God is Good

Oh my goodness. The fast is almost over! Wow I feel like this month has gone by faster than my other two years. But I must say this year has probably been the hardest for me with movies. There are so many good movies out and it is so hard when people are watching a movie you have really wanted to see but can't watch. I have really struggled with what to do with my extra time. I never realized how much I rely on TV to take away boredom. Some amazing things that have happened over this month that wouldn't have happened without media fast:
1. I am lending my Sex God to a semi-Jewish, but completely lost
2. I am making C.D.s of a bunch of my Christian music, mainly Barlowgirl but a few others, for my friends who are "Christian", or as I like to call them, Fairweather Christians.
3. Because I cannot rely on TV to fill my time, I am spending a lot more time with my friends and in doing so, hopefully making an impact.
4. I am more often in the mood to hang out with my friends and talk than to watch a movie or TV.
5. It seems as though I am impacting my Morman O'ma through my example and my desires.
6. I have a pen pal in Spain and I get to share Christ with her through this media fast. It is so cool.
This has been probably one of the best media fasts for me. I am growing and even though sometimes it really hurts, it is so worth it. I have changed a few of my behaviors, not really by focusing on them, but by focusing on God and the other amazing things in my life. Like the rain today. Oh my goodness, we still need more rain, but oh wow how amazing. God is so good. It was so pretty!
I've been reading up on other religions and am currently reading about Islam. It is making me so grateful that we have a god who loves us and wants a relationship with us. I remember being at a point in my life where I thought of God as this high and mighty Judgemental person and I was so afraid. How lame would it be to feel like that every day? To worry every moment of every day if you were "good enough" to get to live with God. I am so thankful for His grace. I feel like I need it more than anyone and am so full of gratitude that God is able to forgive me and make me new every day. How amazing!!!!

Star Wars

So I had a half day of school today and when I got home by brother put in the movie Star Wars Episode 4 A New Hope. Being that the movie is not a christian movie I spent the time of the movie in other areas of the house. I went to the kitchen to get a drink about the time that the rebels were attacking the Death Star although I could not see the screen I could think of exactly what was going on and could follow the images in my mind as the lines were said. it made me realize that I can follow line by line a movie that has no eternal value yet if someone were to put in a CD of someone reading the Bible I would be lost in no time. why is it that we get caught up in these other things and don't seem to care about god's word?

First Blog

Wow! It took me long enough to start blogging! For the past couple of weeks, I've had a lot more spare time than I usually do. I've started to read my Bible more than usual, including family devotions, which hadn't happened for a long time. I've also been reading Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot, which has been an encouragement to give up everything and follow Christ. This is beside the point, but I've also had a little bit more time to brush up on my soccer skills. And that's been really nice. It gives me more time to do my homework and study. This fast has been more challenging than I expected, mainly the lack of cable tv, going on the internet, and movies in general. But it's good to get away from it all and focus on what's really important.

Feedback

Give me some feedback regarding the Devo on Day 20 and 22! Post them on those days or on here!

9 days !!

5from the exploritorium 5
Im not sure if im happy or sad that the fast is almost over. On one hand, im glad i can listen to ALL of my music and not just some of it. But on the other hand I love how much closer to God i've come through fasting from media. He's helped me not pick up the secular book from the library that i've been waiting for forever. He's helped me not listen to stuff and challenged me to fill my time with something else. The only problem is school. (that sounds weird) but these next two weeks at DC is star testing. we have this really weird schedule on top of our 4x4 days. since i had all of my electives the first term i have to go back to all those classes even though we dont have a test in any of them. So guess what we've been doing ... BINGO!! who would've known, we are watching movies. So i've already watched edward sissorhands, some like it hot, and shrek, and tomorow we're watching something else. grr i dont think these count since i pretty much have to watch them but ya. So i kinda like mikes idea of capture the flag -- sounds fun! my fingers are super duper sore from playing guitar cause i havent played it in forever so im done typing-- almost--i have to memorize this huge witness statement (3 1/2 pages) for mock trial class and its key to the whole case so i need to go work on it especially since its tomorow!

love you all and i'll be praying!

Jess

CAPTURE THE FLAG ANYONE !

ok so with the staff taking a much needed two week vacation and us still being on the fast and all i was thinking maybe we could as a youth group get together on Thursday and do something. ok so here is what i was thinking ( while in the middle of the CST math section) the idea is similar to the Ultimate Frisbee night we had over spring break but capture the flag with glow stuff and at the same park. I was just thinking with the fast still going i cant be the only person tempted by the TV when i have nothing to do so lets make something to do and have some fun.(p.s. if some staff had freetime and wanted to come play and supervise that would be awesome=D)

(comment the post if your interested and lets find a time that works for everyone interested. perhaps the same time we would have normal youth group?)

why

this month has actually gone by pretty fast for me. i don't know why exactly, but its also been easier. i don't really miss TV and i now have a lot of time to catch up on my reading. however, i told my friend at school about the fast and he said, "So you can't do ANYTHING? You could just not do it and say you did because that sounds really dumb and boring and no one would know" so i explained to him that it was my choice to do it, and i was going to go through with it even if he thinks its dumb. haha. Even after that he still didn't get why im doing this fast. So its stuff like this where it gets hard because i actually don't want to break it, its just the explaining WHY to my friends.
We are almost done! Im praying for you all. =)

Forget the Music! I Got Jesus!

ok so tonight I had a really hard time being patient with my co-workers and our "NEW
manager. But previously I was getting impatient with my grandma, and all i could do was pray for God to give me patience and to just be passive with the slow pace of my 60 year old grandma(really she acts and looks maybe 50 lol) anywho, i got to work and one of my co-workers just walked out on us I mean in the middle of a afternoon rush!! That meant my wrapper and expedite had to go take over her job!!! I was short handed and running low on patience, when all the sudden our NEW promoted manager starts getting on to me, (and i WAS frustrated) and he wouldn't do his job, so i'm cleaning and (i work with my bro) and he started spraying water o the floor, and i started to get mad when BAM i already was mopping! All i had to do was mop 2 more seconds than normal lol. But I was so relieved when i kept my cool with all this rush of chaos. and the exciting thing was that i have been struggling with keeping a good attitude toward my parents and grandma and all it took was prayer and God to give me a bit of a push to learn to have patience with some of the people i am around Daily! I know this is irrelevant for you, but it's exciting to know that God IS here 24/7 helping me relax lol WITHOUT MEDIA!!!! (and naturally to cool down i listen to music) SORRY i forgot to write that earlier, lol. Instead of tuning to music I turned to GOD!!

10 More Days

Only ten more days! I seriously think this has been the longest month of my life. I can't believe it's not over yet. It's been the perfect month for the fast though. With extra homework near the end of the school year and soccer every day, I haven't even had time to dwell on the absense of media. It's been kind of nice actually.
I admit I've broken it a couple times. Oops. Good reasons though, I swear.
I saw Heather's post about Matt going through James next, and I'm reallyyy excited about that. James is my absolute favorite book, I think I've honestly read through it ten times just this month. Looking forward to it a lot.

New music

well actually just one guy (Manafest) hes a rapper but has quite a few songs that are like LP his songs " So beautiful " and "Impossible" are SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET !

This fast

So it's the twentieth day of the fast, and its going pretty well. Ive only succumbed to temptation a few times :( But they were mostly at concerts, which were awesome by the way. I really do not miss television at all, it's just a waste of time. I really do miss secular music. I know I do not need to listen to it, but you know how it is, there will be a song you cant stop singing and just really want to listen to it. And Im not gonna lie, that song for me has been 7 Things, by Miley... All month long.
Other than that this fast is going really well. Im busy enough to not miss much stuff. Been reading the bible more which is good, and was needed. I just hope that I dont get into coasting mode with the fast. I want to keep focusing on the purpose of the fast and seek God, not just try to not watch tv.
As far as music goes, it has mostly been Matisyahu, subseven, The Devil Wears Prada, and Attack Attack.

Contest #4

My-So-Called-Digital-30 Contest

Take 30-40 creative pictures of what the 30-day Media Fast means to you. Use a program like animoto.com or other program to make a slideshow and add music. Turn it in by April 30th!

We'll show the videos at the 30MFA Night... on May 7th!

Contest #3

Although this ended, I'm willing to extend it. Remember, if you do it, post it, and then you get extra chances to win big prizes at the 30MFA Night!

Contest 3 is doing something creative for you small group leader. Show that you love them. Take pictures or video and turn it in to Matt!

Ends on April 30! (extended)

Keep it Up

You all are doing great! If you notice someone hasn't shared their story, ask them what's up!

Take a look at today devo... it's getting intense!

Time is a funny word.

….Break my heart for what breaks yours,

as I go from nothing to, Eternity….

Hey guess what you guys, it think I get it.

Like honestly get it.

[lemme explain]

This week [being what? . . .the third week already?] anyway, its been kind of tough.

I’m at the point where I feel like I’ve seen all the Christian movies that don’t consist of talking vegetables, I’ve heard all the Christian music I like over and over again, and I’ve watched enough of the skit guys to drive someone crazy.

I was thinking, “hmm what can I do now?” And then I realized, I’m just stuffing myself with Christian media. Not necessarily a “bad” thing, but its taking valuable time that I have away from God.

{Ok well maybe its not taking but maybe I’m not choosing to spend more time with God.}

So, from day 15 on, I have challenged myself to read the bible just a little bit everyday. So far its going really well and I’m discovering more about God even with just like 10 minutes of reading. The funny thing is, I guess Matt’s reading through the book of James with us next and that’s the book that I’ve been predominately reading. It’s cool how God works like that.

[Ok also, I’m having a problem with the last contest {#4} I’ve tried animoto.com, but its making me pay if I use 15 photos or more an I don’t really want to make 2 separate slideshows. I tried using my picasa3 program, but movie maker crashes. :[ basically I’m not quite sure what to do next. Any ideas?]

~Heather Dunmoyer

Music

Man, do I miss some of my music. But I just found a cd that sounds just like Jack Johnson, who I love. The cd is Limbs and Branches by Jon Foreman. He also happens to be the lead singer of Switchfoot. I found another band called My Epic, who I can't compre to anyone cuz I've never heard anything like it. Also look up a band called Deas Veil who sound a bit like Death Cab for Cutie (8 days 'till the concert!!) Anberlin is an amazing rock group. Andy Hunter and The Benjamin Gate are kind of New Age/ Electronica. Demon Hunter is some scary screamo. Dizmas is kind of a heavy rock little bit of screamo. Grits is rap/ hip-hop. RED is a rock group I really like. This is all because I finally got a new iPod and was looking through iTunes for some christian stuff to go on it. woohoo!

Finally!!!!

Hey everybody! sorry i havent posted anything yet ! I couldnt figure out how to post anything for a while. Its been going pretty well- i been having a problem with music but i havent given in yet. i have been listening to relient k, anberlin, and barlow girl. i have also been playing guitar occaisionally. i sometimes catch myself looking at the tv but then i just turn around or leave the room. ive been grounded so i havent really done anything yet and it sucks but i will get over it. the only thing we did was go to san fransisco which was extremely fun cause we went to the exporitorium and the oldest bakery in sanfran. it was the best bread and pastrys ive ever eaten in my whole life! ive been reading a TON of frank perretti and ted dekker and my bible too. my mom also recorded all the love comes softly movies and althogh extremely hokey and corney i have been watching them. ( i wont admitt that i might secretly like them) ive also watched evan almighty and fireproof. i gots to go i need to eat lunch and then we get to go swimmmiinng!!!!!!! yay the pools finally clean. lol

Jess

p.s. anyone who got tickets to the devil wears prada concert - i hate you!! haha jk