A Trip North

My day began at 6:30am. What a terrible time to start a day. Cara and I had an adventure planned. We were going to Edmonton to visit her father who was recovering from a surgery at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in the aforementioned Canadian City.

We had a good day. We talked while we drove, we listened to music, we visited my good friend and faithful blog reader - Carmen, we visited her dad, we stopped at a mall (not West Edmonton thank the sweet merciful Lord), we had a meal with Cara's friend Tina, all in all, it was a pleasent, but exhausting day.

The high point of the day for me came towards the end of the adventure. Cara and I had been discussing spiritual things, like demons, oppression, possession, spiritual gifts, salvation, what a christian, and or a relationship with God can look like. Then we stumbled upon the topic of the differant ways people experiance and view God. What i mean by this, is our life experiance, and our salvation experiance influences the way we experiance and view God. For instance, if we were rescued by God from a horrible experiance like abuse, or addiction, that will change the truths about God that are most emphasized in our view of God. Say for instance again if you will indulge me, if you are someone who grew up without a father, this will impact the way you understand and relate to God, you may see him as the father you never had, or perhaps the imagry of God as father would be so foriegn to you that it actually drives you away from God. You see what I am getting at. I believe there are certain attributes of God that are undeniably true, but in the lives of individual humans, because of our experiances certian attributes are emphasized in our understanding and relationship with God, not to the denial of other truths about God, but emphasized. I don't think this is wrong.

This has led me to consider my own view of God, and straight from the heart to the keyboard here is my unedited, and severely humanly limited view of God. God is the creator and master of all. Nothing is outside his control. God is a loving father, who like loving fathers allows his children to experiance loss, pain, and failure, as to help them grow, and sharpen thier character. He longs to grieve with us in our suffering, and celebrate our joys. God is also the one who gives me purpose. Not just vocationally, but in everything, though i don't always act this way. God is a God of second chances, and not just a second chance at life, but life with a purpose and responsibility. Just what those are particularly we need to learn and test, and pray. He is a God who listens, and exists on a plane that is totally connected to his creation, but is also high above us, his ways are not our ways. He is perfect. He is Holy, and he calls us to be Holy, which is an incredibly difficult task, but one that we must strive for.

I could probably ramble on, but then theological education propoganda begins to take over where the heart leaves off.

Today i bought the latest album by a band called Calexico. I haven't given it a full and direct listen, so i'll have to let you know how it turns out. I will however leave you with two things. 1) A song of the day. "Call and Answer" by the Barenaked Ladies. This is a beautiful slow ballad type song by the Ladies who are Barenaked. It's got a great vibe to it, and it's about a relationship, so you know it's awesome. 2) Think on and discover how you view God, and how that effects the way you live your life, and the way you fulfill the mission he has given you.

I am not president of the Student Council which you know, but my feelings on this subject are mixed and very passionate despite thier mixtedness. Also, i am now an employee of Christian Publications. To learn more, go to this website....... www.christian-pub.com

Peace, Love, and Grace be with you