TobyMac is my Homeboy;Jesus is my Savior
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Marvelous Light
I once was fatherless; a stranger with no hope.
Your kindness wakened me, Awakened me, from my sleep.
Your love it beckons deeply, a call to come and die.
By grace now I will come And take this life, take your life.
Sin has lost it's power, death has lost it's sting.
From the grave you've risen VICTORIOUSLY!
Into marvelous light I'm running, Out of darkness, out of shame.
By the cross you are the truth, You are the life, You are the way.
My dead heart now is beating.
My deepest stains now clean.
Your breath fills up my lungs. Now I'm free. now I'm free!
Repeat Chorus
Lift my hands and spin around, See the light that I have found.
Oh the marvelous light, marvelous light.
Lift my hands and spin around, see the light within...
ithin...
Friday, October 12, 2007
Reflection
Part One :
Memoir Topic: The week I spent in Panama City Beach, Florida at the Gauntlet. I tried to figure out the emotions and activities that took place and contributed to my experience at the Gauntlet. I learned how to use adjectives and adverbs to make my memoir would be descriptive and interesting.
The Scarlet Letter Essay Topic: Identity as a theme in the novel. I tried to figure out how personal and social identities were expressed in The Scarlet Letter and the effects of the identities on the characters. I learned how to think analytically and determine the important key points that would help me in my essay. I learned how to analyze literature and write so that my paper would reflect an aspect of the novel.
Part Two:
I reworded my memoir to remove the majority of my being verbs. [[am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been]] In my scarlet letter essay I better explained how identity was a theme of the novel. I revised the wording and added some descriptive language to both. I removed the awkward sentences.
Part Three:
After I read my friends' pieces, I found some things they included in their writings that could be beneficial to my writing. In Kelly's memoir I learned that I can use my emotions in my writing. I can include the emotions I felt about different places, people, and experiences. I read Nick's essay about the Crucible character and I saw how he compared Hale to Play-doh. He used descriptive language to compare to two things that seemed unalike. I learned a lot about writing and comparing things in my friends' papers.
Nature Essay
"Man's heart away from nature becomes hard." Standing Bear said this about our society. We are living in a very different time period than that of Emerson and Thoreau. There is more technology available: video games, computers, and other electronic devices. Everything, from magazine advertisements to tv commercials, is competing for our attention. It takes a strong person to put aside these things and spend time enjoying the world around him.When I was in 7th grade, I attended Oakwood Christian School. During March, every student was required to go to The Wilds, a Christian camp in North Carolina. When February ended, tons of high schoolers loaded their belonging on the church vans and headed to North Carolina. As we rode, my friend Kirsten and I looked out the window at the beautiful scenery. The flat landscape quickly transformed into mountains and streams. When we got there, we had orientation in a really big room. After that, we had free time. Kirsten and I went to explore and check out the surroundings.
The next days were filled with sermons, activities, and events. The day before we returned home, we had a final meeting. We were scheduled to go on a long hike up one of the mountains to the waterfalls. It was a long walk and as the day dragged on, the sun beat down on us. When we finally arrived at our destination, we all took off our shoes so we could wade in the water. Several waterfalls flowed down into the valley. Since it was March, the water was FREEZING! Kirsten and I decided to continue up the trail past everyone else. In a few minutes, we came to a clearing. Kirsten yelled at me to stand beside her. When I did, the scenery took my breath away. Beautiful snow capped mountains shone in the distance. John Muir once said, "How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!" I never really understood this quote until that day. The trees and flowers in the valley were just blooming and the world was "waking up" from winter. I was completely awestruck by the beauty of God's creation.
Looking back on that day, I will never forget what I learned. I realized that I shouldn't take anything for granted, and that there is beauty in everything around me. We complain about not having enough technology, when really all we need is time. Emerson and Thoreau never had any of the creature comforts we do. Instead, they got out into the world and enjoyed their surroundings. Now every time I reach for my cell phone or get online to surf the Internet, I think about whether or not it's really important. And I remember Standing Bear's quote, "Man's heart away from nature becomes hard."
