Actions can speak too.

So once more I really love my friends. They're so cool and understanding. Katherine, Erika, Shawna and I have started to read James together every Monday. I'm super glad that Tyler has joined us and I'm hoping he will continue and more will come to join.

I go to youth group every Sunday, church also. I go in knowing I am a Christian and I do have faith, but I don't always come out letting everyone else know that I am. I make many mistakes that I regret later on. I've learned to show my faith not just inside church or youth, but also outside. Not just by words of comfort, but by actions. Like what Phil said, "Follow what you believe in and don't try to be two people to please others and to fit in." I think this is very vital and I totally agree but I also find it's very hard. It's hard to go against the flow when dealing with non believers. He also quoted, "We don't show Christ by business, we show it by relationship." Christ is to be spread out but not by sales. The best way to spread Christ is through relationships with people and by showing them that you care. Also what Phil said, "People don't care if you know, they want to know that you care." Does it matter to have all the materials in your head and be able to say it to someone, but not use it? "Don't honor with your lips, but honor with your lifestyle." To have faith, actions need to follow. Be used by God, someone who can be leaned on, be a role model, be more like God. BE A TREE! I'm learning, it's a maze, it's complicated, it's commitment and devotion, but it's worth it.

^'14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. '

-James 2: 14-18

"⁶Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷We live by faith, not by sight. ⁸We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

- 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10

oh & HAPPY BIRTHDAY JALANI BOBO