I have officially learned my lesson. Worry just as much about your own paper as you do about other colleagues papers. You cannot be so nice that you neglect your own writing. I just received an assignment back that I did poorly on, but the papers that I edited of my colleagues received great grades. This will forever go down in history as the most disappointing day of my academic career.

As I was browsing myspace I came across a Bulletin that was interesting and timely in terms of the Bible Study that I went to yesterday. We discussed how our life on earth is only a temporary assignment from God and that our real home is in Heaven. With that in mind, as a group we discussed how we should live our lives on earth in terms of materialism. Luke 14:1 Jesus explains the cost of being a disciple. Here are a few verses,

"[S]uppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple." Luke 14: 31-33

I believe that Jesus understood what it would mean for humans to give up everything they had. A king who realizes that he must surrender even before he goes to war has made a difficult but wise decision. To surrender for a national leader is like admitting to inadequacy. Realizing that all of our worldly possessions are unnecessary and choosing to live a life where we depend on God to supply our needs is difficult in today's world. Here is the bulletin that inspired this blog - the answers are mine

[x] You have a boyfriend/girlfriend.
[x] You have your own room.
[ ]You own a cell phone.
[ ] You have an mp3 player or ipod.
[x] Your parents are still married.
[x] You love your family.
[x] There is a pool/spa in your backyard.
T 0 T A L: 5

[x] You dress the way you want to.
[x] You hang out with friends more than once a week.
[x] There is a computer/ laptop in your room.
[x] You havent been beaten up
[x] You are allowed to listen to the music you want to.
[x] Your room is big enough for you
[x]People don't use you for something you have.
[x] You have been to the movies.
T 0 T A L: 8

[ ] You have over 500 friends on myspace
[x] You have A picture on myspace.
[x] Your parents let you have a myspace
[ ] You get allowance/loan.
[ ] You collect something normal
[x] You look forward to going to college
[ ] You don't wish you were someone else.
[ ] You play a sport.
[ ] You do something after school
T 0 T A L: 3

[ ] You own a car/truck.
[x] You usually don't fight with your parent(s).
[ ] You are happy with your appearance
[x] You have never got a failing grade on a report card in your life
[x] You have friends.
T 0 T A L: 3

[x] you know what is going on in the world.
[x] you are happy with your life
[x] You usually aren't sick.
[ ]You know more than one language
[x] You have a screen name.
[x] You own a pet.
[x] You know the words to more than 5 songs.
[x] You don't have any enemies
[x] You are happy where you're living.
T O T A L: 8

Total over all: 27 then times it by 3 = 81

101%+: A+
100-90%: A
89-76%: B
75-69%: C
67-60%: D
59-00%: F

This bulletin encourages materialism. If you do not have many of the material things listen in a few of the sections (cell phone, mp3 player, pool or spa, own bedroom, clothing, pets and vehicles - to name just a few) you will "fail" this test, meaning that your life is not complete.

By actively studying the media, messages like these, which are not clearly visible to most people, stick out like a live flower in a field of dead grass. I believe that God has placed me in GH to study media not only because I love to write and I want to understand better what goes on in the world, but also to be that ambassador to people who don't necessarily recognize the way that evil sneaks into our lives on a daily basis.

Too many Christians today don't realize the message that bulletin's like these are giving. Yes, they are all fun and games, but they are also detrimental to our spiritual health. I would encourage every Christian to pay closer attention to these subtle media messages so that they may be aware of how easily evil thoughts and desires can appear in their lives.

"When HE is at work in the north, I do not see him; when HE turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of HIM. But HE knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold...I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread." (Job 23: 9-10, 12)

What is love? There is a fine line between seriously dating and seriously loving. To love is to want to be with a person every moment of every day, whether you are sick and lounging on the couch or having a romantic picnic in the park. Love is to want the best for a person and being as nervous about a job interview as the actual interviewee. Love is understanding each other's wants, needs, and minds. Love is knowing someone so well that you can sit in silence and continue to understand eachother. Love is understanding that a passionate love afair with God comes first - far above an earthly love. Love is believing that he'll look after you, even if you're mean to him in your pain. Love is being
able to be brutally honest and share even the secrets you have trouble admitting to yourself. Love is being there even when you can't see eachother clearly. Love is never being embarrassed to be with eachother in public. Love is putting up with one's inability to play tennis and still want to play. Love is being with the person who makes your stomach do back flips. Love is butterfly kisses and stolen kisses when noone is looking. Love is acting as a child does, throwing snowballs, making snowmen, tubing and canoeing. Love is enjoying nature and believing that nothing can be more perfect than it already is. Love is trying hard to surprise the other and the euphoria you feel when everything goes as planned. Love is the smile that you cannot hold back when you see him at the train station. Love is being silly in eachother's arms just because you can be. Love is not being afraid to try something new. Love is being able to trust with you're whole being. Love is not knowing any safer place than eachother's embrace. Love
is wanting everything to be perfect.

It is quite amazing how much we don't consciously recognize in the world. Every day I am bombarded by hidden messages and ideals that advertising companies would like for me to believe. It is almost becoming difficult to understand who I am because of all the information that the media has presented to me about who I should be. This is a difficult battle that I have only begun with 3 and a half years of University ahead of me and only half a semester behind me.

How does the human society exist amoung each other? Do they exist in a rear-view mirror world as Marshall McLuhan lended to the public nearly 50 years ago. Or do they live as an extension of each other, creating new media to extend the human's ability to live. There are so many theories about how media affects our every day life that it is hard to decide for myself how I exist with the media.

I plan on being the media for a lot of my life, as a writer and possibly an editor one day, I hope to be one of those people who provide an extension to every day life. However, how do I want to be an extension? Do I want to be an extension here in Ontario and report on politics, or do I want to be an extension for Canada in Africa and help to explain how to remainder of the world lives.

There is so much to decide, decisions that are bigger than where to go to school and where to live next year. I have to decide who I am, where I want to be, and how I want to live.