Thursday, August 9, 2007

I'm Back!!! Part 1.

I'm back... I'll sum up my trip for you:

1. I drove through Chicago. "Let's go inhale some nice toxic fumes!"
2. I stayed at the Wisconsen Dells for a little while. That place is like theme park land! Carnival rides and waterparks are everywhere!... Nobody really comes out at day, everyone wonders around and goes to there great novilty stores at night!
3. I drove through Minnesota. I saw the Mississippi river. Lots of corn.
4. I drove through many miles of South Dakota... Flat, flat, South Dakota. But, once I got to the end of it, I realized it was a very mountanous region. I went to the Badlands... Very Awesome. I also saw Mount Rushmore.
5. I went through Wyoming... All the way to Yellowstone National park! Yellowstone is a very beautiful place... with great natural sights. It's also teaming with abudant wildlife... I'll show some abudant wildlife in a little bit...
5 1/2. I went to Montana and Idaho... while staying in Yellow Stone. Idaho looks a lot like Napoleon Dynamite's homeland... So I have no doubt that they didn't film it in California.
6. I went down a little ways, to the Tetons. Very beautiful place, but I didn't get to see much... Because our car broke... (kind of), and we had to fix it. Our car broke... Haha.
7. We stayed there a little while, and then we drove home through a few different states. They were: Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa... and of course, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Many things to see in all of those states.

In total, I went through 13 states... Indiana, Illinois, Wesconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan.

It feels very good to get back. While I was gone, I took over 1,000 pictures. I will only share some of my highlights with you (I will do a few more "parts", with pictures).

I actually thought I would be home sooner, but we had to stop for a little while in Indiana. GOD actually told me that we were going to have to stop for a little bit during my trip, I just didn't realize it. I asked my Dad when we would be home (on one of the last days of our trip). I remebered his answer... and I believed it. I then kept heaing James 4:13-15 in different places... I didn't realize this was what GOD was saying to me:

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
James 4:13-15
A little be later, our car's radiator broke, and we had to stop for a little while... Yes, I could have been home much sooner. My message is: If you have faith, GOD will speak to you. Maybe not in words, but in acts, HE will make HIMSELF known. (HE sometimes speaks to you, too).
In the next few posts, I will try to post pictures... GOD bless you all! Peace be with you!
RC Hammer

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That sounds like an aweosme trip! Can't wait to see the pictures! That's really cool that GOD talked to you too!

-Dcaf

RC HAMMER said...

Yes... We should play tennis again sometime... I can't todaythough. I also want to have a SSBC tournament.

(Super Smash Bros. Classic).

Anonymous said...

were did you sleep?

Anonymous said...

Maybe sunday or something?

-Dcaf

Jenna St.Hilaire said...

Wow, RC, it sounds like you had a fun trip! I grew up in Montana and Yellowstone is where my family always went on vacation, so I have fond memories of those places :-)

If you want to talk about Harry Potter, I am willing to do so; just let me know. I think that some Christians, notably Laura Mallory and the Jeremiah Films company, have misunderstood and misrepresented the Harry Potter books, and this has most often been done by people who have not read them. That a lot of other Christians have taken their word for it is not surprising--I did, at one time--but I think it is a shame, especially since the author of the Harry Potter books claims to be a Christian herself.

If you have specific questions about things that you found in the book you got, let me know. I may be able to answer at least some of its concerns.

Blessings,

Jennifer

RC HAMMER said...

Kyle, I selpt in hotels, in tents, and in cars.

Want to have a Smash Bros. tournament.

The author of the book that I got has read all of the Harry Potter books. It seems to me like J.K. Rowling is premoting witchcraft with her books. It's strange that she would call herself a Christian though... It looks like she has done plenty of research on Wicca and it's history... and even it's followers. I'll take you up on it later though, thanks for understanding.

Isabella said...

dude their just books

RC HAMMER said...

Bella, books are very powerful, shaping the mind and ideas of the reader. Respond! This will be fun!

Anonymous said...

Recently a "Break Point" email from Charles Colson brought out an interesting point about the Harry Potter books. By understanding the culture and what the secular media is putting out, and comprehending our responsibility as believers in the truth to be "wise as serpents, but gentle as doves," we can refute lies from the perspective of knowledge, as opposed to hearsay.

The author of that email said that not every believer would be able to recognize the falsehoods or gray areas when reading materials that were secular, so he didn't recommend this avenue for all Christians. It is a sad thing that Christians are so easily led, and especially by alarmists.

I think the thing that frustrates me about all the Harry Potter pro/con discussion in the church is that it portrays believers as narrow minded and unloving. Jesus was neither one; he hob-nobbed with sinners, and He LOVED them, without judgment, condemnation or condescension.

He was well versed in the false religions of His day, and with the Father as His guide, was able to speak the truth in love. Sure He made a lot of people angry, not because He was "dis-ing" them, but because He claimed to be the answer and they didn't want to hear it. Just a thought.

Isabella said...

this is the most retarded thing to talk about....like omg witchcraft


who cares

Anonymous said...

isabella, witchcraft is a sin. It is praying and honoring fake gods and things. What we don't like is that that is what J.K. Rowling is purposing with her books.

-Dcaf

RC HAMMER said...

Yes, yes. Very good anonymous. Are you just someone passing by my blog or do I know you from somewhere else.

Bella, Wicca is one of the most fastest groing religeons in the US, and in a lot of other places to. At the rate it's going, it is heading to become the third biggest religeon under Christianity and Judaisim. The Bible makes it clear that witchcraft is deadly, and anyone who practices it is going down the wrong path... let' leave it at that. Also, people who practice withcraft (there are many, believe me) open themselves to satanic forces (without knowing it). These forces will try to devour them. Bella, witchcraft is no laughing matter; It's constantly gaining momentum and it is a straight path to hell.

I'm not trying to be a hater but wrong is just wrong.

Anonymous said...

Well said RC, well said.

-Dcaf

Anonymous said...

sounds like a pretty good statement
i guess people have there own thinking of things and there are good and bads but i'm kind of leaning torwds ryker sorry bella and i know the whole world likes it. almost

Anonymous said...

did i say that bella is talking to ryker

Anonymous said...

and where did you meet adam

Anonymous said...

but nobody changes religions over that

Isabella said...

wow now i must say this is the most retarded blog ever
and i met adam through my cousin=] im hanging out with him at the mall tomorrow partyy

RC HAMMER said...

Bella, I'm not attacking you or anything. I'm not even angry. Actually, I still consider you one of my friends, even if you don't.

And Kyle... actually, many people have gone to Wicca through things like Harry Potter, and some people who thought they were Christians (their faith wasn't developed) have even converted from that to Wicca.

RC HAMMER said...

I just like debates... No, that wasn't an arguement.

RC HAMMER said...

Bella, to tell you the truth, I really don't know why we stopped being friends, but I'm sorry if I angered you somehow. But you probably already knew that...

Isabella said...

we stopped being friends? when?

Isabella said...

wait what dont i like? and its funny?

Jenna St.Hilaire said...

Hi, RC,

In response to your comments, here's a few thoughts.

Because you expressed surprise that J.K. Rowling claims to be a Christian, let me share with you a clip from an interview she did some time back:

ES: You do believe in God.

JKR: Yeah. Yeah.

ES: In magic and…

JKR: Magic in the sense in which it happens in my books, no, I don’t believe. I don’t believe in that. No. No. This is so frustrating.


Second, Harry Potter's magic and Wicca have very little in common. I totally agree that witchcraft is not something Christians should be involved with. However, I have read articles on Harry Potter by two witches and one ex-witch. They all agreed that while Harry Potter is a story that anyone can enjoy, the magic has nothing particular to do with Wicca. At least one of the witches said very clearly that she did not think that Harry Potter would help people understand Wicca or show more sympathy toward it.

More to come soon--I have to go now, but I'll be back.

Isabella said...

ha! told youu!

RC HAMMER said...

Oh, good! We're still friends! For a second I though we weren't. I'll show what's funny in a second...

RC HAMMER said...

I'll respond on your blog Jennifer...

Jenna St.Hilaire said...

Continued ...

Here's a link you should definitely check out. It is on a blog by a Christian man who practically makes a profession out of searching out the Christianity in Harry Potter. In his post you will find a link to a letter from a Christian who ministers to Wiccans, which in turn links to the articles I mentioned by the witches and ex-witch.

What I find most interesting about this post, however, is the comments. At least three practicing pagans commented, and all of them said the same basic thing loudly and clearly. Here are a couple of samples:

"As to Harry Potter - it’s got nothing to do with wicca, paganism or modern witchcraft in any way. They’re just fun books. Some Pagans and witches like them and some don’t - just like [other people]." --Darok, professed Pagan

"But what’s more important is that the underlying framework of the story is very Christian. There is good, and there is evil, with some but not a lot of grey. That’s a very much Christian framework. Most Pagans don’t believe in Absolute Evil, and JKR clearly does, or at least posits it within her book." --Devi, practicing Wiccan

This post, and especially the comments, are well worth the read.

http://swordofgryffindor.com/2007/06/28/harry-making-teens-wiccans/

Also worth noting--and here will be spoilers, for anyone who has not read the books!:

Book 7 contains two direct quotes from the Bible. It also ends with Harry walking up to his enemy and, without defending himself, giving up his life for all of his friends. Then, in a chapter titled "King's Cross", Harry learns why he had to give his life up and is offered the chance to go back and possibly defeat that enemy (who has tried many times to kill him and has killed some of his friends.) He does go back and winds up defeating that enemy. Also, because Harry laid down his life unselfishly for his friends, the evil wizard is unable to seriously hurt or kill them even though he tries.

It sounds like a direct parallel to Jesus to me! And it is far too obvious to have been accidental. J.K. Rowling herself said in the past that if people really knew what she believed, that any intelligent reader would be able to figure out how the book would end. And I have to admit, in the list of predictions I made before book 7 came out (http://alightinside.blogspot.com/2007/07/im-no-cassandra-trelawney-but.html), I did say that I thought Harry would lay down his life but survive ... :-)

Isabella said...

ok wheres the funniness? not seeing!

and i hope you know we're just 12 year olds so we're not really solving anything=]

1 said...

Who cares if we're only 12, that doesnt mean we cant make a difference to our family or our community. And the most surprising thing to me is that these books have led some to Wicca..ness or whatever its called. Even if these books have led to 1,000 conversions or just 10, we still need to help those who have converted through this series. To me this is a pretty silly religion anyways and its just based on legends and fables, Wicca of course.

-Dcaf

1 said...

Or make a differnce on this blog.

-Dcaf

Anonymous said...

i told 'i' but he didn't care and mark called you a bad name. but i really don't care about this but i like reading what poeple have to say.

Isabella said...

i hate you all....mark always calls me bad names! i dont care....and i never SAID I DIDNT LIKE PIERCE ANY MORE I MEAN JEEZEEEE

so kyle tell pierce that i still do like him but im just really confused ok....and i dont really know what to do....=[

RC HAMMER said...

...Sooo busy... I'll respond in a few hours... Thank you Jennifer...

RC HAMMER said...

I still don't understand what you are saying about being to young... A mean, I really don't get your concept at all... but oh well.... Wait, do you mean this Harry Potter thing? I just like debates, I mean, I'm having fun with this. Like, some people go play sports to have fun. I rather have a debate for fun... Sort of.

Hmm... Jennifer, I have what I was going to say, but with what you are telling me, I'm still trying to decide if I should defend my ideas or go down defenless. I think I will check out the links you gave me before I do anything else.

I have some question though. That interview with JKR- Is there someplace on the internet I can go to read it? And what Bible verses were in the 7th book? Thanks.

RC HAMMER said...

I also forgot to say this: I love you all, and GOD bless all of you!

Jenna St.Hilaire said...

LOL! RC, when you said you were young, I didn't know you were 12! I was thinking 15-16. And here I am, 29 years old, asking you to debate at an adult level! But 12 is not too young to have a reasonable debate :-) Debating is a good skill to learn at any age.

Here's the link to the interview by J.K. Rowling that you asked about (you have to look almost at the very bottom of the page):

http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/0700-hottype-solomon.htm

Also, the two Bible verses are these:

Matthew 6:21: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." This one is important because it is an expression of change of heart for a key character.

1 Corinthians 15:26: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." This one is on the gravestone of Harry's parents, who gave their lives to protect him when he was a baby.

Let me know if you have any other questions :-)

Jenna St.Hilaire said...

P.S. ... God bless you too!

Anonymous said...

ok i will tell him. if dan was on here he would say ohh ryker loves everybody.

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