The 1st Blog-iversary post!

For the first year, I actually had two posts! One was my traditional homeschooler post, and the other was a post that shared the highlights on my blog for the year before.

Without further ado:

100 things Homeschoolers Love

(side note: because I had someone complain I only wrote eight things that were actual things homeschoolers love, they aren't all entirely things that homeschoolers love...just things about homeschoolers, e.g. what they enjoy, etc.)

The 1st post on my Blog!

For my very first post on my blog, I wrote a post about 4 myths people commonly have about homeschoolers!

Without further ado:

The School Year is Coming

(man, that just sounds ominous....I apologize XD I was very dramatic back then...I've gotten better as the years progressed lol!)

The Golden Rule (a guest post)

{John S.}

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12)

I’m sure many of you reading this know of this verse or have at least heard this saying sometime in your life. However at least I have found this to be one of those extremely tough verses to follow. I mean naturally our response to someone we don’t like or someone who has harmed us is to try to get even. However, when you read this verse it never discriminates against anyone. It just says others. That means anyone and everyone. When deciding on what to write for this post the first thing that popped into my mind was our society today and all the nonsense that the news keeps broadcasting. Everything from the major issue of racism to the push for homosexual rights all across the world. The general tone of the media is hatred towards people you don’t like. However we as people like to look at the big issues that seem so distant from us. However this verse is so important to our daily lives as believers. I know I’ve been on a few outreach trips through my local church. One particular thing me and my group did was go to Clinton Square in the city of Syracuse, New York and hand out free bottles of water to people who walked by. We didn’t sit there with signs protesting and we didn’t even push the gospel into people’s faces unless they asked about it. The whole time we were there most of the people that took the water were confused as to why we did this. In a world so filled with hate and bigotry showing a small bit of selfless kindness was foreign to most people. In fact a number of people took one look at us and went out of their way to avoid us, even going as far as to walk blocks out of there way just so they didn’t have to hear the message that they assumed we were saying. I can’t begin to say how many times I have seen Christians or “Christians” stand on street corners with megaphones and just shouting out the gospel for the world to hear. Which normally according to the Bible would be good, however when they do it and someone comes to cause trouble they lash out and yell at them and get angry. They show complete disregard for this very well, known passage and for the other teachings of Christ that say to show love and to not respond with hatred towards those who seek you harm. Luke 10:25-37 now this passage I’m sure a number of you have heard before. If you can’t quite remember it’s the story of the Good Samaritan. Here Jesus illustrates the point I’m trying to make better than I ever could. To love those who need it even if those people hate you for no good reason. So to all who read this keep this little thing in the back of your mind. Be kind and loving to everyone around you. I know people can be ridiculous and annoying and mean. However when that little voice in your head tells you to snap and get angry with someone remember this beautiful promise to help you fight that urge.

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

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John Schairer is an amazing boyfriend (although I'm biased), a strong man of faith, and a wonderful friend (and again, I'm biased)! He's going to Clark Summit University to become a pastor, a call he has had for many years!

Beautiful Blessings - 8/10/16

~ taking the kids to the Zoo to You program and having different animals at it than the one they went to a few weeks ago 

~ having John and Alexa over to help with the blog-iversary project

~ going out for ice cream with my family and them

~ a kitty proudly wearing a bow made by his girlie

~ teasing John just because

~ ending the night with A Ticket to Ride and losing horribly but having fun nonetheless

On Butterflies and Caterpillars (a guest post)

{Melissa M.}

Caterpillars. All they do is crawl around on the ground and eat. It takes forever for them to get anywhere.

Butterflies. Transformed, new, free. They can flutter above things, dancing in the air, not having to plod around on the ground.

My mom told me a bit about how God was teaching her about a particular butterfly. As she was sitting on a rock one morning, her attention was directed to a bright, yellow butterfly. She saw it easily flutter over a fence, dancing in the air without any cares. She thought about caterpillars, and how they can only crawl along on the ground, and how it would take such a very long time for a caterpillar to scale a fence! When living in defeat, we can be like that caterpillar, just plodding along through the trials, but God has a better way.

One day recently my Grandpa fell. He’s done that twice recently, and one of the times he had to go to the hospital. I was sitting out on our front porch swing when I lifted my eyes and saw that same beautiful butterfly hanging around by my cousin’s tree. I was reminded that it’s possible to soar even above the harder trials.

Just this week, the butterfly again fluttered over our family’s camping trailer. We’re getting ready to go on a trip, and the butterfly was once again a reminder that we can soar with Jesus above any trials that may come during it.

The Holy Spirit is able to help us soar even when things really hurt. If we let Him, He can show us things we’ve never dreamed possible and help us to be more like Christ, even in the middle of it all. And in the end, He’ll make all things beautiful.

“He has made everything beautiful in His time…” Ecclesiastes 3:11

“God works all things out for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

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My name is Melissa Morgan, and I am a 15 year old Christian who loves writing, praying, and being with those who love Jesus. I enjoy talking about what God is doing, getting to know people better, and hearing whatever God has to say. I also love dancing and singing, and spending good quality time with friends and family. 

Beautiful Blessings - 8/9/16

~ having an amazing morning hanging out with Naomi!

~ enjoying tea and biscotti

~ deciding to descend upon John's house and spring a surprise visit

~ going birthday shopping with John for T-bug's upcoming birthday

~ working on the blog-iversary surprise with John

Beautiful Blessings - 8/8/16

~ modern medicine for asthma

~ being cured with a simple nap

~ Star Trek that makes everything better

~ understanding people who finish my shift

~ a refreshing shower

Beautiful Blessings - 8/7/16

~ waking up to sunlight out my window

~ cookies in Sunday School perfectly describing the ways God answers prayer

~ resting and blogging between church and work

~ having John with me when we went to prompt care for my asthma attack

~ ending the night with a grilled cheese for dinner

10 Most Popular Posts of All Time - #1

At #1 we have:

Throwback Tuesday: Rachel Louise Carson!!!!!!

This is probably the most surprising for me! But I also think it's rather cool, as, well, science is cool! I hope you enjoyed looking back at all these posts with me! Enjoy the rest of the guest posts until the big day (the Blog-iversary!!!)!

A Strong Tree (a guest post)

Have you ever been walking through the forest and suddenly come upon an absolutely massive tree? One that you don't even need to take a second look, just the absolute size of it and you know it's been around for a long time.

   

And with that long time of life you know that surely that tree has survived a lot to get where it is. Drought, floods, possibly disease, it's stood through storms and winds that knocked down other trees all around it. And yet, there it stands.

A tree doesn't just become strong just naturally, no. The strongest trees have to withstand winds and storms, every time a tree survives a storm it digs it's roots deeper into the ground that is it's foundation and becomes harder and harder to dig out.

This is something I've been thinking about recently in my life and in the lives of my friends, many of us are out in college now. Working full time jobs and many of us have finally moved out. And as promised in the New Testament there will be trials, there will be storms in our lives. The question now is, are we going to let these storms tear us out and throw us around? Or are we going to dig in deep and grow stronger to withstand the next one?

The Bible has a few things to say about withstanding trials and about the strength that God will give us to help us endure. Here are just a few verses:

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." Psalms 1:3

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5

That tree in the picture up there withstood its life's trials. Will you?

God Bless,

Ryan

A little bit about me:

  I'm a 22 year old Christian guy, nothing extraordinary. I Volunteer with the local Fire Dept. where I lead a Fire Explorer Outpost, getting the High school kids in that are interested and giving them some training to see if Firefighting is a career path they would like to travel down.

I work at a couple other Fire Dept. besides that as a Firefighter/EMT-B. It's not easy work all the time, but it's what I love to do.

The original purpose of my blog (A Long Adventure) was to be a place to put up my stories, pictures and updates from a big Sailing trip that I was supposed to take back in the summer of 2013. But through a string of events and poor communication I never ended up going. I kept playing around with the blog putting up a little story here and there, and the end result is basically what is now an online devotional. Instead of being a type of journal for trips and adventures to different places it's become a place for me to put up the spiritual adventures and lessons that I've been through and that God has been teaching me.

I hope you all enjoy the blog, and I hope God uses it greatly to your benefit and for His glory.

  God Bless,

        Ryan