Jonny Diaz

STAND FOR YOU
So long politics
Its time to start being me
Take the chains off and
Its time to set my tongue free
Some just turn their heads but
Some will raise a fist
And You told me to stand
So I wont back down from this
They say there are no absolutes
But are they absolutely sure
In a world that trys to water You down
Where the leaves cannot be spoken to loud
I'll stand for truth
Where the cleaner way is'nt wide enough
When they do their best
Just to cover You up
I'll stand for You
Hello Reality its time
We embraced honesty
Teach me to speak the truth
In love and with humility
You made a promise that
You will come back to earth
So how selfish am I
IF I don't go tell the world
They say just be sincere
But could they all be sincerely wrong
In a world that trys to water You down
Where the leaves cannot be spoken to loud
I'll stand for truth
Where the cleaner way is'nt wide enough
When they do their best
Just to cover You up
I'll stand for You

LIGHT of my LIFE

TEEN ERA for EYRE

March 11, 2011 is a day to take a sister, a mom, a kid, a teen to tea, and then to see Jane Eyre. This courage filled young Jane is a mistreated orphan who is taught to memorize scripture at an early age. She learned to submit to authority and respectfully she held her tongue as she waited for a response to an ad she placed for employment. Jane speaks the truth as she knows it and she is led to fearlessly act ~ When faced with injustices, she was quick to show kindness. Ultimately because of her instilled values, Jane Eyre becomes the heroine. She gains personal freedom and the guy of her dreams, not by manipulation, but because she is valued for her morality. The appeal to this plot is far reaching as we all have suffered rejections and disappointments. This classic also has a mystery which draws upon our emotions and our intellect. Jane is a GREAT role model for young girls in 2011. The story is modern and universal. If you take away the costumes and the setting, at the core of it is a story of a young girl who is trying to find love, a place to call home, somewhere to belong, and connect in a very dislocated world. As a society we are discontent, and many ache to know that they are valued and loved ~ that REALITY remains transcendent as it reaches the soul of the lost. Today we live in a hostile world with war and economic doom, and the orphans of our society are the children who grow up with both parents working, and consequently unavailable. Consider how youth deal with the gray days of being alone or homeless? Without college ~ hopes turn bleak in 2011 for many who are forced to drop out to get jobs and support the family. Jane Eyre drops out of the role of an orphan and adopts the responsibility of a teacher for one young spoiled child. Teens today need strong models of courage and tenacity. "If Jane can do it, so can I!" Such response ability is a reason for youth to rise and do well! Jane thrived within a cold, socially limited environment and she made the best of it without complaint. Void of mature advice from anyone, she relied on her faith in God, and never really felt alone. Jane was 18-years-young living in a world with a social circle of two. An 8-year-old girl and Mrs. Fairfax, the housekeeper. Today our teens have several perhaps too many social opportunities and they miss out on time alone with God. I'm just saying....that perhaps ~ TV, Facebook, gaming, text messaging, and more demand movies than books is what keeps us from feeling the confidence of the Holy Spirit. Jane's home was a cold and desolate castle that could not console or offer the comfort of a friendly embrace. ONE LESSON: Maybe it is not always WISE to have more than we need. To learn that stuff cannot satisfy the soul's longing for relationship. Tis a huge lesson for this ME generation. The audience anticipates the moment that Jane embraces the truth of being worthy of love. We can each relate to the FEAR Jane has over noises in the dark, the FEAR of the unknown, the FEAR of being alone, and the FEAR of feeling LOVE. The unseen, unknown, and inaudible voice in her heart seems to have given Jane a clarity that we lack today. Without distraction, Jane is enabled to emotionally adapt to her creepy environment. Her heart yearns to be loved, BUT does Mr Rochester love her, could he possibly love someone as uneducated as Jane? The innocence of such thinking, her vulnerability in the matter of undeserved love is something that we all have felt. A GREAT book and an excellent teaching tool for a nite at home with a teen.

RUBY BENTALL

MINNIE played by Ruby Bentall is my favorite character of Lark Rise! I applaud her winsome performance! Minnie longs to belong and she so belongs among the celebrated actresses indeed! Dorcas, the postmistress mentors Minnie in the area of social politeness and in preparation of a courtship with Alf, the man who makes her giddy. Thomas Brown, played by Mark Heap is the quirky Postman of Candleford. Thomas embraces the call of God to minister to the unsaved. Often quick to judge others, by the 4th season, Thomas admits his own doubts. As he is keen to correct any sin he sees, Thomas finds it difficult to accept that others don't see the world the same way. Now married to Margaret, Thomas hopes to have a family, but Thomas begins to wonder: is God willing? Mark Heap born in India to an English father ~ stirs our souls to LARK RISE! The character known as TWISTER gets his words all twisted up and looses his reading! He is married to the healer known as QUEENIE and this couple offers up much to say about being a friend in need and in deed! Queenie raised Alf and a throng of other locals who go wisely to her for much needed advice. Queenie and Twister live in the hamlet of Lark Rise next door to Emma Timmins, mother of Laura. MINNIE, TWISTER, ALF QUEENIE THOMAS DORCAS and the PRATT SISTERS keep the viewers emotions flowing!

ANGEL

Angel Deverell played by Romola Garai comes of age in Edwardian Cheshire knowing she will be a great writer. Rising above her class (her widowed mother has a grocery shop), Angel finds a publisher and a wide audience for her frothy romances. With royalties, she buys an estate, then she's smitten by Esme, a rake from local aristocracy and an artist of dark temperament. She hires Esme's sister Nora, who dotes on her, as a personal assistant, and pursues Esme. Angel is grandly self-centered, coloring her world as if it were one of her novels. When the Great War breaks out and reality begins to trump her will, can Angel hold on to her man and her public?

SOUL SURFING

In the movie Soul Surfer, Bethany Hamilton’s youth group leader—played by Carrie Underwood—plays a key role in the teen’s recovery from a 2003 shark attack. In real life, youth pastor Sarah Hill’s role was even more prominent. Reflecting on the journey that brought her from ministering to kids on the North Shore of Kauai to a New York City movie premiere, youth leader Sarah Hill said she feels a sense of awe—but not surprise. “I really believe that the Lord painstakingly prepares you for things in your life so that you can have a greater testimony to bring Him glory,” she said in an interview after the April 6 premiere of Soul Surfer. For Hill, that preparation involved tragedy and pain. “I was raised in San Diego by a single mom with five kids who has fought a long battle with cancer,” she recalled. “My dad was in and out of the picture, in and out of jail. He was abusive—physically and verbally—and he abused drugs and alcohol.” In addition to enduring emotional pain, Hill experienced physical trials. “I had several surgeries growing up and a lot of illnesses,” she said. “I became very insecure. I didn’t ever question if He was real or not, but I did ask, ‘How can a God of love allow so many bad things to happen?’”
Things seemed to be looking up when Hill received a scholarship to play water polo in college. But two weeks before she was supposed to report to campus, she broke her neck and back in a surfing accident, and lost the scholarship. She was one sixteenth of an inch from being paralyzed. “It’s a total miracle that I survived,” said Hill. “But all of that added to a feeling of despair, and my future and my dreams crumbled right before me.” Three months after breaking her neck, Hill sank into a deep depression and wanted to give up. “I was tired of all the trials and tribulations,” she said. Something made her hang on. “I remember asking the Lord to speak to me,” said Hill. She opened her Bible and found 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10. The red letters jumped off the page: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In the next verse, the apostle Paul writes, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in trials and tribulations because when I am weak, then I am strong.” As soon as she read those words, Hill recommitted her life to the Lord. “That’s when my journey really began,” she explained. Not long afterward, Hill completed her Associate's Degree in theology from Calvary Chapel Bible College, returned to surfing, and became a missionary on the island of Kauai. Describing the call of God, Hill said that at first she laughed. “God doesn’t call people to Hawaii. But I had this radical dream one night of kids perishing on a beach and someone elbowing me and saying, ‘See Sarah, because you weren’t going to go, people are dying without the Lord.’ “It was awful,” said Hill. “I woke up with a sense of urgency: ‘OK, Lord, you really are calling me there.’” The Attack! In Hawaii, Hill met a young surfer named Bethany Hamilton. And on Oct. 31, 2003, she received a disturbing phone call that seemed at first to be a joke. “I got the phone call from her brother Noah on Halloween morning and I thought it was a nasty trick,” said Hill about Hamilton’s shark attack. “But then I could hear the panic in his voice and picked him up.” As Hill sped to the hospital—actually beating the paramedics there—Noah was so upset he thought he might vomit and stuck his head out the window. “And I am driving and praying, ‘Lord, how do I minister to this family? I am not OK with this.’” That is when the Lord reminded Hill of Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” “I felt like the Lord spoke to my heart,” said Hill. “I had a peace that she would survive. I shared that verse with Noah and her mom. When Bethany first came out of surgery that was the first thing her mom told her. And Bethany grabbed on to that. Hill sat with Hamilton every day in the hospital. By day three, they started to talk about Bethany’s return to surfing. “I told her, ‘The Lord hasn’t allowed this to take away your gift of surfing. He is going to use it in some way.’ All along, I felt that God was going to get her through it.” He did. Less than a month after the attack, Hamilton was back in the water. A year later, she was awarded both an ESPY for “Comeback Athlete of the Year” and a “Teen Choice Award” for Courage. By 2010, Hamilton was ranked No. 20 on the Women’s Tour of the Association of Surfing Professionals. AWESOME TRUE story CLICK for clip

Youth Group Scene from Soul Surfer

A Month by the Lake

A refreshing film that makes you laugh at yourself and consider what choices we all have given one relaxed month by a lake. Vanessa Redgrave embodies the grace of a single womans heart. She plays an English spinster photograher who enjoys capturing the ongoing fascinations and beauty of family and romance around Lake Como.