More than we can ask or imagine

Solid Food=Energy

2007-01-08T21:56:00.000-04:00

Hi all,
I know I have not posted very much in the last few months,, but I must say I have been very busy.. Especially as a student at AST..eepp! I must firstly do a shout out to Linda, sorry for leaving you out of my list of pple at AST last time:( Seniors moment I cry!..But I must say you play some mean Guitar!! yay! 2cents is getting multitallented yay!...
Now that you have forgiven me.. I hope anyhoo;) it is time to move on to that wonderful topic of foood.. last semester we were stuck with organic soups everyday, I was weak all the time..but now I am off the meal plan and well, I have so much energy I am not going to bed hungry. I guess this experience has given me insight into how much of the world's people live in poverty. Well, It is late and I have to go to bed cause I am going to morning prayer tomorrow.. so will post more someother time.. A big shout out to 2 cents and to my Island friends both in PEI and around the world! God bless you all and remember .. Prayer is an important part of our Christian walk so keep it going daily!
love yas all
from halifax
Melissa
aka turnip!

Compline

2006-10-15T22:48:00.001-03:00

Wow! AST is going really great, I have learned lots and I know I am going to continue to learn more. I sure have learned that ignoring God is not good and it seems that God is the one who has to pick up all the pieces when the plan falls appart. I have also tasted a little of the power of forgiveness from friends, especially when I screwed up by not listening to God.
I have met some amazing people here, especially Pope Beanadict XVI, Bishop Spud, Eucharistic Soup or Ecumenical Soup, Father Ross, Jodie, Cynthia, Scott, Kyle, Kevin, well I can go on, but I won't.
I have been going to many Anglican services of late and enjoying them. It was such a blessing to see Bishop Sue tonight and to sing compline. I wil be helping out at Kings soon enough as Sub Deacon. I hope that I will do fine because I have never done anything like that before.
God sure is awesome and continues to provide for my needs. I have been receiving so many scholarships that I hope my grades will be up there to make these people proud of investing in my future ministry. well it is late and I need bed so until next time here is a quesiton to ponder..
"If you were arrested for being Christian, would they have enough evidence to convict you?" Bishop Sue at tonight's evensong service.
Prayers and blessings from The one who places the stars in the sky..love,
Melissa

Praises to His name

2006-08-18T11:01:00.000-03:00

Hallelujah! What a beautiful day to praise God! Can you believe it, I am now almost done my placement. I have learned soo much and I am very blessed with the people I have met. God sure is awesome! I would like to thank all the people who have supported me and prayed for me and helped me along the way. May God shower you all with a million blessings.. well next week is it! and off to PEI for a few days and back to AST. Woo hoo to God be the Glory!
God bless and have a great week

Come and Journey with a Savior

2006-07-03T13:55:00.000-03:00

Ok, I know it has been a while.. a long while I havn't had internet high speed access in a while. so I am taking full advantage of it Well I am in Fall River NS which is not too far from Halifax and it is beautiful cause all of the rivers around here. Wow, I feel like I am home.. I am doing a parish placement and it is a different experience compared to working at Tims, like I have for the last 12years.. yup not months years! So am scared out of my trees.. I will keep my experiences posted so I start me new journey tomorrow.. May God bless you all
M

Rake and Run

2005-11-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

Okay all you SPYDA pple, here this saturday from 3-5 @ 101 Nassau street bring a rake, and gloves. It will be super fun. I hope to see you there, this will be Youth Group for this week, and get this... free pizza after:D May God bless you all today and I will see you all Saturday at 101 Nassau.
Melissa

Thank full

2005-10-11T11:43:00.000-03:00

Well, if you are as lucky as me, you got the oppertunity to fill up on turkey, pumpkin pie and the likes. I never got to go home for thanksgiving because of the stupid papers and stuff i have to do:( But, I was very blessed. My friend's mom invited me over for supper and than I was invited to John's place on Monday. So I got more than enough to eat. But each time I was eating I couldn't help but remember how there are people in the world who have no food. It made me think really hard about a verse, and I can't remember where it is.... but where Jesus said "when I was hungry, you gave me to drink, when I was thirsty, you gave me to eat, when I was naked, you clothed me and in prison, you visited me" How many times do we actually do any of that for Jesus? I think this week, it would be nice to do one of the above for someone. I know what it feels to be on the receiving end of that verse. I have been taken in by a wonderful family and I love each of them very much. I am soo blessed and I know that i have to take that generosity and give it to others. So, yah I know we are all students and money is very slim but try to use your gifts to fulfill what God wants. God will surely bless you with more than you can ever ask or imagine. God is faithful.. and never forget that!!! also, I hope your prayer time is going well. I read in Ben Sirach that when we find a wise person, we should wear out their doorstep. So we have met Jesus and it is up to us to wear out His doorstep! To spend time with HIm everyday! So until next time.. God bless and good luck with your generosity!
M

Until we meet again

2005-09-29T20:08:00.000-03:00

One thing that I have learned being a Christian is that well, we never stay in one spot too long. I just think of all the priests that I grew up with in my parish in sside that had been called to other parishes and also some of my friends that have been called by God to other places. One thing is for sure, the life of a Christian is not a comforting experience. Ok, if that isnot enough to drive you away , I am impressed. The life of a Christian is always challenging, unknown and full of fear. But the good thing is that Jesus promises us He will be with us always til the end of time. Do not fear is mentioned like 366 times in the bible. But this is God comforting us, on our mission. Of course being a Christian is a big responsibility, because we must be representatives of Jesus on earth, we are HIs hands, feet, eyes and ears. Ok, for those who think God will never call you on a big mission,,, think again! God will call you sometime. God has given us gifts to help us on our journey so we will be fine. He never sends us into the battle alone.
Sometimes, God requires us to leave and go somewhere we would never have imagined. So of course we will be afraid! But by saying Yes, God promises to never leave our side.
So now that my long winded sermon is over, I just want to wishmy friend, Rushan God Speed and good luck until we cross paths again, may God' peace be with you and May God bless you and continue to use you as He wills. You have been an inspiration to me and I learned so much from your very relaxed perspective on life. I know this weekend will be hard for u but for sure that is the life of a "Crazy Dog"! Who knows where God will call us next?
Rushan, I will miss you but you will always have a special place in my heart and I will never stop ceasing to pray for u.
Go with God!
M

Do Not Quench the Spirit! Part 2

2005-09-18T08:44:00.000-03:00

I am sorry for not posting more stuff, but I have been very busy with school and the likes. But that does not mean that I was not learning more about my faith in God. In fact, I learned plenty! I have learned that God's Spirit does more than we ever give it credit for. So the warning of Paul, when he said to not quench the spirit has become more meaningful to me. The Holy Spirit not only gives us gifts to understand what God's plan is for us or help us to understand scripture, The spirit also does prays for us constantly to the Father. So if we are sleeping, the Spirit still prays to God for us!!! WOW!!! So it is very important that we do not quench the Spirit..
So now that you know a bit of how the spirit works.. isn't it awesome? Praying continually is amazing. So my prayer to you today is that you will never quench the spirit. It is too precious to throw away. I challenge you to continue to spend at least a half hour a morning praying! You will never be dissapointed.
Peace

A fountain of life springing water

2005-09-07T17:54:00.000-03:00

Today, the first day of school... wow where did the summer go? It was a great summer but at the same time, it was a busy summer. Now it is back to the books. I hope to accomplish two thngs... to do well in school and keep up my prayer time with God and time with my friend Rita.
Today, I received a gift. Not your typical expensive in a box gift. This gift came in a bottle. Noooo not beer or wine! It was something that is what we need to survive... Water! NOt just any water.. this water came from Ebenezer. This is the best water on the Island. My best friend, Amy gave it to me compliments of Rita. I was soo happy to get it and very touched at the same time because someone would think of me at such an early time! This gift made my day, along with seeing Amy! This gift of water actually tied in to what I was reflecting on this morning..
"The water thatI shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" John 4:14
There are many references to water in the NT.. I really like the story of the woman at the well and how she thirst for tha life giving water Jesus had. Oh how I need to yearn for that as well. It is really beautiful that God gives us this water and requires us to let it flow out of us so others can see.
Water is a life giving source and it is something that we require because without it we are dead. We do not want to be spiritually dead. So my challenge today, is that you spread the beautiful blessings God has given you to others and see how beautiful it grows. Never let things get in the way of the flow of God's life giving water

Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory...

2005-09-03T15:18:00.000-03:00

Some of you maybe familiar with this saying. It is actually a prayer and to be more specific, it is the Jabez prayer. Here how it goes..
"Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" 1Chron 4:10.
Wow what a prayer eh? Who in the right mind has the nerve to say to God to bless me?? better yet, enlarge my territory!!! What nerve! right? Wrong!
At first, this was my attitude.... I shouldn't ask God to bless me cause I am soo bad, I also thought that territory ment to be shared with others.. After reading the book called The Prayer of Jabez, I realized that God wants us to pray as Jabez did! Wow...bless me and enlarge my territory. I have come to realize that asking God for blessings is a great thing to do. Because God has many blessings stored up to be sent to us everytime we ask Him. God also wants us to enlarge our territories because when we do it, God's name is shared with more pple, in turn giving God more praise. Therefore pleasing Him. wow eh? So I ask you to pray that prayer and I guarantee you will be blessed beyond anything...
May God bless your soxs off!!!

Humble Thyself in the Sight of The Lord

2005-08-31T11:01:00.000-03:00

Have you ever wondered why when we ask God for something, some of the times, we never get it? I know I have, plenty of times and some of these times, it has resulted in angry discussions with God. The reason why, I have come to find out, is in the book of James. It talks about how our earthly passions keep us away from God. And if we ask for earthly passions, they will do nothing but make us grow farther away from God. Like asking for money, fame, lots of fine material things. This is very dangerous because all these posessions act like a barrier between us and God. Once we have a cozy house, a nice car, lots of friends and money, we tend to come to the conclusion that we don't need God.
At this present moment I am blessed that I don't have many material things. I have found that living as a student has brought me closer to God because I depend on God on all my things. I depend on Him to help me with school either it be with how it is going to be payed or how I am going to pay the bills.
When I humble myself to God, things go as smooth as silk, but when I decide that I can handle the situation, that is when my wordly passions get in the way causing me to drift away from God., ergo I get in a pickle.
It is a challenge for me to humble myself to God. This summer, I humbled myself for three weeks and went on a missions trip, worrying about how I was going to pay for the three weeks of missed work. Oh was I amazed and blessed at what God has done and how He provided and how he continues to provide for me. I am soo blessed!!!
I am soo blessed to have so many wonderful pple in my life, besides mom and dad and my sisters, I have beautiful friends who love God with all their hearts and nothing more would please them than to serve God and do His will. Yah, I am talking about Amy, Chelsea and Rita. I am soo blessed that God has brought us together you are all beautiful women of God and I am glad that I can serve God with you all. You know I love you all very much.
So through humility to God, He promises to lift us up! Wow what a promise. So to all my friends, I challenge you to become humble, to become patient, full of mercy and love and to look around at God's presence, like I did yesterday and see how much God has surely blessed you. God is alive... Allelujah!!!!!
May God lift you up today! and send His awesome blessings on you and remember the Jabez prayer... May You bless me, enlarge my boarders, keep me safe and from harm.
Wow what a prayer,, God granted it to Jabez and God will grant it to us...
Remember, to humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up!

Training for the prize

2005-08-26T19:53:00.000-03:00

Well, I have to say, today I did what I wanted to do, I jogged out to the end of Lower Malpeque road and back. Two hours later, and ten kilometers to boot, I did it!! While I was jogging, I was thinking lots.. like how St. Paul tells us that we are to be like athletes that are training for the prize. Of course our prize does not come in forms of silver or gold, naww they come in the form of eternal life that was bought by the blood of Jesus. We must train to fight against the evil forces. Jesus is depending on us! As St Teresa once said "We are His hands, His Feet, His eyes in which He sees the world" So with that in mind, the training reflection gave me a couple of questions... Am I a dedicated Christian? Do I train everyday to become a better Christian?
Unfortunately, my answer is no, I train more physically than spiritually.. This has been my challenge all summer, to match my work outs with my pray outs! My prayer life has gotten better but I need to work more on it. Jesus is more important to me than any workout! So I challenge each of you to start thinking of your faith life as a workout preparing you for the spiritual battles and leading you to the prize.
"Keep your eyes on the prize and your feet on the street" In other words, Jesus calls us to do the unthinkable but it is never something that we are not prepared to do. So keep your eye on eternal life but remember, we are still here on earth so we must live each day seeking every chance we get to share Jesus with someone. We are Jesus' hands to hug His eyes, to seek out injustices and His feet to share the Gospel of Love:D
Peace,
M

"Prayer-Battle in the secret place"

2005-08-25T17:11:00.000-03:00

Ok, so here is another installment of Utmost for His highest,,, updated version. This one is on prayer. It is really awesome! The reflection is on Matthew 6:6
[ Jesus did not say, "Dream about your Father who is in the secret place," but He said, "...pray to your Father who is in the secret place..." Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to disicpline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.
We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thought begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, " this needs to be done, and I have to do that today." Jesus says to "shut your door." Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret and He sees us from "the secret place"-He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in "the secret place" it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into "the secret place", and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and pray to your Father who is in the secret place, every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.]
As I read this last night, I have come to a different realization that God sure wants us to meet Him in a secret place, but I never realized that the secret place refered here is about a place soo secret that even your thoughts do not know where you went. We must pray with 100% comitment to God and also come before God with a pure heart leaving all the junk of the day behind. God has given us the honour to talk to Him, so do you not think he deserves our undivided attention? So why not start to spend time before the chaos of the day starts with God? I guarantee your day will go awesome! I know that since I started spending time with God each day, things have been going awesome! I have a better outlook on life, more patience and more joy. My relationship with God has grown trememdously and I am soo blessed about it.
If you want to have this experience, I challenge you to spend at least 20mins a day with God, I guarantee you won't be dissapointed:)
Prayerfully yours
M

Epiphany! God made the sunset just for you!

2005-08-19T21:11:00.000-03:00

What an amazing day! Work was great, for once! But it was tonite that I was surely blessed, Or as Molly says Epiphany! God was sure with us. Well, an unschedualed supper date, or spontanious supper date, with Molly that was really awesome! Thanks Molly for saying grace at the table. It was really special! And thanx for the awesome sharing. Remember you are in my prayers always! Keep your head up on your journey!
Than I got to see Aleida, who I have not seen in a while:D and what a beautiful sunset. I just can not describe how thankful I am to God for what He has done for me. I may not have money but I have beautiful friends and family and a beautiful home!
I can never speak of how thankful I am to God for all the blessings in my life. I know that I am not worthy of them but I thank God for them. God is soo awesome! I can understand all the praise in the psalms, the only way to describe God's awesomeness is through the psalms and poetry.
Molly had reminded me something, that all things in nature were created by God for us. So everytime you see a beautiful sunset, think that God created it for you and I.. Wow eh?
This is Psalm 30 from "The word on the street"
Elevate You

All I want to do is look at you
Elevate you
You lifted up my head. I was staring at graves:
You saved me.
You stopped the gloat in the throat of my enemies
You made their mockery cease; I begged for help:
you healed me, arranged my early release;
You gave me a hand up and out from the grave with my name on, and now, it's game on.
So let it rip, sing it strong!
let his crew take the roof off with this celebration song;
His fury don't last so long; his favour lasts a lifetime
we cry through the night, but the morning sun begins its climb, and it's celebration time.
you turned my tears into cheers, My moping through coping and on into dancing.
You made me take off my funeral gear,
and suddenly vibrant colour appear.
My heart's gonna sing, it's not gonna stop.
God, I'm going to thank you till I drop- you're top!

May God bless you all
Shalom,
M

Engaging the Word

2005-08-18T19:54:00.000-03:00

Recently, I was suring the net and came across a book titled "Bible for Blockheads" mmm I thought to myself, what a title.. Not a good thing! As far as I am concerned, we need to understand the bible on our own! It is nice to read books pertaining to Christianity but anyone can understand the bible if they spend time with it! Yeah, until recently, I was not into reading the bible but as soon as I started to do my devo time with Rita, I was amazed at how much more I understand about God.. I am not saying I understand God completely but I am noticing his hand prints on alot more things.
I found out how important it is for me, as a Christian, to go and read the word. When reading about the whole armour of God, the word is very important because like a soldier, we can't understand what to do in a battle unless we are of knowledge of the goal, vision and beliefs we have.
I now challenge you all to read the bible. Begin with the psalms and do five a day. Pick up a journal and start marking what praises and thanksgiving you find in there. I guarantee you will not need the Bible for Blockheads anymore. Trust in God and Let His Holy Spirit speak to you.
The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us, The Holy Spirit is free!!!! We don't need a visa or mastercard.
So good luck on tha reading folks! I guarantee that God will speak to you in ways you will never know or imagine!
Remember I am praying for you all
God bless
M

A Generous Spirit Works Wonders

2005-08-17T19:50:00.000-03:00

The greatest cure for greed is generosity. It is also a satisfying feeling when we give. but most of us feel good when we give away stuff we don't need. Have you ever thought of giving away something you value? Jesus gave His life.... what would be of more value than that?
Good generosity involves giving away something you value.. Your time or possessions are included in this. Paul talked about this when he wrote "be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them" (1 Tim 6:18)
What have we done with it? You look at all those programes on tv about giving to third world countries,, most of the time you see superstars on there giving money. It is almost like a publicity stunt. This is not the kinda giving Jesus wants us to give. True giving comes from the heart not from the ego. The heart giving is about compassion, love not about impressing others. We must also give cheerfully.
Is your generosity productive? Remember each time you invest to those in need you are investing God's ressources so invest smartly;)
Remember.. money is like fertilizer, its not much good unless it is spread around
If ya want to be rich-Give..
Look at the life of Jesus, he may not have had a mercedes benz or the latest fad of clothes but he left a big impact on many pples lives he gave everything and taught all to do the same. God will provide and provide He does!
I for one, after worrying about the fact that I took three weeks off of work to do a missions trip now worry no more. I have soo many generous pple around me who have blesed be abundantly with food and money that I am overwhelmed. I love these ppl and I know that they feel a lot more blessed because they are helping the kingdom of God grow on earth.. Their money is the fertilizer that will feed the seed of JEsus on earth!
I gave Jesus three whole weeks of myself and He has given me more than I can ever ask or imagine.
Giving tips
-give the gift of time. It's the gift more valuable than money can buy.
-the generous person always has more than enough, the greedy person never has enough..

So to all of you take this and apply it... giving and not expecting anything in return is the Jesus way! and share your blessings with others...

Remember we are all neighbours... C. S . Lewis I think said it best "Next to the blessed sacrament, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses"
How do you treat holy objects?
God bless
M

"Do Not Quench the Spirit" 1Thes. 5:19

2005-08-14T08:09:00.000-03:00

[The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze-so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness wiht God, you will never hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a "still small voice"{1 Kings 19:12} so faint that no one except a saint of God will notice it.
Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying "Once, a number of years ago, I was saved" If you have put your "hand to the plow" and are walking in the light, there is no "looking back" the past is instilled inot the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Lk 9:62 & 1Jn 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian and live only on your memories and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to walk in the light by recalling your past experiences when you did "walk in the light" (1Jn 1:7). Whenever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.
Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crissi, your live will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.] From My Utmost for His highest by Oswald Chambers.
I chose this because it spoke to me and I thought I should share it with you all
blessings
M

AYM '05

2005-08-12T19:55:00.000-03:00

Wow what a journey! The last three weeks I have been blessed to learn soo much. Firstly, I was blessed to get to know 11 beautiful pple who are on fire for God and I got to see how each one lives and learn of their faith stories. Secondly, I was blessed to be in a group that accepted me as I am and at such a fast pace. Thirdly, the music we produced together without music was angelic. Wow! the love of the team was amazing! Then there was the kids.... who are soo smart and their love and excitement to listen to the stories in the golden boxes to the wonderful skits we put on to the memory verses...ok.. here we go
Monday: Luke 6:47-48
Tuesday: Matt 18:21-22
Wednesday: Psalm 23
Thursday: Luke 10:27
These are beautiful treasures, or parables that need to be examined more deeply. One of them I am focusing on is Luke 10:27 "Love YaWeH with all your heart, all your soul all your mind and all your strength and love your neighbour as yourself." I am focusing on the last part.. love your neighbour as yourself. This is what Jesus calls us to do. I will be the first to admit that when someone comes through Drive Thru, I will make fun of them if they don't order right. That is what we as Christians are not called to do. We are called to love and treat everyone how we want to be treated. My goal is to be nice to all customers and crew, even when I am getting yelled at. Jesus never said to be nice to only those who will be nice to you, no he said to love everyone even your enemies..to turn your cheak if they slap you and offer the other one. Jesus calls us to this kinda love. But we can only do it with the help of the Holy spirit.
Why this one? well, on my way to work Thursday morning with Rita at the driver's seat, this was our devo for the morning and I felt it was my duty to love my neighbour and I know I have not been doing a good job of that. It is a challenge but who grows without a challenge??? Not me!
As for the whole three weeks, I must say I learned many games, songs and graces but most of all I have to say that the God moments were awesome! like the time we were outside singing on Rita's steps where Jordan had his God moment to the generosity of all to the look on the faces of hte kids wanting to know what was to come out of the gold box, which story? God blessed us abundantly even with Mary Beth... and all our encouraging letters and also the journeys with Pat! And the fact that we each got a lobster dinner for free! Wow, what a treat and some free chicken and pizza. I know I felt that every community just embraced us like the communities that would have embraced the disciples as they travelled in pairs to spread the word.
This brings me to an important point..... yah I am referring to my sermon here.. sorry guys! A christian community is very important because we are in a battle and we need a home base where we learn about our tactics and plans for battle against the evil one! We need it also because of the support. No soldier goes into battle alone! Jesus stressed the importance of community as well. WE need to keep our armour on and keep it shinning and make sure our swords are sharpened for the battle. The devil is always setting ambushes and so we must be on our guards! There is strength in numbers!
well, I will continue this tomorrow night... until then... God bless and keep that sword sharp!
M

2005-08-11T21:26:00.000-03:00

Tonite was a neat night! I went to a coffee house at St. Paul's it was really nice they were raising funds for a well in Africa with the YMCA exchange. I wish I could have stayed longer:( Oh well. Work at 6am tomorrow... so need to get some sleep. But before I sign off... I have to say, although I enjoyed a great night, I am saddened. The reason is that Rushan is leaving:( I, like most pple, really were hoping it was not true:(
If I look back at my life, I have come to the conclusion that most of the pple I met have left my life. They are out of the picture, some permanently and others not so much. It is sad but at the same time, I learned much from them:) I just hope and pray that Rushan and I will never loose touch. He has been a special person to me. He has taught me much and he has been a blessing in my life. I know that wherever he goes, he will be a big blessing to the people there as he has been to me:D God sure puts pple in our lives to teach us to help us grow...and than they go off and touch other pples lives. Rushan, you will always have a special place in my heart. I am going to cherish everyday I see you or msn you:)
To all my friends, cherish friendships because you never know how much time you have with them.
Blessings
Melissa

The Journey continues

2005-08-08T16:24:00.000-03:00

I am back from an awesome three weeks of eating, sleeping and breathing God and doing his awesome work! Wow, well I am not officially home yet but will be Thursday. I am going to write more than. But for now, it was a ride of a lifetime. God is so awesome and God provides abundantly! I miss you guys already! The light of Jesus shines so brightly inside u all:D I luvs yas and I will write soon
God's peace.. Remember Luke 10:27??????;)
M

This is the last post for three weeks and a bit:D

2005-07-16T16:16:00.000-03:00

This will be my last post for a while, since I will be going on a missions trip:D I am sooooooooOoooOoo excited about what God has planned for us on the road ahead. I am just so pumped that I can go and do something good for God, instead of just working all summer. I have to thank Chris for giving me these three weeks to go experience an experience of a lifetime. I would just ask that everyone who reads this, pray for the team as we bring kids to Jesus! Please pray too that God will be with Pat, our "boss" as she tries to lead us and keep us focused and that the team will get along with each other and not kill each other.
We sure will be praying for you guys. Good luck at work and good luck on your trip to BC and Reese, may God be with you as you go on your new and exciting journey. I am going to miss ya lots!
You are all in my prayers...Bye for now,
God bless!
M
:D

Resolutions....Half Way ones:D

2005-07-15T21:36:00.000-03:00

Ok I have to credit Reese for this idea, what about July resolutions.. so here are mine and well, if ya see this why not try it to? Let me know how it goes...
1. I will not complain about work, instead i will appreciate that I have a job
2. I will live each day as full as I can
3. I will be more thankful to God for all She has done for me
4. I will dedicate myself to my prayer life more fully
5. I will accept all people as brothers and sisters of Christ and treat them that way
6. I will do something Justice related every month
7. I will stop talking about work outside work
8. I will spend more time with friends
9. I will share God at work by my actions
10. I will spend more time reading the bible

Here are just a few... I will tackle these with the help of God! Basically I want to put it all in God's hands and keep it God focused. My life needs to be more God focused

Peace
M :D

...And Justice for All

2005-07-14T17:31:00.000-03:00

I know most of you will be surprised by this blog entry. Ok, I actually was reminded the other day of how good some old eighties music is. I am talking about Metallica. OK, I only like some of their songs mostly to work out to when pumping weights. But I must admit that their album and title track "...And justice for all" has a good message..here are a few lines from the song
Halls of Justice Painted Green, money talking Power wolves Beset Your door, hear them stalking, soon you'll please their appetite, they devour, hammer of justice crushes you, overpower
The ultimate in vanity, exloiting their supremacy, I can't believe the things you say,
I can't believe, I can't believe the price you pay, nothing can save you, Justice is lost, Justice is raped

Yeah money sure talks when it comes to justice. The power of the green bill overpowers anything. Our world is being run by the superpower nations and all the poor nations just keep getting pooer cause of having no money and owing millions if not billions to the bigger countries. Yes our justice system has been raped. The true meaning of justice has been lost. Take all the court cases, how many were won cause someone was flashing bling bling. Yah Lady justice take off those blindfolders, you won't need them anymore, you need to see what colour the paper is that is being handed to you. This will determine which way the scale will go.
Money talks, and to the poor countries, Justice has been lost, raped by the Bushes, Martins and others in this world, and we too have raped madame Justice. Why? well cause of all our consumer wants and how we waiste food and think of no one but ourselves. Yah, I am just as bad too. I have to stop this want and learn to live on the need. I hope and pray that the missions trip will help me with this. What do you think? Has Madame Justice been raped? Is our justice system not justice anymore?
Peace
M:D

Registration time again!

2005-07-12T11:16:00.000-03:00

Can ya believe it??? Today is the day we registar for our first semester. Wow, where is the summer going? I guess it is going too fast! In two months, we will be back into the grind of books, papers, presentations and the like! It is hard to believe that three years are already gone. This time next year, God willing, I will be preparing for AST. But I know that God has big plans as always for this year! I am just sitting here, as I watch the wonderful sideways rain fall, reflecting on how my decision to say yes to God has brought soo many blessings in my life. I would never have met the amazing pple i know now if I did not say yes.
Firstly, Rev. Brian, I miss you terribly but I know you will be back to Canada soon. Thanks for being the awesome man of God that you are and showing me what the church is about.
Rev. Ned and Arlene, I am so blessed by both your you guys. Your love and hospitality has made my transition from my old church to St. Mary's so warm and comforting. You took me under your wings.
Rev. John! I am soo blessed by your support and belief in me. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to help me out with my sermons and other things even though I did not preach them here. Remember the sword! I know the next few years, we will grow together in awesome faith and love for God who is more than we can ask or imagine
Rushan, I thank you for your patience and for taking me under your wing and also for teaching me that youth group does not have to be a formal sunday school at a different time. God works all the time "Where two or three are gathered in His name, so am I in their midst" Thank you for teaching me that sometimes just spontinuity works best with the kids. I learned more from you than you will ever know. You are a true blessing in my life and I pray we continue to grow together in faith and friendship no matter where God takes us! Let us continue to be servants for God!
To my CC friends and Ebenezzerites... heheh I never can spell that name right.. sawwry Rita. Amy and alkfjalfkjalfkj.. and Rita.. I luvs yas all and I really thank God that you are all in my life you are such beautiful gifts to me. Your love for God and knowing God's grace has shown me that I am loved by God no matter if I screw up or not. Yah Psalm 139 pretty well puts the icing on that cake. Rita thanks for being my Spiritual director. God works awesomely in you. I feel it everytime I am with you. Amy, what can i say... You are an awesome friend and I can't wait to see you in like a week. ADFALFKAJFLKa.. I am soo proud of the job you took this summer. Even though I know sometimes it is difficult, but I know you are going to grow way more than you could ever ask or imagine. You all rock
To my cc friends, thanks for accepting me even though I am on a different faith journey. You are all a blessing and can't wait to see you all again. Mis syou much..
I am soo blessed, but when I was pondering the thought of saying yes to God, I was scared but look at all these and others God has put in my life. I am blessed indeed!!!
Blessings on a new day
Melissa
M

Prayer part 1

2005-07-11T18:43:00.000-03:00

Wow, what an awesome day and night I had spent with Rita! I know it is amazing how God works, who would have thought that this past Sunday was going to be the day that Rita had no church so she decided to come to mine. It was really neat too that by this coincidence that I had to serve at the 11, which I only go to if I have to serve. So this worked out super awesome:) Poor Rita probably would not have made it to the 9:15! She would have had to gun the old Jetta down the road.. oo Look out TJ is on his way!
At first, I was a bit hesitant about it cause I knew I wasn't going to be sitting in the pew with her and I knew that it would not be fair, but thanks be to God, it all turned out good. I knew it was going too!! It was sooo awesome having Rita at a worship service. It was nice for her to get to know us crazy Anglicans. He he..
But I think it was the afternoon and the evening that really took the cake;) The morning set the tone and the afternoon and evening just went awesome! The dinner was yummy... And our time of just chatting and reflecting on God's wonderful work and the wonderful interruptions and picture sharing and than the getting down to business;) That chapter was amazing.
I must admit that after doing the little bit that we have done, I can now say that when I Pray I feel closer to God. I am learning soo much about prayer that it is all just blowing me away:D Wow, I now wish I could have had that when I was younger. Now is the time to set the time to spend with God, I hope to get up to three hours and I will be smiling.. imagine spending three hours with the creator of the universe? WOW!
Now it is down to memorizing psalm 139...and the missions trip preperation...I know God is with us for sure:D
Glory to God whose power working in us can do more than we can ask or imagine.! Glory to God from generation to generation in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever.. amen!
Now , I am going off to my prayer spot.... Peace to you all and know I am praying for everyone of you:D

Journey

2005-07-09T18:57:00.000-03:00

This entry will get you thinking...

Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
As I was looking on the internet for a good quote, I came across this one from Jeremiah 6:16. We are all on trips or like most pple like to call them "journeys". This passage is a beautiful one because it tells me to stay on the right path, the path that God has layed out for me and as long as I stay on this path, there will be peace and rest for my soul. We must continue to walk on it! Unfortunately, for me anyway, it is hard to stay on God's path. I encounter many potholes and fall plenty of times but I know with God's forgiveness, I can get back up and continue on. Sometimes it is hard for me to stay focused on God and put God in front of all I do.
Sometimes, God calls us to do things we never would ever do. But the thing with God, is that like Samuel, God will continue to pursue you until you say yes. Sometimes, when we reach a fork in the road and don't know which way to turn, God helps us along our path by speaking to us through others. I can attest to that plenty of times:)
Sometimes the words may not be what one wants to hear and other times they are. But God is beyond our wildest dreams and She knows what She is doing. A lot of the prophets had to deliver messages that were not pleasing to the kings of the time but they had to be delivered.
Sometimes, God requires you to learn from others. These people may appear to be blessings or curses to you. I, like others have had both versions ;) I have learned from teh curses that I can't get along with everybody. I have learned that they will not change so I must. I have learned that I am a curse to someone too because it is impossible to get along with everyone. I believe that these crosses have prepared me for what lies ahead in my journey. The suffering I endured just made me stronger just as St. Paul who writes about the athelete who trains, he must train everyday and resist the pain to become stronger, so to am I who endures the blows to become stronger and the be better at the spiritual war! And we can not forget Job, whose suffering had made him stronger. Yah we all ask why God does these things, but in reality how are we to grow if we do not have some challenges in life.
But the question with Job and us is how much suffering is too much? After watching 360 vision on Vision TV. They were interviewing past and present clergy who are taking lots of slack from their parishonners. Some verbal abuse got so bad that some clergy had to resign. There is really no protection for the clergy or other leaders in the church. It is a shame, because a lot of these people have many gifts that could benefit the ones who are giving the abuse.
If there is any question I have concerning the church, that is the one I have.. why are people so judgemental, when Jesus told us to love no matter what? DO these people realize that they are killing the body of Christ instead of building it up?
I am scared as to what the future holds for me when, if , I am called to the priesthood because well, after seeing the show, I now have to start discerning how to put up with the abuse. It would be hard to go to church on Sunday morning and well, see the abusers sitting in the front pew. How to deal with them, how to approach them how to carry oneself around them that is Christ centered, even though the abuse is far from Christ centered. It is sad, I don't know who gave anyone the right to think that clergy are perfect or that they can solve any problem, well wake up! they are human just like you and me. And just cause they have a collar, does not mean they are closer to God! DUH! We are all called to do God's work on earth... job status does not mean anything to God, as long as you are sharing the gospel, that is it! We are loosing great clergy and other ministers over these abusive words! It is time to think before you speak, sometimes, silence is golden! We are in a Christian church where love dominates, or does it? What do you think?

God, He or She?

2005-07-07T11:51:00.000-03:00

Ok, here is a post for my friend the mad chef ;) In our society, we always refer to God as male, but in all reality, God is both male and female, because he created us both in God's image. So sometimes when I do my blogging i refer to God as female. I do that because it adds a whole new demension to God. WE mostly picture God as a male figure with an old beard sitting on a throne. But God is not just male! God is a spirit and has both features. So I use the female description because God is a loving and forgiving God, it is time to get rid of the male agressiveness of God. God loves us soo much, God proved it by sending God's only son to die for us. Jesus was the only one who was not spared, Abraham's son was spared, and so other ppl in the bible but Jesus, the perfect lamb was not. God did that out of unconditional love.
If you want to go deeper than that, well whenever we describe God, we are actually limiting God. I think that is why when Moses was questioning what was behind the burning but not really burning bush. God replied "I am" So I guess I can say I am sent me, but even that limits God to humanity. I know this is deep but really it is nice to think about. God is so beyond anything here on earth, beyond language, time and space that no amount of words can describe God. I guess sometimes all we can do is worship God because the act of worship can not be described as well. It is a mystical thing which we humans can never grasp but the feeling of worshipping awesome!
So to me I like to think of God as female, cause God loves me and keeps me in her arms. She is the master potter I am the clay! I serve a loving and awesome God!
Praise God!
Peace to all of you:)

Prayers for missions

2005-07-06T13:49:00.000-03:00

Ok here are three prayers that I ask you pray for our missions trip and others around the world. .. Peace and thanks a bunch
Day One
Lord, we are ready. We are here in this place to be your servants. We all desperately want to please you, both those of us who've done this before and those of us who're brand new at it. We enter this week looking to receive nothing in return. We expect nothing from those we'll serve. your son taught us to love without condition. WE will show the world that kind of love this week, Lord. We will work with eace other side by side. WE will put away our differences and do your will. We are energized, Lord! We can't wait to begin! Pace us, though, Father. HElp us keep this feeling the entire week. Keep our hearts and minds on the work before us. We know we are the only "Jesus" that some of these pple will ever see. Help us to show them the true Christ. The son of God. Help us to show unconditional love of our Saviour. With your help we can. Amen

Midweek
We are growing weary, Lord. Our hands hurt. Our feet ache. More than once we've asked ourselves "Why are we doing this?" Then we remember. We see the faces of those we serve. We see our accomplishments. We see the roads we've begun to journey down, and we remember why we do this. Give us strength, Lord. Our hearts are willing but our bodies need help! But we want you to strengthen our resolve-not just our bodies. Strengthen our hearts...and our hands will follow. Let us feel your love, and the rest will be easy. Your servants will not fail you. We are of one mind and heart. We are here to do your work. We are here to spread your love and your word. Give us rest and peace of mind. Let us put away those things that distract us fromthe job at hand. Help us remember that we are here in the name of your son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

End of the week
God we are still here. We survived. We are your servants. We have accomplished so much with our hands and heart. We have shown the world that youa re who you say you are, the giver of everlasting love. We take pride in what we've done. And we have done well. Now it's time for us to go home and rest- a well deserved rest. But as we go home to real lives, help us to remember that our real lives are alien to the ppl we have served here. Help us to better apreciate what we have at home. Help us to remember the faces of your children who don't hav ethe good things we have. Help us to walk in your love for the rest of our lives as we have walke din your love this week. Amen

All these prayers came from the Book of Uncommon Prayer By Steven L. Case....
Please pray these, for I will be praying them as well...
Thanks a bunch
God's peace be with you all :D

Hidden Treasures

2005-07-06T13:22:00.000-03:00

In thirteen more days, I will be travelling with twelve other people who are on fire for God. We will be spending three weeks together learning about God and sharing God's word with all who come out. We will be going to Bethel, NB; Glasgow Rd, Ebenezer and also Elmsdale, NS. There will be kids from all over the country with us. Some from out west and others from around here. I am very excited about it and also kinda scared just cause we have to have many things memorized before we go. Our music ministry will consist of a tin whistle, dejembe, guitar and piano and also two fiddles. Woo hoo I smell celtic here. Our theme is hidden treasure, which is what is hidden in the parables. Each week, we will be doing festivals, which are like vocation bible schools. So we have skits to do and community bbq's too. Our boot camp is on the beach in PEI. I know, I can't picture a boot camp and beach in the same sentence. God sure does work in awesome ways. I am so lucky to have such awesome friends to be able to do things like that. It is awesome that work is giving me three weeks to do it as well. My prayer everyday is that those who have prayed about going on this trip and have answered the call of God will be blessed and that God will use us as his instruments to bring His light to all we come in contact with and that we will grow in faith as well. We, as Christians must remember that we are ambassodors to Christ so all our actions are being monitered so we must be like Jesus 24/7. What a challenge. But what an honour, we get to represent Jesus! As St. Paul said.. "We are ambassadors for Christ." Let us go out and spread Jesus' love and message to our co workers and those we do not know. I ask that when you read this blog, to please pray for Pat, and the rest of our team as we will just meet on the 19th and start that night. All our skits will be practiced individually. But we know that threw Jesus all things are possible. May God's peace be with each one of you.

Psalm 139

2005-07-06T02:12:00.000-03:00

As most of you know, I have been meeting with my spiritual director and well, I just thought it would be nice to write a bit on what we are doing. My spiritual director, Rita, is really awesome! When we first met, we started into this book about prayer. It is not your original book but a book on how to prepare to pray. Most books tell you how to pray! This book take you threw everything from an examination of conscience to where to pray. Well, the last couple of times, we did the 22 examinations of our conscience or sins. I found out a lot of new "sins" like for example..did you know that not paying attention to God's word when it is being read or not paying attention to the sermon is a sin? I guess I am going to pay attention more often. Yah, I must admit that going threw the whole 22, there was not one that I did not do, so at the end I felt kinda like crap. But as we went on, I felt like I was closer to God because I asked God to forgive me for each of the sins I committed. The author talks about how we must go threw an examination of our conscience before we can even think about chatting with God. Our sins keep us away from God and so well, they are like a vacuum. If your friend came over and you wanted to chat but your mom had to vacuum the house, well we all know that it would be next to impossible to even hear your friend.
At the end of the chapter on examination, we find the request to read psalm 139. It is amazing how God works, Psalm 139 is one of my favorite psalms, like psalm 95. The psalmist talks about how God knew who we were before we were born. "He knitted us in our mother's womb" How beautiful is that! If anyone is familiar to knitting, we all know how time consuming it is and how easy it is to lose count of the stitches. God took the time to create us and He cares enough and loves us enough to know what our lives will be! God loves us all, no matter what! How awesome is that? So after being shot down with recalling all my sins, I realized that reading psalm 139 has brought me hope! Hope knowing that God loves me soo much he sent Jesus to wipe away all my sins. So even though I mess up sometimes, God loves me just as much as He did the day I plopped on this planet. How awesome is that? God loves you too, just as much as He loves me. God is amazing. So now that my conscience is cleared, at least for a bit;) I can come before the Holy of Holies and have a chat:) I know right now, I feel like a ten tonne boulder has been lifted from my shoulders. I usually feel like that after confession. I feel closer to God at this moment, I think it is because I have asked for forgiveness, so the slate is clean. It is important for a Christian to pray everyday because if we don't it is a sin! God is our best friend and we have to treat Him like it, so I hope that if you have not talked to God in a while, that you go and do it. He is waiting to hear from you ;)
God loves everyone, I know I am saying this alot, but I must say that with the issues in the church today, I really think that the church has lost touch with the true teachings of Jesus. We seem to be more tied up within a doctrinal society than a loving one. I think we are going back to the old ways where the law, or Torah was it! Jesus came to destroy that kinda thinking and put a new covenent. Jesus was seen with prostitutes and other "rejects" of society. So to are we called to do the same. It is not our place to judge others. That is God's place and God's place only. Christianity's job is to include everyone, regardless of sexual preference, race or religion..What do you think Jesus would do today if He was confronted with the Marriage issue? I really think He would just love and accept everyone the way they are because as the bible tells us, God's ways are above our ways and God's thoughts are above our thoughts.. as high as the heavens are above the earth so high is you ways above our ways, Oh Lord! God sees us skin deep, for remember he knitted us in our mom's womb!
Jesus came to set an example, and if we are true disciples of Christ, why are we fighting over man made rules when Jesus clearly stated that one is to "Love one another as I have loved you! " Well Jesus' love was soo agape that he layed down his life for both the ones that were here and us who were not even a thought! How awesome is that? If you read psalm 139, you will understand how amazing it is when you come to the verse that says "you hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand on me", (5) We are children of God, children of the light..we were created by a God who loves us and continues to love us very much. It is time the church puts away the doctrines and starts to live with justice, mercy and walking humbly with God. Putting God first and not human desires first! It is only when Jesus is the center can we do God's will. So think about it! A church without boarders,, is it possible. of course, as St. Pauls says : I can do al things through Christ who strengthens me" Phil 4:13
I have to have Psalm 139 memorized by the end of the summer so, here is a taste of it from the NRSV.."I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well' Psalm 139:14. I don't know about you but I feel really honoured to be loved by the creator of the universe! I just hope that I can share God's love with everyone. Let us pray for a church that goes beyond boarders (doctrines) to include all. What would Jesus do?
God Love :D

What does the Lord require of you?

2005-07-03T15:53:00.000-03:00

Have you ever thought deeply about this question? Many pple of the Old testament knew what God required and from the Prophet Micah 6:8 we see that God requires us to act justly love tenderly and walk humbly with our God. This passage does not speak of worship, or fancy church services... This passage gets deep down to the heart of what God wants. God wants us to act with Justice! How to achieve this? Does tithing do the trick or donating to many children's charities across the globe? No! I mean not NOOO but it is nice to donate to these charities,but have you ever considered looking at justice with two feet.. WEll ya got your right foot that represents all the charities that you know of. So we all donate to these charities and so our right foot can move forward. But without our left foot, we can only move one step and thanwe are stuck. Our left foot represents our "actions" like helping out at the soup kitchen, raising awareness to our fellow brothers and sisters about poverty. Than we can move towards making poverty history.
I really enjoyed John's sermon this morning but I think not only should we raise awareness to everyone about the crisis in Africa but that not only should the G 8 leaders do something about it but we should too. One thing is to cut down on waste and have a do I need this attitude? NOt I want attitude.. this will cut down on waste. Do we really need three tvs in the house? Do I really need six pairs of shoes? or Do we really need to go out for supper everyday? If you only knew how much at work we waste it would make you want to puke!
When the prophet Micah calls us to love tenderly, I think it is about loving like Jesus loved us! Wow a challenge... to love our enemies and forgive without ceasing. It is a beautiful and selfless love. It is a God love! To love at all times is hard, for me cause we always have sin to take us away from it. To love those who made our lives difficult is a big challenge. Jesus calls us to love, love, love... It is His main part of teaching. To love one another as I have loved u! To treat everyone as your brother or sister. I think if we have this kinda outlook on life, poverty would be history cause how many of us would want to see our sister starve?
Oh the last one, walking humbly with God.. wow to walk humbly is what Jesus did when he was on earth. He never held the best seat of the house, he never drove he was always walking. He had no money, only God. He loved everyone and just cause he was God's son, he never made a big deal out of it! We too are blessed because God has chosen us to serve HIm. Sometimes this can get to our egos.. ya know.. my best friend created the universe, what did your best friend do lately? WE are all called to bring everyone to Jesus. Jesus is the key and Jesus wants us to do it with a humble heart, a servants heart. Only this way will we win souls back to God. How awesome would that be, be an instrument for Christ!
So , going to church is all kool and that but Micah tells us that there is another way to do what God requires. So if we all treat every human like they are our brothers and sisters.. how our outlook on life will change. So I challenge you to go and do what Micah 6:8 tells us.
May God bless you on this wonderful day:D

Your words may become a dagger in someone else's heart

2005-07-01T02:17:00.000-03:00

Over the last few days, I have been praying and reflecting on how constructive criticism can become evil. It is nice to get criticism because it helps to give you another outlook on the situation. But when it gets too much do these pple actually realize that their words can become like daggers. We all know the saying sticks and stones.. but it comes to a point when those words do actually hurt us. I wonder if these pple actually realize they are hurting others feelings. I also wonder if they actually spent their negative energy on more positive things, how amazing the youth programme would be or any other program anywhere. we should all strive to turn our negativity into positivity because it only takes one negative comment to erase all the positive ones that were given. It is a shame:( Especially in a Christian environment where we are not to judge but to love everyone as much as possible. To follow Christ's teachings. So if there is anywhere where negativity is not to be.. it is our church community BUT unfortunatly,,, it happens all too often.
People get the picture that clergy members or other members of the ministry team are perfect therefore, they should run things how these pple want. Sometimes, these ministers get abused verbally soo bad that they have to resign and seek help. I know it is a shame that society had built these men and women of the cloth up soo much that at one time they were not to be questioned. Now it is time to put away the preconcieved notion that they are perfect and can fulfill every need. They are human like us and they make mistakes too but it is up to the community to help them. There is only one of them a lots of the community. It is time to realize that they are on a journey of faith as much as we are, we are not any more or less important than the next person.
So it really bothers me to see someone work so passionately at youth ministry just to get shot down. It worries me cause this person is soo dedicated to the work God has given him and well, he does have many pple supporting him but I think right now, all he is thinking of is the dagger that has hit him.. No nice comment will ever heal the wound.
I know there is a passage in proverbs that talks about how our words can be really harmful. I don't know where it is so sorry but I will leave you with a thought.. Next time you speak, make sure it is done with lots of thought so as to not discourage the receiver. I know we all have pple we can't stand in life but remember, we also have ppl who can't stand us! Try to give constructive criticism with a thoughtful Jesus loving heart.

So rid yourselves of all evil, all lying, hypocrisy, jealousy and evil speech. As newborn babies want milk, you should want the pure and simple teaching. By it you can grow up an dbe saved. 1 Peter 2:1-2

Who am I?... God knows!

2005-06-28T23:31:00.000-03:00

After reading about Will's quest to find his passion on http://spythoughts.blogspot.com and reflecting on Rushan's decisive thought in response to that at http://aconsiderablespeck.blogspot.com, well I have come to the realization of how similar my journey has been. Like Will, I was once on the road to find what my passion was and like Rushan, it was not until I got out of my lazy boring life that I finally realized what I was passionate about. I was 24 when I decided it was time to throw away the safety blanket and take on a new life. A new life it was.. I went to the Dominican Republic, I know most of you are sick to hear this but this is my blog so I can say whatever I want!, I was in a country that did not speak english, I was outside of the North American thinking, I was in a third world country. I got to see what it was really like to live in poverty what it was like to live in a country where the Government is oppressing its pple.. The wall of Shame and the bates and the Pharo a Colon and the barios. Seen them all, and witnessed the way they lived, we would never live like that here in Canada. It was pointed out to me that our baby barns are what most pple lived in down there. JUst that alone, has made me realize that we have useless space. we house our lawn mowers in a shed, which is the size of most pple's houses in the DR. Is there any need of it??? I don't think so, and how about the food we waiste? can you believe that we are soo concerned that we don't get pickles on our burger that we are willing to complain about it if we get them and get a free meal out of it. The burger gets wasted and more food is produced. For what?? The more I work at Wendy's the more I realize that we live in a society that is so self centered.. No on thinks that the person making the sandwhich is not perfect. But we have to be so as to please the consumer. The customer is always right... or are they? It is really sick the amount of food we throw away at the end of the day. THis experience in the DR has made me realize that there is more to life than wants...only the needs are important. I need food, I need luv, I don't want money, cars or fancy clothes. Being a student, we can relate to that, cause we live in poverty making less than 10,000 a year. So kraft dinner and bumbing rides is a norm for us!
While I was in the DR.. I did learn alot of what my passion was... I know justice is one of them, I believe that all humans have the right to freedom, land and an oppertunity to learn. I learned that God works through those who do not worship "false gods" like money and possesions. I saw a pure faith down there not one that was corrupted. On the houses, they painted "soy pobre pero feliz" I am poor but happy. THey have awesome faith in Jesus and God. A faith I only long to have, even to this day. God sure did speak to me down there and so I finally said yes! Like Samuel, it took me a while to realize that truely it was GOd calling me. So I said to God.. "here I am send me!"
My saying yes required me to do lots of things. One of them was to switch denominations... So as scared as I was, I did! I called up our local Anglican church and requested to speak to Brian. We met the following week and discussed my calling. I never met him before but we clicked just like that. To this day, we are still really good friends. I had to tell my old congregation that I was leaving. I know this is weird, but last weekend's gospel was truely lived out with me, I was disliked by alot from my old parish over the fact that I was going to another parish because I was being called to the priesthood. I had run the risk that my folks would hate me. Well, they did not but mom is still finding it hard to accept the fact that I am in dept and that she is scared that I will never pay it back. So her support has not been super, but it is getting there now. I had to learn a whole new worship experience, hymns, doctrines and other things and to get use to female priests. So to say , the sword came out then. Now, I had to go back to school for the first time in almost ten years..... UPEI at that!! I had to move to Ctown with pple I did not know and work at a place where I did not know anyone and experience a lot of different things. Yah I was scared out of my trees when I had to do all this and honestly it has not been a smooth ride, I have had hardships with my x roomates, I have had to adjust to a boss I could not get along with, I had to learn to read fast and to study like four hours a night and I had to learn discipline. Plus my faith was challenged at school more than ever before. It was hard for me to comprehend. If it wasn't for the cC and my friends, I think I would have left this calling. Yah, I have fallen a few times, but I don't call that a fail because to me a failure is when someone falls and never gets back up. I know there were times when I wanted to go back to SSide, but I knew that God was calling me here and that this is what She wants for me. Let me tell you, when God wants you to do something, God never backs down til ya say yes. And when you say yes, it is amazing how God paves the way to where She wants you to go. Mind you it is not always an easy one but at least you know you will get there.
Sometimes, it takes one person a lifetime to figure out what God has called them to do. There is nothing wrong with that, but if ya really want to find out what God wants you to do, I believe that you must take many risks. As I reflect back on my saying yes to God, if I had not said yes, I would not have met soo many awesome pple who have been blessings in my life. I would never have learned many things or grown as much as I have. I really believe that suffering does build character and I don't mean the suffering from an illness but suffering from living in the unknown. Just like the song Refiner's fire, God has to mould us and refine us til we are perfect. WE will only be perfect if we are put in the fire. This fire is our trials and tribulations. But with God's help we can get back up and are a bit stronger because of it.
I really like the words of Ignatius in AD 111. He wrote these words as he was on his way to Rome, where he was to be executed.

The times make demands on you in the same way a sailor requires wind and as one tossed by the sea requires a safe harbor. Be vigilant as God's athlete. Stand firm like an anvil under the blow of the hammer. It is the part of the great athlete to receive blows and to conquer. Be yet more diligent than you are. Learn to know the times.

Always remember that whatever risks you take, if you take them for God, God will protect you always. As the psalmist of psalm 32 says " You are my hiding place! You protect me from trouble, and you put songs in my heart because you have saved me" Psalm 32:7.

The Unknown

2005-06-27T21:49:00.000-03:00

These last few days has made me reflect on how I do enjoy the mysteriousness of life. I figure that if life had no mysterious aspect to it, than why should we live at all. Life is full of ups and downs and also surprises. I once read in a Chicken soup for the soul book that " Life is the hardest teacher, it gives the test first and the lesson later" Isn't that the truth. The only way for us to learn is to take the first step. Life is not about living in a sandbox world. OOooOOO how boaring that would be. One thing is for sure, things do not stay the same, the pple you meet today may not be around tomorrow. I know from experience that friends do come and go. Especially after high school or after you take up a new job somewhere else. The only thing that is certain in life is that.. you are going to die.. Sorry guys, don't want to sound morbid:(
The unknown is good.. I think that we shouldn't have ten year plans because ya just never know where you will end up. Sometimes life throws a curve ball at you and you have to change your plans. I know that I have said that in ten years I will be doing missionary work , but I am going to take that back because I do not know where God is going to lead me. Each day is a new experience with God! It is that mysterious aspect that keeps me on my toes but at the same time, waiting with anticipation as to where my journey is going next. I know for sure that I will always go by rule number one, which is always have your bags packed!!! Right Cathy and Shirley:).
So wherever God is leading you, remember, God will never leave your side. He loves ya!
Continue to live in the mysteriousness of the unknown.. it is awesome!
Where to next??

Creation

2005-06-26T13:13:00.000-03:00

Now that summer is upon us, and the heat is here.. we are reminded of the beauty of God's work. Also the blessings that She blesses us with each day. Our friends, families and health. We are surely blessed to be apart of a wider community. It is important for us to excersise our membership in this community because it is hard to live a Christian life in a world where evil is prominent. One of my friends remarked lately how being a part of the CC is very important to her! I have to agree with her, that being on campus, we are challenged everyday in class about our faith in God and why we should believe in the unknown. One response I have to that is that God is a mystery not a problem. We can concretely solve problems but we can't solve God cause God is beyond our imagination. God is a mystery and an awesome one at that! I feel very special to be created by the mysterious one who created the universe. Wow!!!! I am also excited for what is in store for the CC this fall.. Being my last year at UPEI, I am prepared to see it go beyond all our expectations. I know...I shouldn't be thinking of school just yet! Sorry guys but sometimes just thinking about the CC makes me get excited:D So, enjoy creation, that gift God has given us! Until next time remember, With God everything is possible....Peace

The mysteriousness of God

2005-06-25T15:30:00.000-03:00

Wow,, I know just the title is enough to swing your eyes towards this part! I don't know if it is spelled correctly but oh well. I have been, like everyone else, continuing on my journey of faith. I was recently reading a good friend of mine's blog and he is telling of his calling and how God has pieced all things together. But it took him awhile to figure it out.. On the surface, he said, it just didn't make any sense but underneath.. it all made perfect sense. But what he wants to tell is mysterious right now. We are all just bitting our nails trying to figure out what it is, it is bringing unknown into the picture. We all hate the unknown! We want to know now! But God is not that way.. God is not like a drive thru.. you order what you want and drive up to the window and get it. God does not work that way. Sometimes, it takes our whole life to figure out what we are called to do. Other times, we know right off the bat. So while we await his news... maybe we can learn something from it!

Be still and know that I am God!

We are the Body of Christ

2005-06-24T03:15:00.000-03:00

It is amazing how things work out in our lives. Being a Christian is a challenging thing because we are called to build up the body of Christ but how to do it so that it does not go too far..To draw the line between being tagged a Holy Roller or being non aggressive. It is hard to witness at work because of the fact that firstly it is not allowed and secondly, it is so busy there that to have sanity is not common. But when God gives you oppertunities,, take em. This is what I m doing with a friend of mine. It is time to throw out the misconceptions saying that God only has favor for those who have a collar. St. Paul writes about us being the body of Christ. A body has many parts so just like us we have many gifts and to God, each gift is just as precious as the next. Just cause I am being "called" to the priesthood does not mean I am better than anyone else. It would be the same as St. Paul saying we are the body of Christ but if you are just an arm and not a leg.. you suck! but we all know that for a body to properly function it needs all parts to work and each part is just as imp. as the next. So for the record.. God has given all humans gifts to use for His glory! God depends on us, all of us, no matter if we work in a fish plant or in some top paying Government job. Each job is just as important as each body part, so long as we use God's gifts to His glory. We sometimes forget that God has put us in charge of bringing pple to Him now that Jesus has left the earth. As St. Theresa said " We are Christ's hands, feet, eyes on earth. It is with our hands that Christ's compassion is shown. It is our duty to spread Jesus' love on earth! Wow, what a challenge. So I hope and pray that my friend realizes that hey... I am a part of the same body as you and so I am just as important! We must work together as a team to bring everyone to Jesus. God is not a vengful God, he is a just God who loves each of us soo much. If you get a chance, read St. Paul's letters to the Corinthians, there you will find the stuff refered to the body.. until next time.. remember we are all a part of Christ's body so are callings are all equally imp. God's peace

Uncommon Prayer

2005-06-21T00:28:00.000-03:00

I had just purchased the book called "The Book of Uncommon Prayer" For those of you who don't know, this book actually corresponds with our Book of Common prayer, the little red one. Maria, you would be familiar with it cause that is what we used last Sunday. The book is really awesome cause it has many services that are adapted to use with youth. There are services for sunrise, sunset, a dumpster Christmas service, a All Hallow's eve one. There is also a memorial service for a youth group member. The book also comes with a neet cd.. to use with the services.
There are many books out on the market, ones to meet every need. It just goes to show how diverse we are, and how having the same format for worship every Sunday is not really good. When something becomes repetitive, the one reciting the worship looses his or her enthusiasm, the congregation is not spiritually stimulated and you end up with a dry boaring service. It is the same with hymns, yes the moldy oldies are good, but it is time for some new lively ones. Each Sunday should be a new experience to each one in the congragation. I am not saying go get Benny Hinn here, ya know the guy who pushes people down, makes it look like Jesus' Holy Spirit is doing it. But prayer, and worship should be uncommon all the time. This reflects our differences. I am not trying to insult any church when I say this, cause I can say that my church is bad with this repeditivity. It is pretty bad when you can recite the whole service inside out. Mind you some of hte prayers are beautiful but what we can do in between them is beyond any imagination.
I am going to leave with a prayer for homework from the book..
"God, what moron came up with the concept of homework? Half the time its just busy work. Half the time it's the things our teachers didn't plan well enough to say in class. Why do they do this? We're so bogged down. If we fell into the pool with all the homework we have it would pull us to the bottom. Is this welth of knowledge realy something we need? Is the world we're to inherit really so bloodthirsty that it ihas to teach how to stay awake half the night doing math problems or writing essays? we have a lot of fears God. homework is just a mild irritation compared to some of the things we have to go through. You are the creator of the universe. you are the beginning and the end. Could you just give us a small hint of what we could be so that we can keep going? Enrich us, Support us. Renew us. Give us a light in the distance so we can keep slogging through this mud. Amen

My best friend is the creator of the universe!

2005-06-20T00:48:00.000-03:00

what a thought, to know God is my best friend and He created the universe. Today went awesomely well. I was blessed to be home again and blessed to know all the prayer I was getting. God is much bigger than we can ever imagine and all we have to do is put our trust in Him.but it is soo hard cause we want to take control of our own lives. If we can just trust in God life would be much easier. I would like to thank Rev. John for all your time you are a blessing to me!!! To everyone else who either supports me on my journey or prays for me.... thanks, may God be with you as you are on your own journey.
may the peace of God which passes all understanding fill your hearts and minds with the love and knowledge of God and of His son Jesus and the Blessing of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be amongst you and remain with you always..
Amen

The time has come...

2005-06-18T15:55:00.000-03:00

The time has come, tomorrow is the big day... I will be going back to my home church. In one context I am very excited, in another.. I have fear. I know that God is with me and that my friends will be there for support. But on the other hand, it is hte fear of not being all that they expect. I guess everyone gets that when they do speaches and the likes. I know that God is with me and will guide me as I preach his word..... Come inside me Jesus and say what you want me to say. Use me as your instrument..
I dedicated my No fear sermon to all my persecuted brothers and sisters in the world...
Shalom

Jesus Freaks

2005-06-18T04:30:00.000-03:00

well, my second sermon is almost done:) I am soo blessed to have such support from my home church. I know God works so wonderfuly through them all. I believe that on our journey of life, God places people in the right spot at the right time to help us along the way. My sermon is on Jesus Freaks, based on the No fear attitude of the Persecuted Christians in other parts of the world. I wonder if we have the qualifications of Jesus freaks? MMM Beyond the CC.. I wonder? Or do we just believe without being challenged. Do we actually know who we are fighting for? A spiritual warfare. Sometimes we forget how difficult it is to believe in Jesus. For some, as Jesus says in the Gospel, Mother against daughter, father against son. Jesus' message brings fear to lots of pple, but hope and luv to others. Jesus did promise a sword. but this is not a real sword... It is a sword of compassion, hope , peace, justice and luv.. and forgiveness. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all followed Christ's teachings? The teachings of love forgiveness and peace. wow.. what a world it would be!
Strive to be a Jesus Freak!
M

My first official blog

2005-06-17T11:53:00.000-03:00

Wow,
this is it, the beginning of my journey on an official blog.... The reason I titled this blog is cause With Jesus He can do more than we can ask or imagine..
Peace and blessings as you join me on my journey
M