Blue Zone

I was reading an article about the Blue Zone thing that's coming to Albert Lea and it's pretty interesting. I didn't really know anything about it, but the whole concept is pretty well thought through. It says that diet and exercise aren't the only thing to a healthy lifestyle. Those are really important too, but there's other stuff like friends, communicating with your family, and having religious beliefs that are high on the list too. It makes sense if you think about it. I just think it's pretty cool how all those things can effect your life that much. It kind of gives you a new way to look at things.

We are a BIG nation

In this book I'm reading it gave a bunch of facts about America and it's wealth. It was talking about the amount of oil we use every day, it also compared the U.S.' oil use to the other 2 leading countries..

Japan: 5.5 million barrels a day

China: 5.6 million barrels a day

the United States?...: 20 million barrels a day

20 million barrels a day? that's almost 4 times as much as the 2nd leading country. The book goes on to say that we use 25% of the oil, but only have 3% of the reserves to get the oil. So we import it. We import 54% of our oil, mostly from the Persian Gulf. We march in there with a piece of paper saying we have the right to take as much of their oil as we so please. As someone in my group pointed out: If China came waltzing in on America with a little piece of paper saying they could freely take the whatever oil they wanted, we would have no problem sitting back saying, "Hey no problem, help yourself." No way! We'd send them back on their ships telling them they better not even try again.

I think we need to just step back and relax a little, otherwise we're going to fall even harder than we are. We need to get on a smaller horse, cuz if America falls..everyone falls.

Yo ho YO ho a pirates life for me!

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish I could be on a pirate ship.
With my first mate Jippy 'O skip.
Three days we sail
NEVER to fail!
We steal the loot
from those who snoot
I bought a lamb
and a jar of jam
I always buy a lot
to fill my mother pot.

I will go

At church tonight the worship band played a song we learned at Nationals this past summer called "I Will Go". The chorus goes like this:

I will go, I will go
I will go Lord send me
to the world, to the lost
to the poor and hungry.
Take everything I am
I'm clay with in your hands
I will go, Send me

Tonight as we were singing this song I couldn't help but cry at the change you could feel going through everyone's' hearts. Everyone around me was singing their lungs out, praising God and calling on Him to change their lives. It took my breath away, hearing and feeling everyone's passion. It was very much a God moment.

Don't just sit around.

This weekend was Kids Against Hunger. There has been a lot of talk about how we should be helping people in our own community instead of other places in the world. I think makes sense, but why can't we do both? The people in Haiti can't get their own food, and it's amazing how we are helping them, but we can also do something for the people around here. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to whether we should help in our area, or somewhere else. I just think the wrong answer is to do nothing.