Life!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately! Mainly because I'm "studying" for exams and writing year end papers...but thinking about my life none the less.

For my youth ministry class I had to write a personal growth plan, bare my soul, talk about things I need to improve about my life and send it to the only bully I've ever had! I struggled a lot this semester with that class only because the prof and I didn't see eye to eye and he dealt with it in front of the whole class, hanging me out to dry! I found it extrememly difficult to have to bare my soul for him, only to have him critique it! My mom told me to write the paper for myself, not for him, for me, so I did and I finished it! But what I learned through all that was, what it feels like to truely respect your elders, how to bit my tongue! But I also learned that I really need to follow a plan. I'm someone that flies by the seat of my pants but since I literally mapped out my life for next year I have a guide that I can use, one that will help me grow, learn, and become more healthy!

Another thing that I learned this past week is that, I am incredible out of shape! I've been exercising everyday this week, nothing too hard, but boy am I sore...it's quite sad really! But I'm still working on that! I just need to find a cardio workout that won't build up my calf muscles...they don't need to be any bigger! Ha!

I learned that I LOVE comic book movies...actually I already knew that but I really really learned that this week, if you know what I mean! Last Saturday I bought the Superman boxset with the four movies in it! I watched them all this week while procrastinating studying for exams! Then after I finished those I started Batman...which I realized will lead to Spiderman and then Xmen (which I own)! I'm such a geek!

Moving on, I learned that I need to develop the innocence of a child! Meaning...I was walking home from an exam the other day and there were four children on this walkway that I use, they were there with a sitter or someone like that! As I passed them they all said Hi and were really cute! If only we could all be like children and just say hi to a stranger on the street...the world would be so much more pleasent!

There's something else, not really something I learned because I already knew it but I just realized it again and that is that I miss the Temple real bad! Thursday and Friday night I had the pleasure of hosting four really cool guys at my house...Rideout, Josh, Daniel, and Jon! We had so much fun, I haven't laughed so hard before! They're crazy boys and I can't believe that they're all so grown up...I taught Daniel in his grade four VBS class and now he's in high school! CRAZY! The band was awesome...and really young...everyone's so grown up! I can't believe it! Friday night when they played I cried! I was/am so proud!:)

So yeah! I've learned a lot more things but I can't really remember them so obviously they weren't as important as the other things! LOL!

A little word for thought..."You can't make pizza without cheese...well, you can it just won't be good pizza!" Kevin Sheen (Brendan Leonard Show)! Love It! And it's true!:)

Neat!

So if you live in Toronto and have not heard about this yet...then you better crawl out from under the rock!

There was a huge manhunt this morning! It was a police invasion that went wrong. One man died at the hands of the police and another with a shotgun wound...however, he escaped and was on the loose! The had the roads shut down at Bayview and steeles and the surrounding area...for those who don't live here...steeles and Bayview is a big intersection, especially at 7:30 in the morning! There were at least 16 cop cars, three helicopters, and special tactics units swarming the area!

This was this first thing I heard about when I woke up this morning! I turned on Breakfast television and there it was, I was like..."Neat! That's like three minutes from my house...and I have to go to school which is even closer to the scene!" It's scary, hearing about things like this that you only see in movies. It's even scarier when you live in the neighbourhood! I describe the scene I saw this morning as something directly from 24! There was a bit of disbelief, a bit of nerves, but mostly shock that our city hasn't gotten this bad! Where did we go wrong? Why is there such evil? Who do we blame? How do we fix it?

I ask myself these questions quite frequently! I think many people ask these questions every day! In my philosophy class we have been talking about evil and where it came from. How God would "allow" evil to happen! If anyone knows about this you'll understand what I mean when I say Theodicy, but for those who don't, theodicy is the theory of evil as it pretains to God. There are many different kinds, there's the "gentle reminder theodicy", the "best of all worlds theodicy", "free will" etc. Does God allow evil? Does God allow sin like this? That's what theodicy is trying to answer. And honestly, I still haven't figured it all out! I know that God gave us free will, so that we can choose between good and evil, and because of this free will he will never "interupt" so to speak! This to some people would be considered evil on God's part, he knows when bad things are going to happen and he doesn't always stop them! But I think that's where we, as Christians, need to step in! We must act as agents of God to show that love, teach the difference between good and evil, not just the sugar coated stuff that we teach now, we need to shock people out of doing evil! It may seem a little sketchy, to say that we're gonna "shock-rock" people, but just think about it! Maralin Manson for example...complete crazy man and when he does anything it's talked about for days! Believe it or not folks, shock-rock works! I don't mean for us to do crazy dangerous things, but use images to teach, testimonies, etc. More than we are now! Have you even been to the court house on 311 Jarvis? It the family and young offenders court...anyone can go! It's heart wrenching to sit in on cases of 13 year old sex offenders! Gah! Where did we go so wrong?? That was my "shock" experience! You should try it sometime! Spend a day with a homeless person and see what he does in a run of a day! Stand outside the local high school where there's drugs galore! Shock Yourself and then fight for good!

Wow! That's a rant! Hopefully a coherent rant! I just get so frustrated with this city sometimes!

Peace...I'm outta here!

Mentoring!

So I've been looking into mentoring a lot lately...probably due to the fact that I had to read a book about it for my youth ministry class. But it has opened my eyes a bit.

I've always known the importance of mentoring, how efficient it is. But I never thought that it was as great as it is. I say this because I didn't think that I was mentored as a teenager, but as I thought over my paper last night I realized that I was mentored. I was mentored in an unconventional way, a way that according to the book I read would not be considered a mentoring relationship. I said screw the authors, I know that I was mentored by these people!

These people I am talking about it the kitchen staff at Camp Starrigan! I've had the wonderful opportunity to work for four summers at that beautiful camp! I love it there, but more because the people are wonderful. How exactly was I mentored? It's called music camp! The most dreaded camp of the summer! It's a week long, during the hottest part of the summer, and with the most people! Not to mention the demands that the facutly throw out every two minutes! But being asked to work music camp is an honor, really! The staff is close, they've all been working there for many years and they know what they're doing. Working with them taught me how to treat people, even though you may feel like ripping their heads off. They taught me to keep my cool, to show kindness, and how to properly cut an orange in to equal slices! I love those ladies, they taught me a great deal...maybe I'll write them a letter and tell them how they have helped me grow!!

Challenge...be a mentor!

The Law of Non-Contradiction

So this morning I had the wonderful opportunity to teach the teen Sunday School class at ETC! It was a time! There were five of us and we discussed how Christians often contradict what the Bible tells us to do.

One of the exercises that we had to do was right contraditions that Christians make. Things like, not loving our neighbours, worshipping false idols, saying mean things, etc. I started to think about it, about my own life and how I often contradict what the Bible says.

I have a extremely wild tongue and those who know me really well know this. I always use the excuse that it's my love for fashion, make-up, hair, and accessories that causes me to critique people. It's terrible, it isn't my love for those things, it's my sinful, hateful human nature that does. So right now I am starting a new tradition/holiday thingie, I call it...mid-lenten season resolutions. This time (April 2nd) every year I will make a resolution, this years? To tame my tongue!

It sounds kind of ridiculas and maybe the name is but the thought isn't so...I challenge you to join me in this most cheerful of holiday's (I laugh) and make a resolution as well. Also, some accountablitiy for me would be awesome too!

"Go to the places Jesus would have gone, see the people Jesus would have seen, touch the people Jesus would have touched, and love the people Jesus would have loved!" -Leanne Freison

Peace, I'm outta here!