The Last Post

I can’t say I’ve even been thinking about a post for today. I’ve been really busy with the post-christmas, pre-semester preparations and shopping as well as simply spending time with my friends and family. However I have got something to write about.

This is my last post of 2013. I went through some of my activities in my journal and my Facebook timeline.

I went to national age-class championships in Long-track Speed Skating. And I did better than I ever expected.

I quit my paper route that I’ve had for years (not that I was particularly sad to leave).

I spent ten amazing weeks in Germany. I wouldn’t trade that for anything, I loved every moment of that.

I graduated from high school (yes, I did a foreign exchange in my grad year. I recommend it for everyone.).

I spent an awesome time serving at Echo Lake Bible Camp, those kids were amazing, even though they drove me up the wall sometimes…

And I started Bible College.

If you were keeping score, that’s three schools, three jobs, seven countries, plenty of plane rides, lots of experiences (good and bad), and innumerable friendships made.

All in 365 days.

Here’s to an amazing year, and plenty more to come!

Merry Christmas!

I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

I encourage you to spend this day with your family remembering the birth of Christ, or that failing, at least remember to spend it with your family. We don’t have forever, so enjoy this time with them.

I also want to thank all of you. I made 1000 pageviews on my blog this week!

Again, Merry Christmas!

Peace

Today is the fourth Sunday of advent. This Sunday is supposed to symbolise Peace. Now of course that depends on your tradition, I know that my church does it differently and that’s OK, but I’m just doing it this way.

I find it ironic in a sense that we’re celebrating peace today. We here in Canada have it pretty peaceful, but elsewhere around the world, countries, friendships, and families are being torn apart in brutal, bloody wars.

I think about the first Christmas day all those years ago, Israel was under the Roman “Peace”, as you can probably guess, it wasn’t very peaceful. The Jews expected that if the Messiah came then, he would rid them of the Romans and give them back their independence.

Jesus, the Messiah, was born. A little baby boy, born in a stable, a carpenter's son. He never brought them worldly peace. A few years after He left, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple torn down, and most of the Jews scattered and killed. His followers didn’t fare any better either; most of them were killed in violent ways.

Why then do we celebrate peace? Jesus didn’t seem to bring peace!

That’s something I’m still trying to figure out. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I’ll do my best.

Really, the only thing that I can give is that this is a peace that is to come. We can look for the days that Revelations describes. We need to remember that just because the Bible was written thousands of years ago doesn’t mean that its narrative doesn’t continue today (That was a lot of negatives in one sentence and I got a bit lost in all of them. Basically I’m trying to say that the Bible narrative continues today.).

For those of you who were expecting some ground-breaking revelation about how Jesus has brought world peace today, I’m sorry. We can’t deny the fact that world-peace doesn’t exist, and I don’t have an answer as for why. I’m still just a human who is also still looking for answers.

The End of the Semester

Well, I’m done my classes or this semester. I’m on Christmas break… Let’s reflect on the semester that I have managed to somehow survive…

I look back to my first day at Prairie and I can see how much things have changed. These people here who have become so important to me, the laughs, the hard times… We’ve done life together (even if it’s only for a semester). I’m not talking about the stuff I learnt in class, I’m talking about the everyday stuff I’ve learnt. I’ve learnt that I can do things I didn’t know I could do. Like writing well written 1500 word papers. I also learnt there are some things I can’t do very well. Like gaming. I learnt the value of a good work ethic, I learnt that I actually enjoy cleaning toilets, and I learnt that sometimes it’s best to ignore work ethic and just have a good time with friends.

I’ve learnt that in the few hours leading up to a big exam, it’s best for me to get some alone time, I’ve learnt just how much I need regular alone time. I’m an introvert, so the fact that I need alone time is nothing new, but now that I really can’t get nearly as much as I would like, I’ve realised how much I need it.

I’ve made plenty of mistakes, and I’ve made plenty of accidental discoveries, I’ve learnt that there isn’t a whole lot I can do about my past mistakes other than learn from them, and I’ve learnt that some mistakes are actually worth doing more than once.

Here’s to a restful holiday, and I good new semester. (I get to start flying, yay!)

Joy

Today is the third Sunday of Advent, often called Gaudete Sunday. Many people will be lighting the third candle on their wreaths. For many this candle represents joy.

Where is the joy in this world?

A few of my friends have had to say goodbye to friends and family in the last few weeks, I can look at the news page and see pictures and headlines describing the terrible things happening around the world, and I can go to the city and visit the homeless, those who, sometimes through no fault of their own, cannot get a job or food. Almost all my friends (including myself) are very stressed about our exams.

Where is the joy in this world?

A dear friend of mine is getting married, as I write this, I can look out my window and watch the sunrise, I can go to the park and hear children laughing, playing. I can go to the websites of various organisations and see the work they’re doing to relieve the suffering in this world, I can pull out a CD and listen to absolutely beautiful music, I can talk to friends about their plans for when the go home next week and all the fun things they’re going to do.

Why should we be joyful?

2013 years ago (give or take), a child was born. 33 years later, He was crucified for crimes he did not commit while I murderer got out of prison scotch-free. Yet as a result, our relationship with the father is restored.

Wear a Helmet!

So I was reminded of the importance of wearing a helmet the other day…

I was biking to church sunday morning. Because of the state of the roads, I decided to ride on the sidewalk. The problem with the sidewalk though was that the plow had leveled the snow so that I couldn’t see the curb. As I was riding along, I accidently let my front tire drift over the curb. It instantly sunk into the snow, jammed up, and even though I was going slowly, I was thrown over my handlebars. Naturally, I put my hands out to catch myself, but I still ended up smashing my head into the sidewalk. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet so I only suffered a bruised ego. I can’t imagine what the outcome would have been had I not been wearing my helmet though…

I often see people riding without a helmet, and every time it scares me. Particularly with all the snow and ice we have here. More than once, I’ve gotten my tires stuck in an ice rut and been thrown across the road (That’s why I stick to the sidewalk now. It’s safer).

However, biking isn’t the only place I see people who should be wearing a helmet, but aren’t. As I’ve said before, I’m an avid skater. I often go to the arena on free-skate nights to have a good time on the ice. Unfortunately, that good time is often ruined by children who are skating around, not looking where they’re going. Now I know, they’re kids, they do that kind of thing, and it’s not the fact that they aren’t looking, it’s the fact that their parents don’t think it’s necessary to put a helmet on their heads.

I find it silly that these parents think their kids are good enough skaters to not need a helmet: I’ve been a speed skater for almost my entire life, and I still try to wear my helmet whenever I’m on the ice.

If these kids were wearing helmets, I would still be looking out for them-even with a helmet they can still get badly hurt-but at least I wouldn’t be utterly terrified every time I saw a kid coming towards me without looking.

People, you need to remember that a helmet costs roughly 50$ and you may never need it, but if you need it and you don’t have it, it could cost you a lot more. And if you think that you’ll take the chance, you’re a fool.

Hope

We live in a world where everything seems hopeless. The economy isn’t near as strong as it used to be, debt, particularly for young adults, is rampant, teen suicide is on the rise, showing no signs of stopping. Nothing seems to help. Even religion.

Today is the second sunday of advent. Those who follow tradition will light the second candle on their advent wreaths: the candle of hope. It seems almost ironic. The words that stand-out to me when I look at the BBC’s news page are thing like rally, mourn, opposition, suffer, decry, and pollution. Where is hope?

2013 years ago (give or take), the world was waiting. Most people didn’t know it, but hope was coming. I’d imagine that their situation was similar to ours, the Roman empire was in control, they enforced this control in brutal ways, their front pages probably resembled ours. words like rally, mourn, opposition, suffer, and decry were probably plastered all over the news columns (probably not pollution, since that wasn’t really a social concern at the time…). Some people seem to think that in the days leading up to that first Christmas the world calmed down, that people walked around in a sedate manner, knowing that the Christ was coming. I sincerely doubt that image.

Rather I think that there life was similar to our everyday life. People would be running around, buying, selling, trying to scrape by with the little income that they had. Things would have been noisy, the market places would have had people trying to out-yell each other trying to get the customers. Things would be very similar to how they are now. They felt they had no hope, they saw the roman soldiers, they saw the filthy rich and their morally questionable ways of making money, and they probably asked “Where’s God?” those who knew the scriptures probably looked at Isaiah 53 and said “God, now is the time! Everything fits! Get rid of these Romans!”

I think it’s funny that two weeks later, God answered those prayers. Sorta. Jesus brings hope, but he didn’t oust the Romans, he brought a better hope than that. He brought the hope of forgiveness. He brought not the temporary hope, after all more dictators would come, he brought the hope of direct access to heaven. The dictators would continue in heaven. In the same way that the gargoyles at Notre-Dame highlight the beauty of the church, the dictators of this earth highlight the beauty of Christ Kingdom.

Today, with all the terrible things going on, let’s light the candle of hope, and remember 2 Corinthians 1:10: “On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us”. It may not be for some time, but like the Israelites two weeks before the birth of Christ, it will happen, so long as we pray.