Week Fiveteen

It is Monday night as I write this. We just came in from playing some pretty intense indoor soccer in Crofton with the Kaleos. This week was a relaxed week. It was the week after snowboarding at Mt. Washington and the week before our Intro to Theology class. We had Jim's camp ministry class for a couple days in there. Altogether, not too much has happened this week, other than doing an extensive amount of reading from our Christian Doctrine textbook. I can't count how many times I drifted into a sleep reading that book.

I just had a thought as I was writing this. I was thinking about on Monday night, a week ago today, where we had a worship night, and it was a time filled with prayer about unity. I had a flash back of first semester and many of the struggles that we had with being disunited. I truly am thankful and blessed by the people that I am in community with, especially the guys. I have a brotherhood with them.

Seriously though, this week was a good week, but not much happened. For me it was a time of reflecting on the events of last week, and I am still thinking about them. It was a week where I saw some answer to prayer, though not in a way that I expected at all. Several mornings this week I tried some lectio divina reading of Scripture, asking the Lord to reveal certain things to me that he wanted me learn. One morning, I felt like the Lord wanted me to realize who I was in relation to who he is. I asked the Lord then to humble me in whatever way possible. At the end of the day, I had been humbled, though, by my own faults. It was if I had humbled myself as a result of my shortcomings to obey the Lord. A strange thought, but wasn't that what I prayed for? The next time I read, I felt that the Lord wanted me to trust him about my future and next year. This is hard for me, but I am trying to do this. Its funny, because I have applied to a couple schools, completely open to anything now. I like this time now, because I have done everything that I can do to prepare for next year, now simply it is up to him to take care of me and reveal to me what his will is. Please be praying for me as I spend time with God, that he will constantly be speaking to me. Pray that he will constantly be humbling me, and that my trust in him will be growing exponentially.

On Friday, we had a youth event for all the youth groups of the Cowachin Valley held here at Qwanoes. This was a sweet event and it was so great to be in community with other kids and other leaders all under the same roof for the same goal. I really do like my youth group. I am becoming good friends with all the leaders, and I have solid friendships with the kids in the youth group, especially the grade eight guys. They are a blast! Several of them are actually going to Vancouver to perform on the streets during the Olympics as part of a drumming troupe. Pray for them and their outreach that they will be doing there. I find that when I go to youth group, I naturally get along with the outgoing kids who are engaging and I can relate to, but recently I have been trying to be more intentional about spending time with kids who do not seem to get any attention.

My favourite part of the week once again would be Sunday nights for our homeless ministry. As we were walking down the traintracks to the place that we normally meet people, we heard three teenage guys yelling at us from quite a distance. We ignored them and kept walking along, until they started cutting across the field over towards us. Finally as they were only a small distance away from us, we stopped and so did they. There was three of them and four of us, me, Justin and two girls. We prayed for a bit, and on the way, I was praying for boldness in our words and actions. Other nights, I have felt such a boldness in what we do, such as approaching loud voices that are coming from behind trees in the dark, or intruding on a private bonfire. I secretly was hoping for these guys to come over to us and we could talk to them. Actually, I wanted to keep walking and go up and meet these guys. But we stood there, and so did they until they went on their way and we kept going. After a while, I started thinking about what is the difference between boldness and foolishness? I appreciate the leadership that Justin displayed in that scenario. Maybe the situation would have been different if it was just me and him, and maybe if I wasn't a student under his care. I don't know. Even still, I don't want to live my life in fear or hesitation of stepping into the dangerous, exciting and challenging life that God calls us to live. Please, if you have any insight to offer me about what the difference is, tell me. I want to live with the spirit of power, love and self-discipline and not of the one of timidity, however, in no way do I want to be foolish in my actions. These are simply developing thoughts.

This week is our Introduction to Theology class. Please pray for me as I have always struggled with the idea of theology. Pray for pure understanding and interest too as I sit through these classes. More than anything, would this class encourage me and enable me to live more like Jesus.

Be praying for preparation for the Olympics for us. We leave on the 10th and want God to be moving, working and preparing us for the work that he has set aside for us long before then. Pray and hope for big things!

I will leave you with a quote that for some reason has been in my mind these past few minutes.

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot.