What are your idols?

Good Afternoon Blog Land!

This morning my youth leader, Jeff, gave us a sermon that was really cool. It was about Moses and his brother Aaron. Aaron had gone through everything with Moses, and had seen God do miraculous things. When Moses went up on Mount Sinai (by the way, the mountain was ON FIRE by the power of GOD) God gave him and all of the people He had brought out of Egypt, the ten commandments. Now, God's voice was coming FROM THE MOUNTAIN, giving these commandments. Aaron and the people seemed to hardly listen to them, because a month later, when Moses hadn't come down from the mountain yet, they freaked out. They came to Aaron and said (and this complete paraphrasing) "Hey Aaron, why isn't your bro' down from the mountain yet? We're kind of freaking out, and we don't really know what to do. So could you make us an idol to worship?" Then Aaron, who after seeing all the power of God, should tell them "No way! Yahweh is the one we worship!" but no, he says, "Sure. I'm kind of tired of waiting too, bring me the gold earrings your wives, sons, and daughters wear, and I will make you an idol." (The mountain is STILL on fire by the way).

So when God gave the people the ten commandments about a month earlier, they obviously went in one ear and out the other, here are the FIRST TWO.

1. You will have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

So they definitely had paid NO attention, and Aaron is messing up big time. Moses comes down from the mountain, and God is there too of course (because he's always there). Moses looks and sees that Aaron has made a golden calf (plus he's making people drink water with ground up gold in it?? I have no idea why). Now Aaron is in BIG trouble. Moses says, "HEY! What is going on here? Did you not just hear what God said?" Aaron starts babbling cowardly, "Oh well, you know how these people are...you know, sinning and stuff. Yeah, so they just gave me some gold...told me to make an idol. I was like, whatever, and I just melted some down, and POOF! Out popped this golden calf! Pretty cool hunh?!" Moses did not think it was pretty cool, neither did God.

God then told Moses that he would have to destroy the people he brought out of Egypt, and from Moses, make a great nation.

What are the idols in your life? Relationships, celebrities, music, shopping, alcohol, drugs? These are all "gods" of sin, that will destroy us. Let's remember that we are slaves of Christ, and he is a loving master. Hallelujah Yeshua!

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We're putting the finishing touches on the book! Hopefully it can all be sent to the publisher soon! YAY! :D

Have a great week, I'll keep you posted!

In Yeshua's Name,
AJ Spritely <3

Hey Blog Land,

I wanted to tell you about a totally awesome book coming out soon. The book is about a gold cross necklace that gets past down through generations, each chapter is a story of someone who (finds, buys, steals, etc.) the necklace and then (loses, sells, trades) it. The chapters are each written by a student between eighth and twelfth grade. Guess where those students come from? My amazing English class! Homeschoolers rock! We're in the process of getting it published, and it will be available on amazon (I think). I will keep you updated. Yours truly, is the author of Chapter Nine. It is amazing that I am finally getting published, after writing for my whole life! I thanks Jesus everyday for this blessing! GOD IS GOOD!

On an unrelated but interesting topic, my Mom and I were at the mall today, just chilling in the food court. We were talking about a girl my mom knows who was going through some troubling times, but is doing well with the Lord now. I was talking at a regular volume, but since I'm me, when I said the word "God". I said it kind of loud, like..."GOD!" But I was in a loud and crowded mall so no one would have noticed. But suddenly the boy sitting at the table near me jerked spastically. It scared me because I wasn't expecting it, he had been quietly eating his food, while his mom ate her salad. The movement he made was as if I had thrown hot water on him. I told my mom what had happened, as she was facing away from the boy. We were both quiet for a minute, tears filling up our eyes. That may sound weird to you, but you see, we both knew why that boy jumped when I said "God". That poor boy had a demon in him. Demons writhe at the name of Yeshua, the demon was afraid. I prayed for that boy, and I ask you to pray for him too. Do you notice the demons around you in your life?

Peace and blessings, in Yeshua's Name,
AJ Spritely <3

Spring Cleaning!

Good Morning Blog Land,

So, it isn't really spring in Philly right now, seeing as there is still about eight inches of snow on the ground. But hopefully It's right around the corner!

This morning my Mom is going to an exercise class at my church and she told me, "AJ, I'd like you to clean your room." Not the first thing one wants to hear on a saturday morning, but my room is an absolute mess. It could definitely use some cleaning.

Once, I had one of my best friends, Steph, come over to my house to help me clean up my room. What are best friends for, right? Right? Ok, so yeah maybe I use my friends for my own devices, but that's not the point. My room was at it's messiest and I could tell we could use some music to pump us up. The radio was in the next room, I turned from my room to get it, I said, "Hold on, let me get my..." Before I could say "radio", my ever-sarcastic friend finished my sentence with, "shovel?" So much for that day, we did more goofing off than cleaning, and my room didn't have a scratch on it by three 'o' clock. Needless to say, I clean my room by myself now.

I have a routine with the cleaning of my room. I clean it until it shines, then slowly let the clothes and trash pile up. By the end of week one, a couple shirts are hanging out on the closet floor. By the end of week three, I can't find my earring under a pile of clothes. The end of week five, well you get the point. It's pretty bad now, I'd like to say I use it as an obstacle course to keep me fit, but I trip over stuff more than exercise.

Well, it's time for me to get to work.

In Yeshua's Name,
AJ Spritely <3

ps. I dedicate this post to my BFF Jenn, who inspired this blog only yesterday!

My first post!

Ok, so here goes! So this is my first post, and I have no clue what to say. Come on AJ, shake out the nerves and get those creative juices flowing. Oh, that reminds me of when I had to write a research paper for my English class. It was about Raw Food. It's a pretty neat concept, but I'm going to stick to my CheeBurger CheeBurger's and and french fries! Anyway, raw foodists juice basically everything, does it make it taste better or something? I don't know, I tried to juice some carrots and peaches in a juicer once. Pretty gross actually, and a lot of work! I hate V8, and even that's cooked. There is no way I could ever be a raw foodist!

So...that was a really random blog, but i'll keep practicing and I know I'll get better!

All for The Creator,

AJ Spritely <3>