yay kayaking fun!!!

GOOD TIMES....



yeah i got really wet... i was scared!



silly silly silly

GRADUATION!!!!

So, May 21st I had the most fabulous day!!! I've had such a wonderful graduation. And here I am sitting with my pillow/pellow heheh and I hve all these wonderful cards scattered around me. To think that all these people picked out these cards just for me .... it blows me away.... I feel so special and loved. When I looked at all the people who came... it just touched my heart. I started crying earlier when I was reading all thses great cards. I have been so blessed. I'm so happy. Thank you thank you everyone who has been apart of my life... you are all wonderful!!!

Friday our guest started to arrive and today at 12 we said goodbye to the last... it was a fabulous time.... here are pictures!!

friday night...





this makes me laugh!


Sunday morning ... go us!!!!!




Food!!!



My moms dear friend.. she is wonderful!!!!!


I love them....


Lisa is the best!!!



In the spot light... me speaking...


everyone haha



these are my wonderful friends!!!!





I was really sleepy.. i wanted to see that movie too.... sigh



that's it!!!
love,
Sara

MY DADDY

hey go to my dad's site... he has a great video that he took in Pakistan... it's really awesome... GO CHECK IT OUT!!!!

My Day... with pictures

Ok so getting a really good camera phone can be dangerous!

so this is me in the morning.....





On the way to Tech with Dan..





humm yeah..





coffee with Linds.. good times = )




AND ... sleep time!!!

Photos Never Lie... But Photoshop Does = )

My Beautiful Cat

Here are the newest pics of my beautiful cat!






yes.. I did take these too... the camera was heavy though...

One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven

Here is one more essay I've writte....

After I read the book One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, I was forever changed. The author, Mark Cahill, approaches the topic of witnessing very differently from any other book I had read. His theses is simply, that if we call ourselves Christians one of the most important aspects of our lives should be witnessing. When we die we will no longer be able to speak with a lost person because, in Heaven there are only believers. I got three keys out of this book that really helped me step out of my comfort zone and witness. First, I learned that witnessing is a skill, and like all skills it takes time and practice. I also learned that when you get rejected, you should rejoice because you are storing up treasure in Heaven and the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon you. Then I learned that it is ok to not know all the answers. Just because I don’t have every word in the Bible memorized does not mean that I shouldn’t share my faith.

Shortly after reading the book, my friend and I went to a local mall to witness. My friend, Leslie, and I decided to grab something to eat before we started witnessing. As I sat across from Leslie I found that I was scared to death. We talked and ate at the food court for quite a while. We both knew we were there for witnessing, but it was as if we were glued to our seats. Thankfully, we both had copies of The One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven. We got them out and searched the pages for encouragement. In the book Mark says not to see the people you are going to witness to as strangers, but as friends you haven’t yet met. With those words in mind, my friend and I hopped out of our seats and we told each other that this was just practice and it was ok if we didn’t do everything perfect.

As Leslie and I walked around the mall we spotted an older man wearing a t-shirt that was offensive to our president. I remember standing there, looking at that man and wondering how he would react to what Leslie and I had to say. As my friend urged me to go over and talk to the man, I remembered two scriptures that were in Mark’s book that had to do with rejection.
1 Peter 4:14-15 “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.”

Luke 6:22-23 “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”
According to these scriptures, I had no reason to be afraid of this man’s reaction to the truth of God.

When I think about the conversation we had with that man, I get very confused. That man was very blinded, he was firm in his beliefs and would not listen to what we said. But, he did not get angry with us. He was generally nice; he just wouldn’t listen to what we said. He asked a lot of questions that we found we could not answer without having to spend a long time thinking of an answer. Forty-five minutes after we begin talking to the man we said our goodbyes and thanked the man for our conversation. As we walked away, my friend and I were somewhat discouraged. We felt like we had somehow messed up because we couldn’t come up with answers to everything the man had asked. We felt like fools. Once again we had to go back to the book, One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, to help encourage us. Mark says, “ God tells us in Psalms 14:1 ‘The fool has sad in his heart ‘There is no God.’ The fool is the one who doesn’t believe in God. You are not a fool just because you do not know an answer to a question.” Mark also suggested to get the person’s email and to tell the person that you will research until you find a clear answer to their question.

My friend and I learned a lot from just one trip to the mall. We did not count our trip as a loss, but instead we counted it as practice. We learned that rejection is not the worst that can happen while witnessing. We regret that we did not write down the man’s questions and then later email him answers, but again, we counted it as practice. We were just getting our feet wet and we long to continue to share the gospel with others.

Sara Chapman

Why does the voice of the devil seem so much louder than God’s?

Fat tears slid down my cheeks. My heart felt like a big rock sinking down to the bottom of a dark lake. "You are a failure, you will never change." The words echoed in my heart. My mom kneeled down next to me and tried to comfort me. She encouraged me to listen to what God was saying and not the devil. I looked up and asked my mom a question that had been bothering me for quite some time. "Why does the voice of the devil seem so much louder than God’s?” I don't remember her response, but I did learn some of the answers to my question. It has taken me years to begin to understand. Even now, it is still hard for me sometimes not to listen to the devil’s deceiving voice. Time and time again I would hear the devil’s lies and I would plummet head first into a depression. I began to ask God why it was so hard to hear His voice. This is what I have learned. To hear God’s voice, we must first know what it sounds like, then we must realize that it may not always be the loudest or clearest. Then we must realize that we live in a world with many distractions. We must try and ignore those.

Before the great invention of caller ID, people would just pick up the phone and not know who was on the other line. If they were familiar with the person on the other line, they would recognize the voice and continue chatting. I remember when I was younger, my friend and I used to answer each other’s phones and try to trick people. I would always know which friends knew her best because they weren’t tricked by my voice and they would ask to speak with her. I think it’s the same way with God. To know His voice we must know Him. How can someone get to know God? By reading His word. In II Tim 3:16 it says, “All scripture is God-breathed…” That means that when we read the Bible, we are reading the words of God. In Jeremiah 6:10 God says, "To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it." To know and hear God’s voice we must first know His words. Once we know His words, we can know His character. When we know His character, it will be much easier to recognize His voice.

I have heard people say that they would believe in God if He would either show His face to them, or if He spoke loudly and clearly to them. I must confess that many times I’ve wished that God would speak to me in a booming voice and make me to do what He wants. I’ve come to realize that if He made me do things, I would become like a robot and I wouldn’t learn to trust him or to really love Him. God knows that as humans our first reaction many times can be to go along with the loudest or clearest voice we hear. God doesn’t want us only to obey him because we think we should or because if we don’t, we will go to Hell. God wants us to obey Him out of our love for Him and our desire to obey Him.

I believe that another reason the devil’s lies tend to be easier to hear than God’s truth is because there are so many distractions in this world. The devil can use many tools like TV, music and movies to keep us from getting to know God better and from spending time with Him. We have to be aware of this and be on guard. We have to evaluate our time and see what it is that could be stealing all our time away from us.

These three points that I have made are tools that can help us. We must know God’s character to help us discern His voice. We must understand that His voice may not be the loudest voice we hear, and we must try to limit the distractions that are in our culture that divert us from God. This is an ongoing battle. We have to realize that the closer we get to God, the more the devil is going to want to ruin us. The good news is that the closer we are to God, the more we can find protection in Him.

Running

This is just an essay I wrote for English....

I’ve been running for as long as I can remember. Running has always been attractive to me. Maybe it’s the wind rushing past me, maybe it’s the pleasure of moving my feet as fast as they can go. Whatever it is, running is one of my favorite activities to do. I’m glad it became a hobby of mine from a young age. It wasn’t until I started track, that I started learning how wonderful this hobby of mine really was. Running is important because it keeps your body healthy, it brings a sense of accomplishment, and you can learn many life lessons from it.
I know that when I run, my muscles are getting stronger and healthier. Another wonderful aspect of running is that it not only exercises your external muscles, but also your internal muscles, such as your heart and lungs. Getting your heart pumping expands tiny blood vessels and helps make new pathways. Running is also great for loosing weight because it burns more calories than just about any other activity. Studies have shown that when woman run, they cut in half their risk of getting breast cancer. Running can also produce healthier skin because it helps flush out waste products.
Running keeps your body in great shape, and it can also bring a great sense of accomplishment. I remember when I decided to run my first half marathon. It wasn’t until the starting line when it really hit me; I was going to have to run thirteen point one miles, and there was to getting out of it. I had to endure the race before I could get any prize. So, I did run it and it took a very long time, but the feeling I got when I crossed the finish line was like no other feeling I’d ever had. I just stood there with pain shooting up and down my whole body and I was so happy. I had done something hard and I had done well. I didn’t have to win first place to get a sense of accomplishment I just had to cross the finish line.
I have learned more life lessons on my running path than in any book or class that I have ever read or taken. I can remember so many times while running when I’ve wanted to quit. When the pain stabs at my side, and I feel as if I can’t suck anymore air into my lungs, yet I keep on going, that is when I know I have learn perseverance. Learning to keep on running even when it hurts has also taught me to push through in other areas of my life. I have also learned that during long runs, after a while patience just comes naturally for me. It is easier to apply patience when it comes to other situations because of the practice I get when running. I’m so thankful that I had experience on the running trail before I got into hard situations in life because I knew that if I just pushed on a little farther there would be a prize waiting for me at the finish line.
Running is not and easy activity to do, but it pays off in many ways. It keeps your body healthy and lowers the risk of certain diseases. Once you have endured the difficulties of a race, you can enjoy an amazing feeling of true accomplishment. Some life lessons are easy to learn when you use running as a tool to help you improve.

My Wonderful Brother

I am so blessed to have a wonderful family. I love my family very very much. But this post is especially for my dearest brother Daniel. He is wonderful. He can always make me laugh. I love just being able to go into his room and spend time with him. Sure, we don't get along all the time. But I love him anyway!!!! I love his attention and I love when we can spend time together. Here is a pics of us.

track

So this is my wonderful track team. I'm so sad that it is all over.... never again will I run for them : ( It's all so sad...