They Didn’t Know what a Martyr was…

I peer eagerly at the sheet. “April Cervinka: Camp Counselor—Cabin 202.” Hurray! I only have to move next door this week! Walking casually into my new cabin with two-months worth of luggage, something dark grabs my attention. While everything else looks just like my old cabin: normal and lined with wood—the bunk beds, the dresser, the fan—my eyes are completely glued to an unusual poster of the world. To this day I find it interesting that someone would leave this poster behind, and that on the weekends when we cleaned the cabins no one had the heart to throw it away. As it has the date “2005″ on it, it may be that for four years it has been pinned up on the wall in cabin 202 by two thumb tacks. (This very poster would later become a most remarkable tool from God in cabin 202…but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

 

A few nights later, many eyes join mine in being glued to this same black poster; of course we have all seen a map of the world before, but this one visualizes a whole new world; and yet, this is our world.

 

For one thing, the colors are all wrong: green does not stand for land, brown does stand for desert, and there is no blue to mark the bodies of water. Instead, it depicts boldly in green, orange, and gray that in fifty-two countries Christian witness is under fire. With the “Voice of the Martyrs” emblem on the top right, it is definitely my kind of poster. The best part about it, though, is the explanation for each color. Here is what green says: “Restricted Nations—This includes situations where Christians are kept from obtaining Bibles or other Christian literature by government policy or practice. Also included are government-sanctioned ordinances where Christians are harassed, imprisoned, killed, or deprived of their possessions or liberties because of their faith in Jesus.” Here is orange: “Hostile area—this includes large areas in nations where governments consistently attempt to provide protection for the Christian population, but Christians are victims of violence because of their witness.” Gray stands for free countries, such as America.

 

For me, this poster was an awesome reminder to keep praying for these countries—this was, in fact, a prayer map. However, for the 25 plus girls whom I was blessed to counsel, all these facts were new. Many did not know what a “martyr” was.

 

After quickly and silently recovering from this sad state of affairs, I was overjoyed to explain to them about dying for your faith. At first, of course, they were shocked that anyone would want to lower themselves to be punished just because of something they believed. Then, after a few minutes of explaining time and God’s wisdom speaking through me, several of the girls decided that a martyr was indeed a genuine heroine. We all looked again at this poster of the world and smiled.

 

We as Christians are called to stand up for our faith. (Ephesians 6:12) America, is a special country currently, in which the Gospel is free to be shouted from our rooftops if so desired. This was quite a wakeup call for me to keep praying for our fellow believers who do not have our freedom and must completely depend on God’s strength and power to spread the Gospel while risking reputation, home, possessions, family, and their very lives. This is the world we live in. Let’s get out of our “American dream” world and look reality in the face. Satan would love for us to think that there really is no battle going on out there, but guess what. There is.

 

If you would like to know more about this real world but can’t go experience it for yourself, check out the Voice of the Martyr’s website. You can even ask them for a free newsletter. If you would like to get involved, prayer is powerful, and greatly appreciated by our heroes on the spiritual frontlines. (Ephesians 6:18-19) Even more, you can become a penpal to a Christian in jail for their faith. Check out www.persecution.com

 

Thank you for reading! And please, keep Moody students in your prayers as we go out to the mission field, and many will be persecuted. This is a verse I’ve been encouraged by many times this year: 2 Corinthians 4:1-9 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not afflicted; struck down, but not destroyed.”

 

How Do You Do?

 Hi, my name is April! I am almost 18 years old, and seek to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to bring Him glory as my main goal in life. This blog has been dedicated to glorify God with my writing, music, and whatever else I choose to display. I pray that you as a reader will greatly benefit from this blog, as I will!

Let me share a little bit about me: I love all Classical, Celtic, Hymns, and fiddle music. I enjoy other genres as well, but not to the same degree or respect. As I play violin, harp, piano, and sing a little, I definitely love music. My favorite instrument is violin, (though if you asked me what instrument I’d love to learn next, it would be the guitar, and then after that the steel drums.) This fall I will be majoring in Bible and Music Ministry (with violin) at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

                                                                    

 Random facts: I adore bunnies, dogs, and chocolate; I always put chocolate chips at the bottom of my ice cream cone to keep it from leaking, I have a huge imagination, I love gazing at the stars, swimming, cooking, and reading; I have taught piano and violin since I was 13, I’m a firm believer in spelling “worshiping” the proper grammatical way it’s been spelled for centuries, and I can usually find Biblical applications to little things in life, even peeling potatoes.

 

Also, I fervently believe that Christian teens should be actively involved in their faith. Christianity affects each and every part of our life. It applies to work, going to the grocery store, doing homework, spending money, things we do with our friends, why we do the things we do with our friends (our motive), etc. We have to constantly keep this in mind again and again; otherwise we can easily be sucked into the the world just like a whirlpool—little by little, and then more swiftly—and have a beastly time trying to escape. Only God can (and will) preserve us and keep His own separate from the world; it is by His grace that we have been set free from sin and death.

 

 

 

 

Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

 

 

Jesus was tortured, beaten, battered, and brutally murdered—not because He sinned, but because we sinned! Few boyfriends would do anything half so selfless as to take the shame and punishment that the girl rightfully deserves—yet Christ did for us, and He calls us to also be selfless. This is far different from the world’s logo, “It’s all about ME” —as different as midnight is to noonday! How could we not fall on our faces out of love and awe, and be perfectly willing to risk even a drop of blood for Him who loves us so?

 

So, thanks for visiting my blog! I will try to post more songs every week, or at least write every other day. If you see anything interesting, or just want to say ”hi”, please comment! If I say anything you don’t quite agree with, or something that I probably should have worded differently, please let me know! I’m still learning. haha

      In Christ,

          ~April

 

Hit It!

 

With gallons of water violently attacking the front of my skis, I press firmly on my heels and carefully stand up. The water is furiously trying to pull me down, and blinds me for a second with its drenching spray. Finally, I gain complete control. Now I have the excitement of going where I want without any worries. I ride the wake for a while, then quickly point my skis left and shoot out; accelerating on the smooth water until I’m going 60-70 miles an hour, almost twice as fast as the motor boat is going. I stay there for a while, then decide to go to the other side of the wake. The water is perfect for this trick. I stay up for another minute, and then decide to let someone else try. I let go of the rope and gracefully raise my arms up as I slowly sink down in the water. It’s a perfect day for waterskiing.

The first time I tried waterskiing was a disaster. It was on Truman Lake in Missouri. Not only was I incapable of getting all the way up, but I kept falling flat on my face and bumping my nose on the wake (which is the flat, white, churned up water directly behind the boat). To describe it, it felt like falling flat onto a cement sidewalk. It was far worse than a bellyflop.

I was determined to keep at it, since some of my friends actually got up on their very first time. Floating peacefully on my back in my lifejacket, I waited for the boat to bring the rope around. I positioned myself again, and listened to the teacher in the boat yell, “Brace your legs! Don’t let the boat pull you over!” I was ready to go, so I yelled back, “O.K., hit it!” The motor roared.

Down I fell again, losing both my skis this time. Catching them was a challenge because as one floated off to the left, the other one decided to float the opposite direction. This was a typical situation I went through every day for a whole week. Yet I refused to give up. I knew that the experience would be more fun than anything I had ever done before.

On the last day of training, I told myself, “This is it. This is my last chance. Otherwise I’ll have to wait a whole year to try again.” With deep hope in my heart, I knew that this could finally be the day I could actually understand the joy my friends were experiencing. I jumped out of the boat into the cool, refreshing lake water and pulled on my skis, making sure they were not too loose. I grabbed the rope firmly in my hands and eagerly yelled, “Hit it!” That was it. I came up and stayed up.

The experience was thrilling. I was not just traveling straight across the water. By tilting my body, I could move around. I could even control the boat’s speed with a “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” signal. As I experimented, I suddenly beheld gigantic waves rolling right towards me. I screamed and started to panic, thinking that my thrilling experience was about to end with a crash. I couldn’t let that happen! I bent down, almost sitting on my skis to absorb the shock and help keep myself from falling over. Soon the waves were far behind me, and everyone on the boat was cheering and clapping. I screamed in delight. I had mastered the basics, and now had gained a new name: waterskiier. Big waves? No problem. It was a perfect day for waterskiing.

~APRIL