As you all know, I am from Ontario, which means that any snowboarding that I do is on a hill, make that lump. So this week, for the first time in my life did I snowboard on a mountain. It was such a blast! Five days of shredding the gnar with some of my best friends with fresh snow every day! I have never had so much fun snowboarding before in my life. There very few feelings as good as ripping through several feet of unridden snow in the backcountry, dodging trees and watching them fly past you as you catch air off jumps and drops. Besides the incredible snowboarding, the nights were great too. We would come back to a warm chalet at the bottom of the mountain that we could snowboard right to, and there was three hot tubs, cooks that came with us from camp and we would all pile into this warm house at the end of a long and tiring day. Seriously though, as great as the snowboarding was, the best part of the entire week would be the chapels that we had each night. At the beginning of the week, Jim warned us that the place that we were staying was sacred. It was a place where God did big things in the past and spoke loudly. I can see now that this is indeed true. This was a sacred place for us. On the first night that we had chapel, we all talked about where we could see Christ in others. This took a long time, because there was a lot to say, but everyone could see Christ in everyone and it was voiced. I felt a huge amount of unity and encouragement on that night. How crazy is it that Jesus Christ lives within us? The God of the universe dwells within me! I never want to loose this feeling of unworthiness/excitement and I want to be continually having myself living less and less and having Christ being shown more and more through everything that I do. Thank you Lord that you live in us. Please pray that I would be growing in the authority that I have been given through having Jesus live in me. If Jesus lives within me, I want to certainly be living with the authority and fullness that one would have with the incarnate God living within them. That was Monday. Tuesday was my favourite day of the week, since the snow was incredible and we had a great day of riding but also the chapel was the best one that we've had this year. Jim talked about how Jesus gave Simon a new name, Peter. He said that that name was out of character for Peter at the time, since this so called "Rock" was actually an impulsive, wavering, emotion filled boy. Sure the name Peter would have been an encouragement, but also, it was a huge sweater to fill. It was admonishment. That night, we were given new names too. Names that would encourage us where we were at, but also names that would push us and challenge us. I have prayed in the past that God would speak to me and glorify others and himself through the words that he spoke to me, and that is exactly what happened that night. I would be sitting there, and a word would randomly be put in my mind about a specific person and I knew that I would just have to say it. That was the Holy Spirit speaking to me, not for my own glory, but for the edification of the body of believers of Kaleo. When I would say a word, it was completely confirmed by several others that that was the same word that they were thinking or the same idea. For that reason, I know that God was speaking that night, and that it was not merely our own thoughts that gave each other names. God was giving us new names! My name is Shepherd. This is the name that God gave me and was confirmed by many others. To be completely honest, I welcome this name because I know that it is from God, but I am intimidated by it. Shepherd is a big role. Man, does this sweater feel big. I am encouraged in the present by this name of Shepherd, but I am indeed challenged to become more and more like the Shepherd that God has in mind for me to become. Jim said that it was a dangerous name, because it means pastor. I kinda wanted to walk away when I heard that. I do not want to be a pastor, at least not the pastor that I am familiar with. I think that my own preconceived ideas of what a pastor is and what a pastor isn't is clouding what "pastor" really means. I believe that I can be a pastor, without actually being a pastor, if that makes any sense. It is a dangerous name. Be praying for me please, that I would develop in every way into the Shepherd that God wants me to be. The cool thing about these names is that I often feel distant from knowing God's will for me. However through this name that God gave me, I feel that I have a little direction as to what God wants from me, and what I will be doing for God. Please pray for this too, as I am trying to think about where to go next year, that God will continue to affirm things in me, and continue to guide me. The next chapel we talked about things that we need to give up. The analogy was this, that after a long day of snowboarding, we are wearing old, wet, cold clothes. Jesus is standing in the warm chalet with toasty warm and dry clothes for us. So we lifted up to the Lord things in our life that we needed to shed. The thing is, is that it wasn't a time of sorrow and guilt in our confessions, but it was done with a very thankful and submissive spirit, since we were giving God things that were holding us back and taking hold of the things that were genuinely better for us in every way that we could imagine. I told God that I needed to shed my pride in order for me to become more like Christ, and that instead of pride, I needed to cloak myself with humility. I believe that every time we talk to God, we should come away changed. We should not remain the same after talking to the God of the universe. I felt a change in my heart even that night. Please be praying that God would be continuing to shed from me these wet clothes of pride that I cannot remove on my own and replace them with the warm clothes of humility. That is a little taste of the week. Pretty awesome eh? I didn't go to youth this week because we got back to late from Mount Washington to make it. Saturday was a good day, where I was supposed to be doing homework but the beautiful weather made it impossible to do so. I was down at the dock barefoot, in jeans and a t-shirt, and I felt warm. It was insane! Barefoot in January!? I thought about all of you back in Ontario shovelling snow. Can't say that I feel jealous at all. Later that day I went mountain biking up one of the local mountains with a girl from Kaleo who competes in bike races. I was glad I got the invite to go biking, but man was it intense. A complete hour of biking uphill. So worth it though. I had a great time hanging out with her too, considering that I never really hung out with her before. Also on Saturday, I randomly ran into Nathanael, a good friend that I have made just in the past couple of months, even though I have only met him three times. He is the one who I keep meeting on retreats. We talked and prayed for a while together in December, then by surprise we ran into each other again in Vancouver at Missionsfest and he prayed for me for a while there, then he was at Qwanoes on Saturday just for a visit. It is cool to see God setting up these encounters, definitely divinely orchestrated. He is such an encouragement. I got to tell him about the answers to things that he has prayed for me, and we took great joy in that. When I think of him, I think of the word authority. I can see that he has authority from Jesus. When he prays, he sees right through me, and prays about things that I have not brought up, and it seems when he prays, that things do happen. Thank you Lord for such a good friend that you have brought into my life at just the right times it seems. I will trust that you will keep these meetings coming.
This week is a homework week. A lot of assignments to do, and a huge book to read on Christian Doctrine. I'm not sure how I will get it all done. Pray that I do.
Please pray that God would be giving me his strength to be meeting with him in the mornings. Let me wake up even before my alarm goes off. Pray that the word of God would be bound to my heart, and that I would LIVE in the word. Please be praying that God would be preparing me for the Olympics - teaching me how to pray, how to listen. Please give thanks to God for all that he is doing here at Kaleo. He is melting hearts of stone!
This has been a long post, but it has been a significant week. I know that in many years when I think back on Kaleo, this will be one of them that stands out the most. Thanks for sharing in my week.
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