Today our football team has an away game. Hopefully a bunch of us can get out there to support our boys. It should be a big win for us, and we shouldn't have any issues staying undefeated. I am in English class right now. We are talking about naming and talking about details and that type of stuff. The Steelers play the Eagles this weekend for the Pennsylvania bragging rights. The Steelers won the last matchup by a large margin. Hopefully I will get to watch the game with Dave, who is an Eagles fan. That would be fun. Last night we lost to LS 5-1. Nik scored from half field 13 seconds before half time. The game wasn't really as far apart as the score showed. Hopefully we can pull out a win on Saturday night. That would be good for our confidence.

A leader is someone who guides. A leader exemplifies the qualities that he is asking his followers to show. A leader does not always need to be at the focus of the group. The most important duty of a leader is to work himself out of a job.
A leader is a guide. He does not stand back and tell other people what to do; instead he blazes the path when the going gets tough. A leader is not a boss, who tells everyone what to do. A leader uses himself as an example for others to follow. A leader will not be a hypocrite, saying one thing and doing another. A successful leader does not need to lead from the front. He can simply be a good example, realizing that those around him respect him and strive to do the things he does.
A truly successful leader is happy when his followers do greater things than he ever dreamed. When a leader works himself out of a job, and does not feel the need to hang on to the power that has been entrusted to him, the leader has been successful. A leader who is power hungry is dangerous, because instead of working to better those around him, he works to better his own position.
Some of the most effective leaders are servant leaders. They look to serve, and to help and encourage their followers to grow in every way possible. Leaders are examples, role models. By this definition, we are all leaders. According to a statistic I heard over the summer, there are twenty-six people that you have a significant influence on. That is a large responsibility.
We are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but we are also the leaders of today. People look up to us and watch what we do. Honor Society magnifies this idea. We have the responsibility of being good examples and watching what we say and do.
Leading is not necessarily a position. Leaders can simply be respected members of any group, who other members of the group look to as an example. Part of our responsibility as leaders is to be examples in our actions as well as our words. We owe it to the twenty-six people looking up to us to do the right thing and make the right choices. It is time Honor Society members became leaders instead of merely having a good thing to write on college applications.

A couple of girls from the soccer team have gotten or are getting surgery this fall. Two more will get surgery this week. Hopefully everything goes well and they can be back on their feet in record time. Today was a pretty crappy day. I don't really know why, except for our loss last night against a rival team. We shouldn't have lost by 3-1. Tomorrow we play LS, who is usually a much better squad than the team we lost to yesterday. It will be a tough, physical game. Coach gave me the Crunch Award, which is sort of like the game ball, but I don't really feel like I earned it. Since I play defence, I'm not satisfied with three goals scored on us. That isn't acceptable against a squad that we can beat. Our offense didn't have a great night either, and our mids didn't control the midfield, so I don't even think anyone should get an award for our performance. The second half went much better, and hopefully the next time we play them we can show them we are for real.

We are testing the internet in English class right now. That basically means we aren't doing too much. Manchester United is coming out with a new third kit, which is all blue. I think I might get a Reds jersey. We'll see. Today was the Tuesday morning Bible study, and it went pretty well. Next week someone else will be leading it, so that should be cool. Tonight we have a big soccer game and I am excited for that. We played volleyball on Saturday and that was pretty fun. I can't wait to play again soon.

The Steelers always seem to get at least one game each year that is played in hurricane conditions. I don't know why, but it has happened a few times over the past couple of years. Last night was this year's hurricane game. The Steelers played the Browns in Cleveland, and Hurricane Ike was overhead, creating gusts of 35 mph wind. That makes it really difficult to throw the ball. And since both teams knew that the other team would have to run, it was difficult to do anything. The Steelers won though so it's okay.
Tomorrow the soccer team plays ELCO. We don't like them very much, so it would be nice to pull out a win against a rival school. Last year they beat us twice, but hopefully we can turn that around the other way. We beat Pequea Valley 4-0 and they only beat them 1-0, so it looks like we've got a chance.

I got the bad guy part in the class play this year. I was hoping that I would get the chance to play a bad guy, and now I have that opportunity. It will take quite commitment because I have soccer on top of memorizing a lot of lines. It should be really fun.
I don't understand why someone who wants me to help them with math would be mean to me. Really now, if you want my help, try being nice. And I wouldn't be opposed to bribes. Or you could just pay attention in class so you don't need to be tutored outside of class. Now there's a brilliant idea.
Applying for college is really boring. I might only apply to one, it was actually that bad. Of course my mom won't understand, and I will end up applying to three or four.

For quite a few years, students at my school have been having a coffee shop Bible study before school. The tradition has been passed down from class to class. However, the coffee shop we had been going to closed because of the owner's health. So we finished off the year last year at someone's house instead of the coffee shop. Last year we spent most of our time socializing and not a whole lot of time was spent studying the Bible and praising God. This year things will be different. I am deciding to be responsible for once during my senior year and help to lead this early morning activity. I didn't even really get voted in, I sort of appointed myself and then asked for everyone's consent. So really I'm a dictator for life of this little time with God. Anyway, I was deciding what to do with this next Tuesday's cafe experience when I felt God laying love on my heart. Not erotus, the Greek word for love between a man and woman in marriage(physical). Instead God will be meeting us in a discussion about the kind of unfathomable love that God shows us. The love between a father and son, a mother and daughter. The kind of love that does not ask anything of anyone. Jesus tells us in Matthew that all of the commandments can be summarized into one: love God and your neighbor and yourself. How awesome is that? I can summarize the entire message of how to live a Christian life through a lesson on love. Jesus died for us when we were still sinners. There is no greater love than to be willing to die for someone who is disrespectful to you. In Sparticus, all of the guys are willing to die for their leader because he is an amazing person. But would you or I be able to die for someone who wanted us dead? Would I be able to honestly say that if I would have the chance, I would lay my life down for Adolf Hitler? Jesus did that. He died for us all. Hitler did awful things, and Christ loved him anyway. This unconditional love is incredible also in its infinite proportions. The love of Christ does not give us a certain amount of chances until we're done and doomed to hell. God gives us infinite, unconditional forgiveness through his incredible, unfathomable love. That is why love is the purest motivation for everything we do. It's late and i need to get to sleep, but God is good, and He loves us where we are at. And if we only remember one thing when we relate to other people, it should be the words from a Shaun Groves song. "When we love the least, we love Jesus." When we love those who annoy us, we love God. Keep that in mind the next time you want to flip out on someone. That is a challenge for me everyday. Okay, enough rambling. Peace in Christ who loves and died for all.