Merry Christmas EVERYONE xD

Okay, so I know we're still in November, but I'm sitting here listening to Christmas and I'm just in the festive mood :)
I've had the worst day, but it's getting better. Partly because of the music but mostly because of what's happening later:
I'M GOING TO CHURCH!!

Now most people who read that will just be like "urrmmmm..."
Church? Exciting? Fun? I don't think so.
That's how I used to think. I was carted into church for my Christening (still unsure as to why I was christened, due to complete lack of Christian family, but oh well) and forced back there every year or so for Easter service or mothers day. Church was compulsory, and... it was deadly boring. My Dad refused to set foot in church, which left my Mum with the job of setting a good example. The Reverend would talk, and my brother and I would gaze around the building at all the other children, all feeling the same pain, all mentally wishing ourselves some place else.

Of course, nowadays I realise that what the Reverend was talking about probably wasn't all that boring, but to the mind of an 8 year old, it was insufferable.
For the 15 years THIS was my image of church, THIS was my only contact with God.

So imagine the shock I got when my best friend invited me along to her church. It was something else altogether. Firstly, there were teenagers there :O
Real, living, breathing teenagers, who actually looked happy, and not like they were there against their own will.
Secondly, there was worship. You know when you sing a hymn, but you're not actually singing, you're just kinda mouthing the words... and mouthing the wrong words in the wrong places because you don't know the tune, and you really don't care...
Well it was nothing like that. Every single person was singing, singing loudly, singing from their very souls.
I can't really explain to you the effect this had, and still has on me. For someone who had never been really sure of anything, to stand there among those people, who were singing with faith, with love, with purpose. I wanted to know what had inspired this, I needed to know.
The third thing that hit me was the kindness. In real life, strangers don't smile at you, they don't want to talk to you. They don't care about you. Suddenly, there are people I don't even know, and they were being nice to me. I can't tell you how unnerving it was.
That night, I started asking questions, and I was given answers. That night was the beginning of my journey.

6 months after that first visit, and I'm a very different person. I mean I'm writing about God, on a blog, on the internet for all the world to see :)
The church is like my second home, some days I just want to chain myself inside and NEVER LEAVE :P
So to everyone out there who's never experienced a church like that, a church that makes you feel alive, go now and find one! They are out there, ready to be found. God is waiting for you:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Now I'm off to church <3

Hi there :)

Helloo
Nice to meet you.
My name is Charlee.
I'm 16.
I have too much coursework.
Dumbledore's death makes me cry.
I am hundreds of facts and opinions all smushed up together into a person.
But there's one thing I want you to know, I love God.

You may wonder why I'm writing this, and for a while I wasn't sure either, but it's because I need to tell someone. I need people to know about God, I want to share him with people! I want to shout it for everyone to hear. Jesus is all I want to talk about, but every day I contain it. I have all this passion and love trapped inside me but I'm afraid to let it all out.

Because every day I hear people laughing at God. People with contempt and scorn in their hearts who crush anyone with faith. The world is full of people who say that faith is full of contradictions, is impossible, yet they've never opened a bible, never been to a church that's alive with God. How can they ridicule what they don't fully understand?

And it's our job as Christians to help those people understand.
How terrifying is that?

Yet, I know what I have to do. Starting with this blog, I have to tell people about Jesus, regardless of whether they'll mock me or not. It's going to take strength and courage, but these are things that God will give me if I ask. Two months ago, I used to hide my bible when my friends came round, now I need to leave it open.

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:38

I named this blog after a line in a song. A song by a singer called Regina Spektor.
She sings about how easy it is for the world to laugh at God when life is good, but when things get hard, that's when he becomes serious, that's when he becomes real for people.
But the truth is, He has always been real.

"No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken

No one laughs at God
When the cops knock on their door
And they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine or fire or flood


But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha"

From: Laughing With by Regina Spektor


God is love.