Here again, here again.

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I’m back! Yay! Thanks to those of you who still read my posts while I was on my hiatus.

I had plenty of ideas while I was gone. It’s funny how you can think of stuff once you don’t need to. All those people who’ve crammed for tests and then blanked out know what I mean.

Speaking of tests, I should be starting college next month.

I won’t be going to a University, so I hope to escape the grind of tests and finals for a dozen different subjects. (2 or 3 is plenty.)

I wasn’t actually planning on going to college. I don’t believe it’s necessary to succeed in life. Though plenty of companies prefer to hire college grads, the trends are changing. However, I decided to finally pursue ASL officially. I’ve wanted to do that for years and now I can.

So now I have to do all these adult things like set up a bank account and get a parking permit.

Do you know what I’ve realized? I have insecurities about being an adult. Shock!

I also realize adults have insecurities about being an adult.

In essence, being an adult just means being a person capable of independence and of giving something back to the world that you live in. Kids can do that, but they don’t have the same opportunities. The thing is, independence scares the heck out of people.

Especially me. I’ve wanted it for a long time. Now I don’t know if I’m ready for it. I’m lucky to have people in my life who believe in my abilities. And also some who don’t. Human nature being what it is, we all sometimes need to be antagonized before we’ll rise to the occasion.

The truth is, I know I am ready to step into being an adult, and that I’m doing it as fast as can be reasonably expected. It’s just that liberty can be daunting. We;ll fight for it, but once we have it, it’s a lot of work.

Here in the USA that knowledge is a part of our history (as forgotten as it may be.) far be it from me to say the USA is the best country in the world. I think so, in most respects, but it’s good to love your own country. I do think Americans tend to put more focus on freedom then most countries. Often because freedom there isn’t an option for enough of the inhabitants.

I’m just saying maybe my experience of growing up is different; but wherever you are, you have to have an increase of responsibility if nothing else.

I think many of us try to hang on to childhood as long as we can. There is some wisdom in that. I don’t want to give up all my childhood ideas and hopes and fancies (we need fancies) but I also think it’s a mistake to put off growing up as long as possible. When it’s time, it’s better to embrace it.

embracing it might look a lot like kicking and screaming for every inch of ground, but still going forward of your own accord. No one said it’s always a graceful transition.

My dad used to become physically unwell when he faced adult responsibilities. My mom seemed to do it more smoothly. I guess I have both.

I was once a worrier. If I’ve had to deal with one thing this past year, it’s trying not to be a worrier again. I’m not one to stew over all that could go wrong, though I used to be. But sometimes I still worry over repeating problems.

And I have to remind myself that my life is in God’s hands, as is my health, my finances, my social circles.

As Christians like to say, if God is for us, who can be against us?

Well, the answer is, a lot of beings can be against you, but the point is that none of them can stop you.

People like to use “unstoppable” as a slogan. But unless you have something to back that up, it’s an empty word. Almost everything can be stopped, it would be arrogant to think you’re above that.

But if God, who is unstoppable, is backing you, that word can be a word of faith.

The difference between faith and empty bragging can be confusing on paper, but they are unmistakable in real life. I know when I’ve just trying to psyche myself up.

And that’s all for now, until next time–Natasha.

Intermission.

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I am just writing this post to inform all my readers that I won’t be posting for a few weeks. Check your emails at the end of the month for more material, but for now I’m on a hiatus.

Hey, everyone needs a break.

Until then–Natasha

Happy New Year’s resolution.

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Another year, another chance to fufill my goals.

But I’m not into making New Year’s REsolutions. I think, like most people, that they are an optimistic waste of time.

The real problem with NEw Year’s resolutions isn’t what every one says, that being that we just can’t hold ourselves to them.

That is a problem. But the truth is, if you really try, you can keep a resolution.

I have. As I’ve shared before, I’ve gone cold turkey ont hings, and I haven’t gone back to them.

I’ve sucessfully taken a break from doing certaint hings and eating or drinking certain stuff.

It can be done.

Yay!

I think it’s a lame exuse to say Resolutions just can’t be kept. Improving yourself isn’t a bad idea.

But the problem I do see with this New Year’s thing is that it makes resolution a joke. OR at the very least a fun thing. Or, if not that, then a popular fad.

Which kills all power in the resolution.

Resolutions are never fun, they aren’t funny, they usually aren’t popular.

For example, I could resolve to go see every new superhero movie the day of its release. That’s not going to be that hard on a personal level, though financially it would be.

It’s not like that culturally unacceptable. No one’s going to call me a prude or anything if I do it.

But if I were to resolve never to watch television fora w hole year, I’m sure some people would call that overboard.

(Try it and see, it’d be an interesting experience.)

But making a resolution just because everyone else is doing it and it’s a tradition defeats the point.

One has to be  serious about what they resolve. There has to be a real desire to change, and a real will to stick it out. Trust me, when there’s not , yo won’t last the week.

And any Christian would tell you, the grace of God is what makes it possible.

One can resolve and stick to it on mere will power, but that’s not the best way. It’s better to resolve something out of passion. Hiving the correct motivation to.

Those changes just aren’t made a whole lot. They’re the changes we all secretly wish the people around us would make, and wish also that we ourselves could make.

Humanity longs for change. None of us are always satisfied with who we are. Nor should we be.

I am no talking about hating yourself. I mean hating the thing that you do that are less than good. Or just mediocre.

Sometimes you have to hate the dumb things you do before you realize just how dumb they are.

I want to meet goals, but i don’t expect to change my habits all in one day or one week. So I make a dream list every new year.

I should review my old one and see if I did any of those things.

Until next time–Natasha.

Is God always right?–1

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You ever wonder if God always does the right thing?

It sounds nuts, doesn’t it?

But it’s actually something most people have wondered. You probably have.

It comes up a lot in Christian movies, but surprisingly, super hero stories of all things are also dealing with that problem.

That infamously awful Dawn of Justice movie is one example. Lex says “If God is all powerful, he cannot be all good.”

Well, my thought with that is that Lex Luthor is insane. He always was, the movie version is just more cartoony than the…cartoon version…hmm. Weird.

(Can anyone tell me what Lex is short for?)

Anyway, I actually have a good reason for thinking Lex is off his wagon (other than the obvious ones.)

My case is that it is because God is all powerful that he can be all good.

I know that in the movie, Superman is meant to be the god in question. But though superman has a lot of powers, he has no powers that would make him a god. Other than his ability to see everywhere.

Superman has no better understanding of humanity than anyone else; he has no ability to see into people’s souls; and nowadays he’s not even angelically good.

I know that Marvel is kind of redefining what godly qualities look like. But they used to mean goodness, wisdom, and yes, power.

If God is good, he must be all powerful.

But why does it seem like God does things that are bad?

I’ve heard it brought up that God in the Old Testament is bloodthirsty; cruel; judgmental.

I understand this to an extent. God tells us not to murder, yet He strikes people down.

And people actually make fun of this now, mocking the idea that someone could be struck by lightning from heaven. Though that’s hardly funny when you think about it.

I really don’t think God works that way most of the time, but as often as I’ve heard pastors downplay it, I have to admit, if you believe God is all powerful, you have to acknowledge he could do things like that. And that He does. Sometimes.

I don’t believe that God never judges people. that;s His job and his alone.

But what about those stories in the Bible where whole nations are supposed to be wiped out?

Well, human pity tends to say that’s terrible. And the Israelites themselves didn’t follow those instructions. I feel like in our modern world they would be applauded for thinking for themselves.

But what happened because of that was that the Israelites were corrupted. here’s some fun facts about the nations they were told to destroy. They did human sacrifice. Including Children. They also has sex as a means of some weird worship ritual. They were terrible cultures. They led the Israelites to do those things to.

The Israelites. like all people struggling to be different, often were swayed by the folks around hem. Just as we are by peer pressure. They wanted a king because it was the cool thing. They wanted to build altars to the popular gods.

And if you think that’s changed over the centuries, then you need to take a closer look. It’s the same now.

But in that time, pretty much the only way to deal with that sin was to eradicate the sinners. It wasn’t pretty, but it was the only thing to do.

God wanted a holy people. he wanted them to understand that the wages of sin is indeed death. If they would be his, they could not belong to the world around them.

It may sound insane to justify mass murder on those grounds…and in some ways, it is.

After all, I would say terrorists are insane.

There are a few differences though.

First of all, I think we can all agree what the other nations were doing was terrible and inhuman.

It’s different to give the death sentence to murderers then it is to a nation of lesser sins.

There’s a lot of theological reasons about why everyone in these nations needed to be killed. At the very least, it was war.

Beyond that, all I can really say is that you have to believe.

But I don’t think that’s enough.

It’s not hard to think that if the God of the Bible is the one true God, then it is his right to decide who lives and dies.

It’s more problematic when you think how many other religions claim that.

And even more so if you think that no matter if it’s true or not, it seems terrible.

But God is ever merciful.

We deserve nothing form him. That he chooses to spare one nation and destroy another is all in His own plan, and who are we to question it.

But even so, he does not despise our questions.

He does remind us that He is god, and we are man. We can’t understand.

And if there’s one thing I’ve observed about humanity it’s that our pity for each other is not consistent.

We get all bent out of shape over God’s judgement. But we make death threats on the internet to people who’ve never done us any personal wrong just because we don’t like them. We murder each other over stupid things like money. We use each other. We lie We cheat. We steal.

We who abuse children; and have holocausts; and start arguments just to pick a fight.

Should we really talk?

I just have a feeling those who would condemn God need to take a good look at themselves.

God at least has reasons for what He does.

But if that’s not enough (and it never is) I also want to point out that God, by position, has the right to do things we don’t do.

I realize I haven’t made perhaps the strongest argument with this post, but it’s a good starting point to dive deeper into this. So until next time–Natasha.

Why lions are awesome!

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Lions and tigers, and leopards, oh my!

I had to get that terrible joke out of the way.

I’ve been watching NatGeoWild a lot lately. I may not be a huge animal person, but I have my level of interest. Which has certainly been expanded by the things I’ve been watching.

The channel just had a Big Cats week, so I recorded about ten different programs, which I still haven’t finished watching.

My favorite big cats by far are the lions. Cheetahs and leopards and jaguars are cool. But lions take the grand prize.

I am no professional, but my astute observation after so much research is that lions are unpredictable.

If you have cats of your own (I have three) you probably would agree that cats are often predictable to a retain extent, but constantly do things that puzzle you. Like one of my cats likes being petted only every so often, and only on her head. But sometimes she lets you do more. There’s really no way to know.

Lions are like that times ten. Traditionally we all know them as the king of beasts, but not everyone knows that they are good mothers, protective fathers, and surprisingly affectionate pride members.

Watching the lions and lionesses with each other reminds you of watching a pair of highschoolers with innocent school level crushes, or a new married couple perhaps.

Lions date, did you know that? It’s not exactly how we do it, but when an aspiring male wants to mate with his female of choice, he has to prove himself, usually by bringing her dinner or helping with a catch.

Lions risk their lives to get food, so the lion has to be committed to this idea before he goes for it.

But lions are no easy pickups. Some swatting and growling can be involved before they agree to be mates.

I also think that those who represent lions as only bloodthirsty killers have never actually watched lions alone.

Lions are very territorial, but they still can surprise you.

9 out of 10 times, a lion will chase another lion off, or look out for number one.

But I was watching one story about three different lion prides. One of which was decidedly more fierce and merciless. These lions had some excuse to be, since they had to guard a whole herd of buffalo, whereas most prides don’t rely on just one herd for food. But there was one horrible part where they tortured one unlucky member of a rival pride to death.

It was so sad, the pride the victim was from had to surrender to save her life but in the end they got too dehydrated and had to move on, thought hey waited as long as possible. The mother of the lioness waited the longest.

I started feeling bad at this point, even though it was a lion, and it wasn’t like I knew her or anything.

But it turns out I must not have been the only one. The next day the three prides (one of which stayed out of he fight,) all stared trying to eat the same giraffe, and the merciless lions tried to take another lioness form the competition. This time the lionesses pride didn’t do anything, probably because they had surrendered and figured they were licked.

But then something even the commentator couldn’t explain happened. the other rival pride, the owners of the turf, stepped in and drove the angry lions off. Saving the lionesses life, though she was hurt. The angry pride didn’t dare mess with the actual owneres of the turf. (Kind of like a kid int he cookie jar doesn’t throw a temper tantrum.)

you have to understand, these lions had no real reason to help out. They just wanted these intruders off their land.

My personal thought was they’d seen the killing the day before, and sometimes I think lions just get tired of it. They didn’t want to settle things that way.

And that’s a really human emotion to witness from wild animals.

IT put me in mind of all those cute stories of how animals save lives. Which my sister reminded me of after I shared this story with her. Whatever you might think of cats and dogs, both creatures have been unknown to rescue both each other and humans.

Even wild animals have been known to save humans, for whatever reason. Lions included.

If you have read this far, first thank you; second, you might be wondering why I told all this. It’s not exactly my normal subject matter.

Well, hey, I have other interests. This is my blog , I can do what I want.

But also, I found these lions inspiring, in the way only animals can be. Sometimes it takes an animal to remind us of what it means to be human,

Mercy, compassion, these are the exceptions int he animal kingdom. And animals aren’t evil for that, they do have to survive in am roe basic way than we do.

But that’s exactly why we should realize that if even wild beasts can find some compassion in themselves, it must be an important part of life.

Some lionesses take care of cubs that aren’t there’s even when it’s at risk to themselves. Sometimes the males, classically portrayed as eating off what the girls hunt, actually allow struggling mothers and cubs to share with them.

Lions are a lot of things but they aren’t selfish.

And I think that’s a lesson for us.

For me, watching this was amazing for another reason, because I thought that God made lions, and God is compassionate. If even his wild creations can show mercy, then how much more his intelligent, spiritual ones?

And those are my thoughts for now. Until next time–Natasha.

Not my father’s.

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First of all, my holiday was pretty good. Family; that family’s friends; gifts.

But just the day after Christmas things were back to the old pattern. I got told that I was so influenced by what my father believes it was unbeleivable.

It’s funny, my dad would probably never say that. I don’t think most people who meet me feel I am easily swayed by people’s opinion.

But what does frustrate me is that I don’t explain my own positions. I never have explained my political positions (that is, what led me to that conclusion.) IT’s nto becaue I don’t have reasons. I have lots of reasons.

I actually have too many, and I usually feel that if I laid out my whole line of thinking, no one would listen. People rarely listen when I even begin to explain my views, if they hold different ones.

I’ve learned to keep my disagreement to myself.

Which is, I figure, just what the opposition wants.

I’m not the only one who does this, I know others who do. People who are feeling that the opposing side is so bull headed that there’s no point in trying to explain why we think differently. We never get that far, we figure, so why bother?

Funny, whichever side of a given issue you’re on, you probably have felt this way.

But, no one gets wiser when we all keep in in.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,”

Of course I’m not one to say that we can all always learn form each other’s points of view.

That’s not the reason we share points of view.

If someone’s view is false, then nothing can be learned from it, by definition. But there is a lot you can learn from the person who holds that view.

You can learn why they hold it, how it came to happen, and what effect it has on them and the people around them.

With very extreme views, often that last thing is obvious.

But I submit to you that truth itself is not something another human can teach you, just by telling you something.

We learn from each other’s character far more than from each other’s words, though those are a big part of it.

But that is the danger of looking to the popular, or widely accepted or hated opinions; also of looking to the media, or a celebrity; or a parent to guide you to truth; they aren’t always in it.

I doubt anyone has the capacity to hold all truth in their minds at one time, but it is certain that some people are on the track to discovering more of it all the time, and others to never ending deception.

That’s why we do ally ourselves with certain groups of people. I prefer Fox News not because I believe its unbiased (I don’t) but because I know the people on Fox news hold belief systems closer to my own, and therefore are more likely to point me in what I believe is the truthful direction. But I don’t completely swallow all they say, I don’t know if they really expect that actually.

The difference I do perceive between Fox and CNN is that one seems to expect people of different views to tune in occasionally, but the other really doesn’t.

But I’m not getting into that debate (and I won’t get into it in the comments, just in case there was someone reading who would try.)

My point is, human institutions are like compasses. Some aren’t accurate, some are, but at their best, all they do is point you to the right thing.

So, if I do share a lot of my father’s views on things, it is because I see him as a pretty accurate compass.

But I don’t agree with my father on plenty of subjects. I choose to keep those to myself because I don’t think it’s anyone’s business. not anyone who’s not close to my family anyway.

But the reason I agree, as far as politics goes, is that my faith is the same as my dad’s essentially. Bible-based. And I would only expect our ideas to line up most of the time because of that.

I won’t pretend that my parents haven’t influenced my beliefs, of course they have, and I’m glad they did. They are good, honest people, and I have no reason to be ashamed to agree with them.

But they do not define my beliefs. The older I get, the more I realize this. That even though my beliefs have not really changed since I was a child, they have become more my own, not less.

Actually, whether you like it or not, after a certain age, your beliefs are your own. No matter if you’ve ever questioned them or not.

To all of us there comes a choice to question, or to accept what we’ve been taught. All of us decide, for a myriad of reasons, which we will do. All of us, no one gets left out of that. Once you decide, it’s your belief.

Some folks might whine that their parents ruined their lives, but after a certain age, you ruin your own life.

Depending on where you live and what your family is like, that could be a different age for all of us, but we hit it sooner or later.

I know our parents shape us, but they don’t define us.

And one last thing:

Like everyone, I have doubts. I never reassure myself by telling myself that “my parents are sure, so it must be true.” I can’t imagine that actually being comforting.

No. I have to go back to what I have experienced, and heard, to remind myself why I believe.

And that’s all I have to say about that, until next time–Natasha.