by Catey Yuen, RTF staff writer

School is coming to a close. You may be looking forward to a summer break to relax, going to summer camp or on a missions trip, or just hanging out.

I always feel most involved with God during the summer. There are fewer distractions – fewer deadlines to meet, less work to do.

Paul likens our Christian life like a runner’s training. We can’t always be racing. We have to have breaks between runs, times to cool down. We also need times to prepare, to get fit, to stretch and warm up. That helps us get ready when the big race comes and we’re running.

I consider summer break our training period. I use it to catch up on spiritual and material things. (more…)

By Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

Genesis 16

Abram had a promise from God. He knew that the Lord would give him a son, despite his old age. He was familiar with the promises of God. He was only a few generations from the time of Noah and the flood, where God had showed just how fully he kept his promises to his people.

But Abram didn’t wait on the Lord. Though the child of promise was to come through his wife, Sarai, he chose instead to have a child through his concubine, Hagar.

Disaster ensued. Sarai banished Hagar and her son Ishmael to the desert twice, and once the child of promise, Isaac, was born, the clash only intensified. The nation descended from Isaac, the Jews, and the nation descended from Ishmael, the Arabs, are in conflict to this day.

What made Abram waver? Why did he settle for less than perfection, when he had the promise of goodness before him?

Abram had the same problem that people are still struggling with to this day. He was impatient for God’s blessing, and so he diminished the blessing coming to him by disobeying God and not waiting on His perfect timing.

A study was conducted among a group of preschoolers. Adults would put a child in a room with one cookie and tell the child that if they could wait a certain amount of time without eating the cookie, they could have two later. Then they went out of the room and watched the children. Almost every child ate the one cookie then, instead of waiting for the two.

They wanted immediate gratification. They wanted to have the good thing then, even though if they just waited a little longer, they would get more.

Everyone longs to feel God’s blessing in their lives. They cry out for him to relieve their suffering and bless them in a certain area of their life. This may be finance, time, housing, friends, school.

I wanted so badly to be involved in a program that my friends were involved in, I pushed God. I told him the area I wanted to be involved in was a good program, that it was a safe environment, that it was a place where I could further his kingdom. I said that I would enjoy it, be good at it, help people through it. Then I asked God why he wasn’t letting me be a part of it. (more…)

 

 

By Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

Actions speak louder than words.

How many times have you heard that before? I’ve heard it, at a rough estimate, more than a million times in my still-brief life. But I never really thought about it until just recently.

I’m part of a Christian young speakers’ group. I’m used to representing Christ and my group on the platform. I can look really good if I try hard enough and I’m thinking about it.

But get me off the platform and how well do I represent Christ? Am I consistent in my witness, or am I causing people to think badly about God’s people sometimes? (more…)

by Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

White snow
Falls into the black
That is my soul
The bloodstained hands
Reaching out toward
The sunset sky of
Despairing seas
Tossed by a windblown
Idea or unknown
Thought
Pure brilliance and
Love
The white of snow
Covers me
Holds me close,
Close submerges me in
Clean water like
The cool of icy white
And the forgiveness
Beginning
Of white snow.

The Redemption of Sarah Cain by Beverly Lewis

Review by Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

I’m hopelessly stereotyped as a reader. People look no further than my long hair and feminine mannerisms to assume that I’m a die-hard romance reader. They naturally place me in the category of people who read Karen Kingsbury, Wanda Brunstetter, and Beverly Lewis.

They place me with the people who cry in chick flicks and can’t stand it when characters have to suffer anything other than emotional angst over the boy they love.

They’re wrong. (more…)

Moving to Uganda: Change*the*World!

an interview by Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

Kate Weber is a normal American teenager. She’s a homeschooled high school student who likes to write but doesn’t like speech, who loves her dog and watches TV on the weekends. She lives with her mom, dad and three siblings and goes to church every weekend. But despite her average lifestyle, she’s an absolutely extraordinary young woman. In fact, all that ordinary stuff she’s used to is about to change in the blink of an eye.

Kate is moving with her family to Uganda. (more…)

My Orthodontist is the Devil in Disguise

by Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

So, I’ve had braces for almost the 18-month slot they allotted me (and if I have to go a day over, I think I will go mad.)

Let me tell you a little bit about my braces experience. I HATE THEM.

I am a rule keeper as it comes to a lot of things. I got this nine-page long braces care sheet when I first got braces and on that nine-page long list sheet was this million-item list titled: THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT EAT WITH BRACES.

So I didn’t eat the stuff on there.

My friends aren’t really rule keepers. They saw THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT EAT WITH BRACES and read it as THINGS THAT YOUR ORTHODONTIST WOULDN’T LIKE YOU TO EAT WITH BRACES BUT YOU CAN STILL EAT ANYWAY.

Let’s take an inventory of broken brackets my friends have had: 0 (more…)

When You Leave Friends Behind

By Catey Yuen, RTF Staff Writer

I’m a social person. I’ve always had a lot of friends since I was really young. But when I moved from California to Colorado two summers ago, all of that changed.

When you’ve lived in the same state your whole life, it’s easy to stay in contact with people. After all, most of the people you know you’ve known for a while. Almost all of my friends came from the church I’d been going to for years. It required very little for me to meet new people and still hang out with the old ones.

Then we moved and it all changed. (more…)