Youth Group Kick-Off Retreat

Well, on Friday evening the Youth Group from Sherwood Church of Christ went out to Canoe Cove Christian Camp. It was pretty fun! It's always awesome to be out at the camp. We had 20 Junior High and High School students and 6 leaders. The real idea behind the retreat was to get all the kids there to chop Ben's wood. Ok maybe not...but we did cut some :P

We hung out for a little while, played some frizbee, then we split the kids up into three groups, and gave them a list of words they had to use to make up a short skit. I recorded them on video and then we all watched the crazy and a sort of lame videos they made, haha. Then we all went and ate pizza! Pizza is yummy...and it was Greco! We played some Nine Squares, even in the dark with a basketball with a light inside! We watched a video (some comedian...dunno who). After that, Ben and some other people went to build a fire, so I played the Camp Slideshow, and we went through some other pictures and videos from this year's camp season. When it was ready, we all went to the fire. It was good, Fire=Heat...Heat I wish I had at night while trying to sleep and in the morning while trying not to freeze to death!

See, the girls got to sleep in the Dining Hall, while the guys slept in the Boy's L Cabin. The Boy's L Cabin has no heat. The Dining Hall has heat. Before I went to sleep I said a little prayer, because I did not want to freeze to death. In fact, I'm quite sure it was snowing inside of the cabin. Maybe not...maybe I was imagining things while my brain was getting frost-bite.

All the kids were gone by around 10:30 am Saturday morning, so I hopped in my car with a couple people and went to VBS at church. Yes my work is never finished, hehe, joking :P I didn't do to much though...I was just there for moral support...and because I like to beat up kids. What can I say? The younger they are the easier it is. No I'm just kidding...I didn't say a prayer about not freezing to death.

Maybe I'll put up the videos from the skits...I'll have to think about it. But that frost-bite is making that hard.

Matthew 5 - Memorization Test

Well, here's what I have memorized so far for our test this Thursday (Sept 28th) on Matthew 5:

The Beatitudes
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, fdr in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Salt and Light
13You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neight do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before all men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

276 words of 1,048 that have to be memorized. 16 verses or 48. Oh man...

Canoe Cove Christian Camp 2006 Slideshow

Ok, here's the slideshow that was shown at Camp Closing, just before my baptism! Hope you all enjoy/enjoyed it! There will be another longer and much better one eventually that will be used to promote the camp, but for now, you can watch this :)


(I lowered the size and quality of the original so that it could be shown. Went from 500+ Megs down to ~35)

Not Just Any Other Day

Sunday, September 17th, 2006. It was an AMAZING day!

Helped Francine with the Grade 1&2 Sunday School class. We had 5 kids today, we're still missing some. Then church was awesome. Then I went out to Wendy's for lunch, then I drove 4 of the Boyles out to the camp. Camp is awesome. Anyone who knows me or read some of this Blog would know how I feel about it... Waxmen was there to do wax castings of your hands. They were a huge hit with everyone. I was tempted to get my camera done...but maybe that would have been a bad idea...cool...but bad...although having a blue and red wax camera would be sweet! Then we had worship down in the pavilion. It was great, it was so great to see so many people come out and worship together! Then Michael Trusty spoke, and then they showed my slideshow! I rushed it quite a bit (still wasn't quick...but I mean it didn't take weeks like other's I've done, haha) I also decided to add to my stress by doing it with a new program that I had to try and figure out while I made it. (I'll upload it to as soon as I get a chance and put it here - actually I don't know if it's possible. The video was over 500 Megs!) After that Anne Inman got up and said some awesome things, I couldn't believe it. I didn't know she felt that way. I mean, I do what I can for people and I love to volunteer for things. But it's nice to know that people really do appreciate the things you do...no matter how small they may seem.

The highlight of my day though, was my baptism! It was awesome to see so many people gather as I was ready to take another step (or leap) forward in my journey through this life. I have to thank you again Ben for doing this for me! Here's a pic afterwards! :)

Now that I have baptized, I can finally become an official member of my church! And not only that, but that means I get a vote; and we have an important one coming up this Sunday. Talk about timing!

It meant a lot to see people from my church, and people I've met through camp, and the ones from MCC, and even people I've never met before witness this time in my life. Thank you all!

Well, I have class at 8:00am tomorrow. This week will be a little easier in the sense that I don't have to work a full-time job while going to school, but it will still be busy! I have something going on every evening this week. Monday to Sunday, holy cow...I'm not used to that...I'm used to working on something every evening sure, but not having to be somewhere for something.

Think it's possible to memorize Matthew 5 through osmosis?

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32)

No More Office Work! Hello School Work! Doh!

I've been attending MCC for almost a week and a half now. It's been going pretty good, but exahusting at the same time. I finished work yesterday, so now that that's done and over with, I'll be able to devote more time to school work (and sleep, hehe). Actually I'll have more time to work on Camp stuff too, haha. I don't think I could have taken another week of going to work for 7am and not getting home until 10:00pm. That just doesn't leave me enough time for the reading, and school work, and reading, and reading, and reading, and...we have to do for MCC.

I think to myself everyday, "What am I doing?" Going to MCC? Leaving a job where I was making some nice $$$. Then I think I should be doing this, and I'll be able to use this to help others at some point and use it in the various things I do now. So many emotions and thoughts, and I not enough time to think it over. But after this weekend, I'll have time, and hopefully I'll see exactly where I'm going. I guess life would be pretty boring if you knew where you were heading at my age. Speaking of age, I found out I'm one of the oldest full-time students at MCC...holy cow that was weird! I'm used to always being the youngest at everything I do! Guess I'm getting old...but not as old as Matt McGonnell (just kidding Super Matt, but I guess it's true...right...) :P

Something to look forward to this Sunday, Camp Closing! Yes, awesome! Camp is amazing, and I'll be happy to be out there and to see so many people again even if it's only for an afternoon/evening. But not just that, I'll be getting Baptised at 5:00pm. And Ben Forman will be doing it! Thanks Ben! I'm so lucky to have so many supportive people from camp, college and church. It means a lot to know that I have so many people to rely on. Oh, and there will be a slideshow shown at camp just before that, which I still have to do...oh man...haha *cries*, well it's going to show what's happened at camp over the 2006 season so hopefully it'll be good...and if it's not you better pretend to love it anyway! But I know it's going to be good because we had an awesome summer, full of amazing campers, staff and volunteers. When you have people like this anything about them will be great!!!

Again, never cease to amaze myself, I've created yet another long boring post. And seeing as it's 12:30am, need to be up at 6:00am, time to get ready for bed! G'night all! And good morning, afternoon, and evening whenever you're reading this...if you're reading this...yes... ... ... period.

MCC

Well, here we go. I attended my first class at MCC today at 8:00am, Oral Communication. We had to get up in front of the class and answer 6 questions. Wasn't so bad, but still a little weird getting up in front of people like that...so early...so soon.

I talked to Fred Osborne just yesterday at 4:00pm about attending MCC. Which is crazy, the day of registration, looking into attending college! I still have to get 3 refereneces, a transcript from high school, a transcript from college, and a police record check. Then fill out a couple more forms, and if I think this is right for me, and they let me stay, I'll be a student at MCC. Everything has been going so fast, and I'm so busy, and this is way out in left field!

But God will lead me where he sees fit, and if it's at MCC this year, then great! If not, I'm sure I'll find some other way to learn. And just because one door closes, doesn't mean there aren't any more opportunities else where. I still have a lot of other things I'd like to accomplish!

Life - A Hard Game to Play!

Well here we are...Monday, September 4th, 2006. Most young'ns are heading back to school tomorrow. MCC (Maritime Christian College) starts up tomorrow too and classes begin Wednesday.

I have resigned from my position at CGI, but I'm not finished until Sept. 15th...I'd like to be able to attend MCC for a year, but I'm in a major time crunch. If I was done of work right now, I'd be all for it. But then there's the whole going to school and having to work at the same time. If I do that, then I don't have as much time for my volunteer work I do...and that's something I don't want to have to give up...I don't like saying "no".

Then there's a job at Sherwood Church of Christ, which I'd love to be able to take. It would be awesome to be able to do things for the church (well more than I have been). But the job is part-time and a lot less money then I was making from the job I'm leaving now. Money isn't everything, but basically, what it pays for the whole year, half of that would just go towards car payments. Insurance is crazy for a young male driver...

I'll have to get started on this slieshow for camp like ASAP too! They'd like to be able to show it at Camp Closing (Sept 17th, same day I get baptised!). It'll be roughly 10 minutes, consisting of 2 songs (first ~5 minutes and the second ~3 minutes 30 seconds) and interviews of the campers I took the last day of high school camp. I was actually hoping to possibly do more at camp closing for the slideshow...obviously that won't work now.

Well, time to get to work!