My First RA and his Favorite Topic

Hello, Hello (Ola). How are you doing today? I am doing well. I slept at a friend’s house last night, we hung out, we played PS2, we listened to music, we hot tubbed while listening to music, we chatted more, and then we slept. It was an intense evening, especially since it was preceded by an exhausting, but awesome night of youth. Are you familiar with the board game “The Game of Life”? Well, our youth event was a giant sized version of that game, and it was spectacularly fun. We had I would say 10-15 new people come out, it was our biggest event of the year, and it was just so good to see so many new people there, and then talk to them after and hear how much they enjoyed the time, and how they will be coming back for the next one. It was a very encouraging night. Following the game, we had a girl from our youth group share her testimony. This was a big moment for her, because she lost her mother just before Christmas. God worked powerfully in and through this girl as she shared with all the teens what her relationship with God means to her and how he has worked in her life. It was awesome! Then I had to follow that up with a quick little talk, which I felt also went really well. I talked about “The Game of Life” and the idea that he who dies with the most toys wins. Basically it was about materialism and how God gives us a better purpose in this life then just getting stuff and doing stuff. It went well; I felt good giving the talk. I feel good now listening to U2.

Today has been a good day as well; I have been preparing for my trip to Calgary tomorrow, doing laundry, collecting registrations and money for Youth Conference, watching “The Wedding Singer” and so on. Yesterday before the youth event, I spent mostly in Lloydminster getting ripped off by Canadian Tire. It was a very long day in that I was there early and spent most of my day waiting for them to fix my car. Anyway, it was just a frustrating time; automobile problems seem to frustrate me more then anything else in the world. Ok, probably not more then anything else in the world, but it is up there!

Unfortunately I haven’t had my mind blown intellectually lately, so I have nothing to shocking to say. I have been re-reading “A New Kind of Christian”, which is a book I read a long time ago, and I could go into the author’s suggestion about what Hell is, but that would spark more discussion then I am willing to indulge myself in at this point. Besides for some people this issue is a horse that has been beaten to death, whereas, it is only just beginning to seriously permeate my thoughts. I am also reading a book by a Pastor from Texas named Kyle Lake. The book is called “Understanding God’s Will: How to Hack the Equation without Formulas”. So far it has been cool, he has been unpacking myths about God and God’s will. This is a really big issue for many of the teens that I minister to here in Vermilion. This understanding of God’s will as some giant Blue Print that we have no choice but to follow. This idea that everything that happens in our life being God’s will, and I just don’t agree with that. I don’t believe that God desires us to be hurt and go through some of the horrible things that we go through in our lives. I don’t believe God wanted the girl in my youth group’s mother to die, especially when it seemed pretty clear that she didn’t follow Christ. Do I believe that God can use these events for good, do I believe that these painful things shape us? Yes I do, but at this point in my life, and despite knowing that God told us that we WOULD suffer, I don’t believe that it is some plan he has for us. I don’t imagine God sitting up watching our lives like a giant board game mapping out our every move, painful and not painful. I believe that he knows everything, but I don’t believe that he is imposing some sort of will on our life. It conflicts with my belief and understanding of something called Free Will. After un-packaging some myths about God’s will, he begins to discuss some alternatives to these myths and so on. Ways that we can live our lives, ways that we can view our relationship with God, in relation to this big mystery that we call “God’s Will”.
One thing that I like that he has said so far is this: “If being an apprentice of Jesus is the central defining aspect of our lives, then God’s will and the process of discerning God’s will MUST BE just one aspect of our apprenticeship, rather then the end goal of life”. That to me is huge. So many people spend their lives trying to find this magical thing called God’s will that they miss out on a real relationship with him, because they are so busy trying to get answers from him, that they don’t actually get to know him, and they miss out on living a life on earth, in relationship with Christ, and all of the people and things that God has put around us here. What do you think?

The song of the day: Today I am featuring U2 again, I know I have already featured U2, and I have even featured a song from this same album, but I can’t help it, it is speaking to me today. It is resonating with my heart and soul, it is meeting me in my hopes and my fears, my happiness and my shame. The only problem is picking one individual song to highlight. I believe I will illuminate for you the song known as “Miracle Drug”. When I first got the album, this was initially my favorite song. It has since become, not my favorite song on the album, which is not to say that I don’t like it anymore, just that there is a song that I love more. The imagery in this song is stellar, and I don’t use the word stellar very often, please let that be noted. You can ask Carmen, I don’t use the word stellar very often. Anyway this is a beautiful song, with beautiful words, and beautiful music, but then again, could we really expect anything less from the band that I am coming to believe to be the greatest band of all time? Anyway, if you have the desire and the means, you should really listen to this song. I am listening to it right now, it’s so good! Anyway, I should go, I have pack my bag, but before I go, I just wanted to give props to my sister and my cousin Nicole who did good on their report cards. Keep on working hard girls. Love you all….Peace

Ps. I feel like i should mention that i am indeed going to Calgary for a week, so my blogging might become sparatic, or even non existant. I just thought i should mention this in case you are wondering what happened to me...