Thoughts from January 13 (2021!!!)

      Dear reader,

     Welcome to 2021! I know for many people (including myself), 2020 carried with it some very hard things. However, God also gave us many beautiful gifts. Challenging times help us to grow, and give us unique opportunities to serve others in new ways -- for example, like holding a normally-in-person playathon fundraiser virtually, so strings students could still join together, share music, participate in community, and raise money to help our area recover from the Easter tornado (see my blog posts about it here and here, and see the fundraiser's YouTube videos here)

     For American History in school, I was assigned a project that was to write a hymn talking about God's power in Creation. I'm pleased with it and wanted to share it. It is adapted from Genesis 8 and Job 38 and 39, NIV.

Verse 1

Who has shown the dawn its place?

Who can take light to its home?

Who has said where sun shall raise?

Who its dwelling place has known?

Chorus

Seedtime, harvest, cold and heat,

Summer, winter, day and night;

God’s creation does repeat

His wisdom, power, and foresight.

Verse 2

Who cuts channels for the rain?

Who disperses lightning bolts?

Who producing frost can claim?

Who makes way for thunder’s roll?

Verse 3

Who the Pleiades’ chains can bind?

Who Orion’s belt can loose?

Who leads out the stars to shine?

Who the laws of the heavens knew?

Verse 4

Who has given horse its strength?

Who has made the eagle soar?

Who receives the lions’ thanks

For food that gives them strength to roar?

     May your 2021 be blessed abundantly!

     Bye,

     Christina Austine

Thoughts from April 20

     Dear readers:

     I've been working on cleaning my room lately. You know, all the little piles of random "stuff" here and there that I didn't have time to figure out where to put or what to do with? Yeah, those things. Anyway, between all the "throw this away" or "give this away" or "definitely keep" piles, you can also find the most interesting relics from the past to be enjoyed. Like this poem I wrote about my Notgrass history curriculum (I believe I wrote this for a Notgrass-sponsored poetry contest, which is why I put a rather negative slant on math when in reality I love math):

I leap out of bed

on one bright, sunny day.

I pull out the schoolbooks

and start right away.

Slogging through math,

and trudging through grammar,

I look at my work

and think, "Something's the matter!"

Quickly but carefully

I fix several errors,

re-check my work

and answer much better.

I work like this

through the long day,

eagerly anticipating

my strived-for pay.

My reason to work hard

is really no mystery--

I've finished my schoolwork

to study some history!

Finally, I've come

to my favorite class;

Notgrass's history--

I'll read it at last!

I open the book

and enter the story.

Throughout all the ages,

it's really His story.

I climb on a camel

with Notgrass as guide.

Past temples, and pyramids,

and rivers we ride.

We follow a donkey

to Bethlehem town.

To its rider's young Son

we humbly bow down.

We later change transports

and jump on a plane.

We quickly soar higher

than clouds full of rain.

We land in the city

called Washington, D.C.

We learn how America functions

for you and for me.

I hear my Mom's voice

saying, "To bed you must go!"

I sadly leave history,

but I'll read more, I know.

     As great as it is to have a clean house, what's even more important is to have a clean heart. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I [God] will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh" (NIV). Ask Him today--He'll be happy to answer!

     Bye,

     Christina Austine

     P.S. -- Be sure to check out my friend Lani's blog over at https://wereallinthistogether279395205.wordpress.com. She's actually the one who inspired me to do a blog like this, so if you like my blog, you should like hers as well!