Thursday, April 30, 2015

Walk for Life Update

Only a couple days left to go until the Walk for Life! A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and my team so far this year! The Pregnancy Resource Center is at 66% of their $30,000 goal at the time of this post. So close, but not quite there yet! If you haven't already, please consider signing up as a walker or supporting someone who is.

Sign Up

Support

More Info

Thanks!!!

-Kira

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Walk for Life

 
Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
    you have prepared praise.

But how can they praise Him if they can't even be born? The Pregnancy Resource Center in Radford, Virginia is working to help women and couples with unplanned pregnancies by offering free services and supplies (such as diapers) to those who need them so that they are more encouraged to choose life.

Volunteers at the PRC not only help with counseling and services, they also share the gospel with those who come through their doors, giving women hope and love. They serve as Jesus would serve, willingly and lovingly.

The PRC relies heavily on donations and fundraisers such as the Walk for Life each year. The Walk for Life is an event where "walkers" sign up and are sponsored by others. On May 2, all of the walkers will meet to walk two miles. Beforehand, however, they must obtain said sponsors.

So, what I'm asking of you, is that you would consider either sponsoring someone participating in this event, or, if you live nearby, participating yourself. Any amount helps! It only takes a few minutes and would make a huge difference to these unborn children and moms-to-be. Also, share this post with friends and family and encourage them to help out too.

If you would like to donate, you can do so here: https://secure.ministrysync.com/ministrysync/event/website/?m=2184154
That is the link to my fundraising page, but from there you can search and find any walker that you might be interested in supporting. Once you find that walker, just click the yellow "Give" button on the right-hand side of the screen and follow the instructions.

If you would like to participate or get more information, you can do so here: http://www.prcsupport.com/events/walkforlife

The PRC's over-all fundraising goal for this year is $30,000. Please think about whether you can help them to reach this goal and don't forget to share!

  -Kira

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Wise Power

So I had to write a paper for a school project recently in a format used by scholars in ancient times. The format is called a chreia. A chreia is a type of progymnasmata (pro-jim-noz-mot-uh), a writing exercise meant to equip the student for on-the-spot situations where the skills involved in this paper might come into use.

We have been reading Dante's Inferno lately, so this chreia is about the inscription on the entrance to Hell in the epic poem. One of the goals in writing the paper was to write it so that an audience could understand it, so I thought I'd put it on here to maybe see if I fulfilled that goal. Please feel free to ask questions if you have any!

By the way, I have no idea what's up with the highlighting and line spacing at the end - I tried to fix it, but it didn't work....

***

Wise Power
Through me the way into the doleful city,
Through me the way into eternal grief,
Through me the way among a race forsaken.


Justice moved my heavenly Constructor;
Divine omnipotence created me,
And highest wisdom joined with primal love


Before me nothing but eternal things
Were made, and I shall last eternally.
Abandon hope, forever, you who enter.
    Dante of Florence was a wise and respected man. He wrote his thought provoking views on life after death in an epic poem entitled The Divine Comedy, a book which is still studied and examined in modern times. Dante was admired in his day and continues to be renowned today. Students and teachers for many generations to come will honor Dante with the study of his Divine Comedy.
    When Dante wrote the inscription on the gate into Hell, he was conveying the message that God created Hell. There is no power other than God who could have created any place at all, Hell included. Dante’s motivation for writing this inscription was to show the authority held by God over all of Creation. He wanted to demonstrate that God alone holds jurisdiction over Hell. Satan may seem powerful, but it is God Who is in control.
    If the opposite of this inscription were true, that God did not create Hell, there would be no reason to believe that Jesus can save us. Jesus is God, and God has power over Hell. But if He does not, then He is not all-powerful. A God with no power over death, has no power to save His people from death. If God did not create Hell, then there is no assurance that He has the power to save His children.
    The government builds prisons as places of punishment and sends those who commit crimes to serve their punishment in those prisons. In the same way, God created Hell as a place of punishment and sends those who have committed sins to serve their punishment in Hell. God’s authority and law is echoed in the way justice is administered in the United States of America.
An example of God’s power over Hell is given in 2 Peter 2:4, 9. “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment….then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.” God has had power over Hell since before the moment that the first sin was committed.
In the Bible, God is said to have created everything. Psalm 89:11-12a says, “The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. The north and the south, you have created them.” God created everything. That includes Hell. The Psalmist recognized this. Jesus also testifies to God’s power over Hell in Matthew 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.” The pronoun “Him” refers to God. We are to fear the Lord because He has power over body and soul, life and death.
    The inscription on the gate of Hell is a proclamation of God’s power. The Lord has authority over the deepest depths of Hell. He is the most powerful being in existence. He created Heaven, Earth, and Hell. He will create a new Heaven and a new Earth. God is all-powerful, all-wise, and all-just.
***
 Well, that's it! Let me know what you think.
-Kira