YES!

School's out! Hallelujah!
Anyways it's that time of year once more. FUN TIME! I like fun time, it has lots of parties and get togethers and joy. We all enjoy joy at any time of year, but we have lots of joy now. Oh yes, and a certain someone is in town for a while. That is also enjoyable. It you have any desires of booking me and/or the girlie, you can feel free to contact me, because that's what the holidays are all about.

Piecing God Together

Yesterday night me and Melissa got into something of a debate about human nature (to start off with). One of us had a more positive view than the other, anyways, during the topic the idea of predestination also came up, which we had agreed on for the most part. I've never liked the ideas of Mr. John Calvin very much when it comes to this topic, but Melissa played devil's advocate a little bit and it got us thinking.
If God is a teacher, what kind of teacher do you think he is? Is God a dictator who controls everything that goes on in the classroom. That is a low risk, low reward method. Or does God allow students to learn for themselves even if sometimes this will cause more problems? Some of the best experiences in learning have come when I've had a teacher who has implemented the second. It is trickier, but done right, it works. That is like God. When we say God is in control, what we mean is that God can intervene anytime he wants to. He is right there in the classroom, but he is letting you act for yourself. I find this one of the most beautiful things about God. He values us so much that he'll let us fail. This way we can realize God's love for us and love him more.
I loved God a lot last night. I was on the verge of tears, which would have been a little odd, although I like happy tears.
The other lesson I learned from this is that God loves people and so should I.

Icicle Boy

It's cold and it makes me sad. Warm up please or my heart will turn to ice.

Fun and Winter's Curse

The previous week has been fun and tragic. I went up to Edmonton only to find Melissa had been seeing some other guy, but that's okay because when she's at school, she can't close her eyes all the time. Sorry, corny joke. Where was I? Yes, we had fun all right. It was cool to see her in that environment, because I had yet to experience Edmonton Melissa and well I wanted to. Of course when she's never been to the West Ed Waterpark...
...I am a good influence. Anything to get people to go down lots of waterslides and play in wave pools is fine by me.
Anyways, on to the story of the hour, which is on the trip home. This was Tuesday night and Melissa had heard it'd be snowy. "I know, nothing bad," I said. Well it wasn't until about fifteen minutes before Red Deer the snow begins picking up. It's coming down well and the visibility is lessening. No biggie really, I'm sort of following this one truck and that makes it okay. Well I drive in that for about ten minutes when all of a sudden it gets worse. There is snow all over the road and blowing snow everywhere over the surface of the ground. I look for road lines. I can't see road lines. Where is my line? Where is the road? Who's to say? Well in this I drive, not knowing whether I will hit the ditch soon or later.
To make a long story short I may have encroached upon another car's lane going around a turn and he may have honked at me (it was bad, but not as dangerous as it seemed at the time). That convinced me I should probably not be driving anymore. So I sat at the side of the road for a while wondering what to do. I pulled on the road again only to be passed by a truck which kicked up so much snow that I couldn't see a thing. This told me I should have staying by the side. I began to pray about it, because it sucked. Melissa had offered to let me stay another night (I'm sure for selfish reasons), but here I am stuck on the side of the road not knowing whether I can go any further. Luckily I had hit the outskirts of Red Deer and I entered the city. I checked out some hotels, but couldn't figure why I'd spend that much money on one night. I prayed again and again. I embraced that I'd probably be coughing up $60.
Then to get to Gasoline Alley and a motel my dad had recommended I had to take a short trip back on Highway 2. It was pretty clear. There was no blowing snow and it seemed fine. So I said, maybe I'll drive home, if not I can always come back. And I did. And I got home. I like God. He defeats the evil horrors of winter.
He's pretty cool.
Sometimes life hits you like winter and that's the point. It's scary, but the stupid snow will go away. I'm still alive today and maybe I need a wake up call. Forget the maybe.

Celebration is For Me

It was Monday morning and Trevor got to go to school and tell all the kids there to be happy and party. That's a picture of the chalkboard that I wrote on to instruct the chidlings (or maybe people my age who are old).
Well it turns out that in North America we hate a good party. We don't like to celebrate things. Honestly I don't think we truly mourn things either. We sort of relegate emotion to a scrap heap. I'm sure Amy and all her Old Testament knowledge would agree with me here. Those crazy feasts the Jews would hold were times of large scale celebration and they had a zillion of them every year. How many do our churches have? One? Maybe at Christmas?
We're a boring people. God has done so much for us and we act like he's a school teacher at a lecture. Is that right? Maybe church should be about burying ourselves in candy (above) or maybe it should be jumping on a trampoline juggling flaming torches, but whatever is done should be in remembrance of the great things that have been done, are being done and will be done in our lives.
There are times for celebration and for hardships, and I think that we shouldn't try and nullify either.