AOYA - 2 Day Camping Weekend

This past weekend 9 young people gathered at the van t' Voort's house in big ol' Iona Station for a camping weekend.  However, when I found out that we wouldn't necessarily HAVE to sleep outside - that there were beds upstairs that had been made available, I jumped at the opportunity to stay warm and dry and comfortable.  It was wonderous.  It took me awhile to get to Hamilton to pick up Niki because of some crazy bad traffic (50 minutes to get from one side of St Catharines to the other), but we still managed to be the first people there at 9:00 at night.  We just chilled as we waited for the others to arrive and then watched a classic movie: The Princess Bride.  I was so sleepy, my eyes closed at around the storming of the castle part and then opened when the closing credits came on the screen.  There was no way I was going to stay awake for Janna's arrival at 2 in the morning.


On Saturday we got to sleep in and enjoy a great breakfast of sausage and pancakes, made and cooked by Mike's youngest sister (and apparently one of "us"), Elizabeth (aka Fizz).  So yum.  We then headed out to the Wallacetown Fair to check out the midway, the cattle parade, and see Mike actually drive in the town's parade in his '71 Chevy convertible.  We split up into two groups - the boys and the girls for a very fun Photo Scavenger Hunt.  The girls had a lot of fun with it - meeting so many people who were so willing to help us out.  We met one guy who was leading one of the games at the Midway who helped us out with the winning of prizes - $3 cheaper than the usual price, provided props for the leap-frogging picture and got his jester hat from his car so that we could get extra points for singing to a clown.  In the junior fair barn, I was assigned the role of pretending to be paparazzi at the baby show.  We asked a few people who were dressed in authentic cowboy gear to pose with us.  When we took a break for lunch, we sat on a bench along the wall of one of the barns which happened to be right behind one of the food stands.  We got to talking with a husband and wife who were peeling and cutting the potatoes into fries and he thought of a great prank he wanted to pull on his coworkers.  He went in and got a couple of fry boxes, filled them with uncooked fries and asked Niki and I to go around to the front, explain to the seller that we had received these fries wholesale and ask if he would be so kind as to fry them for us.  He took it so well that not only did he take our containers, he gave us fresh fries and asked the next customer who wanted fries if he preferred them raw or cooked.  Very funny! :)  Later, we got more people involved when we asked them to help us spell a word with extra points awarded for every extra person we included.  


I realized that I forgot an important story of the afternoon!  While six of us piled back into Mike's car, I thought out loud - Wouldn't it be funny to go back around the parade route in front of the band stand in the antique car?  Mike thought so, too as he drove us around the  track that had carried all the "dignitaries" earlier that day.  I began waving like the Queen, because, well - who wouldn't?  An antique car.  A convertible.  A sunny day.  And a bandstand at a fair to wave to.  The announcer was thanking some of the fair's sponsors when we drove by, waving like princesses.  The crowd waved back and I think that I even heard a few cheers and definitely saw lots of smiles!  Mid-sentence, the announcer paused to look up and see what all the ruckus was about and said into the microphone, "Well.  That was random."  The crowd chuckled while we were in stitches laughing about how we had created our very own one car parade.  It could have been just my imagination but I think that everyone at the fair knew who we were by the end of the afternoon! :)


We went back to van t' Voort's for supper and relaxation time, but not too long as we needed to be back for 6:45 for the tractor pull.  Considering this was my first experience ever at an agricultural fair, I had a LOT of fun! I think the Photo hunt helped.  When the tractor pull was over (a few hours longer than I had originally anticipated), we headed back to the house for a campfire, some singing and drinking of warm beverages.  While the crazy people decided to camp outside, I was already very chilly, so I slept in the house.


On Sunday we went to the OPC in Dutton for their morning service and enjoyed a lovely potluck for lunch.  After a quick stop back at the house to gather all of our worldly possessions, we packed it all in our cars and some of continued on to the Life Chain event in London - holding signs for a silent protest against abortion.


What a fantastic weekend!  Pictures to follow.

Devotion

This morning's devotion was on prayer and this phrase stuck out from what was read:


"Prayer is not so much about man's will for God in heaven, but rather God's will for man on earth.  We should not be afraid to pray Thy will be done."


I like that.  

A great weekend "inn"deed

This past weekend was very relaxing and enjoyable.  I met up with my friends from the Kentucky mission trip and we just relaxed at the Rathfon - one of my favourite places in the world.  I love going there; it's like a retreat centre.  Friday night I left after school and got there at five, plenty of time to welcome the first group of guests which came at 8.  More people showed up periodically through the night.  I thought that we were going to have to spend most of the weekend inside because of the 70% chance of rain that was forecasted for the entire weekend.  Although it rained on Friday, it cleared up throughout the night and we had beautiful weather both Saturday and Sunday.  We were even able to go swimming in the lake on Sunday!  For those who are interested, the soup recipes and pumpkin bread recipe are listed on the "Dutch oven" tab. 


Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Privileged Pilgrims

It is my turn for morning devotions tomorrow with the faculty and we are working through the theme of "I am the door".  During our orientation session, our principal showed this famous painting based on John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress".

My devotion is based on this imagery.  It comes from a sermon preached by Dr. Nelson Kloosterman.

1 Peter 1:1-2

 "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

These few verses give us a perspective on our life experience.  We have a perspective for every kind of experience that we will undergo as a child of God in the world. We have a context and foundation provided for our faith and it can all be summarized in the word pilgrim. 

A pilgrim is a resident-alien.  Between the two words is a hyphen.  Resident-alien.  The tension of being a pilgrim in this world lies in the hyphen.  If you remove the hyphen, there’s no tension.  If you ignore the hyphen, there’s no tension.  There are Christians who prefer one or the other.  They prefer this notion/identity of being a resident.  They like to feel at home in the habits, the style, the attitudes of the world.  On the other hand, you have Christians who want to be aliens. They want to be so alienated from the world that they tend to live by themselves, talk to themselves and be totally disengaged from the world around them.  A pilgrim, biblically speaking, is both a resident and an alien.  We know that we live in the world, and yet it is not our home.  We know that we are creatures designed by God to live in the world and yet we know that there’s something amiss in the world.  1 Peter is designed to teach us to live like pilgrims among pagans.

The letter begins with how privileged we are - “To those who are elect”  Reread vs. 1 - all the verses talk about our status and our identity. To be elect is to be called out and to be owned by God.  To be an elect pilgrim is also to be a stranger with a program.  You are not put here for aimless wandering until your time expires.  It’s to be busy with God’s plan.

Abraham was called a sojourner.  In Heb. 11:9-11 we read this.   "⁸By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land,living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." 

It talks about Abraham had to move from Heron to Canaan. He is our example par excellence of how to be a sojourner.  You walk according to the way God has set out for you.  You walk according to the promise.  You live by faith.  You have no claims except to lean against the Lord.

What is it like to live in a foreign country?  I’m sure that many of us can associate with that concept having traveled and lived in various countries around the globe. In the Old Testament, there were foreigners who were also called sojourners - people who did not fully identify with the people of God, with the surroundings, with the people, with the culture.  Israel is also called a sojourner in the land of Canaan.  They are in the world, but not identified by the world. 

With election comes antithesis - a friction that arrives and is irradicable.  Conflict is inevitable.  There’s conflict between the old nature and the way of the Spirit.  To be elect of God, means not merely that we are called by God to be different, we’re owned by God so we have a program, we’re busy with conflict that results because we are owned by God, but also we have a unique calling in the world to be a light.  That means that when we go out into the world, we talk differently.  We act differently. We teach differently.  As Christians, our identity as pilgrims means that we live differently. 

We have a power and purpose as pilgrims as well.  Election is not a rocking chair doctrine - it always puts us to work. God won’t leave us the way he found us. He intends to perfect us and has called us to obedience.  

Remember that our pilgrimage is according to a pattern that He has designed since before the foundation of the world and that we are given the power to walk this pilgrimage from the work of the Holy Spirit - his personal activity in our lives.

He closes the greeting with two things that a pilgrim needs if they are going to be living among pagans: grace and peace.  Grace to pick themselves up when they stumble. Grace to help them put one foot in front of the other.  Grace which has brought us safe thus far and grace that will lead us home.  They also need peace - peace of mind.  We need peace so that we band together and protect one another to fight against the animosity of the world.  Peace is not the absence of struggle or fighting.  The kind of peace that the Bible gives us is the peace of knowing the forgiveness of sins, that God loves us in Christ Jesus and the peace of eternal life that is coming.  The peace of a victory guaranteed although not yet fully realized.  That is our pilgrimage.  That is our calling.

Goals for 2011/2012 School Year

1) PRAISE GOD! Do that. There are many different ways.
2) Never miss a Herald submission
3) Never skip morning devotions with the staff
4) Come up with at least 2 activities we've never done with Student Council
5) Return all marking within a week or less of it being handed in
6) Initiate some sort of Spiritual Retreat
7) Keep my plants alive until June (at least)
8) Don't leave the school until the next day is fully planned, photocopies and lesson plans printed out and ready to go.
9) Speak in French almost all the time for grades 10 and 11.  Speak in French most of the time for grades 7-9.
10) Find more activities for students to dialogue with each other and practice speaking in French
11) Follow through with discipline procedures and be more consistent
12) Walk around the classroom more, using words to correct grammar, but also to give more encouragement
13) Eat well and find time to exercise at least 3 times a week
14) Change the bulletin boards at least once during the course of each semester. 
15) Don't compromise on personal devotion time
16) Find a prayer partner
17) Pray for my students every day
18) PRAISE GOD! Do that. There are many different ways.

The most wonderful time

It's good to be back at school.  I'm so excited about the new reno, even it required a bit more patience to wait to get into the classrooms and new office - complete with exterior windows to let in real, fresh air!!  My old classroom became a dry lab and it's a little strange to see a cabinet area with a sink, tiled floors, a fourth white board, and a second door leading to the science storage room. My new classroom is still in the older part of the school, but that doesn't lessen my excitement about having my own room.  I'm actually having grade 7 and 8 come visit me in the high school instead of the other way around.


On Tuesday, I didn't actually have to teach until the afternoon due to the morning assembly and boot camp for grade 9 students.  Some of my grade 10 students approached me at lunch and were very effusive in their excitement for French.  I hope I can live up to their expectations! :)  One of the grade 11 students, on her way out of the classroom after the bell rang, gave a big sigh and said to her friend with a big smile, "Ah.  I just love French class."  So rewarding and encouraging to hear comments like that!


Today I introduced my crazy self to the grade 7 students and I'm not sure they know what their parents' signed them up for!  :)


I'm really looking forward to serving God this semester in so many ways.  In the next blog, I'm going to write down my goals for this year and see how I do at the end of the year.

End of Summer

Today is the last day of August and as I look back, I had a very fun, full, and productive summer.  Here is the breakdown of my vacation:


End of June - beginning of July - wrapping up school, graduations, Ange and James came to visit
July 11-23 - East Coast trip
July 24-30 - Teen 1 at Campfire!
July 31-Aug.6 - Family Reunion at the Rathfon
Aug. 7-13 - Wilderness Week
Aug. 14-18 - Try to get some school stuff done twice, weed the gardens twice, visit the dentist twice, get the car fixed twice, go to pick up police check twice
Aug. 19-20 - Camping with YPs, Bible Study
Aug. 20-21 - Sleepover at Niki's, church at Rehoboth
Aug. 21-27 - Teen 2 at Campfire!
Aug. 29 - back to school for orientation


Great summer!  I'm happy to put the suitcase away for a little while though! :)