Friday, September 29, 2006
Ahhh Summit!
The day for Summit has finally arrived! So excited. What is Summit you ask? Well it's a fall retreat for the students involved in Campus for Christ all over North America (and possibly elsewhere). We (York) are going with U of Toronto, Ryerson, McMaster, Guelph and Waterloo. It's gunna be grrrrrrreat! Anywayz, obviously u'll all be hearing about it on Sunday when I get back...so keep on readin!
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Choices
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
I was thinking a few days ago how people tend to blame God when things go wrong in the world or when things go wrong within their own lives. And I was led to the verse listed above, that basically explains that God had/has plans for us, from before our conception He had plans. His plans were and are for good, they are not intended to cause us trouble or to make us stumble. His plans provide us with a future and a hope; they do not lead us down a destructive path that cuts our life short or puts us in despair.
So what causes the bad things that happen in life to happen? The choices that we make. People always say that throughout life, everything is met with a choice, and it's true. You wake up and there are so many choices already laid out infront of you; do you get out of bed or stay in bed, do you shower or not, do you go to work/school or just stay at home, and the list goes on until the choice is to go to sleep or to stay awake. And the cycle continues. One can see how these choices can lead to "bad" events; if one refuses to go to work, he/she might get laid off and a whole ripple effect could come from that.
Sometimes our choices affect only us, and other times, they could be damaging or hurtful to other people. Many times, those are the choices that have people turn and cry out "Why?" to God. We can think of many examples I'm sure; the World Wars, terrorism, adultery, revenge, etc. However, we must bear in mind that God is not to be blamed for these events. Yes, He is all-knowing and yes, He certainly has the power to stop anything horrible from happening but He has given us human beings free will to do and act as we please and so in many ways, the responsibility lies on us. It's like a parent-child relationship; a parent may have plans for their child to become a doctor or a lawyer or something they feel is "good" for their child, but in the end, it's the child who decides what path his/her life is going to take. If he/she disobeys the parents, gets involved in a dangerous or unhealthy lifestyle and unfortunately reaps bad results, are the parents really to blame?
The prodigal son (Luke 15) had a similar situation, where he left his father to go off on his own and live the life he wanted. He eventually hit very very hard times and realized that he had been wrong and went to his father, took responsibility for his actions and asked to be forgiven. How amazing is it that our Heavenly Father will do the same if we just admit that we were wrong, take responsibility for our wrong/bad actions (sin) and come to Him for forgiveness. And He is able to continue to have great plans for us if we only trust in Him and surrender ourselves to Him. He wants what's best for us and He knows what's best for us so He is able to provide for us the things that we need.
"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."
I was thinking a few days ago how people tend to blame God when things go wrong in the world or when things go wrong within their own lives. And I was led to the verse listed above, that basically explains that God had/has plans for us, from before our conception He had plans. His plans were and are for good, they are not intended to cause us trouble or to make us stumble. His plans provide us with a future and a hope; they do not lead us down a destructive path that cuts our life short or puts us in despair.
So what causes the bad things that happen in life to happen? The choices that we make. People always say that throughout life, everything is met with a choice, and it's true. You wake up and there are so many choices already laid out infront of you; do you get out of bed or stay in bed, do you shower or not, do you go to work/school or just stay at home, and the list goes on until the choice is to go to sleep or to stay awake. And the cycle continues. One can see how these choices can lead to "bad" events; if one refuses to go to work, he/she might get laid off and a whole ripple effect could come from that.
Sometimes our choices affect only us, and other times, they could be damaging or hurtful to other people. Many times, those are the choices that have people turn and cry out "Why?" to God. We can think of many examples I'm sure; the World Wars, terrorism, adultery, revenge, etc. However, we must bear in mind that God is not to be blamed for these events. Yes, He is all-knowing and yes, He certainly has the power to stop anything horrible from happening but He has given us human beings free will to do and act as we please and so in many ways, the responsibility lies on us. It's like a parent-child relationship; a parent may have plans for their child to become a doctor or a lawyer or something they feel is "good" for their child, but in the end, it's the child who decides what path his/her life is going to take. If he/she disobeys the parents, gets involved in a dangerous or unhealthy lifestyle and unfortunately reaps bad results, are the parents really to blame?
The prodigal son (Luke 15) had a similar situation, where he left his father to go off on his own and live the life he wanted. He eventually hit very very hard times and realized that he had been wrong and went to his father, took responsibility for his actions and asked to be forgiven. How amazing is it that our Heavenly Father will do the same if we just admit that we were wrong, take responsibility for our wrong/bad actions (sin) and come to Him for forgiveness. And He is able to continue to have great plans for us if we only trust in Him and surrender ourselves to Him. He wants what's best for us and He knows what's best for us so He is able to provide for us the things that we need.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Tired but Bouncy
I have had quite the excitement filled week. Other than boring school, there's been following up on contacts with C4C, meeting with people, making new friends, having an AMAZING weekly meeting and then a GREAT weekend so far.
I'll start with yesterday (Friday). So basically I lazed around during the day although I was supposed to be applying for jobs (blah) but i THINK i might go back to Jacob (that's a WHOLE other blog though lol) so yeah, I didn't do a lot cuz I was pretty worn out from the week and knew I was going to have an eventful evening. At night was a Girl's Social with some girls from C4C. Basically a time to just hang out and get to know each other better....Girl's Night! So we had a BBQ and some pasta salad, some pizza egg rolls, some chips, some pavlova (sp) and then played Cranium, which is quite the amazing game. Afterwards, it was gettin somewhat late and we decided we must depart ince we all had to be at UofT for 10am for Training Day (no...not the movie)
So I dropped off a couple people at the place they were sleeping and then went on my way to drop Andrea off. On our way, she informed me that her brother (Steven) and our friend Jon were playing volleyball until 2am and wondered if I was slightly interested in going to watch. Obviously I said yes...it's VOLLEYBALL. So we headed over there and saw Barb and her friend from Australia playing there too. We had an great time...Andrea and I found a spare ball and just played some pepper and what not for a while, we were joined by some of the ladies for a bit and even got a chance to play a game cuz some guys needed 2 extra players. So basically it was a fun, sweaty and sandy (beach volleyball style) experience that I'm hoping to repeat fairly soon. I can't believe how much I've missed playing it. Well, that night I got home about 3:15 and went to sleep at 4 and had to wake up at 8:30 in order to get to Training Day. Ugh....why do people do stupidness like get only 4 1/2 hours of sleep? lol
Training Day was great. Unfortunately we (me, Andrea, Jon and Steven) got off to a slow-ish start and arrived late :( However, everyone was gracious and I learned a lot about things to epect and things that would make this year amazing in terms of gaining momentum and creating a movement and things to do with my DG (discipleship group). So basically i'm super super excited to see what God's got in store for this year.
After Training Day, went by Andrea and Steven's for a bit. Had fun, sang some songs, played some music and did all the crazy fun stuff that people do lol. Then went home, got the cousins and we watched Tyler Perry's "I Can Do Bad Myself" which was hilarious and interesting. Gotta love his plays, I just wish I could see them in person sometime.
Anywayz, that's basically it for now. It's almost 1am and I'm still running on only 4 1/2 hours of sleep so i'm a BIT tired. So you tell me, is sleep a necessity? I would think so....as i'm half asleep on here lol jk. NITE FOLKS!
I'll start with yesterday (Friday). So basically I lazed around during the day although I was supposed to be applying for jobs (blah) but i THINK i might go back to Jacob (that's a WHOLE other blog though lol) so yeah, I didn't do a lot cuz I was pretty worn out from the week and knew I was going to have an eventful evening. At night was a Girl's Social with some girls from C4C. Basically a time to just hang out and get to know each other better....Girl's Night! So we had a BBQ and some pasta salad, some pizza egg rolls, some chips, some pavlova (sp) and then played Cranium, which is quite the amazing game. Afterwards, it was gettin somewhat late and we decided we must depart ince we all had to be at UofT for 10am for Training Day (no...not the movie)
So I dropped off a couple people at the place they were sleeping and then went on my way to drop Andrea off. On our way, she informed me that her brother (Steven) and our friend Jon were playing volleyball until 2am and wondered if I was slightly interested in going to watch. Obviously I said yes...it's VOLLEYBALL. So we headed over there and saw Barb and her friend from Australia playing there too. We had an great time...Andrea and I found a spare ball and just played some pepper and what not for a while, we were joined by some of the ladies for a bit and even got a chance to play a game cuz some guys needed 2 extra players. So basically it was a fun, sweaty and sandy (beach volleyball style) experience that I'm hoping to repeat fairly soon. I can't believe how much I've missed playing it. Well, that night I got home about 3:15 and went to sleep at 4 and had to wake up at 8:30 in order to get to Training Day. Ugh....why do people do stupidness like get only 4 1/2 hours of sleep? lol
Training Day was great. Unfortunately we (me, Andrea, Jon and Steven) got off to a slow-ish start and arrived late :( However, everyone was gracious and I learned a lot about things to epect and things that would make this year amazing in terms of gaining momentum and creating a movement and things to do with my DG (discipleship group). So basically i'm super super excited to see what God's got in store for this year.
After Training Day, went by Andrea and Steven's for a bit. Had fun, sang some songs, played some music and did all the crazy fun stuff that people do lol. Then went home, got the cousins and we watched Tyler Perry's "I Can Do Bad Myself" which was hilarious and interesting. Gotta love his plays, I just wish I could see them in person sometime.
Anywayz, that's basically it for now. It's almost 1am and I'm still running on only 4 1/2 hours of sleep so i'm a BIT tired. So you tell me, is sleep a necessity? I would think so....as i'm half asleep on here lol jk. NITE FOLKS!
Saturday, September 09, 2006
What Man Intended for Evil
I always wonder why some things turn out the way they do. You think about those job promotions that you never received, the relationship you wanted to happen but didn't, a loved one you had leaving the world prematurely and the list could go on. And in our mortal mindsets these events can be devastating and make us feel hopeless. But we are not able to see things like God sees things; we don't know what may come in the future whereas He does.
The story of Joseph is a great example of how God can turn unfortunate events into fortunate ones. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery where he was promoted to second in command but afterwards accused by his master's wife of trying to assault/get with her which in turn got him thrown into prison where he later on became somewhat of a warden and eventually became the Pharaoh's right hand man during a severe drought in Egypt. After all these events, Joseph's brothers had to come to him begging for food to save their starving families. Basically, God took the evil in the hearts of Joseph's brothers and turned it into good; the saving of the lives of Joseph's family. -Genesis 37-45-
I was reflecting on Joseph's story and it made me realize that yeah bad things do happen in life, to "good" and "bad" people, but we are do not know what the future has in store for us. I know I've personally had countless events happen that make me frustrated and hurt and I've cried out to God many times asking "Why" and "when will this ever end" and I feel like I've received no answer. However, it's comforting to know that He knows the future, He knows who I am and He has my best interests at heart. He knows how these experiences, good or bad, will help shape the way I am. I've realized this with a few things I've gone through in the past; my experiences have helped me when it comes to talking and understanding certain people and their struggles, my experiences have made me stronger in many regards, and my experiences have made me wise to newer struggles so I donÃ?t have to fight my way through like I have in the past. And I can trust and believe that whatever comes my way, God is in control and is using the choices and actions of others to help me better myself and prepare me for things to come. And who knows, maybe one day I can be in the place where my suffering and experiences can help to keep my family alive.
So when I'm confused about a situation or angry that things aren't going my way, I can look to Him for strength, comfort and guidance and trust in His promise that He will never leave or forsake me and that just like with Joseph, what man intended for evil, God has in store for good.
The story of Joseph is a great example of how God can turn unfortunate events into fortunate ones. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery where he was promoted to second in command but afterwards accused by his master's wife of trying to assault/get with her which in turn got him thrown into prison where he later on became somewhat of a warden and eventually became the Pharaoh's right hand man during a severe drought in Egypt. After all these events, Joseph's brothers had to come to him begging for food to save their starving families. Basically, God took the evil in the hearts of Joseph's brothers and turned it into good; the saving of the lives of Joseph's family. -Genesis 37-45-
I was reflecting on Joseph's story and it made me realize that yeah bad things do happen in life, to "good" and "bad" people, but we are do not know what the future has in store for us. I know I've personally had countless events happen that make me frustrated and hurt and I've cried out to God many times asking "Why" and "when will this ever end" and I feel like I've received no answer. However, it's comforting to know that He knows the future, He knows who I am and He has my best interests at heart. He knows how these experiences, good or bad, will help shape the way I am. I've realized this with a few things I've gone through in the past; my experiences have helped me when it comes to talking and understanding certain people and their struggles, my experiences have made me stronger in many regards, and my experiences have made me wise to newer struggles so I donÃ?t have to fight my way through like I have in the past. And I can trust and believe that whatever comes my way, God is in control and is using the choices and actions of others to help me better myself and prepare me for things to come. And who knows, maybe one day I can be in the place where my suffering and experiences can help to keep my family alive.
So when I'm confused about a situation or angry that things aren't going my way, I can look to Him for strength, comfort and guidance and trust in His promise that He will never leave or forsake me and that just like with Joseph, what man intended for evil, God has in store for good.
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