My Tour

OK,
So the Portage/Winnipeg leg of the tour went very well. Actually, very, very well. Both churches were so awesome and hospitable. Good times.

I think I enjoy the road the most though. Lots of fun talks and such, making fun of Piper for his prudent driving. Yes. Good times. It was a little weird being the drummer this time around. I miss playing bass... at least I got a lot of compliments for my drumming, I even signed a stick for a kid!

Right.... it's Andrew Plett's fault. It was such a delight to have him and Fishey show up! (Have fun in Africa, Felicia!)

I also enjoyed having my posse everywhere I went. Good times. Yes. It was so awesome that Brett and Becca came out too, they seemed to be well received by the college mates. Everyone on the team thinks I act quite strangely around Brett, but that's mostly because of the infatuation thing... he makes me smile ;). Anyway, it's almost midnight, and I'm quite exhausted from a very hectic weekend. Thanks to all those folks who came out to see me, it was so good to see familiar loving faces, and it helps curb the homesickness... only like 6 weeks till exams :).

Bye for now... sorry there's no jokes or theological issues being discussed today, but
I'm bloddy exhausted, so screw you all for expecting me to be 100% all the time... wait... there's a rant for ya!

My Theological Thoughts, ii

A broken heart, and a contrite spirit
You have yet to deny

Today's Senario:
Counselling Class....
This is what we went over in our notes today:

"When we acknowledge ourselves as 'all wrong', God acknowledges us as 'all right'."
I think this fits in with this whole 'death to self' thing that we should be doing.

If we would just get over ourselves, and understand that we're not the greatest thing since sliced bread and vacuum sealed packages, we would therefore approach God in our brokenness, and things would seem a little more genuine.

There's something for y'all to ponder for a while (if it at all made sense... I'm not feeling so hot today). I would rant farther on this thing, but it would require a lot more research and thought... I'm not in the mood today, so I'm going to go watch some 24.... (sorry I've been using your method of quoting songs, Brett, but it came up in class, and I liked the concept)
See you all in Portage!

My Theological Thoughts

I wanna go deeper
But I don't know how to swim
I wanna be meeker
But have you seen this old Earth?
I wanna fly higher
But these arms won't take me there
I wanna be
I wanna be

Challenges I've been facing with God lately are to 'go deeper' in a way that is relevant to myself. Let's face it, I tend to be very good at faking the whole 'Christianese Lifestyle'. It's especially easy, now that I go to a Bible College. So I've been challenged to be real. I've decided to only make changes in my life only if I feel compelled to do it, because of my love for God. So I didn't stop swearing right away, even though it would have been quite easy, due to the bubble environment I live in. I drop the occasional F-bomb when I get angry (or to be fair, sometimes I do it purely for the shock factor it weilds), I don't do things that I normally would be compelled to do out of guilt.

Does this new style have its perks? It sure does. I've found that a lot of coworkers have a greater respect for me, because I don't have a problem with their swearing, and that I don't judge them for their lifestyle. I've learned to accept people for who they are, and reflect the same love that Jesus has presented to me.

As a Christian, I would like to challenge my fellow Christians to be real, with people and with God. Romans 12:9 in The Message says it best: "Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it."

So how is this all working out for me? It has its downs (I do admit that I have some struggles in life), but I feel it's starting to work. I've been compelled to do nice things for people (I think even little stuff goes noticed), I talk to God as if He is real, instead of me running for Miss America (thanks, Bruce Almighty), and I do talk to Him more often. And all this is because I love God, not because I've been guilted into doing it. Now if only I would start reading my Bible a little more often, and hopefully curb the language habit at some point. I think those will come in their own time though.

So in going deeper, I think I'll maybe write a prayer by picking at those lyrics I posted earlier:
->I don't know how to swim= I don't know how to go deeper, God, please give me wisdom to do so;
->I wanna be meeker, but have you seen this whole earth= God, teach me Your humility and grace;
->I wanna fly higher, but these arms won't take me there= God, I can't do this on my own, I need to depend on Your strength and wisdom to get me there;
->I wanna be, I wanna be= God, please remind me that I want to find favour in Your eyes, not the world's. I want to be a person with a heartbeat for holiness.
Amen.

In closing, I'd like to quote that verse again:
Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it.