Are you being sucked into this world?

Today, as I was reading the news online, I came across an article about Miley Cyrus. The article claimed that she had come out with a provocative music video staring her newest single hit Can't Be Tamed. When I first read the information, I was sure that the writer of the article had exaggerated so I decided to judge for myself and I watched the video. To say that the writer of the article was being modest would be an understatement. I was shocked to see the provocative and inappropriate ways that Miley Cyrus acting. Let me just say that there was plenty of cleavage and booty shaking. What is sad is that Miley is portrayed as a bird (costume) who is in a cage. Hence the name of the song. Let me give you a better idea with just the first few opening lines of the song:

"For those who don't know me, I can get a bit crazy
Have to get my way, 24 hours a day
'Cause I'm hot like that
Every guy everywhere just gives me mad attention
Like I'm under inspection, I always get the 10s
'Cause I'm built like that"

For someone with morals like myself, that song goes against so many of my beliefs... and the song itself just seems wrong! I almost feel like I am viewing another Britney Spears.

I remember when Miley Cyrus was supposed to be a “good Christian girl.” A co-worker of mine even told me that one time he was speaking with a family who seemed to know the Cyrus' family very well and he said they went on and on about how good of a Christian girl Miley was. That was back in 2006.

It's not just Miley that I have seen this happen to. I can name countless teens who have all started out as good and turned into the “wild child.” One person specifically comes to mind. She isn't a pop star and doesn't even have her name out in the world. She is actually one of my best friends. Just like Miley, she too was a good girl who loved God and wanted to do everything she could to walk the right path. But, as she began to step into High School I watched and was with her through countless boyfriends, all who just wanted to push her down the wrong path. Finally, when she found a boy who she “loved with all her heart,” she began to push all her friends away (including me) and I didn't see or hear from her for the next two years. When we finally re-connected, she was crying telling me about everything she had done (which was pretty much everything you could think) and how she wished she could take it all back. After many hours of counseling with her, I started to think that she was turning around. But, she soon began to be pulled by the world and I was hurt to see her slip away once again. But, I saw her more this time and she told me everything she did. Every conversation that we had always somehow ended in her saying that she didn't know why she did the things she did. She said that she was going to change her ways and was really going to turn around. Yet, the next week we would be having that same conversation.

Lately I have started to see a little bit of a change in her. We talk all the time and I can see her slowly starting to change and surrender her life to Christ. I can't wait for her to completely surrender to Christ, because I know that when she does, her life will be such a great testimony to other girls who are just like herself.

I am not saying all this to spread gossip or anything like that. My point is that people will be pulled by the ways of this world. The question to ask yourself is, “How can I keep from being pulled by the world?” Because I am not perfect, you are not perfect, your pastor isn't perfect. We are all human and it is our nature to sin. The answer is to be strong in your faith. Be strong in your belief. Keep your feet planted on a solid foundation and don't let any of your morals be swayed even just a little by the world.

I know that in life I have temptations and I feel the world pull on me 24/7 but I also know that I have something stronger than the pull of the world: and that is Christ. He is my Rock and it is only through Him that I will be able to resist this world and the things it has to offer. I will leave you with this verse,

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

God's ways are good and pleasing and perfect. I'd say that that sounds a whole lot better than following the ways of the world.

Far, far, far away

Tomorrow morning, I will wake up, grab my (hopefully already packed) luggage, get in the car, drive to Memphis and begin my trip to Israel! I am so excited! It's kind of weird because right now it doesn't really seem real. I can't believe tomorrow I will be in New York and then Sunday I will be in Israel! It's so crazy how we can travel to far away places in just a few short hours (okay, so a 13 or 14 hour plane flight isn't really "short" but it is alot shorter then back in the old days!).

I have so much I need to do to get ready... I am so glad that Wal-Mart is open 24/7. Really, where would we be without Wal-Mart? Uhh... actually, we would all probably be a little less cluttered with things we don't need and our banks might have a little more in them. Ha. But maybe not.

As I have been preparing myself to get ready for this trip, I have had alot of advice from people. Like, don't forget to bring a plug converter, learn some hebrew, study and learn about the places you're going to visit, pack light (that one came from my dad.. haha... suuuure daddy), and alot of other important small things. But I think the best advice I got was something that was said to me in a letter. Kendra, a wonderful sweet amazing friend of mine asked me to bring her back some things and wrote me a list along with an awesome card she made herself. (picture up top to the right)

She told me to make sure I took time to get quiet time with God and prepare my heart for this trip. Through all of my planning and busyness, I never even thought about stopping and preparing my heart. She told me to be prepared for God to do great things on this trip. Up til now I had not even thought about God "doing" anything while I was there. I mean, I know Israel is the Holy Land and it is the land of God's people, but I don't know why I just never thought about the possibility that this could be a life changing experience for me. Now that I am of that mindset, I am going to travel with my daddy, have lots of fun, but most of all look at everything through the eyes that God wants to do something or show something to me on this trip.  (Picture on the left, left to right: Me, Tabitha, Kendra, all singing Paul the Musical... another story for another blog some other time.)

I feel like I am even more excited now that I have that mindset.. and I think just writing in this blog about going to Israel has made me even more excited! I know it will be a trip of a lifetime!

I will post pictures and tell all about the trip when I get back. I am going to take LOTS of pictures!!

God knows what He is doing!!!!!!!!

"Maybe one day
This will make sense
But until then
I'm trusting You
I'm confused
But You'll come through
You always do
I've waited so long
To see my sun on
The horizon
Feel it coming on
And I'm seeing You"

I passed!

Drum roll please...... I have officially passed college algebra!!!!!!!!!! It is a miracle!!
Why is it a miracle? I will tell you...

Soo, on the day of my last final I was trying not to freak out because, although all of my other finals went as smooth as I could ever wish, I still had to conquer College Algebra. I had studied the entire week and weekend before and my brain was practically fried. As I walked into the classroom, I felt confident in myself. I sat down, the teacher gave me the test, and that is where everything started to go wrong. First of all, you should know that I am a sloooooow test taker. So when I realized that I was only halfway through the test after an hour and half, I kinda started to freak out. On top of that, my teacher called a thirty minute time limit (she said something about 2 hours was all one needed to take the test). That just made me panic even more and so I started rushing through all of the problems trying to work them out. Then, as everyone was finishing up their tests and turning them in, the teacher felt that it was necessary to talk to each one individually and have 2 and 3 minute conversations with them! If you don't know me, I am VERY ADD when it comes to stuff like that and I could not keep my attention focused on my work. So, when the teacher calls time I am just finishing up the second to last problem (and I couldn't even come up with the right answer). So I just marked a letter on the answer sheet, marked something for the last problem and promptly stood up and brought my test to the teachers desk. I walked out of the classroom feeling like I had completely failed.

Three days later when I checked my grades online, I was scared to even look at what I had made. Actually, I closed my eyes when I clicked on "view grades" and then it took me a minute to convince myself to look. Ahhhh I was SOO excited when I saw that I had made a C!!!!!! (I know that a C doesn't seem like a very high expectation, but for me it was HUGE! Math is my WORST subject!!!)
On top of that, all my other classes had A's!!! I was super duper excited!! God is so good to me to give me smarts enough to pass college algebra :)
And, I could have never done it without my mom and dads prayers, the support of Grace and Jacob, Mrs. Amy Blassingame (who so willingly tutored me!) and all my friends and family!! I am definitely blessed!

Now, I am so excited because I can enjoy my entire summer knowing that I, Faith Riley, passed College Algebra :) Oh yes.

Speaking of summer, I have sooooo many plans!! I'm going to start diving into my photography alot more. If you want pictures made, email me at friley@afa.net. Also, I hope to accomplish some other things that I have been wanting to do. I'll keep you posted on what I do with my summer and with the pictures that I take.

This College Algebra succeeder is signing off!!!

Finals, here I come!

Between now and next week I will be finishing up all my tests and taking my final exams... please, pray for me. I am trying so hard to make sure I don't pull out my hair or anything. As soon as I walk out of my College Algebra class (after I take my final) I promise I will shout from excitement!  I can't wait to be DONE!! Thankfully my speech class is totally finished. I took my final for it last wednesday and then I finished my makeup speech this past Sunday. All this semester I was thinking about how much I disliked my teacher... well, when I went to give my make up speech, it was just her and I (some others were supposed to show up, but they didn't) we talked for a little bit and I decided she was hilarious! Not a very good online teacher, but still hilarious! She told me that nobody even gave a sh*t about speech anyways. Haha... I freaked out... I couldn't believe she had just said that.  After I gave my speech, we talked a little more and she told me she would give me an A for my speech and she thought that I probably had an A for the class too. So that is excellent news.

For the past couple of days I haven't been sleep very well at all. I have had the WEIRDEST dreams ever and they involve people who I haven't seen in a looong time. Oh well. Maybe they will disappear soon.

Sunday afternoon I went and played basketball with my church. Well, there weren't any other girls who wanted to play so, of course, I jumped right in there with the guys and it was tons of fun! I absolutely had sooo much fun! The only problem is... when I was driving home I suddenly began to have a very sore crik in my neck. Oh it was pain. The next day at work my hand kept going numb and I thought I would never be off work. I went to Graces house, layed down and didn't move until almost 5:00. When Grace got home, she was able to pop my neck back into place (I think) and after that it was feeling much better... she is such a wonderful nurse! ;)

Well through all the trouble I have had over the past few weeks, I shouldn't complain because God is still good and I am always blessed more than I deserve.  Sometimes God has to teach and reteach me that lesson. Maybe someday I will get it right. He is so patient with me.

For laughs, my mom came over to Grace's house and we all sat around the table laughing and talking about who-knows-what. Grace and I were bored... this is the result: :)

I can ZOOM

Today has been very interesting. This morning when my alarm went off, like always, I turned it off and then layed back down and began to think about what I was going to have to do for the day. Weeeell, somewhere in my thinking, I guess I fell asleep because the next moment I look at my clock and it is LATE!  I jump out of bed (I hate getting up like that) and then rush to put some clothes on and zoom out the door (and, yes I was moving so fast that I think the "zooming" sound effects could actually be heard). Anyways, I got to work and had to immediately begin filming a project my company is working on. On top of things, I forgot to load one of our TV shows into the switcher (stupid me). To say that I was a little frustrated could be an understatement. On top of things, I took an Algebra test last night and I do not feel good about it. I don't like algebra at ALL! It frustrates and confuses me. If I pass it this semester, it will truly be a miracle. I just don't think with that side of my brain. For real, I think colleges should only require algebra for certain courses and not a general class.

Enough of me complaining. I am so glad it is Tuesday because 1) Art class is tonight -- easiest class, 2) I only have two more work days left of this week because it is Good Friday, and 3) God loves me and that's all that matters. :) Sometimes I forget to thank God for the simple things in life and I meditate on things that I don't have.

Speaking of things I don't appreciate when I have them... Jacob and I have decided to try saving some money and we settled on not going out to eat for a WHOLE month. Not for lunch at work, not for dates, not even when we're not together. Ahhh... So I've been bringing my lunch to work with me and been eating at home. It is more difficult then you would think. But, the good thing is I have saved LOTS of money by not spending $7 or $8 dollars a day on food. I am cheap, but I guess I don't pay attention to how much money one person spends on eating out.

On another subject, does anyone understand Faulkner????? I am having to read As I Lay Dying for my English Composition II and it is slightly confusing. The book has 55 chapters and each chapter is narrated by one of the characters in the book.... so, it is pretty much one story begin told by a bunch of people. And it is all about this dead lady. Yupp. So far I am understading it fairly well... it is a little muddy though and I am still trying picture the characters in my mind... maybe I should read more than just 4 chapters... I love my teacher, but she is obsessed with William Faulkner. Although, because of her, I had no problem coming up with an essay on a famous speech for Speech Class. I love it how I can use the same stuff that I learn in one class and put it with another class. I suppose I owe a big THANK YOU to my teacher if I get a good grade on it. :)

So, thought for the day: What if everyone was made out of noodles? 

I'm a tile laying machine!

So, this past week I have been helping Jacob clean, paint, and lay flooring in his new house. Yesterday we learned to lay tile. Yes people, tile. And it wasn't the kind with the sticky papers on the back that you peel off and lay down.. this was real tile with real mortar that had to be layed first and then straightened out. Can you say exhaustion? We worked for three hours and almost finished the livingroom. My knees and back were so sore from kneeling and bending over. We still have to get the edges and cut pieces, but we are still off to a good start, I think. The last hour of working we had come up with a system and it worked very nicely: I smeared the mortar and Jacob layed the tile. I didn't get home til almost 1 a.m.
I really enjoyed getting to learn though and I can now say that I know how to lay tile! :)

Yesterday I got to have lunch with my wonderful friend, Jennifer. We went to Lenny's Sub Shop... sooo yummy! We hadn't seen eachother in a while so it was nice to be able to sit down and chat.
Spring Break is this week and it's been sooo nice not to have to sit in a class room at night. I am NOT ready to start back up Monday, but I suppose the quicker I begin, the quicker I can end. This year will most likely be my last semester, I think. I would like to dive into my photography and challenge myself. I am learning that it's not very easy... sometimes the pictures that I take don't turn out the way I envisioned them and it can be a little discouraging. But, if Thomas Edison had given up on the first, second, or even third try, we might not have the light bulb today! Right?! So, yes, that's what I keep telling myself.

This weekend my bestie is running off to Atlanta and leaving me... her and Will are going to Market with Will's parents. I am going to miss her soooooooo much!! I haven't been able to see her hardly at all this week because things have been so crazy... sadness. But the good thing is I know that we can go a week without seeing each other and I know that she still loves me bunches :) --but, I would rather NOT go a week without seeing Grace. Haha. I think I will just work and help Jacob with his house since I will have nothing else to do. And, I believe I am going to stop typing now because my writing is becoming a little random and... boring. :)

Some days...

Today I don't feel very good. I have been struggling with a sinus cold for the past two weeks, but I also think that the headache I have came from Joshua who had slammed his shoulder into my nose the other day. I'm not sure, but I think I have a bruise. I haven't had very much sleep either (that is completely my fault because I didn't listen to Jacob and go to bed earlier than I should).
Some days I feel like the seconds are stretching out to be minutes and minutes are stretching out to be hours. All day long I have been working on editing video for the Home School Channel.  I am very blessed to have the job I have, but, some days when I feel like this, I just want to go home and go to bed.
 (The above was written about 10:30am this morning and here is the rest of it...)

I went to lunch with Will it was nice just to step away from the office for a little while. After I got off work I went to the cancer box (yes, people, I know it's bad for you.. but I hardly ever go)... I tried out some new tanning bronzer lotion and it burned!!!! But that is good... that means that the result will be golden brown!! Yay for golden brown.
After that, I decided that, hey, since I was inflicting myself with pain I might as well have my eyebrows waxed. So I went to the salon and had Mrs. Kim (Gloster Creek Salon... wonderful stylist) wax the hair off my face. When I finished there, I went home, changed out of my clothes and into some comfy ones and then sat down to edit photos. I was able to get quite a few done... I was very proud of them, actually. I'll post a few here in this post, but you'll have to check them out in "My Photography" section at the top of my home page. Anyways, I met up with Jacob and we went to get supplies for his new house -- he just closed on it today... I'm so happy for him ;) -- and then went and tore up flooring! My fingers are soooo sore from using a small wrench and hammer to get stubborn linoleum up. But it was still fun.

Now, it is time to go to bed. I am so happy it is spring break this week... a break from school is just what I needed. =) I love God so much. Even though my days are sometimes crazy and exhausting, He has still blessed me more than I deserve.