Tim's Blog

1. I am thankful for my family. They are always there for me and it is amazing growing up with them. They have taught me how a true family should be and I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them.
2. I am thankful for my friends. They are great to hang out with and we’ve had alot of good times.
3. I am thankful for freedom of religion. Compared to some countries that don’t have that freedom, it makes me feel very blessed and glad that I can worship God without being persecuted.
4. I am thankful for all the material blessings God has given me. A house, car, clothes, and plenty of other stuff. Not everyone gets to live with that, which makes me realized how blessed I am even more.
5. I am thankful for the blessings God has given to me, my talents and gifts that I am able to use every day.
6. I am thankful for running. I love to run and I am very glad that I have a body that is good enough to run.
7. I am thankful for pumpkin pie. Give it some whipped cream on top and make it warm and it is pretty much amazing to eat, especially around thanksgiving season.
8. I am thankful for the break that comes along with Thanksgiving. Days off from school are great!
9. I am extremely thankful for Dordt College. I am really glad that I have that college decision out of the way so I don’t have all that added stress. I get to run cross country and track there, while getting a good Christian education. I don’t know on a major yet, but I know God will lead me to whatever He has in store for me.
10. I am thankful for my job. I’m not always super happy about working, but having my dad as a boss gives me really flexible hours. That comes in handy alot when I have such a busy life. It still gives me some $$ when I need it for stuff too.

Back in the good ole days, I used to have a passion for Legos. I could probably play Legos all day and never get sick of coming up with new creations. Legos were the best thing ever. When Christmas or my birthday rolled around, one of the first things to go onto the list. When people brought presents over, the first thing I would do was shake them and I would know if it was Legos almost immediately, simply by the rattling noise they made when the box got shaked. My brother’s birthday was just like my birthday too, because if he got Legos, I could play with them too and enjoy them as well. 

We also had what we called “big Legos” which I am sure most people call something different. My younger sisters and I invented a game with them that gave us hours of entertainment. We called it bumper cars. We would build cars and put people inside of them. Then we would roll them into the middle where they would crash into the other person’s car. We made it a competition to see who could keep their person in the car the longest.

I would have to say that Legos are one of my favorite toy. If I had more time, I would love to play with Legos yet and create interesting things with them. The other day some friends were over and we played with the Legos a bit and had fun with them. Basically, Legos rock and should probably always stay around for how much entertainment they provided and how you can do so much with them.

I think that having a positive digital footprint can be done by putting good stuff on the internet. Instead of just throwing trash onto the internet in your name, you should be careful with what you put because what you write in one second, will always be somewhere on the internet, no matter what efforts you go through to get rid of it. Once you get out of high school and begin looking for a college and you are more secure in the world, I think that you should put your real name on your blog and put a real picture on your blog. I think that several different people should be responsible for teaching us to be internet savvy. Our parents and our teachers should teach us to stay safe and protected on the internet for now and always be carefuly when dealing with the internet. Normally when I register on a website I include my name and e-mail address because those are always needed. If it is a site that I need to purchase something on, I include my home address and if they need a phone number I put my home phone, never my cell phone.  I know that my digital footprint is probably bigger in some ways than other people. If you type my first and last name into Google, you will find alot of results, with almost all of them related to cross country, just from newspapers. So already, people can find out more about me just from Google. I also have Facebook and I am relatively active on it. For my information though I don’t put very much on. I’m not sure if I have my home town or anything but I know that I don’t have my address on for sure although I do have my cell phone number. Somebody has to be my facebook friend though before they can see any of that or have access to it. After writing this, I will be more aware of my digital footprint and be more careful of what I do, although I have already been pretty careful I think.

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”   -Matthew 20:16

So today we went over to Pumpkin land to take our senior class picture. After, we went to Pizza Ranch and had the back room reserved for us along with a separate buffet. Once we got off the bus, many guys from our class immediately sprinted in to get in the front of the line. Everyone else sort of just walked on over and got into line, not caring all that much about where they were. Once the pizza was ready, the line started to move forward with those guys in the front getting their pizza first. Many of them heaped tons of pizza on their plates like there was no tomorrow. Right before I started to get my pizza, there was hardly any left so I waited until more came out. They brought out a few more soon and one of them was taco pizza. Some of the guys who still had 4 or 5 slices on their plates quickly budged in front of the line to grab a piece or two, seemingly oblivious to the line or the pizza they already had. Eventually, the whole line made it through and people started going back for seconds. Eventually, a small line formed again. Some of the guys earlier mentioned, were behind me in this line and started complaining about how slow the line was moving. Then they saw dessert pizza and jumped up a few spots in line to grab some before it was gone. Little did they know but many more dessert pizzas were coming out soon, although maybe those just weren’t as good or something. Who knows? Thankfully this was the last time that this happened during the meal.

So it really got me thinking about the verse, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Was the pizza really that important? Were they really that hungry? Probably not, at least I sure hope not. So what was the cause of it? I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder what goes through some people’s minds. After reading that verse and thinking about it, another verse also came to mind. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31) What would happen if everyone wanted to be last instead of first? Do you treat others how you would want to be treated? I think Christians in America and around the world need to look at these passages and reflect on them. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone was looking out for everyone else’s good and treated them as they really want to be treated? I know I still struggle with that myself and I want to be better at it too. I just hope that everyone who reads this will take it to heart and try it as well.

Well just something on my mind, hopefully it was good reading if you made it all the way down here. Thanks.

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.”   -Romans 12:3

In today’s world, humility isn’t really considered all that important. Turn on the TV to some sports channel and you see a football player celebrating in the end zone, a soccer player run to the corner post with his teammates after scoring a goal, or Usain Bolt celebrating before he’s even done with a race. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against celebrating or anything, but I think that it’s being overdone now. I think humility is going down the drain and being cocky is being taught more and more. The cockier the person, the more the media and publicity seem to attract to them. It seems like you have to be cocky to get by in the sports world. Meanwhile, there are many great athletes who don’t make such a big deal out of doing good. They do what is expected of them, and after it’s done, they don’t go looking for attention for it. Those are the athletes that I really respect. They work hard all of the time, but don’t try to get all the glory. They are team players all the way through. I am thankful for athletes like this and hope that more will continue to come along.

Pride comes before the fall.

This is based off a list of words that we got in our College Comp class and we need to use as many of them as we can. Enjoy!

Please accept our principal‘s offer of peace. He set down the two pieces of paper. He also decided to sit down on his chair too. He was already sitting between his friends when he stood up to get a piece of dessert. He was wearing his everyday shoes, which were loose because the shoe laces were untied. He led the meeting while people were talking in the background. He then threw his ideas out to their conscious minds so their consciences could wrestle with it. He was very thorough with his discussion and even had an idea that would have an affect on the desert. The people were all ready to leave then he made a descent into the deeper matters. This left a large effect on the leaving group that had been growing fewer and fewer every minute. They were farther from their homes than they wanted, but his words elicited them back in. He talked about his principles in the issue and how to be decent, peaceable people. “It’s a great idea!” they declared. He also told them about his brother, whose ideas could help their cause. His ideas were less than the principal, but more than most peoples. His brother wanted to affect where people lived, and how they’re not very good. Some people don’t like living in area’s where they can see their breath. They can’t breathe in the air, so they lose their breath easily. However, as the talks came along, he got further away from his main ideas except the people liked his new ideas more. He wanted peace among all of the people, so they wouldn’t shoot lead at each other. He brought forth examples of when other principals have led the people through tough times. After he was done, he asked the people, “You’re called to action now! Your lives are at stake! We’re called to do something! Who’s willing to lead us now?” All the people decided to lie down on the ground as a demonstration of peace. However, this was an illicit move, for there is a law that says people are not allowed to lay down on the ground. This impacted what they did in their every day lives. “It’s a good day for humanity!” they declared. 

From then on there was world peace!

Hope that wasn’t too confusing. Should be all 56 words too.

In gradeschool at SCCS we learned about plagiarism pretty good. I learned that plagiarism is bad and how to avoid doing it. That was a very good thing because ever since then I have tried my best to avoid plagiarising. I have never really been tempted to plagiarize either because I know that I would probably get caught and I would gain nothing from it. I also never knew any of the websites ever that you could get essays off of and just for fun, I tried to see if I could access any of the websites from our school computers. They were blocked; however, now I know where they are in case I need them. Just kidding! I wouldn’t do that: don’t worry Mrs. De Groot.
I think that plagiarism is a problem yet in some schools today. When kids are never working on their assignment during class and some how pump out a miraculous essay, things usually don’t quite seem to match up. I think that more kids plagiarize simply to get out of doing the assignment than to try to “outsmart” the teacher they are doing the assignment for. I know if I were to ever plagiarize, not that I ever would, I would plagiarize so that I would be done with the assignment.
Overall, I do not think that plagiarizing is such a huge problem here at Western. I do not think that we have any students downloading entire essays off of the internet.However, I do think that some people throw in paragraphs or sentences from other people’s works, without putting quotation marks around it or telling where they got it from. It could probably always be improved but the only way to catch them would be to get Turnitin or be extremely smart. Otherwise, plagiarism will probably last as long as the internet, or probably longer.

This article is a review on an article from the Seattle Times.

These are some quotes that I find inspiring, either when I’m down, in tough situations, or simply inspiring me to be a better person.  If you have any quotes you think are inspiring that I should add feel free to leave a comment with it and if I like it I’ll add it on. Enjoy!

“But the truly tough man is one who stays grounded in his values and focused on his goals when things are challenging. When things in life don’t go according to plan, the tough man will exhibit a determination to reach his goal, no matter the obstacles.”
- Tony Dungy -

“I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”
- Eric Liddell -

“If you are going to win any battle, you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do.”
- General George Patton -

“…whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
- I Corinthians 10:31b -

“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”
- Michael Phelps -

“I can stand not winning, but I can’t stand not trying my best.”
- Steve Prefontaine -

“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.”
- Doug Larson -

“Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed by the common man.”
- Coach Cal Stoll -

“The Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.”
- CS Lewis -

“Integrity is what you do when no one is watching.”

“The Lord gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ”
Isaiah 40:29-31

“For nothing is impossible with God.”
Luke 1:37

What kind of world do you want?

When I was younger I kind of dreamed what it would be like being a soldier.  I was a World War I and II fanatic and LOVED reading anything about the wars.  Napoleon Bonaparte was probably one of my favorite people in history, excluding Bible characters.  I’ve always enjoyed reading books and watching movies with wars and all of that stuff. I wondered what it would have been like being back in America during WWII. Everyone supported the war and if you didn’t, you didn’t tell anyone that. Look at today now. We have people DYING to protect us and our freedom and all we can do is complain about the war. Those soldiers are giving up their lives so that we can still have the right to complain about what they are doing. Don’t you find that a little bit messed up? I think that we should go back to the days of the past where everyone appreciated what our soldiers were doing for us. Hold parades for them. Show them that we do care what they are doing. The media may make the war seem terrible and that we need to get out as soon as possible but we shouldn’t. It can be compared to building a building with a child worker. The man begins by building it with the younger worker, beginning to teach him how it works and what to do. Then a few measurements get off and things start getting a little tougher. Does the man decide to give up and let the child continue finish the building on his own? NO. He stays and completes it so that it will be stronger and be able to stand strong. We, the United States and other United Nations forces, need to finish the job. If we leave now, all of our previous work will be undone and it may end up coming back to haunt us. We need to do something against all the negativity of the war.

We, the youth of the world, CAN make a difference in the world.