“Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.”
~ Lord Alfred Tennyson

We hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating the arrival of 2010! (How is it possible that it’s 2010 and we’re not all wearing shiny suits and driving flying cars??) 

Have fun, be safe, and come back to see us on Monday!

by RTF Editor BJ Hamrick

What if I could breathe without you
Choking out my air?
What if I could sleep without you
Stripping my dreams bare?

What if I could love without you
Shouting through my mind?
What if I could write without you
Haunting every line?

What if I could trust without you
Tugging at my heart?
What if I could love without you
Tearing me apart? (more…)

Happy retro day! This week I found a devo that has some great thoughts about friendship. It will definitely make you appreciate your friends. Enjoy! ~Halee

by RTF Staff Writer Jamin Goecker

Do you have a powerful friendship? Can you rate it by how many texts you get ending with LOL? What can be expected from a strong friendship anyway?

Writers Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were friends throughout their lives. They critiqued each other’s works which later became known as The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

William Wilberforce and William Pitt helped end the slave trade in the British Empire.

Jonathon, son of the first king of Israel, and his armor bearer took on a detachment of enemies. The two men drove the Philistines back and sent terror through the enemy’s army (1 Samuel 14:1-23). (more…)

by RTF Assistant Editor Halee Matthews

“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart,
and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” ~ Luke 6:45 (NIV)

Sometimes it’s easy to neglect what we put in our hearts. We get so focused on our actions and doing good things that it can be easy to forget the source of our actions.

Then we end up leaving the door to our hearts wide open and letting evil take root. Or we keep it so tightly shut that any good in our hearts slowly dies of starvation and evil fills the void. Either way, something resides and grows in our hearts. We are never empty.

Think of it like a garden. If you take care of it– plant vegetables, water them, and constantly pull the weeds out, it will thrive. But if you neglect it, there will be growth, but it will be weeds instead of veggies. (more…)

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Real Teen Faith! We hope you have a wonderful time with your family as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. We will see you back here on Monday. In the meantime, enjoy this compilation of the story of Christmas.

The Christmas Story

Let’s start with Mary (Luke 1:26-38, NLT)
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”

Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her. (more…)

by RTF Staff Writer Derek Hanisch

I will always remember December 25th, 2005. It was during this Christmas that I was battling cancer. Christmas Eve had been routine enough. I had been too tired to even want to open gifts, but it was okay because I was home and among family.

It was about 3am on Christmas Day that things took a turn for the worst. My fever rose to well over 100 and I could barely move. This happened quite regularly when I was home from chemo and it meant one thing: time to head back to the hospital.

I spent Christmas day and New Year’s in the hospital. It was not where I wanted to be. (more…)

Happy Retro Day! This week I found some great advice for when you start to get into a rut. I hope you enjoy it! ~Halee

by RTF Staff Writer Lydia Rule

It seems everywhere I go, the same Christmas tunes are ringing in my ear. I can’t count how many times I’ve been told by these songs that Santa Claus is coming to town, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride, and that chestnuts should be roasting on an open fire. I feel like a humbug when these songs begin to play. There never seems to be any variety; just the same old jingles that I heard last year, and the year before that….

Don’t get me wrong—I don’t dislike these songs, but after awhile, they become rote, meaningless. I robotically sing the words without thinking about them. Repetition makes these songs seem weary and stripped of meaning. (more…)

by RTF Staff Writer Sarah Rupp

Day 1

Traveling on a bumpy dirt road on a donkey. Really? A donkey? At least my new husband was thoughtful enough that I don’t have to walk. My back already hurts from the baby inside. I’m not sure which is worse, riding or walking. If I ride – wait – let me back up a little, explain why I’m traveling and most importantly, why I’m pregnant.

It started when I was doing my chores and a strange man came up to me. He told me he was an angel from the Lord and God wanted me to carry his son. This really confused me at first. God wanted me pregnant? I wasn’t even married! I was engaged to my husband Joseph at the time. In my culture, it’s a shameful thing to be pregnant when you’re not married. But I was raised to say yes when the Lord asks. So I did.

Then our land’s ruler had this plan to make everybody return to their hometowns to be counted. Yes, the ruler is a man. He obviously didn’t think of pregnant women like me. I tell you, someday they need to think up a better way to travel. (more…)