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!

1st blog,...ever..

Saweet,...so this is blog,....la da da da... As inspired from a Disney tune on Cinderella I believe,..haha
You can stop reading now if you like, cuz it probably won't start to make any more sense later on. I don't even know who's gonna read this, so I dunno where I should start....the beginning just might be the best...so i was born in Swift Current Sk on a cold January day in Saskatchewan in 1986....??Just kidding...not that far back.
After high-school in Caronport, I came up to Saskatoon for Uni and after a couple years of that, I really didn't like it and got a job at Pepsi thru a guy that I didn't really know that well at that time. The money was pretty good and it was definitely enough to pay the bills for the time being. There was much to much partying goin on and eventually Heather and I stopped to going to church completely due to a lack of sleep as well as little desire to confront our way of life at that time. I was doing whatever I wanted to do and had little concern for God or others. Everyone fell in love with The Danimal at parties and stuff and I eventually fell in love with that too. Not so much the drinking and meeting new people and personalities, but kind of with the pride and status that it brought me.
I didn't think that I would ever be in the spot that I had come to be living in every day, but it happened. It was a very gradual process but looking back, it all seemed so easy! Too easy... Satan definitely is a master at luring and decieving people toward himself. Last April, it all came to a fork in my road... Heather wasn't in the house anymore and I did whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it. Had a couple roommates last summer and we were always ready for a party and some crazy adventures. It's a good thing that I was on disability for my back because I probably wouldn't still be working for Pepsi if I had to work every day at 6:30. It's a good thing I had my harley to keep a large portion of my summertime occupied. I think that's truely why I had the bike for less than a year due to it's sale last week.
I remember thinking at one point just this last fall that there was no way that I could ever go back to the church and back to a daily discipline of building a relationship with God. Never in my scariest dreams did I think those thoughts would be in my mind. In about the middle of December, I didn't have an urge to go and seek out a party or someone to chill with and I chilled with Ferg in my house. Alone. And thru some reading in the message version of Romans, God was able to speak to me. Or rather, I was able to hear his still small voice.
Starting in Chapter 1 at verse 18, there is a title: Ignoring God leads to a downward spiral. There are some very powerul and blunt passages that kicked me in the butt, and in the head. It was then that my mind started to think a bit clearer and I soon cut drinking and partying down in my life, but not completely out. I prayed for God to provide people in my life that could help me out of the pit that my whole life was in, and miraculously, he provided. Imagine that? haha... I thank all those people very very much for their love and compassion. And for all those who were praying for me the whole time all this stuff was going on. I know that it wouldn't have happened if thier words hadn't gradually softened my heart to open the Bible and kind of seek God once again.
I got involved in a College and Career group at Ebeneezer Baptist Church which has been awesome; I attend Cornerstone Church every Sunday that I am in the city; I have participated in the bus ministry i which I help with a team of peers that go to a parking lot on 20th st and ave. P in Saskatoon and low income people and families come and share laughter, friendship, sandwhiches, and a word from the Bible every Friday from 10:00-midnight.
Which all brings me to where I am at this point. Kind of,...hahaha....there's alot more depth to many of these areas but I think that this is a good first blog. It's good for me! Not sure why I even got the urge to do this...?
If anyone has questions or feel that you should talk to me about any of this stuff,...feel free! Facebook or hotmail are both checked often.
Have a sweet day. God bless you and your time for reading this
Dano