...Growth is to Experience...

2009-04-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Jay Leno an Orc

2009-02-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

Another Transformers Movie

2007-11-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-uU6fcMc9M

This is the link to another Transformers movie I've done.
This one is a comedy with voice overs and 'graphics' (if the term can be applied, haha).

Anyway, if you guys who still hope for updates look at this... you might want to check out Facebook- I'm on there, and write 'notes' occasionally- honestly, after 4 years of blogging, I can't blieve I haven't updated with thoughts, emotions, etc.

I can give a quick update though on possible reasons for the lack of updates int he last, oh I don't know, 7 months.

Reason 1: In the summer I was interning and at my desk, my computer lacked internet connections, and I didn't want to use up all the youth pastors computer time, so I stuck to the basics- email, quick msn chats, and of course facebook.
Reason 2: Since school began in September, homework has basically become my life. I've never had so much in my life- and for the first time I've fallen behind considerably (only 2 minor assignments, but it's still more than I've ever had in the past, which isn't good).
Reason 3: I'm not longer single. This took place back on October 1, but the reality is that the whole 'pursuit' started back on August (and the beginning of the pursuit wasn't even initiated by myself, nor my girlfriend- it was actually by the Sr. Pastor and his daughter from the church I was interning at).
Reason 4: Youth and Church- I've been trying to do one on ones with my guys from my small group, plus I'm doing music stuff every week and I have small group lessons to prepare- not to mention youth night itself, and the 1 sunday school lesson I teach once every 4 months or so.
Reason 5: I forget to update, it's no longer a priority due to the business of my life.
Reason 6: I like spending my free time relaxing and just pondering- maybe I'll get an update on here eventually and get this thing 'lively' again.

Peace and Grace to you all, and enjoy the video!

Transformers 2

2007-10-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iro8lyS9HNk

Here's my second Stop Motion Transformers movie. Finally finished it after a long time in between picture taking. hehe.

To tentatively come: Article on parenting.

Transformers

2007-09-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

As some have seen, I made a Transformers video with stop-motion animation.

This is to comemorate over 1000 views of my movie on youtube. Therefore, if you haven't checked it... check it now.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=05tcJdQ4Nkw

Roles

2007-09-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

As a Christian my job is to disciple and fulfill needs (there's more to it than that though)
As a Pastor my job is to empower people so they can do the same.

Why do people place so many extra responsibilities on pastors that shouldn't necessarily be there? I mean, it's good when a pastor can take initiative, but when it comes to being a pastor, should the pastor really be able to work all trades, prepare a sermon, give councelling to 10 people for an hour each a week, while also doing the occassional marriage/funeral and other duties.
How come congregations don't step up to the plate as often as they should? Is it that people just don't know how to prioritize and therefore don't know how to organize?
Many hands make light work...

Provision

2007-09-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

As I sit here, I think about last night where I fell into a trap where I wanted pitty, and wanted the feeling of being valued. Occasionally, every few months or so, I fall into this trap, and what happens is for a week or so I become extremely bitter and try and do things to make people 'want' to hang out with me and or spend time with me.
However, last night was a miracle that took place. I began to fall into one of those depressions, if you so desire to call it that, and well, the Lord provided me with, well, facebook, and a person who is on there. They didn't say anything fancy or do anything that had anything to do with how I felt really, but they turned this big head around with just one comment.

It's amazing how God does things like this- allows us to fall into things, but he redeems us from those pits, which are a hell of their own. I thank Jesus for this person, and may he bless them abundantly.

HD vs. Blueray

2007-09-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

I've been in many talks lately with people about blueray vs. HD.
These people are blueray advocates. I"m sorry but PS3 will be loosing out. Everyone in the film industry is going HD and, well, all I can say is, my hunch was right.
Not an average post for my blog, but I felt I needed to gloat a bit considering the fact that people were calling me an idiot for thinking such a thing. Oh well, sucks to be them.

Waiting

2007-09-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

You, the reader, have obviously checked and seen nothing for almost a month- a lot has happened and I don't have time at the moment to update. However, I do have a question:

WHen was the last time you really wanted something, and had to wait? What did it do to you?

Dare to Fly?

2007-08-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

Some of us dare to shoot for the stars, while others of us dare to fly high.
I choose to, well, fly high today, the stars are just a little to high for me.
While I prepared to fly high in my hopes, I recognized that there's the potential to be shot down by some anti-unidentified aircraft gun.
So I started, all excited, ready to fly, and i got shot just before the plateau of the air where things would level off and start something new. However, the Lord is good and has promised that he will send his angels to us and won't let our feet touch the ground, therefore keeping my hope still alive, but probably better prepared for next time, if there ever will be a next time. Sometimes we just need to choose to land, and aim for the lonely abyss called the sea... but as for me, just incase I choose to land at an unoportune time, I'm making sure I got some flares and a life boat with me.

Kids Ministry

2007-08-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

I'm learning that it's huge and has major implications.

Why don't all churches design an EFFECTIVE kids ministry?
What would that look like?
How would kids be engaged?
How would it draw families to church?

Would kids ministry entail a rededication/accepting christ every sunday school lesson, to the point that by the time you are 12, you have accepted Christ 326 times? (hoping their commitment is real)
Or would you be teaching kids life style stuff?

Claims

2007-07-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

The Catholic (universal church) is, according to biblical teachings, the true church. Now, there's the true catholic church and then there's the Catholic church.
They've made sure to make it clear (once again) that all other groups beyond the catholic church are apostate because they do not submit to the authority of the Pope- a man with a funny hat.

Now, according to scripture, the Pope is not the person who leads God's people- it is God himself, and I cannot submit to a man and claim him as God's authority figure because it is not scriptural. There are pastors and such and I can submit to them by choice and submit to thier leadership- but not because someone tells me that this person has been favoured by God...
To me, this whole idea about the Catholic Church being the one and only true church is like saying that an apple is the One and only True fruit. It's just simply ridiculous.

Up Data-ment...YES!

2007-07-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Few things to note...
First, HOLY CRAP TRANSFORMERS WAS AWESOME! High energy, face paced (as in your face is in one position- usually the jaw dropped smiling position with eyes darting across the screen to soak up all the goodness), lots of action, and lots of jokes at previous Michael Bay movies... There's a few awards that should go to transformers, such as best animation and cgi... ILM... I love you.

Second, I'm still single, and well, the youth here in Quesnel are very good at reminding me of it.. when I see Chad, I must seek forgiveness for doing such a thing to him- bugging him about girls and such. Why is it that we reap what we sow?

Third, I can't wait to see TRANSFORMERS again. When, I don't know, but I have to. So, so good.

Fourth, I'm still learning lots. Yep.

I'm out for now.
Oh, and I'm still alive.

A Call

2007-06-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

So, as it happens, I'm feeling a call. I'm not going to say where to as of yet because I know I need to finish school before this call will be actualized, not to mention I don't know if this is just me after all, however, I still feel it.
It does scare me.

It's that feeling of a heart developing for somewhere specific and well, it's kind of foreign to me, yet really close to home... challenging you yet?

How do you know when you're called? I have no idea what this call would look like. How has it looked for you in the past?

I've heard a lot of talk about your passion is your call. Some people have been called to give up their passions and surrender to God's call for their life. For me it's a location.
What's going to happen in my life in the next two years?
I'm getting the feeling it's going to be something dramatic, yet, fulfilling.

O, Lord, guide me, take my hand, take my life. It is yours, all of me.

Evangelism

2007-06-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

An evangelistic heart is developing within me. More than ever, I desire for my family to be saved. Thus, I need to really be praying more than ever, however, there is that feeling of, "it'll happen in thier time, so I shouldn't try." but I know where those thoughts come from, therefore, they are rebuked.

This evangelistic heart is also traspiring into new things. Missions... believe it or not, but I said it! The Youth Leadership Major has a new sense of focus. However, this has no REAL implications in the realm of over seas missions. We have prisons in Abbotsford that really do need the gospel and people praying over them. So, what am I doing? As a side ministry aside from CLCC and other involvements at Summit Pacific, I plan to (or atleast I'm in the developing idea stages) work with the inmates at Matsqui Institution (medium secruity). Now, what that would look like, I'm not sure. But, what I am doing is trying to figure out who would be at all interested in seeing something like this happen, and not only happen, but get thier boots dirty and get involved. Jesus calls us to minister to widows, orphans, the poor, and convicts! I hear very little about prison ministries, thus I want to get one started, a partnership (maybe) of CLCC Young Adults, Summit Pacific College, and Matsqui Institution working together to see the lives of inmates changed. Is this not a social issue that needs to be addressed?
People often rant and rave about the prisons and how their run without actually knowing anything about them, nor being involved with them. As a matter of fact, people that complain about how prisoners are able to have pizza parties and golf courses have just as much say in the issue as people who don't vote in an election-- you still pay your taxes regardless of how involved you are, but the more involved you are the more sway you may have, and you now have authority to actually speak.
This would be a Christian out reach to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and create disciples of the Most High and do so in a loving, compassionate, listening way.

So here is the call, just drop me an email, or leave me a message here on my blog stating whether or not you would be willing to get involved. Even if you just like the idea and possilbly want to build on it, do the same thing. My email is Stevescott(underscore)9(at)hotmail(dot)com

The 11 Commandments

2007-06-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

You read the title and your immediate thought is "wow, typo." but is it?

We all know the ten commandments... (Deut. 20)
"And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before [a] me.
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ....
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ...
"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
"You shall not murder.
"You shall not commit adultery.
"You shall not steal.
"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
"You shall not covet ..."

Guess now what the 11th Commandment is!

Jesus was talking to The 12 and, well, he told them, "A new commandment I give to you. Love one another as I have loved you. Love one another." (John 13:34).
Now, is this really a new commandment or no? Thoughts, anyone?

Post 199

2007-05-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

So, I'm interning in Quesnel, as an intern youth pastor, full time (we got the grant finally). June 4th is my first full day. I've been working at United Concrete for the time being, under a very gracious boss.

What have I learned so far?
That God does provide. Now, to some this isn't provision, but to others, they will truly understand. At United Concrete i was making 12.50 an hour. Now, with going on full time at the church, I'm going to be getting paid 9 dollars an hour. Quite the pay cut. Now, this is how I mean God provides- Finances are in his control, so to worry about those would be foolish (despite the temptation). He is providing me in the context of work experience- something that will be valuable in the future, without any doubt.
Now, for those of you who think I'm an idiot- the fact that I'm going into ministry would presuppose that in context of money, because if you don't go into *true* ministry for the money.. ever.

I am also learning a lot about what is commonly known at CLCC as safe leadership. What is 'safe leadership'? Basically, defite the two words, combine them, and that is what is supposed to be taking place in a leadership context when dealing with any group, person, or whatever.

And due to present/past circumstances of the past 3 weeks, I've learned that to be married in ministry is a huge blessing because when you deal with females (specifically teenage girls) you have someone who they immediately can talk to and work with. Being a guy, you need to have certain safeguards that, when working with the opposite sex, need to be in place and when working with the same sex not worried about so much.
Also, that if you're single in ministry, then you can have amount of time that you can dedicate to your ministry.
The fall backs of them both? Married- have to spend time with wife and family.
Unmarried- dealing with the opposite sex can be extremely strenuous and difficult.

The last thing I'll note here in the things that I'm learning is time: things need to take place over a period of time. Such as change. You see, I'm a radical at heart, and anyone who would have had a conversation with me about how church should be run, how problems should be addressed in churches and such, would be able to fully recognize this. Now, in some instances radicals are good. But in a lot of circumstances, radicals can be bad.
You see, when working with congregations, one of the best illustrations I've heard of late is that you basically are playing poker. you need to, over time, win enough poker chips, and then there will be points in your ministry where you have the opportunity to go all in, put in a little, or quit. But you need to have something to fall back on in ministry when working with a church, because you don't want to become the enemy. More interesting thigns to note will continue to come.

2007-05-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

The business begins and ensues starting... yesterday.
Due to this new life style of busy full time worker and part time youth pastor (kind of) updating may be a little harder.
However, only 3 posts after this one in order to reach my 200th post-which is kind of exciting. haha.

Leave me a note on here saying something interesting.

The Plans for the Summer

2007-05-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

Quesnel, the place I'm at. The place where I've (so far) been denied a government grant. However, GOd has provided me a job at a place called United Concrete where I shall be doing genral labour. Which is rather exciting, because I don't know how many people are christians there and it is an opportunity to witness to people.
Plus, I shall be, volunteering at the church doing various things with the youth.

But there's still a chance for me to get the grant seeing as the church is 3rd in line to recieve a grant if other churches opt out. yep.

2007-05-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

The lack of updatation is really not my style as most of you know.

But, if you could do me a favour (which would be greatly appreciated)

Pray for the grant to come through so that I can work full time here at the church in Quesnel.
Pray that God does some pretty rad stuff in and through me.

Yeah.

Here's a thought though... Should we really keep things the way they were because it helps us remember 'a time when'? or do we go past that, recognize that our desire for 'memories' is hindering us from moving into the future, and from growing?

Agree/disagree... explain!

Future

2007-04-26T01:42:00.000-07:00

"Life is like a game of Chess... the queens and kings may be able to out move the pawns, but at the end of the day, they all go into the same box."

A buddy told me that quote-something his grandpa always used to say. I cannot wait to look into that quote and analyze it a little further.

This summer, I hope to do some reading, as well as start to think about issues and do some write ups in my 'free' time.
Any thoughts from anyone on a book I should pick up, or a topic I should study?

Holy, Holy, Holy

2007-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

"I want to be holy." is saying the same thing as, "I want to be set apart." Why? Because holiness is, by definition, to be set apart.

So, in our church songs we sing about how we want to be holy like God (and some of us actually do mean it), we want him to make us holy, etc. However, I think we're missing something in the theology of those songs. I know that it is only by God that we can be holy, but we keeping asking him to do it for us. And that's the problem. God won't do it for us. It is very clear in the Bible that we are to DO something about it. Some people even go to the extent that holiness is not something of this life but is something to come and actually has no relevence to the hear and now.
You see, God commands us to be holy (here and now). He doesn't say for us to try. It doesn't say he will do it for us (except when we die/he comes back). He requires that we do it here and now, not Him for us here and now. It, again, is only by Him that we are made holy, but we are supposed to be holy (as in live it out).

So basically, you have a choice:
Red pill, you'll actually recognize that you are called to do and you will live your life as set apart.
Blue pill, you live in a Christian fairy tale that says you only have to try and God will do it for you.

Epic

2007-04-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

Epic
–adjective Also, ep·i·cal.
1. noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
2. resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3. heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4. of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions. –noun
5. an epic poem.
6. epic poetry.
7. any composition resembling an epic.
8. something worthy to form the subject of an epic: The defense of the Alamo is an American epic.
9. (initial capital letter) Also called Old Ionic. the Greek dialect represented in the Iliad and the Odyssey, apparently Aeolic modified by Ionic.

Historic
–adjective
1. well-known or important in history: a historic building; historic occasions.

Today is a day of epic, historical proportions. Sure adding a dose to Summit Pacific History cost me $40, however, it was a monumental occasion, and the desire for some good memories was well worth it.

What happened you ask?
Imaging, 20-34 year olds all sitting in a cafeteria... all giddy and excited. Mounds of food on thier plates, because everyone knows something is going down.
1 minute lasts for what feels like a life time.
You see the signal for 2 minutes and counting.
Two minutes later you see a tall, slanky, hick-like man for the great Canadian mid-north, tap on a tapkin dispenser. Everything does dead silent. Tension is in the air. You see the dispenser be placed down, and a second hand come up with a substance that should only ever go in mouths, and you hear the voice yell, "FOOD FIGHT!" And all food breaks loose.

It lasted a good 40 seconds. And it was a good, epic, and historical 40 seconds. Never before have I had almost that much fun. Even now I look back and wish i would have pushed just a little more, because it is that great of a time.

Many will have, and already do wish they would have been there. However, the were not.
What a glorious, entertaining day. God is good.
haha.
Pictures and video to come.

Resting

2007-04-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's nice just to simply sit here and do nothing.

I've taken pictures on a computer... cut off all my hair... and am slightly tired, however completely rested and want to jump on the wagon of doing things.

But I like the restful atmosphere. It's something that is seemingly uncommon to be able to enter into because of how hectic the college life can be- people everywhere, everyone knows you, if you go into recluse people think you hate them or think you're in a bad mood-oh well.

lying

2007-04-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure I've talked about this in the past (don't care to go and look back).

But it seems to me that people believe that lying is ok- depending on the motive.
Here's a question for them. Is stealing ok if your family is starving and all you did was steal an apple- it's not like you robbed a store at gun point- but this way your children will not go hungry.

Both are an issue of faith and trust. We often say in our prayers, "We trust you Lord" etc. etc. etc. and it's just simply something various people who claim to have faith (or at very least claim to have lots of) need to look over. They say that lying is ok, depending ont he circumstance, yet realistically what they are saying is that they think they're aloud to take matters in their own hands and not trust in God.

Lying proves a lack of faith. None can argue against that and be legit- ever.

We can look at Rahab (Joshua 2) and see her lie and later commended for her deed. I can say that her motive and the result are praise worthy- however not the action! It doesn't say that God condones the lying, but we see it written in scripture that her deed and motives are good. But in regards to lying- we should all understand that Rahab wouldn't have had any knowledge of The Law and therefore cannot be held responsible for lying (in a fickle way I say this: Ultimately everyone should seek out God and once done find His law)- but it was her faith and trust in an ultimate sense that got her to trust the spies to spare her life (which when the spies did that was actually wrong and goes and against God's command- however, God still uses that sin and actually in the end is glorified through it because Jesus comes from the lineage of Rahab- but that doesn't say GOD thinks that a little bit of sin is ok!).

If you observe Abraham and Isaac... God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham in faith went to sacrifice Isaac, but then in the process of completing the deed, God stopped him and provided a ram for the two of them.

Bring up any other instance you want, and well, I can assure you that God can and will commend intentions and the result but not always the means.

So, I finish and ask you- would Jesus ever lie, or would he trust the Fathers good and pleasing will?

Everything

2007-03-30T00:32:00.000-07:00

Everything we do will be imperfect. Without any doubt I say this.

Regardless of how much you practice, something will always go wrong- whether it's noticable to the trained eye, ear, or whatever. Everything that we do that stands before God is tainted with imperfection.

Yet, he doesn't care. He just calls us to Himself, and to be like Him whom He sent.

What would our lives look like if we truely were to do this?

Would we look like heroes? Would we look like martyrs? Would we look like an every day person, or something less? I know before men we wouldn't know what to expect. However, before the LORD we would look like His children-children of God, loving him, others, and ourselves.

Authenticity

2007-03-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

What looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and acts like a duck?
Couldn't it very well be a computer generated image with sound files and the like?

In this day and age it's hard to find something authentic and real.
What are you doing to be more authentic and real?

4, 000

2007-03-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

I've finally breached the 4, 000 mark on my blog.
Now, for those of you who are cool, you'll keep adding to my tally, and, per chance, actually comment.

For those of you who are from China, Australia, the U.S., Middle East, Europe and India, thanks for checking out my blog. Try commenting.

-------------

Question: Do you want to be transformed by God? If so, what are you willing to loose?

Confidence

2007-03-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you felt like you could stand on top of a mountain and fly?
When was the last time you pictured yourself standing before a thousand warriors, you being alone, and realizing "I can still win this."?

Sometimes we have to step out in courage and in confidence, and recognize that truely anything is possible. Look at your past, realize it, and have it confirmed, then keep on persevering.

Perseverance and confidence go hand in hand. In order to have perseverance, you need confidence. You need to be able to stand tall, firm, and strong, and then step forward.

You can have all the confidence in the world before that 1000 man army, but if you don't take a step forward and swing your sword!

*This is from Brent- "The missing element here is faith. Without a word from the Lord, you would be stupid to stand before a thousand. Remember, Jesus didn't jump when tempted just to prove satan wrong. It wasn't that Jesus was uncourageous but that He needed a word from the Father."

Salvation

2007-03-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

Pay me $49.95 and you will be saved and go to Heaven. Yup. For only 49.95 you can ensure your salvation. And for a tube of anointing oil that will heal you, pay 19.95. However, if you call now, you can get eternal salvation, and this holy oil for only 25.99. That's right, only 25.99. But wait, there's more, we'll send you a crucifix for you necklace- a necklace of a $15 value for free!

Some of you read that and are saying, "what are you smoking?" Some of you reading, will say, "um... I'm not reading any further (N.B. if you did think that you wouldn't be reading this)."

I am working on a paper for my Doctrine class, and this is the paragraph I 'came up with' (aka ripped off the Bible) on Salvation.

The Bible, when speaking of Salvation, makes it very clear that it is not by us that we are saved. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –not by works, so that no one can boast,” “and if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). Titus 3:5 reiterates this, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” The Bible makes it clear that there is a price needed to pay for salvation, “in fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22), “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). And so “this is how God showed his love among us; He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), so “if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).” “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them,” (Hebrews 7:25) for he said, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

It's that easy-- and you know what, God already paid the price, so it's free, you just have to take advantage of this amazing deal.

Question of the Day

2007-03-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Why is it that God always uses the cowards in the big ways?

My Grandpa

2007-03-10T20:11:00.000-08:00

So, Thanks for all your prayers.
Now, is he a heading Home any time soon.. no. Which is good, because at the moment, I don't think he'd be heading there.
However, the rad thing was when I told him that people were praying for him, he said that that's probably the reason why he's ok, and I'd say I'd have to agree. Now, if only the guy would accept Jesus... man. What does it take?

He was laughing with my dad and I though, when we were bugging him and telling him stories about the past week. It was pretty rad. I enjoyed it.
Well, peace and Grace, pray that he comes to be a servent of The Most High.

Pray More Please.

2007-03-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa's heart is getting stronger over the days past and to come. However, the newest big issue is his case of Pneumonia. It is this sickness that kills a lot of people who have experienced trama such as strokes and heart attacks these days.

Pray again, that God's will would be done, and my grandpa would recognize that his life lays within the hands of the Lord God Almighty, and he would accept God's Saving Grace through Jesus Christ's work and death on the Cross- the only means by which he, or any of us, will be saved.

To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Quick Words

2007-03-06T23:17:00.000-08:00

If I were to tell you all the things God's been doing in my life lately, you would be reading for, literally, hours.

I love my God. I have faith in my God. I trust my God. He is Good. He is in Control.

Even if I go to hell after this life, I have to do my best to serve him because He is worthy.

---------------------
Update on my grandpa
His heart won't recover past 60% of what it was, but he is getting better. He will never fully recover though, unless by miracle of God.
Pray that God speaks to him through all this.

Update

2007-03-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa is on life support. That's the the only thing I know about him- is that he is 'technically' alive.
The first thing he said when he woke up, which was a really good sign was, "What the HELL is in my mouth?" If you know my grandpa.. that means he's totally with it. haha. I love that guy.
When I saw him though he was in a induced sleep.

On the plus side, when I was on the ferry on the first occasion, I was told I need to make a CD and sell it... on teh 2nd occasion I was told I need to make a cd and sell it in Japan... and got to talk to a guy about God, and gave him my bible, only to get it back because the guys dad yelled at him and told him to give it back because the family is buddist- yet this guy was extremely excited to get the bible. I got his email which is rad.

I also got to talk to my family about God on various occasions and pray with my grandma (who's not a Christian). Totally rad weekend.
God is in control. He is Good, and Just. Amen.

Prayer

2007-03-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Just pray quickly for my family. None of them (except my mom, dad and I) are Christians and my grandpa just had a heart attack. His name is Wayne Jones. Pray that he finally accepts God.
Thanks folks. I know God's sovreign Will will be done, but pray my family will recognize this.

Revelation and Relief

2007-03-03T01:11:00.000-08:00

Did you know that your father doesn't have to be the one who 'donates' his sperm?
Here's my biblical reference for this.
And He's the Perfect Reference.

"Joseph, who married Mary, the mother of Jesus."

For some people, reading that in Matthew 1, the end of the lineage of Jesus, it may mean nothing. And you're fools for doing so (just kidding, but maybe this revelation will have an impact on your life as well.)

Mary was not the decendent of David. Mary didn't actually really have much to do with the lineage of David- other than marrying Joseph, the man who adopted Jesus (the final, and eternal King in David's line). Let me explain, if you yet have to discover what I mean by this.

Joseph was in the line of David, not Mary. If we were to remove Joseph, yet leave the rest of the story of Jesus' lineage in tact, Jesus would not have been a decendent of David. Now, bring Joseph back into the equation. Joseph is in the line of David. Mary was not. Joseph adopted Jesus.
Now, according to the Levitical Laws, an adopted son recieves the same inheritance and is included in the family line, regardless of fatherhood. Jesus was technically the first born in the case of Mary and Joseph, and Joseph, in the line of David, adopted Jesus. Therefore Jesus was only in lineage from David because of Joseph. (For some people, this is the answer to what was Joseph's role in Jesus' life- consider it answered- Joseph, in essence helped fulfill the kingship of Jesus).

What does this have to do with me? Well, you see, Dave Carruthers is the 'sperm doner' who gave his sperm which connected with my mothers egg. However, that's all he did. Randie Scott, he adopted me. He is my father. In context of Levitical Law, I am an adopted son, and therefore have inherited nothing from Dave, but rather, from Randie. Randie Scott is my father and God is my Father. Dave Carruthers is not my father, Randie is. Therefore, I was raised by Randie and am more like him, and will be more like him than Dave, regardless of mere appearance.
Case Closed. The jury has decided that Steven Carruthers is actually Steven Scott- regardless of legal last names.

Prayer

2007-02-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

It's been so impressed upon me in the last few weeks that prayer isn't about our convenience.

We often pray for our conveniences, and not for God's glory and will. A vast majority of the time, I would suggest our prayers are filled with me-isms (to quote Jeremy Postal) and would be more us saying, "God, your will be done. What I mean by that is, I want your will to be my will. And I know you don't want to disapoint me, so you have to do it this way." Honestly, I'm bothered by these prayers.
We are to have Child-like faith. Not have a 'faith' that gets what it wants. All we need to know is God will provide, and the only thing we have to do is trust that is so.
In regards to healings, it's the same thing. Often it's for our own convenience. Now, if you know my recent family situations, this is no small thing for me to talk about because it strikes the core of my family at the moment. Family members have cancer, and I have to trust that God knows what he's doing. When I pray, I can't pray that they necessarily be healed- I have to pray that they come to know the Lord. That's my first priority. That's God's first priority. That someone comes to know him, and that they live thier life, or what is remaining of it, for Him. My reasoning is, if someone is sick, accepts Christ and dies- they're in eternity. If someone accepts Christ, gets sick and dies, then I'll see them in Eternity.
"To live is Christ and to die is gain." I think I'm kind of pulling that out of context, but I have to accept it for what it says.
The crappy part is when someone is sick and dies and has not at either point accepted Christ. When God allows someone to die, it's not for our purposes initially that that happens. It's for His eternal glory.
Our prayers should be about that.

The Lords Prayer, "This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' (Mat 6)
Disect that and you get something amazing.

"Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." Father in heaven, you are great, you are awesome.

"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." God's Kingdom is coming, and his will will be done regardless like it is done in heaven.

"Give us our daily bread." Who is the bread of life- that bread who will truly sustain?

"Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors." This implies that just as we have forgiven those around us for hurting or going against us, we ask God to forgive us the same way.

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliever us from the evil one." God won't lead you into temptation, ever. He will deliver you from the evil one- and that is an aspect of Salvation.

We need to be praying along these lines a little more. Let's be less selfish in our prayers. Let's focus on God, and trust that he will do what is Good. Not what we want.

That all being said, it is safe to say that it is far better to ask too much, than not to ask at all.
simply look at this as a challenge to pray more for God's glory, than your convenience, if indeed this is how you are praying.

Road Trip To Oregon

2007-02-27T01:05:00.000-08:00

So, if I were to sum up my trip to Oregon in one word, and I could only use one word ever to describe this trip, that word would be WET.

You see, we head down to Oregon, and it's a bit cloudy, but nice nonetheless. We had no problems at the border, we stopped to get dinner, and then we were back on the road. We hit Seaside (just north of Cannon Beach) and we got Groceries. There, we (Todd Armstrong, Dan Rekker and I) met up with Kaela Marshall, Emily Perkonig, Garret Petti and Luke Liable. Now, you have to understand that us actually meeting up with them as planned was a miracle in itself- we had no way of contacting them and we were supposed to meet them at the grocery store an hour and a half before we actually arrived. Needless to say, it was a joyful occassion.

so, we then go to find our camping spot- after a few wrong turns, and a few carcasses and skattered bones later, we found our spot. So, we proceeded to set up camp. Me being the smart one i am and caring about the convenience of room, I didn't think to bring an extra big blanket (ie. comforter) in order for me to sleep on. So, we set up our tent in a slight bit of a drizzle. We were all happy. We set up both tents, and were all ready for bed. The 4 (K, E, G, and L) all wanted to stay up- so they did. It was too loud so T joined them. So, D and I decided to try and sleep. That didn't happen- at least not in the conditions anyone wanted, so D joined the 5. I on the other hand wanted energy for surfing the next day- so I let myself into the car and went to sleep. (inserting a note here- this is where you realize that we have surfboards on the roof of the car with the straps going inside of the car I was in). That night it began to rain after I fell into dreamland. So, the water slid through the broken seal of the car due to the straps holding surfboards, and my left side of my sleeping bag was soaked halfway through my sleep. Then morning came, and still m bag was soaked, but alas, I wasn't- I was just a bit chilly. so, being the first one awake, I pop my mp3 player on, and begin to just relax and listen. Then I see a hunter walk through our camp. That was random.
I then decided to wake everyone up because i wanted to begin our surfing adventure- in the rain. Slowly bodies began to emerge from the tents in which they, only a few hours earlier crawled into, and proceed to pack up their soaked, muddy tents. The girls were cold, everyone was cold. It was raining, the car seats were wet. People weren't overly happy. We then head to the Seaside Surf Shop (which by the way gave us a really good deal- $30 US. for a day use for both boards and good wet suits) and get into our newly aquired gear. Due to the wind chill, the to-the-core-chill that were all enduring, the venture into the water was great, and wet. But, the joy of wetsuits in cold, extremely wet conditions proved amazing.
I rode some waves... however, standing up didn't go over too well, I'd get so excited and fall off. But apparently I did ok for a beginner. Anyway, we head back to the Surf Shop, and we get to have hot showers, free of charge, from the shop. I'm second last to go, and the rain really, really picked up. The shower was an outdoor shower, so I was cold, and my clothes were wet now because of rain. So, thankfully I had the previous days clothers to wear- which were semi-clean and semi-dry.
Skip the part where we got some amazing drinks at the Ecola Resort center (aka Ecola Bible School) and some adventures with amazing Mexican dinner, we arrive to our second camping location. Due to the previous nights misadventure with soaked/tired/coldness, us three guys, D, T and I, sleep in the car- with the surfboard straps off. I was in the back, T and D were in the front. A small back seat and I don't mix well. I was so uncomfortable and so cramped up i woke up consistently through the night- my goodnight sleeps were gone. But, we were inside, and dry- right? WRONG! There's a thing called condensation my friends. It's not a good thing! 3 guys... one small car... lots of water in the air, and being stuffy- not a good combination. I woke up in the (relative) morning, and was thinking, "I'm uncomfortable, but at least I'm not wet." And then literally, all of a sudden, a water drop fell from the window above me onto my forehead and I almost screamed. It was none stop rain, and then condensation. And for my car rides everywhere after the strap incident, I made sure I had my towel with me at all times to soak up the water from the straps... and the towel made me wet and cold. I wasn't happy. Freaking wetness. Freaking rain. Surfing was amazing and I can't wait to go again. (maybe a video to come?)

Oregon Coast

2007-02-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm off for my first venture into the United States sometime within the next two hours.

My adventure will involve roadside camping... surfing... tentative pictures... good times.

It'll be a nice chance to get away from the norm. Now, it's time to see how these crazy Americans really are. There's a few that I've met who are good and cool... but i've heard about so many stereo-typical Americans. This shall be very, very interesting.

Tentative Pictures to come.

Hero

2007-02-22T01:04:00.000-08:00

So, I do have a secret hero. It's not a real life person (however much I wish that were the case), and it's not the standard Superman, Spiderman, Batman, or some other one of those typical comic book heros.
This hero is actually Optimus Prime. Some of you reading this will say, ugh, Steve, I can't believe your actually talking about this... guess what, i dont' care. Others will call me a geek. Again... I don't care.

Optimus Prime, some declare him to be a Richard the Lionhart kind of character, but really, he's much more. He's the self-sacrificing, moral, merciful, trustworthy hero that can be relied upon. Obviously he's a robot. That's a given.

But, because of the Spark within him (the 'lvingness' that makes the robot alive) he drives to have all become one in spirit (so to speak).

.

The theme of Transformers could be spilled all upon Christianity, and vice-versa. Good verses evil. The good obviously always wins. Optimus Prime being the Jesus figure in the show. Jesus can transform into a semi. How amazing

Then there's the symbol of the Autobots. This is the one that looks like more of a man face than an insect. It's the good symbol.
When I look upon that symbol, honestly, I get some sort of inspiration. It's kind of like inspiriation to keep pressing on.

Now this symbol, although great and a source of hope, it cannot take precidence over the symbol of the Cross upon which the Savior of the world died. Ultimately that must be the primary source of inspiration and hope for us.

Finally, I would like to conclude with this final thought. God wants to transform your life.
Are you just going to be some sort of stagnant vehicle that will remain on the road and play it safe, and maybe occasionally, if your a type of vehicle that will go off-roading? Or are you going to be a 30 ft. robot making an impact on the world around you- going off into the unknown untreked world, as well as be able to be in the world as a vehicle, but be so different from the rest and stand out?

Peace, and "Roll out!"

Prayer Requests

2007-02-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

Just pray as you read- it's that simple- and if you don't you're lame.

My friend Brent's (link on the right side) youngest son has just gone through a surgery, and is healing nicely (so far as I understand). pray for that to continue.

My Dad has cancer, as well as my grandpa. My dad's a Christian, my grandpa is not.

My brother's living a life style that isn't healthy or wise. Pray that God would enter his life and he would change.

mid-term exams are coming up here at the college, I only have 2 exams, so pray I do well and that God would help me in remembering what I need to.

My small group (D3) guys are awesome. Pray that God blesses them. They continuously ask for prayer in their school work, pray that they would be able to grasp the concepts the struggle with and do well.

Pray for someone you know, including yourself, that you come to know the Lord in an even deeper way.
God is good.

2007-02-16T01:54:00.001-08:00

Time and Energy- Church Necessities?

2007-02-08T23:41:00.000-08:00

I was reading Seth Godin's blog, and this is what I came across:

"Three cheers for the organization that says, "In order to keep prices low and traffic moving, we're unable to discuss our policies with you. We're very sorry if this inconveniences you." It's far better than the charade that so many large companies go through. It saves the expedient from having an argument and gives those that can't stand this approach fair warning to look for an alternative."

As the Church, as Christians, we cannot afford to 'keep services fast, and tithes on high.' We need to be willing to actually explain what the heck we're doing. The greatest flaw within most church's that i've at some point attended, and taken communion at, is that they don't do communion any justice. They just simply say, "it's only for believers. So, if you're not one, please refrain from participating." Yet, a majority of believers actually have NO understanding of communion beyond the fact that it is a symbol. It's disgusting. We don't spend time on something as important as that. But, for the 'greater good' (ie. everyones time) we, the church, will not expound on such a thing because we just simply don't care enough. "Sorry if this inconveniences you."

Give me a break. Our church services should NEVER be adjusted around a time schedual. I know pastors who want to keep church between 11am and 12am because people can't pay attention. Or, they don't want church to exceede the time limit of 10 to 11:45 on any given sunday, because this is just not fair to the people. What's true is, that it's unfair to the the people of God because our church leaders don't either put in that extra effort, don't care to see TRUE community take place in their church (aside from the possible 5 minutes of greetings after church has already started, (for some churches insert a quick 10 min coffee break in there), and then a quick escape from the building after church), and don't actually spend time.
Something our leaders need to keep in mind is this: People can watch something like Lord of the Rings for three and a half hours. I'm not saying church needs to be that long at all- but I think you get the point. If you, as leaders are engaging, and actually able to keep attention (which is a gift, and really, if you can't do that, i would possibly question if you are called to teach).

We need to engage our congregations. Keep them up to date, remind them of the important of things, and spend that extra time pouring into our congregations lives- on an individual basis and congregational basis. There's no room for exception. You're either going to do it or not. There is only one or the other. There's no middle ground. You're either for your congregation, for the people, and potential people of God or not. Take your side now.

Dig Deep

2007-02-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

God's Word.

I cannot fully explain to people where my heart is at in this moment of growth. God's word. It is the foundation of how we are to live.

Examining where I am now, and if I was placed on a deserted Island (no people) and I could only bring one item (people aren't items)- I do believe I would bring my Bible. Here's why:
1) I would have God's word with me and could read it when i'm not building something or looking for something.
2) I could have tons of free time to study His word.
3) There's an abundant supply of fire starting material.

Many people would call that heresy. However, I look at it and realize something. God's word is the foundation. However, faith and belief and living it out go way further than actually reading the bible. The bible is just the lay out of the way of life we're supposed to live. Can someone be saved and not read their bible? Of course. Can someone read the Bible and not be saved? Of course.
Studying God's word is so important, but it's more imporant that we live it out. And, if we truly live in the way that puts God first above all else, and love others, where are we going to fall?

So, if you have a Bible, read it. There's no reason why you shouldn't want to get to know the God of the universe even more. If you don't own a bible, you should get one. It will help you get to know the Lord of creation all the more.
Dig deep, and you may hit an eternal water supply that will keep you quenched for all time.

With Eyes Wide Open

2007-02-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

Some say that when it rains, it is as if the world is sad and that's why people are affected so heavily by the rain. It brings a sense of sorrow.
When Christ died upon the cross, he shed many tears. For you, for me. There's nothing you or I can do to change that. That day, when our Lord, Jesus Christ, died upon that splintering cross, the world broke out in cries of joy- because He who challenged them, was gone. Yet that merciless death was mercy in full.

When the earth shakes, many see it as a sign of death- of pain. People send relief funds to various countries in order to aid them in their struggle- yet, when Jesus died on the cross, it wasn't a sign of death that followed him. When the earth shook it shook the foundations of all those who stood before the Living God. What was and is a sign of death, became a sign of new life.

When our clothes rip, and we wish for that tear to not happen- we see it as a bad omen, or something that has now hindered our lives. Our idea of prestige, of holiness has now been ripped apart. When the temple curtain was ripped, from top to bottom, in the temple of the God of Israel, many wept, for they didn't understand. It was as sign of curse, yet, really it was a connecting point.

In those hard times, open your eyes beyond yourself, and try to see that bigger picture. What may seem initially evil, or wrong, or cursed, may eternally be good, righteous, and blessed.

2007-02-02T00:23:00.000-08:00

New songs at www.myspace.com/mrstevescott that I've recorded

Please give a listen and tell me what you think. but keep in mind, it is all rough copy- not even demo stage. haha.

I just tried google and typed in "Steve Carruthers myspace" and mine was the first to show up... how amazing is that?! I'm one step closer to having my dream of having my name come up first on google come true.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2007-01-31T10:39:00.000-08:00

In this battle of what is truth, it is becoming more and more apparent that we as leaders in the church should almost stop talking it, and start living it. Why? People will see the results. Of course, keep it in discussion, but how are we living our lives? Do our actions act as a skeleton to our words?
Are we sacrificing God's commands to us- commands that off community and are in place in order to enhance productivity (a prime example is how we do communion- are we doing it buffet- serve yourself- or are you going to take the time and serve people communion- somethign that encourages community).
How willing are you to wash a persons feet?
Who of you leaders reading this, will actually SERVE and not just speak about it?
This is a call to leaders to follow Christ's example and first and foremost be a servant- one who speaks with authority.

Tell your people GOd loves them- don't just them figure that out all on thier own.
Tell your people God's truth, don't go for what's the most popular thing to do.

Despite the benefits of doing praise and worship in a large community setting- I think there's so much value in just having community. Which is something i'm actually really liking at Young Adults- which this is a drastic shift from where i was a couple days ago- I really value not having music there. And only there being talking, communion (in a great way), and community. We sit, learn, and grow as a group. something that is completely invaluable. To escape from the norm is actually refreshing. It's not like everywhere else.
At young adults, the numbers keep increasing- and nothing stereo-typical for a service has happened yet... aka music, speaking, music end. It's community, learn, communion, community.
We start and end with community- how great is that? In that community servant hood is becoming evermore present. Relationships are being forged.
Truth is being lived- and encouraged by words, but words aren't truth. After all, Jesus wasn't a word- he is Life- he is Truth- and is The Word.

Injustice or Not?

2007-01-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

When a vast majority of people on the streets (these days), from what i understand, are there due to their own past choices, is it really an 'injustice'?
Yes, you have those few homeless, who really have no place to go and have been thrown out on the streets due to various disabilities, but we talk about injustice in such a broad, overlook anything people have done, way. I think that that could be considered an injustice. Those who really need the help, recieve the same help as those who have been living a life of addiction, or laziness- and we don't seem to care about this injustice.

We have the widows (or widowers) and they are often forgotten. I dont' know many, and when able to, I've helped (along side some great men from my home church... who by the way did way more than me... I just errected a chicken coup that was blown over). However, we have so many single mothers who can't do much. But then there are those single mothers who abuse the government systems, and get the same 'benefits' as those mothers who actually need it. That is an injustice, because some of those mothers have the abilitiy to do so much more and don't. And they keep asking for more help, and that money is poored into better T.V's, DVD players, compters etc. I know of one family who was given a christmas hamper and had far better technology than my family, and many otehr families that I know of that are far better off. Now, I understand I may not know those instances, but if you are on welfare or other gov't help programs, there really should be no room for money to be poured into the non-vitals (a computer and internet connection can be considered a 'necessity' but it doesn't have to be top of the line to fill the need of an internet connection and microsoft word program).

What about the orphins? Those who run away from home (for no actual legitmate reason other than they don't want to, who want to go to a shelter, have priority over those who are kicked out of thier homes (because of bad parenting) or have no other choice because of circumstances that are far out of their control and has nothing to really do with thier own choices... That is an injustice.

The injustice is that those who don't need the help, who brought themselves into a postition of 'pain and suffering', get more than those who do need the help- and the church isn't doing much to disprove that either. Not from what I've seen or heard. Yeah, there's something called Grace and we should give it freely, but at the same time, when it comes to using resources, we need to use them more wisely.

Or we could fly on to the topic of reverse prejudice. But, for the sake of your time, I won't expound on it anymore than the following sentence: Those who were hated, are now the haters, and those who hated, are now hated- yet we live in a western world of 'equality'.

Keep in mind this is all purely from my observations of what i've seen and read about- not much else. So, if you can challenge my thoughts, do it. Or do something about it.

2007-01-26T00:53:00.000-08:00

Quesnel... it'll be you and me this summer... on one whirlwind adventure.
Monty... it'll be you and me this summer... on one whirlwind adventure.
Chubb Lake... it'll be you and me this summer... on one whirlwind adventure.

Frig, it's going to be a tornado. Probably a class F (5).

I'm really, really stoked.

Growth IS To Experience

2007-01-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Upon debating whether or not I should change the title of my blog at this point, I've decided against it. Here's why.
I'm still experiencing, therefore, I'm still growing, and at this point, that's not really going to become stagnant (which I'm hoping and praying that that never becomes the case anyway).

Often people forget about the importance of what it means to experience. Things can't grow unless they experience. I can't grow unless I experience. That's why, I think at least one of the reasons is, God doesn't just allow us to skip the whole grow on earth stage and only live in Heaven. He wants us to experience the complexities of life first hand. So we can actually make the choices and not be able to say, 'But God, you didn't actually let me choose." when now, in reality, He has.

I've started a new chapter in my life. I'm taking responsiblity for a group of youth from CLCCYOUTH.COM, whom I'm very excited about and get to see grow as well. Not only will I see growth in my own life, but in theirs as well. This is going to be an amazing opportunity.

You know what's amazing about trees and how they grow? They grow up, and sideways, and downwards. They grow in all directions. May my life be this way, this year.

Do, or Do Not. There Is No Try.

2007-01-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

Really, from what I've come across, the Bible speaks nothing of telling us to try our best. Ever.
Yet constantly, people water down the Word of God to that level.
God doesn't tell us to try. He tells us to do.

Now, before the birage of people can attack, I'm going to defend that comment. There's something called Grace. The grace of God is deeper than just for those who try and fail to do.
I would actually suggest that His grace goes deeper in the sense that His grace is for those who DO their best, yet fail. There's a vast difference between trying and doing, in my mind. It's solely how I look at it. It could be that because in my own life, whenever there's been a trying inncodent, it's more or less led to failure. Where as, when it comes to doing things, there's the greater success rate.
So, does that definition apply to every one, no. However, that's how i look at it, and that's why I stand by Yoda, "Do or do not. There is no try."

Yet Another Realization

2007-01-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

I open my mouth far too much.
Now in a classroom setting, I don't care how much I talk (ask questions) in that setting, because it is a learning environment.

However, it's in the one on one settings, or in group settings outside of class that I just need to learn to shut up. Like seriously. Why do I have this compulsion to say things that really don't need to be said? Stuff that everyone already knows, and isn't necessary to say... It's something I need to work on. Please, if you notice me doing something like that, ask me about it. Don't assume that I'm saying something I shouldn't, but ask me if I really 'needed' to say that.

Have a good day.

2007-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

Music.
It's somethign that I listen to a lot of.
It's something that I hear a lot of.
It's something I sing and play a lot of.

I've been told by a few people in the last few weeks that i need to try out for Canadian idol- how likely that is, I don't know. however, this dream of mine to making a cd is becoming more real. I don't mean the pseudo-cd's I've made either. I'm talking about the real deal, or at least a very real deal demo.
i'm excited to see what happens in that realm.

Smaller than we think.

2007-01-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

Looking at this semester it looks daunting. It looks harder than I originally forsaw. It looks like I won't be able to do it. Yet, the thing is, it's probably the same amount as last semester, maybe more. I notice that once we get into the swing of things, it gets easier because we're used to it.

In high school, some semesters can look daunting, especially if you need to take a bunch of courses that you didn't know you would have to take. High School is significantly easier than college. I promise all of you young ones that. When you have only sat through 3 classes, and you've been given about 10 books to read, and do (at minimum 500 words, and at the max 3,000 words for every course), and you have 2 more classes to sit through and look at, you drop your head with this scared feeling of, "How will I manage to do this?"
Yet, it's very simple- you really can't manage to do it. Some people try to do it on their own and it ends in pain, sadness, anger, and sometimes burn out. A key thing is to let God be in control, not you.
Some claim that the above statement is easier said than done. Is it? Yet can't trusting God simply be in you using the time God has given you properly, and not doing things that are pointless and a waste of time? In all things you are to glorify God, and do it all as if it's unto God. Now, in most of our time wasting efforts, God is neither exalted, nor glorified. Yet, if in those times we take our time, relax and do the work we're supposed to, life gets increasingly easier. You're trusting in him very practically by using what he's given you. That's just one way.
Emotionally and mentally that's a little different. How? It's not physical, so you can't necessarily physically rely on resources in those areas of life, unlike school work, work, friend and family times. There's a thing called a prayer life. Just pray that God would be in everything you do and say. That He would be the center of your thoughts and emotions. That you wouldn't be caught up in various things.
A big trend that I've also noticed is people are now being told, "God wants passionate people. Do what you want, what you are passionate about, and God will bless that." Now, that is only a half truth. God has a plan. He wants us to do, or in other cases, not for us to do various things. And because it's something we want to do, we automatically assume it's something God wants us to do, because we're passionate about it. Even if the desired thing is not bad really in any way, God may not want you to do that. And there could be signs everywhere that says such a thing. Yet, because we're passionate about it, we can't accept what God is saying.
In the past month I've had many people plan to do things that haven't, and won't happen because funding fell through, and they've not been able to recover the funds spent because of deposits being non-refundable. And I've heard about tears shed, I've heard about anger. Yet really, those people could be a lot more joyful because God could be saving them from some hazard or trouble that he doesn't want them to go through because it could lead to death, or be traumatizing, or more. The problem could possibly be they're not trusting God and what He wants, but are trusting that God wants what they do. Something God won't bless.

*A little side note: God will give you all that your heart desires... your heart should be desiring to follow him and do what he wants for you, but hey, that's just a thought, but don't take my word for it, read it in the bible.*

Let us look at Moses- did Moses want to lead Israel? No, he was reluctant. He wanted nothing to do with it. He was a coward to face up to what God wanted, yet the signs all pointed to one direction. Let's look at the people of Isreal in the story of Moses- They initially wanted to go to the Promised land, but because they weren't ready, God didn't let them, and because they sinned, God didn't allow them. They didn't trust God, thus he didn't let them experience the fulfillment of His promise (yet the promises are always fulfilled- maybe not in the life time promised, but always fulfilled).
We could look at the coward Gideon. He had huge resources infront of him. Yet God wasn't really happy with the resources Gideon wanted to use. God made him shrink a huge army down to 300 men. We could look at that like a ministry experience- God wants us to do something with very little. How? By trusting him... by having faith that God is faithful to his Promise, and that He is bigger than our resources.

God has a plan; bigger than we all can see. We may not want to accept what He's allowing/disallowing (because of our own selfish desires), but we have to remember it's always for the best and not worth getting caught up over. Ever. He knows what He's doing.
Look at accepting that fact as, maybe for the first time, trusting God with something. Therefore, in my mind, and as I've seen and done practically, it is easier done than said. You just have to do it. Some would claim otherwise, but after what I've been through in the past year with my major father figure with cancer, my grandpa with cancer, my schooling's funding, government grants for internships, housing arrangements, almost burning out because of school work/exams, and much, much more, I know the jist and truth of what I'm talking about. It may be tested more than ever after typing this, but frig, God knows what I can handel, so do I trust His sovreign judgment or my own?

New

2007-01-09T17:30:00.001-08:00

What does it mean to be "new"? Or just a deeper definition of the word "new"?
What does it mean to be "renewed"?

Mindless?

2007-01-06T23:24:00.000-08:00

After reading Mark DeHoog's most recent journal update, it made me realize all the more importance of simplicity.

In our churches we try to get the best sound system our churches can afford, and then we consider the impact our music can have.
We look at our speaking, and ask how can we improve it? How can we throw more mindbenders, more riddles, or more anti-conclusions (no slam at Jeremy, this is just a thought. I love him to bits.) out there in order to get a reaction or response?
We always try to get more complex and sometimes even, more defined.

Yet, can there not be simplicity in the complex and chaos as there can be simplicity in nothing?
God, for example, is so complex, but yet, so simple.

When preaching, why don't we just bring it back to the bible and preach God's word? Instead of trying to develop new techniques, why can't we just rely on God's word (i'm not being flighty, I'm implying general and specific bible study) to do the work we want it to? After all, it is God's word, and when spoken has profound results. You are not the key to unlocking someones faith. God's word is. So maybe it's time to take a step back as speakers and really ask, "What are we trying to communicate?"

When doing music and working with our sound systems, yeah, it's great to be able to get all the sounds you can out of a system and do the very best you can, but really, it's not what God necessarily wants, because he wants worship. Not just us sounding good. maybe going back to the basics of just voices, or maybe just a voice and a guitar, or maybe even no music whatsoever. Just a thought.

Let's try and make our lives more simple. I think that's what my goal for this year will be- to be more simple, and watch the simplicity of complexity shine.

Shout Out to those whom I read!

2007-01-04T23:38:00.000-08:00

We have, first of all, the illustrious Jeremy Postal. Illustrious basically sums him up. Well, and provocative? Maybe cowbell?
Then there's that DeHoog, you know, the Pomo down the street.
Then the Fearful Alex who is cited by all the public rights people. Basically, the guy should start a comittee and tell people, "Look at me, I could run our government." Either that or he should marry a Candian woman and see a bear on the side of the road or something. Wait... he already did that... Did I mention he's British?
Then there be Booming Dawg (aka Mike Boomer). He's the guy that invited me to youth for the first time ever, 5 years ago and began me on my path towards the One, the Only, Jesus.
Jordan **** is a friend of mine from College. he's in the UK for a year doing some Biblical study, and more. But, he's a great encouragement to me seeing all that he's trying to do, and doing.
Mack Danny is amazing. The guy can play guitar like it's none of your buisnat! He's hot too.
Andrea Postal is married to Jabin Postal, who's the brother of Jon Postal.
Justin Falcner is hot, hot like Josh Livingston, they're both tall, unlike Joel Geddert who is a shorter drummer.
Stop 5 in the name of love? What? That's almost as ridiculous as Mandeep Parhar; who is actually in knowing with Steve Pederson (note the d in PeDerson), who has no connection with Heather, but does have a connection with Rachel, who knows the beautiful, now more British than ever, which he also has a mom who has posters (or had posters) in the House of James, named Jeffery Paul Ansloos. As far as I know, at this moment, he's single- ladies, you can change that.

That's a majority of the blogs I read regularly. Oh wait, and one more!

We can't forget the...

Transformers Movie Blog!

A Gig... me?

2007-01-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well, now that i have a new guitar, and not necessarily new, but new connections, I may be able to do my first gig ever sometime this month.

So, I have 2 questions.

If this actually happens would you:
1) Come out and actually see me and the other amazing peoples out there (names would probably include Dave Welsh, Josh Hyslop and more)?
2) Like to see me play a compliation of all my things (excluding explicit songs of worship) including silly songs, and serious stuff- which would actually be kind of emo lyrically-, and the non-explicit worship stuff, or a specific one of those 3? (keep in mind, i have only about 7 songs that I actually would want to play- all of which are a mixture of my writings.)

4 of the songs would tentatively be:
-Garbage Man (new beginning and new other stuffs in the song)
-A Moose
-The Bar Is High
-No Friendly Faces

Context, Religioin, Individuality

2006-12-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

In this past year, after having studied the bible more than ever before in my life, and yet have barely scratched the surface of this profound, deeply inspiring, divine book, I can see more than ever before how often people take things out of context.
Context isn't limited to what's being said around the sentence or phrase being used, the time, place or purpose of the writings, but also relative to the words themselves within the sentence.
For example the word 'good'. The word good can have multiple implications in our language, thus going back to the original language of something, like the Bible, is extremely important becuase our english words usually water down, or simply miss the mark in what the bible is talking about.
Kind of like saying found int he bible, "Covering his feet." That is a phrase in the bible. This doesn't mean he was cold, and wanted to put on some slippers. What this actually means is, "He's dropping logs."
With simply reading our english translations and not doing research, we wouldn't know that this person was doing such a thing.

Something like quoting John 3:16 to something in the context of "God loves you." is not taking that at all out of context, because it is the context of the entirety of the text of the bible, and the distinct passage. If you some how wanted to use John 3:16 to be relative to the Flying Pink Unicorn, well, you could.

Not only context of scripture have I really learned. But context in a global setting.
In this past year I've seen Christians attacked for attrocities committed by Christians (or those who claim to be Christians) of the past. And just because that person is evil, it makes the religion, or the faith associated with religion now evil.

------------------------------------------------------

Another thing I've learned is that Christianity in it's true form is not a religion. Where it's followers are religious. Heres why:
Christianity doesn't conform to the standard rules of religion, but is rather a way of life, and not some ritualistic, tradition-based belief system. Christianity itself is doing what you can, and not doing things because you have to. It is, rather, because you want to. For example, worshipping God. You don't have to worship God because God doesn't want you to have to. He wants you to want to worship him, thus freewill. Therefore making Christianity a unique belief. Also, the concept of Grace... there's nothing you can do to earn God's grace. As a matter of fact, he's all ready given it to every person on this planet in full, all the grace they would ever need. It's whether or not they choose to acknowledge, and then accept that Grace. Being another reason- there's nothing you can DO to earn God's grace.
People, like myself, on the other hand, are relgious. Why? Because we make rules and regulations and say we have to do things, such as tithe (which is not a command that the New Covenant gives, but rather is of the Old) which isn't actually required, God loves a cheerful giver, so odds are we should probably be giving more than 10%. Not directly to the church necessarily, but in the case of helping eachother out for the glory of God. And your not supposed to be boastful or showy in that.. your supposed to shut up about it and be quiet. We're also religious in our various denominations- some saying a pastor has to be married, some saying a pastor needs 4 years of learning, some saying you need to be a monk for x amount of years, some saying that a pastor cannot be divorced, some saying that you have to speak in tongues. Yet, the Bible says nothing of these things.
We often treat singing in church like its something we have to do, except the bible never ever directly claims that we need to sing to praise God. Rather, it invites us into it, as well as dancing.
Those are just a few examples.

--------------------------------------------------------

Lastly, I'm learning who I am.
Here's the biggest thing... I just need to accept who I am. And I can't try. You can't try to accept who you are. You'll end up depressed, or opposite of it (being very airheaded). Do, or do not, there is no try. I need to just accept it. I am who God made me.
I just need to live the way God called me. everything else will just naturally fall into place.

Top Most Things About This Year.

2006-12-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

1. My new guitar.
2. MP3 Player
3. Got a bigger Library
4. Traveling with J-Ansloos, SPEEDERSON, and Van-OZ and rocking faces off with our delicious musical abilities and artistic dance moves, as well as just an all-around good looking group of guys.
5. Being me... and learning who I am.
6. Writing music that I actually enjoy playing.
7. Expanding musical repitoir.
8. Making new friends that are having an impact on my life (for the better).
9. Being involved in leadership positions at churchs (namely CLCC, and Mountain View Church).
10. Getting to know my Holy Father more than I had before, in a deeper, more intimate way.

There you go.

Christmas lack-of-joys

2006-12-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

It's rather stunning how every year someone in a family will have this idea of the perfect christmas. They wish for a perfect family, one that won't get upset.
But then there's that one person that always causes the problems, or is the source of tention.
Then, as a result of the tention created, the dreams of the perfect christmas are shattered because it's not a perfect family.

In order to have the perfect christmas... what would that look like? Would it be having that person gone? Or, everyone just putting up with the crap that tension person starts? Is the perfect christmas actually imperfect?

The perfect Christmas- the day of Christ's birth- was an imperfect day. God humbled himself before man, and came down to meet with His creation so that they may be saved and have infinite peace with an infinite God. Yet, he was born in what was a stable of some sort, dung heaps, hay piles, and animal urine on the floor, and He, God, was placed within a fodder troff.
The perfect God in imperfect circumstances.

I can't stand it when the person who cares the most for you cries not only for, but about you.

Identity: Conclusion? (Don't know).

2006-12-19T00:13:00.000-08:00

So, this whole identity blog thing really isn't going to happen... well, not in the form that I originally thought.

Here's my problem: I'm enjoying expounding way too much on this whole topic, and the things that i'm learning about myself in process of writing is amazing, if I was writing a book, I got a solid 16 pages so far, and that was only 2 nights of writing... and the ideas keep coming.
I'm getting really excited about this.

Here's one thought, one question that has come from this new venture:

True or False
There is some truth in Satan's lies.

Identity: Prologue

2006-12-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

Over the Christmas break, my goal is to write a short series about male identity in who we are and who we are in God.
As I deal with the identity struggle myself, I'm finding more, and more men with the same issue, which leaves me to wonder why haven't we heard a lot about it? I know the girls always recieve the messages that they are 'perfectly and wonderfully made' but the men don't necessarily hear that. We get all the sex talks and are told to stay away from porn.

Something I'm learing about those talks/things is you're dealing with a result, not the source, so as a result, we're only having short-term impacts on lives.
This will not be another Wild At Heart. This will be something that attempts to reach into lives before you get the strong, adventerous male that God could have created- Adam wasn't created to be strong and adventerous.
Think about it: If you read the first 2 chapters of Genesis, it says nothing about Adam being a strong man. It doesn't say that he was created adventerous. You know what Adam was created for? A life in the garden. Just working it and hanging out with God. That was the perfect human state. Being content to live where God made you, and to spend time with him. Then God saw it wasn't good for man to be alone. Adam, or so it's not recorded in scripture, doesn't complain that he is alone and doesn't have a wife. So God, takes the initiative and makes woman from man, as an equal, as a partner. Mans identity wasn't in the things he did, such as being adventerous, or being strong, or in the woman. It was in WHO he was.

Do you guys have any thoughts on topics I should touch on?

Women in Church Leadership

2006-12-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

I decided to email Mars Hill church and find out why the believe what they do about women in ministry.
This is what I came across.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/content/womenleaders
Are women leaders at Mars Hill Church?
There are many women in positions of leadership at Mars Hill Church. As church, we have qualified women who teach theology and other classes, host seminars, lead worship, and lead ministries. As an organization, we have part-time and full-time paid women who expertly work with pastoral care, human resources, the finances of the church and more. To explore the men and women in leadership at Mars Hill Church, you can explore our staff listings.There are three primary views in Christianity in relation to women in ministry and church leadership, outlined very simply below. Mars Hill Church holds to the Complementarian view. Egalitarian (liberal) Men and women are partners together in every arena of ministry. All ministries and offices in the church are open to all qualified men and women. Gender does not exclude any person from any church office. Priority texts: Judges 4; Acts 16:11–15; Acts 18:26; Luke 8:1–3; Romans 16:1–3, 6–7, 12; Galatians 3:28Hierarchical (conservative)Women and men are created to operate in different spheres of church ministry. Women cannot be elders, deacons, serve communion, teach men, lead worship, or speak in the church service. Women can only build ministries for women and children. Priority texts: Genesis 1:27; 2:18; 3:16–17; 1 Corinthians 11:3, 8–9; 1 Timothy 2:11–3:13 Complementarian (moderate - Mars Hill Church's position)All church ministries are open to qualified men and women with the singular exception of elder/pastor, which is only for qualified men. Women can be deacons, teach, lead worship, serve communion, and be in full-time paid ministry. Priority texts: Same as Hierarchical, with an emphasis on 1 Timothy 3:11 and Romans 16:1–2 It would be tempting and easy to take the Egalitarian view and please the culture we find ourselves in. However, we would quite honestly be ignoring clear scripture and putting ourselves in authority over God's word to make it more palatable and less provocative. Our more conservative brothers and sisters often get upset that we don't take the Hierarchical view, but we would also point them to the Scriptures that seem clearly to demonstrate otherwise. What ultimately happens is we take hits from both sides and thank God that we serve Him and neither liberal or conservative agendas but honestly seek to submit to the role God has given us as being under the authority of His Word. We believe that men and women are created equal, in God's image and likeness, and simply given different job descriptions by a loving God who has created roles to model not only His relationship with us, but His relationship within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost where there is absolute equality but submission and deference and roles.

I'm curious as to what you guys think of this.

Vulnerability

2006-12-03T22:49:00.000-08:00

Vulnerability is something I’d dare say most of our leaders are lacking.

Vulnerability is something we as Christians in our North American culture need to embrace more fully.

Vulnerability leaves us open to assault, yet open for love and life.

Vulnerability is what Jesus lived when he died upon the cross.

Our leaders need vulnerability, an indelible vulnerability.

Leave a thought.

2006-12-01T01:07:00.000-08:00

What is something that's been on your mind, that you wouldn't mind sharing with me?
it can be abstract or vague.
It can be to the point.

Maybe it's an encouraging thought.
Maybe it's a puzzling thought.
Maybe it's controversial.

Interesting.

2006-11-29T01:07:00.000-08:00

So, two verses have been infront of my face today... and by infront of my face, I mean stabbed to the wall on a sheet of paper to the left of my monitor.

The first one Psalm 139:13,14 "For you formed my inmost parts; you wove me in my mothers womb. I will give thanks to you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well."

The second one 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. but when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

Fact is, those two verses actually go hand in hand. The more I look at it, the more in awe I stand. God knows me. He knows me because he knit me in my mothers womb. He wonderfully and carefully made me. And you know what that means? He knows my limits, and he won't allow me beyond those limits (in the sense of temptation to sin), he'll push me out of my limits when it comes to trusting Him, and living for Him, but he'll never challenge me to go against Him. God is good.

That means, looking at those two verses, if God knows me because He made me, and He knows my limits, He must know my potential. The thing is, God is standing by me, even if I fall. "Why do we fall Master Bruce? So we can pick ourselves back up!" God knows we're better than our faults, that's why He has grace, He created creation perfectly. Pride, over all, screwed that up.

Therefore, it's my pride that I need to get over.

This pride isn't a self-godifying pride. But rather, a self-degredation pride. I'm caring too much about peoples perceptions of me (which in some ways is healthy, because it's good to be aware of what people are thinking of you) but it's those perceptions that hold me back. It's my own perception of myself that's holding me back. It's the fact that I am not biting my tongue when I should really be chomping down on that little thing.

I gotta give it to God, and this is a battle only He can win. So, I guess you could say for me, this is an all or nothing battle. Pray that it's an all of me battle and I'm fullying going headlong into God's arms.

What's holding you back from being fully submissive to God, the God of the universe?

Value

2006-11-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

I remember reading a plethra of things on Mark DeHoog's blog (more in the comments section) about Men being men, and embracing their manhood and stuff.
As true as that is, and that men need to get a back bone, I agree with Jeff Ansloos on something... we need less of this wild at heart stuff (well, at least for our younger generations) because we're not necessarily told to suck it up, but our selfworth is rather really low.
At least, I know I'm speaking for myself and countless other young men in this world.

How often is it that we are told we really are perfectly and wonderfully made? I've heard it maybe twice in my life directed at guys. Once when I was in youth, and once when talking with Jeff (He may not have said it, but the thought came to mind).
A lot of the material they use in girls seminars (or from what I've heard about at the very least) could be solidly used in young mens seminars.

Selfworth is huge, and if we don't embrace the fact that we, as men, mean something to God, it could lead to potential future downfalls and failures that we may pass on to our own kids.
"We have to love God, our neighbours, and ourselves." I can honestly say I don't know if I love myself more than I detest me. And why? it's because of my perception of how others percieve me. The views may be valid or not, and I may be 'subconciously' or consciously fulfilling those views because it is expected that I act that way, whether people like it, I like it, or not.

I'm wonderfully and perfectly made. You, men, yeah- be strong, courageous, be daring and dashing. Be the knight in shining armour that is going to save the beautiful princess. Be the one to take charge and make desicions. But fact is, you won't be able to do that if you don't have self-confidence, selfworth, and the recognition that you are just the way God wants you to be. There's nothing wrong with being artsy, nor is there anything wrong with being strong and sporty, or being a guy with a nose in a book. But are you living up to the calling, the one that every man is called to live up to that God has set- Love Him, your neighbour, and yourself. I know for me this is a huge battle. To get over me.

When was the last time, that you as a pastor/leader/friend said to the men in your congregation/youth group/small group/friends network, that your men are beautifully, wonderfully and perfectly made? Now, I recognize that it sounds cheesy, and probably a vast majority of people will think your some sort of gay guy for saying. So, you may need to be more creative in ways to say it, but, we need to remind our guys that they are valuable in Gods eyes.
How do we instill our own selfworth upon ourselves, I don't know. All I know is that I'm trying.
When we recognize God's indelible love for us, we will definately find some value, if not all of our value (which I'm udnerstanding to be everything). I want to be wrapped up in God fully to the point that my character becomes indistinguishable between his and mine.

Jesus. My Lord, and my God. You are amazing, you are awesome in the truest sense of the word. Father, may you give me the ability, and other men, to recognize the value you have placed upon us. That we are so valuable to us, that you did die on a cross, a death which many of us will never, ever fully appreciate or understand. Lord, help us to embrace who you've made us to be, the wonderfully and perfectly, beautiful men that we are. Help us to be strong, passionate, and the knight that, we as men are called to be by recognizing who we are in You. You're love is great, and endures forever and ever. Amen.

Whaaat?

2006-11-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

Who are we?
That's a question that has plagued philosophers, scientists, and just your average Joe at almost every level of the human mind.

Who you are doesn't matter. At least, not to the world. The world wants you to be something that you aren't.
What were you intended to be? You could ask anyone that, and red flags wouldn't fly up because everyone would have some sort of answer. Then your response could be "Why?"

Being an emotional basketcase (over-all I'm stable in the fact that I won't freak out at someone, nor does it really affect how I act on a day to day basis, emotion simply plagues my mind), I ask myself "what's wrong with me?" all the time.
You know what, I never recieve an answer.
I do hear a voice in my head and heart saying, "You were perfectly and wonderfully made."
What I do has no baring on who I am. Who I am will have a baring on what I do, however, the two are not one in the same. Often a person can make a choice that is totally contrary to their character. For example, most of us know and love Jeremy Postal. Now, what if he went off on a rampage at the CLCC Young Adults Group (that meets at the Bread Garden on Sumas Way, by the Save-On Foods at 7:30pm every Tuesday) and decided to flick everyone there, including the staff in the back of the ear? Would that be Jeremy or only an action that he made? Does that action define him? And what if Mark DeHoog decided to do the same thing at work?

God's made me the way he wants me to be. Some of the things I do may be contrary to the way God made me, but that's the thing with sin, it contradicts anything to do with God.

I don't know what I'm trying to say. heh.

Recognition

2006-11-19T17:41:00.001-08:00

This weekend was the Squamish Youth Retreat, aka Reality Check.

This weekend was as much as weekend of discovery for me, as it was for the youth. I actually think I got more out of the weekend than the youth, or at least in comparison to the ones I was talking to.

-I realized my immaturity in a sincere way.
-I realized that I really find it hard to be accepted- I try to be accpeted, but my immaturity hinders that.
- I realized that as a result of those two things, despite how much I truely want to be married and have my family, and that that is my dream. I'm not ready to start dating. I look back, and as good as it has been, and the things I've learned, and as much as I believe God had me in those situations to learn, right now, I'm not mature enough to date. The recognition of this scares me.

Finally, something that I've really been clueing into, is that I really suck at communicating my points. At the same time, I know that it could also be peoples biases towards me due to my history with them, that they choose to hear what they want rather than what I'm saying. The latter would be more unlikely and more rare, but still, I know that it has affected relationships of mine.

The Trinity

2006-11-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

I’m either a genius or an idiot. I haven’t been able to decide.Talking about topics such as the Trinity, people often stand there and say that it’s the hardest thing, or one of the hardest things to understand about Christianity. One God, in three persons. 3 persons, in one God. Now, by no means have I really had an opportunity to talk with someone who knows nothing about the Trinity. However, in my mind, it simply works.
What could this be? Either ignorance, over-indoctrination, or could it be that the concept just works so well and perfectly in my mind that I really do understand it?
Again, I’ve never had an opportunity to try to explain the trinity to anyone before. So I don’t know how well I’d fair.
The best illustration I have come up with is this:
Let’s say you have a fish bowl with water. The inside of the bowl itself represents the universe and everything outside of the universe. The water inside it represents God the Father. Take a rock and place it inside the bowl. That rock represents Jesus. Now, place a marble inside the fish bowl. That is representing the Holy Spirit. Now, you have the Water, the Rock, and the Marble. All three of those objects themselves exist as separate entities. However, if you look at the rock and marble, they are submersed in the water, the water is around them all surrounding. You take the fish bowl, and look at it, and you see exactly that, a complete fish bowl. As a whole, you have the fish bowl with its objects. And if you were asked to look at this fish bowl with its water, rock and marble in it, you would say, ‘it’s a fish bowl’. You would say it is, in essence, one. However, you can dissect the fish bowl and give all three of the items inside the fish bowl their own characteristics and qualities. Therefore it is like the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To me this makes sense. You’re guys’ professional critique is desired. So please, if you have a better analogy than the one I thought of in Doctrine class today, that would be great! Or simply bettering my analogy, that would be welcome too.

Maybe you guys could provide insight into the Trinity so that I don’t come across as arrogant, or so that I’m not at risk of becoming arrogant. Show me.
---------------------

So, here’s the added thought to this. We finished talking about the Trinity in class today, and then with one thought, my entire world of thinking I had embraced the concept of the trinity lay shattered.

God is one God in three persons. The fact that God is everywhere at the same time as being three individual parts… to me, reading this as I type it, it sounds so easy, but in my mind, I just couldn’t fathom it. Weird.

Need, Want, NEEEED, Have

2006-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here are the things that I 'need'. (And by need, I actually do mean need. Now, it's not the need that is tied to the basis of survival, but for some of the things I'm involved in that I'm doing, I need them.)
1. Electric Guitar amp... not a small one though. Yes it would be nice to have one that actually worked properly, but a bigger one would be nice. I'm not thinking mondo-huge, but reasonable, one that can give out enough sound and now blow the speakers to fill a medium sized room.

2. A New Acoustic... I'm grateful for the one I have because by the grace of God it's gotten me this far, but it definately is a piece of junk. It can't keep tune, the action is ridiculously high, and well, it should pretty much be burned. Thus a new (new for me at least) acoustic, that sounded niced, played nice, didn't break strings, and could be plugged into a system would do just fine (notice I didn't say nice looking/fancy or new in the sense of being the first owner).

3. A Laptop... A laptop would make class so much easier. I wouldn't get a wireless internet thing put in it for the sole reason that it would distract me too much in the classes where I don't want to pay attention, but really should: ie. Philosophy and Psychology--- I was excited for Philosophy, but it isn't what I was hoping for/expected. Psych... well... it's what I learned in grade 11.. so yeah. i'm disappointed that I'm paying money for that. However, I guess it's good to relearn some stuff because I did forget most of it, and at some point in my life/ministry I may need this knowledge.

4. A bigger Library: This comes with asking for books for Christmas and birthdays and instead of spending some cash on goodies like Dairy Queen or A&W I get books. Curious

Now the things that I just simply want.

1. IPOD... travelling (ie. walking) would be much more enjoyable. I've noticed that walking becomes much more enjoyable when I'm either with someone or listeing to music that is directly being played into my ears.

2. A better desktop-computer: It would allow for better processing, allow for me to be able to hold more information/music/and just be more reliable. However, the lap top (if new) would probably serve as just what I need/want.

The things that I have:

1. A roof over my head

2. Clothes to wear.

3. Food to eat.

4. A computer to use.

5. A School Library (and my own small personal library) at my disposal.

6. A God who provides what I need, not what I want. This way I don't become a spoiled brat!

A Light for the Darkness

2006-11-12T22:53:00.000-08:00

I walked with a couple friends down to the creek, here at Summit Pacific, at the bottom of the Holy Hill, and we wanted to observe the fish that were swimming. There were three obstacles that hindered this endeavour of actually seeing the fish. The first problem we encountered was the fact that it was raining. The rain in itself doesn’t hinder vision if you are not in a car or wearing glasses. However, it causes an irritation when you have the chill of the raindrops running down the back of your neck into your shirt, and then proceeding down your back, making you cold, thus being a distraction. The second issue was the fact that the water is high and murky. We couldn’t see the fish because the water is both high and murky, and because the water is deep, the odds of you actually seeing a fish near the surface is slim and the murky waters make it near impossible to see anything anyway. Add to it the final obstacle, which is darkness, and you won’t see a blooming thing in that water! Rain (which also adds to the depths of the waters) plus murky and deep waters, plus darkness makes for a futile endeavour.

We Christians often talk about going into the dark places. We also talk about how we need to be Jesus’ hand in those places, and if we do such a thing, we can see people saved! Now, something I think everyone could recognize is the fact that if my friends and I had a flashlight, at least one of our problems could have been solved.

In the situations where we as Christians are going out into the world, the only thing we have control over is what we choose to bring with us. We have a plethora of tools we could bring with us when looking for fish. Some people choose to bring projectile devices such as harpoon guns or Air Soft pistols… however, if you’re intending on seeing fish at night, you would naturally bring a flashlight. A thing to learn about fish is that they are attracted to light. If we had a flashlight with us we could have both attracted fish, and actually have seen some. We would have no control over the rain or the murky and deep waters, but that light sure would come in handy!

As Christians, we need to bring The Light (aka. Jesus, or so the Bible says) with us. They will see that Light and be attracted to it, and you might actually see something happen. Of course, if you had the harpoon gun, Air Soft pistol and the flashlight you would really see something happen! However are we going to rely on the tools of man or the tools of God to have an impact on our world? How prepared are you when you go into dark places?

If you’re curious as to if my friends and I saw any fish, the answer is no. However, we were prepared if we did end up seeing one… only we were lacking a flashlight.

Megachurch Pastor Article

2006-11-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

I was impressed with this article which talks about a pastor from a megachurch down in the States who screwed up.
Why am I impressed? It doesn't slam the church in the typical, 'well, there goes those pastors again!" And actually, in a sense goes counter to the reports given, and shows the accountability structure within a lot of churches.

However, it makes me think, or atleast a certain section that talks about the accountability part, where if a pastor is councelling someone of the opposite sex, the door is open, or someone else is present kind of thing... with a lot of these homosexual allegations and such on the rise, it's probably just as important now a days to adhere to the same standard regardless of the sex, because it allows for both accountability, and this way, you have witnesses.
Scary and sad at the same time.

"What's this world coming to?" people ask... here's my answer: An end.

What do you guys think of the article?

Lesson restated from the summer and past experience

2006-11-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how God teaches us things in the present that will actually effect our future ministries.

Division makes you weaker. Almost everytime it creates a dangerous, if not disasterous situation.

After there is division pride develops in it's various respected areas. Usually in regards to leadership. Whether this pride is in a "I'm so good" mindset, or in a "Just to be safe," Or "I suck" way.
A dangerous ground to be on, division is.

I also recognize how important it is to be concrete and not allow for ridiculous things to be happening in a leadership setting. It holds people back and causes others to go astray.
Your actions have consequences and they don't just effect you.

Of course people have their problems they need to work on, and they'll never be perfect; if you think that's what I'm getting at you're missing my point entirely.
My point is that if people are unwilling to change or are simply showing no indication of change, sometimes you need to make the desicion to take a step in faith and say no to them. Sometimes it requires you to pull them from something for a set period of time, and then allow them to get involved again after mentorship has taken place. Or, further, you have to remove them completely and never allow them back into that structure.

Angelology

2006-11-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

So, I'm writing a paper on the Doctrine of Angels.

I am looking for your guys' different views on angels. Even demons if you wish to discuss that.

Please contribute! Say stuff! Help me out!

Hormones and Loneliness

2006-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

It's becoming increasinly obvious that I'm a guy. I'm noticing my hormones. Which is good, meaning i can control myself, but is actually a scary thought.

You see, I know my capabilities (for the most part) and I know my limits (for the most part).

As the days go by I am becoming increasinly aware of my desire for companionship.

Let's look at the equation thus far:

Hormones + Loneliness

As most of you have probably already noticed, this can have huge implications towards a negative outcome. However, like I said, for the most part I know my capabilities and my limits.

Self-control is considered to be a fruit of the Spirit. Add that to the equation...

Hormones + Loneliness + Self-Control

That is the ideal situation... I'm wanting to please God the more I know Him and His ways. I really do want to be like him. His grace is suffiecient to meet me where I'm at. He finds me in my completely human state, and he comforts me.

So, despite the Hormones and loneliness, I am developing self-control, which therefore will lead to a more Godly lifestyle.
The other thing that I'm practically learning is somethign I've talked about in the past, but am actually feeling now, is that the more I rely on God, the more these hormones and desires will be placed in His hands, and He will shape me into what He wants me to be, and when I rely on Him, everything will fall into place because He is the Sovreign judge of all.

Lying

2006-11-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying I've never lied in my life, but that we're called to a higher standard of living):
Is it wrong to lie? The Bible commands against it... “You shall not give false testimony (lie).”
Exodus 20:16.

Some people say that it’s ok to lie in some circumstances. For instance, let’s pretend you are in Germany, during World War 2, and you are hiding about 20 Jews in your basement. The Nazi’s come knocking on your door and ask, “Are you hiding any Jews?” What would you tell them? Would you be a liar like God commands you? Or would you say that the command is subjective and thus does not apply to this command? To me, I know that I would want to lie to protect these people, but I fear that in doing so we would be condemning ourselves because of our lies, in two ways to be exact. First, I would be lying. Which, as we all (I believe we all know) know, God commanded us not to bear false witness, or lie. Second, we would be taking matters into our own hands. Are you going to be in control, or are you going to lie?Another example would be, pretend you are a missionary. You have an entire truck load of Bibles and you are trying to enter a non-Christian country, which explicitly states in their country that you aren’t supposed to speak about Jesus and bring in Bibles to the country. Do you lie when crossing the border about what’s in the back of your truck? Or do you trust in God? I know a guy who something similar happened to. He was going to Soviet Russia for a reason which I forget, and at the check zone, they asked his mom if she had any bibles with her, she said yes, she had about 10 of them to give out to people. The guy I know on the other hand, said said no, and he was carrying one or two of them. The mother was allowed to pass, while the guy was asked to come into a room and they searched all of his gear, him, and left him no real dignity.

A third example would be one which was discussed in our philosophy class today. Pretend you are a paramedic, and you just picked up a guy who had a heart attack. He consistently asks, “Did I have a heart attack?” You know full well that if you tell him he did, he will be at risk of having another heart attack, which could be fatal. What do you do? Do you tell him a lie and say, “No, you didn’t.” Or do you tell him, “Yes you did (mean while creating an opportunity for a second heart attack).” OR could you use an alternative where you say, “Sorry sir, I’m not a doctor, and so I’m not trained to make such a choice, all I know is that you should get to the hospital to make sure that everything is fine.”

Do you really have to lie? Or are there alternatives?

When you lie, it’s a sin in two ways so far as I can tell. The laws and commands God has given us as people are not something that he takes lightly and says we can break if we deem it necessary, there are always punishments for thatWe could look at the story of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham and Sarah are in Egypt, and in order to save their lives, Abraham lies to the Egyptians, and they take Sarah away from him. To make a short story shorter, this happens 2 times, and God has the Pharaoh (I think it’s the Pharaoh) rebuke Abraham for lying! And Abraham did it to save their necks! You never have to lie. Do you trust God? Or do you trust in your own means? Going back to the Nazi situation, I couldn’t tell you what on earth I would do in that situation, and I couldn’t tell you exactly at all what the Nazi’s would have done if I told them the truth. But I do hope that I would have enough faith to trust that God would do his thing, and be merciful, just, and graceful, in those times, and give me the strength to do what’s right.
Will you lie, or will you tell the truth? Will you trust God, or your own creative powers? Thoughts?

Self-Revelation, or Self-Condemnation

2006-11-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

I’m one of those guys who, if you haven’t already noticed, tries to sound smart, intellectual, and driven. Now, I’m not really at a high point of any of those, other than the latter. I’m driven. I’m motivated by my God, and my Lord, to grow, learn, and develop into the man He wants me to be. Now here’s the thing… I try to SOUND smart and intellectual. I think right there is my folly. It’s not so much that I’m being fake, but I’m attempting to go where I’m not able to go, as of yet. I desire to sound provocative (in the truest sense of the word) and engage thought. I desire to use big words and be able to come across as a genius or a great thinker myself. However, I don’t think that I’ll ever really come across as that, well except maybe to an ant. But here’s what I’m slowly realizing. I may have a dream to be like that. But in sounding intellectual or smart, I could be missing out on communicating to a completely different type of audience. What if my audience, as a leader, is a group which thinks simply? I like to think big and abstract and go beyond what is known, to push the boundaries, and take steps to grow and be free in that growth. There is truth in saying that God calls some of us to be simple, and in that, there really may be a provocative life style which entails something far more than words on a screen or page.
I know as a result of my desire to be more complex, simplicity actually challenges me. Without any doubt, my vocabulary will undoubtedly grow as I age, mature, read more, and listen more, but those ‘big’ words never come naturally to me, or so it stands.
As a leader, I want to be a simple fellow, one who does his best to serve God, and obey His commands. If I do that, everything else will inevitably fall into place.
It’s amazing what obedience translates into.

---------- I just read a bunch of proverbs which basically condemns the simple…
Proverbs 14:15 “A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.”
Proverbs 14:18 “The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.”
Proverbs 9:6 “Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.”I don’t think those are exactly talking about the simple-ness I am… but it’s food for thought.

Mario (Me) and Luigi (Thadeus)

2006-11-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

Halloween

2006-10-31T22:42:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Halloween. I've never had so many positive comments on my costume, yet it was the simplest (pictures to come). For the entire night I spoke like Mario, the famous Nintendo character.

I looked similar, but not quite like the picture to the left (pictures to come).
One thing that I noticed was that the youth that I came across, none of which I knew, became extremely excited about the fact that I was mario. And I literally had people freaking out about how excited they were to see Mario. Thadeus, a guy from here at Summit dressed up as Luigi. And he looked rather good. Together, it was a rad combination. And with the two of us going side by side down the street, with Thadeus' ring tone being the "Super Mario Theme Song", we would knock on doors.
People became increasingly excited, for lack of a better word, throughout the entire night. When I adopted the characteristics, Italian accent, and was extremely polite, the parents even loved me. And as Mario I was doing cartwheels in order to recieve candy and even more compliments. I danced for a few houses. It was rather exciting.
Bringing that full circle back to the youth aspect of it... I noticed how students, in their excitement to see Mario, there was something that gripped them. It was something the knew. It was something they could relate to. Yeah it was Halloween night, and there were tons of things going on that shouldnt have been, such as seeing students drinking (which I wasnt excited about), but the praying began for them.
I am not necessarily looking for response, but in your life, what are you doing to find that middle ground, a place where you can relate to students, or co-workers on thier own turf, on their own playing field... for some, all it would take would be a conversation with Mario...

I noticed something about myself tonight... now that I am not a youth, and am in a leadership position over youth, I now have a compassion, and a heart for them that Ive never had before.

God use me, speak to me, and guide me. Be my source, voice, and path.

2006-10-30T21:54:00.000-08:00

So here's the interesting things in my life as of recently:

1. I'm being Mario for Halloween (special thanks to Rachel, Migual, Paul, Sharon, and others for inspiration and supplies).
2. I'm really enjoying the book "God Has Spoken" by J.I. Packer.
3. I really enjoy using my airsoft gun.
4. Doing push ups makes my arms bigger (which is a plus)
5. I want those ankle waits that you wrap around your ankles... reason being, I'll walk around with them all the time, so that when I take them off, I'll be able to jump a lot higher. And that would be rad.
6. I'm stoked to be Mario for Halloween (I got a fake mustache ok!)
7. I feel like my relationship with my parents is stronger than ever, because now I actually enjoy seeing them. Sounds kind of harsh, but you (at least some people anyway) really don't fully value your parents, and don't develop a more mature relationship until you spend time away from them. I love them very much.
8. My devotional life is turning into more than it has been in the past.
9. I wrote a song about "If I was a moose." It's got a bit of old country rythem in it for the verses, and then a kind of punk-ish rythem for the chorus

Summerland

2006-10-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

Once again I have travelled to the Land of Summer. A whole swack of the kids remember me, and some of the parents. Every time I've travelled to Summerland I play electric and do back up vocals... this time I had the added bonus of playing acoustic.

What was so great about the music? I had 4 guitars... played only 2, but hey, as a musician you got to be prepared!

It's amazing what God is capable of doing in our lives when we allow him to do his work. I so pleased so see so many familiar faces worshipping God.

There was something special about tonight, and here's what it was... I knew what i wanted to pray, and it flowed. Something about prayer that has bothered me for the last year or so has been a lack of knowing what to pray or how to pray. Tonight, I just did it. I was encouraged by it. And it lead for what I hope was a great impact on the youth.
The music went well, and that was unto God. And it was amazing to see Nate, the guy who played bass, so excited afterwards. It was his first time playing in an organized setting... his past experiences involve getting some songs, practicing for 10 minutes and then playing infront of the church (he has also not really played much bass int he past either). He was jumping and having fun, which was totally awesome. Being organized scared him because it meant that he actually had to do good.... which brings me to the thought....

When doing things, aren't we supposed to be doing them as if unto the Lord? What does that say about our music? Does God want us to put effort into it, or are we going to 'rely on the holy spirit'? I've never been in the mindset that practicing only before you play is all you need. I think lots of practice is good, because then you'll be musically tight, and means you're (well, should mean) your perfecting it for God because that's who it's for. However, God' spirit will lead us, thus we need to be open to the spirit and be willing to follow who ever is in charge of the music. It's rather interesting to hear a lot of students and pastors talk about how they don't practice because they want to rely on God... is that really good? I don't know... I think it's kind of using God and actually kind of lazy. THere are times where you will just have to rely on God because of times where practice is not possible... but does God want perfection, or as close to it? Or does he want something completely spontanious? Or is there a middle ground where you practice, but don't just do things robotically, but rely on the spirit to prepare you a head of time?

Just a thought.

Mid-terms: Once again

2006-10-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Alas, every one will be blogging about how much they hate mid-terms and or did really well/poorly one them. Thus I will no longer talk about mid-terms.

So here's props to Air Care.
Ontario doesn't have it.
British Columbia does.

Doesn't British Columbia actually sound like it should be a country rather than a province of Canada? I vote that we seperate. We're on the pacific rim, would have a stable economy if our government would run it properly, and we'd already be twice the size of the average country around the world.
This should be the campaign slogan:
"WE'RE B.C.
CUT OUR TREE'S!
GIVE US A
STABLE ECONOMY!
YAY!"

Be cool, become a popcicle.

Salvation

2006-10-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'm totally aware that I'm going to be stepping on a few hands and feet saying this but I don't really care... when you wake up to this kind of thought it deserves conversation.

I woke up first today in a really bad mood (I've been awake all of an hour so far today). I've never had a dream where I've been so hurt emotionally, and so angry that it has actually passed over into my awake state, and then begin to think about that and be so, well, pained and angry. The topic of the dream is totally unrealistic (especially because of the characters involved) and so I will never divulge this dream to anyone. But these pained and angered thoughts lead me to salvation.
Yesterday I listened to a sermon by a guy named Paul Washer. He's a Southern Baptist Missionary/Preacher and he was at this youth group confrence thing. His message was on Salvation, and how 99% of North Americans who say they're saved, aren't. His reasoning, because all they did was say a prayer.
I think most of us can agree that you aren't just simply saved by saying a prayer, and that it takes life transformation.
his analogy was this:
"I'm late for work and I need to explain to my reasoning. So here what happens... my car pulls to the side of the highway in flames and distress, I get out looking for help. And on the highway, this semi is coming at me at 120mph and I jump in front of it to get him to slow down, and it hit me... that's the reason I'm late. Now, all of you are looking at me... you all see that I'm unscratched, and you're thoughts would be, "if you came into contact with a semi going at 120mph it would obviously have an impact on you" you would be right! It WOULD have an impact on me. ANd what's bigger than a semi going at 120mph... GOD! So how can we say we've had an experience with God and not be impacted!"

His message made me think so much about salvation this morning. The main thoughts that came to mind are:
We need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Romands 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test, and approve what God's will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will."
Titus 3:1-8 "Remind the people to be subjet to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.
"At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable to everyone."

Paul Washer also discusses when Jesus talks about how the gate and the path are narrow (matt. 7:13-27). It's not just the destination that's narrow, but the path to get there, and I think we as a whole forget that. We need to live in accordance with the path and look at what's directly infront of us, and not always look at the gate because if we do, we may actually fall off the path because we don't know where they turns and straight parts are, unless we look down, and follow.

Faith without deeds is nothing. We're saved by the faith, not the deeds. But the deeds need to accompany the faith. A quote that I heard this week.
"Faith without good deeds cannot be called faith. Faith without deeds is dead. And dead faith is worse than no faith at all. Faith must work, must produce, must be visible, veral faith is not enough, mental faith is insufficient, faith must be there, but must be more and inspire action. So do something! IF your faith isn't inspiring action, is it true saving faith? Are you going to play a harp some day if your faith isn't inspiring action? Is it true saving faith? There's a great deal of difference between reading a menu and eating a meal." (There will be some Jeremiahs, granted).

Salvation isn't from a prayer, it's from how you live. We need to emphasize that a lot more.
Thoughts?

Seekers

2006-10-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the main thought I had today:

We, as a church (the whole church I mean), or atleast the ones who are aiming to be 'post-modern' are all leaning towards calling anyone who isn't a christian who steps through the doors a 'seeker'. Why on earth are we doing that? Not everyone is seeking who comes through the doors. I really don't like labeling people as seekers who are not Christian.
Is there something wrong with this mindset I have?

It really does bother me. And then I've noticed how a lot of the 'great' ministries (great as in ones advocated by certain peoples who don't really have any other ministry experience or so they claim (yes, they claim that)) focus only towards seekers.
And then when one of these seekers is saved, we get to say something to the extent of 'I lead them to Christ.' Yet they were seeking God. Not you to lead them. God leads not us!
Anyone else feel this way? That we're over-categorizing? Or is this just me picking up something that is only happening in a few places?

If you're wondering where this thought came from, it was from my Religious Conversion (not necessarily always the teacher) class last year, a sermon I've heard recently, and a few conversations.

RANDOM THOUGHT

2006-10-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Postal should make a group called 'Doubters Unanimous'.

Give a hollar

2006-10-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

There's only a one letter difference between sick and suck

Jesus: What is attractive?

2006-10-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

So,
What if I said Jesus was ugly?
How many of you would stand and be offended at that?

What if I said Jesus was extremely attractive?
How many of you would stand and be offended at that?

What if god's definition of beauty and ugly are something we really don't understand? What if it goes beyond what we comprehend? We were created in his image, so granted we should have atleast some understanding of it... shouldn't we?

Sitting in the cafeteria today it was brought up that Jesus was ugly so that people would follow him by faith, not for his looks. It makes sense in some ways. Isaiah 58 (I think) says something like that. However, what was Isaiah's definition of ugly? What was ugly? I'm pretty sure it wasn't a tall, dark haired muscular, guy. Or was it?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it wasn't until about 150 years ago that attractive was, when it came to women, larger women? And think about why? A thought was, without trying to be funny, was that larger women are more attractive because of the fact that they can keep warmer at night on their own, and they have more baby making potential. Don't quote me on that, and i could be pulling some element in that is completely off?

I don't know what ugly was for Isaiah. I don't know what ugly was in Jesus' day. But I don't think it would look anything like what we believe... where we might have an element of that understanding, but still.

To say Jesus was ugly, and only attractive because of his faith, doesn't really sit well with me. What about you?

2006-10-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

Why on earth is it that we have denominations? I don’t know if God likes denominations. “But it’s a good way for people to fit in. This way it comforts their beliefs.” What nonsense! I’m serious. I’m all for people fitting in, but why do we look at things so menial that in the event of judgement, really those things won’t matter. Or another question could be why isn't the church accepting in the first place? We're to correct and rebuke, not shut down and condemn! We focus so much on peoples comfort that we forget about scripture. Within our protestant, or evangelical denominations, there is split, after split, after split, and we keep coming out with ‘new and improved’ denominations. And the newer ones get flack from the older ones because they are radical and unscriptural? What if both are unscriptural?
I think we need to take a look at history… recognize that yeah, there’s differences, but if we sit down, do hermeneutical study, we’ll come up with less things we can argue about because it’s very clear what scripture says, or just agree to disagree instead of condemning one another on our beliefs. Yeah, people will have different ideas, and different interpretations, but is that really any grounds for thinking of ourselves as better? I think as protestants/evangelicals we need to take something from “our Catholic friends” and that lesson would be about unity. Notice how, despite the crap, and there’s been a lot of crap, there has been unity and growth? They stuck together? Some people would argue that the state of the catholic church is not quite that great. Can we really say any different? Our peoples are all doing the same crap, just under the guise of a ‘different’ religion or ‘denomination.’ “I’m not catholic, I’m Christian.” Are you really like Christ? Are you any more like Christ than the hymn singing church down the road? Denominational pride has been a big problem that has come from denomination . Can we really ever say that all the ‘advancements’ have been a result of us splitting and learning new things? Or is it God? Or could we have actually learned a lot of those things a lot earlier if we stuck to the bible in the first place?As it stands, I am going to consider myself ‘anti-denominational’ (in the sense that I don't necessarily want to be associated with a denomination, but want to live my life in such a way that it is God centered and all about Jesus to the best of my ability) and consider myself a Follower of The Way. Because if someone is not prideful in their denomination, then it won't separate us. We are for Christ. We may vary and have different opinions, but we will both agree that we are doing our best to serve the God who created us, and that he died on the cross for our sins, that we must reach out to the world, that we need to love all who come across our paths, even our enemies! Denomination can kill, but I think it's safe to say that unity brings life. The advancements that have resulted from denomination are good for the most part, but I fear that it could lead to further separation. A scary thought, I think that I’m beginning to believe that Tongues and Prophecy are initial evidence. Why? Read the texts, get the ancient Hebrew and look at what the words imply. They imply that they go hand in hand. You can’t have tongues without (true) prophecy.

A positive about Denomination is that it provides an avenue for people to go to school. Such as me. I’m enrolled in a Pentecostal Bible School and well, through the denomination we get support from people in the denomination… but the thing with that is, it could be just as effective if we were all under one banner, and we’d accomplish unity.

(Note: This post has been edited due to Jer Postals comments, which were quite valid. His comments are proof that I need to be more clear in what I'm saying. Sorry if there was a major misunderstanding, but hopefully, even in the event of misunderstanding, it provoked thought!)

Worship #4

2006-10-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Conclusion for now...

It seems to me that we’re allowing entertainment to run our worship services. We’re appealing to people, not God. We’re doing all these things to, for the sake of being relevant, sacrificing principles. We’re doing things in our church’s to let things go by faster so we can fit more into a service so we’re done in an hour, or an hour and 30 minutes! For God’s sake, why don’t we recognize that if people can sit and watch a 3 hour movie, then they can focus in church! We have selective attention spans. We need people to mature in their worship. We need to stop catering to a bunch of babies. Let’s move from the milk to a little more substance. Let’s use the teeth that have been growing. I don’t know about you, but I want to bite into something where my teeth sink in, and use the incisors God has gifted me with. It’s like our mind has nothing to do with worship these days. If you are using your mind it’s no longer worship.

Now, I’m not saying to forget about those new comers. We need to remember them! We need to be instructing those new Christians, those seekers in the faith. We need to be teaching them. Christianity isn’t something where you take notes, but it’s about practical application. Where do we go from there? Growth. Growth is to experience. If we’re not growing, we’re not experiencing. If we’re not experiencing, we’re not growing. You can tell a person how to drive, give them all the instruction you want about the mechanics of a car, how it works, what pedals to use when, what the different switches and buttons and knobs do, but it means absolutely bunk if you don’t actually make a person sit in the car and teach them to drive. Apply this to worship. We can teach these people as much as we want, we can get them to sit in our seats, tell them to raise their hands and see how that feels, but it’s a whole new ball game when you put your heart in the open and you start to worship. It’s a whole new thing when you are in a place where the purpose is purely praise and worship in a declarative sense, not just a life sense. The way you live will back up your declarative worship. But I think we need to stop just giving people lessons, and let them put their foot on the gas, and worship! Build them up to do it so they don’t stumble and crash, of course! But that should only be for so long. We can’t allow for the worshippers in our congregations to become stagnant worshippers. It’s a danger that we seem to be embracing all the more.
The whole concept of us going to church for fun and entertainment falls under the whole immature worship category. Miraculous isn’t it? Growing in our worship will mean we’re going to want less of an entertainment, and more of a God centered reality.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to advocate against anything we’re doing in our churches today (in particular), but I think we need to make sure we’re focusing on God, and not people. If we focus on God, everything else will fall into place, in the form God wants it to.

Our lives will be a response of worship, and not a desire for pleasing ourselves.

Worship #3

2006-10-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

I had my talk with Jacob. What a powerful message on worship, and one that would be very unpopular amongst most peoples today!
I’ve often had these thoughts of how we should move the band to the side, in another room, or not have any band at all. What a thought… I wonder what would happen if in our worship service on a Sunday morning at a church, what the response would be if we said for the next 30 minutes, we’re going to worship God by being silent in his presence. Just silence, for 30 minutes. No body talks. Just the hum of the fans and lights in the ceiling, the occasional sneeze or cough, the sound of peoples breathing. But then it slowly focus’ in… you begin to hear your heart beat, feel your pulse. All you can do is be quiet because that’s all you know how to do. You begin to bask in the presence of the Lord, you think over the past week, what’s happened, begin to realize that there needs to be reconciliation with people, and so this month you won’t be able to take communion in church, unless you make amends with these people. And most of all, make amends with God. Seek His grace and forgiveness. And take communion in a personal setting. Where it is either just you and God, or you and a few close friends. No large congregation. No buffet style as seen in many churches today. Just your group, the breaking of bread, and Jesus. Go from the stillness to the breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup. What would happen if we went from 30 minutes of silence, to a personal communion, to a sermon, and then a response time of worship? What would that actually end up looking like? I know a lot of people would never come back to the church. You’re church would probably degenerate in numbers and focus less on the numbers.
What if we did an entire service of music in just hymns? The younger generations would be appalled! They would freak right out, and odds are never come back! The older generations would be flocking in. What if we didn’t include a hymn in the Sunday morning service? Some in the older generations would be disgusted! The younger generation would be cheering.

What if you used a liturgy? What would happen if we used historical practices found within the liturgy?

Notice how now a days we are entering churches and chapels so casually that we forget that we’re going to intentionally meet with God? This has nothing to do with dress, but attitude. We need to have communion, community, and fellowship. But we often forget that is a house of God. An intentional meeting place with Him, the Saviour of our souls. It seems our attitudes need to change. We can no longer be entering a church looking for fun and excitement. Those things should be naturally coming from actually aiming for God. If we want fun and excitement, we should be going to Castle Fun Park. But I’m telling you if you enter into true communion with God, you will have a bazillion times more fun and excitement than anyone who has unlimted resources at Castle Fun Park, or Playland, or wherever. Scary thought ‘ey? We don’t need material things to have fun…

What are we aiming for in our worship?
[church]

Worship # 2

2006-10-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Keep in mind that not all discussed are the thoughts of the parites involved in these conversations... some of the conversations had lead me to thoughts. I'm also pulling in other conversations or other thoughts of other peoples to play in this.

I have had a conversation with Chad Langrud (how do you spell his last name anyway?). Our conversation consisted of the following, in a summed up form.In our worship in church’s there needs to be a balance. Begin with a form of invitation for people to enter into worship along side. You then need to start on focusing on God. Focusing on him and what he’s done. What we could call engagement. Then you do a transition to self-reflection. Reason why you lead people (we are talking specifically about youth worship services, and I would expand it to just over all immature worshippers in general, including youth, kids, new Christians, etc) in such a way is because they are more immature in their worship. They don’t think after every song how this relates to them, like after singing songs of God’s greatness. Thus they need to be lead into self-reflection. The more you grow and learn, the more you will begin to think automatically how God’s greatness is evident in your life and stuff, but at first, you need to be lead.
People are the sheep. To be completely honest, we need to remember that sheep really are stupid. Extremely stupid. You could make one sheep jump over an imaginary fence, and all the sheep will jump over that exact same spot… they will blindly follow, they won’t use reason. There needs to come a time where we begin to think less like sheep and grow into something more and transform our minds. We need to think more. Because of the saturation of media, we are trained to think less. And it seems like the current trend in church is to make people think. However, how much are we doing to really do that? We aren’t doing much of that in our Sunday services are we? Or are we? There is an element. But in church services there isn’t much response time afterwards. I had one experience where we did the sermon and then the worship. It completely threw me for a loop because it was out of the norm. Normally I need to be built up to listen to a sermon, by doing songs of worship. But maybe we should be doing the sermon in order to build up to the worship? I know of a few churches in the states, and one in Maple Ridge that do that. The music is in response to the message. Who would think that worship would be the response to learning?! Is a balance required? What is that balance? Is it that we need to focus less on ourselves and more on God (which I earnestly believe we need to do more of)? How do we teach the church to start thinking for themselves so we can leave this trap of having to be leading in a journeyful way… are we leading, or are we entertaining? I think that is something we need to be very careful and aware of.

Side Thought

2006-10-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

not a post on worship

What if there really isn't any black and white? Mark DeHoogs blog made me thinkg about this in the conversation taking place in the most recent conversation.

We often talk about these grey areas, but I think the grey areas are becoming less and less. I think we've been neglecting history when we look at these so called grey areas.

Now, this may offend some, but it's a chance I'm willing to take! It even challenges my own believes.

In regards to piercings... there is no explicit evidence for or agianst piercings if we want to 'decorate' our bodies, same with tatoo's. The only command is to not get them for the dead (Leviticus 19:23). The event from history which I will talk about will back up this thought...
When a missionary went and ministered to the Hiada natives up north, he began to talk to the natives about "The Great Chief in the sky" and then they began to turn from their old ways... they began to be shamed because of the body decorations, and removed them. Depending on what it was they couldn't get rid of it (such as tatoo's). But it's interesting to note that where the Gospel moves in, piercings and tatoo's are moving out. And I know a lot of people are doing it to just do it for themselves, and there's nothing wrong with that if there is no alterior motive (if there's even a hint of another reason, it becomes definately wrong). And there are people who get piercings and tatoo's in order to be relevant. I believe the pope said, "Be in the world, not of the world" which is definately a nobel concept. If we're doing something to be 'relevant' we're being of the world, because the world is all about relevance (the gospel is already relative we don't need to make it relative). 2 reasons that I see why piercings and tatoo's are not good, and are actually anti-God. The first reason, you were created in the image of God. And that image, is proven in how you are born. The only kind of markings I've ever seen on babies are wrinkles, and birthmarks. Not tatoo's or piercings. So, in that, you are saying to God, "You didn't make me good enough. You're vision of me sucks, therefore I'm going to decorate it because I'm better than you." Whether you think you're saying that, or not, you think you are adding on to something that God has already called good and perfect... hm....
the second is that, well, plainly, if you are going to be an effective witness, you won't be just affecting one certain type of people group. You'll be affecting more than one. You may have a predominant impact on one people group, but ultimately, you are standing before the world. And well, to be honest, it's really not worth the hastle of dealing with people. So why create a fuss when there's no need. The bible speaks against trouble makers. Remember, you are held accountable for everything you do and say.

Or drinking.... biblically yes, Jesus drank. But there's a few factors to keep in mind, a) he didn't get drunk. Not even tipsy (if he did, there's no record). b) the water quality was poor, the wine was the best alternative. c) The wine was new wine, and thus had a lesser alchole content because it wasn't new (When Jesus turned the water to wine, it was considered the best.. the longer wine is stored, the 'better' it is (only I can't stand wine!)). Truth of the matter is, you dont' need alcohole. There are plenty of alternative liquid sources that can do damage to your body, such as pop, chocolate milk, energy drinks, coffee, or tea. You could always just drink milk, a real juice (not artificial), or water instead and be healthier (something we could all use to aim for). Keep in mind, i"m not advocating against pop, haha, I like a good pop once in a while. but I feel sorry for those people who are 'addicted' to coke. Why drink alchole, when there's a possibility of influencing your body in a way which it shouldn't be! God made you the way you are, don't defy him by saying you need to do something to yourself to stimulate yourself. You're slapping God in the face.

Notice how a lot of these things that we do to ourselves are actually in complete deffiance to God? It's, in essence, whether we intend to or not, saying that what we are doing is better than what he can do, because we need "to improve". If you want to improve, God made you to be healthy, so start eating, sleeping, working at your job/school, working out, and relaxing regularly.

Black and white becomes a lot clearer when we remove the element of pride.

Semi-series on Worship

2006-10-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be getting into many different conversations with people about the topic of our so called 'worship' in churches.

To be clear with all, I feel that it is, 'good' (from what I understand good to be) but it's incompletle. Now, I'm unsure where the incompleteness comes from. Is it from where we are at as people, in that we are not living wholely like God wants us to? Or are we simply not doing something within our services?

After having a discussion about worship with the afamed Roger Stronstad, I see that I feel the same way as him (as it stands) about our congregational worship- it needs to mature. We have so many songs about, "God I will do this," "God I will do that," "God I promise," "In all I do I honor you" kind of things, where we are making so many declarative statements about things we are going to do. The 'worship' isn't about God at all, those kinds of songs are, at most a response to God calling us into a life of worship, but those are not, in themselves worship. Worship is about honouring and glorifying God. Where's the glorifying God in making a false promise? "Jesus I believe in You and I will go to the ends of the earth." People say, "That song is only metaphorical," but what if, just follow me on this, God doesn't want you to be saying things metaphorically? What if God wants the real, and the true? What if you say, "I will go to the ends of the earth," And God is dead serious when he accepts this promise?
It's better to not make promises, and not break them, than to break promises made. I think we often forget the words in the bible where it says, "Let your words be few!" We often times sing songs where it says, "And i'll let my words be few, Jesus I am so in love with you." Are you really in love with Jesus? Are you really in love with your God?
Worship is a response to God's greatness, His awesomeness, His Majesty, His Grace. Worship is not a response to what we can do or say we will do.

I came to a realization last week in singing a song that all people know I can't stand. But the words say this,
"How great is our God!
Sing with me (thats't he line I don't like because of how lame it sounds)
How great is our God!
How great! How GREAT is our GOD!"
And the rest of the verses actually follow that theme! And they talk about God's greatness. And the only reference to us is, "and my heart will sing" and yet, even if you're not a Christian, your heart, and soul longs for God, even if you won't acknowledge it and or you're trying to fill it with other things. This is probably one of the most, 'theologically' (if I can use that term) accurate songs out there created within the last few years!

I meet with Jacob Valsson to discuss this topic in 2 hours. I'm excited to see what results from it!

Ancient Hebrew

2006-10-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

The study of ancient Hebrew Intrigues me.

While doing research for my paper on Ruth, Justin Falkner started to laugh and showed me a word found in Hebrew. The word was malach (ma-lah-kkkuh). The word means "To nip off a birds head, but not fully, only to leave it dangling by a bit of skin." So there is specifically a verb for nipping off a birds head in hebrew. It's great!
If you think I'm kidding, the word is found in Leviticus. I'm not quite sure on the spelling, but that's how it sounds.... it's really harsh sounding at the end... mainly because it's Hebrew. And if we were to spell it with the same way, it would be spelt mlch. And if this entire entry were in hebrew it would look something like this:
mdwhsdngltdtrtsrnklfntsj,htrnpprymrfhcrsrgndlhw
ffpnt"nmrdt(hkkk-hl-m)chlmswdrwht. wrbhndnfdrw
".nksfbtybgnlgndtvltyln,yllfntbt,dhsdrb
tb,gnllpshtnrstqtnm'.sctvlndnfsdrwhe,gnddkm'knhtyf
fdn.wrbhs'tscbylnm...dnhttgndnshsrhyllrs't....sdnsthws'tht
nrwyrtnrtnstfdn.chlm spltbdlwt,ywmshthtwtpslltwrw
:shtklgnhtmskldlwtwrbh

Now, what I did was took out all the vowels. Then I literally reversed what I just said. So now you're reading from left to right.
However, the one thing I'm not sure is if a sentence like "My name is steve" would be:
1.)
vtssmnym (the way I did it above)

or

2.)
stvsnmmy (or this way...)

Anyone who actually knows what they're talking about who could help, that would be great. If you've studied hebrew at all, my guess is you would have done exersizes something like this.

True or False

2006-09-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

Taken from the infamous Jeremy Postal for his shameless advertising tactics...

"God’s grace only goes so far as the shadow of the cross." I'm writing that in a book report for my Doctrine 1 class. It's in context of God's wrath.

So... True of false, "God's grace only goes so far as the shadow of the cross."

If you read this response is required.

Intellegence.

2006-09-22T17:03:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that if we begin to sound complicated, most people will begin to think of us as intellegent.
This is my observation. Yet really, it seems like these so called 'intellegent' people don't know how to simplify. I believe we begin to call someone average or not-so-intellegent because they don't know how to communicate ideas. Yet, neither do the so called intellegent people! They just make it more complicated than it needs to be. Granted, there are something that just won't make sense to the average person and you will need to have a higher education (in whatever form that comes) to be able to understand some stuff. However, when we read text books by these men and women who are labelled as experts, and they can't clearly explain an idea, and instead of using basic, and easier to grasp concepts to teach a subject, they have to use abstract, uneasy to follow ways of thinking and logic, using random symbols and letters, which make it again, harder to follow. It's rather irratating.

So, for those of you who claim to be intellegent, or if people call you intellegent, ask yourself, do you know how to convey a thought in a way which is easier to follow so someone can understand you?

The arguement then could be attributed to that persons communcative ability, and so we shouldn't be associating communication and intellegence. However, isn't the ability to communicate a standard used when determining the intellegence of something?

To put all of that into a paraphrase:
Intellegence (or intellegent people) needs to be able to communicate in a clear, easier to follow, concise way the information that they wish to convey, in which the average person can understand and utilize the new information gathered.

Post 115

2006-09-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try something a little different for this post.
Kind of going with a J-Ansloos appeal.

So much light,
Bitterness intertwined.

So much joy,
Darkness intertwined.

So much peace,
Fear intertwined.

So much love,
Disaster intertwined.

So much darkness,
Fortification intertwined.

So much pain,
Freedom intertwined.

So much doubt,
Courage intertwined.

So much uncertainty,
Justice intertwined.

When do we begin to see beyond ourselves, beyond a 2D map, and begin to see almost, almost, omniciantly?