Romance.

Love just makes me sick these days. 

No, not love - romance. 

Specifically, teenage romance. 

Oh yes. I'm gonna go there. 

I could literally rip my hair our over how much teenage romance drives me INSANE. 

I feel like literally the ONLY thing that teenagers care about at ALL, is getting a boyfriend/girlfriend. 

KILL ME NOW. 

(kidding. butforrealimgonnadieifthisdoesntstop)

Seriously.. How does absolutely NOTHING else cross their mind?!

I mean, I know not ALL teenagers are like that. But I feel like the vast majority are. 

Seriously, they should rename youth group to "see who can get a boyfriend/girlfriend first"

In all seriousness; I seriously feel like all that teenagers do is flirt, hook up, break up, and repeat. 

Wake up call to all the madly in love 8th graders:

Guess what?!

YOU'RE STUPID. 

Kidding. But really. 

At this teenage time, the time of high school, hormones, and all that crap - we think falling in love will fulfill it. 

Good news: falling in love WILL fulfill you. 

What? What did you just say, Allie?! YOU are encouraging this such behavior?!?!

Didn't get to the bad news yet. 

Bad news: and I don't mean falling in love with that really hot guy in your class. Or even any other human being. 

I mean falling in love with CHRIST. 

We're all searching for love. 

Not just teenagers, everyone. 

But as sinners, living in a sinful world, we think romantic love will fulfill us. That if our parents will just let me date Jim-Bob (I'm sorry, I couldn't think of a better name), then I'll be fulfilled. I'll be happy. 

Wrong. 

DEAD wrong. 

We will never find fulfillment in ANYTHING of this earth. 

Relationships included. 

We are all searching for love -

And the Love we need is named Jesus.

1 John 2:15-17 says:

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 

These verses never cease to blow my mind. (Everything in the Bible blows my mind. No joke.)

I'm gonna point out the first part of verse 17 for a minute here:

"And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave."

EVERYTHING we crave in this world - romance specifically - is fading away. 

Say when we finally DO fulfill our earthly (and sinful) desires, they will ALWAYS leave you empty. You will never find any sense of fulfillment in ANYTHING else but Christ. 

In closing - 

Am I saying romance is bad? Absolutely not. (I mean, it sure as heck isn't for me, lol, but it isn't bad.)

But you will NEVER stop chasing after it until you chase after Christ first. Because in chasing after romance instead of Christ, you're basically chasing nothing. 

Christ IS love. It's what He is. 

And seriously, He is SO madly in love with you, there is nothing more that He wants than YOU. 

He died for you. 

He IS love. 

He loves you so much He died for you. 

And if that isn't romance, I don't know what is. 

Peace, love, faith and Switchfoot, 

-Allie. 

Jesus follows you on Twitter.

Hello, friends. How are you? Hope you’re well.
Alright.. Time to explain what exactly I mean by this title.

A little while ago I was scrolling through Tumblr, and a thought crossed my mind..

"I wonder what Jesus would say if He saw my tumblr?”

Hmm. I wonder. Than I begin to think,

“And what about Facebook? Instagram? What if Jesus followed me on Twitter? What would He have to say about it?”

Huh. I wonder.

The thing is..

Jesus DOES follow me on Twitter.

Obviously, Jesus is not sitting in Starbucks on his iPhone reading Twitter. But, He DOES see every move I make. He knows every move we’re going to make before we even make it.
So, that includes the fact that Jesus sees every status update, every photo, and every tweet.

How does that make you feel?

No, really, I want you to give that some thought.

The fact that Jesus Himself can see every single everything you post, and look at on every social media website you have.

I hope to most of you, this wouldn’t really.. Bother you. Why should it?

I mean, personally, I don’t mind Jesus seeing the Switchfoot pictures I see on Tumblr and the recipes on Pinterest and the sunsets and food on Instagram. Absolutely does not bother me.

But.. You think I’ve ever tweeted something that would offend Jesus? Nothing really comes to mind. But it can’t help make you think, you know?

Have you ever posted or looked at something you think would offend Jesus? Make Him disappointed?

I’m absolutely not pointing fingers at you - don’t want you to think you’re a horrible person. Because, if you’re reading this, you’re absolutely not a bad person. But I do think that we’re all human, and we need the occasional wake up call.

I mean, I wouldn’t be posting this if it wasn’t because it’s something I’m not passionate about.

The point I'm trying to get across, is -

We get so caught up in all this technological, social media, stuff, that we forget that Jesus is right there in the middle of it. You know what I'm saying?
Amongst all our status updates and tweets and selfies, we forget that Christ is RIGHT THERE. Ya know? He sees everything we do. He's insanely involved with us and everything we do even when we don't realize it.


Just because I think if something isn't physical, it's more than easy for us to just simply forget. And that's what happens with Christ - our iPhones are sitting right there, we can see it. But Jesus is sitting right there, too.


This has turned into kind of a two-for-one-lesson blog.


First point:
Jesus follows us on Twitter. He knows exactly what we do before we even think up doing it. Which, I know for me, is a wake up call of sorts.
Second point:
Jesus is RIGHT THERE. Can you imagine how much more time we could all spend with Christ or doing things for Christ, if we just got off Twitter?


To focus on the second point for a moment:
I've realized lately, and today, especially, that I would have so much more free time if I just got off my phone.
Seriously, I don't know if I'd wanna know how much time I spend on this thing a day. HOURS. I mean, HOURS! I would have HOURS of free time?! IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES YOU GUYS!
In all seriousness, the second point I want to get across is this:
We need to put down the phones and pick up the Bibles.
I know what you're thinking,
"Oh, but Allie, I have a Bible app. See? Phones are great. I can take the Bible with me wherever I go and access it at the tap of a button. HA."

Yes, I get your point. That's wonderful, that's a huge blessing to have a Bible right with you at any time.

But would you say you look at it more than Twitter?

Hmm?

Again, totally not judging you. I'm just saying - the fact that social media is ahead of Jesus in our minds is a BAD. THING.


Social media can be a huge blessing. Of course, it can keep you up to date with things that you wouldn't know otherwise.


BUT.


When our iPhones become higher on the list than Jesus, it becomes something we worship.


(Sorry, this blog is about to get a lot longer. Didn't mean for it to. Sorry kids.)


Speaking of which, I've been reading "Gods at War" by Kyle Idleman since it came out a few weeks back. (Haven't read it much lately.. Mental note to do that.)
And it made a HUGE, pivotal point:


Just in the example of social media, it shouldn't be higher on the list. In fact - there shouldn't BE a list. It should just be Jesus.


OKAY. Totally getting off the beaten path here. This is like three blogs in one. I'll wrap up.


Jesus follows us on Twitter, and in our every movement. And the point is, we need to acknowledge that.


Jesus is here. With us. Right now. Let's acknowledge that.



Peace, love, faith and Switchfoot,
-Allie.

Oh crud I have a blog.

So..
I kinda remembered last night that this blog existed.
Whoops.
IM SO SORRY YOU GUYSSSSS.
I'm turning into Sean.
(OHHHHH BURRRRRN. You know I love you Sean.)
So. I suppose I'll give you a recap of the last almost 6 months:
Celebrate Freedom back in September was perf,
Thanksgiving and Christmas were rad, other than the fact I was sick before and leading up to both events,
Went to Winter Jam TWICE within a couple days of each other a couple weeks ago, both of which were AMAZING and a huge blessing,
Oh yeah, I guess I turned 16 in September. That was cool I guess.
I started a blog with 4 of my favorite people, (a different post coming about that)
Saw The Hobbit AND all three Lord of the Rings movies (still reading The Hobbit.. Yaaaay for being a slow reader..)
Andddd just normal other Allie activities. Lol. FUN TIMES.
I'll absolutely be posting more here in '13.
I've honestly just been posting a lot more on my tumblr than here, due to the fact this blog would be centrally located on my computer, and I could access Tumblr from my phone.
BUUUUT thankfully technology is beautiful, and Blogger now has an app.
WHY DID YOU CARE ABOUT ANY LF THAT HAHA YOU DIDN'T.
Point is, blogging shall definitely be more frequent in the future. ;)
Thanks for sticking with me, friends!
-Allie.

Relationship vs Religion.

For the last couple weeks, I’ve been reading “not a fan”, by Kyle Idleman. I’ve got 2 or 3 more chapters to go, but I can safely say it’s changed my whole perspective on being a Christian. Thus, this blog is existent. And incase you don’t know what the book is about, it basically asks the question, are you a follower or fan. Relationship vs Religion.

Alright, so I said that one. Relationship vs Religion. So I’ll explain what I mean by it.
There is no true Religion, without a Relationship. Does that make sense? I’ll break it down:

Being a Follower, is not something you do on a certain day of the week. It’s not a moment you are dunked in a pool and poof, you’re a Christian. It’s not something you say. It’s not a verse you recite. It’s not even an action you’ve done.

A relationship, starts between you, and Christ. Without that relationship, there is nothing. You can’t be halfway Christian. You can’t follow some of Jesus. He’s not asking you to carry your cross when it’s most convenient.

Jesus is inviting you to have a relationship with Him. The Creator of everything, Maker of all, wants a relationship with YOU, and wants your heart. A relationship goes both ways. He wants you, and is pursuing you with all that He is.
“Oh really?”, you say?

He died on a cross for you. He gave it all. ALL. Everything. He had everything. And He put it all on that cross, to have a relationship with YOU.

I gotta say.. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

So are you in for a religion, or relationship?

Are you just following some rules that you’ve been told to your whole life? Or are you FOLLOWING Christ? Trust me, there is a difference.

Alright, I’m just gonna be 100% honest with you guys..
For the first almost 10 years of being a Christian, I wasn’t really… Living, as a Christian. I was raised going to church, learning my verses. But I didn’t really get WHY I did all that. Does that sorta make sense? And yes, I know I was a kid, but I don’t feel age is an excuse as to where my relationship was with Christ. God used kids TONS of times in The Bible.

But now, alas, I am not a kid. I’ll be 16 next week (holy crap..). To those of you who are perhaps more experienced in life, may feel I’m still a kid. Technically, I am. Do I feel like a kid? Far from it.

And now this is the part of the show where Allie comes out and sings, a silly song.

OH WHEEEERE IS MY HAIRBRUSH.

Sorry. I’m done now.

This is actually the part where I throw my personal life into it. Here goes..
My sister, Audrey, has completely changed me as a person. And yes, she is in fact 2 years old.
So I’m sure you’re wondering…

Why has the baby changed your life? And what does it have to do with anything?

Let me explain.

I’m sure I’ve probably shared this with y’all before, but the day Audrey was born was the day I felt like I had REALLY become a Christian.

And incase I haven’t explained it before, I suppose I’ll make it short and sweet.
Prior to my sister being born, I had never been away from my mom for a night. Like, ever. (don’t hate. I was like, 12. And props to those who are also not allowed to go to sleepovers.)
So honestly, the night my mom was gone, I felt completely alone.
So, since I had seen on VeggieTales that “God is bigger than the boogie man”, I thought I’d give reading my Bible a go.
I opened up to Psalm 33:18 (I promise, it was out of sheet coincidence, and out of God’s rad idea that I came across this verse.)
“But the Lord watches over those who fear Him; those who rely on his unfailing love.”
I cannot express in words, like, how I felt that God was there. Like… Just the feeling that God was there, and that He WANTED that relationship with me, was just mind blowing.

And onto the other reason Audrey has changed me.

Audrey, is now 2. She can get a little cranky, I can’t deny, but the way she loves is unlike any love I’ve ever seen. Though she is a bit of a control freak (sorry Audrey), she puts her COMPLETE hope and trust in me, my parents and my brother. It’s pretty incredible. She doesn’t know where she’s going (well, she sorta does, but you get the idea), but she trusts us that we know best. And man.. I think the best part about babies are the hugs and kisses. Sometimes she’ll just come up to me, give me a hug and say, “I wuv yew Ayyie.”

Jesus tells us to become like children. And I understand that now. He wants us to humble ourselves SO much, that we put our complete hope, trust and love in Him.
He wants a relationship with you. And to be honest, going to church on Sunday or praying before meals or on holidays doesn’t make a relationship.
He wants to love you like a child. You ARE HIS child. He wants more then a religion. He wants a relationship.

One of my favorite quotes, probably on the planet, is by Chad Butler, the most glorious drummer on the planet, along with one of my favorite people ever. Oh, and he’s in Switchfoot. :)

“There is a big difference between blind faith and honest faith. I was raised in the church. I have had to wrestle with what it is I believe outside of my friends and family. An honest faith is one that wrestles with doubts and hard questions. As I was growing up, I was afraid to question what I had been taught. I feared the outcome if I were to really question the beliefs I had inherited. What I found was in the moments I expressed my doubts and searched out the truth, I actually drew closer to the faith. I realized it was deeper than religion.”

That, right there.. I honestly feel like I don’t need to say anything. I’ll let it speak for itself, and let you think on it.

So I think I’m gonna wrap up, leave you with this question..

Are you following a religion, or in a relationship?

Peace, Love, Faith and Switchfoot,
Allie.

Hey guys!
Okay, so you might be wondering what this title is about.. And why I don’t think Christ is “cool”. Allow me to explain.

This is a quote by Jon Foreman (since I’ve never talked about HIM before..), that I stumbled upon AGES ago, and honestly never really understood what exactly he meant by it.. Here it is:
“Christ will never be cool. Terrifying, life-changing, shocking, and iconoclastic, but never cool. Jesus is not my homeboy. The Gospel will always be “relevant” but never trendy.”
The Gospel will always be “relevant”, but not “trendy”? Jon, what the crap are you talking about, man?

Welp, since this is my blog, and I’m 99.9% sure he will never read this, (0.01%… Hi Jon!) I’m gonna go out on a limb, and explain my light on the situation.
As Christians, it is NOT our job to make Christ, “cool”. I think, sometimes, as Christians, we kind of… Distort Christianity. It’s like saying, “Hey, look! I’m a Christian! Jesus is my homeboy. Being a Christian is the cool thing to do.”
Sounds like you’re talking about Justin Bieber, or a new pair of TOMS, or a new app, doesn’t it? Like, being a Christian makes you “cool”. (This making sense?)
Being a Christian will NEVER be “cool”. It will never be “trendy”, nor any other expression you can come up with.

So this kind of brings up a new question.. “If being a Christian isn’t ‘cool’, what is it?”
Time to break things down a little:
Before you are a Christian, you are a sinner. Even after accepting Christ, you’re still a sinner.
BEING A CHRISTIAN IS NOT “COOL”. IT IS AN HONOR.
God sent His Son to die for YOU. Goodness, He didn’t even have to let Christianity exist. But guess what? He DID. He didn’t want you to remain a sinner. He wants a personal relationship with you. He loves you.
Sorry.. But that isn’t, “cool”. That’s love. Not cool. It’s real. Not something we fake to look cool. It’s LIFE-CHANGING.
See what I’m saying? Told you Jon Foreman was a genius.
ANYWAY.
Time for yet another question! (I’m full of ‘em today.)

Why am I talking about this?

1. I felt God wanted me to say this to you guys.
2. Jon Foreman is epic. He has epic quotes.
3. I want to encourage y’all as much as my 15-year-old-self possibly can.

Now, for the big question, that of course, I have to ask every post..

How does this apply to you?

Here’s another question, to answer the one above:

Is Jesus your homeboy, or your Savior?

Do you call yourself a Christian so you can say, “Yep, I’m a Christian”?
Do you say you love Jesus because you think it will make you “cool” to your Christian friends?
Are you saying you follow Christ JUST to be cool?

Or..

Do you say you love Jesus, because you ARE? Would you do ANYTHING for Christ, if He asked you, because you love Him more than life itself, and because He gave it all for you first?
So, I think I’ll repeat the question, and leave you to think on it..
Is Jesus your homeboy, or your Savior?

Remember, as Jon Foreman once said..

Christ will never be cool.

Peace, love, faith and Switchfoot,
Allie.

Fast Food Christian.

Heya guys!
(Aren’t you proud of me that I’m actually blogging lately? Well, I am if you’re not, anyway. ;))
I bet you can kinda guess what my title is about. I really didn’t want to write a blog about this, but I dunno. I feel like that I just need to say it.
Chick-Fil-a.
So.. I’ll give you the run down, just incase you haven’t heard yet.
I guess the main guy from CFA was interviewed, and was asked if he supports gay marriage. He said no.
SO now erry’body’s in a big uproar because Chick-fil-a doesn’t support gay marriage. Now for my opinion.
Do I support gay marriage?
No.
Do I have anything against gay people?
Nope.
Do I hate gay people?
NO!
I do not support gay marriage. Love me or hate me, but I personally believe that’s just what God wants me to believe. But I DO NOT (and I mean DO NOT) want you to think I hate gay people. Because that is the furthest thing from the truth. I mean, goodness.. Why should I? They’re people like you and me.
So just to be a little more straight forward about this:
I love my neighbor. Straight, not, dude, chick, atheist, Christian, everybody. This is what God calls not only me, but EVERYONE to do.
Back to CFA, they recently had “Customer appreciation day”, which was basically “I support Chick-Fil-a day”.
And ya know what? I didn’t go. And why is that?
I, personally (this is TOTALLY my opinion, you are totally more than welcome to feel differently.), felt it was more of a, “Dis gay people day”. And I do NOT want to dis gay people, at all. Because for crying out loud, love your neighbor people! Not just SOME of your neighbors! God does not say to love straight people. He said to love EVERYONE. No matter their lifestyle. And that, my friends, is how I’m living. If you want to live differently, that’s totally up to you and God.
Okay, so I saw a picture/quote on the Internet the other day, that was from a CFA that was PACKED that day, and found it fascinating to say the least. Here goes:
“You’d never see that many Christians lined up to help at a food bank or a homeless shelter.
And that’s something Jesus actually said to do.”
I was honestly, quite dumbfounded. I’ve really, honestly put a lot of thought to this quote.. And I really want to say this.
Are you a fast food Christian? Are you a Christian, JUST when something like this happens?
I talked about something sort of similar in my last post, but I still felt this needed to be said.
Being a Christian, is not something to “participate in”. It’s not an event you go to, and say, “Hey, look! I’m at Chick-Fil-a! That means I love Jesus!” Sorry, but that sounds idiotic to me. (I kinda went there..)
Being a Christian is a CALLING, a RELATIONSHIP, and a LIFE-STYLE. NOT A FREAKING FAST FOOD CHAIN.
Being a Christian is a life you live, not a place you eat.
1 Peter 3:15 says:
“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”
If someone asked you right now, about your Christian walk, what would you say? Would you say you live the life? Or only participate sometimes?
I pray that you would be able to say you are not only a Fast Food Christian.
Peace, love, faith and Switchfoot,
Allie.

Jon Foreman. One of the greatest people alive.

Hola amigos!

Can you believe I'm actually blogging? Yeah, I can't either. (I'm taking a break from Instagram today.. hence I'm blogging.) Anyways, this is one of my favorite shots I got at the Switchfoot show recently. Of Jon Foreman. Lead singer. Harmonica player. Guitar shredder. Lover of awkward moments. Over all, amazing dude. :) Gonna post more pics either here, or I'll post a link of wherever I post them so y'all can see them. Have a great one!

love and switchfoot,

-Allie.

HAPPY 3 YEARS TO MEEEE!

Hey guys!
Guess what?! I've been blogging for over 3 YEARS!!!! HUZZAHHHHH!!!!! I know I missed my actual blog birthday by a month, but hey, I ain't perfect. Anywho... I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for coming along with me on this blogging journey. I was reading my first couple posts a little bit ago, and honestly, it's kind of crazy how much I've changed in the last three years.. I mean, going from 12 to 15 is a pretty big step. Back in the day, I'd talk about Webkinz, Duggar Skirts and just flat out dorky things. Now I post, probably more mature posts, Switchfoot, and Switchfoot. So huzzah. I've definitely progressed. :) Again, thank you all for joining me on this journey. Definitely not ending this journey any time soon... just the beginning. ;)
Btw.. FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!!! Haha. I'm AlabamaLove. For real. Go do it.
BYEEEE!

Faith, Love and Switchfoot,
-Allie.

"Music is what I do; Christ is why I do it."

Hi peoples!
Today, I will be talking about 5 of my borthers in Christ, (and 5 of my favorite people, pretty much.) Jon Foreman, Tim Foreman, Chad Butler, Jerome Fontamilllas and Drew Shirley.

Yep, Switchfoot.

Why does this come as a surprise to you? ;)

Anyways. Onto my ramble.

To be 100% honest with you, I really don’t feel like I talk about Switchfoot enough. (Yes, I know you’re laughing.) But seriously, people! These guys don’t get enough credit for what they do.

Ever since the release of Switchfoot’s new album, “Vice Verses”, I feel like I’m almost closer to Switchfoot as people. (Not in a creepy way.. I dunno. Does that sound weird? Do you know what I mean??) I feel like some of the lines on the songs were written for me. (If you don’t have Vice Verses, I will personally stalk you down and make you buy it. No, this is not threat. Just a warning. :))

ANYWAYS.

I’m sure you’re wondering, “Why are you writng a blog about Switchfoot, rather than some life lesson or something?” Well, I’m getting to that.

The other day, I decided to work on, “100 reasons why I love Switchfoot”. Would you like to know what #1 was?

“Because all 5 of them are deep in their Christian Faith”.

Let’s dig a little deeper into this, shall we?

I was talking to a friend about various bands, and how they use their way of Praising God as their ministry. (As in, kind of being secular, but sorta not. You catching on?) Anyways, Switchfoot was one of the artists, and I’ve really been thinking about like, their ministry.

Obviously, they ARE in the Alternative genre. They don’t label themselves as a “Christian” band. They ARE, Christians, but from my point of view (I can’t speak for them, but from reading quotes and watching interviews and stalking them and what not, this is what I’ve gathered-) they want to be Alternative, so they can sing Christian messages to those who wouldn’t otherwise listen to Christian music. They’re songs aren’t ONLY Christian, but they can be translated Christian or not. Switchfoot is honestly a REALLY popular band, and they could totally choose to write songs about drugs and girls and crap. BUT THEY DON’T. They made the desicion to write their songs, how they write their songs.

So, this is THE NUMBER ONE REASON I LOVE SWITCHFOOT:

Their hair!!! Haha, just kidding. That’s a close 2nd. ;)

Because they are such WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE!

Honestly, if I ever used music as my career in life, Switchfoot would by far by my biggest inspiration. I really don’t know if I can describe, how much I seriously respect them for what they do.

Wrapping up my squirrely fan girl blog, I leave you with my favorite quote by Mr. Jon Foreman himself -

“Music is what I do; Christ is why I do it.”

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,

-Allie.

God's not dead.

Hey friends! (I wrote this blog around Christmas.. but forgot to post it... go figure.)
I know it's Christmas, but WHY do we celebrate Christmas? We celebrate Jesus' birth. But, WHY did Jesus come to earth? To die for our sins.
For the past couple months, my Uncle and I have been trying to read the New Testament by the end of the year. So, I've really learned a lot about Jesus, and His life here on earth.
Now, I'm going to put you in a little scenario here:
You're about 20 years old (weather that ages you, or discreases your actual age), and you fish for a living. But you hear about this guy, named John. People are saying he is paving the way for the Christ. You follow this John guy, because you think what he's saying may be legit.
So, one day, along comes, Jesus. The Savior. The Christ. The Messiah. And He asks YOU to follow Him. I don't know about you, but that just BLOWS my mind! That Jesus would ask ME to follow HIM?! I mean, He could have picked anyone! But He picked ME. Woah. So of course, you're gonna follow Him! You leave your father, your fish, and your life behind, and follow Jesus.
Jumping forward a little, you've been following Jesus for a while, and you see Him perform all these miracles. And every once in a while, He'll talk about Him dying for everyone in the world, but you don't really have a clue as to what He's talking about.
So, the night came. Jesus was REALLY going to die. The one you dropped your entire LIFE for, that you put all your hope into, is going to DIE. But, not only that, but He tells you that that very night, you are going to reject even KNOWING Him, 3 TIMES! I'm sure you would say that you would never do such a thing - but then, you actually do it.
What. Happened.
The Bible says, that Peter wept.Man alive, would I sure weep! Can you imagine, being a follower of Jesus, and not only are you a follower of Jesus, but you're one of His chosen disciples. I'm sure there great friends, as well. And as soon as persicuation rolls around, you deny Him 3 times.
Okay, so Jesus is dead. I think saying, "You are crushed" is an understatement.
BUT.
Here comes my favorite part.
You hear from fellow followers of Jesus, a few of the women, and they say that He is risen.
SAY WHAT?!?! I would totally FREAK OUT!!!

Alright, lets step out of the scenario for a minute.

And now, time for my Newsboys refrence.
As most of you probably know, the newsboys just came out with a worship album, titled "God's not Dead".
If you haven't listened to this slabum yet, I'll be personally insulted. Haha. Yeah. But that's not the point of this blog.
Here's the chorus to the title track, "God's Not Dead":

My God's not dead
He's surely alive
He's livin on the inside
Roaring like a lion

Pretty epic, no? I love the way those lyrics are written.
Let's jump back into our scenario, here, while I wrap things up:
If I was one of those disciples, you know what I would say?
"MY GOD'S NOT DEAD".

Thanks for reading! Blessings to y'all during the holidays and such. :)




Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control,
Allie.

Fame.

Hi friends!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about fame. How much we value fame, and all that.
I got on the topic when I was talking about it to a friend the other day, when I was talking about a few celebrities who have kind of.. gone down hill. I suppose I shan't spit out any names, just so I don't get sued, but there are certain celebrities who have chosen fame above God.
That.
Is.
Not.
Okay.
At all.
.......
For some reason, society values fame.. well, really high. If you're famous, everyone knows who you are. I mean, if I say, George Clooney or Oprah, you're most likely going to know exactly who I'm talking about. When you're famous, you become a household name. A lot of people love you. (And think you're hot, if you're George Clooney.. But he's not my type. But we won't get into that.) Anyways. This question has been floating around in my head for days now..

"Why choose fame over God?"

Hmm.

Good question there. Time to come up with my best answer. When we care more about fame, we are putting ourselves VERY FIRST. Above all else, you HAVE to keep your reputation amazing. Can't screw up. Gotta look great. Me. me. me. me. me.
You get the point.
A personal motto for myself, since I was a kid in AWANA, has been JOY:
J-esus
O-thers
Y-ourself.

And I hate to break it to you, but YOJ isn't a word. Putting yourself first is not how it should be. Life is not about fame.

Since I'm legit and what-not, I started writing a song about this whole subject. And one line, the first line in the chorus, fits perfectly here:
Fame is temporary gain.
Fame IS temporary. It doesn't last. Fame is kind of like climbing a tree - it's fun while you climb, and when you reach the top, you feel like you rule the whole world.
But.
You gotta get down from that tree. Whether you get down, or fall off, you won't stay on it forever.
Mark 8:36, I believe, is perfectly appropriate:
"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul?"
I know, you're probably thinking: "HEY! THAT'S A TOBYMAC SONG! OHSNAPCRACKLEPOP". But it came from the Bible first, right? Right. Onto what I was saying.

Do you want to lose your SOUL for FAME? A temporary high?

I wouldn't.

Since I'm looking pretty prissy and perfect at the moment, time to humble myself a little bit. I can't say I wouldn't want to be famous. Wait, don't jump to conclusions yet, please.
If I were famous, I would want to do it for God's glory, not mine. I mean, I want to be NOT famous for God's glory!

Fame is temporary gain. In the long run, it could matter less.
At the end, when I stand face-to-face with God, I want to be filled with JOY.

Strive to be Joyful.

J-esus
O-thers
Y-ourself.

thanks for reading. :)

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,

-Allie.

Beloved.

Hello friends! Hope y'all are well. :)

The band Tenth Avenue North has been recently uploading “video journals” to their YouTube, and it’s basically Mike (the lead singer) talking about Christianity.
Anyways, I was watching them last night, and one of them I’ve been thinking about a lot today. He was talking about their song “Beloved”, which talks about how in The Bible, Christ says we are His “bride”.
To be brutally honest, for my 15 years of living, I had NO idea what the flip that meant. Even recently, I didn’t understand what it meant. When I would read that reference in The Bible, I would just wonder like.. How guys felt about this? Why are we a bride? Wut?!?!
Time to break down the meaning, according to Mr. Donehey.
When a Jewish guy would want to marry a girl, back in Bible times, this is how it went down: The guy tells his dad. The guy’s dad, goes to the girls dad, and hashes all the “You trade camels for daughter”, yada yada yada. So when the guy asks the girl to marry him, there’s this big dinner, where all of the relatives come and blah blah blah. The guy sits the girl down, at the dinner, takes the special glass of wine, and says: “This is my covenant. Take and drink it.” and the girl can obviously say yes or no, so don’t think this whole hoopla is set up. So if the girls says yes, she drinks the wine, then the following happens: the guy and girl, between the time of the engagement and when they get married, they’re not allowed to see each other. So the best man, goes back and forth sending messages to either person. It’s like texting, with a dude. Anyways, so during this whole process, the guy and both families are building a house. Which is supposedly a “mansion”, but the Jewish translation of that is “apartment”. So yeah. Pretty small. And to boot, they add on to the guy’s house, so over the generations they would keep adding on. And while Extreme Makeover: Jewish Edition is going on, the girl, hears nothing about it. She doesn’t know when the house will be done. So every day, day in and out, the girl is thinking “today could be the day”. But the thing is, the guy doesn’t decide when the house is done. The father has to say when it’s cool. Then he says to go get’cha girl, and move on in. So when that day comes, the guy and his groomsmen come down the street with their ran’s horns and all that, making a big hoopla, so then they move in, and they’re married. Huzzah!
So…
This ringing any spiritual bells?
Let’s back up a little:
When Mike was explaining all this, he was talking about how Jesus, the night of the last supper, had been talking about this. He had taken the glass of wine, and He says: “This is my covenant. Take and drink it.” And for a bunch of Jewish guys, this is basically Jesus saying, “Will you marry me?”. And that was probably pretty confusing at the time. But now, time to make it a little less confusing:
We take the drink from His cup, we’re basically saying, “I do”.
So then He’s saying, “Look. I’m gonna go away for a while, but, I’m leaving my ‘best man’, the Holy Spirt, so we can keep in touch. I’m building this awesome mansion. It’s an expansion of My house, and it’s gonna be sweet. You don’t know when it’s gonna happen, but my Father does. And He knows when it’s cool to move in. And when we do, I’m gonna bring my possy, all the angels, and we’ll be playing those horns, then we’re going home.”
Take His cup. Drink from it. Wait. Then, He’s gonna come take you home.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,
-Allie.

Hardships.

Hi friends! So sorry it's been so long.. gonna try to blog more. For real.

For the record: this may or may not make sense. So bear with me here.
God allows us to feel pain. And honestly.. That doesn't make too much sense to me.

A friend of mine has been facing some hardships lately. And that's been really pressing on me lately. My friend has just had some out-of-their-control things happen, so I just feel SO bad for them. Like.. why would God let that happen?
So let's go for a little Biblical journey for a minute here, shall we?

There was this guy named Job. He was seriously a rad dude, y'all. In Job 1:1, it says he was blameless, and a man of complete integrity. He feared God, stayed away from evil. Totally legit guy. I mean.. That's a pretty big deal, in my opinion, to say that was so such a rad dude.. and in the first verse, no less. Anyway.

He had seven sons, three daughters, and a whole bunch of sheep and oxen and all them good animals of that sort. So really, Job had the ideal life. Big family, lots of animals (which were a big deal back then)... so he pretty much had it made. But. (there's always a but.) Things started to go dowwwwwwn hill.

In Job 1:6-12, it reads:

One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.

Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

“All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.

So. From here, Job's life got all sorts of crazy. His animals, were all killed/stolen, along with all of his servants. And all of his children died, aswell.

So.. How would you react to this situation?
Personally, I don't know what I would do, honestly. I could see myself questioning God, even being angry at God. Why would He allow all that to happen? Why would He allow Satan himself, to personally KILL EVERYTHING that Job loved? EVERYTHING! Why would He allow that?!?!?!?!

Job 1:21 says..
He (Job) said,
" I came naked from my mother's womb,
and I will be naked when I leave.
The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away.
Praise the name of the LORD!"

Wow. Like.. wow. God took away EVERYTHING he had. But he said, "Praise the name of the LORD!" That takes some serious guts, y'all. For real. I mean, for that, I really look up to Job. He seems to be almost the defenition of a godly person.

So..

This is the part of the blog where I ask,
"How does this apply to YOU?"

Well then.

Hard things are gonna happen in life. We live in a world full of sin. It's impossible to avoid. I think the tricky part about hard things that happen our lives, is, how we react to them.

The easy thing to do would to question God. Get angry at Him. Maybe even turn away from Him. Why should you love a God that would allow bad things to happen to you?

Hmm.

Good question there.

Why should we love a God who allows bad things happen to us?

Because He works everything, at the end, for good. He LOVES us. SO MUCH. He only wants whats BEST for us. And if that involves going through some temporary pain, so be it. Even if we suffered for every day of our lives, He is giving us the gift of an eternal, perfect life.

In wrapping things up, I'm gonna leave you with this..

When bad things happen to you, how do you react?
Do you get angry, or resent God, or will you praise God?


"The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away.
Praise the name of the LORD!"


Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,
-Allie.

Oh crap.

Holy mac n cheese. I forgot this blog exsisted!!!! AHHH!!! I'm so sorry! Seriously. I just fail at life. Anyways...
I'll try to do it more. I have a tumblr, and forget to repost the posts on here sometimes. Obviously.
So, please find it in your hearts to forgive, and hope for future posts to come. :) (Does the smiley face lighten the mood? I feel as if it's just pathetic, and unneccisary but I suppose I'll leave it there.)
-Allie.

Praise You in this Storm.

What. A. Day.
Please prepare yourself, as I tell you about my crazy, lovely, insane and maybe even a little disturbing day. Read this at your own risk.

So the day started as usual. I woke up, went downstairs, and was greeted by a short girl with fluffy hair, who exclaimed, “Ayyie!”.
I then did my regular morning nonsense, then moving into the afternoon everyone ‘round this establishment (AKA, my family) got ready to go shop with my Grandparents and Great-Grandmother.
The getting ready process consisted of me listening to Seabird’s Christmas EP (and dancing along with that), doing my hair, etcetera..
Jumping to the shopping part. It was raining. HARD. Like, for shizzle crazy rain, man. Everyone ate at Cracker Barrel (went without having any crazy waiter/waitress trauma! But that’s an ENTIRELY different blog..), and so we went on to the shopping portion. So other than a crazy rain storm, the day played out pretty smoothly. Got some CDs at Lifeway, went to Belk, Starbucks, Wal Mart, blah blah blah.
Now for the crazy part.
As we pulled into our driveway, at our humble home, what we saw in our driveway, was NOT what one would like to see when returning at night, in the freezing cold rain.
No, it was not a dead body. (:P)
The one day we decide to leave our garbage outside on our car port (we have no garbage pick-up, so we take ours to the dump), so animal decides to peak inside EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE 8000 BAGS.
Yep, there was garbage ALL OVER CREATION. Literally.
Soooooo…. Guess who volunteered to clean it up?
*raises hand*
Yep, yours truly.
So basically, I spent the night in the cold rain, in our yard, picking up garbage.
Friggin huzzah.
:P
Moving on..
After the garbage fiasco, I read tweet from my darling Aunt Shannon, saying that my favorite photo editing website, Picnik, is being shut down April 19th. This is when I lost it.
I’m SOOOO sad!!!! I mean, I’m not usually a “sit in puddle of sadness” type of girl, but I’m just flat out upset.
So, that pretty much sums up my day. Now what am I doing? Sitting here, watching Project Runway, writing this blog. Sooo.. How am I supposed to fit a moral/life lesson in this blog?!?!
Well, let’s break it down:
What’s wrong with this blog? I mean, I’m just ranting. Did I once say, “I praised God for giving me the opportunity to get out of the house, even on a rainy day” or “I praised God for giving me food to eat today”, or really ANYTHING about praising God. Nope, not once. Because, truth is, I DIDN’T praise God when I should have. As a human, I just focus on the negative. (Hence this blog)
I was actually talking about this with a friend of mine, along with talking about this at Youth Group on Wednesday. It’s seriously a PRIVILEGE to praise God. Why do I take advantage of that? Even to the extent of NOT DOING IT?
Because I’m a human, and I’m an ungrateful little Cottonheadedninnymuggins. (yep, just had to use an Elf reference.)
But guess what? God still loves me, even when I’m a cottonheadedwhosinwhat!!!! I mean, with that all said (inside joke with my Mother..), wouldn’t I have the DESIRE to praise God?! Really thinking about that, it DOES make me want to praise Him! Even in my cruddy-sinner self, God loves me SO MUCH.
So, I will, totally, without a doubt, praise YOU in this storm (even when I’m picking up garbage), God. Because you rock my socks off.
Thanks for reading one of the largest blog posts in history. :)

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,
-Allie.

Oh heavens.

Hi y'all!
I'm SO sorry I haven't posted since NOVEMBER! I just fail at blogging. Anyways, I've been mainly posting on my tumblr, since I can do it from my iPod. I'll still be posting the same posts from there to here (yay copy and paste!), but if you're impatient, feel free to check my tumblr. :) Here's the link:
http://allieisawesome2.tumblr.com/
New years resolution that I'll post here more!
-Allie.

Dancing with Jesus.

Hi friends!
I'm in a blog-y mood lately.. anyway.
I didn't really plan this blog out, so sorry if it's a little confusing/weird/ramble-ish.

This past Sunday, I went to a community Thanksgiving service for Youth at another church in my town. So I went with my Youth Group, and expected the normal, "Be thankful" service. This sounds dreadful, but I mean, what AM I supposed to expect? But I was also really excited, because my Youth worship band was performing (woot woot!).
Long story short, the band did an AMAZING job (as always), and so after they performed, came skits and dances people were doing.
The skit/dance that one group performed REALLY stuck out for me. It was portraying a girl, and in the start, she's dancing with Jesus. And through out the dance, she was torn away from her dance with Christ because she was tempted by sinful things. Bad relationships with boys, stealing, and many more, and the last one was taking a gun to her head and commiting suicide. But the part that brought tears to my eyes (I'm not a cryer, so it's a pretty big deal when I cry. ;P), was she threw down the gun, and tried to run back to Jesus. (He was on the other side of the stage, and the sinful things were on the side she was on. So she was kinda stuck.) So she through the crowd, being pulled at and beated by the sinful things, but guess what? She made her way back to Jesus. (That's when I cried...) At the end, all the evil things died, (fell over.) and she was dancing with Jesus.
I kinda love the expresssion I just made up (ha). "Dancing with Jesus".
I think our relationship with Christ is constantly up and down. Very few people (so it seems) have a perfectly stable relationship with Christ. (Or anyone, for that matter.)
Our relatoinship with Christ can sometimes be compared to a girl who is in love; and when she is unsure of the relationship, takes a flower and plucks the petals, saying "He loves me," with one, and the next saying "He loves me not".
Like I said, our relationship with Christ is constantly up and down. We are constantly (I've used that word a lot in this blog post..) questioning, weather "He loves me" or "He loves me not".

When we are on a high, "He loves me", we feel great. We want to be all about Him.

But, when we are on a low, "He loves me not", we can easily run to things of this earth that are NOT good. (Ring any bells here?) We think God isn't with us anymore, so we have to look toward sin to kind peace. We want it to be all about us.

Fact of the matter is, God loves us NO MATTER WHAT. Period. The end.
The problem is, we don't always believe it. In the society we live in, 2011, it is SO easy to look toward sin instead of God.
It seems to me sometimes that all I hear about, weather through the news, Facebook, WHATEVER, it's just about someone going the wrong direction. As in, going toward the sinful side of the stage, rather than where Jesus is on the other side. (Again with the, ringing any bells?) Sometimes I feel like all I hear about is sin. Even if I comment on their post on facebook saying, "Hey, you should look up, -reference to a verse-. I'm praying for you." or something on those lines, (Even if I spend 15 minutes typing something out,) why does it seem sometimes it's not enough? Why won't my words shake their heart?
And I've come to realize, that I can put my ALL into someone, and they may never change. Not saying I'll give up, but sometimes it's all God's will. I just have to say what I think He wants me to say, and leave the rest up to Him.

Wait, where is this blog going? I'll try to get back to my point..

Point is, temptation is only a step away from you. Like, seriously. Take one wrong turn, and your life could forever be changed.
I should probably say, "I don't mean to scare you", but I DO. I want this to scare you. Because SIN IS SCARY. No doubt about it. There's NOT ONE GOOD THING ABOUT SIN. We need to walk to the other side of that stage. To Jesus. To peace, to love, to comfort, to eternal life.

Deuteronomy 6:5 says,
And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

It sounds like a command, of which it is. But, God wouldn't command us to do anything that wouldn't benefit us, would He? A parent doesn't say, "Bob, (yes, Bob.) go throw an orange at that tree over there." Now that sure isn't benefitting Bob's life, now is it? (Plus, it's wasting fruit.)
Basically, loveing Christ is the best thing that we could ever do. Period. End of story. Kay thx bye.

I'll leave you with this - What petal are you on? A, "He loves me", or a "He loves me not"?
I'm praying that you're on a "He loves me".


Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,
-Allie.

This is what I believe.

Hey y'all!
Okay, so this isn't a really uplifting note to start on with this blog, but I'm cutting right to the chase.

A few days ago, I found out someone I know, of whom was a Christian, is now an athiest.

I was heartbroken, sad, mad, upset, confused, and about 8,000 other things that I won't go into.

I don't want to go into many personal details about this person, but I know her family will be greatly upset. I mean.. if you lived in an all Christian home, and one of your children decided God wasn't true anymore, what would you think?

But do you know what the sadest part about this situation in my opinion, is? She is happy. Yes, you heard me. She is happy without God.

This was the part the struck me the hardest: How can you be HAPPY WITHOUT GOD?!?!?!??! Honestly, I cannot answer this question. Other than, you would be putting your own earthly wants, than what path God has planned for you. Going down your own route. Ditching God, and saying: "Hey! The earth seems pretty cool without You - see ya!"

Sounds pretty stupid, huh? I agree.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm dissing this person, because I'm not. She knew (and said) she was going to get A LOT of different opinions on her decision, so I'm just voicing my opinion.

Okay, now to get to the root of this blog: Why am I writing this?

1. It's a good therapy session for me.

2. I think this will encourage you.

3. This is a spiritual lesson for me. (And hopefully you, too.)

So, how is this a spiritual lesson?

Well, if you aren't already by now, I've questioned what I believe because of this (sad) situation.

Question to self (and you, too): What do I believe?

I'll go over what I believe..

I believe God is alive, and working every detail about each of our lives. (Period.)

I belive God cares about us, and only wants the best for us. So, that simply requires us to believe in Him. Because happiness just isn't going to happen without Him.

I could literally go on for hours about what I believe, but at some point NewReleaseTuesday will probably get annoyed at the length of my blog posts..

I find it odly convenient that one of my favorite artists, Aaron Shust, just came out with an (awesome) new album, called "This is what we believe".

The chorus goes:

"Truly this Man is the Son

The Son of God

Who takes away the sins of the world

This Man is the Lamb

The Lamb of God

Who takes away the sins of the world

This is what we believe"

Yep, that pretty much sums up what I believe. Now, I'm not saying this is what you believe - I've learned my lesson that I cannot say what other people believe. I know what I believe. That is a fact. Now, what do YOU believe?

I would LOVE to hear what you guys believe - weather we share the same things in common that we believe or not, I'd love to hear what you all have to say. (Comment below!)

Until next time, my friends. Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving! (Hey, I haven't made a thanksgiving-y blog yet.. I'll get on that..)



Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,

-Allie.

My 80's Self!!!

Hey y'all! I recently went to a costume party, and I went as an 80's person. ;) Sorry I'm awesome.
-Allie.

Uhh.. Woah.

Hi friends!
Wow. Today has been a day like no other. Long story short, my sweet 1 1/2 baby sister grabbed a curling iron today, and burned the stew out of her hand. She was rushed to the ER by my Mom and Aunt, and I was left at home with the rest of my family. I must say, I haven't felt THAT low in a while. I was really scared for my baby sister's health. Taking into account I didn't know 100% of the story, I didn't even know if she would be okay. I just repeated over and over in my head, "God, PLEASE make her better". Over and over and over. And over. (You get the idea)
I'll go ahead and tell you she's fine, just so you won't break a sweat. ;) She has some bad blisters on her hand, but she's fine otherwise.
But after I got the phone call that she was okay, it was like a HUGE burden had been lifted. I barely even had anything to do with it, (I'm just sorta hard on myself, so I kind of take the blame for everthing.. But we won't get into that today.) but I just felt like this huge worry was gone.
Have you ever had a day like that? Weather it was just from a little thing or a big one, when something is lifted, it feels SO GOOD to not be sitting in a puddle of worry.
Lets back up a little for a sec, so I can hit the highlights of this blog - My prayer. PLEASE make her better. Over and over..
After I prayed that prayer, I tried to remind myself of what my small group leaders at church had talked about in our lesson. We talked about a man who got robbed, (I can't remember the details of who he was, just some dude in some book..) but rather than being sad for his loss, he looked on the bright side of things. One of the things he said, was "I'm thankful I was not the one robbing someone else". Amoung a list of other things, that one hit me the hardest. But anyways, my point is, after I prayed that prayer, I tried to make a list of things to look on the bright side about (to keep myself from crying, because I didn't wear waterproof mascara). Here are a few I came up with:

She didn't die.
She only has a couple blisters, and not a HORRIBLE burn.
If didn't fall on her face.
It will heal quickly.

Though these are the only ones I remember, I came up with a few more, but I can't really remember them. Point is, perhaps the next time you're in a bad situation, you could make your "Thankful list".

Now, onto my other point: Coming to Jesus with our burdens.
One of my FAVORITE verses, Matthew 11:28, says:
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."
(Time for an Aaron Shust refrence..)
The first time I heard this song, was years ago, when I went to my very first concert EVER, an Aaron Shust concert. Needless to say, I was excited. (Since Aaron Shust is my favorite artist ever...) So his song, "Come to me", was one of the songs he sang. Since then I always like humming it, because it was catchy and what-not, but the lyrics never really sunk in until recently. I absolutely LOVE how Jesus says it. He just says, "Come". When you have heavy burdens, and are weary, and your baby sister is in the ER and you're about to have a nervous break-down, all you gotta do is, come.

So I'll go ahead and wrap this puppy up. Blessings to y'all in the coming Thanksgiving-ness season, and remember:
Make your Thankful list,
and all you gotta do is come.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulnes and Self-Control,
-Allie.