I recently formed a new friendship with my best friends' 8-year-old cousin, who helped me disover my passion for Yu-Gi-Oh! Seeing his chubby little Asain face light up when i told him that i had every card ever made in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe made my entire day. It was my first time meeting him so i wasn't quite sure what to expect, but after spending even a little bit of time with him, i knew we were going to have a great time together. I really couldn't help laughing at his chubiness,his broken English, and the way he screamed like a girl while playing Mario Kart on GameCube,or sweat profusely playing Wii and ran back and forth across the room as if though he was a pro tennis player on what he seemed to think was a real court. It was a few hours before i had to go home and my new little buddy and i were already calling each other best friends. He said we would be best friends forever and even gave me his beloved Yu-Gi-Oh puzzle he had made earlier that day as a token of our friendship. When it was time for me to leave i realized i wouldn't be able to see my best friend until Christmas break because he had to be taken home the next day and lives in Seattle. My mom met him when she picked me up,we said our sad good-bye's, and i continued to talk about him even after arriving home and then on. I Facebooked about him,and texted his cousin about him, and now i'm even blogging about this little guy! We had a lot of things different and a lot of things in common. Besides his broken English and Philipino accent, both my new best friend and i have brown squishy faces, we love food, video games, apparently Yu-Gi-Oh, we're both loud,energetic and can't help but make people laugh with almost everything we say because of our joyful spirit. And at the same time, this little boy is the cutest and most innocent kid i'd ever met.


The next night i was on the phone with his cousin who'd taken him to thier other cousins house before he was to arrive home in seattle, and i asked how he was doing. She answered with "good, but i have to tell you something." I wasn't sure if what i was about to hear was going to be good or bad so i quickly asked what was wrong. After my little friend had been on the computer, his two older cousins had checked the history and found that what he was looking at on YouTube was, as she explained it "really bad stuff." at first i didn't want to believe it so i said "what kind of bad stuff?" and she answered back with "what do you think?" she said they confronted him and the first two times they asked what he had been looking at on the computer he asked "what?" as though he didn't know what they were talking about. The third time it was silent and he dropped his head and they saw tears come down his cheeks. They explained to him how bad that stuff was and what he was doing was wrong. I didn't want what i just heard to be real so i tried not to think much about it that night. The next morning was church and while i was getting ready all i could think about was the news delivered to me on the phone the night before and i wanted to break down and cry. My youth pastor had just two weeks ago mentioned statistics about it,and now this reality was hitting me; hard. After church i texted my friend asking her how she knew that once her little cousin was back home that he was going to be monitored on the computer because he obviously has that desire in his little heart still. She said she didn't know but they seemed to get the message across to him when they confronted him and that now all we could is pray for him. Since i heard that, i think about my little friend everyday and try to grasp the fact that 9 out of 10 kids between the ages of 8 and 16 have viewed pornography,although most cases were unintentional. the average age of first time exposure to porn is age 11, and the largest consumers of internet porn is ages 12-17. Youth with significant exposure to sexuality in media were shown to be more likely to have sex by age 14-16. 1 out of 7 children who use internet have been sexually solicated, 1 out of 4 children participate in Real Time Chat, 1 out of 5 kids ages 10-17 recieve unwanted sexual solicitaions online, and 2 out of 5 children are abducted of ages 15-17 due to internet connections.


This is what our generation is being offered everyday, and it has to do with irresponsible parents leaving their young children unatended at the computer, not caring what they are consuming,or not monitoring and setting restrictions on daily computer use. Some may say that a child should know between right and wrong, but an 8-year-old isn't at fualt for having his desires met because he doesn't know better until someone tells him. He isn't going to know that he is so engaged in sin that what he is doing now, without being stopped or monitored by an adult, will effect his relationships in the future. For now,like my friend said all we can really do is pray, and hope that when the time comes for this little boy to grow up and realize that theres something greater that needs to be filling his void and all that is is the love of Jesus Christ.

Galations 5:13, Mark 7:20-23, 2 Timothy 2:22,

Verses for Overcoming your Sin from the Past: 1 John 1:6-7 & Proverbs 28:13

the B-I-B-L-E

We all have struggles in our walk with God. Mine especially is reading my bible daily. I don't only have my bible, but a daily devotion book and sometimes i can't even get myself to get into that! But after camp i realized that in order to keep my relationship strong with God i need to take the time everyday to pray and read God's word. Most people make excuses-and im guitly too-that the bible is too big, or boring, or overwhelming. One thing that will surely help you overcome your fears of reading the bible is to PRAY about it. Let God put it on your heart to want to read His word and find out what he's set in store for each and every one of us. If we all were so comitted to doing this, making it a habit, something we want to do and not have to, then our relationships with God would be so much more than we ever expected. Do this and you will not only see your life change, but you will have the power and the will to help change and SAVE others.

1 Thesselonians 5:11-18, 1 Peter 4:1-7 & 19,

Ephesians 6:5-8, Ephesians 1:5-12

World vs. God

What the world has to offer our generation: Rumors, bullying, assalt, violence, anxiety, depression and sadness, disease, sexuality, alcoholism, and although a lot of it may just seem like 'harmless fun'...the biggest thing the world has to offer us, is SIN.

What God has to offer offer our generation: Truth, fullfillment, happiness, joy, reassertion, care & unfailing love, healing, purity, restoration, freedom, and FORGIVENESS of all our sins.

I don't know about you, but knowing that by putting my faith in God instead of the world so that i can strive to live for Him daily and accept what he has offered me, it just puts a smile on my face :)

Mark 11:22, Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21,

Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7

"Never give up on faith even when times are rough, keep your head up. We will always be tempted and we will always fall. But God is faithful and will provide a way of escape. He will set you free of guilt and give you HOPE. He is filled with unfailing LOVE."

*From the wise and loving words of a very close friend*

I hope that as you read this, you too can make a connection to a time where a friend has lifted you up and helped you along. As christians we need people in our lives that we know will always have something positive to say, that can pray with us and for us, that know things about us that no one else does and helps us overcome things with words such as these, reminding us that God is the answer to ALL our struggles. I also hope that you can find that one person in your life who maybe is friendless and lonely, who has little hope, and who needs someone in their life to comfort them and show them the love of Jesus Christ!

*Matthew 17:20,Romans 5:8,Romans 8:37-39,

1 John 4:9-12,John 15:12-13*

how can we forgive?

Have you ever sat there and thought about a situation where someone has violated, defied, disrupted, offended,trampled on, sinned against, or just simply, hurt you? Did you wonder how or why you would ever forgive that person? You told everyone that what they did to you was so horrible and that you hate them...But how bout after that did you stop and think about how horrible Jesus was treated? I bet you didnt think about,in great detail, how they crucified him. We're all guilty of this,so dont think im calling anyone out. It's one of the hardest things for anyone to do, to forgive someone. The fact of the matter is though; He forgave all of us, and ALL OF US SIN EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Matthew 6:14-15,Matthew 5:44,Mark 11:25,Luke 23:33-34,

Ephesians 4:32, & Colossians 3:13

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my first post!

this is all very new to me. i dont think i've ever even looked at anyone's blog, let alone created my own! its cool and exciting though!! the reason for this you may ask? i recently attended calvary community's mayfield lake youth camp. the title of this camp was "the Stand" which is where i got the name for this blog. coming back from this camp i've had this non stop akward feeling inside of me thats telling me that, because of my strong personality, theres much more i can do in longview washington to help heal this generation.

Romans 3:21-24