A lesson failed, a lesson learned.

[written in my journal as it happened]

I'm sitting here in Tim Hortons, all alone.
I came here to think, to get away from the crowds.

As I sit, a tall handsome guy stands in line. Beside him slouches what looks to be a homeless man- overgrown beard, unclean smell, ragged clothes. Instantly my mind begins to prejudge.
"What's he doing in here?" "Probably one of those guys who comes in here 20 times a day to get a cup of water" "I wonder how many times he's been kicked out of here" I see him look longingly at the donuts and I wonder for a second when he last had a treat like that.

I turn my attention to the "handsome guy". He stands tall, like he's sure of himself. Blonde hair pokes out from some name brand hat. He's adorned in other name brand clothing and his blue eyes sparkle with a mischievous and flirtatious glow. "One of those guys eh" "He probably has some hot girlfriend, who he lives with, and - "

My thoughts and judgements are interrupted by the cashiers firm voice.
"Um excuse me," She's looking directly at the scruffy man. You can tell what's coming. He's definatly not supposed to be here. He looks unsure for a moment, but then the young man breaks in.
"Actually, he's with me."

I can't help but staring now. I watch as my lesson of the day (or maybe year?) unfolds. The young man buys the homeless man a hot drink and his choice of donut - a boston creme.

The scene only lasted a couple of minutes, but that's all that was needed.

The two strangers parted ways with a "cheers" and a nod. The young man walked by me on his way out, and as he did, it was like Jesus was walking by me, I could see God's Love, God's Heart, and God's Hands right there in front of me. And it was like He reached out, grapped my heart, and whispered,

"Here's to your judging, uncompassionate, and closed heart... I forgive you, love you, and want to give you more chances - now, go and serve my people."

Just like that.
Lesson failed. Lesson learned.

The Delirious Consequence

Messy Spirituality - Michael Yaconelli

*What landed Jesus on the cross was the preposterous idea that common, ordinary, broken, screwed up people could be godly!

*What drove Jesus' enemies crazy were His criticisms of the "perfect" religious people and His acceptance of the imperfect nonreligious people. The shocking implication of Jesus' ministry is that anyone can be spiritual.

*Spirituality is not a formula, it's a relationship. It's not about competency, it's about intimacy. Not about perfection, but about connection.

*Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness.

*Messy Spirituality is the delirious consequence of a life "ruined" by a Jesus who will love us right into His arms.

Cloverfield and The Bathroom Floor

I've heard it said that there is always a first for everything.
For instance, recently in my life I've had some first:
First time hiking Peterson Creek in the winter.
First time being sent flowers from a stalker.
First time...
Well...
Here's my short story of the night.
Today a small group of us decided to go see the mysterious film,
Whose trailer left us all with questions,
Wanting more.

Cloverfield.
The next Godzilla bred with the filming style of The Blair Witch Project.
Now the trailer was filmed to look like someone had filmed it with just a regular camcorder kinda thing...
So I thought,
"Hey, that's kinda cool... they'll show parts of it like it's real"
Little did I know,
But the whole entire movie was like that.
I got 10 minutes into it,
And I had to start closing my eyes
And just depending on my hearing to get me through.
But movies just aren't the same with only the sound...
I tried opening my eyes again...
Now, I should just say,
That the only thing my mumma ever gave me,
Besides my curly hair,
Was the hereditary Hogard motion sickness...
I then proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes in the theater bathroom,
With my head between my knees,
Staring at the bathroom floor.
(And I must say,
It's not a very attractive floor)

I never did go back to finish watching.
I just couldn't...
I have a sick stomach to this moment.

Which brings me to my firsts for the week...
First time walking out on a movie
First time being sick in a public bathroom

So there you have it...
Another embarassing moment in the life of Liz...

"And God saw that it was Good..."

I love the story of Creation. Our God is so creative, so thoughtful, so powerful... It blows my mind how people can look at the life cycle of trees, the position of the earth and sun, the natural instincts of animals and still think that it all just spontaneously came to be.

Maybe that's why I have such a passion and love of the outdoors... it's like walking through God own personal art gallery... I'm reminded of that Bible verse... if God puts that much thought and love into the "lives" of flowers, how much more will He love and care for us? Walking through the forests, hills, and wilderness, it feels like I'm surrounded by God's Glory and Love.

We Valleyviewers went on an amazing hike on Sunday. First time we've done Peterson Creek in the winter. It was great fun. ("good times") I think there was more slipping and sliding then there was hiking. I succeeded in ripping my brand new pants right at the bum (naturally... I was able to return them though), Rebekah partly fell in the creek, and Andrew "had a terrible time". This time though we had some new comers - We initiated Ryan Unger, Ryak, Andrew K, and little Curtis into our "Peterson Creek Club". They handled it pretty well, although Curtis had quite the shock when he realized I was really serious about bringing waterproof gear and hiking shoes. He seemed to have a different idea then we do about "hikes". :P
All in all, I had a blast and was quite happy to be surrounded by God's beauty and God's people...

I'm Sorry...

This is the hardest thing in the world for me to do, but I can feel a cry in my heart that's telling me to get it out and leave it be, so here goes...

I'm sorry for not being the friend that you deserve
I'm sorry for not telling the truth when you asked for it
I'm sorry for holding grudges
I'm sorry for saying the things that I know will hurt you
I'm sorry for not saying the things that will help
I'm sorry for only having questions when you wanted answers
I'm sorry for not being someone you can look up to
I'm sorry for leading you on
I'm sorry for letting you go
I'm sorry for talking behind your back
I'm sorry for still being mad
I'm sorry for ignoring you
I'm sorry for not always being sorry

I'm sorry.

I wish I could say sorry to each individual person that I've wronged and even as I type one wrong has been made right and it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off instantly.

I love you all.

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Those Daily Bites below are devotionals that I get sent to me everyday. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I don't. These two I read together after not reading them for a while. They really stuck out. God's faithfullness is something I'll never understand. It never ceases to amaze me that day after day, mistake after mistake, sin after sin, He still loves me and will carry me through hard times or when I fall.

Daily Bite

Here's your Daily Bite from http://eattheword.net.

This months theme is: Soul Songs - Worshipping when it's tough

Today's bible reading is from: Psalm 34:17
The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the broken-hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (NLT)

Recently I have come to know the truth in this verse and many other verses like it. The bible is full of truth about the faithfulness of God. In a world where there are so many challenges and when every thing around us seems to be against us, illness and poverty and money problems, there is a constant battle between our ideas about God and the truth of the Word of God.

Our response can often be to reshape our view of God by the things that happen to us, in a positive way or a negative way. But our experiences can often tell us that God maybe doesn't care for us as much as we think, or that God doesn't hear our prayers. The truth of the bible tells us otherwise. This passage from Psalms reconfirms that God is compassionate and he is close to those who need him, even though sometimes we don't see or feel that. We need to have faith in the truth of God regardless of what the world says: The truth of God will always win through.

Contributed by: Ant L


Here's your Daily Bite from http://eattheword.net.

This months theme is: Soul Songs - Worshipping when it's tough

Today's bible reading is from: Psalm 68:19
Praise the Lord; praise God our saviour! For each day he carries us in his arms. (NLT)

Our God is such an awesome God. You can't ever get your head around how amazing he is. He is just so loving and caring. This verse is such a comfort to us whether we are going through a difficult time, need some reassurance or just something to remember - that he carries us in his arms. He is closer to us than the air that we breathe and closer than the skin on our body.

When we are going through hard times we can sometimes be upset with God and wonder why he isn't answering our prayers or sorting our problems out. It's like the foot prints poem - we say to him 'where were you when we needed you most?' But then we see, and need to remember that during these times God carries us in his loving arms every single day. Remember what you have already been through in your life. You've been through circumstances you never thought you would get through. But God brought you through. Sometimes God answers prayer by taking things away, sometimes by adding things to us, but we should always remember that he knows best and he deserves all the praise. Praise him today for everything he's brought you through, caring for you as he carries you in his loving arms.

People often say they haven't got anything to be thankful for, but when we know Christ as our Lord and Saviour we have everything to be thankful for. He died for us that we might live and when we die we will live in heaven forever with our Lord. Thank and praise God our Saviour for this today.

Contributed by: Katie R

Snow Camp

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read Andrew's blog.