My Oldest

I will apologize ahead of time for the length of this post but it is so cool!

Jared is pretty much like your average 14 year old. He likes to hang out with his friends, listen to his iPod, talk/txt on his cell phone, MySpace and tends to roll his eyes from time to time. But he continues to amaze me how well he is handling this rollercoaster ride called "teenager". He is 2 weeks into his freshman year of high school and seems to have a handle on balancing his heavy load of school work, his intense love and commitment to cross country and, sometimes unsettling to me, a girlfriend. But over the last 2 weeks I've noticed something different about him. He has a new desire to follow Christ and lead by example. He has started a weekly blog on his MySpace completely dedicated to Christ, the bible and teaching his friends more about both. Below is this weeks' blog. It's a little long but I am amazed at his boldness and desire to share the love of God with his friends. I am so blessed and proud to be his mom!

Here is his blog for this week:

Being a Christian 101: Week 1
Hey guys. For the next four weeks, we will be starting a new series called "Being a Christian 101", which includes what being a Christian means, how to become one, and what rewards you will reap when you become one. And also, you'll need a Bible if you're following along.
Being a Christian 101 – The Background of Sin and What a Sin Is.
First, if you are serious about becoming a Christian, you need to learn sin's background and how sin came about. I will be reading a passage from Genesis 3 (this is the part where you'll need you're Bible) If you don't have one, it's OK. Just follow along
Genesis 3:1-5
(1) Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
(2) The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, (3) but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
(4) "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. (5) For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
This is the first ever temptation in the history of humankind. God told Adam and Eve to stay away from this tree, and the serpent comes in and tempts them to eat this fruit. Sure enough, their eyes were opened, and they had committed the first ever sin. See, God gave them a command, and they disobeyed it, which is what a sin is. The world was perfect before they sinned and after, they brought sin into the perfect world. If they had obeyed God in the first place, we would be living in a perfect world right now. After they had disobeyed God, he punished them (including the serpent) and banished Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Basically, Adam and Eve lead the way for all of us

Let's skip to Exodus 20:3-17, which is the Ten Commandments.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. There fore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

These are the main layouts of sin. Of course there are thousands of sins to commit, but they all stem from the Ten Commandments. There will be a series on the Ten Commandments later, but for right now, my message is over. Have a good week, and God bless you.


Next week: God's Love and "The Good Shepard"