Last night I watched a Homework/ Study Seminar ironically i watched it instead of studying for the test the next day but i did ok. Well it was more on psycology rather than actual study tips.

On of the examples on it was, a dog will scratch at the door to go out for his walk over and over. Why? Because he knows sooner or later his owner is gonna give in and take him for a walk. Now lets look at it from a different perspective, in Africa there are many, many elephants. Trainers are available to train these elephants and use them as a matter of transportation. Now, when the elephant is a baby the trainer will stick the elephant on a leash and at first the elephant will tug and pull at this rope for hours at a time and still get no results. Evidently this elephant gives up. Now fastforward to years later after this elephant has grown up, this same elephant (now much bigger) is still on the same little rope and has given up trying to get away because as a baby it got no results.

In a way thats how studying is. You get no results the first time so you throw the textbook out the window and never try again. Interesting enough this analogy can be used in all areas of life and i’m just discovering that…

I’m so lazy. I haven’t done any reading in the past 3 weeks since school started up again. Help I want to go back to practicum . anyways I am attempting to at least read the stuff for the test tomorrow. So I should get back to work. Later…

There is a little boy that I am working with, the doctors say he only has a few days to live now. He has cancer and he’s been at the facility i’ve been working at. I’ve been told by many people "detach yourself from him. don’t get too close." but how do you detach yourself from a dying 7 year old who has brain cancer. you can’t. i’ve been praying for him though and my prayers have been partically answered. He’s coming back from the hospital for the weekend, i honestly hope he lasts longer than just the weekend but i’ll leave that in God’s hands. i’m just happy he’s coming home. anyways God bless and if u get a chance, pray for him.

I’ve been reading "Searching for a God to Love: The Only One You Always Wanted" By Chris Blake. I hate to say this, but it’s interesting. Someone gave it to me almost a year ago (i know it takes me a while to get to things like this). Normally I don’t read books most people give me, especially such as religious one such as this. When there is "God in the title, I admit…I get weird. I don’t particularly like the dictorial, judgemental, religious books out there today. I think i see God in a very different way then most people see Him. I see God in a pair of jeans sitting on my couch eating a slice of pizza on a Saturday night. Not just talking about heaven and sin but other things, like philosophy, cooking & science. Alot of people these days see God like this promoter, kind of like a campaign leader, with the words "I’m a Christian" written across his sweater shirt. They then imagine Him giving out flyers to vote for Him in the "last days."

In this book, Blake writes about how he’s jogging down the beach in the early morning when he says, "Hi," to a little girl. He then describes how the girl turns and pretends she didn’t hear him. Her mother taught her well, not to speak to strangers and yet it makes me mad.  Not that the little girl never said hi, but that the millions of criminals around the world made her feel frightened enough that she now doesn’t have the freedom to yell a greeting of hello. Its the same thing with religion, when talking with people and even with writing this blog entry once bringing up the word "God" into a conversation or into a title turns people away. Walls are built up quick. It’s like a conversation i had not long ago. I was have conversation with a girl on food and alcohol but as soon as i brought God into the dialogue, her whole demeanor changed and she replied by saying "so you don’t drink because your christian." The walls were built and I was stereotyped. People get weird when one talks or even writes about God. Why? Because someone screwed the image up for them a while back.

Just like there are criminals and sick molesters in the world that make kids feel unsafe, there are also criminals of religion who have twisted and distorted it in such a way that people are turned off by it whether the message is true or not. I am talking about the huge religious seminars on tv that are simply doing the show for the money, fame, and glory. I am talking about the pastors who are only concerned with the amount of people attending their church rather then the well being of the members themselves. I am talking about missionaries who will go to unknown countries around the world but when someone asks them for help their too busy.

Religion is like a business. When I started attending this private college, they were all about getting me into the school even if it meant giving me whatever i wanted, and once I was there they didn’t give a damn about me. That is exactly how most churches are today. They host huge seminars to get more members into the church making the church and the pastor look good, but soon the seminar stops and these same people are left like orphans in a new world.

The criminals of religion have poisioned the words "christianity, religion, and God." To the average atheist these words are fatal. Although I am not an atheist I still get weird when someone uses those particular terms. I get weird because when people use the term "God or religion" is like their boxing Him in and stereotyping Him. The average person relates "God or religion" to Christianity, but what about the average muslim who would simply be offended by such an assumption.

It is not just atheists that stereotype. Christians do as well. Why is it when someone states that one is an atheists, we automatically assume that they have no beliefs? I think the key here is to be open minded. Why shut God out with a bang if we know nothing about Him? Or if we do know something, why do we assume we know everything? I don’t know. enough rambling for tonight but yeah, good book you should read it if you feel brave enough to get weird and open a book entirely devoted to the one and only…night!

"Don’t be racist with your laundry, forget about separating darks from whites."

~Inspired By My Laundry~

Sometimes I get that overwhelming feeling
So sad, the faces on TV
If I tried to make a difference would it help anyway?
But then I stop and to myself I say,

CHORUS
So you wanna change the world 
 What are you waiting for?
You say you’re gonna start right now
What are you waiting for?
It only takes once voice
So come on now and shout it out
Give a little more
What are you waiting for?

Sometimes I feel a little helpless
Seems like I can’t do a thing
But anything is possible just you wait and see
Good things happen if you just believe

CHORUS  

Someday somehow
Gonna take that step
Cause time is ticking away
Right here right now
Before it’s too late
Gonna face tomorrow today

CHORUS

~Natalie Grant~

Today I woke up thinking about the millions of people in the world that woke up hours before me. Pondering still, I thought, "Gosh these people have probably gotten more work done in the past hour then I have done this entire week." Dragging my head off of the pillow I sorted through the great capabilities that I have obtained. The term "average" comes to mind, but thoughts were kindly disturbed from their pessimistic direction to a more optimisitic.

I’ve been working with paraplegics for the past week at a small facility. There is a mix of patient’s running from simple spastic paraplegics to spastic cerebral palsy clients. They can barely speak and most are on tube feeding. To the ordinary person they may seem small and insignificant. To a scholar they may seem unintelligent. They are below the average.

After working there for less than a week one soon learns that the object of the job is to make the client happy.  Love is the key factor. Sure clean their bed pans, bathe them, feed them, but most of all…..love them. It is interesting how an act of service, so simple as making a client, who can’t speak except to raise his hands when he is happy and lower them when he is sad, generate feelings in ones self that have long been ignored. It can bring a sense of purpose into ones life. Spirituality errupts like a volcano from the ground once hidden for so long but now bursting to the surface. Sadness from the past, and happiness from the present. They have changed my world, whether they know it or not.

They may seem insignificant. They have no great stories to tell their grandchildren. There are no monuments dedicated to them, nor vaccines discovered by them. They are just average people, fighting to live in a world that doesn’t always accept them. It hits a chord with me because it sounds so familiar. These people who are both unaccepted, insignificant and well…average have touched me. Lesson can be learned that one doesn’t have to be a celebrity or the president of the United States of America to make a difference. Everyday we have a chance to make a difference. Everyday we can have a new purpose in mind. Whether we know it or not we are making a legacy. So cheers to being mediocre and for that….I’m going back to bed.