1000 Views!

God's blessings to the readers of this blog who just made my day.  I officially have 1,000 views of my blog.  I truly appreciate everyone who takes time to read this.  Thank you.
I am down to one week left of classes, and I have a lot to do in that week.  I also have a lot of extra hours coming up at work, so I am going to be busy.  Yesterday, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, and then at the end I felt like I had accomplished nothing.  However, I got a paper done, several hours of work in, and realized that every book I need from the library is in German only which does me no good.  This little set back is going to cause my Friday night and Saturday to be spent trying to find resources in English so I can get two more papers done.  I am down to six papers and three tests though.  The three tests will be fairly easy I believe because two of them are take home essays.  I just pray the good Lord gives me the endurance and focus to make it through this week.  I also ask kindly that you keep me in your prayers as well, and I truly appreciate it that you do.
Since I am so busy, I want to keep this kind of short.  However, I had to celebrate the 1,000 views.  I also had to give such loyal followers another thought for the day.  This thought for the day comes from about a week ago when I was listening to music in my room.  If I remember correctly I was cleaning my room, organizing my desk, and getting my homework piled up on my desk so I knew what I had to do.  I was listening to Casting Crowns on my computer.  They are a Christian band, and I really like their music.  If you call me, my current ring-back tone is one of their songs.  Anyways, in the one song, they are asking when are we going to start living like God's children.  The name of the song is "What If His People Prayed", and I am actually listening to it as I type this post.  The one lyric that jumped out at me for some reason is they say, "What if the family turned to Jesus, and stopped asking Oprah what to do."  When I heard this, several crazy Oprah references crossed my mind, but then I remembered she is not even doing her show anymore.  Then I started thinking, if I play this song for my kids someday, they may have no idea of who Oprah was.  People are doing this to me all the time.  They say somebody's name, who to them is famous and should be known by all, but to me being so much younger I have never even heard the name.  The common phrase that normally follows is, "Well shows how old I am."  So it is true that anyone in America (and probably other countries for that matter) in today's generation can say Oprah, and everyone knows exactly who you are talking about.  However, it may still come to be in my own lifetime, that not everyone will know who Oprah is.  Now, maybe she will be famous enough to make it into history books and students will learn about her in school.  I would hope we have more important history than that, but who knows at this rate.
This was just a really weird thought to me.  That our world changes so much, what is famous and popular of one generation can be very quickly forgotten in the next.   Just stop and think about it, if you are a reader who is a little older than me, I bet you could name at least three names who were a major deal during your youth, and I would have no idea who they are.  Then think about when you were a kid, did your parents, or older family members ever talk about people who you did not know.  The point is people will come and go, and their fame will fade. Then it hit me. There is one man who has been famous throughout all generations.  Now, he is not necessarily loved by all, but most everyone in America at the very least knows his name.  It is Jesus!   Jesus has been known for over two thousand years now, and His fame is still being spread.  We try to live our entire lives based on knowing, believing, and practicing our faith in Him.  Because we know, He is the real deal, He is the one who will still be around after Oprah is long forgotten.
This theme can be seen in the Old Testament.  God sent judge after judge, and then king after king trying to free His people every time they fell to evil ways and begged for His mercy.  Yet every judge failed, every king failed, and every time His people went right back to their sinful ways.  A human could never be good enough to complete God's plan of salvation.  That is why He sent His Son from Heaven, to take on flesh, and be the perfect sacrifice.  Jesus was the only one who was ever good enough to be able to complete our Father's redeeming act.  That is why we still cling to Jesus' name and hold Him high as our Savior.  We may be followers of pop idols and stars and think they are pretty cool.  You may even watch Dr. Phil and shows that give you advice how to live a better life.  That is OK.  Just remember that all of these are sinful people just like you and me.  They are just another human who will never be good enough on their own.  Then when you remember that, hopefully you remember that Jesus is the one who has already been our life role model.  He lived a life without falling to sin.  He felt pain and suffering, and yet remained completely faithful to the Father through it all.  He also gave us the advice we need to live better lives.  He gave us His Word, that we can hold, see, and read anytime we need a pick-me-up.  We can memorize His Word, look at it daily and know that He is the one who will continue to last until He comes back to call us home.  God will never let His church died, and His Word will remain true because He has already paid the price, and His promise of the second return will come true, no matter what generation it is.  All Praise be to Him who is our Savior and remains true to His promises for all generations.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
We thank you so much for the gift of the one true person who we can always follow and try to be like, Jesus.  We thank you for You Son who took on flesh, came to earth, died, and rose again to be our Savior and Redeemer.  We ask that You be with us as we live our daily lives, that we may strive to live by Your Word, share our faith with everyone we meet, and never lose focus on Your Holy name.  In the same name we strive to focus on, Jesus Christ, we pray to You. Amen.