Rock, Paper, Scissors

Hello Friends

I am still alive and fairly well, just in case you were wondering. So alive and well in fact that i am listening to Gordon Lightfoot.

These last two weeks have been busy ones. For instance two weekends ago, i went to Vermilion to experiance the wonder and glory of the Vermilion fair, but you already knew that.

Following that weekend, i worked my final week as a painter of houses, which i know realize is a glorious thing because i didn't enjoy painting houses. Tomorrow i am going to seek employment for the fall in various locations around the city of Calgary.

This last week, i spent at Belle Vue Bible Camp, and it was great. I was co-councelling the grade 12 guys cabin, and that was fantastic because the older guys were more interested in sleeping and hanging out and actually having serious discussions about spirituallity and faith and the best part is they wanted to do these things at the scheduled time to do these things. I had a cabin of six guys who were all pretty solid christians, or more specifically came from families who all went to church. This week was pretty huge for a few of them in that God used our camp speaker to challenge them and show them how to have a relationship with Christ. Not just the relationship that involves praying the sinners prayer, but how to have an on-goinging, growing, love relationship with God, the creator of the Universe. It was really awesome how God worked through our speaker, he was a young guy, my age actually, and so i found him less polished and not as great a communicator as our speaker last year, but despite my misgivings and thoughts about the speaker God stepped around my attitude and worked mightily though him, speaking to the teens in huge ways though him. There was not a kid in the camp who didn't think he was a great speaker. It just goes to show how the things that we see that we consider weak can and will be used for God in awesome ways as we are faithful to him as he is faithful to us.
The theme for Camp was "The Born Identity" and the point was to understand and recognize our identity in Christ. I think this is an important subject for Kids and Adults alike to understand that because God has adopted us into his family, has forgiven us and so on, we are now identified with him, and not the world, so this should affect the way we live. We are not our own, we belong to Christ, not the influences of this world, it's easy to "know" all this stuff, but it's the application that often enfs up frustrating/confusing us. One of the things that was discussed in both the big sessions and in our cabin chats was the need for accountability. This becomes clearer and clearer to me every time i hear someone talk about it, and i want to find a person this year that i can be accountable with to not only remain pure, but also someone who will talk to me about how i am living in general, the things i say, the way i act and so on. Am i really living a life that Glorifies Christ Jesus, who made me, saved me, and to whom i owe everything i have and ever will have? I'm not sure who this person will be, but i look forward to this, and i hope i can remain honest and faithful to this accountability relationship. Someone who will challenge me and hold me accountable in daily taking up my cross, dying to myself and living the life Christ calls me to live and someone who i can be that person for as well.

I think the coolest part of Camp for me, well one of the coolest parts was sharing my testimony. Last year when i shared it, i didn't like how it came out, i was nervous and just kinda spewed it out. This year i went to my cabin for a spell, and prayed and read God's word, and asked him to give me direction in what to share. I was feeling like my story was boring and the same as everyone elses:I became a christian at a young age, didn't really grasp how that descision should affect my life, rebelled in teens, got into the party scene, but continued to appear like i had it all together at church/youth group, then god got a hold of me and i began to get my act together.

I thought it was not all that interesting, but God gave me a fantastic perspective. He allowed me to see my life through some people who had seen me grow and mature in both life and faith, and i was challenged to tell my story from there point of view and when i did that, i saw some amazing things in my life, how God worked and how he is still working, and has not and will not abandon me. It was really wonderful. I tried to speak through the eyes of my youth pastor Dave Sattler and then through the eyes of one of my best friends' the fantastic and somehow still single Tim Houghton. Anyway, i feel like God really worked through the words that he gave me, in fact one teen and one councellor, shared as much with me. It was really great.

So it's Kinney's wedding on Friday, and then Saturday i go back to Vancouver, and then Sunday i see Dave Matthews at the Gorge, so it's busy times for me. I am looking forward to some time in Vancouver, it should be a good time to spend with the family and friends who don't live in Alberta.

Though i am no longer listening to Canada's own Gordon Lightfoot, (i am now listening to the now broken up Get up Kids) i have chosen Gordon's song "Too Late for Prayin" as the song of the day. Though i disagree with the basic premise of the song, i find it to be a lovely song, fraught with unvieled helplessness. Gordon paints a picture of a world moving so swiftly to destruction that it's too late for prayin. Lightfoot tells the story of a world gone to far beyond repair, so its not that he is saying that prayer is useless, but rather that we are reaping what we sowed in how we lived and treated the world that God gave to us. It's a really great song, and if you have the means and or the desire, i would recommend it to you. Just to let you know it's never too late for praying. God will always hear you, and always does hear you, praying is not just about throwing out a life line when all else fails, we need to be talking to God all the time, not just when we get to the point where we realize we can't do it on our own.

Have a great day and thanks for reading.