Nik's Blog

16.11.2009 {Serious Stuff}

Whatever You Write, Write Well

Alright, well I started writing this post giving my opinion of a post on Eyebright's blog, The Better Blogging Movement. After reading it, I was thinking, yeah, people are so annoying when they do that! I'm going to write about it. I wrote a good long two paragraphs about it. It was mostly saying that when you write sloppy and look like you don't really care about the quality of your posts, you look sloppy to others, and most people don't want to read a sloppy looking blog. Well, that's true. However, how I wrote it at first was all focused on me. What I thought, and what annoyed me, and what I thought you should do. So I picked up by Bible and noticed how terrible and prideful and critical that sounded. Yuck. So now I'm writing this from the Bible; not my thoughts, but God's (and I sincerely hope that it truly is GOD'S thoughts at not at ALL mind).

After reading some Bible verses, it occurred to me yet again that, as Christians we are supposed to be living our entire lives to please God. We're supposed to "work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than people." (Ephesians 6:7) Ecclesiastes 9:10a says, "Whatever you do, do well." I think that includes writing on blogs! I think that we should all try to write our best at blogging because that's what God wants us to do. We should be writing as though we were writing to Jesus Himself! (That's such an exciting thought, isn't it?)

Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. // Galatians 6:4-5

Those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. // Galatians 6:8b-9

My thoughts on these verses in relation to this post is as follows: I don't think that you should write well so that people will read your blog, or so that you'll get approval from proper grammar/english obsessed people like me. My opinion doesn't matter. It's God's opinion you want. And if you try as hard as you can to write well, it's not going to matter what other people think. You will know that you did the best you can do, and that always feel great! Don't try to please people with your blog; try to please God in your blog. (Yeah I know that seems hard; I'm feeling kinda guilty writing that, because I know I'm not trying to please God with everything 24/7.)

And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not people. // Romans 2:29b

Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth- a stranger, not your own lips. // Proverbs 27:2

So my opinion on blogging: whatever you write, write it as well as you can. Seek approval of what you write from God, not people. Don't praise yourself when it comes to your blog or writing. Write so well that you get to satisfactions of a job well done. Try to please God with every post, every sentence, every word, every thought. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, in your faith, and your purity (1 Timothy 4:12b).

And after writing that... I need to go through and delete some of my posts again. (lol)

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11.11.2009 {Blog Updates}

Evil Ducky Update

As you can see, there are small little rubber duckies all over my page. I am here to give an update about them. As it turns out, the ducks live on the web, and they eat computer bugs. They were getting really hungry, so they turned evil because of their extreme hunger! Some strange person told them that there were bugs in my blog, so they came here and started trying to eat everything in search of a meal!

They even went to my sister's blog after she linked to me to try and find information in HER blog to see where the bugs were in MY blog (thanks so much to Aby for helping us figure that out). I was starting to go crazy, until one of my very good friends Derick talked to the ducks through his computer (he's a computer GENIUS so he was able to figure out their language and talk to them for me). He told them that there weren't any bugs here, and led them to somewhere where there WERE bugs.

So now they are gone... But after getting some food they were nice enough for me to take a few screenshots and turn the evasion into a template! So everything concerning pages and such is back in order, except the cute little evil duckies are still here in picture form.

Thanks everyone for your comments!

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10.11.2009 {New Templates}

Evil Duckies Have Infested My Blog!

Somebody please help evil duckies are trying to destroy my blog! They're eating my template and infesting everything and I can't make them go away!! So far they've just gotten to my template; they can't figure out how the destroy my posts and archives and such. But they're slowly taking control of my blog!! They've even changed the link colors! What should I do? Does anyone know the number for Evil Duck Exterminators??? Please HELLPPPPP!!!!!!!!

**NOTE: Since the Evil Duckies are gone, I've made a template with them! It is an edited form of my last template; all images were done on paint, and the coding's original. :P Of course God is the one to thank for these talents so yeahhh... :D **

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3.11.2009 {Serious Stuff}

Book Review Turned TV Fast

So there's this set of fantasy books that my mom heard of from a family from church. She got me the first book from the series so I could see if I liked it or not. I started reading. Less than five minuets (five pages would actually be more accurate) this 14 year old boy is talking about how "amazing" this kiss from the girl he's had a crush on since 2nd grade was. Great. Like I want to read about a fictionalized boy who's "fallen in love" with a fictionalized girl who both have decided to randomly french kiss in the boy's living room. Yuck. NOT a good way to start a book in my opinion. In fact the only way I think I wouldn't be mad about people in love randomly kissing if you swapped the teenagers with adults and the crush with wedding vows. But even then that would be a little awkward. But anyway, back to what I was saying!

I decided instead of completely forsaking the storyline because of a less than desirable beginning I'd at least finish the book. Although with the unnecessary and meaningless beginning along with the fact that in less than half the book a 14 year old casually lets half a dozen curse words out it was hard for me to take the book seriously. Well, it was more than that. The girl is super cocky, the boy is a walking definition of the word "selfish" and another boy has posters of girls in skimpy bikinis on his walls. The kids completely and totally disrespect a police officer and ditch school without a second thought. (Not that not going to public school is bad, under different circumstances, of course, but that's not my point!)

I really feel convicted about my standards when it comes to books, movies, TV, and music. Whenever there's something, even a little thing, in a book or whatever that I know is NOT something God would like it sticks out painfully and that's the only thing I remember when I think of it. And I know that once I let myself like a certain book or movie I REALLY like it. So should I read this series, or not?

I know you're probably thinking, "Duh! Not!" Well actually you're probably not thinking that; forgive me if that's the case. :P But that's what I'm thinking. I remember my youth pastor saying, "Don't settle for anything but God's best." I really want to do that, but it's so hard in this world where almost everything I like has things in it that I KNOW God frowns out. Princess Leia's practically naked in Episode 6 of Star Wars. But the movies are still a good example of good and evil, right? Star Trek is fun... Except for all this cursing, misusing God's name, murdering, fornication, and sometimes partial nudity.

How can I like something so much when it has so many bad things in it? It's like every book, every movie, every TV show has just the one little thing... I try to ignore them, I really can't. All those little things pile up until the bad, worldly, ungodly, and sometimes demonic things completely outweigh the "good." Which still isn't good, because only GOD is good, and there's none of God in THERE.

Ugh. Living on this grimy filthy world is hard. It seems like to draw the line and cut out all these things that contain just the "harmless" evil aspects God hates would leave me with Veggie Tales and LotR. But I don't thing that's REALLY the thing that bugs me. I don't mind not allowing myself access to these things even though it's sad. It's the fact that all these movies with little bad things in it are the things we watch as a family every night.

Wait a minuet. Did I hear that right? Because something totally just clicked. All these "little" bad things in these movies we love; we watch these almost EVERY NIGHT. We're just LETTING Satan come into our lives without a second thought. Maybe that's why I haven't been wanting to read my Bible. Maybe that's why my siblings constantly fight like cats and dogs without end (or at least part of the reason). And thinking about that makes me mad. How much you wanna bet that Satan and his evil little demon minions are just so pleased with themselves that we're allowing all that evil in our lives? They're probably thrilled that these things that we hold so dear to our hearts are leaving less and less room for God. And God will not be second in our lives.

Well I've made up my mind. I'm raising the bar when it comes to the standard on entertainment I choose. I want to honestly think, "Is this something Jesus would watch?" Would he rather watch Star Trek, or Veggie Tales? I can see it now: "So Lord, do you want to watch Search for Spock, or Little Joe?" I think he'd go with #2. In fact I wish I could go through and just GET RID OF all these movie/TV JUNK that's in our house. No wonder I'm not crazy passionate for God anymore. I'm just sitting here munching away on worldly trash instead of being hungry for God. And I want that to change. I don't want to be lukewarm. And, even though this will be hard, I think I'm going to take a break from the TV. Nothing I watch is really any good anyway. When my family is watching stuff I don't want to see, I'm going to go to my room, put some worship music on, read my Bible and spend time with God. At the very least go somewhere were I can't hear it. So I'm writing this so that whoever reads this can hold me accountable for it.

I guess you could call this a TV fast?

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30.10.2009 {Our God is an Awesome God}

God's Power: Absolute

So last night I was reading through Psalms and I saw a verse (in 147:5) that stuck out to me. "God's power is absolute." Of course I immediately thought of div positioning codes in CSS. I could never count how many times I've typed out 'position:absolute;' while making a template. So anyway, I was having a little fun and I made it into a CSS-like thing.

#God {
position:everywhere;
width:incalculable;
power:absolute;
love:never-ending;
understanding:beyond-comprehension;
}

So anyone who knows what CSS documents look like, tell me what you think. :)

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28.10.2009 {New Templates}

Finally! Another Template. I'm Excited.

I was getting really tired of my last template, so I decided to make a new one! Last night after praying that I would think up something I started doodling things out, and I came up with this. ^.^ There's really not much to say about; I made the header on paint and coded in all from scratch in like... I dunno, maybe 20 minuets? But it didn't take long and it doesn't look that bad so I'm happy. ^.^ Please tell me what you think!

~Nikki

This is what my template looked like before the Evil Duckies came!

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27.10.2009 {Humorous Articals}

Here's What A New Student Needs To Know About My School

When coming to join our family school, it is important that one knows all of the rules, regulations, guidelines, and such in order to have a successful learning experience. We will start with how things work throughout the day, from morning, to night.

When a new student wakes up, they are not to get up at a specific time, unless they desire to do so. They are to get up whenever they're awake enough to function, and then wander out of their room and into the kitchen to see whether breakfast has been make already or if they should get themselves a meal.

Then they are to do whatever they would like to. Reading, writing, drawing, jumping on the trampoline, watching science shows, making homemade cards, building things with Legos, taking pictures, practicing instruments, listening to music and learning new songs, perhaps even reading textbooks, designing websites, or anything of this sort. While doing their activities for the day, it is crucial that the student does not think of them as school, and that they not do things because they would count for school. They must ONLY embark on an academic expedition if they are truly intrigued and interested in the subject. Since there is no grading, tests, or assigned projects, there is no need to act like there is.

Once lunch time comes, the student is to accept food from the "school cook" (affectionately known to the students as 'Mommy') and then plop down on the couch on eat their meal. Once that is over, they are to proceed with doing whatever they would like. Then at nighttime, they are to spend the evening as a family watching Star Trek, history, or science shows (such at Time Warp and Mythbusters) until their bedtime arrives. Then they will proceed to go to bed, and a new day begins.

Other notes: It is strongly encouraged that students spend time reading their Bibles and try to abide by its principals. Whining and arguing is strictly prohibited, along with going in highly visible areas outside during 'school hours'. It is recommended that students immediately discard curricula upon entering the school, since they are not used here. If you are used to highly scheduled schooling techniques, then our school is not for you. Thank you.

I was prompted to write this post. Tell me what you think!

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26.10.2009 {Humorous Articals}

Have You Ever...?

Have you ever had one of those moments when you're sitting down writing a post and suddenly you have the unshakable urge to go crazy writing in chat speak and then once you start with that your neighbor breaks into your house and bursts out into tears because she thinks you've lost your mind, and then you FREAK OUT because you're afraid she's right and then you take your keyboard and chuck it out the window and run into your kitchen, grab a banana, and proceed to dance like a monkey while singing 'Thriller' by Micheal Jackson and after you're done with that you promptly pass out on the floor because you saw a spider?

No? Me either.

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14.10.2009 {Serious Stuff}

Awake, O Sleeper

"With the Lord's authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

But that isn't what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from Him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God - truly righteous and holy."
Ephesians 4:17-24

2,000 miles. It's so far away
And as everyone knew, I wanted to stay

To leave all my friends, my nice comfy life
Led to hurt, fear, and anger, which turned into a strife

And now a year has passed, and so much has changed!
I really know God, and want to follow His ways

Then I got wonderful news: I would go off and fly
To see my old friends in early July

After being there I'm sorry to say
That my friends seem much farther than 2,000 miles away

I went to go see them, I had lots of fun.
But honestly? I didn't really belong.

Going back there really made me see
How different I've become; how much God's changed me

And deep within me there's a burning ache
They're all still sleeping, but now I'm awake

How can I tell them? How can I show?
That there's way more to life than they seem to know?

I remember how it was. Emptiness all the time
Living like the world, collecting it's grime

I know they don't know; they don't understand
The depth of His love, the goodness of His plans

He died just for them. He DIED, don't they see?
Or has Satan dimmed this reality?

Do they no longer care? Or maybe they didn't ever
But this half hearted faith leads to a fiery forever

And now deep within, there's a burning ache
They're all still sleeping, but I'm now awake.

"Awake, O Sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
Ephesians 5:14b

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13.10.2009 {Serious Stuff}

A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart

So I was looking through my clothes trying to find a certain shirt, and it dawned on me that I have a LOT of clothes! Maybe not much compared to most American girls, but really I have a TON. I was looking through all these clothes and I started to feel VERY guilty. I mean I'm always wishing I had more clothes. I have this and this and this on my wishlist, and I'll think, 'If only I had this would be sooo happy!' Wait a minuet. Did I actually THINK that? Eww! What type of selfish worldly ungrateful brat am I turning into? But still... That jacket would be so cool! But Nikki, you already have four perfectly good jackets. Yeah, but two of them the colors don't really go with most of my clothes and the other one doesn't fit quite -- FOUR PERFECTLY GOOD JACKETS.

I hate this stupid conversation that keeps running through my head. And it goes on. I have SO many t-shirts. In fact I'm going through them all and writing a list. And altogether I have 46 shirts. Forty six. And I probably could find more if I looked really hard. How can I want more clothes when I have forty six stupid shirts? And of course excuses are still running through my head. "But some of those you wear to sleep. You don't even LIKE some of them. You keeping giving them to your sister, remember? And you've already given her like ten shirts. So you don't really have THAT much. It's not like you wear all of them out."

Yeah. Right. (In case you couldn't tell, those two words are dripping with sarcasm.) I still have 46 shirts when some people feel lucky to have one or two! How on EARTH could I want more?! I feel so spoiled, and self centered, and selfish, and terrible. I have all the shirts I could ever want (or all that I SHOUD ever want). I have six jackets counting ones without full length sleeves. I have six pairs of pants that fit, not including capris for summer. I am MORE than blessed. So why do I want more?

And I KNOW what Satan's in my brain trying to tell me that I "need" more, that what I already have "isn't that cool" so "it's alright to be thinking that". No. It's not. What I have is MORE than enough for my needs, and I'm SO lucky to have everything that I have! I should be CONTENT and SO grateful to God. But do I DO that? No! But I want to, so why don't I?! I'm so SICK of this.

So instead of wanting more, I'm choosing to be thankful for what I DO have, which is SO much. As Madame Blueberry sings, "A thankful heart is a happy heart, be glad for what you have, that's an easy way to start." And I'm going to follow that advice, no matter how cheesy it sounds (lol). I want to thank God sooooo much for blessing me SO much. I don't ever want to take clothes or anything like that for granted! And I don't EVER want to forget to constantly praise God for everything. Because nothing, nothing, NOTHING could EVER compare to Him. And He's the one who's given me everything I have! So I think it's time for some praising and thankfulness to God to be going on WAY more than it has been!

I give you thanks, O Lord, with all my heart; I will sing your praises... I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. // Psalm 138:1-2

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