There's more to this Brave Adventure than you'd Ever Believe!

The adventure started when you were born. Do you remember it? Do you remember that moment that spurred your adventure and your conflict? The minute you were born, you were set out as a warrior maiden or a knight to fight the evil in the world. That is your mission. That is your conflict.

We're all players in a grand dance, a great battle. In ordinary, every day life, I think that we forget that. We are charged to jump above the average standard, chase our dreams, and fight for the good.

We've got swords. We may lose them from time to time, but we know how to fight. It's ingrained in us, to be soldiers of the Most High, our commander.

The trouble comes when we desert the army. We often decide that our cause is not worth fighting for, that maybe the enemy is the one that has the right idea and that we should join him.

Some of the deserters honestly believe that. I don't doubt that. But most deserters are afraid, like deserters in the armies of the world. They know that they are called to leap beyond, to go in the storms and to get hurt for their commander. That is frightening, you know. To go with their faces firmly forward amid hail and windstorms and bullets and to never look back. The deserters don't want to do this. They would rather settle to live a common civilian life.

But no one is called to be a civilian. Our enemy is active, and he works among us to create dissent among the ranks. He fools us into thinking that we are the enemies of each other. That is false. Take up your sword and fight. It's hard, it's insane to some, and it's not what our enemy tells us is normal. But it is right.

-Tina

"Home is a boxcar, and it's so far out of reach..."

Number 1:

This is the future: I'm leaving home in four months. Four. September? Nice to meet you and then I leave you.

I'm scared, to tell the truth. The closer I get, the more real it becomes. Up until this point, it's felt like a vague excitement, not quite real. It is real, though. I'm going to leave for months and months.

Is this what college feels like at first? I'll be at a school where I know no one. I know I can make friends. I've got to trust that I can at least, or else I've got no hope and I'll feel awful about college.

I'm going to learn to do what I love. That's my consolation; and maybe, just maybe one day I'll be able to do what I love as a career. I hope so.

Number 2:

I wrote an entire power rangers TV show pilot! Of course, I'm masquerading it as something other than Power Rangers, and it'll be superior to anything that Power Rangers can churn out-- but still. It's the fulfillment of a dream, and that feels so sweet, like a taste of sugar on my lips.

Perhaps, if more dreams don't turn to dust, I'll film a short movie this summer. Oh, I hope so. I just wish that the film people of Grand Rapids would come out of the woodwork and collaborate with me. It would be so awesome if that happened.

Number 3:

I love music, and have started to like some new bands. I first started listening to Owl City about a year ago and loved "Fireflies", but that was only the tip of the iceberg. I liked some of his other stuff, but apparently it improves with age because I've fallen headfirst into an Owl City fandom in listening to his beautiful music. He's a very good artist in that he has lyrics like poetry and music that's so interestingly mixed.

Number 4:

I'm starting to be okay with not being in love or not having boys flirting with me or wanting to go on dates with me. For awhile I thought that I would cave in and break because I wasn't getting love from that outside source, from a boy-- but I've come to be satisfied by God where I am and with how I am loved right now. I've got to be satisfied with myself and the love I've got in God before a man comes into my life. Otherwise it'll be like I'm searching for fulfillment in places other than God. It'll be like I think that a boy can fulfill me and love me better than God can. That's not true, and I need to constantly learn that, every day.

So that's my life right now! I'm doing my best to finish my schoolwork so that I can be done with High School forever, but I'm dreaming of June and the time that I'll have already finished. Those daydreams make me a little less inclined to do the work I've got to do to get there. :P

Talk to ya'll later!

-Tina

I don't need a telescope to see that there's hope.

And that makes me feel brave.



There's a girl out there that needs bravery right now. Her name is Emily.

She's a beautiful girl from England who has leukemia. She went into remission for a little while early this year, but the cancer came back in March. Now the doctors are saying that they're going to stop chemotherapy because it's not working.

I don't even know her, but I'm proud of her.

She's fighting, day after day. She's living, and she's believing in God even though it's fricken hard.

Pain is in the world. Hurt is in the world. Death is in the world. We have to deal with all of them, but generally they don't hit us when we're young. They hit her, but she's living. Living to the full.

Pain is not an indicator to fall over and decide to die. Reading her blog taught me that. Neither is pain something to ignore, to pretend it's not there and blindly believe that it has to go away, it MUST go away.

Pain is hard, but it's a daily something to live with. We are not to whine. We are not to be blind. We are to trust, even when it's hard and not understandable.

This girl's simply posting made me realize that.

I'm praying for you, Emily!

-Tina