USED TO BE-

...THE LAST ROMANCE

Kayla Sloan
I'm from panama. I was adopted when I was very young. I have a little sister who I love and a great mother.I live in Italy going to school.I love working with kids and somedau hope to teach them.

...THE NEXT ROMANCE

WISH: You can never be to old to stop wishing. to be a great daughter/mother/wife To someday make a differce in the world or to those I help. One day will be able to see my friends.

...ROMANTIC STARS

ICE ANGEL
XIAXUE
SASSYJAN

...PREVIOUS ROMANCES

...SWEETALKS

1tym - one love
Uploaded by kamie

...ROMANCE GODDESS

layout design, coding, photo-editing,

by ice angel

Brushes- 1| 2
actual images- 1

Friday, October 21, 2005

Whitefish, Montana: Police today reported finding the bodies of 16-year "John Doe" and 10-year-old friend. Doe apparently shot the younger boy to death and truned the gun on himself. he left behind a note saying he was "bored with life"(AP News Service). Sixteen years old ...and "bored with life." Literally bored to death. What a statement about our world! Unfortunately, it's not an isolated statement. The sad fact is the suicide is the second leading cause of death among American teenagers today. Many people, including young people, styruggle to find meaning and purpose in life. If you are struggling with this, the book of Ecclesiastes was written for you. The message of Ecclesiastes is brutally straightforward.The writer, Solmon, tells us that he has tried everything life has to offer--wine, women, and song (the ancient equivalent of SEX,DRUGS, and Rock 'n' Roll). His conclusion is this: "Fear God and keep his commands, for this is the duty of every person"(12:13). In other words, the book of Ecclesiastes tells us( and it needs to be read as a whole if we are to understand it properly):God gives meaning to our lives. No God, no meaning. Think of it this way: without God , you just A BUNCH OF MOLECULES THROWN TOGETHER BY CHANCE. If there is no God, you came from --and are headed toward--impersonal nothingness. Any attempt at finding purpose is utterly ridiculous, doomed to failure. You might just as well be a lizard, or a rock, or nothing at all... if there is no God. Sounds pretty bleak, doesn't it? Its is bleak, if we subtract God from the equation. This belief that there is no God and therefore no meaning is what has driven many, including some of the greatest minds in history, to despair.alcoholism, and even suicide. The noted historian Will Durant put it this way: "The greatest question of our time is not communism vesus individualism, not Europe versus America, not even the East versus the West; it is wherther men can live without God." Trina Paulus examines this question from another, wonderfully creative angle in her book Hope for the Flowers. The book tells the storys of a caterpillar named Stripe and his quest for meaning.One day Stripe sees a giant column made of caterpillars standing on top of other caterpillars.All of them are trying to climb over the other to get to the top.So stripe begins to climb, too, until he gets near the top--where he finds he can go no higher. Then someone says that to get any farther, they'd have to get rid of some of the other caterpillars. The colum begins to shake, and stripe sees caterpillars fall and hears them scream. Then --SILENCE. Frustration surges through stripe at the thought that this was the only way up. Then he hears a tiny whisper from the top:"There's nothing here at all!"It's answered by another: "Quiet, fool!They'll hear you down the pillar. We're where they want to get. That's what's here!" Stripe feels frozen. The top isn't so high after all! It only looks good from the bottom. There's another whisper: " Look over there--anohter pillar--and there , too--everywhere!" Angry and frustrated, Stripe moans, "My pillar, only of thousnads. Millions of caterpillars climbing nowhere! Something is really wrong but.. what else is ther?" The good new is : there is something more. We don't have to run pointlessly after illusions like a slightly more sophistricated version of a hamster on a treadmill.There is a personal God who created you, knows you by name,loves you, and wants you to know him intimately. He gives purpose and meaning to life as he calls us to follow him in HIS GRAND ADVENTURE. If you're searching for meaning, follow the writer of Ecclesiasters to its source: a lifelong personal encounter with God.

i miss what i used to be ;