Cassy's Next Step from the Stone Age

Let me explain my title. I am technologically challenged. I do not own a cell phone. I do not have a facebook account. I do not have an ipod. I do not have a Wii or anything similar. I do not understand texting lingo. This is what it looks like to me: alskgrivnaerghirnhgarigharhg. Just this past summer I got an email...and I'm 16. It took me a while to figure out how to add a post. I suppose no more explanation is needed!

On a happier note, I find this blogging thing quite intriguing. I haven't much to say typically, but will contribute what I can. Thus continues my journey out of the Stone Age.

Asl part 1 deaf history pt. 2

Gallaudet met a man named Laurent Clerc who learned Sign Language from Abbe Sicard. Abbe Sicard had taken the place of Abbe de l’Epee and had a student, Laurent Clerc. Louis Laurent Marie Clerc was born in La Balme-les-Grottes in the south of France. When Clerc was a young boy he fell into the kitchen fireplace and severely burned his right cheek. He proceeded to develop a fever and it was later found out that his hearing was affected. Being deaf, Clerc never went to school as a child and therefore never learned to read or write. Be that as it may, his grandfather took pity on him and sent him to Institut National des Jeune Sourds-Muets (translated as the National Institute for Young Deaf-Mutes) founded by the Abbe de l’Epee and directed by the Abbe Sicard. He traveled along with and the Abbe Sicard and lectured about Sign Language at various places—which is where he met Thomas Gallaudet.
Gallaudet learned much from Clerc (whom he immediately befriended) but his funds were running out. He asked Clerc to accompany him back to America, which Clerc readily agreed too after convincing Abbe Sicard to loan him to Gallaudet for two years. And so Sign Language made its way back to America with Clerc and Gallaudet.

Bibleless Brothers and Sisters

            Can you imagine what it would be like to be a Christian without a Bible?  Thousands of Christians around the world don’t have to imagine; Bibles are either illegal or incredibly difficult to get in their countries.  They don’t have the benefit of feeding off of God’s Word every day; they can’t grab their Bibles and look up a verse whenever they’re unsure about something.  This really startled me today as I was reading the newest copy of Voice of the Martyr’s magazine.  I knew that there was a shortage of Bibles in many foreign countries, but I had never thought about how much that would impact the individual lives of believers trying to live for God.

            The story shared about Christians in Iran, where getting a Bible is not illegal, but is very difficult.  Some Iranians write down all the Bible verses on a Christian TV program and create a little verse book for themselves.  Others find a rare, uncensored internet Bible and print it out in sections to circulate among their friends.  Still others memorize from a friend’s Bible or hand-copy sections that they want to read.  Would we go to such lengths to read the Word of God? I think we too often take for granted the fact that we have God’s letter to us, in complete form, in dozens of English translations, for use whenever we want or need it.  Many Christians do not have that luxury.  They must search long and hard to find encouragement from the Bible.  So, this week as you are reading your Bible, remember to thank God for it and to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who do not have a Bible.

If you’re interested in Voice of the Martyrs’ ministries (they smuggle a lot of Bibles into closed countries), check out their website: www.persecution.com. 

Asl part 1--Deaf history pt.1

The history of the Deaf is very long. It all started in the 19th century when Dr. Mason Fitch Cogswell from Hartford, Connecticut had a daughter named Alice. Alice was deaf because of cerebrospinal meningitis (a common cause of deafness) and therefore lived a silent life with virtually no way to communicate even with her family. Then she met Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, who just happened to be her neighbor.
Thomas H. Gallaudet was born in 1787 in Pennsylvania and would later go on to found the most successful liberal arts college for the Deaf people (Gallaudet University). Gallaudet was recovering from a lung illness that would plague him for the rest of his life. After talking with Alice’s father, both Gallaudet and Cogswell decided to do something about Alice’s deafness even though they knew that they couldn’t fix it. They got together with ten other men who were fathers of deaf children and reached the decision to send one of their men to find out about Sign Language.
Thomas Gallaudet set sail for Paris around 1815 and his first stop was the preeminent Braidwood Academy for the Deaf and Dumb. However, the Braidwoods were less then willing to let Gallaudet in on their secrets and so, disgusted with the Academy, he went on to find some other source of Sign Language. Gallaudet found the help he'd been looking for with the Abbe Charles Michel de l’Epee. Abbe de l’Epee had first encountered Sign Language when he met two twin girls who were deaf and whose mother begged him to teach them. He adapted the Spanish form of fingerspelling and proceeded to educate the girls. He went on to found the National Institute for Young Deaf-Mutes in the 1760’s.

My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay

This is a christian book about the strife between the Muslims and the Christians in Indonesia.
The main characters are as follow, with a bit of bio

Kyle- male, has a rap record
Cori-female, Australian
Drew-female, delicate temperament, bad personal history
Brenden- Male, Level headed
Elissa-female, peacemaker
Mark-male, family problems

Note: Some romance does occur in this book. Kyle and Cori are very close by the end of the book, same with Drew and Brenden.

These six teens are on a missions trip to build a church in Indonesia--a relatively safe task.
Thee they meet Daniel, his wife Mariati, and heir children, namely Manuel (Mani). The church is erected, the team gets along well, romance and personal history starts.
Then, when returning from a walk, the seven teens hear noises and hid in the bushes, crawling to get a better view. Muslim rbels are waiving machetes at Mani's parents. The teens watch in horror as Mani's parents are martyred, and their church burned.
Saving Mani's little sister from the torched outer buildings, the group runs for the mountains. Lead by Mani, the team starts hiking through the mountains to reach a neighboring town. Along the way, Mani goes into the towns posing as a Muslim to find out what is happening. A small war has broken out betwixt the Muslim and the Christians, many are dead, thousands wounded.
Across the mountains the team treks, encountering not only wild animals (Pythons, Wild boars), but crumbling moral. Drew starts "losing it" and Cori wonders about her family. More about Mark and Elissa is found out, his relationship with his parents virtually non-existent, Elissa planning to marry as soon as she turns 18.
Along the way to the town, the group encounters many Muslims that help them, the Muslims saying that the violence is not right. In the last part of their journey, the seven teens are trying to cross a extremely wide main road without being seen. All goes well until the sound of a car rumbles through the air. Cori, Mark and Elissa try to run off the road, shot ensue.
The Indonesian army picks them up, explaining the shots were a only warning. After quizzing them as to what they saw, they are taken to the embassy and flown to Jakarta and later to the U.S. to meet their parents. Mani has to stay behind, but does manage to get a letter to Cori, saying he is safe.
The story ends, the team back together doing an interview to spread the word about the war in Indonesia.

While the story is fiction, the back of the book explains all about the realness of the war in 1999 between the Christians and the Muslims. 5,000 to 10,000 people killed/murdered and 500,000 were forced to leave their homes behind to find safe places to take refuge.

...don't forget me!

A post soon to come on American sign Language!

Jesus' Attitude Towards Suffering

If I had to choose my least favorite time of the year, the end of January would probably be the winner.  It’s the middle of winter with no hope of spring for another couple of months and it’s the end of the first semester at school – which means hours of homework, term papers and final exams.  Not exactly my definition of fun.  But my dad showed me a verse this morning that made me stop and conduct an “attitude check”; is my attitude during this busy time of life like Jesus?

Jesus, of course, faced much more strenuous circumstances than most of us face, even on our toughest days.  In John 12, He knew that in a few days, He would be betrayed by one of his closest friends, nailed to a tree and left there to die.  He would have to endure an agonizing day, with nails being driven into his hands and feet and a crown of thorns pressed into his head.  But in John 12, we see that Jesus had an amazing attitude about his situation.  Verse 27 says, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?  No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name!”

Jesus has one of two options: He can plead for God’s salvation or He can plead for God’s glory.  He chooses the latter.  No matter what circumstances we face, we have the same two options.  We can beg God to let us lead an easy, happy life with no obstacles, or we can press on despite the hardship with the sole purpose of bringing glory to our God.  We can complain about where we are, or we can praise God.  We can focus on our own uncomfortable plight or we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.  I pray that I would choose to say, like Jesus, “Father, glorify your name!”

A Copernican Revolution

I recently read an older article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Pamela McCorduck which brought up some interesting ideas that I’d like to share with you.  She continually referenced back to the very first Copernican Revolution.  For those of you unfamiliar with that period of history, the astronomer Ptolemy came up with a very accepted model of the universe: the earth was at the center of it, and all the other celestial bodies revolved around it.  Copernicus revolutionized astronomy when he revealed on his death bed a new way of looking at the solar system.  He proposed that the sun was at the center of it, and all the planets, including earth, revolved around it.

In her article “An Introduction to the Humanities with Prof. Ptolemy”, McCorduck makes the case that the world is in a similar predicament today.  She argues that humans are the center of our thinking, our reasoning and our problem solving.  And she suggests that this is not a workable model; that something needs to unseat humans from their seat of power over the earth.  I completely agree with her on this point.  We, as humans, care too much about our selves.  Almost all of our decisions reflect our selfishness, our desire for comfort and our unwillingness to put ourselves in harm’s way for other’s sake.  But McCorduck is unclear what should replace humans as the center of the universe.

I am here to propose an answer to her philosophical quandary: God.  We need a revolution in our personal lives and in our society as a whole.  We need to begin to look to God as the center of our affairs.  He should be taking the seat of honor on this earth, because, after all, he created it and is actively involved in holding everything together today.  Like it or not, humans are not the most powerful beings in our universe.  We often like to puff up our accomplishments – after all, which species finished mapping the human genome?  Or discovered a cure for small pox?  But, we should be asking another question: Who invented the human genome and the disease of small pox?  We are doing nothing more than discovering God’s amazing inventions.  And we should give God the honor by placing Him in the center of our lives.

I am doing nothing more nor nothing less than proposing a revolution.  But here’s the catch: this revolution begins in people’s lives and hearts as they choose to make God the center of their universe.  Have you, as Hebrews 12:2 commands, “fixed your eyes on Jesus, the author or perfecter of our faith”?  Have you embraced this new Copernican Revolution? If not, what are you waiting for?

God's Marvelous Creation

It amazes me to just sit back and look at the world that God masterfully created.  To watch the stars creep across the night sky, in perfect rhythm with God’s heartbeat.  To smell the rain lingering in the air.  To feel the gentle breeze pushing my hair back.  Whenever I take the time out of my schedule to do nothing but appreciate God’s creation, I can only reach one conclusion: We serve an amazing God.

Looking at the world in that way not only elicits praise from us, but it radically changes our perspective.  It takes away our small human mindset and transforms it to line up with God’s amazing plan.  We stop viewing things from our selfish, sinful perspective and start looking at the world through God’s eyes.   And the truth comes out: we are nothing.  We are dust in God’s hands.  We are completely and utterly insignificant.

Now comes my favorite part of God’s story.  He loves us even though we are nothing compared to him.  In fact, he sacrificed his only son just to have communion with us forever.  The facts don’t change.  God loves us, he sacrificed for us and he continues to surround us with his love, if we let him.  What an amazing God we serve!

Fireproof by Alex and Stephen Kendrick

I read,in one sitting,the novelization of the screenplay Fireproof. It was a very good book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone over the age of 15.
It starts out with a married couple--Caleb and Catherine Holt. Caleb is a Captain of a battalion of firefighters and spends most of his time at the station. Catherine is a public relations manager of a local hospital and the couple have been married seven years. However, the spark has died and they are constantly fighting. Caleb is putting away a third of his salary for a boat he wants, and Catherine is accepting the attention of a male doctor at work.
After a particularity nasty fight, Catherine asks for a divorce, and Caleb readily agrees. Caleb tells his father John about the impending divorce and John challenges Caleb. John asks Caleb to wait 40 days before getting a divorce and go through a "love dare". He sends Caleb a book and Caleb starts doing the love dare.
The first day is to refrain from saying anything negative to your spouse. Caleb does it, but notes that this isn't going to be easy. Then next day the challenge id to say something positive to your spouse. Again Caleb does it but this time he is rebuffed. The dare continues and Catherine rejects Caleb again and again. Caleb vents his frustration to his father and John asks him if he is reading the Scriptures at the bottom. Caleb says he isn't and John remarks that that is the problem.
Caleb doesn't want to get into "all that Jesus stuff" but after his father explains what it is all about, Caleb accepts the Lord as his Savior. With his heart now in this dare, Caleb tries harder. Caleb find a note that is to Catherine from another man telling Catherine how much he enjoys her company. Finding out that it is a doctor at the hospital he goes and makes it very clear to the doctor that Catherine is his wife.
I'm not gonna spoil the ending, but I will tell you that Caleb and Catherine do work things out.
A books that sometime in your life you need to read is definitely Fireproof

The Infinite Beauty of Jesus (by Mark Altrogge)

I absolutely loved what Mark Altrogge had to say in one of his blogs, so I thought I'd share it with the rest of you:  here you can read a marvelous essay about the infinite beauty of Jesus.  We serve an amazing God!

May I have a piece of your peace, please?

A Spanish presentation due Friday, a literature paper to write, dozens of math problems to force my way through, piles of chemistry, Bible and history homework, a Sunday School lesson to prepare, a whole school picture to organize… This past week in my life has been extremely hectic, as I’m sure all of you can relate to! Sometimes life has a tendency to pile work on us all at one time, either pushing us to the point of frustration or pushing us closer towards the peace Jesus offers us.

Peace.  Something that’s seems to be lacking in much of my life as I race from one thing to another, constantly stressing about tests, homework and responsibilities.  It feels like peace is unattainable.  But Jesus tells his disciples a radically different message.  Part of his message is “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1:27).  The Greek word for peace in this verse is eirēnē, which means “a state of natural tranquility, exemption from the rage and havoc of war” (www.blueletterbible.com).

When I’m stressed out, I definitely feel like I’m experiencing the rage and havoc of war.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to exchange those feelings for peace and tranquility?  This is the trade Jesus offers us.  His wonderful peace is free for the asking, but we need to ask.  When we ask Him, He can do something beyond our wildest imaginings: calm our stressed souls and give us true peace.  A peace beyond understanding.  This is too good of a deal to pass up!

But there’s a catch: By asking God for help, we’re surrendering control of our lives.  We’re saying that we can’t do it all by yourselves and need help.  We are giving the reigns of our life over to God.  Worry and frustration are essentially a lack of trust in God’s goodness.  We need to trust completely to experience complete peace.  But our trust is rewarded: God gives us abundant life, a life full of peace.

Who Do I Talk To? by Neta Jackson.

i have read some of Neta Jackson's books before and I heartily enjoyed them. That's why I picked up this book with a sense of glee... Neta Jacson also wrote the Yada Yada Prayer Group series (I highly recommend) and this book has some continuity to that series.

Gabrielle Fairbanks is going through a divorce with her husband. He has taken her two sons, Paul and P.J. and gone to his parents. He shut down her credit cards and changed the locks on their penthouse. Needless to say, Gabby is not happy, and is out on the street with her elderly mother, known affectionately as "Grandma Shep."
Gabby works at a place called Manna House, which is a refuge for women coming off the street. Gabby finds herself now living where she works... Still trying to sort out her divorce and regain custody of her children, Gabby sees a lawyer named Lee Boyer and he helps her go through the legal process of trying to drain her husband for all he's got. If she gets money she can get an apartment to get custody of her boys. Boyer takes more than a legal interest in her and Gabby likewise to him...
Around the middle of the book, Gabby's mother, "Grandma Shep" dies and Gabby transports the body back to her hometown to have a funeral. Gabby travels with Manna House volunteer Jodi Baxter (from Yada Yada books) and Lucy, a bag lady who befriended her mother and her dog Dandy. Gabby and her sisters prepare the funeral and it proceeds without a hitch. After, the will is read and each of the sisters inherit 250000 dollars. Gabby is ecstatic, now she can get her kids back and rent the magnificent apartment she'd been looking at.
The book ends with much more to come...

Also, something to look forward to...I will be reading Gulliver's Travels and will either be posting later this year or by the chapter:)

1st book

27 chapters, 428 pages and a very good book. Set during the Prohibition era, and with a decidedly Christian aspect.
Though Waters Roar starts out with the main character, Harriet, in jail for transporting alcohol. While in jail, Harriet "remembers" talking with her Grandmother Beatrice "Bebe" about the prohibition (and Bebe's part in it).The main cast of characters is as follows:

Harriet--the foremost character
Grandmother "Bebe"--Harriet's grandmother and activist for the Prohibition
Horatio--Bebe's husband, a drunkard

Picking up from the first paragraph, while sitting in jail Harriet drifts between her own predicament and her grandmother's story. Bebe was raised on a farm with her four older brothers, William, James and Franklin being the only ones relevant to the story. All four went off to the Civil War and only the aforementioned three came back. Franklin minus a leg, and with his buddy Horatio Garner. While Bebe's brothers were gone, she did all the farm work that they would've normally done, becoming the quintessential country girl. After receiving news that Franklin was in a hospital, Bebe was sent by her mother to nurse him. And that is where she met Horatio Garner.
With his good looks and sliver tongue, Horatio easily got Bebe to marry him. However, there was a problem--after marrying Horatio and moving into his parents house, Bebe realized that Horatio was a bit of a drinker. Having served in the war, Horatio said it chased away his nightmares and he only did it so Bebe wouldn't be frightened. But he wouldn't stop and after his father died and Horatio inherited the family business of tanning, it became worse. Bebe left him one time and ventured back to the farm where her mother promptly told her to go back. Reminding her that she was in it for "better or worse" and that this was her husband, Bebe's mother convinced her to go back. Horatio promised to stop, a promise that he would break not much later.
After going back, Bebe had a baby girl, named Lucy and had to take control of the tannery with Neal MacLeod. Neal would later turn out to be the illegitimate son of Horatio's father. The company was rescued from financial ruin and Bebe gave complete control to Neal and focused on her husband.
Taking Horatio up to the cabin that their family owned, Bebe attempted to talk sense into him. However, Horatio was far more concerned with the man made lake outside. He claimed it was looking bad and he feared the dam might break and flood the town below. After a large chunk broke off, Horatio and Bebe raced back to town to warn the residents. Horatio and a manservant named Peter went out in separate buggies to rescue the poor people on the other side of town.Making countless trips, they saved many. But on the last run, only Peter came back.
Bebe stayed in town and continued her previous work of trying to shut down the taverns and saloons. Succeeding, she watched not only alcohol be forbidden, but also the eighteenth amendment come into play.
And them we come back to Harriet, languishing in the county jail after being caught with a car full of bootleg liquor. Officer Tommy O'Reilly, an old schoolmate of Harriet's was the one to arrest her--not for the liquor, but for speeding. However, when he saw the liquor,he had no choice but to arrest her.
After checking up on her several times in the jail, he gets her out on 'probation" and takes her to a coffee shop for her to tell him the story of the liquor. Claiming that the liquor is not hers,she proceeds to tell the story of her later life, primarily how she worked in a department store.There she met Bertha, a salesclerk. Bertha married and her husband went off to war, but when he came back they had a baby. And then another one.
Desperate for money, Bertha's husband agreed to bring bootleg liquor across the border from Canada and deliver it to a place in the U.S.. He got cold feet, but Bertha needed the money for her kids. Harriet agreed to deliver it as long as they never did this again. On her way there, Harriet got busted for speeding--by Tommy O'Reilly.
When she was finished with her story, Tommy asked her to help him raid the drop off site. Agreeing, Harriet made the delivery and then Tommy and his colleagues raided the place.
The story ends with Harriet telling Bebe about the "adventure" and a hint of romance between Tommy and herself.

The Idea
Although I am not much for New Years resolutions I though this would be a good one. I shall attempt to read at least 100 books in a year and review them all--about two books a week. Starting today (yes, yes, a day early) with Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin.

A small disclaimer: These books will range all over the reading spectrum, I may very well read a kids book one day and a literary work the next.

Lessons From Running in the Cold

Sometimes, I think that some of the most profound life lessons can be found in the simplest things. I went running this afternoon (yes, in the below-freezing weather!), and I realized that life is very similar to a run in the cold. I’m only a medium-distance runner, but there still comes a point where you don’t want to keep moving forward. Today, this came for me on the second-to-last stretch, as I ran along the empty country road, my feet splashing up slush and fighting the wind. My fingers were freezing, my cheeks were biting, and I couldn’t wait to go home to a nice, long, warm shower. But, I didn’t stop. Partially because it’s quicker to get home if I run, and partially because the most painful part of the run is when you grow the most. You don’t improve when you run in your “comfort zone”. You improve when you run past your comfort zone.

From this, I think we can draw a metaphor to life. Sometimes, life is like a vacation. We’re having fun, we’re enjoying yourself, we’re serving God, and everything’s going great. But other times, life is more like my run in the cold. We’re plodding through, and it’s difficult to see the reason for what’s going on in your life. At times, pain clouds everyday activities, pain for a dying loved one or a broken friendship. But at other times, life just gets tedious. Day after day, project after project, homework assignment after homework assignment. But these are the times when you grow in your relationship with God. Romans 5:3-4 tells us that “...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” The times when we feel uncomfortable or out of our comfort zone are the times when God is molding us with His perfecting knife. He is making us more perfect creations, more able to serve Him later in our lives. Often, He is teaching us valuable lessons that we will need before we face our next challenge.

These can be some of the toughest times to trust that God has a plan. But He does.
Hebrews 13:5-6 is one of my favorite promises. “...God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” God is always with us - yesterday, today, when you take your math test and when you push through one more day. He wants us to keep plodding for His kingdom. And the reward is great for those who finish the race. 1 Corinthians 9:25 tells us we run to “get a crown that will last forever”.

I’d like to bring back to your mind the old metaphor about the road of life. Every road has hills and valleys, and life is no different. When we stand on the hills, it is easy to see how far we’ve come and how much we’ve grown. But when we walk through the valleys, it is difficult to see the road behind us or the road ahead of us. Both are there, but we are stuck in our valley with very little perspective. But God sees the whole road, and He will work everything out for good. So, wherever you are in your life, I encourage you to keep pressing on towards His kingdom. Running the race is well worth the prize.

The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

Writing is powerful. It has the ability to effect change in a very unique way. If you look back throughout history, many of the major turnovers of power or rebellions originally started with one person's thoughts and ideas put down into writing. From the pens of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and Adam Smith flowed the ideas of the Englightenment, which caused numerous revolutions and converted much of the world to democracies.

This is why I chose the name of this blog. In many ways, writing ismore powerful than the sword. Writing sets the foundation and the sword builds the building. Yet without a good foundation, the building will collapse. The most obvious examples of this are, as I mentioned earlier, revolutions. Before any action happens, ideas and goals must be thought out and circulated through writing. People's minds need to be "infiltrated" with these ideas, so when the time for action comes, they are ready.

Now, I'm not looking to start a revolution in this blog or encourage large changes on a national, or even a local, scale. My purpose is simply to exercise my 1st Amendment rights and publish some of my thoughts for the world to see. Yet even though I'm just a teenager starting a blog, my thoughts can still impact someone powerfully. The title reflects the potential my words have. If someone reads something that I've written and it affects their life, then my words have turned into more than words. They have turned into actions. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword.