um. December 09

Hi people,

well here is another post, likely my last of the decade on here. actually technically the decade ends at the end of 2010, as the decade would start on 1. but the society ends it on the 9 of the decade, making this the last month of the...00's? I guess I don't think of 1990 as being in the 80's, so it works.

I am now done classes for the semester, but still have 4 finals left, and a fairly sucky final exam sched. one final this saturday, then next weekend I have a final friday night, saturday and monday. I am downloading a trial version of a program called crystal ball so i can study for my first final this saturday. My car is in the shop today to get the heating fixed, so I am going to stay home until I can go get it.

Since it is the end of the decade (kinda) i thought I would think back on the standout memories from the past 10 years.

2000 -
May - my first girlfriend. not a significant relationship, but my first girlfriend. it only lasted a month. (that's about as much as I'll discuss relationships on this public post...)
July - I went to a bible camp called River's Edge for the first time. my sister convinced my dad it would be a good thing to go to. I didn't want to go if i had to ride horses, but my dad (not christian at the time) convinced me to go. I had a great time, made some friends and accepted Christ for the first time.

2001 - May - River Roots on victoria day long weekend at camp. the unofficial start of my experience in youth group. half the camp was from my church, of which i knew no one. made new friends, like Kevin and Aaron. started going to youth afterwards
July - back to camp, this time for 2 weeks straight! I rededicated myself to christ, and got sick. a whirlwind 2 weeks.
9/11 stands out. I think most people my age and older remember this. turning on the tv in the morning, a friend came over to walk to school with me, on tv was a building in New York with smoke coming out of it. wow. went to school, found out the other tower got hit, other planes crashed and basically a day watching tv and listening to the radio at school. the next 3 days the only thing on tv was replays of what happened and discussion. I didn't fully realize the magnitude of it at the time, being in grade 9.

2002. February - Olympics - Salt Lake. Canadian hockey womens team wins gold despite biased ref. next day, the country parties as the mens hockey team wins the first hockey Gold for Canadian men in the olympics since 1952. huge.
September - nervous anticipation as I started high school at Beaverbrook.
December - my first actual job - at Sport chek! getting my first paycheck, and working overnight for the first time too.

2003 - august - outward bound camp. I had to miss out on rivers edge but went to a different camp in BC, with 8 other kids from accross the country, hiking into the mountains of BC for 17 days. wild. a challenging but good time.
sep - job at swiss chalet. stayed for 2 months, it was good money but not great, didn't like some of the people i worked with, and couldn't go to youth sunday nights as i had to work.
dec- started at Papa Johns. I had applied there with a friend (travis) a few weeks earlier. they called me a month later for an interview.

2004 - April-June - Flames Stanley Cup playoff run - the city, the excitement, upsets, watching game 6 of the SC final in the mountains, all the red, red mile - crazy times
May - my sister gets married to Ryan. awesome
summer - no camp. Rivers edge camps were cancelled. i worked all summer for the first time, and went to my grandparents 50th anniversary in saskatchewan

2005 - May/June - Graduated high school! woohoo.
June - bought my own car, first car! 1994 Toyota Corolla (still driving it!)
July/august - worked at camp for the summer (rivers edge) made great new friends and fun times
Sep - started college at Mount Royal. it was a tough first semester
November - went to my first Grey Cup game, with my dad. drove to vancouver for the game

2006 - April - quit papa johns despite becoming basically asst. manager, as semester finished because of poor pay. went to do Cribbing (construction)
June - my niece was born - I became an uncle!
july - went to work at camp for the summer, got refocused on God and made more friendships
Sep - got involved with youth as a youth sponsor! helping to lead the gr7-9 boys. had no clue what i was doing, but it worked out well
Oct- got job at marks work wearhouse after someone saw my ad on a job site

2007 - june - quit my job as i got a job at Nexen downtown, thanks to some interviews and connection from my mom and step-dad. my first office job! (and it payed like it too!) had some good hockey talks with a new friend
July - narrowed down what to do with my semester off. from my choices of: working, travelling on my own, capernwray, dts, bible school - i picked Capernwray, then chose to go to the one in Australia! applied for it
Aug - found out I was accepted to the school in aus, now had to figure out how i would pay for it. the excitement began
oct - made new friends in young adults and joined the wednesday wing night tradition
nov- was blessed with some suprise money before i was supposed to get it, to help pay for Capernwray! then went to the Grey Cup in Toronto with my dad. woohoo. also saw Niagra falls, CFL and NHL halls of fame, CN tower, Ivor Wynne stadium and some relatives from the area.

2008 - January - several going away parties and many goodbyes. excitement, joy, disbelief, amazement and more excitement, nervousness and more excitement as I was "leaving on a jet plane" to Australia. packing my bags, realizing how much i would be missed by friends and family, incredible. read my first posts of this blog to read more about that...
January - August - a reel of memories. highlights were travel weekend with friends, hong kong mission trip to newboy house, prac week in sydney, coolangatta, fraser island with friends, Whitsundays sailing trip....i could go on and on haha.
Sep - got another job with nexen, started at University of Calgary. reconnected with friends/youth/family, met my nephew
Nov - Stampeders win the Grey Cup, got my own office at work
Dec - finished with D+ in 2 courses, would have to repeat

2009
january - brother-in-law Ryan gets laid off as youth pastor. sucky, big changes at bonavista
March - snowboarding for the 3rd time of the season - had a blast and gained confidence
April - saw friend Sean from Capernwray
May - got summer student job at TransCanada. another connection gets me a job, and my best one yet (and best paying too!)
June - Ryan got a job as youth pastor in Lethbridge - exciting for him and his family. also means dad moves upstairs and I get basement suite on my own. camping with friends at end of month
August - two trips to banff, visit with friends from Capernwray (Lisa and Michi) and camping in Drumheller
Sep - year 2 at U of C also final year of University!
Nov - went to my 3rd Grey Cup game, in Calgary this time. my Dad and I debated selling tickets and went in the end, glad we did even if the Stampeders weren't in it. (Riders blew it in an epic finish)












wow, so lots of memories, obviously the more recent ones are easier to recall. it has been an amazing decade, one of terrorism, Gold, graduations, changes for relatives, Grey Cup games, faith, youth, friends, family, traditions, adventures and growth. A decade that still no one knows what to call, or how to describe (ok technology/computers/cellphones/mp3 music and facebook).

ok so here are some one liners to finish...


Always remember that you are unique; just like everyone else.
consciousness: that annoying time between naps
there are three kinds of people: those who can count, and those those who can't
why is "abbreviation" such a long word?
nuke the whales
i started out with nothing and i still have most of it
change is inevitable, except from a vending machine
out of my mind. back in five minutes
a clear conscience is usually a sign of bad memory
as long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools
laugh alone and the world thinks you're an idiot
sometimes i wake up grumpy; other times i let her sleep
the severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to reach it
you can't have everything. where would you put it?
i took an IQ test and the results were negative
okay, who stopped the payment on my reality check?

hehe some good ones there.
soo i think thats it, enjoy the christmas season, it feels like christmas outside. take some time to reflect on Jesus and have a dangerous Christmas!

thanks for reading,

Adam

Noooooooovember - updates, music and one liners

hey everybody

well its been awhile since i posted on here, since september started, i have finished most of my fall 2009 school semester (midterms are done!!) and started into my floor hockey season (www.alliancefloorhockey.com)
School has gone well, with some good courses, 2 Opma courses (inventory management and spreadsheets for business use), a Canadian studies class on humour, a sociology of sport class and two half classes of mgst (working with people and corp governance and compensation <- yuck). had 5 midterms last week, one for each class, it was a tough week but just like any other midterm/final week, its nice to be done. although its not as if I can just relax now, as there is still a month left with assignments, a paper and finals coming up. Although it is reading week right now (3 days off!), so I do have some time to do other things, which I am doing.
oh and hockey is going well, kinda. Our team hasn't had a great start, at 5-13 now, but we are still in a playoff spot I think, and its been fun playing. I have gotten a bit better so far, but it is hard when half the team doesn't show up for most games. Our team actually has 2 goalies, but neither showed up last night, so I got to play goalie, it was, interesting. Actually it was fun and challenging, and with the help of my teammates, I was better at it by the end of the second game, too bad that was against the better team. we lost the first game of the back to back 13-11 and the second by something like 17-8. So I had fun, even though I let so many goals in. It didn't help our team only had 1 sub, yet again. but its about having fun right? when our team shows up, we usually win, but our record shows how often that happens...

My sister and her husband get to move into their house this week, so they are up here getting things finished up for that, my dad will lose most of the furniture upstairs as they left it here til they get the new house. I need to buy a new tv or home theatre system, which will be upstairs, so my dad will use it. As I am a student, my dad will buy it and I will buy it from him next year when I move out/have money/the situation changes. So I get to shop for a TV etc, but its tough to get in the mindset of spending heaps of money, when I am trying to limit what I spend to a minimum. I need to have the perspective of what I will be willing to spend in a year, once I have a solid job and will be actually using the stuff, which is tough to do (and probably dangerous!). I am spending my money from 12 months from now, which is weird, actually it's kind of like having a credit card that doesn't earn interest until next fall. hmmm

Lately I have been listening to lots of music...wait, thats always the case haha. Ok but lately I have been listening to "the 401" and "thousand foot Krutch". I went to a concert at my church a few weeks ago and it was "the 401" which is a band I had never heard of. Good music, I bought their CD, which is called songs of Solomon, basically the love book of the bible. After listening to the cd several times and the lyrics, I understand why they named it that, but It is good anyways! Also a few months ago I downloaded (on Itunes) "Set it off" which is the first CD from Thousand Foot Krutch. I already had their last 3 but bought this one, and have enjoyed it. *Actually they have a new album out that I want to get, called "the Masquarade" not sure how to spell that haha. other music I want to get includes some Jesus Culture music, they are a good band that a friend of mine told me about. I've listened to some of their songs on youtube. Justin also shared the band "Sparta" with me, which I liked their cd.
I also would like to get the new NewWorldSon cd, the new Franz Ferdinand cd and the new Switchfoot cd (they finally came out with a new one), Hello Hurricane, which is apparently better then their last 2 cds.

ok, to finish, some one liners
Ninety-nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name
borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back
time is what keeps things from happening all at once
lottery: a tax on people who are bad at math
I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian
never answer an anonymous letter
it's lonely at the top; but you do eat better
I don't suffer from insanity; i enjoy every minute of it
always go to other people's funerals, or they won't go to yours
few women admit their age; few men act it
if we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?
no one is listening until you make a mistake
give me ambiguity or give me something else
we have enough youth. how about a fountain of smart?
he who laughs last thinks slowest
campers: Natures way of feeding mosquitoes

that's all for now,
thanks for reading as always,

Adam

 
 
 
 

Sep 09

Hello readers,

Well August was another great month, this summer has flown by, and the last few weeks have delivered some summer weather. sunny in the high 20s this week. beautiful.
I have finished up at TransCanada, as I head back to school at U of C on tuesday. this week I have been hanging out with friends and preparing for school.

I went camping with some of the youth and my buddy Jake a few weeks back. we went to Drumheller for a weekend, it was awesome, and we were blessed with Justin's mom letting us borrow her van (we needed more space!). it turned out to be a beautiful weekend. forecasts a week earlier were calling for rain, but we had sunny skies and mid 20s weather. we did some hiking, some swimming (in the Red Deer river) and ate lots and lots of food.

This past weekend I helped Nat and Ryan with their garage sale, which was somewhat successful. A friend from Capernwray and her boyfriend (Lisa and Micheal) were travelling in North America (from Germany) and they stayed here for a night. We had dinner at the Calgary tower, walked around downtown and hung out at Eau Claire on sunday night. On monday we drove out to Banff and hung out there for the day, with beautiful weather. it was a great time to catch up and hang out with them, and to be a tourist in my own province.
Also got to catch up with a few other friends from Capernwray (Tyler and Daralynne) before they took off for Colorado.

As for Football, our team has been in several close games this last month, with a 1 point loss, a 6 point win and last night, a 14 point loss to the top team in the league. We are now 7-6, with one game left and a bye week, we are in 6th and need some help (one team to lose one of thier last 2 games) or to beat the 2nd place team in the league without our starting QB to make the playoffs.
we have one game left.

It has certainly been a great summer, and I will have to enjoy the last few days before school starts.

For my thoughts portion, i thought i would take a look at some of my notes from the Hillsong conference i attended back in July 2008 in Sydney.

One of the speakers was Mike Pilavachi, he is always interesting to listen to. He discussed how worship, evangelism and Justice belong together.

ok so worship, when you love someone you tell everyone. When we praise God, we are showing him love, but worship isn't just praise. Worship communicates our love for God. True worship, in whatever it is, shouldn't be forced. it is merely us doing something that will bring glory to God, we can imagine that God is enjoying it, or that we are doing whatever it is in a way that shows his love and how we feel about him.

Evangelism is an overflow of worship. hmm, how does that work? Evangelism is telling people about Christ, so our worship is seen by others (but doesn't always have to be). when our worship is around other people (like serving for example) it is Evangelism even though we aren't doing it as evangelism. we are serving doing something because we want to (as worship to God, to show love) and in doing it we show people the love to Christ. This is evangelism and worship, where they meet. our worship effectively can evanglize to others, and they might in turn ask questions or at least think about why we are doing what we are doing, and why we believe it, what is driving us to do it etc.

If you look in Acts, it talks about the Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit poured out upon the people as they worshipped. the worship led to evangelism, telling people about Jesus was not nearly as effective as the Holy Spirit. Its God that saves people, not us, we can lead people to that point, but just like in worship, it has to be a decision in the heart, and only the Holy Spirit can truly reach that.

the first response to the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was worship, the second was evangelism. one lead to and created the other. "worship is a glimpse of heaven."

then there is Justice. the New Testament talks more about justice than heaven, hell, the 2nd coming and sex. Paul and others realized that justice is important, Jesus came to not only save, but to help us to be better people. We shouldn't just worship and neglect the poor and broken. a few verses, Amos 5:21-24, Isaiah 58:6, Micah 6:8.
Justice is worship, a form of it at least.

ok, so justice is important, what does that mean? i guess it means to treat everyone the way Jesus would treat them, justice means fairness, so treating them like sons and daughters of God, because we all are. even if some don't believe in God, he created them, for a purpose, and with love, so they should be treated with love. Kind of like a few posts ago i mentioned loving people even though they aren't doing the right thing, love the person behind the actions and words. Like Hitler (I discussed this a few months ago, so won't go further into that again).
Mother Theresa said "we do it for Jesus", she spent many of her later years working with Lepers, the most rejected and poor people, just loving them. She is seen as a saint, "we do it for Jesus", that puts it together. She was worshipping God by treating them with love, she was evangelising through her actions and she was treating them like they should (ie Justice)

John 4 - with the Samaritan woman. Jesus doesn't preach, he asks for water. This doesn't seem to matter, but looking at it, Jesus started where she was, with water. He didn't start with his agenda or telling her she was a horrible person. This is evangelism, sure there was some intention of helping her, but he just wanted to care for her. God loves everyone, not matter what they have done.

God wants a church without walls, not a church that preaches the good news, but one that is good news. Yes its good to bring people to church, or for them to come on their own, but not everyone wants to go to church (the building) or is able to, but we are the church everywhere, we can be Jesus to people, and its worship. Worshipping God, showing love, treating people with justice, and letting God shape our lives.

I think its important to say here, that we can't do this on our own. We are selfish, we aren't perfect, we find it easier to find imperfections in people than to love them despite those imperfections. its like when we are younger, we easily find faults in people "your stinky, your ugly, your poor" etc, but as we grow up we look past faults in people. Some people take longer than others.

My point though is, that the Holy Spirit works in us, on our hearts, and as we get closer to God (prayer, praise, devotions, learning, trying to listen to him) the fruits of the Spirit come out. God shapes our hearts. He pulls us closer, even when we try to resist. If we try to get closer to God, slowly things start to change, we start to develop things like faithfulness, self-control, goodness, patience, gentleness, kindness, love, joy and peace. We can embrace these things, and realize the good that God is doing in us, raising our confidence in what we are, who we are, and the knowledge that with God in control, life won't be perfect, but he is shaping us into people of God, to do great things and have an impact.
Worship at first is more of a struggle, justice doesn't make sense and evangelising seems too hard, but over time, and with practice, God works in us so that it is natural. We start to love worship, care about justice and naturally practice evangelism, without even knowing it. Often we have a bigger impact than we think, and God loves us more than we think sometimes too (in the hard times)

wow ok, so that is alot. I hope that made you think, not sure if there is any practical application, but there probably is. Think about the impact you have had on your friends lives, think about what you can change, think about how you can help to bring justice in our world, think about how you can show God's love, how you already worship in different ways, how you serve, and think about where your faith is.

How evident is your faith to people around you?

well some things to think about,

thanks for reading,

Adam

August 09 thoughts

Hello readers,

well its been about 2 months since my last post, so I will post something!
lots has happened in the past 2 months for me. well I finished up my spring semester at school in June, meaning I have only 10 classes left until I have my Bcomm. I will have a bachelors degree in 9 months! also I turned 22...ok thats not that exciting, kind of crazy to think actually. 22, wow. so i have been working the past month at TransCanada, good times, its been a great opportunity with Employee Communications, but sadly my summer student experience only has one month left! (well, maybe i can extend this job into a part time role in the fall like I did at Nexen!)
hmm, well Ryan got the job at the baptist church in lethbridge! congrats to him, Nat and Ryan will be moving down there at the end of the month and get thier house in November! yay for them! I will miss my little Abi and Silas though, as well as of course Nat and Ryan.
it will be wierd having them move out and not live here (tho Ryan has been living mostly in lethbridge lately). my mom and step-dad came up for a visit in June as well, always good to see them.

went camping in Sandy McNabb first weekend of July with some of my friends, went for a bike to downtown the week before, and attended some work functions during Stampede week!

also I bought a new phone last week, got an LG Rumour through Solo mobile, its a pretty cool phone and a cheaper plan than the ripoff that called itself Rogers.

hmm, oh I went to camp for a week, as a cabin leader for Junior camp, good but wild times. I wasn't feeling great going into it, but got through and enjoyed leading the boys in my cabin, and there were alot of them (11 boys with 2 leaders for our cabin). It was great to get back out to camp, it was still tiring, but its a different tiring than sitting in an office all day!
It would have been great to be out at camp for the whole summer like I used to do, but those days have passed unfortunately(stupid need for money), but I still enjoy going out for a week or two during the summer.

Right now it is a long weekend, an extra long weekend for me as friday was a designated day off at TransCanada, and monday is a holiday. 4 day weekend, I didn't end up going out of town, as much as I thought I should, but thats perfectly fine. its funny how even taking a weekend off ( a long one even) you still end up busy, or at least I did. not too busy, but not extremely bored either. Friday was good because it was a sleepin, a relax no rush day, I went for a bike and had a little devo at a bench in fish creek on a beautiful day. then helped dad with some yard work and spent time with family, then watched football. its nice being able to just do whatever, not trying to get heaps done in one short period.

saturday was the same deal, I slept in, was expecting to fill in for a soccer game but it got cancelled. my day opened up even more. I went out into the heat and wandered around best buy, eventually buying a microsdhc card for my cell phone, getting a starbucks and heading home, only to head to Shawns to hang out for a bit. played some NHL 09 and went home, where I enjoyed homemade burgers (via my dad) and watched the Stamps-Riders game.
I guess that is a little busy, but not organized busyness, just freeflowingness (i know, thats not a word).

today I went for lunch with my friends Jake and Jeanie then played a game called discipleship at Sam's place for the afternoon, enjoying the beautiful weather (we played outside) and hanging out. I went for dinner at Montanas with my Dad, Nat, Ryan and the kids. also made plans with Jake and Jeanie to go to Banff tomorrow and then meet up with some of the guys about a campin trip next weekend.

anyways i guess my point is that I'm glad I decided to hang around town this weekend, glad to have a mid-summer long weekend to enjoy, and thankful for friends that had the same mindset on this long weekend!

hmm well some other thoughts I guess.
In anyones spiritual journey (or whatever you want to call it) there are good times and bad times, peaks and valleys. over the years I have had some peaks and valleys, but over time it gets less extreme, or at least it as for me. in the Good times, you feel great, all facets of life seem to be going well, and most importantly you have a passion for God, unfortunately this doesn't always stay the same. Sometimes we have rough times, times when we just aren't feeling it, we aren't sure what we are doing, where we are going (this isn't always bad though!) and maybe feel God isn't right there or that lifes trials are hitting us all at once....
wait - sometimes you are thinking about something or in this case writing and a song comes on or something happens that fits, right now is one of those times. I am writing about good and bad times, and just noticed that a song called "the lining is silver" by Relient K is playing. part of the chorus is "isn't it nice to know, that that the lining is silver, isn't nice to know, that were golden". cool. (well at least i think so!)

in bad times, things seem to suck, but we have to remember that God is there for us, and that these trials or tough times we are going through will pass. That God has the vision, we don't need to know where this is going (though in the tough times we really Want to know), we just need to trust God. The lining is silver, take the positives out of it, remember what you have, remember the good times and know and trust that there will be good times again. The song that is on right now is "Praise you" by Fatboy Slim. haha. anyways we need to praise God in all of our 'seasons', part of the words in this song are "we've come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good". wow.

another song, and some people say this one is overplayed, but I think its for a reason, it speaks so much to us about life and us and God in that life. The song is Blessed be your name, I really love this song, its about us praising God, at all times everywhere, including in the desert place.

Ok so the reason I was thinking about this, was that the other day I was thinking that maybe I'm in a spiritual rut, I had slipped on some things, like prayer. upon realizing this, I got to thinking about how our rough or downtimes end/start.
Do our bad times end when we start to figure out whats going on? or does God prompt us in subtle ways we don't realize, so that we come back. when we are in a good time, does it end because we realize we are doing good and get overconfident and complacent? I don't know but that has to be part of it. Another part has to be that it just is human nature, look at the old Testament, we would come back to God, then go away, then back again, realizing at different points.

bottom line, it happens, but I think we can actively do things to get out of the tough times, but not always, and often we don't feel like it, and eventually God (who is faithful) will nudge us out of the spot, but that doesn't mean we should wait. I've seen people have trouble and instead of seeing God pulling them back, they saw it as something else and thier faith crumbled.

another song playing on my stereo, Citybus Lovesong by NewWorldSon (one of my latest favourite bands to listen to, since YC), in the chorus: "where would I go without you, without you to guide my way? where would i be without you, I'd be wandering day by day"
where would I go without you God? I would be wandering day by day, in a far off worse state then I am, if still on earth.

Ok, one last thing (this has turned into a much longer post than I expected, a brain dump of sorts).

I started writing in a journal each day as a practice when I went to Australia, so to remember my times and have been reading through some of my writings that last little while. such good times, I'm so glad to have the pictures, the DVD and my journalling (as well as reunions with Capers friends) to look back at the great times had and things learned. keeping a journal is a good idea, even though sometimes its like a chore. if it becomes a habit (which apparently happens after 2 weeks or so?) it is a nice memory and way to look back to see how much we have changed. anyways its been almost a year to the day (a year to the day on friday!) since I got back from Australia. one year ago I was exploring Sydney one last time on my own before returning for one last visit to Capernwray to see my friends and get my luggage.
oh the memories!
another odd coincidence, our waiter tonight was from Australia.

as always, thanks for reading (and congrats for getting through all that) and I hope some of my thoughts got you thinking!

Adam

End of May update and randomness

hello readers,

apparently I should post again, so I will!
I am sitting here waiting for my Laundry to finish so I can put it away and go to bed.
anyways heres the latest. My Flag football season starts this monday! I am excited about that, it should be great. we play 15 games, mostly on mondays, and I am playing Cornerback.
I also started spring school, which has been ok. its a whole semester packed into 5 weeks of school. I had a group meeting today (a saturday!) at the Uni and it seems I have projects/assignments due about every week. midterms start the week after this week.
Also I started at TransCanada a few weeks ago. I am happy with the new job, and the people I am working with, which is important. right now I am working a few days a week.
hmm, what else?
oh I went to YC with my youth group last weekend, and it was awesome. of course I was really tired and sore after. sore from YC? yep thats right. I guess it was getting a few hours of sleep each night on a hard church basement floor, doing 100 pushups saturday night, and jumping and waving my arms etc for a bunch of concerts. the weekend was great, a few great concerts, a few dissapointing concerts and a few suprises. Relient K was a bit of a dissapointment, one of my favourite bands, maybe it was the sound in the arena, maybe I wasn't in the mood for Relient K, I think they played alot of thier slower songs though. the ones i knew were good though. Red was fun because some of the youth and I made up dances as we didn't know the songs. Thousand Foot Krutch was great as expected. Pillar wasn't great and niether was Grits. Family Force 5 was fun and NewWorldSon was probably the best (and suprise for me, I hadn't heard them before). Reggie Dabbs spoke and was great and the worship was alright (the songs I knew, or at least that we could see the lyrics for, were good...but that wasn't many unfortunatly). anyways it was a fun weekend as it always is.
Big news this past week was for my brother-in-law Ryan. He got a job as the Youth pastor at a church in lethbridge! the job search is over! I am happy for him and the family to get the job, but it will be sad with them leaving. It will be wierd not seeing them and the kids all the time, but it is a great opportunity for them. of course they need to find a place to live there now.

also, i bought Grey cup tickets this morning, for my dad and I. Grey cup 2009! whoooo. Go Stamps Go!

so some random thoughts....sometimes we try to fit God to terms so we can compare him or so that we can figure out who he is. God can't be put into a box. trying to put God into anything is like trying to put a backpack inside itself. you can try and try, but you just can't. there are many words we use to describe God, but a few words can't be used to define who God is. God is love as many say, but theres so much more to God. God is everywhere, everything, inside us. his Holy Spirit is inside us and flows out of us when we let him. Athiests try to prove God doesn't exist, how can they do that, aside from personal judgement and opinion. they even try and force their beliefs on others, that sounds alot like the thing they are fighting against. Often people try to fight against things either because they think it is wrong, or because they are scared it might be right and want to wipe it out so they don't have to worry it is right.

Jesus would tell us the only things harder then hate is love, and harder then war is peace. Love your neighbor as yourself, one of the biggest things Jesus stressed was love. Love. do you love yourself? What does that mean? maybe its that you care about yourself and want the best for yourself. Now even though you love yourself, you may not like yourself at times. how does that work? lets say you do something and immediately regret it, don't want to face the consequences, maybe you don't like yourself at that moment. "stupid me." but you still love yourself, you still want the best, that is why you are upset, you know you could do better etc. this works the same way with other people, or at least it should I guess (sometimes we need God's help to start to love even the most annoying people in our lives).
Think about the people you don't like, why don't you like them? because of something they did or they are doing. Maybe you still love them, not in a "love=marriage" sort of way, but in a way that means you care. You want the best for them, you see what they are doing and that they would be better off doing something different. sometimes I run across people who are difficult, I should care that they get better, not hate them for who they are. its like loving someone who beats thier kid. That person is hard to love, but think about it this way. You want the best for that person, you may not like thier actions ( I hope...), but you know they could be better off, and you hope they can change, you may do something, say something or pray for change, bottom line, you want the best in the situation. then again, maybe you don't always feel this way, you think the person should be hanged, shot, whatever. but think about that, should we lose hope in anyone, where do you draw the line...

heh. well there was some ranting for you. comment if you have any thoughts, i hope this at least got you thinking, whoever is reading this.

thanks for reading,

Adam

MAY update

Well it certainly has been awhile since I posted on here. So here we go.

lately I finished up my winter semester at U of C, doing well in all my classes. it was an easier semester than the fall semester, and less busy. Also I am done working at Nexen. my contract ran out at the end of April, and I have gotten a job at TransCanada Pipeline. awesome. I had an orientation yesterday and start work on Monday the 11th.
I am also playing flag football this summer on a team with some friends from my church! I start my spring semester in a few weeks, it will last til the end of June.
One of my friends from Capernwray, who lives near Edmonton, came down and we hung out for a few hours on saturday, it was great to catch up!

hmm, what else...
I finished reading "Mere Christianity" by CS Lewis, it is a great book, but it takes a while to get through as it is very deep and caused me to think alot as I read it. I would definitly reccomend it. Its nice to read while sitting on the train to/from school. I have also been occasionally listening to a podcast from Westside Kings church.
I have had many times in the last few months that I got to thinking about stuff that I shouldve written in here, but now I forget what most of them were. listening to podcasts, reading spiritual books, and sitting on transit for what seems like hours gets me to thinking often about life and spiritual things, which is defintely a good thing.

one thought from some podcasts was about science and religion. there is always a conflict with them it seems, but sometimes there shouldn't be. They are two ways of looking at things, or two different answers to the same question. One example was looking at a car. Science like the parts of the car that make it work the engine, parts etc, while religion is more like the map that is found in the glovebox. Its a map that you can follow, in different ways, and your not sure where it leads, and you don't have to follow it.
Maybe I should throw spirituality in there, because religion is often referred to as control etc, you can be 'religous' about things that may or may not be something God wants, like getting an oil change ever 5000km. it can be a good thing or bad thing. (well, I think changing your oil is a good thing to do, but you can be religous about it). As far as spirituality goes, I want to let the Holy Spirit within me have control. to let it slowly change me into the man God wants me to be. I would hope that things I do aren't just because I am religious.
One of my friends says sometimes in reference to me 'oh thats because he is religous', I'm not sure what to think of that. I would hope that things I do are because my heart and will, which are being transformed by God, want to; what I do for God shouldn't be just because that is what is what I am expected to do by religion or people around me. I do want to have an impact, but its like giving a dog a muzzle. Just controlling something, like sin, doesn't get rid of the desire or issue in the heart. if a dog wants to bite someone, putting a muzzle on it won't make it not want to. Whats wrong with just putting a muzzle on the dog? The dog will be miserable and is being forced to be good. The dog needs to change its will so that it won't have that desire.

Going back to a persons perspective, you can limit yourself from doing bad things, but if you still have that desire to do them, you won't be as happy as you could be. Can we change our will? not easily if at all, but I think God can. Jesus came and pointed to our hearts, the heart of the laws, the heart of what God wants. God wants us, completely, wants us to love him and to be with him.

So am I saying that we shouldn't try to limit our inner selfish desires? no, if we embrace our sinfulness, then basically we are saying to God, 'no, I don't want to change'. its a tough thing, and there is no line. we always seem to want to get as close to the line as we can with God/authority etc. how much can i drink before I am dishonouring to God? how far can I go with a girl? how selfish can I be? which religion is the right one? how much money do i HAVE to give to God? These are the kind of questions people ask, its sorta in our nature I guess.
It kind of goes back to the science and religion things. Maybe they are valid questions, for certain things. Science is for the concrete stuff, religion/spirituality maybe is more for thinking, discussing and hope. The bible isn't about finding more rules that we have to follow, but is open to having discussion about and thinking about the meaning behind what God wants us to get out of it. It's inspired by God, and we should look to God when reading it. It shouldn't be about listening to what someone we know says and not questioning it. It is up to you to think about what you believe and what you believe about God.

Anyways that was quite the rambling, congrats to you if you got through it. just some thoughts as I typed, I hope that maybe it got you thinking as you read it.

thanks for reading as always,

Adam

zune music profile

link to my music profile on zune

http://social.zune.net/member/calgarydude

thats all

..

Aussie schooling

ok so one of the guys i work with asked me to give some advice for a friend who is thinking of doing school in Australia
figured id post it on here, enjoy
Ahh the great land of Aus… There seem to be many law schools to choose from, that’s always good. As for location, As coming out of school a job is the first priority, the best would be to go with large centers. Victoria The coldest is melbourne, so assuming your friend is going there partially for the weather, I wouldn’t study in Melbourne. It’s a beautiful city though, large business center, lots to see around it, in the winter tho the wind comes essentially from the antartic currents and it can get chilly/cloudy/wet. Not super cold, but highs in the single digits. That said, it’s a nice big city, great transit, and a good sports city(100,000 seat stadium…). Likely good schools too.
Geelong? Well I never went there, don’t know much about it, smaller than Melbourne though, and likely not much warmer. Queensland For constant nice weather, Brisbane is probably a safe bet. Winters around 25C. Not sure in the summer as I wasn’t anywhere near at that point, but it would be hotter than sydney, I went to a place another 12 hours up the coast and they said in the summer it is unbearable. But ite Not the most exciting city though (as far as sightseeing, things to do,beaches). Decent business sector tho and not a far drive from tourist meca surfers paradise(gold coast) and the sunshine coast to the north.
Gold Coast is beautiful, close to Brisbane. Defintly a choice, expensive areas though (touristy often = expensive) Townsville and cairns, would also be hot. Too hot. You cant actually swim in the ocean there, therefore no beaches. Near rainforests and natural wonder. Again not heaps for business.
NSW Armidale….havent heard of it actually, likely one of those many towns dotting the NSW coast. Lots of beaches, not heaps of business.
Lismore…well I heard of it, think I went by it, same deal as Armidale Newcastle is alright, a small city, similar weather to Sydney but quieter. An hour or so out of the main Sydney CBD I believe.
Sydney is a great city. Its huge, the downtown is busy and pretty cool. Some big offices there. Lots of choice of schools, winters it is high teens to low twentys and summer around 30-40C. Sunny city. Great transit system and several beautiful beaches (Manly, Bondi). Plus lots to see in and around the city. Uni of western sydney puts you on the edge of the suburbs, a city on its own(cambelltown). Going to school in downtown sydney would be nice but expensive, one near a train line is the way to go, better off in the south side than the north side of the city. My step dad said its one of his top 5 cities in the world.
Wollongong - I like it for the name. its south of Sydney, you can take a train there and a Big beach town. Heaps of beaches, nice area, decently warm.
West Australia Perth, on the west coast, is isolated, Most isolated capital I think. Nice quiet town with free busses downtown and pedestrian friendly city. Some nice areas around it, a beautiful park as big as central park in new york which overlooks the city. Still had a decent business district, should be able to get a job. Some nice areas around it and a leaving point for many sightseeing/adventures in west australia. Rainy though. Not the top choice.
Fremantle is much the same, except is actually on the coast, little city, half hour from Perth downtown. ACT Canberra - don't go there, unless your friend wants to be a politician. Its cold in Canberra in the winter, very close to the snowy mountains (in the winter, this is where australians ski) highs of 0 in winter, id imagine its beautiful in the summer though…(if your friend wanted that, they could stay in Calgary).
Northern territory Darwin might be cool, I never went there (wanted to but ran out of time/money). It would be hot, but its small (think red deer or regina). Half the year its rainy the other half its HOT, 45Cish, and dry. Nice national parks and natural beauty there, not a lot of business tho.better to visit than live in likely
South australia Adelaide…don’t go there. Not much going on in Adelaide, not much to sightsee (aside from old churches), not a hotspot. Only bonus is its near kangaroo island and probably not expensive.
Tasmania Hobart - never went there, would be beatiful in the summer, lots of hiking and beauty. But cccccold in the winter. No protection from winter storms blowing from the antartic.
So that’s basically my rundown of the choices you gave. Here are Adam's top 5 cities to study in.
5. Perth (quiet, transit, not touristy, pedestrian downtown)
4. Melbourne (good business center, lots to do, transit)
3. Wollongong or Newcastle (nice weather, beaches, close to Sydney)
2. Brisbane (weather, good business sector)
1. Sydney (lots to see/do, beautiful, huge business district, easy to got to/leave, transit, weather)
Hope that helps, as for expensive, I didn’t really pay a ton of attention, there wasn’t a lot of variety. After the exchange rate, its about the same as Canada(more expensive but often cheaper dollar)

anyways thanks for reading,

Adam

January 2008...wait, 2009

Hello and welcome to 2009....

Maybe thats a bit late, 2009 is almost a month old already.

As I mentioned in my previous post, 2008 was quite a year. the last few days of 2008 were good and bad, the 29th was fun but painful, then tough after that, the 30th was cool and the 31st was totally awesome.

2009 has been fun, but i found out more bad news from school....I got a 56 on my marketing final, meaning I was 4 marks short of getting the grade i needed for the course. I got a D+ and will have to take it again! oi. I did manage to change my school schedule for this semester though, and it is going to be an ok semester. I'll still be working at Nexen and still helping out with the youth group at my church.

This month was a time of change for the youth ministry at my church and for my family. My Brother-in-law Ryan, the youth pastor, was laid off and January was his last month of ministry at Bonavista. He will be moving on and looking for work elsewhere. I won't go into all my feelings on this on here, but it basically sucks. God is at work though, and we dont know what his plan is. Ryan and Nat are certainly going to move out when they find another youth pastor job, and that is a big change in our house. the youth ministry will continue with the leadership team until June, then a part-time pastor will be needed. crazyness.

hmm what else to talk about...
I finished up a book by Rob Bell called Velvit Elvis, its a really good book and i would reccomend it. its like a post-modern look at spirituality and faith, with lots of stories and great insights. Ive started reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis, and am enjoying it, but it takes alot of thought.

I downloaded Relient K's newest CD, "the Bird and the beesides" around Christmas time, and have been enjoying it, also a Sanctus Real album, fight the tide. still listening to Switchfoot as usual though.

The Chaplain of the Calgary Stampeders (essentially the teams pastor) goes to our church, so on his day with the Grey Cup he brought it to church, so I got a few pics with it, really cool.

I've been listening to podcasts from westside kings church, and have really been enjoying it. lately they have been talking about change. heres the link...http://www.wkc.org/community/sermons.asp

anyways I hope you are enjoying this new year.

thanks for reading,

Adam