honors response 13

Okay so I feel like my posts all end up being the same thing week after week, so for my final post of this semester I will try and switch things up a bit.  So here goes...

For both of the books presented this past week, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven really caught my attention.  For one, it wasn't written by Wendell Berry.  Yes, I understand that there was one or two other books that were presented that weren't written by him, but this one was on a completely different spectrum than all the other books.  The six other books (I believe it was six but don't quote me on it) that were presented in class were all about white people and their farms or them working on farms.  But The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven was about Native Americans living on their reserve.  Sure there was some mention of farming, but it did not play that big of a role in the novel.

So why did our professors choose this book for us (or at least some of us) to read?

I'm sure that all the books that were presented all had a common theme about them that our professors were aiming for, but if I'm going to be honest, it was rather difficult for me to relate this particular book to the others.

This is what I took away from the book:

Everyone on the reserve was expected to fail.  This realization came to me when the presenters were talking about the kid who was amazing at basketball made a mistake while playing (his name and his mistake both escape me).  He was found in the back of someone's house, drunk out of his mind.  But what really shocked me was that everyone else on the reserve almost expected him to fail at basketball at some point.  So naturally, this was coming.  The same happens to those who decide to leave the reserve. They leave, try to survive, society wont accept them, and they end up back on the reserve.  This happens so often that the Native Americans have almost given up all hope of leaving the reserve and exploring the world outside of their own.

So now after I have typed this, I'm realizing that there may be a connection this book has with the others.  The mindset of the Native Americans is quite the opposite of some of the characters we have seen in the other books.  Take The Grapes of Wrath for instance.  That family does all that they can to survive as they move from their home.  They work together in order to be successful.  The Native Americans in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven initially have the drive to succeed, but quickly lose it as they realize the difficulties they have to go through.  However, one can argue that the Native Americans don't really have a choice.  They aren't accepted out in the "real world" (for lack of better words) because of their race so naturally they go back to the place where they belong and feel accepted: the reserve.  During these time periods of the books, it was much easier to be a white person attempting to survive in a new community of other white people.  But being a different race, the Native Americans were outsiders.  They almost didn't have a choice but to stay on the reserve.

All in all, I guess all the books did somewhat relate to each other, whether it be in agriculture or something else.  And maybe I'm totally missing something in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.  It was a bit of relief to have a novel that wasn't completely focused on a farm.

Next Semester

Okay, so I have no idea what to do for this service learning project.  I still don't completely understand what we need to be doing.  Throughout the whole class time we were talking about it, I was trying to think of a project that could pertain somewhat to my major, exercise science.  But I couldn't think of anything.  And maybe there isn't really anything with my major that I could do for this but I'm not completely sure because I still don't know 100% of what the goal of this project is.  Anyways, as we all know, Little Caesars and Dunkin' Donuts are two local businesses that throw out all of their leftover pizza or donuts in the dumpster, free for anyone who is willing to climb into a dumpster (which is most college students let's be honest).  I was thinking that maybe a project we could do is talk to those restaurants and see if they are willing to donate all of they're leftover food to charity.  Now I have no idea if this is what our professors are looking for, but that's all I have been able to think of at this point.  Hopefully I'll be able to think of other ideas once this whole project is explained a little more.

honors response 12

The book presentation about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in class this past week got me thinking, again about the discussions we have had in class this semester.

One of the themes that the group had presented on what community vs. individualism.  What I took from it was that the family in this story was that each member put in their part in order to make sure that they, as a family, survive.  They stuck together as they were traveling from Oklahoma to California, through thick and through thin.

This made me think, what if we did this in our daily lives? In all aspects of our lives?

If we focus on our community, our brothers and sisters in Christ, then maybe, just maybe we could solve one of the many problems of this world that we have talked about in class.  I'm not saying that we could fully solve multiple issues or even just one, I don't think that that would be possible, however I do think that we could help it out a little.  In class we've been talking about how we can help change the world as individuals, but what can we do as a community to help the world?

One statement that was made during the presentation was don't let fear control you.  That hit me hard.  We are always so focused on ourselves and what we can do to change the world.  But then we get the over-consuming feeling that we are simply just one person, whatever we do as an individual will not change the world, unless you're Justin Bieber (which by the way, I saw him in concert this past Wednesday and what God is doing in his life is absolutely incredible).  It gets to the point where we just put aside taking action because we don't think that we can have and effect.  But if we ban together as a class, or even as a school, we could make some sort of a difference.

Our soccer team has a saying, "what we do, we do together".  Although we overuse that statement on the team, especially when it comes to our punish (when 100% it involves a ridiculous amount of fitness), it can really apply to us.  As Christians, God tells us not to do life alone.  We should come together as a community, as one, to make a difference.

honors response 11

Because I presented on the education factor of rootedness in my groups presentation, I decided that I would write this post staying in that realm.

Hannah's statement, "The bigger idea of education, from first to last, is the idea of a better place.  Not a better place where you are, because you want it to be better and have been to school and learned to make it better, but a better place somewhere else.  In order to move up, you have got to move on." (112) parallel's with Wirzba's writings in Living the Sabbath.  Wirzba writes about how education today encourages students to be self-centered in order to be successful.  Mattie especially was extremely self-centered in his education.  All he wanted to do was get as far away from Port William as possible.  

At first, Hannah seems disappointed that not one of her three children decided to take over the farm that her and Nathan lived on and raised them on.  But I don't think that she completely blames the education system, despite her statement above.  She says that she and Nathan decided to send her children to college because they themselves never got the chance to.  They were able to afford to send all three of their children to college so they did, giving them better and more opportunities in their lives.  

Personally, I think that it was amazing for Nathan and Hannah to do that for their children.  They could have not let any of their kids go to school, and force them to go into the family business of farming.  However, they gave them the choice.  Sure, it was unfortunate that none of them chose to farm, but they were given an opportunity to follow their dreams and to cultivate their special talents, whether it be teaching, agriculture, or technology.  Nathan and Hannah were extremely unselfish to give their children the freedom that they did.

Also, on a side note, I don't think that farming was what Mattie, Caleb, and Margret were particularly talented at.  I think that they went onto do what they were passionate and talented in, and I think that Hannah believes that as well.  Of course, the kids, especially Mattie and Caleb, were extremely selfish in the developing their talents and they didn't have the right intentions in their pursuit of their future.  But at the same time, I don't blame them for wanting to "get out" of Port William.  When I was in high school, and even now, I don't ever want to go back to Normal, Illinois again in my life.  Not because I never want to see my family again, but because I've lived there my whole life.  I want a change of scenery.  So I see where they are coming from.  But I do think that it is selfish of them to never see their parents or talk to them.  

The argument on whether or not Hannah's children were selfish or if the education system causes them to become selfish could go either way really.

honors response 10

I'm just going to start this post off being honest.  I did not like this book.  For starters, it was very hard for me to follow along with, and maybe that had a lot to do with the fact that I was reading it off of my computer.  However, I think a lot of it had to do with how much I disliked Andy.  To me, all it seemed like he did was look at the bad things in life.  He would always whine about how he didn't have a hand.  Maybe I'm being too harsh about it, but I was just annoyed for the entire time I was reading this book.

With all of that put aside, there was one particular section that I found quite interesting.  Both Bill Meikelberger and Isaac Troyer were farmers, but they lived totally different lives.

To start, Meikelberger had an extremely elegant lifestyle.  To sum it up, his house "was a brick ranch house with ten rooms and a garage, each room a page from House Beautiful" (61).  His farm consisted of a lot of land, a lot of machinery, and a lot of hired help.  He had three children,  one was a doctor, one in law school and one was married to a company executive, yet he is in debt and does not believe he ever will be.  As I will elaborate more on later in this post, I think that Meikelberger's situation is rather strange, however I think that it may not be as uncommon as one would think.

Isaac Troyer's farm is contrasting to that of Meikelberger.  He only lived on 80 acres of land.  He had a wife and five kids, and his parents live very near to them.  Yet, what really got me thinking was his interaction with Andy:

"How much land do you have, Isaac?"

"Eighty acres."

"Eighty acres.  Is that enough?"

"Enough for what?"

"To make a living."

"Well, we're living, aren't we?" 

Eighty acres is enough land to take care of nine people.  Yet Meikelberger's wife has to go into town to work everyday in order for the two of them to survive. 

Now this may have something to do with how the two men farm, however, I think that a lot of it has to do with their mindsets and their lifestyles.  

I think that Meikelberger is selfish.  He has such an incredible house, only for him and his wife, and they don't even use it.  He tells Andy that they usually go out to eat in town and not use their immaculate kitchen.  Yet Isaac, with significantly less land, and not as a nice of a house, and with more people to take care of, is surviving just fine.  Again, there is a lot that goes into the debt of Meikelberger, but I think that he is squandering what he has.  He can do so much good and influential things with his house and his land.

Here's where I am coming from on this whole topic.  I come from a family of 9.  Three of my younger siblings are adopted, and my parents have told us over and over that one of the reasons as to why they adopted was because we have the room in our 4 bedroom and 4 bathroom house.  I remember my senior year of high school, there were 3 beds in my room.  As much as I hated it, and thought that my house was way too small for all of us, it really wasn't.  My parents saw that they had the money and the space to help three little girls, so they did.  

The farms of Bill Meikelberger and Isaac Troyer really reminded me of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  Isaac used his land and worked on it to the best of his ability, therefore God is taking care of him and his family.  However, Meikelberger, sure he works on his farm, but it seems as if he was too worried about rebuilding his house and making it as fancy as possible and putting machines in and hiring other people to do his work for him, which is probably why he is in so much debt.

Relating this all back to Christians and the environment: I think that whatever God has given us, whether it be land, talents, extra money, extra space in our homes, we as Christians should use all that God has given to the best of our abilities.  

honors response 9

We all know the Sunday school acronym JOY.  Jesus, Others, Yourself.  That's the order we were told to put our priorities.  Jesus comes first, then everyone around us, then ourselves comes last.  When I was reading chapter six of For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma-Prediger, my mind kept coming back to this acronym.  Others.  Does that simply mean other people, or could it include it include all else that is around us?

Bouma-Prediger writes that virtues are what makes us who we are.  Defining virtue, he states, "In sum, a virtue is a state of praiseworthy character--with the attendant desires, attitudes, and emotions.  Formed by choices and habits over time, a virtue disposes us to act in certain excellent ways." (pg 140)  The fourteen ecological virtues Bouma-Prediger expounds are respect and receptivity, self-restraint and frugality, humility and honesty, wisdom and hope, patience and serenity, benevolence and love, and finally, justice and courage.  He speaks on the biblical stories, the theological themes, and finds ethical principles and moral duties on each of these fourteen virtues.  The two virtues that made me think of the JOY acronym was benevolence and love.

The common belief of humans having rule and authority over all of creation comes from Genesis 1:26 stating, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  But we are not the rulers of creation.  We are here to simply take care of it.  Psalms 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it", simply stating that all of creation is God's, not one thing is ours.

So how does benevolence and love fall into the whole idea of earthkeeping?  Well first of all, Bouma-Prediger defines benevolence as "the willingness to promote the well-being of another" and the definition of love to be the "unselfish concern for the good of that for which one deeply cares" (pg. 155).  Benevolent people perform kind actions.  In terms of the earth, these kind of people treat all things, people and other creation, with kindness   Love is quite similar to this.  We often relate love to an affection towards a person, however, it can also be placed in the context of places, aka nature.  Bouma-Prediger writes that we should show both these virtues of benevolence and love when taking care of the earth because all in all, the Earth is not ours.

So in my opinion, I think that the Sunday school acronym doesn't just apply to humans.  We are to also take the rest of God's creation under consideration when think of the "others" portion of the JOY acronym.

honors response 8

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

1 Corinthians 10:13


In Chapter 10 of Living the Sabbath, Wirzba seems convinced that our educational system today is not fulfilling God's will.  That we are people who are fully devoted to ourselves and only ourselves.  He states, "For the most part, our educational aspirations have a self-serving focus that encourages us to disregard the particular needs of the place we live in, given the need to 'grow the economy,' even if that means destroying or degrading local habitats and communities." (133)  Now, I can't really disagree with this statement. I do think that today's society has put an extreme emphases on education in order to get somewhere with our lives.  As time has progressed, education has become more and more important.  It seems as if you can't get a decent job without having a good education. So I agree with Wirzba on the terms that in today's world, nearly everyone is focused on themselves and how to get ahead of everyone else.

I believe, however, that Christians are called to do the opposite.  It is stated throughout the entire Bible that we as Christians will encounter situations in which we are tempted to follow the ways of the world, such as focusing on ourselves in our education, instead of following the ways of the Lord and focusing on Him.  In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God says that we will be put into temptation, but it won't be anything that we can't handle.  He says that He will provide a way out of the temptation.

We are given such a great opportunity to spread God's light in the selfishness of this world.  1 Corinthians 15:10 says, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."  If we go into our classes with the mindset that God has gracefully given us the opportunity to be educated and that we will work as hard as we can for Him and to please Him, then I think that we can further God's kingdom.  We can cause questions to be asked.  We may even eventually have the opportunity to change the mindset of some of those going through the education systems down the line.  But it all comes down to our mindset.  Are we doing it for ourselves and to further our lives, or are we doing it for God and to further His kingdom?

honors response 7

Growing up, my Sundays, and weekends for that matter, consisted mostly of soccer. Probably about 2 weekends every month I would be out of town at a soccer tournament.  When I didn't have soccer, I'd go to church and then we would clean the house.  That's how it went in my house.  I didn't realize until this past week in class, that that is not how a lot of families spend their Sundays.  It shocked me how many people were telling me that in their house, Sunday was a day of rest...aka the Sabbath.

I mean, I know what the Sabbath is.  A day of rest. But that's just not something my family and I have practiced, after all, I come from a family of 9, all of whom are in sports.  I just thought that it was something that people in the biblical times did, and no one today did.

But is it really a day set apart?

Throughout our whole discussion on Thursday about the Sabbath and from what we read in Living the Sabbath by Norman Wirzba, I kept thinking that maybe the Sabbath is more of a state of mind.  Okay, I'm not saying that it's only a state of mind or its only a day set apart for rest, this is just what I was thinking about.

Wirzba states, "So what is at stake in Sabbath observance is not simply that we manage to pause and refuel enough to continue on in our frantic and sometimes destructive ways.  The real issue is whether we can learn to see, and then welcome, the divine presence wherever we are." (23-24)

Just this simple statement makes me think that maybe the Sabbath doesn't always have to be a specific day.  I just think that if the Sabbath is only one day of the week where we totally focus on God, then does it give us an excuse to do whatever we wanted the other days of the week, just as long as we take a step back from our daily lives once a week? I know that might be taking things to the extremes, but it can happen.  Wirzba's statement above makes me think that the Sabbath is more of a state of mind in that we are at peace with our lives and with God, just knowing that He is in control and He is everywhere, looking over us.

What I struggled with is why does Sabbath always mean a specific day to be set apart? Yes, it's always good to have a specific day set apart for God.  But it's so easy to just put Him on the back burner throughout the rest of our week because He's already taking up an entire day so we have to make up for that day.  But if we go throughout each of our days acknowledging Him and His greatness, that seems to be the more, for lack of better words, effective.

honors response 6

This past weekend I had the opportunity to Shipshewana, Indiana, an Amish town.

Now I'm gonna be honest.  I was not excited for this.  I thought that I knew everything you need to know about the amish.  Horse and buggie, no technology, etc.  However on this field trip I realized that I didn't really know everything about the amish.

Something that really stuck out to me throughout the whole day was the sense of community.

While we were at the furniture shop, the men who owned it told us about the fire that had happened in their shop, completely destroying it.  They continued to tell us that other people throughout the town came together and helped them rebuild the entire shop.

This is incredible.  In our "world", this would probably never happen.  Sure, you'll have one or two people who will tell you that if you need anything, they'll help you out, but that's as much as you'll get from someone.  I remember when my neighbor's house burnt down.  My parents helped them salvage as much as they could from what was left of their house, but that was the extent of the help we gave.  Now, I'm not saying that my parents are terrible people for not helping my neighbors with the actual handiwork of building my neighbor's house.  The amish just have different values and live a different life than we do.

However, I think that we can take some notes from the amish.  Nowadays it just seems like we have our eyes and minds set on ourselves and what we are doing.  The verse that comes to mind when I think about this is Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."  Just being around the amish community for a few hours it was clear that they clearly care about others.  I think that if we start looking outside of ourselves and our own lives, we can really have an impact on others.

Overall I did end up enjoying the field trip.  It was eye-opening to see just how self-focused we all are.  I really learned to take a step back and think about others and how I can help them.

 Workshop:

Farm:

honors response 5

"Natural systems may have been transformed by human presence and agency, but that does not mean that humans could (or ever can) control these systems.  Rather, we are included within them; our life depends entirely upon their continued integrity.  If we are wise, then, our life depends entirely upon their continued integrity.  If we are wise, then, we will recognize that the land rightly 'expects something from us.'"

This particular section of the readings we did for class really stuck out to me.  Coming from taking two semesters of biology, I know all about this process, at least in scientific terms.  In condensed form, plants require carbon dioxide to live and we humans require oxygen to live.  How do we get these? As we humans breathe in oxygen, we breathe out carbon dioxide.  And as plants take in carbon dioxide, they release oxygen.  As you can see, we require plants to live, and plants need us to live.  It's a mutual relationship between plants and humans.

Throughout the Bible, God seems to reward His people with good harvest.  A lot of the relief He brings is from drought, and condition of soil.  The text states, "That destiny is fulfilled, but only after the flood has washed away the human-initiated 'ruination' of the earth, when God has restored the steady cycle of 'seedtime and harvest' and through Noah initiated the covenant 'with all flesh on the earth'."  God knows that we live off the harvest and the earth, especially in biblical times.  Ending a drought or providing a good harvest could possibly be the greatest reward of all.

To connect this to the major questions that have been asked in class so far this year, we ask how do we Christians take on the responsibility of taking care of God's creation?  How much responsibility do we take on, if any?

Well personally,  I think that we should take care of the earth, simply because without it, we would not survive.  In Genesis 2:7, its says "Then the Lord formed a man from the dust of the ground..."  We were formed from the earth.  Therefore, I believe that it is our responsibility to upkeep the earth to the best of our abilities.  It is God's creation, as are we, and we should do our best to help it survive, so that we as well may survive.

Live, Love, JESUS (Honors Response 4)

"You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another."

-C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

What is your definition of a good steward?

In class we defined it as not wasting our gifts or resources, to not abuse what we are given, and to dedicate our life to service. 

When Dr. Sunberg visited our class this past week, what she had to say really hit home for me.  She spoke on the love of God in relation to loving our neighbors.  She said that we are some of the most blessed people in the entire world.  For example, I come from a two parent, christian household, I went to a Christian elementary school, struggled with what to wear everyday because I had so much, and I always had food to eat.  My life is truly amazing when I look at how much I have.  God can use our lives in such miraculous ways.

In terms of loving our neighbors, Dr. Sunberg stated that all we need to do is be Jesus to others.  But how can we do that? One word that was pronounced periodically through class was authenticity.  You've heard it before.  Non-christians think that christians are hypocritical.  We judge others, we think that we are better than everyone who is not a christian.  So how do we change this?  They want us to be who we are called to be.  

One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."

- Mark 12:28-31

It shouldn't matter who the person is, we should be Jesus to them.  Love them no matter what they've done because Jesus loves us, despite all of our sins.  Sure, it may be hard, but that's what we are called to do.  Care for them, do all that we can to help them.  We can preach about it all we want in church, but none of it means anything if we don't act upon what God is telling us to do.  We are called to make a difference.  Sure, you're just one person, but you can make a huge difference.  We are called to live an authentic lifestyle.

God has blessed us.  He loves us so incredibly much, and shouldn't we show that love to everyone we come across?

Honors Response 3

In class this past week we were challenged to go to a particular place/building on campus and look at it like a text.  My initial thoughts were, "how is that possible? Is that even a thing?"  Well, it is, and it's actually pretty eye opening once you take a step back and look at your surroundings.

My group was assigned to observe the cafeteria and the cafe, both of which are in the same building.  The cafeteria is a large space with high, vaulted ceilings and bright lights.  Within this large space, there are two different sitting areas split up by the food lines.  Although they are in the same room, each area has an entire different atmosphere that goes along with it.

Now, my older sister goes to Olivet as well and last year when I was coming in as a freshman she told me, "Tess, whatever you do, ALWAYS sit on the left side of Ludwig.  That's where all the 'cool kids' sit."  And even when I got here, there was always an unwelcoming air that comes from the right side of the cafeteria.  

As part of our observation, we asked people sitting on either side of the cafeteria why they chose the side they were sitting on.  The people sitting on the right side of Ludwig were either there to sit by themselves and have some alone time, or to have a scholarly meeting with just one other person.  This explains the quiet and more reserved atmosphere this side of Ludwig emits.  But as soon as you walk over to the left side, it all changes.  The sound of people talking, laughing, yelling, and the occasional round of applause is much more welcoming.  The stress of classes, homework, and exams seemed to be nonexistent for the time being.  The guys we sat down with and talked to on this side told us that they came there with a group of friends just to simply eat together.  There was no agenda for them, just a time to come together as friends to enjoy a meal.

It blows my mind that there are two very different atmospheres in the same room.  But what is even more crazy is that there is another room, ten yards away, that has a whole new demeanor.

Common Grounds has much lower ceiling, dimmer lighting, and to be quite honest, a much better smell.  The seating is more comfortable, including different heights of tables and chairs, and even sofas are placed strategically around the fireplace.  Just the furniture choices and placements give off a "homier" vibe.  The dimmed lighting, warm colors, and the coffee smells are welcoming and relaxing, making it a prime spot to study or have a date.

After class I looked at how I approached the places I go to.  For instance, when I go back to my apartment, I am there to dance wildly to One Direction or to sleep, whereas if I am in Reed Hall of Science, I wouldn't dare sing and dance.  I go to buildings on campus with a purpose, to get something done.  Back at my apartment I normally don't have a purpose or a schedule to withhold.  It is simply a place to relax; my home for the time being.

The point of this whole blog post is just to show you how incredible every place we go to is.  There is a reason why people choose Common Grounds as opposed to the left side of Ludwig to have a first date.  Each place we go to has an atmosphere about it that shapes the reasoning as to why we choose to visit it.  

Honors Response 2

At this point in our lives we've all heard it.  Plants require carbon dioxide to live.  Us humans require oxygen.  As we breathe in oxygen, we release carbon dioxide, and as plants take in carbon dioxide, they release oxygen.  As you can see, the relationship between plants and humans is extremely imperative for each species survival.

As time has progressed, despite the importance of carbon dioxide to our survival, there has been extensive research on the effects carbon dioxide has had on the environment.  Global warming seems to be the biggest area of concern.  Some effects that scientists have claimed that global warming will have on the environment is the loss of non-renewable fossil fuels, health issues, a loss in food production, and a loss of biodiversity.

Personally, I do not believe that the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment will have such negative effects on us.  According to The Truth About Greenhouse Gases by William Harper, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 390 ppm.  Harper states later on in his article that "atmospheric CO2 levels should be above 150 ppm to avoid harming green plants and below about 5000 ppm to avoid harming people".  The current ppm levels are much closer to the lowest amount required than it is to the highest amount.  If carbon dioxide levels become excessive and reach levels closer to 5000 ppm, then there will be extreme repercussions to be concerned with.

"The message is clear that several factors must influence the earth's temperature, and that while CO2 is one of these factors, it is seldom the dominant one." (Harper)

Instead of spending such a large amount of time, energy, and money on attempting to lower the carbon dioxide levels in hopes of diminishing global warming, we could do so many more effective projects.  We could use the money to help prevent to food crisis, we wouldn't have to change our lifestyles, and the plants may thrive even more.

Soccer, Food and Honors Class

I love soccer.  And that’s why I originally wanted to play in college.  But now that I have one year under my belt, I have realized that there is one more very important reason I play collegiate soccer.  You see, for our home games many parents come (aka moms). And those moms, since they have one less child in their home, feel the need to bake.  And let me tell you, tonight was glorious.  One mom brought cookie brownies.  Cookies and brownies are one thing, but put them together and you’ve reached an entire new level.  My taste buds were so confused because they couldn’t figure out what type of food was in my mouth, but oh my gosh, it was amazing.  I think brownies are like the go-to treat to bake because another mom baked us brownies.  These were easily the greatest brownies I have ever had.  So moist and soft (sorry if you hate the word moist, but they were perfect), I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  Literally melted in my mouth. To be honest, I think that the regular brownies were better than the cookie brownies, but hey, I’m not going to complain about free food.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE.

On top of the 2000 calories that we all had consumed, it’s one of my teammate’s birthday tomorrow.  Her mother brought us donuts.

Jesus take the wheel.

Thinking about this, I realized that it connected to one of the articles we read for class.  The National Geographic article The Joy of Food simply states “the sharing of food has always been a part of the human story”.  Being on a college team has really shown me that.  Especially during the preseason when there are quite a few players new to the team, my coach makes it a requirement to eat every meal together.  This rule is put in place so that we get to know each other and grow together as a team.  In general, eating a meal together with anyone has the same effect.  Acts 2:46 displays this, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”

I think that we as Christians are called to continue this tradition.  Although nowadays we have busy schedules, we should still try to find time throughout our week to meet with others and share a meal together.  We are not called to walk alone in our faith, and what better way to do that than with food!

Enjoy Boys

https://youtu.be/Qr9I2rJ-FDM

Welp.

Well I guess this is my new blog.

Keep it swag money.