All my friends have been doing this 30 day challenge. I need a study break, my blog has been stagnant lately, and so here's
to the latest trend...

DAY 1: Picture of yourself with 10 facts about you.
1) I am a Senior at Clemson studying Sociology and Psychology--and I LOVE it.
2)I worked as a camp counselor at Crestridge up in the mountains of NC for 2 summers, and they were the 2 best summers of my entire life.
3)I have three brothers, one older, and two younger who act like they're older. ;)
4)I am getting married to my best friend and the most wonderful man I've ever met in less than 2 months.
5)I'm obsessed with Coffee. Literally. Been hooked since age 12.
6)Camping out on the weekends in my hammock is one of the most wonderful things ever..especially with a fire nearby.
7)I designed my wedding invitations and I'm excited that nobody else in the whole world will have the same ones!! It's very rare that I am proud of my artwork--these turned out so cute though.
8)I have to brush my teeth using hot water..such a weird quirk.
9)I finally got the tattoo I've wanted for years now! Yes, it hurt. I wouldn't say I'd never get another, but I'd have to want the same thing for a couple years before I got it.
10)I'll always be a beach girl at heart, but love an occasionally trip to the mountains.

I'm obsessed with these videos.

How did this happen? How did something as small as coffee threaten my dependence on God for my every need!? As a college student--I'd say sleep and energy are of vital importance. And, frankly, ever since I was..oh..say...12 I've been highly in love with coffee. I've gone without coffee for a couple days. A couple days of which were accompanied by headaches, a brain that couldn't stop thinking about the delicious beverage, and a zombie-like Jordan that struggles through the simplest of tasks.

Yes, it's that bad.

So I went to the place I never thought I'd go when it came to lent this year. That's right. In the past, I never grasped the significance of 'giving up' or even adding on something good. This isn't a resolution. Not that I ever thought it was, but I never dared really giving thought to where my dependence lies for my daily "needs." We live in the land of plenty, where there is a fix for the slightest of problems. (Who needs to pray over a headache--I've got a cabinet full of tylenol!) These little things are a blessing, but they are NOT necessities. Coffee, for me, feels like a necessity.

Luckily, God is way more powerful than the strongest cup of coffee I've ever had. He is the source of my strength, energy, and life. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was looking forward to drinking coffee again--but hopefully it will be through renewed eyes.

Day 2. Still alive, barely awake, but I am dependent on Him only! Bring it on.

My brother has been struggling a lot with religious persecution. Let me be the first to say that our family has always accepted and loved people no matter what they believe. While we may not necessarily AGREE with a person's beliefs, it has no affect on how we treat them....and most of the time, this is the case for those people towards us as well. As Christians, I will NEVER "not like" somebody because of what they believe in. If they continually wrong me, attack me, and go out of their way to make my life hell then I'm not going to intentionally be around them...but I STILL won't hate them.

Basically, these guys have it out for my brother. They are agenda-minded hard core atheists who have made it their mission to 1)"Disprove" my brother's beliefs, 2)Make him look stupid, and 3)torment him for their amusement. When one of Blake's friends brought these guys up, Blake responded with, "yeah, I'm not too fond of them." (Rightfully so, I wouldn't be fond of them either if they treated me that way.) The friend responded with, "Yep, the feeling is mutual."

My brother sat for a minute in awe of their "mutual feelings." So he says to his friend, "You do know WHY I'm not fond of them, right?....It's because they treat me terribly, attack me, torment me ALL the time." His friend replies, "Yeah, definitely..they treat you horribly."

My brother then says, "so.....why don't they like ME?" And he says, "Oh, because of your religion."

So that's the deal. They hate him because of his beliefs, and he dislikes them because they treat him terribly. Do you see the flaw here?

After discussing this situation, we sat down to watch Religulous, a documentary set out to "destroy" the beliefs of Christians, Muslims, Mormons, and even Scientologists. But the manner in which the guy does it is along the same lines as these boys are doing to my brother.

So here's my point: if you are truly seeking answers, curious about world religions, wondering about religious texts...the way you are going to do it will be open-mindedly, non-confrontationally, and kindly. ANY other way stems from hatred, intolerance, and just plain ignorance.

Anyways, the documentary was weak, the boys who attack my brother are weak, and this guy sums up what I think about all this very nicely:

"Bill Maher recently came out with a new movie called “Religulous.” It’s basically a “documentary” attacking religion and a belief in God.

Unfortunately, it’s another example of how many modern atheists simply, totally and utterly miss the point. And I’m not just saying that because I disagree with them. It’s because they make all of these arguments that defeat what they perceive religion and the case for God to be. Meanwhile, anybody who has studied philosophy or theology in the slightest sits back, listens, and at the end are left thinking…so what? They never even touch the real questions. They just set up these juvenile straw men and then convincingly knock them down in front of their own cameras. Very impressive. All the while they reveal their total misunderstanding of the theists case.

Richard Dawkins does the same thing in his book, “The God Delusion.” It’s a waste of time for anyone that wants to seriously debate the real issues. Trust me – I’ve read it. Don’t waste your time unless you just need to further convince yourself that these atheists are basically just stubborn thinkers who refuse to graduate from the 1st grade. And God bless’em – I don’t say that out of arrogance. Or because I have all the answers – I don’t. I say that because the arguments they present to “disprove” God and religion are infantile in the scope of human thought. That’s not to say they aren’t smart enough. Many of them are extremely smart. They are just extremely close minded.

The most unfortunate thing is that many people who often don’t understand the rationale behind God and religion are somehow swayed by these disastrously simple minded and distracting atheistic arguments against God and religion."