You've Got A Friend In Me

As many of you know, this past weekend marked yet another edition of Skiriffic here in Cold Lake. As one who has attended every Skiriffic from its inception about 8 years ago, I believe that this was the best one yet. Any time about 350 teens are brought together in a small community such as we live in to hear the Gospel message is a success by any standards. But as much as I enjoyed Skiriffic itself, this was not what had the greatest impact on me. As much fun as I had playing in the worship band, it was the time spent with friends throughout the weekend that was the most meaningful to me.

As most of you probably know, many of my close friends have left the sprawling metropolis of Cold Lake to pursue studies elsewhere, while I have remained at home in order to work and save enough money to do so myself. In short, it has been somewhat of a lonely year for myself. But this is not a pity story in the least, as in the absence of many of my close friends, I have grown into a much deeper and meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. But what this weekend has really taught me is not to take my friendships for granted, and to cherish every moment spent in the company of my Christian friends.

The importance of friends is one which Jesus himself clearly saw great value in. In his book "The Jesus I Never Knew" (which, by the way, is an incredible book, and I highly recommend it to everyone!), Philip Yancey writes in reference to the disciples: "Why does Jesus invest so much time in these apparent losers? To answer that, I turn to Mark's written account, which mentions Jesus' motives in choosing the Twelve: 'That they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.' That they might be with him. Jesus never tried to hide his loneliness and his dependence on other people. He chose his disciples not as servants but as friends. He shared moments of joy and grief with them, and asked for them in times of need. They became his family, his substitute mother and brothers and sisters. They gave up everything for him, as he had given up everything for them. He loved them, plain and simple." If a circle of close friends was something that Jesus felt was this important, how much more then do we, as mere humans, require the close bonds of friendship?

As I'm sure you all know, this past year was one filled with sorrow and suffering for me, but through God's provision and help I was able to persevere and even grow in my faith through it all. I now realize that one of the ways that God provided for me during these tough times was by providing me with a group of friends that stood by me through it all. They didn't have to say anything, just being around them helped take my mind off of the troubles I was going through. I didn't recognize it as God's provision for me at the time, but looking back, I don't know how I would have handled it without the love and support of my friends. This is something that I am truly grateful for, and wish to express my extreme gratitude to them. It is my hope that I can in turn be there for them when life throws them a curve ball. To sum it all up, this weekend was a great time of refreshing for myself, as almost all of my good friends came together for a weekend of good times and awkward moments (courtesy of Newman). It is my hope that I will never take my friendships for granted, and that regardless of where life leads each of us, our friendships will be the one thing that remains constant.

Big Plans!

Well, after several long years of prayer and searching, I believe that God has finally chosen to reveal His plans for my life, and let me tell you, from what I can tell, these are some huge plans. It all got started while talking to my fine friend Andrew Nippard about a vision that God had placed on his heart. After talking with him, the idea would not leave my mind, and a felt that God was calling me to share in this dream. Now just what is this dream you may ask (or maybe you've read Andrew's blog and already know!), but I feel that it bears repeating in my own words.

You see, this dream involves helping and ministering to the homeless, and being able to have a significant impact in their lives. I am not talking about some under-funded, run-down soup kitchen that hands out food once a day. I am talking about actually enabling the homeless to find work and integrate back into society, along with meeting some of their basic needs. Its like the old saying "give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he'll have food for life". And that is what we desire to do. In our minds, we envision creating a large facility that incorporates a cafeteria of sorts (all free to the homeless, of course!), places just for them to hang out and build relationships with us and each other, help with addictions in addition to providing them with any medical attention they require, and finally, having some sort of job placement program. This may sound like lofty goals, but we fully believe that, God willing, we will be able to fulfill this dream.

I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is for sure my calling, but God has been revealing many verses to me during my devotions that seem to point to this as my calling. In addition, after searching through many possible careers and vocations, this is the first one that seems like a perfect fit. For a while now I have felt called to some type of ministry, but all the traditional ministry roles (pastor, missionary, etc.) did not seem like the right fit. In short, I felt the need to innovate and create a unique job that was different from anything I had ever heard of. Almost immediately I began to worry about financial needs, and then began to doubt that this was even my calling, and was just a spur of the moment idea like so many I have had in the past. But then God stepped in and really spoke to me, seeming to erase any doubt and worry. Here are some of the verses that He showed me:

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:33-34)

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39)

"Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." (Psalm 82:3-4)

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor." (Proverbs 22:9)

"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." (Proverbs 28:27)

As you can tell, these verses all seem to confirm this calling for me, and I truly believe that God revealed them to me for this reason. Finally, the two of us cannot do this alone. As you can tell, an undertaking of this magnitude will not only require immense prayer support, but also other people with a wide range of skills and talents. If God has placed it on your heart to join us in this undertaking, please don't be shy! Let us know, as we welcome any help and support we can get. This whole idea fills me with such a great sense of both excitement and fear, unlike anything I have ever experienced before, which in itself also seems to confirm it in my mind. In closing, there is a chorus in a song by Starfield that effectively sums up my feelings at the moment: "I am alive in this moment, in this moment I am found. I am alive in this moment, in this moment I belong."