VALENTINE POETRY COMPETITION

Daniel Kaczowka

The teacher passed out and fell right off her chair.

My classmates are crying and gasping for air.

The hamster is howling and hiding his head.

The plants by the window are practically dead.

There's gas in the class; it's completely my fault,And smells like a chemical weapons assault.

So try to remember this lesson from me:

Don't take off your shoes in class after P.E.

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If it looks good - should we have it?

Here's a biblical description of something beautiful:

Ezekiel 28:13-

"...every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. 14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. -

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!

Now let me put this into perspective for you. God is describing something that is more beautiful than anyting he has ever created. This object that God is describing can turn into anything in an instant! It is made of diamonds, rubies and other very expensive jewls. What would you do if you came across it? Would you want it? The most beautiful thing that God ever created? Or would you pass it by?

Not too long ago I was stuck in this very predicament. I had an opportunity to buy something I had wanted for a long time. It was a perfect golf club to add to my golf bag. I paid a lot of money for it, and it was beautiful; in my opinion the most beautiful club that Kobra(c) makes. And so I spent the money and bought the club - and quickly learned that my ability to hit the ball had little to do with my club and more to do with my form. You see I could have saved my cash and worked on my swing for free - instead - I'm still no better a golfer than before, I just have a really pretty club now.

This may come as a surprise to you but the above description given by God in Ezekiel is of someone we all know far to well - here, listen to the rest of the descripton, then decide if you would want it -

Ezekiel 28:15-19

15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. 16 Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
17 Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. 18 By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, and it consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. 19 All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more. "

The above description is satan - before, during and after the fall - You see satan was made beautiful! He had incredible beauty and was put in charge of all of the angels, "your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor".

The next time you really want something you'd better think about what might be lerking behind that grand facade - you could get something more that a shiny new golf club.

Is it really cool to cuss??

Today I asked my three year old to make an angry face for me to use to illustrate this message; a photograph depicting anger, a reason someone might cuss - But as you can see from the picture, this is his angriest face - still a hint of a smile - praise God. It dawned on me that my three year old could not even pretended to be hateful. That's not to say he's never been angry, let's be realistic, he has a little sister! My point is that he is not at an age yet where he even realizes how to feign anger.

I have heard many Christians cussing over the years - myself included - but that begs the question - IS IT OK FOR CHRISTIANS TO USE CURSE WORDS? The answer quite simply is NO, of course not. I believe there are only two reasons Christians cuss:

1) Because they can not control their temper -
2) Because they think it's cool -

There really is no other reason Christians cuss. But what does God say about cussing, swearing, cursing, and other bad words?

Ephesians 4:29 - "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use and edifying that it might minister grace unto the hearers."

James 1:21 - "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and [abundance] of naughtiness, and receive with [gentelness] the engrafted word, which is able to save your soul."

Well, there doesn't really seem to be very much wiggle room for those of us who cuss, but what if you can't help it? What if you just loose your temper and say bad words? What does God say about us?

Well, according to Webster, the word Temper is defined as a "disposition of mind" - to lose your temper is literally "to lose your mind"! There are several verses focused on how and why to control your temper, but my favorite is this - James 1:19 - "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (20) "for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

The next time you feel yourself getting angry think about James 1:19-20. This is an awesome example of how to use Gods Word to heal yourslef of anger. If you can learn to control your anger, then you can learn to control your language - If you're cussing just to be cool - You are what you speak - how cool is that?

Who do you see in the mirror?

Everytime I look in the mirror I just love what I see....YEAH RIGHT! Who say's that? Who looks in the mirror everyday and isn't a little self conscious about something? I would venture to say that we all would like to change something about ourselves. Some people are afraid they are too thin, some too overweight, crooked teeth, bad hair, big nose, pimples, too short, too tall, bad accent...the list goes on. But who are we really trying to impress anyway? Our friends? Our family? OURSELVES? God warns us about obsessing with our appearance - it's called VANITY, and yes, it's a sin...and for good reason.

"In 1997 two remarkable women died—Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa died at age 87 of a heart ailment. Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris. She was 36. Diana had it all. She had influence, wealth, power, fame. She lived every young girl’s fairytale. She married the prince. She was probably the most photographed woman in the history of the world. She had a glamorous royal wedding and a spectacular royal divorce.
Mother Teresa, on the other hand, was born in what is now Macedonia in 1910. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen, she left home and joined the Sisters of Loreto. She devoted herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta.

Interestingly enough, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa knew each other and were fond of each other. They made a startling contrast. Diana was tall, stately, beautiful. Mother Teresa was small, only about 4’ 11’’. And she was hunched over because of arthritis in the back, so Diana looked about two feet taller than mother Teresa. Diana wore designer clothes. Mother Teresa wore a white sari that cost $1. And, of course, Mother Teresa was fifty years older than Diana.
But, you have to ask yourself, Which of these two women found peace and happiness and meaning in life? The answer is obvious. Not the royal princess.

Diana’s life was a tragedy. She was riddled with insecurity, attempted suicide numerous times, had several bouts with eating disorders, had a failed marriage. And in all that, every mistake she made, every misstatement, and every moral failure was broadcast around the globe."

Now, I don't mean to imply that Diana was vain; in reality she always appeared quite humble to me. My purpose for bringing you the illistration about Diana and Mother Teresa is to make a very relevent point - Neither, beauty, fame, wealth, pride, or perfection can bring happiness. There really is no reason to stand in front of the mirror detesting what God gave you. If you were thinner, you would be no happier - If you were taller, you'd be no happier - If you had better hair...you'd be no happier. Instead try this; ask God to use the attributes that he gave you - Ask him to help you be happy with who you are - and always remember, If someone doesn't like you because of the way you look - what do you think they see everytime they look in the mirror? - Pray for them

Focus Chapters:

Proverbs 31:30 - "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the lord - she shall be praised."

Jeremiah 4:30 - "What are you doing, you devastated one? Why dress yourself in scarlet and put on jewels of gold? Why color your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain... "

Hey, I was nearly eaten by a whale!

For the last month I had been swimming as fast as I could because there was a ginormous whale nipping at my toes. It didn’t matter how hard or fast I swam, the whale just kept gliding along with that big giant mouth open, sucking in gallons of water and plankton. Sure there were days when I was able to rest for a while, then back in the water I was thrown, the whale always close behind. I struggled like a little perch, “why me? Why do I have to go?” – All the while the whale never slumbered, his eyes never wavered, and the menu never changed – it was awful – it was awesome – and I am happy to say I am out of the water…

Does this sound like anyone we know? Jonah was a man of God; he just wasn’t a man who was very confident at times (sort of like the guy in the first paragraph!). He loved God and wanted to do Gods work – he just wanted to do it on his terms. God told to him to go to Nineveh, (that’s modern day Iraq, just outside Mosul), and "cry against the city because their wickedness has come before me".

Now, Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh and warn the Assyrians of Gods anger because he knew that there was a good possibility the Assyrians would repent (Jonah 4: 2-3)…wait a minute, isn’t that what we’re suppose to pray for? See, Jonah hated the Assyrians and he didn’t want them to receive mercy from God. He, like many Jews at the time, didn’t think gentiles should receive Gods mercy.

JUST A SIDE THOUGHT
I wonder how many of us have actually prayed for our enemies? We are commanded to do so; Matthew 5:44 – [Love your enemies; bless those who curse you…].

We all know what happens next; Jonah decides that he’s going to flee the presence of the Lord by jumping on a ship and heading to Trashish. Ultimately God sends a great storm which threatens to destroy the ship. The other passengers aboard the “S.S. You can’t hide from God” knew that the storm was upon them on account of Jonah, and subsequently chucked him overboard, at his request no less. Jonah spent the next three days and nights in the belly of the big fish, finally submitting to God.

The next time God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, he didn’t hesitate.

Has God been calling you to do something for him, FOR HIS KINGDOM? Has he put an assignment on your thoughts, a mission in your mind, or a fire in your heart? Don’t hesitate, just go and do it. Do think about the consequences of it, God will take care of that part; he just wants you to act. If you run one of two things will happen: Either he will pass the assignment onto someone else who will receive Gods blessing for their obedience, or he’s gonna send a big ole whale after you!

Read more about Jonah in the book of Jonah – it’s only 4 chapters for goodness sakes, quit your whining! HA

Who's Influencing You?

Arguably the first person to ever be influenced in human history was a woman named Eve. Prior to that day in the Garden of Eden, no person had ever experienced influence before. She was the first person that had to confront influence and she failed miserably.

So many things happened that day in the Garden of Eden that life was given a limit. A series of unfortunate events were set into motion and to this day, we’re still suffering from its repercussions.

This begs the question; what is influence? Wikipedia defines it as follows: Influence is a term that refers to the ability to indirectly control, shape or affect the actions, beliefs and attitudes of other people or things through your behavior, words or presence. The meaning of influence therefore depends on who or what is being affected, and to what end.

Clearly there can be good influences and bad influences. You can choose to influence your friends in a positive or a negative way, but who’s influencing you?

Genesis 3:1 – Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

The word of note here is SUBTLE. How many times have you made a bad decision, having been influenced by someone, and later question, “How could I have done that?” I would venture to say that the bad influence was presented to you in a “subtle” way. This is more evidence to the argument that we should pray about every decision, big or small, before we make it.

Genesis 3:7 – And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…

This is significant use of language in that “the eyes of them both were opened”. Clearly
Adam and Eve could see before they ate the fruit, but now they were given a new vision.
They lost God-consciousness and gained Self-consciousness…all because of influence.

The next time you’re in a questionable situation and you are being influenced to make a certain decision, you ought to pray deeply about it…you never know if that decision could change your sight.

Who cares about a two headed monkey riding a bike anyway?

When was the last time you saw a two headed monkey riding a bicycle? Chances are this is probably the first time you’ve ever seen one, considering I had to make the picture in Photoshop. When you saw the picture of the two headed monkey what did you think? Did you laugh? Were you grossed out? Did you think it was stupid?

Maybe today wasn’t the first time you’ve seen a two headed monkey riding a bicycle, or at least acted like you were seeing one. How many times this week did you see something odd at school, or church, that made you laugh? Maybe it was an outfit that you thought looked dumb on someone, or the way someone had their hair styled on Monday? Perhaps it was the way someone stuttered nervously while speaking in front of a group?

Would you have made fun of Moses…he had a stuttering problem?
Would you have been one to tease Noah who was building a ship in the middle of dry land?

Try to imagine for a moment, how you would react if a man wearing a robe and sandals walked up to you and said, “Hey, I’m the Son of God.” Would he have been a two headed monkey riding a bicycle to you? What if it was 2000 years ago? Would you have recognized him as the Savior that he was?

My point is this; life is hard enough, especially at your age. Do we really need to point out to everyone, every time we see a two headed monkey riding a bike? You never really know whose feelings you may be hurting in the process, and remember, EVERYONE gets a chance to be a two headed monkey riding a bicycle. The next time you see one…it might just be you?