so here we are again...

It's funny how life just continues.

Summer ends, and school begins, and the same things happen. The evil-leaf-thiefs come out to vacuum up the remains of summer, and it gets cold.

There's frost, and steam rising from my coffee cup at the LRT station. I lead worship, and go to class, buy textbooks, and write papers.

And yet, everything's different.

I'm in a different 'spot' than I was last year. God's given me different responsibilities, and new places to be effective.

As I look back on the last year, I see God's hand in my life, changing me, moulding me and making me more like the image of his son.

And that, I hope, will never change.

the tune of neglect (or) the definition of REDEEM

this summer has absolutely FLOWN by.

It's been (mostly) fantastic, busy, and full of weddings (2 more since the last time I blogged. I got a photo-radar ticket coming home from one, which just made it all the more "fun" .... )

As I was sitting here this morning, I realized that I've let my blog fall into neglect. And then, as I was reflecting on that, I realized that neglect has been the tune of my summer.

I haven't been on blogger in almost a month. I almost forgot to pay my registration confirmation at the UofA. I moved, and there are still boxes littering my kitchen and living room. I haven't hung out with friends in FOREVER. I haven't even finished a book this summer! And I've only been camping once.

Recently, God gave me a prayer for one of my relationships which seems to be in the middle of neglect and total annihilation:

Lord God, have mercy and redeem this relationship.

And then I started to think really hard about what 'redeeming' really means.

Yes, it means all the wonderful things that Christians attatch to it; all those complicated definitions about being bought and paid for. But what would it look like if God redeemed a relationship? The two didn't seem to match up.

In the process of pondering these things, I dug out my paper-back dictionary (out of a box). And at the very bottom of the definition, came this:

redeem - to convert into something of value

Which is really profound, if you think about it. This definition applies to everything. From redeeming a coupon at Save-On-Foods to what the Holy Spirit is doing in my heart, and what Jesus did on the cross.

He's changing me into something of value.

And it's a continuing work.

And it added something tangible to my prayer. I can practically ask God to transform this relationship into something of value.

I pray that redemption would be the tune, not only of this friendship, but also as the summer ends, and school begins.

I'm tired of the tune of neglect.

a few minutes to catch up...

Hey, all!

I have a few minutes here, before I have to get my day started, and I thought that I should sit down and letcha all know what's been going on in my end of the world.

On the 21st, I was at the third wedding of the summer - My BROTHER!! My 'little' brother got married to a wonderful girl, the wedding was awesome, the weather was great, and we all had a lot of fun. It's funny to go to their house now, and there are several pairs of shoes in the entry way, and they're all TOO SMALL for me.

Also with the third wedding marked the time for me to "MOVE OUT" of my brother's house... (see above paragraph...) Although I've been looking for some time, the search got put on hold due to the wedding. But last week, I started to panic.

I kept praying that God would find me the RIGHT place, in the RIGHT area, at the RIGHT time. And so, on Friday, my parents went looking, and fell in love with the FIRST appartment they saw.

And so did I.

And there are lots of really cool stories that go along with that, like how the appartment has been vacant for a month, and how I had keys in my pocket 24 hours after we looked at the place, and...

but I don't have time to write all that down right now.

Let's leave it at this: I'm moving this weekend!!

Thank God for small (BIG!) miracles!

Good Grief....

Yes, I know.

I fell off the face of the earth.

It's just that I work in front of a computer for a lot of my day, and then when I come home, the LAST thing that I want to do is sit in front of a computer again.

So I don't.

And you suffer.

Sorry.

SO.... The last month and a half has been really busy -- I've been at two wonderful weddings, very different, yet each very wonderful. I've begun the summer program at church, and I've bought a lot of shoes. (oh wait. that was only in the last two days....)

I don't really know what else to say. So much has gone on, and yet nothing has happened that's been out of the ordinary. It's been really hot lately, which is lovely. I like it, until I have to sleep. And then.... I don't like it so much.

That's about all I have to say....

enjoy the heat :)

r

surprised by ...

I have lilacs on my desk today -- they're really a marvellous thing. Growing up, we had lilacs at the end of our driveway, and they kind of remind me of exams, and tests, and being in school when I'd rather be outside.

But today, I was outside (albeit for a brief period of time). I dropped off an application for a major scholarship at the University today. The fact that I dropped it off at all is a God thing -- you see, I printed off the application in March. But forgot about it until last Friday. But, with the help of the people around me, I managed to get all the reference letters and short answer questions done, my transcripts printed, and the whole thing in by the deadline... (which was today.)

Now that I've said all that, I will now share with you the reason I entitled this post the way that I did...

This past weekend, I attended YC, which (for those of you who don't know) is a massive youth conference designed for junior high/high school kids. They bring in a bunch of big names, and pump everyone up with smoke machines and over-priced hotdogs. I got tickets this year for one reason, and one reason only.

David Crowder was coming.

So, against my better judgement, I acquired tickets, and Robbyn and I planned to go.

I'm extremely skeptical of all things "mass market", specifically on the worship front. Often when cds or books or products are marketed for Christians, they scream "YOU AREN'T LIVING FOR GOD UNLESS YOU'RE [listening to this cd, reading this book, wearing this t-shirt]. I find that "worship" cds are some of the worst things for this (pretty much second only to "Testa-mints" (spreading the WORD through good breath?) and cheap bible verse spinning tops. ).
I don't like to see worship as a commodity: you can't SELL worship.

You can sell a song, you can even sell best-seller songs, or #1 hit songs. But the WORSHIP -- that's more than a song. That's the heart attitude behind your life. That's the way we live.

Sure, you can worship through songs, but to sell music as THE WAY TO WORSHIP is not right.

Often, I find that conferences like these (although they may not intend to do this), often end up SELLING worship.

BUT, that is not the point of this post. That is only the background.

I went to YC.

David Crowder was great. He's a funny Texan with an amazing view of God, and of worship. The band was great.

The following band was not, semi-proving my own point in my own head. I was annoyed by the "mass market" approach to the concert, and we actually left half way through.

But we went back on Saturday to see United, who ended up suprising me by their honesty.

The biggest suprise for me, though, was Sunday morning. A band called Leeland played -- a young 18 yr old and a bunch of his church friends. But although I began skeptical, I ended up standing there and crying.

He knew what it was about. He GOT it -- worship is about God, and praising the one who redeemed us. He's 18, and he's got it. Everything he said, everything he did, everything that he sung -- it all pointed to God, and encouraged the 16000 people at YC to praise God.

I was surprised and blessed and challenged by a young guy, who chases hard after God, and worships him with all his heart.

May we all come to that point on our journey, where we seek hard after God, and find him. May we all learn to worship better and better, offering our lives as living sacrifices.

May we fix our eyes on God, the author and finisher of our faith.