So, I just spent an amazing weekend at Nipawin Bible College with my fiance. I spent 2 years in Nipawin at the Bible school and made some absolutely incredible friends. Both nights there, we talked late into the night about what is going on in our lives, about struggles and events and missions, about what God has been doing and is doing. I am not even sure why I am writing all of this down other than I am very excited about it, and about being in missions, and getting other people excited. I was at the Wycliffe Cafe tonight, and that place has been such a source of encouragement for me. It is so cool being around people who are excited about God. I really have structure to this post, and no idea in what direction to continue, so I will quite for now.

Unsatisfied

When I was finished Bible school I expected that I would have nearly the amount of opportunities to learn as I did when I was there. God has chosen to bless me with a rather interesting boss though. He is a Christian, but sometimes I really disagree with the way he says things, or some of his view points. Sometimes he completely blows me away though. He is not a guy that likes to be told what to believe, nor am I. He brought me an article today about dieing to sin. I can't really explain all that was in the paper, cuz there was so much to think about. I just wonder if we, as North America Christians, have developed a misconception about what it really means to have died with Christ, and died to sin. And then how do we live it out. The article I read can be found at www.theshovel.net, in the writings section under Romans. I think the guy has a very good point that we seem to have this notion that dieing with Christ is a metaphor, but he gave a very good reason for why it is not just a metaphor. This afternoon, when I got home from work, I was listening to the song "Grace Like Rain" by Todd Agnew, and it got me thinking about what grace really means. My thoughts didn't have a whole lot of time to form on that topic, but I have been wondering a lot in the last few months whether we are really living out the faith God has so graciously blessed us with the way we were meant to live it out. I really think that if we had a better understanding of all that Christ did for us, and how unmetaphorical it is, that we would live radically different lives. A big movement over the last while has been experiential Christianity, to always "feel" like God is near, or that you have the Holy Spirit in you, or just feel good all the time about life and God and whatever else. This movement has pushed Christians away from actually thinking through what they believe. Believe me, I have seen friends follow this line of thinking. As one of my college profs said, the sort of subconcious moto of this mindset is that "I am a Christian, I am stupid, and I am proud of it." I urge those who read this to not just swallow what mainline Christianity feeds you. Think things through, see if that is what the Bible really says, research it. There is nothing wrong with questioning what you believe, it gives you the chance to grow. Paul commended the church in one of his letters for researching what he was teaching them to make sure that what Paul was saying was right. Anyways, I think that is enough ranting for one night.

Twas Not The Night Before September 11th, But History Was Still Being Made

Well, sometimes God takes a while to work out His plan, and other times He does it sickeningly quick. This last week was probably one of the most stressful weeks I have had in a very long time. The long Thanksgiving weekend was sweet, plus I got the Tuesday off as well. I did a fairly major purchase on Tuesday, not that it was terribly expensive, but the significance was life altering. The rest of the week I spent trying to figure out if the direction I was heading was the direction God wanted me to be going. I knew it was the right direction, but I was still so stressed. Saturday came around. I headed down to Impact Body Art to get my third and largest tattoo, to date. It cost me quite a bit more than I was expecting. Earlier in the afternoon I had gone to pic up my brother's late wedding present and found out I did not have the money. All this served to only stress me more. A little stress was alleviated when I realized I didn't have the money due to the long weekend, and that I would have access to it after this weekend. But I digress. After my tattoo was done I headed home, got changed, and headed to Melissa's to pick her up so we could go for supper. I was taking her to an Indian restaurant, among other reasons, so I asked her to wear her sari. On the drive over, however, I realized that despite this lovely plan to take her out for Indian, I had no idea what to say once I got there, making me more stressed. I got to her house, she opened the door, I went in and pulled out the item which I had acquired on Tuesday, and Melissa said "Are you serious?" And I thought to myself "Maybe I should get down on one knee." So I did, and I said "Melissa, will you marry me?" And she said "Ya." And then we hugged and went out for supper. Well, hope you enjoyed that as much as I did, but I doubt it, especially the anti-climactic ending. And this is the ring she gave me, her purity ring. Her siblings all have them and they give them to the person they are going to marry.

legends of the fall

Why is it so easy to fall? All the truly good things in life take so much time and effort to make work, but slipping up takes about the same amount of effort as it takes a healthy person to breathe. Tonight I was on the verge of stepping back into a chasm that I had been spared the sight of for a comparatively long time. I was so far as to have one foot firmly placed on nothing but air. But, through the help of an amazing girlfriend, whom I am sure was praying for me, and a roommate who's mere meandering helped instill the fear of being discovered, I was able to get that foot back on something a little more solid. Most of you who are going to read this will probably realize pretty quickly what I am talking about, and are probably wondering why I would write about such a struggle for the public to see. I felt a need to, is about the best answer I can give. To the rest of you who have no idea what I am talking about, or who don't even know me but just happened to stumble upon my blog, that is ok, I am not going to elaborate on what is my most effective means of self-destroyal. But, I would like to say to you, the strangers, and to any of my friends who are stuck in a valley right now instead of sitting on a mountain top, DON'T GIVE UP!!! God says that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle, and that He will provide a means of escape. Tonight my escape came in the form of my roommate walking around. Take it from one who spent many years in a valley committing one of the most damaging sins talked about in the Bible; You can fight through it. God is not going to sit back and let you wallow there on your own. We live in a sinful world, and some struggles aren't going to disappear in this life, but that doesn't give us the right to give up, and God is going to give you the strength you need when you need it. But, you have to make the choice to accept His help. Well, that will be the end of my ranting for now. I truly hope this helps someone.
God bless!

twas the night before september 11th

Twas the night before September 11th, and all throughout the city... life went as normal. But in one little car driving through the Northeast life was changing for two people. So, this last monday, September 10th, Melissa Good and I decided to start dating. But, to take you back to the beginning, it all started 2ish years ago in a small town in northern Sasktatchewan. I was attending Nipawin Bible Institute(not college), and every year we have a missions week. Well, this particular year a group from VTI had a display there. I saw the display and had a look. I new a few people that had been on teams there, so I had a look at some pictures and started talking with one of the girls. She was from Calgary, so we talked about Alberta(I would assume Alberta came up in conversation seeing as we live here, but I am not completely sure). She mentioned she had a brother who ran an outtrip program at Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp. So, she gave me his number, and that was about as far as our "friendship" got. I thought it would be cool to meet up with her sometime, but for the most part I forgot completely about her. Then, a couple months ago, I was sitting in the Wycliffe Cafe and this girl comes over and starts talking to me. We both felt there was something familiar about the other, so we tried to figure out why and realized it was from NBI. We began hanging out a bit, then she took off for India for 3 weeks. The 3 weeks past and I was looking forward to seeing her again. Shortly after she got back she invited me to come along with her family to CLBC for the long weekend. We had a lovely time hanging out, but that was about it. Shortly after that I received and email with a somewhat vague comment about "us." We talked about it, and found that each of our feelings for the other had moved beyond mere friendship. As we discussed over the next few days what it would mean to pursue a relationship God kept putting things into place. That next sunday I talked to her dad and got his blessing, and monday night, as we drove to the Wycliffe Cafe, I very romantically asked her if she would like to go out, if you can say "so, shall we?" is romantic, and we have lived happily ever after for a total of 4 days. Hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed being the story, but I really doubt you did as much as I did. God bless!

the pad

So, I am officially moved in with Shane. The place needs a bunch of work yet. We are going to do a little painting in the hall, kitchen and bedrooms, and put in hardwood and hopefully have the kitchen renoed. But, I thought I would put up a few pics so you guys could see what is going on here. Here is our lovely entertainment centre. And this is our sweet futon and Sir Hiss' home. A little African theme goin on here.One side of my room. Calendars make wonderful posters.And here is the other side of my room. LOTR and Narnia, nothing else can take there place.

so it begins... the second

Well, another process was started this last monday. I had a meeting with my friend, Shane's, dad who works for Wycliffe Bible Translators and who asked me if I would like to work there. So, after a couple weeks I decided to actually apply. So, now I am in the midst of a yearish long application process. I am not 100% sure what my job would be, but basically I would be trying to find people to actually go out and translate, I think. So, if anyone who reads this wouldn't mind, your prayers would be much appreciated, and seeing as it is all about God anyways, I would expect them. And, maybe, just maybe, in a year you will hear back from me asking for monetary support as well, but that will come later.

so it begins

So, here I am in Calgary, and I have finally started work. Today was my second day and it went fairly well, I somewhat learned how to run the till, and trying to sell stuff to customers is still a little awkward, but it is ok, it will come in time. So, that is where I am now.

Don't mind this entry.

Well, seeing as I just took part in a major event, it is only proper that I tell all of you about it. It is going to be hard to put the last 5 weeks into words, so much stuff happened, and to get a full grasp of it all you would have to experience it for yourselves. To begin, we set out from Summit College on April 2nd for Arkansas. It was a 2 day drive with nearly 40 students crammed into 3 15 passenger vans. We spent our first 2-3 nights at Steel Creek on the Buffalo National River, the bluffs were amazing. When we finally set out the water was low and the first 3 days of paddling were spent pushing our boats over what should have been small rapids. Between each day of paddling we would have a day off to hangout and check out the hikes and sites, and we made a couple stops on the days we were paddling to check out some waterfalls and other sites. At one site we had our Easter dinner, deep friend turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, quite the meal considering we were camping. After the third day of paddling the interns and staff left us students and we had to make our way 50 miles to Gilbert, where we would meet up with them again. During those 4 days we didn't encounter any serious disagreements, but afterwards when we debriefed about the time some issues were brought up, but in the end it all worked out. When we met up with the others in Gilbert we went for supper at this amazing little cafe and had the biggest hamburgers I have ever seen, 1/2 lb of beef per patty, and most of the guys had the double bacon cheese burger, that is 1 lb of meet, it was rather filling, and the next morning most of us went back for breakfast and the servings for that were huge as well, and everything was so cheap. We also got to go to a small church the Sunday we were in Gilbert. We did some special numbers for them, and they had a huge potluck for us after. For a church of only 40 or so people they sure made a lot of food. It was an amazing experience, and the pastor did an amazing sermon on Psalm 23. After Gilbert we continued paddling and at our next stop, South Maumee, we had a day of fasting. The day after our fast we built the 8th Summit Love Barge, a tradition that has been off and on for a number of years. We strapped all the canoes together, 14 of them, and floated our makeshift raft for our final day of canoeing, to Buffalo Point, where we spent the next 8 days. After a couple days at Buffalo Point we started into our kayaking and climbing classes. We were divided into 4 groups based on our comfort in kayaking, I was in the last group, the one that felt least comfortable. On our first day of paddling the water was fairly low, the features weren't that big and the rapids weren't too tough for us to handle, and all through the day after every rapid we would chant what became our group's motto "DEWAYNE'S." We were told at the beginning of the day that if we got discouraged about our kayaking skills to think of Dewayne's, which is the restaurant that every group got to go to on their first day of kayaking. Once again, another restaurant that serves insane amounts of food for really cheap. I had so much catfish that I felt sick, 6 pieces plus potato salad, coleslaw, mashed potatoes and hush puppies, which even the waitress didn't exactly what they were. The night before our second day of kayaking we had a huge rain storm which raised the water 2 feet over what level they close the river at, they close it at 5 feet so we ran it at 7. That day was spent simply trying to make it through alive. It took us far longer than it should have to run it because, for the first half, people were tipping at every rapid. Kaj and Jordan showed up half way through to help us. When Kaj had seen the water level at the put in he had wondered why we even attempted to kayak that day, and our lead instructor was sure that someone was going to die or get seriously hurt that day. But, on the last half of the rapids, our confidence had built up enough that we made it through without too many more tips, and we ended up running a low class 4 rapid. It was one of my favorite days of the trip, which is ironic because I was in the group that didn't care to kayaking, and it became the most hardcore group, hence the reason we started being called Hardcore Four. There was a lot of encouragement going around, and it really pulled our group together. We did our climbing at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, which has over 300 set climbing routes, and numerous bouldering problems. I didn't climb as hard as a climb as I wanted to, but it was still tons of fun. Once that was all done we packed up and headed back to Canada, but we encountered a slight problem the day before we were supposed to leave. A number of us had stored our passports in a tupperware container that was locked away, and the morning before we were to leave it was in our trailer, that night it wasn't. But, we needed to leave, so we headed off for Canada, got to the boarder and we still had no passports. God did His thing though, and all our vans made it through without any hassle, the van I was in got asked how much everyone spent on average while in the States, then he sent us through. Praise the Lord. As it is, we still haven't found our passports, so hopefully they will be found before we leave for home. So much other stuff happened on our trip, but it would take so long to write it all, but this gives you at least some idea what I have been up to for the last 5 weeks.

hey hey

well, lin thinks i need to write more on here, so i will throw in a little entry before i leave. on monday april 2nd summit 11 leaves on our 5 week trip to arkansas. apparently we get to sleep in walmart parking lots on the way down, how cool is that. our first 3 weeks are spent on the buffalo national river. after a few days our interns and staff will leave us behind for 4 days, and 50 miles, and we have to get ourselves to the rondevous. then we get to do a week of white water kayaking on a class 3 rapid. and then a week of rock climbing at horseshoe canyon ranch. tristan and i are bringing down our own climbing gear so we can get some extra climbing in. and we get to eat the largest hamburger anyone has ever seen, i kid you not, this thing is enormous. so yeah, this week has been spent packing everything up for the trip. the interns are actually ahead, and we could leave today if everyone was here and ready. i have been packing up everything, for the trip and for going home after. we only have 3 days when we get back to pack everything up, cuz we are gone on a rafting trip the second day after we get back. tons of fun here at summit college. peace out homeys. God bless!

winter camping

Well, life at Summit may get dull from time to time, but our out trips never to. Our latest adventure was winter camping. Thursday morning we were getting ready to leave, and one of the girls told us she was sick. So her and the other girl in the group stayed behind to go with the group going the week after, so we were left with a group of all guys. Amazing. Our ski to our camp site took a total of 10 minutes. We set up camp and proceeded to chill for the rest of our time there. We found some fun stuff to do, had some sweet fires, Ryan and I went for a long ski and found this huge hill which we skied down. Here is where the story turns a little more interesting, and where I begin to see God's hand in everything. One of the guys got insanely sick. He was puking constantly and it wasn't very cool at all. Shortly after hoping in bed, like 10 minutes, we decide to pack up and head back, because Evan was way too sick. It took us under 30 minutes to pack up camp in the dark. Caleb, one of our interns, and Evan took there time getting back to our pick up area while the rest of us went ahead to call for a ride. The problem was we only knew the guys dorm number and we thought they were all going to be gone to this movie we had all been waiting to see for the last few months. So, I called my parents, got the number for MBC, got a hold of the interns and they sent Kaj to pick us up. Now Caleb and Evan are finally caught up. It was a blessing we were so close to our pick up point, even so I was amazed Evan made it that far. So, Kaj got there, but he came in is car even though we had told the interns that we all needed to be picked up, all 7 of us. So, we had to wait there for them to drive back with Caleb and Evan then drive back to where we were with a van. We ended up waiting there for around 3 hours, but we finally got back around 3:30 in the morning. And now it gets even cooler. One of the guys had to leave Summit for some very good reasons, so we were all able to be back to see him off. Sometimes circumstances seem to screw things up, but God knows what He is doing.

Ice Climbing & Clear Lake

So, this story starts on Tuesday this week. It was our first day of ice climbing class. It went well. We had a couple short and easy, but fun climbs. On Thursday we had our second day of class. The climbs were a little more difficult, and a little longer. And then today came along, our last day of class. And oh what a day it was. I was all set and ready to get up at 6:45 this morning, my alarm went off, and then I slept till 7:30, and had to rush around trying to get ready and have breakfast before 8:00. So, once we got going we headed out to our drop off place and started our 3 hour ski in to the ice climb. We kept hitting these slushy areas, so our skis would get sticky and we would have to stop and scrape them off before we could continue, so that was a little bit of a pain. Finally we got to the climbs, got everything set up and went about enjoying our day. It was so much fun. The first climb I did was a little sketchy. It was cold and the ice was in the shade, so it was really hard and every time I would throw my axe the ice would dinner plate(crack in a circle around the axe). The second climb the ice was rather thin, and I was using dull axes, so it was a little difficult, but fun none the less, but it really tired me out. And shortly after that one I did another rather long climb. It was easier than the second climb, but just as long. I finished that climb as the sun was setting. The view from the top of those climbs was absolutely amazing. We could look out over the lake, and I can't even describe it, you will all have to go out there and have a look to see what I mean. So, we took down the climbs and got supper going. Instant rice, beans, salsa and cheese have never tasted so good. Nicola is an amazing cook! And now we come to the funnest part of the day, and I am not being sarcastic when I say that, it seriously was the funnest. We packed up and headed back around 7:30 in the evening, so by this time it was well past sundown. The first part of the trek back was fairly eventless, but as we skied across the first lake the ice was adjusting to the temperature and we could hear and feel the ice cracking. We would hear this big boom and feel the vibrations in the ice, it was absolutely amazing, then we started hitting the major slush patches again. This was maybe 1-1 1/2 hours into the trip back. A few people took there skis off here and just hiked. We went a little farther and took a brake. All this time Nicola was pulling a sled with a bunch of climbing gear in it, not the lightest stuff, and for future reference Henry and Jordan had left earlier than the rest of us, so they weren't with us at this time, and Jordan had another sled. So, we got going after the rest and hit some more slush, a few more people took off their skis. Then we hit more slush. I had managed to keep my skis on until this point, but then they got too much slush on them and they popped off, burying themselves in the slush. I got them out, but they were too frozen up to put back on, and I had other stuff strapped to the side of my pack so I had to carry them the rest of the way, which was around an hour. After all this, Nicola and Jodie are the only two with their skis still on. So we kept going, we kept coming upon slushy spots and we would sink in up to our ankles or deeper, so our feet were wet and we were all tired and sore, and it should have been an absolutely miserable experience, but it was probably one of the funnest times I have had this year. At this point it was just Nicola, Danita, Dan Riddolls and myself, the others were all ahead of us. Finally we made it back, Nicola still on her skis, laughing and singing and having a wonderful good time. We found out later that Jordan had broken a pole on his sled and had to pull it at an awkward angle most of the way back. And Henry apparently is quite the hiker, he and Jordan made it back in 1/2 an hour less than we did, and Henry hiked the whole way, he didn't at all use his skis. So we packed everything into the van and headed back to Summit. It was an amazing day!!!

24/7

So, last week was 24/7 prayer week here at Summit college. Basically what we did was sign up for an hour, or more if we wanted, and we had a small storage room set aside that our interns painted up real nice, and we would spend our hour in there praying or writing or drawing, really anything we could think of to worship God, and as the name implies the room had someone in it every hour of every day that week. We could post stuff on the walls, and on one wall there were pieces of paper with our names on them and we could write prayer requests and others could write encouragement on sticky notes and stick them to our paper. It was a really cool week. We, the guys at least, had been talk about taking our community deeper, and this provided a very cool way to do it. I would suggest that all of you who read this should try this. For those of you near Calgary, there is an actual building you can go to, it is at St. Paul's. I have no idea where in Calgary that is, but I am sure it wouldnt be too hard to find. If anyone wants any info on what this 24/7 prayer thing is you can check out there website www.24-7prayer.com, and for info on where they have headquarter sort of things click on the "boiler room" link. Again, i will suggest that you should all try this, maybe get a group from your church and do it for a weekend or something, or just take time in your day to pray or just spend time with God, reading your Bible or whatever. If you think about it, as Christians we are devoted to God, He is our life, He is everything to us, and if we cannot take an hour a day, which really is not that much time in the span of an entire day, then how much do we honestly care about Him. I need this advice just as much as anyone, but just think about it. So yeah, it was an amazing week, and we are planning on keeping it going on Saturdays. I took some pics of the room, so I will post them when I get them developed. Yes i still use a film camera.

well, it would seem that i have finally somewhat figured this out, seeing as i got back into this account. so, i would like to say hello to all you wonderful people who will read this. please enjoy.

we shall see

well, this is just a test blog. the last few times i have tried this it didnt work. so here goes nothing