IT'S FRIDAY.

            This isn't going to be a post about a book, but it IS a pretty interesting story. =)

There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak. He told them this story:

He was walking through town yesterday when he saw a young boy coming toward him swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. He stopped the lad and asked, “What you got there, son?”

“Just some old birds,” came the reply.  

“What are you gonna do with them?” he asked.  

“Take 'em home and have fun with 'em,” the boy answered. “I'm gonna tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a real good time.”

“But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do?”

“Oh, I got some cats,” said the little boy. “They like birds. I'll take 'em to them.”

The pastor was silent for a moment. “How much do you want for those birds, son?”

“Huh??!!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister. They're just plain old field birds. They don't sing. They ain't even pretty!”

“How much?” the pastor asked again.  

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, “$10?”

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone.  

The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free.  

Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story:

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden and he was gloating and boasting.

“Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a trap; used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!”

“What are you going to do with them?” Jesus asked.  

Satan replied, “Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to drink and smoke and curse. I'm gonna teach them how to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!”

“And what will you do when you get done with them?” Jesus asked.

“Oh, I'll kill 'em,” the serpent hissed proudly.

“How much do you want for them?” Jesus asked.

“Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you'll take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you. You don't want those people!!” 

“How much?” He asked again.  

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, “All your blood, tears and your life.”

Jesus looked to His Father in Heaven, turned back to the devil and said, “DONE!”

Then He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage he opened the door and he walked from the pulpit.  

             Forgive me for preaching, but this is a very important day for me. Good Friday is a day in which Christians all over the world stop and remember Jesus Christ dying on the cross for everyone’s sins. The Bible says:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

            God sent Jesus to earth. While on earth, Jesus performed lots of miracles; healing the sick, bringing the dead back to life, etc. He IS the Son of God, and he is perfect. BUT the religious leaders of the time thought Jesus was lying and were so suspicious of him that they crucified him on the cross. And these are the RELIGIOUS. LEADERS. Ironic, eh?

            Three nails – about four inches long with a diameter the size of a nickel – were used to hang him on a wooden cross; one in each hand and one through BOTH of His feet.

            Here’s a fact: you don’t die on the cross from blood loss, although that IS a factor. You die from suffocation. It takes a lot of effort to push your chest up for every breath you take when all that’s supporting you are your hands and feet. And Jesus hung there for 6 hours.

            When Jesus hung on the cross, the entire world’s sins were laid on him. Sins are, to put it simply, bad things committed by humans against God; lies, murder, stealing, cheating, adultery, greed, etc. EVERYONE has sinned. And the consequence of sin is eternal death.

            But Jesus, well, you could say that he took responsibility for all our sins. He did it for you, me, and the whole world. So instead of US dying and going to the fiery pits of hell because of all our wrongdoings, Jesus went there for us.

            And by doing that, God forgives us. When He sees that we believe in Jesus wholeheartedly and that he died for our sins, the gates of Heaven are wide open, and, through Jesus, we can spend eternity there.

           I am always awestruck by this story. To think that God loves all the people in the world - you, me, EVERYONE - that He sent Jesus to DIE, it's almost unbelieveable that we're so important. But we are! And the story doesn’t even end here. If you want, come back to this blog later to find out what happens next.

Oh, and I promise to post a book review soon. =)

Unearthly - Cynthia Hand

                Hm. I do believe the YA vampire book era has ended, and is now launching into the YA angel era. Angels, angel-bloods, Nephilim, these terms will start becoming familiar just like how fangs, crosses, BLOOD, and stakes became recognizable when novels like Twilight, The Vampire Academy, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, The Morganville Vampires, etc. came out. Now, if you want to keep up and dive into the YA fiction of angels now, read Unearthly by Cynthia Hand for starters!

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy.

Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side.

As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny? More info about the book here.

                This novel is actually not cliché at all, no matter how familiar the storyline sounds. Cynthia Hand actually created a very unique world of angel-bloods who each have their purpose to fulfill in their life. And what’s cool is that Clara actually has wings and everything, too! They can be hidden and summoned, which I found really cool because most of the angel novels I’ve read state that they’re wings are made up of “spiritual matter” and cannot be seen. But not Clara’s! ;)

                And then there’s the romance. LOVE TRIANGLE! Christian and Clara, or Tucker and Clara? I’m going to have to say, Christian is okay, he’s hot and whatnot, but Tucker is better for Clara =). I don’t really like how the description above describes Tucker. It makes him seem like one of those “bad boys”, the ones who influence the protagonist to get into drugs and parties and whatnot. But he’s really not. When the description says Tucker “appeals to Clara’s less angelic side”, it merely means he’s distracting her from her purpose (which is Christian). He’s probably one of the most chivalrous and gentlemanly characters in the book! And I’ll be honest; I’m a sucker for chivalrous guys! ;D

                Oh, and if you’re scared that Unearthly is one of those books that have absolutely no action, do not fear! There is some pretty freaky fighting-between-Earth-and-Hell stuff going on between Clara and these mysterious beings called the Black Wings. What an ominous name, eh?

                Overall, a LOVELY and compelling story about the unearthly (haha, get the pun?) beings that may or may not wander around being our guardian angels. A wonderful read; kudos to Cynthia Hand!! =D

OUT OF 5 STARS!!

 - sm:)e .

Wither - Lauren DeStefano

                The first thing that popped into my head when I read the synopsis of this book is: Oh man. This reminds me of the movie I am Legend. Yes, that movie starring Will Smith in which the cure for cancer was found, but turned out to be some virus that turned everyone into zombies. Boy, was that a scary movie. And I saw it in iMax, too. IMAX. *Shudders*. Alas, Wither by Lauren DeStefano has nothing to do with zombies, but it DOES have something to do with curing cancer… and any almost every other ailment to ever negatively affect a human being. I’m definitely glad I picked it up, because it is a very intriguing story, very intriguing indeed.

What if you knew exactly when you would die?

Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free in the limited time she has left. More info about this book can be found here.

                If you didn’t really understand my cure-for-cancer-turns-people-into-zombies analogy, let me clarify; basically, science created a “perfect” generation of children who have crazy high immune systems and they never see a sick day in their life, aging gracefully. Same goes for their children… at least, until the males reach the age of 25 and females, 20. Then they die. Right on their birthday. You see the analogy now?

                So, the main character, Rhine, is one of these children who will die on her 20^th birthday. Kidnapped from her home and taken from her twin brother, Rowan, Rhine and two other girls are chosen to be sister wives, bound to wealthy young (and kind of cute) Linden Ashby so that they can “replenish” Earth’s dwindling human population. Rhine, more than anything, just wants to escape her much-hated new life of wealth, but there are some complications.

                Linden’s scary father, Housemaster Vaughan, hides behind the fact that he’s finding a cure for the genetic virus, but is that what he’s REALLY doing in that creepy, sterile basement of his? (Trust me, I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared of a character before. Even President Snow in The Hunger Games trilogy isn’t THAT scary). He’s also hell-bent in making sure none of his son’s wives escape, making Rhine’s plan almost impossible. Then there’s Gabriel. Two words: he’s HOT. And Rhine (expectedly) is falling for him instead of her husband. But Gabriel is just a servant, making their love for each other deliciously forbidden, and now Rhine can’t leave Gabriel behind in her escape. Then, there’s Jenna and Cecily, her fellow sister wives, possibly the only ones who truly understand Rhine’s hatred and desire to escape. Can she abandon them too?

                This is an absolutely amazing book to introduce a trilogy. The world Lauren DeStefano created is as vividly painted as if it was an alternate reality. Wither develops the plot and characters very well, establishing the atmosphere, setting, and the character’s personalities very thoroughly. I have a feeling it ties in very well with the second book, which I honestly really, really, really, REALLY want to read, seeing how the first one stopped with so many loose ends. Write it soon!!! =D

OUT OF 5 STARS!!!

 - sm:)e .