Hey Everyone,
I'm excited to tell you about some amazing things that are happening here at Briercrest. Unfortunatly, I really have to go to bed right now. So here's a quick bite: Basically, God has answered prayers. Revival is coming and has come here, Almost daily now, I'm seeing the Spirit break down walls, passions for God renewed, and lives saved. So far, one worship service and one chapel have had such presence of God that the worship and prayer have continued on for hours. God's teaching us the true meaning of church and fellowship. Brothers and Sisters have a new meaning to me in this context. This isnt just a small thing, its growing we're hearing more often of people getting together to worship or pray informally. Its a common thing to see entire tables at the caf. praying together. I'm so excited to see what God's going to do. Youth Quake is coming too.
My earnest and desperate request is we need prayer. Prayer for people to be prepared for this working of the Holy Spirit, prayer for those of us who have seen and experienced and been broken down for God, prayer for discernment, strength, courage, and wisdom. I really believe that this is part of a wide spread working of God for the revival of the Canadian (and North American) church. Please begin to pray for us here. Have your friends and the churches pray for this too. I'm not sure when I'll get around to emailing the church about this and asking for thier prayer, but if someone could bring that up, that would be great.
Praise God!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Ok. So I'm getting distracted again.
What if unforseen things cause me to go back on a goal/committment/promise that was something that I had decided for myself, but not a bad thing to go back on? Take my decision that I would get through my college years unmarried or unengaged, for example. What if I met someone?
Now don't get all excited or whatever, because thats far from happening. But is it detrimental to my reputation or unethical?
Just a question. Leave a comment and let me know!
What if unforseen things cause me to go back on a goal/committment/promise that was something that I had decided for myself, but not a bad thing to go back on? Take my decision that I would get through my college years unmarried or unengaged, for example. What if I met someone?
Now don't get all excited or whatever, because thats far from happening. But is it detrimental to my reputation or unethical?
Just a question. Leave a comment and let me know!
I have good news! What I was fearing to be an extended miserable cold turned out to be a 3 day intense cold. At this point I'm in recovery, dealing only with a cough and the occasional Kleenex. Though yesterday was insane. I had a pretty bad congestion headache which kept me from my lit and comp class (not happy about that) and ended up dragging my sorry butt out of bed for my first day of spirit formation (again. I didnt do very well the first time. Procrastination rears its ugly head once again).
Just about everyone made some sort of comment about me not being fully mentally present. How true too. My wit was very slow and at best, made little sense. My balance was definatly off too, as I had issues keeping 3 glasses on my tray in the caf. eventually breaking one of them. The day ended off on a good/bad note. Good on my part, as I went to bed at 10pm and slept through until 10am the next morning. However, because of that early bedtime, I went against the wishes of my RA's who, in the face of my logic and desperate logic, insisted that I attend the Hall meeting at 10. I don't know if I'll be punished yet for this, but I'm positive that I chose the right method.
Today's been pretty laid back, started with chapel, then to story time about the Greeks and the Spartans. Then later on a great class in foundations of church ministry, followed by my favourite prof in Christian Theo Part 2. Right now, I'm happily relaxing in my own company at the Morningside Cafe just outside the Moose Jaw Mineral Spa. Couldn't get a better place to people watch!
I'm sorely tempted to take on yet another commitment. I'm sure my mother will understand in a bit. Once a week every morning, some mothers with small children get togehter to have devotions, and they leave their kids (ages baby to 4ish) in the care of college volunteers. My friends are those volunteers. Only today I overheard them arguing about who would be on "baby duty". ARGUING! Over who would carry a baby around all morning! I could scarcely believe my ears. I'd be in heaven to be on baby duty. They suggested that I join them. So here's my dilemma: keep my commitments to a minimum and stay sane, or for one hour a week, care for and love a baby that no one else seems to care to. I dont know.
I'm back to homework now...so go away! Just kidding
Love you all.
Just about everyone made some sort of comment about me not being fully mentally present. How true too. My wit was very slow and at best, made little sense. My balance was definatly off too, as I had issues keeping 3 glasses on my tray in the caf. eventually breaking one of them. The day ended off on a good/bad note. Good on my part, as I went to bed at 10pm and slept through until 10am the next morning. However, because of that early bedtime, I went against the wishes of my RA's who, in the face of my logic and desperate logic, insisted that I attend the Hall meeting at 10. I don't know if I'll be punished yet for this, but I'm positive that I chose the right method.
Today's been pretty laid back, started with chapel, then to story time about the Greeks and the Spartans. Then later on a great class in foundations of church ministry, followed by my favourite prof in Christian Theo Part 2. Right now, I'm happily relaxing in my own company at the Morningside Cafe just outside the Moose Jaw Mineral Spa. Couldn't get a better place to people watch!
I'm sorely tempted to take on yet another commitment. I'm sure my mother will understand in a bit. Once a week every morning, some mothers with small children get togehter to have devotions, and they leave their kids (ages baby to 4ish) in the care of college volunteers. My friends are those volunteers. Only today I overheard them arguing about who would be on "baby duty". ARGUING! Over who would carry a baby around all morning! I could scarcely believe my ears. I'd be in heaven to be on baby duty. They suggested that I join them. So here's my dilemma: keep my commitments to a minimum and stay sane, or for one hour a week, care for and love a baby that no one else seems to care to. I dont know.
I'm back to homework now...so go away! Just kidding
Love you all.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Sick, Lethargic, and Misery
The last couple days I really haven't been feeling tops. I'm sure its only the typical cold, but it feels like a massive cold and more. Its probably time for me to be sick as I haven't really been sick for a long time. But everything is taking so much more effort. Even this (blogging) became something i didn't want to do. I'm hoping that it runs its course quickly so that I can enjoy my classes.
I appologise for not being fully faithful in updating this or being available on line! I've been sick and I'm still getting used to having a regular group of good friends who I live, go to school, and eat with. I would ask you guys to pray for me so that I can learn to balance all of these.
Don't worry, I'm doing really well and having a blast. Oh, I'm also learning stuff too.
Well i'm off to bed.
Night All
Love You
Dan
I appologise for not being fully faithful in updating this or being available on line! I've been sick and I'm still getting used to having a regular group of good friends who I live, go to school, and eat with. I would ask you guys to pray for me so that I can learn to balance all of these.
Don't worry, I'm doing really well and having a blast. Oh, I'm also learning stuff too.
Well i'm off to bed.
Night All
Love You
Dan
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Just a quick update:
I've discovered a new sweet wicked awesome hobby. Its called: www.garageband.com. I get to listen and review music for as long as my little heart desires. I get to listen to some great music, and well, feedback on the not so good stuff.
Love ya all.
Dan
Love ya all.
Dan
Friday, January 05, 2007
Irony or all part of God's Plan?: My Life in a glimpse!
Sometimes I have to laugh at my life. I honestly could not think of it going any other way. But seriously, there are some things in my life that are quite unbelievable. People that know me now refuse to believe what people who knew me then knew.
I started out unlike other kindergarteners, I always had issues with umm... bathroom and the use thereof and so calls home for new shorts were not unheard of. My mother says that I was almost held back from Grade 1 as well. My social skills were not were they should have been, she says.
But when I made it to Grade 1, I like to think that I was more normal, except that I had few friends except for the "outcasts." I remember Michael, I don't think I ever knew what his condition was, but I seem to remember that he might have had a mental disability. Memories of my impromptu birthday visit to the fire station for a tour. All Michael wanted was to meet the fire chief. Not the trucks or the hoses or radio rooms that little boys like me would have given his favourite toy to see. (Yes, My dad kicks behind! He was the one who wrangled this!)
I think I'm proof that God has a sense of humour. Look at my older sister as a baby: Quiet, sleeps through the night, all around good kid. Every new parents dream. Enter the delinquent. I was quite the opposite. Up all night, eatting, getting into EVERYTHING that was and wasnt tied down, and all around being a very hyperactive child that led my parents to hang signs around my neck pleading that none feed me anything that would give me energy. (Mom and Dad can tell you stories, just not the ones where I was naked please!) God must have been laughing his pants off when Mom and Dad met me. (Does God have pants?)
Fast forward to grade six. I still probably hadn't developed the social skills they were hoping I'd develop in Kindergarten. ADD was pretty rampant then. I spent much of my time out of the classroom and in the Learning Assistance room with one other girl and her aide. I think this was probably not so good for my social skills, but amazing for my academic marks. (It was also this year that I killed my teachers fish by naming them). I digress. This girl was Kelsey, an ever smiling, laughing, fun loving soul that I was very privileged to become friends with. She had epilepsy and was quite prone to seizures of various degrees and as a result of these and intensive childhood testings, she fell behind her age level in school. But here again, I seem to find myself befriending the social outcasts. Infact, another example was JD. I miss that guy. Didnt have alot of friends, and even though he was in grade 7 (which scared the socks off me initially) he and I were often found together.
You can probably see God's plan so far here. Here's this socially behind kid, who prefers to shun and distrust the main group of kids to his very few and limited friendships with social outcasts. Right through till middle of high school I fully expected to live the rest of my life like this and was definitely ready to embrace it full on. But then God started to change me.
I began to take an interest in the techies at chapel. They always seemed to have the cool job, with cool toys and such. And so I began learning the art of Audio. And as I began working more and more in this area, God gifted me in it and I began learning how to interact with people. Not to build myself a pedestal, but I began to be in high demand as I branched out into lighing and AV troubleshooting. Obviously, I'm getting TONS of practice interacting with people now.
But it was never until grade 12 that my underlying mistrust of many of the "popular" or "cool" kids was pushed aside and I began embracing the social majority. I don't remember the exact turning point in that year, but at one point, I had had enough of hiding, I wanted this year to be a year that i could say that I had fun with everyone. I know people noticed this, but still knew me as the "kid who didn't talk" or "techie" or other terms that likened to those who belonged to the outcast group.
Thanks goes to Dwayne Schulz, my Christian Perspectives teacher who challenged my class to share 3 life lessons in front of the whole class. At first I hated him. I was always afraid of public speaking and was able to talk my teachers into letting me do a one on one presentation. Not Dwayne. I didn't even have a choice to do it or not. So at the end of the year, my turn came and my heart is racing 700 times a second. I'm still surprised that no one could see me convulse every single time my heart beat. But I sat down on the desktop and put my feet on the chair (that was the only comfortable way to sit on those horrid one piece desks.) I talked about my first 2 life lessons, I can't remember what they were though, and it went well. Then I came to number three. Don't judge someone by what they look like or how they talk, etc. And to illustrate, My first words went something like this: "Most of you know me as this kind of person, quiet, pensive, and nice. But you guys haven't ever been able to meet this side of me" - at this point, I jumped up on the desk and yelled (well, it was more of a quiet yell) - "THE SIDE THAT IS CRAZY, RANDOM, FUNLOVING, AND MISCHEVIOUS!" I think I scared them. I mean beyond frightened or surprised, but as my teacher put it: "Daniel, Please don't Yell. Just sit down!"
I think from that point on I decided to bring these two sides of me together: the one quiet outcast geek side, and the loud, outgoing, friendly guy side. As a youth leader I developed a few more friendships with the younger youth and then the childrens workers as the years grew on. Getting my first job boosted my social skills quite a bit. Finally, when I decided to work at a call centre, I think I finally learned how people work.
Now skip a bit to the not to distant past before I went to bible college. NO ONE believed me that I was once a quiet little kid that rarely had friends. My manager once commented that she couldnt get me to stop talking! At this point I'm making friends right and left because the person that the two sides became was a very laidback, easy going, friendly and outgoing guy that everyone seemed to love.
You know My mother said it right and I hope that my friends don't take offense to this, "He has way too many friends." (http://http://runningwithsharpsticks.blogspot.com/2007/01/cruising-altitude.html -- Middle of third paragraph from the top). I'm sitting here stressed out of my mind because I come home for 3 weeks, and all of a sudden, every friend I've made decides to get in touch with me and wants a slice of Dan. Unfortunately, Dan needs a few slices to himself AND the fact that there's only 3 weeks makes the pie even smaller. So in the end, close friends were denied their pie, work ate up much of the pie, and only family and close close close friends and Dan were able to lick the crumbs out of the pan. Perhaps I'll blog about this further, but to avoid further distractions I must conclude.
Sure its ironic that I'm having huge problems balancing all my friends, when i had a hard time just interacting with people initially, but the more I think about it, I become more sure that its God's plan. God started out with a socially blank boy and planted a special sort of compassion that caused him to spend his energies with those who were not wanted. Then He began to build other qualities in like social courage, friendliness, and other things that made him relate more to everyone else. Now this once socially blank boy is now in college, hoping to work with outcasts like himself. I honestly cant see this going any other way. I would not be as effective working with inner city kids and less privileged kids had I never learned how to socially interact with people. Nor would I have cared about these kids had I been socially endowed before I learned to value those who are rejected. I'm sure I could write on and on about this, but I know my point is made. I am a wierd, crazy, eccentric, friendly, loving, and caring outcast of a friend who desires nothing more than to let people know that at least one person loves them. I am Daniel. I am who God created me to be and desires me to be and nothing more or less.
I started out unlike other kindergarteners, I always had issues with umm... bathroom and the use thereof and so calls home for new shorts were not unheard of. My mother says that I was almost held back from Grade 1 as well. My social skills were not were they should have been, she says.
But when I made it to Grade 1, I like to think that I was more normal, except that I had few friends except for the "outcasts." I remember Michael, I don't think I ever knew what his condition was, but I seem to remember that he might have had a mental disability. Memories of my impromptu birthday visit to the fire station for a tour. All Michael wanted was to meet the fire chief. Not the trucks or the hoses or radio rooms that little boys like me would have given his favourite toy to see. (Yes, My dad kicks behind! He was the one who wrangled this!)
I think I'm proof that God has a sense of humour. Look at my older sister as a baby: Quiet, sleeps through the night, all around good kid. Every new parents dream. Enter the delinquent. I was quite the opposite. Up all night, eatting, getting into EVERYTHING that was and wasnt tied down, and all around being a very hyperactive child that led my parents to hang signs around my neck pleading that none feed me anything that would give me energy. (Mom and Dad can tell you stories, just not the ones where I was naked please!) God must have been laughing his pants off when Mom and Dad met me. (Does God have pants?)
Fast forward to grade six. I still probably hadn't developed the social skills they were hoping I'd develop in Kindergarten. ADD was pretty rampant then. I spent much of my time out of the classroom and in the Learning Assistance room with one other girl and her aide. I think this was probably not so good for my social skills, but amazing for my academic marks. (It was also this year that I killed my teachers fish by naming them). I digress. This girl was Kelsey, an ever smiling, laughing, fun loving soul that I was very privileged to become friends with. She had epilepsy and was quite prone to seizures of various degrees and as a result of these and intensive childhood testings, she fell behind her age level in school. But here again, I seem to find myself befriending the social outcasts. Infact, another example was JD. I miss that guy. Didnt have alot of friends, and even though he was in grade 7 (which scared the socks off me initially) he and I were often found together.
You can probably see God's plan so far here. Here's this socially behind kid, who prefers to shun and distrust the main group of kids to his very few and limited friendships with social outcasts. Right through till middle of high school I fully expected to live the rest of my life like this and was definitely ready to embrace it full on. But then God started to change me.
I began to take an interest in the techies at chapel. They always seemed to have the cool job, with cool toys and such. And so I began learning the art of Audio. And as I began working more and more in this area, God gifted me in it and I began learning how to interact with people. Not to build myself a pedestal, but I began to be in high demand as I branched out into lighing and AV troubleshooting. Obviously, I'm getting TONS of practice interacting with people now.
But it was never until grade 12 that my underlying mistrust of many of the "popular" or "cool" kids was pushed aside and I began embracing the social majority. I don't remember the exact turning point in that year, but at one point, I had had enough of hiding, I wanted this year to be a year that i could say that I had fun with everyone. I know people noticed this, but still knew me as the "kid who didn't talk" or "techie" or other terms that likened to those who belonged to the outcast group.
Thanks goes to Dwayne Schulz, my Christian Perspectives teacher who challenged my class to share 3 life lessons in front of the whole class. At first I hated him. I was always afraid of public speaking and was able to talk my teachers into letting me do a one on one presentation. Not Dwayne. I didn't even have a choice to do it or not. So at the end of the year, my turn came and my heart is racing 700 times a second. I'm still surprised that no one could see me convulse every single time my heart beat. But I sat down on the desktop and put my feet on the chair (that was the only comfortable way to sit on those horrid one piece desks.) I talked about my first 2 life lessons, I can't remember what they were though, and it went well. Then I came to number three. Don't judge someone by what they look like or how they talk, etc. And to illustrate, My first words went something like this: "Most of you know me as this kind of person, quiet, pensive, and nice. But you guys haven't ever been able to meet this side of me" - at this point, I jumped up on the desk and yelled (well, it was more of a quiet yell) - "THE SIDE THAT IS CRAZY, RANDOM, FUNLOVING, AND MISCHEVIOUS!" I think I scared them. I mean beyond frightened or surprised, but as my teacher put it: "Daniel, Please don't Yell. Just sit down!"
I think from that point on I decided to bring these two sides of me together: the one quiet outcast geek side, and the loud, outgoing, friendly guy side. As a youth leader I developed a few more friendships with the younger youth and then the childrens workers as the years grew on. Getting my first job boosted my social skills quite a bit. Finally, when I decided to work at a call centre, I think I finally learned how people work.
Now skip a bit to the not to distant past before I went to bible college. NO ONE believed me that I was once a quiet little kid that rarely had friends. My manager once commented that she couldnt get me to stop talking! At this point I'm making friends right and left because the person that the two sides became was a very laidback, easy going, friendly and outgoing guy that everyone seemed to love.
You know My mother said it right and I hope that my friends don't take offense to this, "He has way too many friends." (http://http://runningwithsharpsticks.blogspot.com/2007/01/cruising-altitude.html -- Middle of third paragraph from the top). I'm sitting here stressed out of my mind because I come home for 3 weeks, and all of a sudden, every friend I've made decides to get in touch with me and wants a slice of Dan. Unfortunately, Dan needs a few slices to himself AND the fact that there's only 3 weeks makes the pie even smaller. So in the end, close friends were denied their pie, work ate up much of the pie, and only family and close close close friends and Dan were able to lick the crumbs out of the pan. Perhaps I'll blog about this further, but to avoid further distractions I must conclude.
Sure its ironic that I'm having huge problems balancing all my friends, when i had a hard time just interacting with people initially, but the more I think about it, I become more sure that its God's plan. God started out with a socially blank boy and planted a special sort of compassion that caused him to spend his energies with those who were not wanted. Then He began to build other qualities in like social courage, friendliness, and other things that made him relate more to everyone else. Now this once socially blank boy is now in college, hoping to work with outcasts like himself. I honestly cant see this going any other way. I would not be as effective working with inner city kids and less privileged kids had I never learned how to socially interact with people. Nor would I have cared about these kids had I been socially endowed before I learned to value those who are rejected. I'm sure I could write on and on about this, but I know my point is made. I am a wierd, crazy, eccentric, friendly, loving, and caring outcast of a friend who desires nothing more than to let people know that at least one person loves them. I am Daniel. I am who God created me to be and desires me to be and nothing more or less.
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