Chipmunk season!

Wow it's been such a long time since I've written in this here blog...yeah it seems like I've been saying that in the past few blogs as well - oh well, I can finally walk outside again so I'm definitely enjoyint that. I actually saw 2 of those little chipmunks today, the first one drew attention to himself by shaking some snow off of the tree and then I sure did see him even though he tried to run away really fast! Hmm, the life seen through a chipmunk's eyes must be pretty interesting, like I wonder what their priorities are...finding nuts, keeping them away from other chipmunks, chasing other chipmunks, scolding the people who would dare walk through their park...like me!

Anyway I was reading in Genesis 22 where Abraham's obedience was tested, and in verse 18 it says, "and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed - all because you have obeyed me." That is so huge, what if he hadn't obeyed God, would there have even been the nation of Israel? Yikes, totally makes me want to obey God right when I know He' s asking me to do something...can you imagine? An entire nation was blessed and continues to be even now, all because of Abraham's obedience to God. So what could happen in my life, if we continuously obeyed God no matter what the cost? I would love to find out!

Back home again

So now I'm back at home after driving for 12 hours in a car with five other people - oh it was so much fun! A new group has been formed, called the Ladies Fellowship....when we got to Joanna's house, we realized that all of our gifts were going to be put to use. Marcia was put in charge of the kitchen and getting all of the meat and cheese cut up, Lori was to be the maid of honor, Kendra was our techie computer whiz, I got to decorate (which I had so much fun doing), Robyn was there supporting all of us in our endeavors and helping out everywhere, Melissa was the photographer and piano player - and Joanna and Tony got married. Oh it was so good, at first I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go, but wow did I ever have fun!

Being there in Assiniboia and seeing Joanna's church in action was really neat too. They have a small community of believers, but they are all so close in there fellowship, I think it would be neat if more churches had that closeness. I have also been challenged to dig deeper into the Word and find out what it really has to say about certain issues like baptism, the Trinity and salvation. But thank you Jesus that you are the giver of life and you guide us into all truth.

And oh yes, thank you so much for the snow, I think I'm going to make myself a snowball or two today, maybe a snowman in the park or a fort - yes that would be good. Have a great day.

To Joanna's house we go!

So bright and early tomorrow morning I will pile into a car filled with six of us girls and we will be off to Assiniboia, Saskatchewan - to go to Joanna's wedding. Oh I am so excited to see her again, I can't believe that I haven't seen her in about a year and a half...honestly, she is one of the last people that I expected to not see in the years after I graduated - but oh well, God has a way of changing our plans and bringing us to places that we never before dreamed we'd go before, all if we let Him of course, and totally and completely surrender ourselves to Him - oh such a hard thing to do though. The thing that is so weird is that I actually know the guy that Joanna is getting married to - I went to school with him when I was in elementary school...so I actually know him. Once again, that is weird.

Anyway, I'm learning that it definitely requires grace to be there for people at all hours of the night, to talk to them when I feel like I have so much homework to do...to look at them through Jesus's eyes when I just want to get annoyed because looking at my situation from a completely human standpoint, I really do not have time to talk to them. But yeah, learning to live in the kingdom and not the world, like that verse in Philippians 2:4, 'Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.'

Ok so the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is delightful - are those even the words? I have no idea...but I do enjoy being outside when I'm walking with the wind and not against it - that much I know. So much easier to live when I start going along with God is asking me to do, and not putting up such a fight...surrender, yes, good word - now to live it out.

Native Studies

It's so weird, all the courses that I take where I know I am going to be challenged and have to work so insanely hard in are the ones that I always think about dropping and then later they end up being the ones I remember the most, the ones I learn the most from. Native Studies is definitely one of those, just like Women's Studies was last semester. I just finished reading a whackload of pages all about the Residential Schools and oh my goodness did they make me almost cry so many times - why are we so brutal to other people who are just like us, made of skin and bones, and most importantly possessing a heart with the capacity to love and be loved...but yet there are and were those in places of authority who used their power to abuse and administer unneccessary punishment rather than encourage and teach children how to live in a 'civilized world.'

It makes me so sick to read about all the horrible things that Native children had to endure as a result of the government and church's joint decision to educate the 'savages' into people suitable for the new European 'civilized' world. The worst part is that the church had the power to stop this brutality, but they turned a deaf ear and ignored the reports of what was happening at the schools, even though they knew it was true. What kind of a message does that send to the children who went to those schools...probably not a message of a God who loves them so much that He gave His only Son to die for them...

Oh Jesus would you please heal and restore this generation of people who have been so hurt by those who committed horrendous acts in your name and in the name of the church. Would you soften their hearts and surround them with people who actually love them with your love, people who will walk through life alongside them and reveal to them who You really are - most of all Jesus, would you let them know they are and can be free from their past, from addictions and from whatever chains are holding them captive. Just like in Isaish 61, would you set the captives free and proclaim peace to those who are torn by bitterness inside.

Oh God would you heal and restore our nation, I pray for peace and restoration between the different cultural groups that exist in Canada, would you revive us from our place of complacency and mediocrity - Jesus would you wake us up from our spiritual lethargy. God I thank you for sending your Spirit, may we truly turn from our sins and repent of our sins (2 Chronicles 7:14), purify us oh Jesus as gold refined in the fire...that we may live, like really live and walk in your kingdom everyday.

Oh that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him! (Hosea 6:3)

Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the people turn from thier wicked deeds. Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)

The Star

So I was reading in Matthew 2 the other day, and I realized that the wise man followed the star to the stable in Bethlehem where Jesus was born - like the star actually moved! Wow that is so neat, can you imagine just riding on your camel one day and all of a sudden you see this super bright star just blinking at you, waiting for you to abandon your common sense and just trust its guiding light? And then that star would lead you to the manger of the One who took the sin of the entire world upone Himself - wow once again. That is so huge, kind of like how God led the Israelites in a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud when they were fleeing from Pharoah - once again, God led them. Wasn't there another time when God led His people by guiding them in a moving earthly object? I can't think of it right now...

Anyway, my friend bought me this amazing cactus the yesterday for my Christmas present, and it's even in a desert looking container with a sunset on it! Actually, there's a tall cucumber looking cactus, and a smaller green pepper looking one, and then a pokey little pinecone looking one with a red flower thing on top of it. So does anyone have any good names that I could bestow on these fine looking cacti?! Yeah so I used to have a cactus when I was younger, but it died because I didn't water it enough - kind of a scary thought I know! Oh well, I'll water this one more often...I just remembered that I heard someone saying they ate cactus one day, must have been a weird taste - that is now going on my list of 100 things I want to do before I die.

Have a great day and God bless you so much, may you realize and walk in His presence every moment of every day.

Windchill!

So I was going to go for a walk this morning, but then I found out that with windchill it's about -39 outside, so I decided that going shopping with my mom would be a great alternative - walking indoors! Yeah, I remember last year when I was in Master's Commission, and I had to go on the bus for about 2 hours a day, and then I would have to transfer at Polo Park - so instead of freezing in the bus shelters, I would walk in the mall till my bus came. Oh yes, and I would talk to people, like grandma and grandpa people who would go to the mall everyday just to walk and get their exercise...and maybe do some window shopping!

But anyway, I actually wrote out my New Year's Resolutions yesterday, and I'm actually pretty pumped about keeping them. So my first one was to pray, I've finally been really realizing that hey, nothing really gets done without prayer...you can't have revival without prayer, can't become a Christian without prayer, you find God's direction, will and purpose for life through prayer...so many things, people are healed through prayer, raised from the dead, encouraged, lifted up, relationship is totally built through prayer, it draws people so much closer together when we actually open up and are real enough with each other to let others pray for us, and to pray for others ourselves. Prayer is really neat, because through it the Holy Spirit can speak through us into other people's lives, even if I might now know why in the world I'm praying this for that specific person, God knows, and He can use my words, your words to speak into other's lives and encourage them.

So anyway, that was number one, and that was the most important one on my list for this year, others are eating more healthily (is that a word?!) because I realized that if I don't start making changes in my life, like living a life of prayer, changing my eating habits, and exercising everyday, that kind of thing, when will I ever change them? When I was younger, I would just live my life and I'd be thinking, yeah when I'm older and graduated, then I'll be a missionary, then I'll read my Bible more, then I'll pray more - but hey, no! It has to start right now, living by the Spirit, like it talks about in Galatians 5:16-26, Right now I need to start everyday living my life only and all for God, like yesterday I was reading in Matthew 10, where Jesus is teaching His disciples and telling them that they will be persecuted, but that His strength is sufficient, so much good stuff in that chapter, but reading the Bible, actually reading it and allowing it to change my life and challenge me, wow that is powerful stuff. I would love to just walk around my house and read it out loud, then things become more real to me because then I can actually hear it. I wonder what would happen if someone just read scripture during the service at church one Sunday, in different translations...that always strikes me because so often I read stuff and forget what I read. But yeah, onto shopping, my mom and I are about to go grocery shopping, my new favorite hobby!

So have a super day and remember Matthew 10:29-31, "Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows."

January 1!

Well, I figured that I should probably get one more blog in before the year 2005, but then I realized that hey, today is already January 1...yeah so I'm tired! But anyway, I had the craziest experience on Thursday, the beginning of the story. My brother Zach and I went to Superstore to buy some groceries, and on our way back home I got stuck in the snow for the first time in my life, and this other lady helped me push our car out of the snow, thank you Jesus for that...and then on Grandeur I was driving and I couldn't see anything out of my windows, like nothing, so I made Zach stick his head out of the window to tell me if I was going to crash or drive into the ditch, wow that has never before happened to me - once again, thank you so much Jesus for your protection.

So New Year's Day huh? Well as for New Year's Resolutions...I still have to come up with those, if I do them at all. But I really do think it's neat that with God everyday can be like a New Year's Day, since every day is new with God, every moment and hour we can be forgiven, start a clean slate and live once more a life controlled by the Holy Spirit, surrendering all of ourselves to Him. Thank you Jesus, you alone are holy and worthy of honor and glory. Amen.