i'm home from the beach!!

hey everyone.
this blog is going to be a long one, so sit tight, because i've got 3 devotions to write about, anndd my beach trip! first off, the beach was a blast. i got somewhat of a tan, and more so of a sunburn. haha. friday i layed on the beach all day, water was tooo cold. and then we went to broadway at the beach and i got the COOLEST shirt. it says "its all about Jesus" on the back. i cant wait to show it to y`all wednesday! and then after that we went and ate at hardrock cafe which was amazing because theres guitars everywhere. haha. saturday i was on the beach all day again, runnin around with some girls from my team and then we went and ate at the sea captain's house, which is one of the bestt restruants, and its really pretty because out back is the beach so you can go and run around on the beach. i must say though i missed my guitar. anyway, sunday i got up early, and was sore & burnt and got ready & went to compete. we got gold firstplace score [which is like a high gold] in both dances, but we didnt do to hott competitively, 6th place in hiphop & 8th place in contemporary...bleh. anyway, our lyrical team which dances to "how great thou art" did great and i was super excited to see the respons the Christian song got. even the MC said "beautiful music choice" so, you want to see beach pics? heres some:

Broadway at the beach on Friday night. really pretty dont you think??

the dinosaur was pretty terrifying.

Me out on the beach around sunset :]

Me && Eric Claptons guitar at hardrock cafe!

yep now you know im pretty much a dork. anyway, on to my 3 devotions. Thursday night i read about hope. i found a ton of verses, and since this is going to be long already, im just going to listen them and then do an explination, so y`all can look them up so this thing isnt a novel. Colossians 1:5, Psalm 38:15, 1 Corinthians 13:7, 1 Peter 3:15, Jerimiah 17:7, and the last one i am going to type out because it is my favorite. Hebrew 11:1 which says "Faith is the substance of all things hoped for, the evidance of things not seen." anyway, we need to hope in God and we can get through anything. NOTHING is impossible with God. Friday night, i read about optimisim. i have a problem with optimism sometimes, because theres been instances when i've been optimistic about something and been let down, eveyrone has. but i also realized many of those instances i didnt have my faith in Jesus. Psalms says a lot about optimism. again i wont type them all out because that'll make this too long, so, Read Psalm 51:8, Psalm 23:6, and my favorite Psalm 31:24 says, "Be of good courage and, ye shall strengthen your heart, all he that hope in the Lord" which i think is one of my new favorite verses. i think i used it the other day to help my friend Alex out, or one similar too it. if your down, remember, be optimistic. if we have courage that God will help us, our heart will strengthen, and i know teenagers get broken hearts, but if we put our hope in God and are optimistic about things then our hearts will be strong, less easy to break. Dont look at the bad side of things, hear the joy and gladness of it, dont dwell on pessimistic situations and ideas. We need to have optimisim about our lives, that Jesus will be there for us through it all and he'll give us goodness and mercy in our lives. okay now this thing is getting to be extremely long, so ill try to elaborate more tomorrow if i dont think this is sufficent. anyway, Saturday night i read about setting an example. heres the verses i read, look them up, i'd type them all out but then this will be entirely too long. Hebrew 12:1, Titus 2:7, 1 Corinthians 4:20, and my favorite, which i will type out, Matthew 5 verses 14 and 16. Matt. 5:14 says, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid" and Matt. 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they make see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" which pretty much sums up this whole example thing. We should not juts say we're Christians, but act the part. Like many of the preachers at new hope have said, sometimes the best way to witness is through our actions. We need to show others good works that glorify God, and show others we dont do things for ourselves, but for the glory of God so that they may do things that glorify God too :] im really sorry i couldnt type all these verses out but this is really long haha. i hope y`all enjoyed it and if you have any questions leave me a comment or im me at love x guitar on AIM and i`ll answer:]

i love y`all
God Bless!
- crystal jade