Friday, April 27, 2012

Video!!


This is G4G's FIRST OFFICIAL VIDEO!!! The iSkysoft is a program I used to change the video file from a .mpg4 to .avi (because that's the file YouTube accepts), and Apple automatically puts it there! SORRY ABOUT THAT!!! 


I hope you like it!!! 



Special Thanks to the beautiful people who made this video possible:
In order of appearance:
Tiffany Knapp
Kelly Chaney
 Rachel Bolton
Deanna Osborn
Tori Daniels
Chelsea Evanyke
Nikkole Ruggiero
Tinamarie Stolz
*Thank you to Lina Libreros and B Finn! 
*Thank you to Regina Iannizzotto for the AMAZING photos 
*Thank you Cynthia Crudale for helping me make this dream a reality, and always encouraging me!



Some of these pictures were taken from Google Images, G4G does not take any credit for those photos! 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Filing Cabinet

The world is like a filing cabinet; we categorize people and put them into drawers.
Every drawer is labeled, and everyone has their place:
skater, goth, preppy, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, white, black, hispanic, asian, men, women, young, old, conservative, liberal, wealthy, lower class....this list could go on forever.
We see people, we might even chat with them, but before we get to know them, we put them in a drawer according to who we think they are. However, this past week I realized that we have a bigger problem;
we stereotype ourselves. 

We identify with a certain group, and then we sometimes feel like we have certain standards to uphold. For example; if we get put into the "preppy drawer", we would be expected to wear preppy cloths, listen to certain music, and act like a snob (which is a stereotype and I don't believe being "pretty" makes you a snob!). But what if you like preppy cloths, but listen to hard core metal, and are not a snob at all? Where do you fit then? What drawer do you belong too?

Sometimes we feel like we just don't fit in. It's like we don't have a drawer to belong too. Maybe you're "too Christian" to be in one drawer, and then "too feminist" to be in another, and then "too liberal" for one drawer, and "too conservative" for another drawer. Maybe you're "too goody goody" for one drawer, and "too cool" for another, and it creates a lot of inner conflict. It leaves us with the question of "Who am I?"  As I'm growing up, I'm realizing that it's okay not to know who I am, as long as I am striving for something positive. The best thing I could ever strive for, and the best thing I could ever be, is myself, and the best thing you could ever strive for, and the best thing you could ever be, is yourself. An exceptional person in my life always encourages me and consistently tells me, "Be you." I think there is a tremendous amount of truth to that. 


I was walking from class today, and I saw this one red tulip proudly standing among the others. I had to take a picture because it inspired me so much. It wasn't trying to be yellow, it wasn't trying to be white;  It had no desire to be anything it wasn't. It was growing happily and being the best it could be. All you have to do, is be the best you, you can be! 



Be You!!!!

Friday, April 13, 2012

What Happened to the Good?


Let's face it, we live in a world where it's not good to be good. We live in a culture where...
-- it's cool to get wasted, and lame to not drink.
-- where the less cloths you wear, the more attention you get 
-- where image is everything, and school comes after beauty
-- where choosing not to party means you're not fun
-- where sex isn't for love, it's for lust
Our culture glorifies negative and destructive decisions.
You can see it in
- reality TV,"adult" cartoons, dolls that are dressed in inappropriate cloths, and music videos/lyrics that are basically porn
I had to say to myself, "Hold the phone! What's going on here?" 

Matthew 7:13-14 says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

There are 2 paths; one is wide and one narrow. Now this is the part where you think I'm going to say, "Pick the good side, it's easy!" However, at G4G, we speak the truth and say it like it is: it is NOT easy to make good choices in the world we live in today. BUT, you will never regret making good choices. I think that we sometimes we see others drinking or partying too hard, or doing pot, or hooking up with guys, and we think to ourselves, "I'm missing out. I want to fit in. I'm at this point in my life where I should be doing that." But I'm going to be honest with you, making negative choices will leave you empty. Going out, getting drunk, and then making out with a stranger at a club is not going to fill you. It might for a day or so, but it will never satisfy your want to be loved, or your desire fit in with good friends who love you for you. 

I also think that if you are making good choices, you don't want to admit that you feel like you're missing out, or you WANT to make negative choices. Here at G4G, we want you to be open. We want you to have a place to connect with others about making good choices. We want to encourage you to keep walking down the narrow path, and 
we want to show you that you are not alone.

If you are out there and you know you're making decision that are hurting you, we want to help. I'm not perfect, and I have made negative choices in my life. I want you to know that it's okay to feel lost, and unsure about who you want to be. At G4G we do NOT judge or condemn. It's not our place to judge you, we accept you exactly as you are.
We want to show you that you are not alone.





Friday, April 6, 2012

Why Good Friday is Beautiful

Today is Good Friday; one of the most holy and powerful days in the Christian faith. 
Good Friday is the day that Jesus was brutally beaten, whipped 39 times by Roman soldiers, made fun of by the people who surrounded him, was betrayed by his best friends, and was left to die slowly on a cross for 3 whole hours. 
The Romans used crucifixion because it was a slow, and painful way to die. The purpose of the whipping, and the way they crucified people in those days was designed to be as painful as possible.
When Jesus was hanging up on the cross, he cried out in desperation, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" When the people around him were yelling at him, and spitting on him; when the Romans were putting nails though his hands he cried out through the torture, 
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."  
You might be thinking to yourself, "How could this ever be beautiful? This is horrible."
But this is the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for me.    
Jesus died for my sins, BUT this is NOT about guilt. This is NOT about how "bad" we sometimes think we are. 
This is beautiful because it's about love
It is about the purest, abundance of love we could ever receive.
   
The truth is that I do things I shouldn't do, but 
Jesus died, so I could have an open relationship with Him.  
This is about of love.
Do you know why Jesus did that? Do you know why Jesus went though all that pain?
because he loves us.
Because Jesus died on the cross so we could be freeJesus died on the cross so we could be free from the things we do that we are wrong

I picture it this way. I see myself standing in front of  God, and every time I sin, it's like a piece of garbage get's put in between God and I. When Jesus died, he took that huge pile of built up garbage, and took it away FOREVER; I don't have to worry about it anymore. 

It was like Jesus and God were sitting in heaven and said to each other, "You know what? We love Tinamarie so much, that we want her to have a real, honest, and close relationship with us. We don't want her to feel guilty all the time, we don't want sin in the way of our love for her! We want her run into our arms, but she can't do that with all this sin in her life, it just gets her down. It gets in her way." Then I can picture God looking at Jesus and saying, "You know what you're going to have to do right?" and I see Jesus saying, "Yes. I will die for her."

Jesus died for me, because of that, I do not live in fear of the bad things I've done. Because Jesus died for me, I know that I am loved beyond all compare. 

That's beautiful.