...is Ryan Adams Catholic?, his new band is called the Cardinals...for that matter, why is Matt Russell Catholic/catholic?

Welcome back friends. I missed you, did you miss me? Today’s blog is going to be more of a, well , recap of events, and once I get that out of the way I can move forward into exploring the things that I learned and thought about while I was away. So whence last we spake I was preparing for my trip to Nakamun (which Charlie has bad memories of) for Youth Pastor’s retreat. It was absolutely fantastic. Well it was pretty good. It should’ve been called Youth Pastor’s conference though, because there was more teaching, learning and conferencing then there was retreating. Even though there was not many hours dedicated to the art of retreating, lounging, and or simply doing nothing, it was still pretty great. I was able to reconnect with some good friends who I don’t get to see very often, and also meet some new friends. To be honest, the teaching was also really great which is why I didn’t mind it so much. The speaker was the youth pastor from Unionville Alliance Church in Ontario. He was really good, I appreciated him a lot. I liked him so much I even decided to play some basketball with him, and I don’t like basketball, so he must’ve been pretty cool. I had some great chats with some people I really love and respect and through those conversations I have felt God leading me away from what I thought my leadership/ministry position was going to be next year upon my return to CBC.

Following the retreat, it was time for Break Forth. For those of you who don’t know, Break Forth is a Christian conference with great teaching and times of musical worship. It is designed I suppose to equip and train Christian leaders and lay people. I had a pretty good time overall. The highlight for me was a time of musical and visual worship led by a man named Brain Doerksen. He was talented in music and also talented in putting a worship service together. He was able to create an environment (obviously by following the leading of the Holy Spirit) where I could enter in to praising my God in a large setting. There was one such moment where I was singing praises to God and my eyes were closed and all of the sudden I felt a huge rush of wind, it was amazing, then I opened my eyes and girls were going up and down the aisles creating wind with a big blanket. It was still really cool despite the fact that the wind wasn’t some Holy Spirit thing, I still enjoyed the sensation that it brought. It was just one of the ways that Brian and the other worship coordinators tried to use our senses to bring a larger aspect to worship then just voices and I appreciated that. Also good was my time spent with Youth Ministry guru and Briarcrest Boy Marv Penner. He tackled three big subjects and was able to make my time well worth the money that my church paid to have me there. The other keen moment from Break Forth was when worship leader Robin Mark did an interlude between songs using the song “Blowers Daughter” by Damien Rice. I was blown away, especially since I was probably like one of 20 in 7000 that knew the song and was able to see it in a new and awesome light. Admittedly I usually have a problem with worship leaders who take secular songs and take them out of the context in which they were originally written, and Robin Mark did that, he even admitted after that he did that, but somehow I really was ministered to through Robin’s use of Damien’s song. It probably has to do with my musical nerdship and how I liked that no one else knew the song. Wow, I almost forgot, also a huge highlight was seeing Tammy. I don’t see her very often, seeing as I live in Vermilion and she lives in Calgary, but seeing her reminded me of how much I enjoyed hanging out with her. She is righteous!

After that I spent the night at my aunt’s place in Spruce Grove, which was good, because I was able to spend some time with my little cousins Bobby and Alexis. They are total gems, just about the cutest kids you can possibly imagine. Bobby, who is two, has the loudest farts I have ever heard, and he just thinks it’s the funniest thing that has ever happened cause people literally stop and are so shocked that he can emit so much gas from his little body. I’m so proud of him! From there I moved on to visit my friends Jon and Kim in Westlock, Alberta. That was also a great time, Jon made me a mix CD to listen to on the way home, it was very cool, and I hardly recognized any of the music on the CD, so it was very interesting. Jon and I took a tour of the town after dropping Kim off at work and then we played some Nintendo for old times sake, and I couldn’t believe how rusty and terrible I was. I still contend that original Nintendo games were the hardest of all.
After that was a stop in Sherwood Park, Alberta for a leadership training meeting that Kyle, Shawn and I attend once a month. I had a brutal headache, it was making my face ache, but I managed to get through the meeting and actually get something out of it and then drive back to Vermilion. Then I came home, read my 37 emails (most of which were junk and I didn’t read, I just wanted to tell you I had 37 emails so you would think I am popular with many friends) read my friends Blogs, and went to bed. Then I got up and went to work. It has been a totally insanely busy week and I am still very tired. I have youth group tonight, so I will probably be out until 10:00 pm, at which time I will come home and sleep so I will be ready for the rest of this busy workweek.

The song of the day is a beaut. “Wouldn’t it be nice” by the Beach Boys recounts Brian Wilson’s desire to be older and be out from under the pressure intense grip of his manager/father. Anyway, it is a beautiful song that brings back memories of Troy and I being able to really empathize with Adam Sandler’s character in the film “50 first dates”, as he was listening to it and being reminded of his painful relationship with a mentally messed up and still incredibly beautiful Drew Barrymore. Man I love her, there’s something about her that is so exotic, but still so average girl that could live down the street and go to college and career at my church. Although that is one of the dumbest statements I have ever made because all of my assumptions of Hollywood people and musicians is based on their work in music and or films. But I digress. “Wouldn’t it be Nice” is a great song in it’s own right aside from Adam Sandler or Troy or Drew Barrymore. So if you have the means and or the desire you should check it out. You probably won’t be disappointed. If you are, you probably like rap.

In other news I am coming to Calgary to take a class. Tomorrow look for a serious confession on my blog and possible discussion on where God is leading me in my CBC leadership situation. Love and Peace….