Italy!!!!

Well I leave Wednesday with The Greater New York Youth Band. We are touring Italy for a little over a week. Please pray for us. We are at a youth congess in Rome for the weekend, we are performing on the Spanish Steps, taking a midnight tour of the colosseum, visiting Pompeii and much much more! It's soo exciting! Please keeps us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel to minister in Italy!
God Bless!

Don't Worry Child

Don't Worry Child

(Marty Mikles)

to live is Christ, to die is gain
you believe this, but you can't ignore your pain
it's hard enough to make it through another day
now you need someone to hear you when you pray

don't worry, child, I'm right here by your side
i've been here all along, in me won't you abide
is your grief too much to bear? give it to me
i can heal your heart, your soul; i can set you free

when you wake up each day, my promises are new
have faith in me, and i will see you through
is your burden heavy? here, take mine, it's light
my yoke is easy, come and have this life

so, you've fought until you've nothing left to give
every ounce of energy, you have spent
though your heart, it breaks inside, more than anything in life
i long for you to know...

my child, i'm right here by your side
i've been here all along, in me won't you abide
is your grief to much to bear? give it to me
i can heal your heart, your soul; i can set you free

i know the pain that this has caused
i gave my son upon a cross
no, nothing has been lost, believe in me

Take my Life

I bet most of you have sang this song once or twice but recently I have been hearing it more and more and I love it..

1.
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee;
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

2.
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of thy love;
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee.

3.
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only for my King;
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from thee.

4.
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Every power as thou shalt choose.

5.
Take my will, and make it thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is thine own,
It shall be thy royal throne.

6.
Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At thy feet its treasure-store;
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.

This Weekend

So this weekend was the 45th Anniversary of the Hempstead Citadel Corps. It started off with rehearsals for the reunion band and songsters. I guess they were ok but I really don't like rehearsals. We got to look around at all the hundreds of pictures in the gym. They brought back lots of memories, both joyous and sad. Then the kids did a little performance that consisted of the junior band, songsters and dance group. It went well but since I was involved with all of them it was a little hectic. Then we sat and ate dinner together. During the dinner Major Cox, Major Hodgson and Major's Ashcraft spoke. Major Ashcraft's touched me the most. He spoke about all the times we laughed and cried (he made me cry!) stories about people of the corps and he still managed to embarass me! I guess I can forgive him :) After dinner we had a concert, well I don't know whether to call it a concert or a meeting but whatever you want to call it, it went well! Lots of music and good fellowship. I love seeing people that I don't see allot. Sunday morning went well too. Sunday night I went to Montclair for a coffee house. Raymond, Victoria, Annalise, Gavin and Lindsay all sang aswell as the Montclair songsters and the the Montclair band played. It was a very nice and casual atmosphere and ofcoarse nice to see everyone :) It was a great weekend.

I have been reading a book in English class called 1984. George Orwell wrote this book in 1948 on what he thought the world would be like in 1984. One of the things my class has been focusing on is the desensitization of the characters. I was thinking about the world today and this world is sooo desensitized! The media is ridiculous. I was in the car with Meghan and instead of mumbling the words to a well known song that we both knew we were just listening to the words. we were actually too tired to sing but as we were sitting there we were disgusted with the lyrics to the song! It was soo appauling! To think that people actually sing along to it, including me was just sick. How do you stop stuff like that? you can't, can you? It's everywhere, not just the music, its the tv, the magazines, EVERYTHING! I know that everyone allready is aware of this but if everyone is aware of it what are we doing to stop it? I don't know if any of this makes any sense but it's just something I've been thinking about.