WOW!!! I just re-read my blog from almost exactly a year ago and alot sure has changed in 12 months. A couple things to update you on: 1) I sold my House! Last Christmas break....what an incredible weight off of my shoulders.
2) The dream that Rob and I had about going back to Kenya is coming true in the next 7 days. In exactly one week from this very moment, we will be sitting in Nairobi Kenya-likely exhausted from a whole day of travelling. Praise the Lord!
3) I just sold my car. Today! For those of you who know a bit about the struggle that it has been to sell it, you'll understand the signifigance. I love God's timing. Most of the time, this mystery drives me nuts and causes me to question things about His character...but its so worth it when you have days like today. When there is so much clarity to His great plan. As I was sitting on the greyhound bus coming back from Saskatoon I couldn't help but laugh and be flooded with joy as all the questions and doubts were answered. Only in this moment could I mentally engage with leaving for Kenya as I did. I sat on a beautiful bus with only 4 others. We pierced through the night stopping in random towns along the smooth, straight pavement. I tried to push my mind to imagine how different the bus ride will be from Nairobi to Kisumu in 8 days from now. It's going to be bumpier, smellier, louder and longer. No doubt it will be a bit warmer as well! I was able to sit there and praise His name for the unknown things in life. Because in time, they usually become revealed to us. Even if they don't, however, I know that I can trust in God. That He is faithful, and committed. Even when I am not.

I this moment I was able to revel in this wonderful mystery of His plan. As I wrote before, I don't need to see the whole picture. I just need to trust Him and walk in obedience to His good plan. Even when it doesn't seem to make sense or feel comfortable.

I was able to reflect on the incredible blessing that God has poured out on me in this past year. Honestly, there are too many to even begin to list; I was just overwhelmed by His generosity. Which causes me to want to bless others. Because I have been given much, I have much to be accountable for (Lk 12:48).
There are going to be many days in Kenya that I will miss my friends back home. I will miss my comfy bed and modern toilet. But I will take confidence that I am living in obedience to follow God's voice to join Him in kingdom building work in Africa. That I will become stronger and better for it. That I will grow in my relationship with Him and with others. There is no trade-off for that kind of result. It's not even about the result- it's about the journey!
So as we embark on this amazing dream that has come true, I want to invite you along with Rob and I. Follow our blog at http://www.inebuhando.blogspot.com/. I know that God is going to do amazing things in us- and hopefully through us as well. Be blessed in reading and partaking in this with us!
Peace.

Kenya on my mind...

It's Sunday afternoon and I came from a church service in town where people know my family, and piece of my life and its safe. It's Sunday afternoon and I have homework to do. It's Sunday afternoon and there are a million different things I could be doing or thinking about, but Kenya is on my mind! For almost two hours now, I've been reading old blog-posts from a 21 year old girl who moved to Uganda from Tennesse to follow the call of her Lord Jesus. With Kim Walker and other Jesus Culture artists filling my ears and mind with songs to God, I'm also being filled with stories from this girl who has accepted God's mission for her life: To live in and love on Uganda!! Especially the 14 orphans that are living with her in a house that was miraculously provided for her. As she gives glory to God for the daily provision she sees, I am brought back to my time spent in Kenya this summer.

As she describes the pit latrines, the dirty, smelly children, the bumpy roads, unreliable power system, my heart CANNOT help but rejoice with her as she attests to God and His faithfulness to these beautiful people. and to us. This girls blog was posted on facebook by a friend to someone else. I just stumbled upong it and started reading her stories. Looking at her pictures. This is all to basically ice the cake of possibly going back to Kenya this summer! My roomate Rob and I constantly talk about the possibility of going back after school is done. It is so exciting and hard to think about what that looks like. The unknown is...well...unknown. It's not scary for me anymore. It does not matter what stuff gets thrown into the mix, I know my Lord enough to beleive in Him....I know Him enough to understand that all that is required of me is devotion and trust. That if He is for me and my plans (or should I say His plans) there is NOTHING that will stand in the way. There will be things that He allows to cloud the vision, or try and discourage me but He is the lens that I can clearly see life through.

My house is still not sold...O well. It will be taken care of. I do not have the money to get back to Africa this summer. O well. It'll be taken care of. Faith is sooo simple...but so complex. That's upside down thinking! To fit perfectly into His upside down kingdom. The farther I walk in this journey with Him, the more i realize that He is just flipping my life rightside up, and allowing me to think outside of the way the world has taught me to think. I remember all of the good times on my Harley, relaxing in the hot-tub or watching planet earth on my flat-screen tv... but now I "...consider them loss for the sake of Christ" (Phil 3:7). I want to declare a giving up of worldly comfort for the Peace of God!! I am willing to give up my soft bed, to sleep under a mosquito net on a hard mattress. God I don't know what you have in store for me, but I KNOW that it is GOOD!! I am so excited...and nervous. If this is not from you, take it from our hearts to return. If its not the most effective way for me to minister and show your love to others, I don't want to do it.


We're called to Serve and Love no matter what country we live in. We are called to walk in obedience to His voice and proclaim His goodness throughout the journey! As this girl Katie said in one of her posts: "today god reminded me that i have ONE purpose, in africa, and in life, and that is to LOVE. i could ask for no greater an assignment." So I say that I to want to love. Both here in caronport, and saskatoon and to whoever I talk to....And maybe I will have have the amazing privilege to SHOW that love to people all over the hills of Bunyore in Kenya this summer...

what a summer...

So I am still out on 'the road' and have not made it back to Saskatoon yet...but things are great. God is good....ALL the time.
As suspected, internet access was hard to come by while we were in Kenya. I was able to basically update my facebook status and see some others' but updating the blog would've been a very tedious endeavor. Alas, I write to you from Budd Lake, New Jersey this Monday morning.

I will once again back-track just a bit and fill you in on some of my time while still in Africa. We ended up with a few schedule adjustments..and by a few I really mean daily. Sense of time and schedule in Africa is....different from what we're used to. haha We did not end up going to dig water wells although a team-member who works with water management in Saskatchewan did some very important presentations on the importance of water/hand cleanliness to many different groups.

Our days looked fairly similar for the most part: wake up, go outside and use the rustic pit latrines; wait our turn to use the bucket in pail shower method; eat amazing breakfasts which ranged from amazing pancakes, boiled eggs, and french toast to a cheeseburger one morning. All of the breakfasts were accompanied with incredible African chai. I stayed in a beautiful home with the 3 other college guys, the 5 girls stayed in a house about an hour and a half away due to the unbelievably bumpy roads (probably only about 50km from us). Then we did devotions alone and together while waiting for our ride to take us to the house that we all met at. Most of the afternoons were filled with crusades and revival meetings in the various surrounding towns and villages. Sometimes with the whole team, sometimes with the skit team, and sometimes all split up.

What have I been learning through this all?? hmm...I still really haven't had a chance to wholly process what I saw, smelt, and experienced in Africa...

Life happens...no matter where you live and what you have. These people live the lives that they are in. They have jobs, they have homes and families just like you and I. Our friends understand the importance of community and relationships. You talk to people that you know on the street. You make time to nourish your friendships. This is especially true in the church. For the most part, they take good care of one-another.

There are so many needs...everywhere you walk people are asking for 50 shillings (about 70 cents). Worth a shot right? They could use it to buy a couple cokes, some snacks I dunno. We definitely had 50 shillings to spare, but who do you give to and which do you pass by? You see people with no legs begging, blind folks, crippled children. It breaks my heart to see them, and you wonder how to effectively lend a hand. There is no social assistance or welfare or effective home care/health care. It truly made me appreciate my Canadian government and national stability.

The kids are so happy...they just want to laugh and play. Most of the children that we saw had very little problems just running right up to a group of us calling 'Mzungu, Mzungu, How are you, How are you?' Usually followed by handshakes and beautiful laughter. Both from the kids and us on the team. What an amazing exchange of cultures, backgrounds and up-bringings in less than a minute.

There are soooo many people. Being a Saskatchewan kid, I'm used to space. And empty land. There is none of that in Kenya. The land plots are very small, and even the rough terrain is densely populated. It did not matter where you were, there was always people coming up to the roadside from their homes or the water springs. Buckets and crops being carried on heads and fields being tilled by each single swing of the shovel thing. This leads into the next thing that struck me...

I am so lucky in Canada to be able to get a job and am guaranteed to get paid for it. Because there are sooo many people, and there are little-no laws around jobs rights and regulations, you often see people doing the exact same things. Fruit stands in the market-come by MY oranges, they are the tastiest, and best price in town. Come buy MY necklaces, best quality and price. Come on MY motorbike or MY Matatu-(public transport) while submerged in a sea of 20 others offering the exact same service. It is almost impossible to get ahead or stand out when you are a normal everyday Kenyan citizen.

So out of that we saw the church arise in some instances as a vehicle to rise above this struggle to excel. I should be careful how I talk about this subject because I do NOT want to take away the credibility or effectiveness of the church...There are some AMAZING things happening among the Kenyan Christians. My brothers and sisters serve with amazing faith and a deep love for the Lord. However, we did see positions of power play a very important role within the churches and their communities. We did see some very obscure preaching and messages being spewed upon possibly mis-guided newcomers. Everywhere has problems and I believe that the devil has been able to gain access into the hierarchy of some of the churches and cause people to be concerned with things that really don't matter, to bring pride and dissension among the leaders. Sounds like a fairly similar situation some churches in Canada and America....satan is truly a deceiver and lion that comes to steal, and kill and destroy.

Anyways, that's enough of that for now...
I am still in the U.S. like I previously stated. Anthony and I flew back in to NYC on Thursday at about 5pm, relaxed Friday and drove down to Washington DC that night. We stayed with his dad and little brother in his grandmothers home. Saturday was a day of seeing the white house, capitol building, Lincoln/Jefferson Memorials, Washington Monument and various other POWERFUL worldly/American icons. I never really thought I would see those things so it was a great day filled with surprise. Weird to go from the slums of Nairobi to the perfectly manicured lawns of Obama's palace in a matter of hours, although it was not nearly as hard of a culture re-integration as I had expected. We had fun despite the humid 90 degree weather (also something this prairie boy is not used to). Then on Sunday we made our way back to NJ via downtown Philadelphia and its famous cheese-steaks and what was the other thing...O ya, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. haha

We are relaxin at tony's house on this cool(er) rainy day, getting all rested up for our big adventure into the city again tomorrow. Then I fly out Wednesday.

Please pray that Air Canada will take responsibility for my broken guitar and fully reimburse me for it. Pray that me and Anthony would make time to really just discuss and pray over what the heck just happened in that last 5 weeks. Pray that my house would sell as it continues to sit on the market with no offers to purchase.

Thank-you so much for reading...sorry for not having another blog between this and the previous one!
Peace

We're finally in Nairobi!!

Hey everybody...It's me from Nairobi, Kenya!

We finally made it here after a bit of a delay in Brussels, Belgium where our flight was cancelled for 24 hours. Most of the people that we were standing in line with were quite upset by this, but Anthony and I high-fived probably 3 or 4 times and there might have been a hug or two. haha... We got to explore Belgium for a whole afternoon and recieved three awesome meals in the Sheraton that we were put up in.

I guess I should back up a little bit. I flew out of Saskatoon last Sunday and Anthony picked me up at the Newark, NJ airport. We were able to hang out with some of his old friends at their pool that evening and went for some ice-cream at a local favorite shop. Monday morning we woke up bright an early and caught the train in NEW YORK CITY to hang out there for the day. It was an amazing time!! We were a part of the morning rush hour train traffic, the plethora of tourists in Times Square, nature enjoyers in Central Park, consumers of McDonald's, sauntered through Harlem and a part of the crowd that caught the Staten Island ferry that travels right beside Lady Liberty herself! Anthony's cousin was extremely kind and helpful to take us around the various parts of the city (All subway and walking of course) and we appreciated it very much.

We were both so exhausted on the way back to Anthony's mothers home in NJ that evening. The next day she prepared an excellent breakfast for us and we did a little devotional and prayer before she drove us back into 'the city' to catch our flight at LaGuardia Airport. The flight to Montreal from there went unbelievably fast and we were back in the air before we knew it on our way to Brussels. I hardly slept at all on this overnight flight especailly because we lost 6 or so hours which brought morning to us very early. I will always remember the first bit of land that I saw as we flew over Ireland, then England, and France before eventually getting to Belgium.

I could not believe the amount of houses, as well as the size of the agricultural fields. They are so SMALL compared to what we have in Saskatchewan. Very cool.
Anyways, we were able to walk around Brussels for the afternoon on Wednesday and it was my first taste of European culture and city-scape. The old cobblestone roads, the 1000 year old cathedrals. Simply amazing! It was their Canada day sort of celebration so we got to see their King-King Albert II in the parade as well as all of their various police/army/and city worker vehicles displayed...including a lamborghini police car.

Once again we were very tired after a long day of the fresh air and tons of walking. The flight left Brussels on time the next morning and we were on our way over the Sahara desert, down to Burundi, for a quick refueling before FINALLY making it up to Kenya. We met a girl in the hotel at supper in Brussels and she actually lived in Nairobi and could speak 4 languages including english, french, spanish and swahili. We chatted with her on the plane and she was extremely helpful in guiding us through the visa process at the airport in Nairobi and other various events. God has been so good to Anthony and I thus far and we continue to look to Him for provision and guidance as we undertake this amazing adventure. We both have noted the things that we have seen Him working in....the little details of the trip. I have all of this recorded in my journal so maybe my next post I can share some of them with you-guys. Thanks for following me and supporting me in the trip. It has been amazing so far and we have barely gotten to Kenya. AH!! I just saw a sweeet open sided Coca-Cola truck outside the internet cafe.... stupid coke! Apparently this is the best tasting Coke in the world. Glass bottles....kenyan flare. Im excited to try it. haha

Love all ya'll! Blessings from Nairobi, Kenya
Dano

'Crosspath'

So the end of the year at Briercrest was really great...I ended up doing quite well in my classes and came out of the year with a GPA that I feel quite good about. My time in Saskatoon has already begun and the weather has proven to be very Saskatchewan-like making work outside 'interesting' to say the least. haha.

Pepsi has been good so far. I have been back for two weeks already and in most ways, it feels like I have not been gone at all. I only felt a little overwhelmed in the semi for about an hour that first Monday...now I'm cruisin around, taking corners and grabbin gears like days of old. haha I'm really excited to reconnect and chat with my old co-workers! In some ways they do seem like family.

As you may have read before, I am very optimistic for this year. 2010 is going to be amazing and I am looking forward to being available for God's use in whatever area He calls me to. So long story short, I felt that I was supposed to be a part of a group of people that just hung out in a park somewhere in Saskatoon with a guitar and a Bible and just trusted the Holy Spirit to arrange appointments with people and then possibly healing and teaching and following His call. I didn't want to go ahead with this until it was affirmed from someone else, and I had a few people in mind that I feel will be a part of this ministry. Unbenounced to me, James Q had been having a vision of that exact same thing with the singing and miracles and teaching and he was not sure who was supposed to hear about this, and since I was in it playing guitar, figured that it might mean something to me....so ya!! It obviously meant somethin to me and when we talked about it, we both got really excited and felt extremely humbled that we were being called in a fairly specific way to be used this summer. Keep thinkin about this ministry and what's happenin and feel free to ask me whenever you think about it.

So in church today, James wrote in the bulletin: "Do you want to go to the park today?" and I replied "Absolutely!" so after gettin the house even further cleaned this afternoon, me and James grabbed the guitar, our Bibles and a few Pepsi's to take for whomever we might encounter. (Never a bad idea-haha) So we drove down towards 20th-the lower income business district with many pawn-shops and missions and ended up stoppin at 'The Bridge' for my very first time. I know some people that are heavily involved there and we ended up stoppin in and crashed their afternoon service-Oops. LOL So after the end of the message and communion, we went and said hi to Steven and he called a couple of people together and they prayed for us and kind of sent us out. I know now that's the reason that we stopped at 'The Bridge'. Such a sweet time. Thanks! So we drove around for a bit and after stopping at one park in the meadowgreen area, we were about to set up and realized that the houses were nicer than mine and that there probably wouldn't be much foot traffic through the little park. We got back in the car, and drove down 20th back towards downtown and ended up goin down Ave J and there was a realllllly gorgeous park called Optimist Park and felt like it was a good place to chill, and that's what we did. Set up a blanket, and started to sing and laugh and read and pray. Just the two of us... haha There was a couple people that walked by and seemed to wonder why we were just chillin in shorts and hangin out on a day that wasn't warm by any stretch of the imagination. James read the first and last chapter of the Bible and it was really moving. Just realizing that God is truly the Alpha and Omega-Beginning and End. Three girls walked by and asked for some Pepsi that they saw in the crate sort of under their breath and I said, ya sure. Help yourselves. They laughed, came and grabbed some pop and kept on thru the park. Probably the most encouraging part was when we chatted with a couple of people that also couldn't resist the Pepsi offer. Patrick and Bridgett. He had loooong dark hair and played my guitar with precision. Such joy on their faces and seemed like really friendly people. We told them that we would be back soon and he seemed eager to come and jam with us. It was sweet. Then I saw some kids hangin around the water fountain by the playground so I went over and gave all four of them a can of Pepsi and they were really excited. I told them that we would be back soon and just might have more pop if they came and said hi to us. haha. It would be great to have some women out with us so we cannot be accused of anything-just to be safe.

Both James and I came away feeling so blessed, refreshed and encouraged. We think that this park will be an integral part of our summer and are very excited to start building relationships with the people who live in the area every Sunday. We are also thinking that we might go somewhere downtown on Saturdays. Please let me know your ideas, challenges, or encouragement. The body of Christ needs everyone to work together so if you can be a part of this in ANY way--from prayer to presence or presents (haha) I hope that you let either James or I know. A prayer team is necessary for this to move forward and we would love to know who is supporting us in fun adventure of obedience. Thanks for taking time to read this. Hopefully there will be many encouraging updates to come....

Love Daniel

life-ity life...

So I've proven to be a fairly poor blogger over the past year due to my pitiful number of blogs but none-the-less, I'm back....writing.

Um....where do even start. This dilemma again...

I had my first day of classes of my second semester at Briercrest today and all three of my classes look very interesting and challenging. I am excited to be back in Caronport learning about the God i have chosen to fully devote myself too. In thoughts, actions, and motivation. This all stems from an amazing first semester this fall and a FUN and INTENSE Christmas break back in lovely Saskatoon.

First semester was a bit wierd at first; Not gonna lie. Since I was only taking 3 classes on Mon and Wed, and working tues, thurs, fri with a farmer for harvest I kind of had a hard time just being able to make some quick friendships and I was pretty discouraged. I found the change in routine hard to get used to as well. It wasn't really until about the middle of October when I had a pretty significant God moment which happened while I was singing and reading and praying by myself in the basement. God was finally able to break through my human efforts for acceptance when I truly realized why I was in Caronport. I was here to connect with HIM. Once that vertical connection was recognized, it seemed like every day there was horizontal (human) connections made that were exactly who and what I needed at that specific time. That weekend was a missions conference called 28:19 which is from the great commission in the gospel of Matthew. God had some big things for me there including affirmation for future plans regarding the japanese nation and peoples. Very exciting and encouraging. I had an intense vision on Friday night laying in my bed which I will never forget. Monday night I went to Regina with a friend Jess and we watched the second Invisible Children documentary and I was rocked. Such an injustice still taking place in Uganda. Then Tuesday was Day of Prayer which is a semester highlight for many B-crest students. It was amazing. God is so faithful...when we seek....He is there. Ready to empower, encourage, challenge, comfort and LOVE. 'The more I seek you, The more I find you'-Kari Jobe. Why do we get so excited when God shows up....or we experience Him on a day such as this,....He has told us in the Bible that He will never leave us, that when people gather and pray that He is attentive and delights in our efforts to communicate with HIM. I came away from that fired up at the intensity it brought to my own life, but at the same time a little bit discouraged because it perhaps exposed our lack of persistency and faithfulness. (especially as one body....as the CHURCH)

I went to Saskatoon for mod break at the end of October and my discipline of being in the word (bible) ceased and consequently my passion began to fade. I was bummed out by that. I'm sick of being on a roller-coaster of spiritual emotion and want to be consistent in my desire to follow and seek and please the Lord. So I dove back into my personal time listening to songs on you-tube such as 'How He Loves Us' by Kim Walker, the more i seek you, and alot of othere Kim Walker stuff I can't remember the names of right now...haha. Crazy as it may seem, I began to reconnect with God... Could this be a direct correlation?? Bible=passion? Intimacy w/ The Lord=fire in the soul? I think so. Absolutely. So aside from honestly learning new things daily in my three classes with AMAZING prof's, I was learning was it meant to sit in the presence of the Holy God, knowing the He enjoys every second I devote to HIM.... knowing that I am so much more valuable for work in the Kingdom when I can learn who I really am....(in Him) and fully embrace it. To say, this is what my strengths are, this is where I am weak, and take pride in the precision in which our Soverign Creator has put us together. To figure out what gets us fired up; our Holy Discontent as Bill Hybels puts it. I don't think satan gets much more fearful when a child of God realized their potential and embraces themselves for who God has created them to be. It is a powerful realization and a very crucial one in your life as a disciple and representative of Christ Jesus.

I was able to chat and encourage and learn from sooo many people throughout the remainder of the semester. Coffee meetings with great men in the community, brothers in Christ, fellow students, pastors, Briercrest employees....I feel incredibly blessed to have chatted and learned from every single person who took the time to laugh and learn and cry with me. A prayer group was started with a very devoted core of people in this time and good things are happening through it and will continue to happen with an even greater effectiveness as we continue in our devotion of seeking the Lord and His desire for our community. Soon before the semester wound down, I came across a video by John Piper on the topic of suffering and it really made me question alot of things.... like maybe if Im not suffering in our day to day lives, I'm not doing exactly the things that will cause discomfort and rifts that only the Holy Spirit can mend. I went into the Christmas break with an expectancy to see situations in which I would be uncomfortable and 'suffering' might be real. For the testing of your faith develops character and perserverance. I was very excited to be back in Saskatoon. I love that city. I was able to reconnect with old friends. Both those who believe and follow Christ' example, as well as you that have not made the decision to do so. I had many lunch dates and coffee's and I can honestly say that I walked away from every single one excited and encouraged in all of my friendships. I met some really great people that are invloved with the VanGuard house/church, the Bridge ministry and had some really intense prayer and times of crying out to God. Had a great couple of days to myself in which I was able to read, reflect and relax. God is definitely in those times as well.

So looking back on my Christmas break, I can without a doubt say that I was tested, challenged, strengthened in my faith and given the oppourtunity to put all these nice things I've learned in the safe flourishing environment of Bible School into practice. I did not do anything that I regret or am ashamed of. In many ways, I wish I was still in Saskatoon. There was not enough time to talk and laugh with so many people. But I know that everyone I had the chance to meet and talk with blessed me and I enjoyed every moment with every one of you. I was so excited to come back to Caronport on Sunday night as well....I know this semester is going to be absolutely amazing and cannot wait to dive into my classes and relationship here as well. The God that I am trying to follow is truly everywhere. He doesn't just hang out on Bible School campuses, or churches in various towns, but in every situation and every relationship. In everything, but that doesn't mean that those things can become your God either. I believe that Jesus Christ was indeed a real man, and that He died on a cross because it was the will of God the Father. This death (and more importantly) His Resurrection is the reason I believe what I do. If this never happened, there would be no hope for me. I am a Christian because I accepted this sacrifice for all the junk that I have done and the sinful nature that I was born into. If I do not have Faith in Jesus Himself, then I believe I do not have Faith in anything that matters. This causes me to try and act differently which I hope shows that the Love and Power of Christ is very POWERFUL and very REAL! I hope that those of you who have known me over the past few years when I was partying notice a difference in me. I also hope that you see that I am still ME. Still the Dan that you can laugh with and talk with. I feel the same, but I feel different in a radical life-changing way. I feel like I am the optimal version of who I CAN BE. I believe that this is what Jesus was talking about when He said the reason that He came was so that anyone who believes can HAVE LIFE, but not just HAVE it, but have it to the most FULLFILLING degree imaginable. Challenges most definitely still arise, I still get bummed out and hurt and sad....God created all these emotions for us to grow in Him and in ourselves...I know that I have one who has promised Never to LEAVE or FORSAKE me. The Lord God in His Mighty Power and love takes delight in me; in my life; and I can truly call Him a friend!! There is no greater joy than this.

I am excited for 2010.....I am excited because I know that the Lord is going to act and move in some pretty powerful ways this year. Both in Caronport and Saskatoon.... Revival is knocking on the doors of my heart and on the hearts of those who are willing to sacrifice things to seek Him in faithful obedience. 2010 is going to be a great year for me and I hope that those of you who see me in this year will be able to get a glimpse of how God is working and what He is doing in my life and from my vantage point. May your hearts be softened and eyes/ears open to truly hear what this message is all about. Blessings in 2010.

Welcome to Spiritual Mountain...

So I just got back from YC in Edmonton last night....sore throat, back and a tired body...but somehow more refreshed than the week before. That is the 'mystical' power of God! It's amazing what kind of energy and direct praise to God people can expend. More specifically, high school kids. I wonder what would happen if something like that happened like once a month in all of the respective communities represented in Rexall Place. Obviously on a smaller scale, but would it be beneficial for those kids to have something back in their hometowns to not them forget so quickly the amazing spiritual high they just experienced.

Why is it that we feel so free on a Sunday morning, when we're sitting in a packed arena with 16,000 of our peers instead of our home-CHUCH. (Reggie Dabbs style yo) Is it cuz we generally feel more at ease and liberal when we're somewhere 'different'? Is it the LOUD music provided by various bands such a Relient K, Red, Thousand Foot Krutch or Toby Mac? The high-energy speakers like the extremely spirited Mr. Dabbs, or Jonah Smith? Or is it cuz that's the norm for a weekend such as this? The Expected response of the listeners? Can you imagine a body of believers (THE CHURCH) on a Sunday morning with those expectations placed upon them. A snapshot of that Sunday morning service would look mighty different from most services around Saskatoon I'd say. I don't want this to come across as putting blame on our specific denominations and their amazing pastoral staffs, but rather a challenge to how passionate we could actually be when we have the intimate experience in that hour and a bit once a week. Maybe that's the ticket to hop on the love train to God. Maybe that's the power of Christ that we need to be reminded of more regularly. Our minds are so forgetful...and HE is not. He knows he is good, what if we could grasp that and hold on to it way more consistently in our lives outside of huge retreats?

It's so easy to get thrown back in the routine. I didn't even have time to unpack my suitcase from when I got home, to when I had to stumble out of my house in my Pepsi clothes for another Monday at work. Which I barely did by the way...I was a tad late this morning!! haha

There's nothing else like a bonding weekend like that for a group of young people. I barely knew any of the forty folks from Cornerstone Friday morning at 7:00 am, and can honestly say that I was sad to say so long to the kids and fellow 'chaperone/helpers' when leaving the church parking lot, Sunday night.

If any of you read this, I just wanna say thanks! You are all very special and we experienced something rare together this past weekend. Remember that the WHOLE PURPOSE, was not to give you a spiritual mountain to go snowboarding back down to the lower-level chalet of a dull spiritual life, but to convince your mind and soul that a life in Christ is truely better than anything you may be tempted by. Nothing in your schools, on sports teams, weekend road-trips, or even just in your homes will ever come close to giving you a fulfillment of life like a life saved by and lived for Christ. Trust me. Dive into your youth group activities. See if anyone else feels the same as you do and read a few verses in a Bible together once a week. Leave me and message on facebook and I'll see if I can get a couple people together for it. God is GREAT and he loves us SOO much. He wants more than anything for us to love Him back the very best that we can!! Even though it's not much in comparison, he delights when we give anything to Him whole-heartedly.

As we sang over and over, well I did anyway... HOW GRIT, Iss the Lof Off GOD? How GRIT, Iss the Lof off GOD? How GRIT Iss the Lof Off God?? Like I said before, I am so glad I got to know you all a little bit in the last few days. I saw your wonderful personalities and kind hearts. Each one of you is truely made in the likeness and image of God,...which is unfathomably GRIT!