Last Heart Beat

“One more heart that was stopped. 

Two more eyes that will never see. 

Two more hands that will never touch. 

Two more legs that will never run.” 

His heart beats its last beat. The little body is quickly sucked out of the uterus and the woman is soon free to go. A legal surgical abortion stops a beating heart. Medical death is when the heart stops beating; thus a child dies. Should abortion be legal? Is it ever justifiable? If the facts are examined and any basic form of morality or justice is observed, there is only one conclusion. Abortion is wrong, and according to scientific, moral, and American standards should be made illegal. 

Abortion should be illegal because it kills a living, innocent, being. Disregarding personal beliefs, it has been scientifically proven, that life begins at conception. Thus as a living, human, being, this new life is deserving of personhood. In fact it automatically has membership in the human race and thus ought to have basic human rights, just as any other human being. The stage of life is irrelevant, if the baby forming is indeed alive, and it is. At conception, when a new life is created, there is no longer one person involved. There is no longer one body. There are now two bodies; two people, to be considered. For this reason alone, proven by science, abortion should be made illegal.

Abortion is legally and morally wrong because the right to life, that is, the right to not be killed, undoubtedly supersedes the right of a woman to not be pregnant. Less than one percent of abortion procedures occur when the life of the mother is in jeopardy. In that case the doctor has two humans to save and must save whomever he can. In addition, to the fact that it is morally abhorrent to kill an innocent person, starting at just 8 weeks, an unborn child can feel pain. Those little cells can feel real, physical, pain. They can feel as the scissor-like tools are inserted into their head and their brains are snipped apart and sucked out through a small tube. They can feel as their limbs are torn off for extraction. After spending just one month in their mother’s womb, the child has all of its organs. Is this being still not worthy of life? To maintain basic human rights and moral decency in America, abortion must be made illegal.

Abortion must be abolished in America as it can be condemned for many of the same reasons as genocide and slavery. Anything that targets and eliminates a whole group of innocent human beings is morally abhorrent and stands deeply against American values. America stands for life, liberty, and justice for all, however the legalization of abortion makes these values impossible to uphold in our nation. How can one say his country stands for life, liberty, and justice when he refuses to extend those rights to every person, no matter what stage of life they may be in? Common words used to refer to the unborn baby are embryo, and fetus. These are indeed accurate terms as they are stages of the development of a human. However these are differences in development not differences in kind or personhood; a human fetus is still a child. The amount of children murdered is comparable to mass genocide, leaving the only just and truly American option to outlaw abortion.

Some say that in the case of dramatic unforeseen circumstances such as rape, abortion may be acceptable. They state that the woman might not be financially stable or is too young for a child. While these are indeed hard horrible circumstances and sensible claims, it does not at all change the fact that a life is at stake. To take a human life, without just cause, is murder. Since this is a living child, the hardships are irrelevant to the choice of whether a human being may live. Because both living bodies are people, they have equal rights as human beings and should have equal rights as American Citizens. For these reasons, the killing of an innocent being, even under such dire and wretched circumstances is not justifiable.

How many more innocent hearts will our nation allow to beat their last beat? An unborn child feels the pain of death. At the point of conception he is no longer a part of the mothers body, but his own person and thus entitled to his own rights. Abortion kills a living, innocent being, denies basic human rights to a person, and is equal in gruesome procedure and numerical importance to genocide. Therefore to uphold justice for all American citizens and to maintain the right to life for all individuals, regardless of age or development, abortion is never justifiable and must be deemed illegal.

Dead Last

First off let me say that I do not really enjoy writing Narration.... But I had to for my English class so I thought I'd share with you all. :)

“That first day, she was walking! And now she’s going to Nationals…” Coach Roddy said as he encouraged another budding runner. To excel in a sport, career, or any endeavor in general it takes determination and hard work. It is not all beauty, medals, and crossing the finish line. There is much pain, training, and failure that first presents itself before success is even remotely visible. My freshman year of high school I decided to run track. I was not at all prepared for the training that lay ahead nor for the disappointments, failures, and challenges I would face. However, with these same challenges, came a deep motivation to push harder and be better that I will carry with me. I was able to overcome injuries and numerous obstacles and compete at a higher level than I dreamed possible. This is a story about failure, but ultimately about determination and success. It is about finishing dead last, and getting back up to do it again and again until finally you are no longer last.

When I first joined my school track team, I can vividly recall one early morning as I began a three-mile run. Three miles! I had never run for that long in my life. I was slow, tired, and could hardly breath. I just wanted to stop and walk the rest of the way, but my coach was running right beside me. Just leave and let me stop, I thought. Coach Roddy expected me to keep running. Willing my legs to keep moving I eventually finished those three miles and although extremely tired, I felt proud for finishing. Thus began my running career.

After that first track season Coach Roddy invited me to come run on his club team and compete in the summer so as not to loose valuable training. I decided to join, but knew because of our family situation I’d have to pay for it myself. I mowed lawns and babysat all summer to pay for the club and the meets. It was hard, but so rewarding. I went to many meets that summer and did not win a single one. I finished dead last or close almost every race. It was depressing at times, but I decided to use those losses to propel me forward. I would not go down without a fight.

In the fall as I began Cross Country I had painful shin splints. This is acute pain in the shin and lower leg caused by continuous running and not having enough muscle to handle it. My legs were too weak for what I was doing. I began doing specific exercises to strengthen those parts of my legs and feet, but refused to quit running. I often ran with my lower legs wrapped up to ease the pain and hobbled around like a penguin after finishing a run.

Soon my legs strengthened and I began gaining speed. The endurance I had built up from training on the off seasons was showing. As the next Track season rolled around, I began doing well at meets. I ran varsity at most meets and medaled at many. I was close to the top. I frequently trained with the guys as many of the girls could not keep up. I kept pushing to do better. I remember distinctly one afternoon practice in which we had a particularly hard workout. As I was coming around the corner of the track on my last lap I felt sick. I had a cramp that simply would not go away, but I knew that quitting was not an option. I tried so hard to get through the last hundred meters but the curdling food from several hours before simply would not stay in my stomach. I vomited into the grass. I wiped my mouth and finished the run. Never give up.

This past summer, going into my junior year, I competed in the Junior Olympics. This time I did not finish last, but it nevertheless was not easy. My competitors were devoted. They had all put blood, sweat, and tears into running just as I had. At the first qualifying meet I qualified in all of my events. The second qualifying meet narrowed it down a bit as I only qualified it in two events, but I won one. That is a feeling I cannot describe. Achieving something you have worked so hard for is so much better than simply receiving it. At the National Meet, which was the Junior Olympics, I placed 8th earning myself a place up on the medal stand. Success is hard. It comes with failures, and hardships. I will continue to race after my dreams, even if I come in dead last.

Faith Trumps Fear

Hello all, I would like to share with you a quick message from Faith Trumps Fear.

His message is to promote voting your conscience, whatever that may be. It is about not voting out of fear and rather voting out of obedience to and faith in God. We are not called to the lesser of two evils. We are called to holiness.

"When the people of God vote like they belong to the kingdom of God, evil always loses."

The website Faith Trumps Fear helps by giving a list of candidates available to write in or on the ballot in your state. 

You can go to faithtrumpsfear.com to learn more and find candidates. If you are too young to vote, you can still make your voice heard by sharing the message.

Thanks!

Government: Federalism

Federalism as defined by We The People, “is a system of government in which power is divided by a constitution, between the central government and the regional governments.” While we certainly still have a government where the power of the federal government and the power of the state and local governments is divided by the constitution, it is definitively different than that federalism originally conceived by the framers of our constitution. I would argue that the change from a more evenly distributed power, to that of a powerful federal government and a weaker state government is not beneficial to the American people or the government.

The framers originally sought to create a federal system where the central government would essentially share power with lower levels of government. However, it seems we are closer to a unitary system than a federal system as the central government makes the important decisions and the states have less and less independent power. Yet, we still call the American government a federal system.

Initially the idea of dual federalism, where both the national and state government had important but clearly separated powers was the prevailing view and practice. As time went on, after the New Deal, federalism changed into more of a cooperative federalism. That is, one in which state and national policies overlapped. They had less distinct roles as the national government encroached more upon the state and as the state took care of much of the national government’s programs. This, in my opinion, fundamentally changed the way the American government was run for the worse.

While some say this change was good because the “bubba system” or “good ole boys” often led states to make less wise decisions for the benefit of a few, I would argue that this same problem is prevalent in the national government. The difference is it can be much more dangerous and detrimental when these decisions affect the entire country instead of just a few states.

Categorical grants and grants in aid were huge factors in why the national government has slowly gained more and more power and the state government has slowly lost power, or rather given it up in exchange for aid. These grants often rewarded states for following national guidelines, enforcing laws, and running national programs. While these programs were not mandatory the aids provided significant reason for state’s to employ them, thus giving the national government control over much of the states actions.

In the 1980s, there was an increase in unfunded mandates. Here, states were forced to comply with national regulations or new conditions and programs that actually ended up costing them money and resources for which they were not reimbursed. Thus the national government essentially gained even more control over the states, while the state government did not really gain from the situation at all. Block grants did attempt to return rights to the states as the national government allowed the states to choose how the funds were spent. This new federalism did allow the states more control, however the simple fact that the national government is allowing the state this control instead of the state simply having that power in the first place, shows us just how far from the original federalism our government has come.

I find the changes in federalism hard to support as it gives so much power to the national government and increasingly sneaks it away from the state and local governments. While it does make it much easier to enact national programs that may benefit all the states, it also takes away state rights and makes it much easier for corruption to seep in. Grants in aid in exchange for implementing national ideals seems less like the state and national government keeping each other accountable and working together and more like the national government superseding the state government, thus I do not support the majority of the change.

Souces:

“The Federalist Structure of the US Government,” Florida International University. http://www2.fiu.edu/~ganapati/3003/federalism.html, 9/29/2016.

Anneberg Learner, “Federalism: US v. the states.” Anneberg Foundation, 2016. http://www.learner.org/courses/democracyinamerica/dia_3/dia_3_topic.html, 9/29/2016.

Ginsberg, Benjamin., et all… “We The People.” New York. 2013. Print

Praying for Persecuted Believers

Hello everyone, I am here to talk about a hard but very important topic: the Persecuted Church and what to do about it.

I find myself complaining about my everyday life. Silly things... Oh I'm tired. I don't have time to do X. An event didn't work out. I struggle to get my Quiet time in. 

What about the believers that have to stay quiet and hold their pee for hours so-as not to be caught and killed for spending time with the Lord? What about the Christians in Chinese torture facilities? Do you think that they get sleep?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?!?!

Watching the news will send chills down your back but they only tell you half of an already twisted story. Christians are being persecuted. They are dying for their faith. We may not be there with them right now but does that mean we should ignore this? Should we turn a blind eye and continue with our life? 

I am not saying we need to drop everything and go (thats for a later post ;) ), but what I am saying right now is that we need to rally around these people. We need to pray. We need to pray with strength and power. 

Take a moment to watch one, or a few of these videos. I hope that they impact you. But don't let them discourage you. Let them encourage you to FIGHT. Fight the good fight. We can do that in many ways, but one of the most powerful is to pray.

What if you don't know what or who to pray for? There are many sources available to help you know what is going on in the Global Church and how to pray for persecuted Christians. Here is one website that I find helpful: Icommittopray

There are people who will be killed for praying to our God. It is happening right now. We are currently living where we are free to pray to our God. We can make supplications to Him any time we want. PLEASE take advantage of this. 

Here is another website with information about the Persecuted Church. 

I know today was more of a rant than a post.... But that is normally how my posts develop and I just don't have time to make this eloquent right now. Please hear my heart and ignore my grammar.

Book Review: Half Blood

OH MY GOODNESS! I loved Resistance and you all might remember when I reviewed it back in March Jace was one of my favorite characters. Well now, Jace has HIS OWN BOOK!

A little about the book:

"The gasps and murmuring grew. Though some were hardly more than whispers, clear words reached Jace’s ears—dangerous, monster, animal, soulless. He tried to back away from their accusing eyes, but the collar pulled hard against his throat and held him in place. 

For all his years as a slave, Jace has known nothing but the hatred people hold for his mixed blood—one half human, the other half the blood of a race considered monsters. Always, he is the outsider and quickly learns it is better to keep to himself. But, when his volatile ryrik blood leads him to do the unthinkable, he is thrown into a world of violence and bloodshed. 

Forced to become a gladiator, Jace finds more and more of his heart dying as his master works to break down his will not to become the monster everyone believes he is. When a stranger interferes with his master’s harsh punishment, Jace’s world is upended yet again. But with it comes the possibility of hope that has long since died. Could the man possibly hold the key to escaping the hopeless darkness that is Jace’s life? Is there such a thing as life beyond the cruelty of slavery?"

What I really enjoyed:
Wow. I really enjoyed this book. First of all Jace was my favorite character in Resistance and so I'm already kind of partial to this book.

There is a wonderful amount of action. I love real action. Like fights, getting bloody, and dirty. Having to survive. Jaye does this skillfully and realistically without getting into an immoral violence.

There are so many deeper meanings as she reveals slavery, strength, weakness, pain  and kindness through biblical lenses but not with pushy words.

She uses her characters to demonstrate the love of Christ and how he can wash any blood stains (literally) as white as snow.

Jace is so encouraging to anyone who has ever struggled with doubts or faith. I also really appreciate that he is strong, but his weaknesses are real. While his past haunts him, his Maker guides him.

What I didn't like as much:
The only thing I can say is, I think there could have been a little more to the plot. There was nothing wrong with it (IT WAS AMAZING) but her other book Resistance had so many sub plots intertwined you could never predict what was happening next or get bored.

Who I'd recommend this book to: 

I would say this book is aimed at Teens and Young Adults but I think mature Midleschoolers would also enjoy it! There

A bit about the Author:

"Jaye L. Knight is an award-winning author, homeschool graduate, and shameless tea addict with a passion for Christian fantasy. Armed with an active imagination and love for adventure, Jaye weaves stories of truth, faith, and courage with the message that, even in the deepest darkness, God’s love shines as a light to offer hope. She has been penning stories since the age of eight and resides in the Northwoods of Wisconsin."

You can visit her, read about her other books and get updates on her blog

Running In His Reign

I have been quite busy, as you all might have been able to tell from the lack of posts. Here is one of my laters endeavors. I have been training and coaching a wonderful group of kids doing my favorite thing: RUNNING! They are the sweetest, coolest, toughest, spunkiest, kindest group of kids and I'm proud to call them my running kids. SO without further ado, here are some pics of my awesome kiddos. (the last pic is my favorite). ;)

It is quite cold in January! but the kids pushed through!

Stretching after a good run is the best.

After several weeks of leading the stretches, I now rotate between all the kids and allow them to lead. They have the stretches we do memorized. :)

Prayer and team spirit!

Hill work ;)

They love going on the trails. It changes up the scenery and is all around good for them. :)

Track teams become like family. :)

And OH the lovely bleachers. Boy are they tired after those!

Indian runs...

We practice different kinds of workouts in addition to our running. 

T-shirts came in!!

YES my 6 year olds run through the RAIN. literally. 

We will have 9 kids competing in the Texas State Homeschool Track Meet (even though most of them are younger than the youngest age category-they're troopers!) this year and I am looking forward to seeing these kid's hard work pay off this Saturday!!