holy Spirit move amongst us in ways that would make even the most hardened atheist believe there is a God. I can't describe it any better than that, any words I try to use just don't seem to do it justice. I will say that it was the most amazing experience of my life and I will NEVER forget it. If you want to have an unforgettable experience I suggest you try getting baptized with the Holy Spirit :). Thanks for reading.

Uncertainty.......

Some of y'all may know (maybe all of you) that I am currently not playing on a baseball team, and I haven't been for the past few months. And let me tell you, not playing on a team and not getting to play actual games against real competition will take a toll on your playing skills. Thankfully, I have been able to stay in shape by throwing regularly, working out at the YMCA, and taking pitching lessons from my friend and coach Andrew Brown, who is also a professional baseball player. Even with all that I have been able to do to stay in shape there really is nothing that can take the place of being on a team and competing against another team. With that being said I will get on with this. In the last couple of weeks I have been feeling more and more anxious about getting on a team so I can get back to competing. I am an extremely competitive person so not being able to compete for so long has made me very restless. I started doubting whether baseball was the right path for me to take in life and I started praying for God to show me what his will is for me. I was getting pretty depressed because it seemed like every option I had for getting on a high school team or even a good traveling team was not going to work. Then, about 4 weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a friend telling me that they had been praying for me and that they felt that God was going to open up a door for me to continue playing baseball. I felt encouraged and I thanked them for their prayers and for the encouragement. Then I started looking for "the door" that God was going to open. It didn't happen. After a couple of weeks I still had not seen or heard anything and I was becoming discouraged. Then last Saturday we had the Wigles and Rachel, and Danielle Macmichael down to watch my little brother's games. The day was tons of fun, just hanging out, wathcing baseball games, and enjoying eachothers company. When they were getting ready to head home Mr. Wigle and I started talking and he told me that he felt like God was going to open up a door for me, and that I just need to trust Him to do it. So, I came home that night and I was thinking about it all and I realized that I really had not been trusting God, I had just been expecting him to "do something". The next day was Sunday (obviously) and when we were worshiping at church one of the songs we sang was the one that goes: "No one who's hope is in you will ever be put to shame. That's why my eyes are on you, Oh Lord." I was really affected by the words of that song and I realized that if I am trusting in Him and my hope is in Him I will NEVER be put to shame. I know that God was behind all of these events and he has really shown me that I need to trust Him more. Just to let you know, I am still not sure about what is going to happen with my baseball situation, but I am trusing God so what I do have is an amazing peace. I know some of you out there probably have trouble with trusting God sometimes too, so I thought I would share this with you. And I have a little bit of a revalation for you: Maybe God does things like this to get us to trust Him more! It is so obvious, but so profound and I think that might be what He is doing with me. Thanks for reading.

When you just don't got it......

You know that feeling when you are about to do something, that requires effort and concentration, and you feel like "it" just is not there? Whatever that "it" is, if it isn't there you just do not want to do what ever it is that you were going to do. Well, that is what has been happening with me. I must have started about 4 new posts, but I deleted them all, becasue I only got about one sentence into each of them and saw that I was writing a bunch of gibberish. So, I apologize for the lack of posting in the last week or so, but please understand that I did not post because I was thinking of all you. Cause, if I would have posted those posts that I started writing, as soon as you started reading them you all would probably start to have migraines instantaneously. So, again, I apologize for not posting in a while, but now you know why and now you can be thankful I didn't. So, please be patient as I wait for my "writing genius" to find it's way back to my mind.

T.O.A.D.

Taylor, Owen, Andrew, and Daniel. Those are the people who make up T.O.A.D. A little while ago (I think when we were supposed to be doing school) one of us pointed out that if you took the first letter from each of our names and put them together it made the word "TOAD". Shortly after that, one of us was stuck with the genius idea that all four of us should start a business together and name it "T.O.A.D. Incorporated". We only said it as a joke, but after some of the stuff we have done together I don't think we would have any problem getting a business going. Allow me to explain what I am talking about. Today we did one of the biggest "yard work" days of our lives and I am not exaggerating when I say that. We started off with trimming a bunch of the trees in our yard and then piling the debris at the edge of the road. Well, I have no problem doing some trimming cause that means I get to play with my ol' buddy the chainsaw. If you haven't ever used a chainsaw before then you just can't understand how much fun they are. So just take my word for it, they are fun! After I had cut up all of the stuff I needed to, we piled it down at the side of the road. There were three piles (pretty big ones) and there were three trashcans full of the stuff we had cut up and cleared out. Now, if you are thinking "Ok big whoop" just keep reading, because that wasn't the half of it. I forgot to mention that 3 days ago we had made the preparations for this project by weeding all of my mom's flower beds. If you have been to our house then you know that that is no small deal, anyway back to the story. After we had piled all the debris down at the road we had to clear the driveway (that means cars too). The reason we had to clear off the driveway was because a guy in a dumptruck came and dumped 5 yards of mulch in it. Oh, and just an FYI for those of you who don't know, they measure mulch in "cubic" yards. So, after all the trimming we got 5 cubic yards of mulch dumped in our driveway. Now, for normal people that would take like 5 hours to spread, but between Owen, Andrew, Daniel, and myself we got it all spread in 2 1/2 hours........Oh yeah! We're the bomb! I apologize if it seems like I am bragging about how well my little bros and I work, but that's exactly what I am doing :D.

Smiles All Around :)

A smile....... It is amazing how much this small little facial expression tells about us as a person. Personally I think God wants us to smile as often as possible. I partly came to this conclusion when I realized that when I am trying to look "serious" I look like a complete idiot. Now, I am not saying we should all go around grinning like Garfield, but I think as Christians we have something to smile about and we should more often than we do. I am also convinced that God wants us to smile because he designed us so that it takes 28 muscles to frown and 21 muscles to smile (or so I have heard). So when you smile you are conserving energy! How about that for "Going Green"?! I realize that there are those out there who have got the "serious" look down (and I envy you), but as Christians we have something to smile about don't we? I have nothing against being serious and don't have anything against people who are of a more serious demeanor. On the contrary there are times when you need to be serious, but I do want to encourage us all to smile on as many occasions as it is appropriate. Ok, what I am getting at here is that there is a very sad, lonely, depressed, and lost world out there that is looking for something to satisfy them. They go to any and every extreme to find something that will satisfy them, and we (Christians) have the one and only thing that CAN satisfy them. But how can they see the difference between us and the rest of the world if we are walking around wearing frowns like the rest of the world? I don't mean to sound preachy, but the bible says that we are "to let our light shine". Have you ever met someone who's smile just makes the place light up? Smiles can say a lot more than we think and I think we need to give those muscles a little more exercise. My favorite band, Kutless, has a song that is called Smile and the song is all about how much a smile can say about us as people and how much of an effect it can have on others. If you get the chance I would encourage you all to listen to it. Until next time. Smile!

Haiti

I think all of you know that I am going to Haiti this Summer, but for those of you who don't I just wanted to let you know that I am. Ok, now that we have that out of the way let me get to what this post is about. Two weeks ago every one who is going on a missions trip (doesn't matter where) met together after church. Jesse Jarvis was heading up the meeting and he was basically just getting us all up to speed on what's going on, what has gone on, and what needs to go on. There was a lot of discussion on fund-raising and all that goes into it, Jesse gave us some details on the Daytona missions trip and how that is all working out, and then at the end he asked for some volunteers to share about where they are going for Mission X and why they wanted to go. When I say share I mean share with the WHOLE church. My first thought was "Ha, funny....I'll let someone else volunteer for this one", but almost as soon as I had finished thinking that thought God really convicted me for being such a coward, because that is exactly what I was being. I was letting my fear of public speaking get in the way of something that God wanted me to do. So, after fighting with myself for a few minutes I got the nerve to volunteer. I was supposed to share last Sunday, but it got postponed to next week. Anyway, throughout the last week I had some pretty mixed feelings about sharing. For the first 20 minutes after I volunteered I was like "yeah, this is great I can do this" then I was struck with the horrifying thought of "What if I mess up?!" For the rest of the week I was pretty nervous about the whole thing, even after I had gotten a whole little outline of what I was going to say written down. The entire thing is only going to be about 5 minutes or less, but I still found myself worrying about it. I even had the thought of calling Jesse and telling him I would not be able to do it, because something "totally unexpected" had come up. I continued being anxious and nervous until God led me to Matthew 6:25-31 where Jesus tells us "not to be anxious about our lives" and he asks "which one of you can add a single hour to his life by worrying?".  The truth of that passage sunk in almost immediately and I realized how stupid I was being by letting my anxieties get the best of me. As far as I know I am not the only one that has this "fear" of speaking in front of large groups (thank God I am not alone). So, I would like to pose the question to all of you who are reading: Why do YOU think that people have this "fear" or "uneasiness" with speaking in front of large groups of people? I sincerely would like to know what you all think, so just leave your answer in the comment area and let me know. I hope you enjoyed this post and for those of you who are like me and are prone to be nervous and anxious I hope that you will look into Matthew 6:25-29. Thanks for reading.

Roadkill + Paintball Gun + Turkey Buzzard = One Fun Time!

So, yesterday Daniel comes into the house and informs us that there "is something dead in the road" so naturally we go to investigate. We come to find out that that "something" is the possum that has been raiding our trash for the past several weeks. Needless to say there were no tears shed for the little creature and no, he did not get a christian burial, he was the cause of much joy and laughter though. Shortly after we found him we discovered that vultures are attracted to dead things on the road (go figure right?). Well, we didn't think it was right that the poor little rodent's body was being desecrated by those nasty vultures (even though he had turned the side of our house into a disaster area several times). So, we decided to act......violently. This video shows of how we kept those nasty vultures from picking that poor little possum to pieces.

Just in case you can't see, I do hit the one, the second shot misses though.

Straining Forward

As I am finding out, keeping up with fairly regular blog posts is harder than it seems. I have been thinking about what I could post about, but I have not been able to think of anything for days. That is until the other day when Daniel threw 5 innings (the whole game) against one of the best teams in the league and beat them. Now, for those of you who don't know when I say "threw" that means "pitched", and just to let you know Daniel is 10, and for a 10 year old to throw 5 innings is almost unheard of. I am a coach for his team so I was there when he got the last out and let me tell you, it was pandemonium at the ballpark. Now, let me also tell you something about what had to happen before he had the ability to throw 5 innings like he did.... Hours and hours of practice, physical conditioning, mechanical refinement, and repeatedly throwing the same way for hundreds of pitches. These are just a few of the physical things that any good baseball pitcher must do to be able to throw five innings at 10 years old. Here are a few of the mental things that Daniel had to have: commitment, hard work, desire, passion, mental toughness, and a "never give up" attitude are all needed to be able to perform like that. Daniel's performance was, in a word, amazing, but he knows that there are still areas where he needs work. The same holds true for Dewey, Owen, and myself. Even though we have good games and we perform well, we know that we can always get better and we must constantly be practicing to improve ourselves. All four of us play baseball with a passion, there is just something about us that just loves the game of baseball, and drives us to try and become the best ball players that we can be. Just FYI I did not write this post to brag us Nugent boys up. What I am writing this for is to show how playing COMPETITIVE sports is much like our walk with Christ. Our ultimate goal in life should be to glorify and honor God in all that we do and to treasure and grown in our love for Him throughout our lives. In baseball you compete against another team to win the game so that you can obtain the trophy, award, medal, or whatever is the prize for winning the game. Our walk with Christ is the same thing, Paul says in Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Notice he says "press" like he is straining, it is sometimes like that in our christian walks. There are times when the trials of life seem to engulf us and we must "press on". The same thing holds true in baseball. There are times when it takes every bit of strength, determination, desire, and willpower to get through a game. We push ourselves through no matter what it takes, because we want what is waiting for us if we succeed. That object that we have been competing for. Well, we (as Christians) know what awaits us at the end of our race, we know what we are competing for. I just thought I would throw this out there as a little reminder/encouragement.

Pics!

If you follow this link to Dylan and Jessica's blog you can see pics of the newest Nugent boy :D.
http://lovebirdnerds.blogspot.com/

It's A Boy!

I am the VERY proud uncle of Darby Elias! Born at 5:30 AM 2/26/09. He's 9 lbs 10 Oz and is 21 inches long (yeah he's a big boy). I do not have any pictures yet, but you can be sure that as soon as I do I will be posting them :D.

Guess what I just found out........

Eating a spoonful of Cinnamon really is impossible, enjoy :). Oh, save yourself a sore throat and don't try this...it isn't worth it.

One Crazy Week......

Surprise! Surprise! I am not dead for those of you who are wondering where I have been. Actually I have just been sleeping for the past 48 hours trying to regain the strength I lost while my nephews and niece were here this past week (just kidding). The week was amazingly busy though, so that's the reason I have not been posting, but I am planning on getting you all "up to speed" on all of the weeks happenings ;).

The activities of Elliott and Coleton:

When the kids first arrived there was the usual greetings; you know the "hey sis, good to see ya", "Elliott, you're huge dude!", "Coleton! what's up buddy?", and then the "Hello, Emi", which was returned with a typical two year old response, "No!". Throughout the week Emi started loosening up a little bit, but she still had that lingering two year old girl attitude :D. Anyway after the initial greetings E.J. (Elliott) and Coleton got down to business. Business for E.J. and Cole consists of playing in Dewey and Daniel's room (that's where all the toys are). They especially like to play with Legos, Hess trucks, the slot cars, and just about any other toy that catches their eye. Needless to say Dewey and Daniel's room did not look to great after E.J. and Cole got a hold of it, but E.J. and Cole cleaned up the room every night. They proceeded to wreck it again the next day, but they still were faithful to clean it up every night :). Throughout the week E.J. and Cole felt the need to expand their business realm, which meant......The sand pit. Now, the sandpit is not actually a sand pit, it is actually just a patch of our back yard that is missing grass that E.J. and Cole turned into a sandpit. As their first act as overseers of the sandpit was to incorporate a waterfall/lake in the middle of the pit. The waterfall/lake as you might have guessed was the hose. So, they dug, they saturated, they built, and then they tore down. As a result of this business venture there were certain side affects that were not very welcome, some of them being: A dump truck load of sand being tracked through the house, a bigger amount of wash for Keri to take care of, and the backing up of our septic system from all of the sand washed down our drains (ok the last one didn't really happen). After about a day and a half Keri and I decided that the boys business venture had to come to an end, so Keri (playing the part of party killer) had to tell the boys that the hose had to go and that their sand pit time would be limited from then on. It was a devastating blow for Elliott and Coleton. I am glad to say that their devastation was short lived thanks to the discovery of the skateboards. I am not sure how many hours they spent playing with those things, but I can tell you that they had a blast. Elliott and Cole use skateboards more as street luge boards than anything else. They start at the top of the driveway, lay with their bellies on the boards, and then roll down with their arms out like C-17's (C-17's are the planes that their Dad flies). So, that is a little bit of what E.J. and Cole did this past week.

The activities of Emi:

Emi had a very different experience throughout the week than that of the boys. The first thing Emi and I had to get straightened out was...my name. Yes, sadly, she had forgotten my name. When she first got to our house everyone was either "Dewey" or "Daniel" and that was something I just could not live with. After we got that straightened out I had to help Emi remember that I was her favorite uncle cause, for some reason or another, she forgot (crazy, I know). Anyway, as it turns out there is a VERY good reason why they call the two year old stage the "Terrible Twos". Very soon after arriving I learned that the sweet little girl that I had seen just a few months before was replaced with a little girl who was EXTREMELY strong minded, and whose two favorite words were: "No" and "Mine". Yeah, that is why they call them the "Terrible Twos". Dealing with Emi was not all that bad actually, as long as you did what she wanted, how she wanted, and when she wanted. I learned to abide by those three principles very quickly and found that she is much more agreeable when those are abided by. That aside Emi is still the most adorable human being I know. She enjoys getting into anything and everything she can reach (and even things she "can't" reach). She likes to draw, play in the sand, talk and help mommy with her work, and on special occasions she likes to help do the dishes. Another thing that I find just totally adorable about my little princess is her way of talking. She is still in the stage where some of the syllables and sounds get mixed together or left out so her speech is a little confusing at times. For instance: My name is pronounced "Tater" in Emi language, Owen is pronounced "Own", Dewey is the only one she gets right, and Daniel is pronounced "Danal". We (My brothers and I) did not mind how she pronounced out names, it just adds to her cuteness :).

So, now you have a "small" idea of what went on here at the Nugent's house in the past week. I say small because to give you a BIG idea of what happened would take a LOT longer, so you will just have to be content with this :D. Till Next time..........