So, I know that I've already talked about fellowship and community within the church and it's importance and stuff, but I kind of wanted to do something along those lines, but more specific. I want to talk about friendship. It's not really a bible study topic, I know, but it's really important to me, and the bible actually does have quite a bit to say about it.
Friendship was God's idea.
"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone."
Genesis 2:18a (NIV)
Okay, okay, for all you sticklers out there, (strictly) the context of this verse is that Adam needed a "helper" (the second half of the verse being "I will make a helper suitable for him"), that's where woman (Eve) came around. Not the point I'm making here. The point is that, yes, Adam needed a helper, but, it still isn't good for man to be alone! The verse isn't stated "It is not good for man to do all the gardening alone", it is "it is not good for the man to be alone."
Now, you may ask me to prove how that connects to God making friendship and all, and I will do using logic! Logic, by the way, not actually of the devil : P
God is all knowing, omniscient, the universe mapped out and all things known forever, amen? Also, God knew what he was doing when he created Adam, he knew that he would need to create a helper, he knew that he was creating a man whom it would not be good for to be alone. Hence (I love using that word!), God created man to be with others! HA HA! Prove me wrong!
I thought so...!
Anyway, back to friendship. It was God's idea. God is friends with himself, our incredibly complex, yet utterly simple God of three in one, is friends with himself. I'm not going too deeply into discussion on the dynamics of the trinity, but God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is one God, expressed and shown in those three forms. That is how I understand it. God is perfect, and that perfection and the relationship of oneness in the trinity causes me, and the twenty years of growing-up-in-the-church theology have taught me, tell me that God has perfect fellowship with himself in his tri-nature. Make sense? Sort of right?
Okay, on to my next point. Hopefully I have one, and hopefully it makes clearer sense than my previous ones!
Biblical examples that prove God is big on friendship:
"So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."
Exodus 33:11a (NKJV)
"Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend."
Job 16:19-21 (NIV)
" He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend."
Provers 22:11 (NIV)
"But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,"
Isaiah 41:8 (NIV)
Jesus often referred to the person he spoke to as "Friend". I think he likes the word.
Anyway, while I do believe that God is our greatest friend, and that he should be out first priority in terms of friends, for this particular post, I want to talk about person to person friendships.
I have been so blessed in the past oh, two and a half months or so, to be able to meet and spend some time with some of the amazing people I have been. I have met and gotten to know so many people at TACF Central and have joined a great cell group with great cell leaders. Many people at Central feel like friends. I also love my Hillstreams friends! I have friends from all different walks of life and of different ages and races, personality types and other differences. I am so blessed by these people! I just wanted to write this to encourage anyone who reads this, if anyone reads this, that friendships are good! Pursue them! I need more friendships, and deeper friendships, and God is so good to give me those things and bless me that way, so be encouraged also if you feel that you lack friendship(s)!
I don't know where I wanted to go with this, all I know is that I feel in my spirit a real yearning to grow in my friendships, and to write about friendship tonight. Refer to my post about community and fellowship entitled "Will you keep me warm tonight? And I mean that in a purely platonic way" or something like that. There's more clarification of the benefit of friendships and why we need them in there!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Home Is Where My Guitar Is
Well, it has been about a week. I was up at a rental cottage for the week with a whole bunch of family, and while I did, rest assured, throughly enjoy myself; I am glad to be home!
The weather wasn't great though. A little chilly and mostly overcast, but such is life. It was relaxing. I didn't think about money or the future or church business or anything like that, just lived a lazy life for a week, that is, a lazier life than I normally do.
I ate lots of food and snacks, did a lot of swimming (we were right on the lake), watched some movies, hung out with family I haven't seen a long time, and played a lot of cards. Card games are big in my family. I lost twelve dollars in poker! I thought I would win, each time. Don't you always think you are going to win though? Even if just a little bit, you always think, "I could win this."
All and all good times. I am back in the city now, and happy to be home! There was no room for my precious guitar! Oh my Taylor! How I missed you!
It was weird not to be able to call people I normally call during the week, or email people I normally email. The void of facebook interaction was strange and frightening at times, but at other times, this disconnectedness proved relaxing and restful. While I do like being able to be contacted through the entirety of my waking day, there is something to be said for taking time to yourself where you are shut off from the world. I think this is one of the reasons why people love going to cottages. You can go away, to a small, remote place, where the only thing to do is relax and run a lazy life of lethargy by the lake. Sip beers and eat chips. Swim and nap. Lay low and spend quality time with friends or family. On top of all this, you don't have to worry about work, or school, or activities, or anything of the sort for the week. You just let go. I think that we all need to have a let go session every once in a while. For me this week was a little long. I missed the "city things" and conveinces that I'm used to. Flushing your pee, talking on the phone, surfing the internet, writing blogs, using as much water as you like, Starbucks, and etc.. I would have liked a good four days, I think that works for me.
If you are reading this, I encourage you to try and see if you can take a little vacation time this summer. It may just be a weekend, or a long weekend, or a week, or whatever. Do something for yourself, go somewhere, be shut off. Go with friends or family, and just relax. It does a soul good.
Until next...
The weather wasn't great though. A little chilly and mostly overcast, but such is life. It was relaxing. I didn't think about money or the future or church business or anything like that, just lived a lazy life for a week, that is, a lazier life than I normally do.
I ate lots of food and snacks, did a lot of swimming (we were right on the lake), watched some movies, hung out with family I haven't seen a long time, and played a lot of cards. Card games are big in my family. I lost twelve dollars in poker! I thought I would win, each time. Don't you always think you are going to win though? Even if just a little bit, you always think, "I could win this."
All and all good times. I am back in the city now, and happy to be home! There was no room for my precious guitar! Oh my Taylor! How I missed you!
It was weird not to be able to call people I normally call during the week, or email people I normally email. The void of facebook interaction was strange and frightening at times, but at other times, this disconnectedness proved relaxing and restful. While I do like being able to be contacted through the entirety of my waking day, there is something to be said for taking time to yourself where you are shut off from the world. I think this is one of the reasons why people love going to cottages. You can go away, to a small, remote place, where the only thing to do is relax and run a lazy life of lethargy by the lake. Sip beers and eat chips. Swim and nap. Lay low and spend quality time with friends or family. On top of all this, you don't have to worry about work, or school, or activities, or anything of the sort for the week. You just let go. I think that we all need to have a let go session every once in a while. For me this week was a little long. I missed the "city things" and conveinces that I'm used to. Flushing your pee, talking on the phone, surfing the internet, writing blogs, using as much water as you like, Starbucks, and etc.. I would have liked a good four days, I think that works for me.
If you are reading this, I encourage you to try and see if you can take a little vacation time this summer. It may just be a weekend, or a long weekend, or a week, or whatever. Do something for yourself, go somewhere, be shut off. Go with friends or family, and just relax. It does a soul good.
Until next...
Friday, July 6, 2007
Relaxation, I Visit You Again!
Well, tomorrow aft I leave for a week of relaxation. Every year, for the past seven, we have gotten together with much of my Mom's family and all squeezed into a cottage up in Muskoka. It has grown into a family tradition, and a highpoint of the summer for all us Lingard spawned families (gosh that sounds weird, "Lingard spawned").
It will be good. I am purposely using this week to let go of the stress I've been carrying recently. My concerns about work, Australia, church, home, and all things in my life are being put aside. The only thing I'm going to worry about is not getting a sunburn, and trying to get along with certain family members.
I really feel that this also is a time for me to spend some great intimate time with God. I feel that he's been saying, "Take this week and spend time with me. Use it to reconnect and go deeper, to spend a week with me. You won't have any schedules or commitments or activities to stop you, to put priority in over me, so press into me."
It will be nice just pushing a boat out and going into the middle of the lake, and spend some alone time in this nature just praying and talking to God. Nothing to distract me. Take a canoe out onto the lake, and take a look around at God's creation, at the glorious nature he's created for us. I just got a nice new little bible, I left my old one at the wedding hall from when I read at my friends Johnny and Elaina's wedding. I also have the Message, which is good for reading and getting another perspective on the verses from. I have a couple cool books from TACF to read for church, so lots of things to read about God and things to learn from for my walk with him. I will probably not get to spend as much time with God as I plan, nothing ever works out as planned, but I will have more opportunities to, and I plan to use them more than I have been recently, and more than I could if I was here in Toronto, working out life and necessities. I am so looking forward to it!
Also, my Aunt and three gorgeous little cousins are here from Alberta for the week! The girls are so much bigger and older than the last time I saw them. Hope is 10, Mally is 6, and Ella is 3. I saw them last about 2 years ago, and a year ago before that. Kids grow up so quickly!
So yes, there are many great things to look forward to for the week, and I am. It will be fun. I will miss all my friends here in Toronto, and I will not be able to check email, or facebook (aaaaah!), or anything like that until next Saturday. But this is good! I'm not even bringing my laptop to play with! Computers and internet, consider yourself one week forsaken!
Take care 'til then, and God Bless, may this time away from me bring us closer as the saying goes! haha!
I will post a blog after the cottage, I will have much to say and report!
Ta!
It will be good. I am purposely using this week to let go of the stress I've been carrying recently. My concerns about work, Australia, church, home, and all things in my life are being put aside. The only thing I'm going to worry about is not getting a sunburn, and trying to get along with certain family members.
I really feel that this also is a time for me to spend some great intimate time with God. I feel that he's been saying, "Take this week and spend time with me. Use it to reconnect and go deeper, to spend a week with me. You won't have any schedules or commitments or activities to stop you, to put priority in over me, so press into me."
It will be nice just pushing a boat out and going into the middle of the lake, and spend some alone time in this nature just praying and talking to God. Nothing to distract me. Take a canoe out onto the lake, and take a look around at God's creation, at the glorious nature he's created for us. I just got a nice new little bible, I left my old one at the wedding hall from when I read at my friends Johnny and Elaina's wedding. I also have the Message, which is good for reading and getting another perspective on the verses from. I have a couple cool books from TACF to read for church, so lots of things to read about God and things to learn from for my walk with him. I will probably not get to spend as much time with God as I plan, nothing ever works out as planned, but I will have more opportunities to, and I plan to use them more than I have been recently, and more than I could if I was here in Toronto, working out life and necessities. I am so looking forward to it!
Also, my Aunt and three gorgeous little cousins are here from Alberta for the week! The girls are so much bigger and older than the last time I saw them. Hope is 10, Mally is 6, and Ella is 3. I saw them last about 2 years ago, and a year ago before that. Kids grow up so quickly!
So yes, there are many great things to look forward to for the week, and I am. It will be fun. I will miss all my friends here in Toronto, and I will not be able to check email, or facebook (aaaaah!), or anything like that until next Saturday. But this is good! I'm not even bringing my laptop to play with! Computers and internet, consider yourself one week forsaken!
Take care 'til then, and God Bless, may this time away from me bring us closer as the saying goes! haha!
I will post a blog after the cottage, I will have much to say and report!
Ta!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Oh... My... God... - The Story of My Taylor Guitar
Please don't ask me why, but it never occurred to me until just recently to post the story of how I received my Taylor Guitar. However, it has now occurred to me to do such a thing, and here I am doing it. Now, I do thoroughly enjoy every opportunity I get to tell the story, especially considering the greatness and testimony of it. The best though, is people's reactions. When I started telling it to some friends recently, one interrupted me at the beginning and said, "Don't tell me you got a Taylor! If you got a Taylor I WILL SPIT!" I'm still waiting to see her spit. Such is the greatness of the guitar, and its story that this is the type of reaction I have almost come to expect (although not to such an interesting challenge of a reaction, I think she expected me to say no).
So, why not start at the beginning of my musicianship as a guitar player? Don't worry, it's not that long.
I started playing guitar in the winter of 2002. I had just started going to Hillstreams, and everyone cool played guitar. Being sixteen years old, and wanting to be cool like these people, and being generally interested in this whole guitar malarky (credit to Mark Hardy on the word malarky by the way!), I went to my grandfather, who is a guitar player and asked if I could start to learn on his guitar. He was happy to oblige. I would go next door (where he lived at the time) and sit in the basement with his 1952 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean (which by the way is an awesome antic). It was easy enough on the fingers, so I could play for a couple hours at a time and be fine, and I did. I started writing when I could first put two chords together. My first song was about waiting for the cable guy to come fix your cable so you wouldn't have to miss all your favourite shows (it was a terrible song). I then found out that a friend of mine had sold his guitar to a local guitar shop, it was a ten year old acoustic made by a company called Simon & Patrick (local to Quebec). It was a good enough guitar for the time. Simon & Patrick's guitars are for the most part low to middle end, and I loved that guitar and played it all the time. I got the first hundred dollars from my cousin Melissa who was oh so kind to do it, even though I offered to pay her back. My parents couldn't afford it at the time. So I put that down and made $50 payments every month until I had payed the whole thing. It was only about $300. After a couple months though, my dad got real tired of driving me to the guitar store over and over again just to make these little payments. So my parents bought it out. I had that guitar for about three and a half years. I was one day hanging out and playing guitar with my oh so wonderful friend John Gillard, and he asked to see my guitar. I handed it to him, where he looked it over, and discovered a major flaw. A flaw that the guitar had come upon over time that would crush my heart and cause me to give up playing that guitar for fear of having it break in my hands while playing. You see, the neck of the guitar was lifting, quite significantly off the body of it. It was quite bad for the guitar, and the pressure that the strings put on the neck would only make it worse over time. To get it fixed would be expensive, and pointless as the cost of the procedure would be more than the final worth of the guitar, it already had an amateurishly repaired crack in the top that was totally visible, and ugly. It was just over all, in crap-ass shape. So I loosened the strings and put it in its case, not having any other thing I could really do.
For seven months I had no guitar to play. In this time I researched guitars, prayed for God to do something, talked to friends, and mourned the loss of my six stringed friend. Now, I will NOT say that this was seven months for the worse. God taught me so so much in this time. I had learnt to come to depend on my guitar to express myself and push forth in worship. As I took time away from my guitar, I learnt that I could worship without having to play. I grew with God in deeper levels of worship. It was changed my worship life.
Now, if you know guitars, then you know that Taylor makes excellent quality guitars that are of the top calibre of guitar brands. Well, they have different series of guitars, each more expensive then the last. From the 100 series to the 900 series. The first series of guitar that is of quality is the 300 series. I prayed and prayed and sowed for a 314ce.
One Week.
One Month.
Two Months.
Three Months.
Four Months.
Five Months.
Six Months.
Seven Months.
Now, as cool as it would've been, the guitar did not appear out of thin air. Even better, it was the result of a fiendishly clever, loving, Godly, handsome, and already mentioned gifted man's hard work along side with the contributions of many friends and my family. Mr John Thomas Gillard, my guitar hero. He had, behind my back, with the help of many close and loving friends and family members been researching the guitar I wanted, looking at listings and praying for God to show him to make this happen. It was a faith stretcher for him, but it ended up being a faith grower as well. Sufficed to say, it was very much that for me.
So seven months had passed. It was just a normal day. I was coming home from work and just entered the house. Tired, a little frustrated, and wanting to shower and nap, I proceed to my bedroom. Now, I forget to mention that I had told my friends about a dream I had had where I came home and found a guitar on my bed with a red bow on it.
I walk in to my room. This is me:
My exact words in this picture are "What is this?"
I was in shock. Especially when I saw the emblem on the side of the case that looked like this:
BA BA BA! (not sure if that is the right way to phoneticize that sound effect, heh)
Now, I am a man, and I don't cry, like ever. But I wept. Openly and like a child. There is videotape of it. Yes, I was secretly videotaped. I wept and wept in disbelief in shock.
"How did this happen?" I asked, for I knew my parents could so NOT have afforded it.
"Johnny did this," my mom said.
"Johnny did this?"
"Yes, Johnny arranged it all with your friends."
The pieces were starting to fall into place, my mom had recently cleaned up my room and cleared the phone list without reason to me, which were strange and uncommon things to do, especially without explanation.
"Read the card," mom says.
I open the envelope on top the guitar and begin to read the card, only causing me to weep more in reading the little notes and signatures of some of my closest friends. I sent Johnny a test message saying I need to see him PRONTO (and called him a jerk).
And it was mine. It was better than a 314ce. It was a 314ce L7. A limited edition. Instead of the body wood being a common one used in the 300 series it is a rare wood used only in the limited edition, called Tasmanian Blackwood. It was beautiful (check out my facebook pictures of it). I talked to Johnny the next day. He told me more about how it all came together. It was owned by a former worship leader. He bought it new a few months before he sold it to Johnny.
This guitar is everything I've ever wanted in a guitar. It is mine, truly. I know it may sound silly, but I really do feel a kindred of spirits with this guitar. When I look at it, when I hold it, when I play it, I know it is mine. I know it was made for me. I know that there is something about it, something in it, that is also in me. It is anointed. It is holy. It is a warfare instrument. It is a symbol of joy and power and worship and God's goodness and glory. It's beauty alone is awe-inspiring. That was September 26th, 2006, one of the best of my life, and one I will not soon forget.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of my Taylor guitar.
So, why not start at the beginning of my musicianship as a guitar player? Don't worry, it's not that long.
I started playing guitar in the winter of 2002. I had just started going to Hillstreams, and everyone cool played guitar. Being sixteen years old, and wanting to be cool like these people, and being generally interested in this whole guitar malarky (credit to Mark Hardy on the word malarky by the way!), I went to my grandfather, who is a guitar player and asked if I could start to learn on his guitar. He was happy to oblige. I would go next door (where he lived at the time) and sit in the basement with his 1952 Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean (which by the way is an awesome antic). It was easy enough on the fingers, so I could play for a couple hours at a time and be fine, and I did. I started writing when I could first put two chords together. My first song was about waiting for the cable guy to come fix your cable so you wouldn't have to miss all your favourite shows (it was a terrible song). I then found out that a friend of mine had sold his guitar to a local guitar shop, it was a ten year old acoustic made by a company called Simon & Patrick (local to Quebec). It was a good enough guitar for the time. Simon & Patrick's guitars are for the most part low to middle end, and I loved that guitar and played it all the time. I got the first hundred dollars from my cousin Melissa who was oh so kind to do it, even though I offered to pay her back. My parents couldn't afford it at the time. So I put that down and made $50 payments every month until I had payed the whole thing. It was only about $300. After a couple months though, my dad got real tired of driving me to the guitar store over and over again just to make these little payments. So my parents bought it out. I had that guitar for about three and a half years. I was one day hanging out and playing guitar with my oh so wonderful friend John Gillard, and he asked to see my guitar. I handed it to him, where he looked it over, and discovered a major flaw. A flaw that the guitar had come upon over time that would crush my heart and cause me to give up playing that guitar for fear of having it break in my hands while playing. You see, the neck of the guitar was lifting, quite significantly off the body of it. It was quite bad for the guitar, and the pressure that the strings put on the neck would only make it worse over time. To get it fixed would be expensive, and pointless as the cost of the procedure would be more than the final worth of the guitar, it already had an amateurishly repaired crack in the top that was totally visible, and ugly. It was just over all, in crap-ass shape. So I loosened the strings and put it in its case, not having any other thing I could really do.
For seven months I had no guitar to play. In this time I researched guitars, prayed for God to do something, talked to friends, and mourned the loss of my six stringed friend. Now, I will NOT say that this was seven months for the worse. God taught me so so much in this time. I had learnt to come to depend on my guitar to express myself and push forth in worship. As I took time away from my guitar, I learnt that I could worship without having to play. I grew with God in deeper levels of worship. It was changed my worship life.
Now, if you know guitars, then you know that Taylor makes excellent quality guitars that are of the top calibre of guitar brands. Well, they have different series of guitars, each more expensive then the last. From the 100 series to the 900 series. The first series of guitar that is of quality is the 300 series. I prayed and prayed and sowed for a 314ce.
One Week.
One Month.
Two Months.
Three Months.
Four Months.
Five Months.
Six Months.
Seven Months.
Now, as cool as it would've been, the guitar did not appear out of thin air. Even better, it was the result of a fiendishly clever, loving, Godly, handsome, and already mentioned gifted man's hard work along side with the contributions of many friends and my family. Mr John Thomas Gillard, my guitar hero. He had, behind my back, with the help of many close and loving friends and family members been researching the guitar I wanted, looking at listings and praying for God to show him to make this happen. It was a faith stretcher for him, but it ended up being a faith grower as well. Sufficed to say, it was very much that for me.
So seven months had passed. It was just a normal day. I was coming home from work and just entered the house. Tired, a little frustrated, and wanting to shower and nap, I proceed to my bedroom. Now, I forget to mention that I had told my friends about a dream I had had where I came home and found a guitar on my bed with a red bow on it.
I walk in to my room. This is me:
My exact words in this picture are "What is this?"
I was in shock. Especially when I saw the emblem on the side of the case that looked like this:
BA BA BA! (not sure if that is the right way to phoneticize that sound effect, heh)
Now, I am a man, and I don't cry, like ever. But I wept. Openly and like a child. There is videotape of it. Yes, I was secretly videotaped. I wept and wept in disbelief in shock.
"How did this happen?" I asked, for I knew my parents could so NOT have afforded it.
"Johnny did this," my mom said.
"Johnny did this?"
"Yes, Johnny arranged it all with your friends."
The pieces were starting to fall into place, my mom had recently cleaned up my room and cleared the phone list without reason to me, which were strange and uncommon things to do, especially without explanation.
"Read the card," mom says.
I open the envelope on top the guitar and begin to read the card, only causing me to weep more in reading the little notes and signatures of some of my closest friends. I sent Johnny a test message saying I need to see him PRONTO (and called him a jerk).
And it was mine. It was better than a 314ce. It was a 314ce L7. A limited edition. Instead of the body wood being a common one used in the 300 series it is a rare wood used only in the limited edition, called Tasmanian Blackwood. It was beautiful (check out my facebook pictures of it). I talked to Johnny the next day. He told me more about how it all came together. It was owned by a former worship leader. He bought it new a few months before he sold it to Johnny.
This guitar is everything I've ever wanted in a guitar. It is mine, truly. I know it may sound silly, but I really do feel a kindred of spirits with this guitar. When I look at it, when I hold it, when I play it, I know it is mine. I know it was made for me. I know that there is something about it, something in it, that is also in me. It is anointed. It is holy. It is a warfare instrument. It is a symbol of joy and power and worship and God's goodness and glory. It's beauty alone is awe-inspiring. That was September 26th, 2006, one of the best of my life, and one I will not soon forget.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of my Taylor guitar.
An Update of the Times
Good day reader! This is a little update of sorts as there has been much going on and little online telling of it! I also decided to finally put up the story of how I received my Taylor guitar last year, as I just realized that I have not yet put it online! Look for that in the next post!
So, to the update!
Well, after much, much, much soul-searching, researching, thinking, and praying I have decided that I feel God, and my heart, are leading me to a life in ministry. After leaving Centennial College's Child and Youth Worker Program for many reasons, but primarily that things just seemed to add up to it not being right for me, for me not to be continuing there. I felt that I had no other choice, and can't really go into all the reasons why. Sufficed to say, I'm not there anymore, I took the year off to figure out the reasons why things went down the way they did, and what I am going to do now. I worked, and worked, and worked, and was going on with my regular other business with church and such, and just taking it easy. Well, after doing some reading, and thinking, and etc., I've come to do a place, like I said, where I feel led to ministry. I want to do worship, for a profession. It is where my heart is, to see the people of God press in deeper and see growth and change in worship. I want for the church to experience a fuller, deeper, more intimate, more glorious worship. I want to help churches who need more of that. I want to help churches to train up their teams, deal with their problems in worship, plan conferences, write songs, record albums, and be a consultant of sorts to help churches get from where they are in worship, to a new place and stay that way.
So, after coming to a glimpse of this, I thought to my self, "Self, I should go and do some schooling to be really equipped to do just this!"
I looked at different schools in the GTA, different programs and etc.. I looked at TACF's School of Ministry, and some other Christian College programs. Nothing really took me, until...
I don't know how it came to me to look into going to Australia, but some how it did. I found the Hillsong Church's International Leadership College, which is AWESOME. So, I looked at the info, and did some research, and prayed and thought about it. You know, nothing really appealed to me like this did. It was the only school that "made my baby jump."
I've decided, logically, to go into the stream of Worship & the Creative Arts (specifically music). They have three programs, a one year Certificate IV, a two year Diploma, or a three year Advanced Diploma in Ministry. I decided on the two year diploma, it just felt best. I may stay and apply for the third year for the Advanced Diploma, not sure yet. So yeah, I leave in January, and can't be more excited.
I'm still at Hillstreams Christian Fellowship in Markham, my home, my primary church. I've been also attending the Sunday night TACF (Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship) Central site church too. It's a young adult church which is AWESOME! I love it, it's great because I don't have many young adult peers at Hillstreams. It's been great, great people. I've joined a cell group and have awesome cell leaders! (Shout out to Mark and Bethany if you read this! WHOOP WHOOP!)
I quit Starbucks, like just last week. Which is good. I'm kinda relieved actually, even though I have nothing lined up yet. But God is good, and has given me great peace about it. I was talking to someone and he asked me "are you scared?"
"No," I answered.
"Are you scared that you're not scared?"
"Actually, yes, I am."
So yeah, I'm not really scared, but I'm kinda scared about not being scared, I mean, I have bills to pay, and no job, but hey, God is big enough to take care of me, and I feel that he is behind me with this, so worry I will not!
I'm leaving for a week this Saturday, we're going up to a cottage we rent from some friends of friends every year. We get the entire family together and all pour into this little cottage on the lake. It's lots of fun, I'm looking forward to it. It will be a good time and a great chance to connect with God in a new place and just relax and spend some time with him, and with family.
That's pretty much it for the update...
Ciao!
So, to the update!
Well, after much, much, much soul-searching, researching, thinking, and praying I have decided that I feel God, and my heart, are leading me to a life in ministry. After leaving Centennial College's Child and Youth Worker Program for many reasons, but primarily that things just seemed to add up to it not being right for me, for me not to be continuing there. I felt that I had no other choice, and can't really go into all the reasons why. Sufficed to say, I'm not there anymore, I took the year off to figure out the reasons why things went down the way they did, and what I am going to do now. I worked, and worked, and worked, and was going on with my regular other business with church and such, and just taking it easy. Well, after doing some reading, and thinking, and etc., I've come to do a place, like I said, where I feel led to ministry. I want to do worship, for a profession. It is where my heart is, to see the people of God press in deeper and see growth and change in worship. I want for the church to experience a fuller, deeper, more intimate, more glorious worship. I want to help churches who need more of that. I want to help churches to train up their teams, deal with their problems in worship, plan conferences, write songs, record albums, and be a consultant of sorts to help churches get from where they are in worship, to a new place and stay that way.
So, after coming to a glimpse of this, I thought to my self, "Self, I should go and do some schooling to be really equipped to do just this!"
I looked at different schools in the GTA, different programs and etc.. I looked at TACF's School of Ministry, and some other Christian College programs. Nothing really took me, until...
I don't know how it came to me to look into going to Australia, but some how it did. I found the Hillsong Church's International Leadership College, which is AWESOME. So, I looked at the info, and did some research, and prayed and thought about it. You know, nothing really appealed to me like this did. It was the only school that "made my baby jump."
I've decided, logically, to go into the stream of Worship & the Creative Arts (specifically music). They have three programs, a one year Certificate IV, a two year Diploma, or a three year Advanced Diploma in Ministry. I decided on the two year diploma, it just felt best. I may stay and apply for the third year for the Advanced Diploma, not sure yet. So yeah, I leave in January, and can't be more excited.
I'm still at Hillstreams Christian Fellowship in Markham, my home, my primary church. I've been also attending the Sunday night TACF (Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship) Central site church too. It's a young adult church which is AWESOME! I love it, it's great because I don't have many young adult peers at Hillstreams. It's been great, great people. I've joined a cell group and have awesome cell leaders! (Shout out to Mark and Bethany if you read this! WHOOP WHOOP!)
I quit Starbucks, like just last week. Which is good. I'm kinda relieved actually, even though I have nothing lined up yet. But God is good, and has given me great peace about it. I was talking to someone and he asked me "are you scared?"
"No," I answered.
"Are you scared that you're not scared?"
"Actually, yes, I am."
So yeah, I'm not really scared, but I'm kinda scared about not being scared, I mean, I have bills to pay, and no job, but hey, God is big enough to take care of me, and I feel that he is behind me with this, so worry I will not!
I'm leaving for a week this Saturday, we're going up to a cottage we rent from some friends of friends every year. We get the entire family together and all pour into this little cottage on the lake. It's lots of fun, I'm looking forward to it. It will be a good time and a great chance to connect with God in a new place and just relax and spend some time with him, and with family.
That's pretty much it for the update...
Ciao!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)