New Project|The Creative Typo

Hi everyone!

First and foremost, I know it's been ages since I've written a post to this blog. Whoops!

The last while has been a lot of moving around and trying new things, and somewhere in the process my Macbook stopped working. Luckily by the power of the internet, I managed to troubleshoot my issues and fix the computer (yay!).

That being said I recently started a new project called The Creative Typo. It's something I am very passionately working on whenever I have the time to do so.  It's more than just a music group, or album, but a collaborative effort of creative individuals to express themselves the way they do best, whether that be via music, painting, video creating, and so on.  The goal is to inspire people to find the things they love and follow it. Without getting into too much detail about it all, check out my post for the breakdown and my vision here . Or follow my blog here for updates and happenings.

I also started a GoFundMe campaign which you can check out here for information and to help me progress with the project.

Thanks for the support, and Happy Easter
-Andrew

Success

I originally wrote this for a friend having issues finding work. But it can be applied to many things in life.

           5 Key Things That Will Push You To The Top
                   inspired by: Zig Ziglar


 
 1) Failure is an event. Not a person. Don't beat yourself up over it.

 2) Know thyself.  I'm not going shakespearean, Neo from the Matrix here.  But knowing who you are, solidly, being cool with who that is, and extending that confidence opens many a door.

 3) Dress for success.  We all judge, judging is bad, but we all judge. I work at a clothing store, and what a man (or woman) wears impacts first impression like you wouldn't believe.

  4) Night is darkest just before the dawn.  Honestly, and I'm experiencing financial hardship myself, nothing bad lasts forever.  There is always hope, you just need to sell yourself on it.

  5)  Persistance.  In the words of a wise blue fish, "just keep swimmin"
 
This may seem like simple stuff, and we often think "well, I do all that stuff." But we may not be doing so in the extent we think.  It's crazy how standing back and just taking a look at the mirror, can give us a perspective, and even unlock the door we need to go through.

The keys to success are yours for the taking, you just have to reach out and grab them

Things I've Learnt As An (Almost) 23 Year Old

I haven't been on this planet long compared to some, and I've been here far longer compared to some more.  I've been preceded by millions before me, and I shall precede millions after me.  And in this insignificant spec of time I live out on this ball of dirt we lovingly call home, I've learned a few things that I would like to pass on.  Nuggets of wisdom, if you would.

Fun is awesome, but there is a time to rest, reflect, and pray.

Quiet is great, but human interaction is a necessity.

Organization is handy, but too much creates unhealthy stress.

Don't be afraid to live a little, but don't be irresponsible.

Common sense and logic are great, but never downplay faith.

Faith perseveres, but don't be flakey and stagnant, faith requires a step, take it.

In all things, give thanks.

~Andrew

Waiting

Ever have a moment where a passing comment by a complete stranger rocks your entire day?  

This is me yesterday; I left a job interview (which went splendid, I got the job! Glory to God), and ran to walmart to grab something I needed (of which I can not remember now, mustn't have been that important), as I neared the front doors (I should add I was in a suit as I work at a men's suit store.) an older gentleman was coming out of the doors, which in and of itself is not that surprising.  However, what caught me off guard as I went to wish the standard, "Good day" salutation to the gentleman he looked at me, and with a slight chuckle, and years with experiences I can not fathom, simply stated "Can we ever stop rushing, do we ever slow down?".  

This struck me in an odd way; maybe it was an older man who looked in his retirement years stating how busy life was, maybe it was the way the statement caught me as life has been hectic and busy for me lately (I recently got in to a business program so the getting ready to move process is in full effect), I'm not 100% sure exactly why such a statement stuck out to me, but it did.

Now, enough of my run-on sentences, extensive commas, and colons, and long winded stories.  Oh, and the extensive use of parenthesis (for those that don't know, it's the brackets around certain phrases, like this one).

I feel this question is one we should ask ourselves, regularly, if not frequently.  "Can we stop rushing, can we slow down?".  We live in a society of FAST food, INSTANT coffee, INSTANT noodles.  The faster something is, the more convenient things are, the happier we are?  If our Double Big Mac is not waiting for us the minute we enter the front doors, we get tense; waiting in line for anything for hours? Yeah right! (Unless you're one of those Macfreaks), and the list goes on.

Side note: I have nothing against Apple, I'm writing on a Macbook right now.  I just think sitting in line for two days for a phone is silly.  But hey, to each his own.

Back to this thought; we have a society that demands instant gratification.  If we aren't satisfied right now, having everything our way, we get livid.  I've had a lot of jobs, most of them in customer service; one such job was delivering pizza.  It's possibly one of my least favourite jobs, just to make that clear.  I'll give a break down of what happens when you order a pizza.

Pick Up

-Come in/Call in

-Some calls can last longer with questions like "what kind of pizza do you have?" "what's good?" "what's your specials?" and so on.  And yes, people ask us to list all our toppings and pizzas, and then all the toppings on the specialty pizza.  So this slows things down.

-Once this is all done your information is confirmed, and we send it through on the computer.

-Now assuming it isn't busy it shows up on the make line screen to be made.  I've seen the screen so full, that twenty pizzas later it was still filling up.  That 8-10 minutes bake time, the pizza needs to get in the oven first.  

-So your pizza has been made! And is now coming out of the oven.  The food is boxed, and finished however it's supposed to be (cut, garnished, etc).

Delivery

-Take all of the above, and now another person collects your order, checks your address and heads to their vehicle.  This is assuming it isn't busy as crap, and they can get to it that quickly.  

-They get your order, step in to their vehicle, and get ready to get to your home as quickly as possible.  This is where most of our tickets and accidents happen.

-They arrive at your house, and if all goes well, one knock or door bell and the door is answered, it's really awesome when people are waiting for you.  I've had to call a customer, knock, ring a doorbell, and then they get mad when they had to wait.  Answer your door or be waiting please haha.

-We hand you food, which some people take their time handling, and then deal with payment, which also can take some time if the machine is being finicky, or we don't have the exact change.

-Now after this is all said and done, we get back to our car and rush back to the store to do it all over again.

Think of this the next time you have to wait more than 20 minutes for delivery; it takes about 10 minutes to make the pizza, and then we have to drive it to your house, however far it is.  

Now that I'm down a semi-educational rant, back to our point.  We want things to us so quickly that the idea of waiting makes us mad.  We get tense in church when the pastor reaches one minutes over an hour, waiting a couple minutes for coffee is absurd.  However in the bible, the greatest breakthrough, the biggest growth, the most monumental revelation, arrived through yes, waiting.  In Isaiah 40 we're told 

"those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they mount up on wings like eagles,They shall run and not grow weary,They shall walk and not faint" ( NKJV Is.40:31)

There's a story in John 5:1-9 that tells of a man waiting for healing, 

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. (NKJV Jn 5:1-9)

Where are our priorities? Are we willing to wait for the good things in life?  Wait for the promises of God, there's a lot of them. The bible is littered with promises, the broadest, and possibly the strongest that sticks out in my mind is Jeremiah 29:11-13.  I won't bother quoting the passage it's so well known.  If you don't know it, I absolutely encourage you to look it up.  God has many good things for you, don't lose heart.  The old proverb, "good things come to those who wait", couldn't be more true.  I like what James has to say,

 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. (NKJV Jm 5:7)

I ask that God would help us examine our hearts, that we would see where our priorities are.  I would ask that we were able to set our gaze upon Him, and remain strong and faithful this day against all life's troubled times.  We would never lose heart in times that appear desperate and hopeless.  That we would be a people of waiting, and a people of expectancy.  And that we would have the strength to endure all.  That we would be able to slow down, and rest in the still, quiet place where God meets us.  That we could quiet down to hear His voice, and have the wisdom to listen.

A Never Ceasing Church

I see a lot of churches, they have their hours; 10-3, 9-2, 12-4, and so on....Now it's not that there is an issue with these hours, but I find them personally to be a little limited. I know there are circumstances (cost of running the building, staffing, etc.), this however is beyond those things.

I'm not here to "fix" the church, or tell it what to do, but simply to share what's on my heart.  I hope that is plain, simple, and clear, right off the hop.  My heart is to see a 24 hour place of worship established though, a place where schedules don't hinder people from getting together with believers to be encouraged and learn.  Where people can be taught and equipped in their giftings to share the gospel and make disciples.

I work weird hours personally, I can work from 11am to some time in the evening, or start or four in the afternoon and go until the wee hours of the morning, usually four am; this can create difficulty when the majority of my hours are on weekends, which is also when church is.  One thing I've learnt in the 22 years I've lived, is we don't all get Monday to Friday 9-5 jobs, some of us get jobs that are decent enough, the hours are simply, erratic.  My Dad worked in the oilfield for over a decade; he could work 14 hour days (or more) sometimes 14 days straight, and something I learned from my own time in the oilfield, is that getting up early in the morning when you don't have to go to work, can be a challenge ( my Dad had a wife and two kids (teenagers at that) in there as well).

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a place that was able to accommodate a wide variety of schedules.  With my current schedules, Church in the middle of night seems far more feasible than (what seem to me) super early mornings.  For instance, it's currently 3:00am local time, humans need 8 hours of sleep, I've been home form work for maybe an hour.  If church started at, let's say 11:00am, even if I went to bed when I got home, (assuming I don't wash up, eat anything, or change) it'd be about 2:00am going to bed, 10:00am getting up for that exact 8 hours (although most people I know don't fall asleep that fast).  I have 60 minutes to get up shower, get dressed, get breakfast, and be in my seat at church.  Supposing it isn't a charismatic church that starts at 11:00...ish (I hope this is taken as the joke it's meant to be, I'm a member of a Charismatic church).

This may seem like I'm just looking for an easy out, or for everything to be my way.  Don't misunderstand my heart in this.  I have friends that work jobs with little flexability, that's not their fault, I know single moms that need to get all the hours they can to support their children (some churches ostracize them for being single mom's, another reason they avoid churches at times, but I won't get in to that right now.) and so that can see them with an evening and weekend job, and as I recall, Sunday is a weekend.  Another issue faced with single moms as well with younger children is a lack I've noticed, with adequate child care, or, an unfortunate and heartbreaking apathy towards child care.  Once again, a random tangent I won't tackle at this time but just something that bothers me personally.

Back to this never ceasing church....

The church is more than a building, when I think of church, I think of the Book of Acts.  The church was a community of believers that were together teaching, encouraging, mentoring, praying, and worshipping the Lord.  If our church building burnt down tomorrow, WE WOULD STILL BE A CHURCH.  My heart for a 24 hour church goes beyond a building that doesn't lock it's doors, it goes in to a complete lifestyle.

I've seen so many churches, we go, we leave, that's it.  I heard one man's story; he left a bike gang, got saved, but found no family or community in the church, but the acceptance he found in the gang found him falling back in to that life.  In my own life I got saved at 19, but didn't find a sense of community or family, I would leave church and was back on my own with no one.  And within 8 months I was getting back in to my usual habits and almost ended up in fatherhood again.  When I felt I was a part of a family, like I was accepted, I wanted to be a part of it.  And we model what we surround ourselves with.  Now, back to those things I mentioned before...

Here's a simple break down of the things I listed:
TEACHING:
Both in small groups and corporate pastoral preaching.  This would be the teaching and discussion of scripture and so on.
ENCOURAGING:
We all hit hard times, we all mess up, it's having people to help pick us up, correct us (Proverbs tells us the wisdom in accepting rebukes), and help us in our walk. (Iron sharpens iron as Proverbs says).
MENTORING:
As a man in my twenties I find teens coming to me in relationship advice, school advice, and the like having on average about six years on them in age.  I'm old enough to have learnt from my experiences, and young enough to recall clearly.  Mentoring is walking with a person through things in their life, being an ear for them, and also a teacher.  I have a few older men in our church I consider mentors, they're married, with kids (my age ironically), good jobs, and what the world would call "successful lives".  I often spend hours speaking with these men, learning from them, and taking in from their experiences and wisdom so I'm faced with my decisions, I'm wise enough to make the right one.  There was mentoring in the New Testament church, Paul had Timothy for example.  Paul wrote two letters to Timothy (I,II Timothy) which shows how he mentored Timothy.
PRAYING
My friend and pastor Nathan Williams' wife has been known to say, quite frequently, "No Prayer, No Power".  And this is echoed in Matthew when Jesus tells us that we will accomplish certain things through "...prayer and fasting".  In Thesselonians we are told to pray without ceasing, and at another point in Matthew (ch18) we are told that when two or more of us gather and are in agreement, God is there, and hears our prayers.
WORSHIP
Psalm 150 is the favourite verse of a friend and fellow worship musician.  All through the old and new testaments there are verses talking about worship.  Simply put, worship is an act of glorfying God.  It goes beyond our Sunday Morning Karaoke.  There's nothing wrong with our corporate worship, but I fear we have created a consumer worship event and have lost the whole focus of what worship was meant for.  The theologians, I feel, had it right, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." The author of Romans puts worship as a sacrifice, a sacrifice of our being.  


Church goes beyond a building, it goes in to our being.  Does how we live, express the emmense love and mercy God has poured fourth?  Teaching each other, being encouraging, mentoring, praying, worshipping; none of it actually requires a building or a program.  If we started loving each other as Jesus has told us to, we would see ourselves transformed.  


I could go further in to all this, but I don't want to have this longer than necessary either, as the longer something gets, the less and less one is likely to read, and quite possibly, miss context, or misunderstand something.  Please know, I am not a Pastor, I have not attended any formal education in bible teaching, I am not a theologian or scholar.  I am simply a man with a passion, that I feel others may share.  This post could have been expanded on more, but I feel that would not be an effective use of time beyond this.  


If you're reading this, and thinking "I want to see a 24 hour place of worship" start at your home.  Pray without ceasing, when you're in your car, pray for a moment; pray during a break at work; there are lots of moments in the day we let slip by we could have prayed during, I'm just as guilty of this.  If we started spending more time in prayer, we would see more happen.  If anything I wrote is theologically incorrect, PLEASE let me know.  I do not wish to make false statement or lead others astray, the bible is clear on the consequences of that.  I accept rebuke, assuming you back it up with scripture (in context).  

Some Personal Thought On This Kony Business

There is a lot of controversy over this.  Some say that there are others worse than him, some say that nothing will change if we do do something, some are all in for it.  This is how I'm kinda feeling about things.

So, because there are more than one bad guy, we do nothing? Despite the fact that, there would be one less person causing trouble, we shouldn't care? I take it that because we can't just clean sweep everything at once, we just shouldn't try? I'm not a supporter of Invisible Children by any means. But this transcends beyond politics, beyond what looks bleak. It's about hope, and that all people should be able to live without the fear the people in those countries live in. Perhaps, by taking down one person, by a united effort in standing up for something, more people will do the same. That's what I see in this, people finally getting up and doing something, because there can be hope in the world, but it's up to our population to do something because we have the resources. 

IC isn't the only organization involved in this, Crossroads (they do 100 Huntley Street and other media), has been involved in a similar undertaking for years. Trying to free girls from sex slavery, and families from the oppression over in that region. IC has simply taken an initiative, that I must say I admire.  I'm an advocate with Compassion Canada, but that has nothing to do with which organization is doing what, I support World Vision in their mission, as well I support TOMS, and other like-minded organizations that i know are doing something.  There is controversy around IC for various things, but who am I to judge.  I'm not giving them my livelihood, but I am joining in with them, to help make it so there is one less person out there committing these crimes.  

And we know that the issue isn't so much in Uganda anymore, for those bringing that arguement up, they state that in their KONY2012 video (if you've actually watched it). The LRA has spread to other areas of Central Africa. Which creates two problems, more politics, and more hiding.

And if you want to argue biblical truth, here's a few tidbits for you.

James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress.

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good;And what does the Lord require of you.  But to do justly,To love mercy,And to walk humbly with your God?

I'm trying to seek justice for the oppressed, I don't plan on having Kony shot in the face, as that verse in Micah speaks of Mercy, and I would venture to say that freeing child slaves and restoring families would be a close shot to what James 1:27 is sayin.

The children are the next generation of doctors, lawyers, politicians, rulers, pastors, cooks, should we not be fostering in them a sense of hope? Should they not see the world as a good place, and not a place of fear?

To reiterate:

-Not a supporter of the IC organization

-Is a supporter of Justice and aiding the next generation.

-There's more than just which organization is doing something, but seeking justice.

Orphaned Spirit

This week I got a chance to speak to three men of different ages.  One was just entering a new realm of life at 13 years old; another entering legal adulthood, and the realm of legally being called a man at 17, going on 18 years old; and the third in his 50's.  There are vast differences between 13 and 18, being 22 myself I can still look back and remember those formative 6 years leading up to legal adulthood, and even from four years ago being 18 to now, there are vast differences in who I am.  I can only imagine the vast differences from where I am now to where I'll be, and who I'll be in 28 years at the age of 50.  

At 13 I started Junior High, and I started growing facial hair (to my friends in their 20's who still can't, you should probably be jealous), my voice began to grow deeper, my height continued to increase (and eventually surpassed my Dad's height at 5'8", where I currently stand at 6'0").  This is the age when us guys, notice girls.  

At 17, I was getting ready to graduate my senior year of High School, applying to colleges, and picking what I wanted to be when I grow up.  Which when compared to the direction I'm heading in now, is a bit different.  

I'll let you know what 50 is when I get there.  

The reason I lay out these differences is simple, in that, even though with all these little differences setting the demographics apart, so on and so forth, they all had one key similarity.  They all had fathers.  This is where I pose my question, can a person with one or both of their parents, be an orphan still?

A common thing I heard with these three men was "I think my Dad loved me" or "My Dad just isn't/wasn't around".  Nothing against moms, mine is amazing; there is something absolutely pertinent about a Father's presence.  A father's presence is, I dare-say, a necessity.  

In women that have grown up without fathers or even some form of father figure, they went out seeking, not always consciously, sometimes sub-concsously, that male love; as in their heart was an incompleteness, a longing, and often a lie, that they couldn't be loved by a man, or a distorted view of love from a man.

In men, there is a different, albeit just as devastating affect.  Quite often there was no positive reinforcement on a proper male model.  There was an unsureness as to exactly what a man, and what manliness was.  This created a obscure self identity.  While I don't completely agree with gender roles, there is a reason men and women are made different, there need to be differences.  

Looking at my own parents, as I was lucky enough to have both of them in my life.  My mom was always the more tender, compassionate one; whereas my dad was stricter, and sterner.  Both love me, and I know it; there is no question there.  The compassion of my mom, and discipline of my dad created balance, and allowed me to become a balanced human being.  I can show compassion when someone is in need, and sternness where it need be applied.  

Back to the issue of Fatherlessness, these three men had a lack of solidity in their identity.  All relating back to the lack of a solid father figure, or a stable father figure where abuse of substances and/or people were involved.  They had unsureness of who they were, because there wasn't a father molding them in a proper way.  There was a brokenness, and for anyone that knows me, when someone starts crying, I tend to get a little leaky.  

Phrases like "I think my Dad loved me, but he just didn't show it.", "I just wish my Dad was there for me some times", and "I don't know what's wrong with me" (in relation to fatherly absence), are ones that should never even be thought about.  The lack of a father is NOT YOUR FAULT.  

These men grew up with a dad, or their dad was alive, just somewhere that wasn't where he should've been.  And yet, I found on these men, an orphaned spirit.  An orphan simply, is a person or thing, deprived of protection, position, etc.  So even though there was a man that produced the DNA for the child, the child was deprived of a real father.  Therein my question, and an answer, can a person with one or both parents still be an orphan? Yes, they can, as they're deprived of a father's love.

This is where things turn around, God makes a promise in His word.  He is a Father, to the fatherless.

Psalm 68:5, Deut.10:18. Psalm 10:14

When Jesus was about to be crucified, He cried out ABBA FATHER! (Mark 13:33-36).  When a child is afraid, they'll often cry out Mommy, Daddy.  That's quite like what Jesus was doing in this passage, was crying out to His dad.  Not because He was a sissy, I just need to say that. Although, He had some fear, knowing what was about to transpire, I think that's allowed given the circumstances.  

In the same way, we can cry out Abba Father to God, and He will answer, He will come to us.  James 4:8 tells us that when we come close to Him, He will come close to us.  I see a lot of comfort in that; that the God of the Universe, can be called Daddy, and that He will draw near to you, and that He loves you.  

For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Begotten means His own flesh and blood.  He gave His flesh and blood son, to save His fallen child.  Ephesians calls us adopted children, and in Jewish culture, an adopted child had more right than a flesh and blood child.  The biological child could be disowned, removed from an inheritance, anything, but an adopted child, could not.  Once the child was adopted, it was ALWAYS a part of that family and inheritance.  God wants to know us, and us to know him, deeply.  He desires to be a Father;  for He loves us.

Go and Do

I often wonder about the things we do.  We say we do them for one reason or another, but is that true, or do we decieve ourselves for a bit of self satisfaction.  Do we allow ourselves to become so jaded in an attempt at self realization we miss the greatest realization of all? The realization of Jesus Christ, His death, Resurrection, and the Salvation through this.

We go around with a Jesus stamp at times, seeking to justify anything and everything we do by shouting the name of Jesus and making a show of it.  In the Bible Jesus sorts of the Goats and the Sheep, those that KNEW Him and those that DID NOT.  Both went about performing miracles, but there was one key difference.  One, the goats, were making a man made effort, focusing on deeds; the other, the sheep, knew His Voice.  So let me ask you this, do you know His voice? Do you know the saviour you claim to have?  Will Jesus say "Enter the gates my sheep", or will He say, "Get away from me, I DID NOT KNOW YOU!".

There is a delicate balancing act between FAITH and DEEDS.  To demonstrate, in James 1 it speaks of our faith going without deeds, and when there are no deeds to match our faith, our faith is DEAD!  However, jumping over to Ephesians 2, Paul tells us we are NOT SAVED BY DEEDS, but by faith.  

So how does this work?  Our deeds will not save us, nothing we can EVER do, can grant us salvation, only through Jesus Christ and FAITH in Him can we be saved.  Now that doesn't mean we get fire insurance and we're good to go, nay nay.  My house has an alarm system, now that's no good if I don't use it correct?  Say someone broke in to my house, I tell the Police officer, "I have an alarm system", he would ask if it was armed, and I would reply, well no, having should be good enough right?" I gaurantee that officer would laugh at you.  The same thing with faith, it's pointless if you aren't walking in it.  Your faith should be pushing you to move and DO SOMETHING.  

James 1:27 (NKJV) "Pure and undefilied religion before God the Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, AND to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

There's a two fold walk there, NOT ONLY do we have to think about ourselves, which is actually the second point not the first, take notice of that, I think there's a reason for that.  We also have to look out for OTHERS.  We have to DO SOMETHING.  The great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 wasn't a recommendation, but a commandment.  I don't know when GO and DO turned into sitting in a church pew on Sunday morning and going about life as if nothing happened.  If Jesus came back right now, what do you think He would say about the church today?  "Oh hey, I like that picture of me." "That's a really nice sound system you have there" for some reason I doubt that.  He'd probably start asking if we've been loving our neighbour as ourself, if we've been visiting those orphans and those widows, if we've been dying ourselves DAILY and picking up our cross.  

But always remember, make sure your eyes are on Him.  

I don't say any of this to condemn, that is not my goal nor my hearts desire.  I do however, wish to challenge people.  To break them out of mediocrity and complacency into a fullness of Joy they have never known.  If my life hadn't been radically changed by the Lord my Saviour Jesus Christ I would not care what you did.  But knowing what I know, there is so much more than this world has to offer.  The shallow, short lived pleasures are nothing measured up to the Greatness of the One above, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Yahweh, God our Father.  And for that reason, I challenge you to never stop moving, always keep watch, always keep faithful, never let discouragement be a burden, but in all things find what is good and rejoice.

When Asking For Something...

I've just realized I haven't written in a month and a half...for this I offer some form of apology.  But to the point of this post.

We like to hit God relentlessly with requests and petitions with almost no expectations at times, this hits me as odd. We ask him frequently to heal someone, provide something, make a change, the mountain is never ending, and when it happens, we're blown away.  Two missionaries from our church recently visited and shared with us a story of answered prayer.  This may seem like an underwhelming statement or conversation, however it's the direction this is going that is the underlying theme to this writing.

Their prayer: The wife (Anchalee) comes from a small village in Thailand and has a heart for people in her situation, so obviously she has a heart for people in similar situations.  Anchalee and her husand (Kim) began to pray for the people in the jungle villages that they would know freedom in Christ and find hope in situations that would seem hopeless.  They wanted light in the darkness of the jungle. 

They however did not expect the answer they received.  God not only answered the prayer to send someone for the people, but He chose them.  This brings me to the point of this post.  When asking God to guide your steps, make sure you're ready to walk.  We pray for revival, for change in our family, provisions, so on and so forth, we rarely expect an answer, and even less often expect Him to use us to answer it.  On the flip side there's the I prayed for revival but God isn't using ME! That's a whole other can of worms I'll get in to some other time.  This is why I say (or I guess in this case write) MAKE SURE YOU'RE READY TO WALK, we should always stay in tune with God's will and where we fit in.  Make sure you're walking WITH HIM!!  That is the imperative point of this.  Without Him we can do nothing, ministry will fail, worship won't happen, evangelism will die; with Him, things flourish.

Not Afraid, Not Alone

I have a heart for inner city kids, when I was in college doing my education degree (I had to leave during the recession), my first practicum was at an inner city school. A lot of the kids come from broken homes, a number don't know their moms/dads, or barely know them. They don't have any positive influence in their lives, and some make bad choice, either for attention, or the impression they've been left with. It breaks my heart on a daily basis seeing kids go through this. My eyes are not dry, my heart is definitely broken, my emotions run wild, my passion flares up, and I get raw and down to the point with this. These kids need someone, they need hope, and a light in their life. They don't need punishment, or this reform school garbage. They need love, because they ain't gettin it any where else. They end up going to the wrong places looking for acceptance, for love, for some fake level of 'you did alright'. There is an attack on our Youth today, turning them into lifeless zombies drifting through life, numb and cold. Things need to change. Please help me; help me spread hope. Help me bring life to young men and women who feel their life deep down, means nothing. Help me, make a difference. 

**I wrote the words previous, and following this in raw aggression and desire for a change. Everything I say is real, pass it on.

When I slip into ignorance, complacancy surrounding me
I go numb, don't know what's goin on.
Ignorance is bliss, can I keep living like this?

When I see the hurt, when I see the pain
I know there's a God, he couldn't be more real to me
Cuz I know that when there's pain in the night, Joy comes in the morning
There is a hope, I'm not afraid, I'm not alone, I'm not afraid, not alone.

In the pain and the suffering, I know what hope will bring
I'm not alone, I'm not afraid.
I got the Lord Almighty by my side.
I'm not alone, not afraid.

Though the world is dark, cold, falling apart,
Here in His presence, He comforts me.
No mourning in Heaven, He'll wipe away my tears
I will rejoice, I will rejoice
I'm not afraid, I'm not alone.

Musical Tastes

Music is very much about taste.  To declare one genre greater than another is foolish.  Genres vary, and some genres are a result of preceding genres.  We would not have Metal today, if it were not for the Rock and Roll movement before, and the Blues/Jazz movement.  And those genres wouldn't exist if it wasn't for classical composers such as Beethoven and Bach the "rock stars" of their day.

This is something that always gets me going when I hear a comment like "(INSERT GENRE)sucks" or, I hate "(INSERT ARTIST)".  They don't enjoy the style of the artist, or the genre, and thus deem it to be musically unworthy of consideration.  I'm not a fan of Ke$ha, or Lady Gaga, or any of those artists, it's not a genre I'm in to, or artists I'm a fan of.  I won't discredit them, they obviously know what they're doing with sold out shows and high Record Sales.

One artist in particular has been up for discussion in my circle of friends lately, (please keep in mind we're all twenty something musicians), Justin Beiber.  Ever since JBeibs entered the music scene he's been the brunt of jokes and criticism as well as critical acclaim.  His music? Not really my taste.  He was discovered because of his voice, I personally as a musician can not discredit him for that.  It was talent that got him where he is, regardless of what pop culture has done with his abilities (unfortunate really).

This brings me to what I think is my final point; Different Strokes, for Different Folks.  You may not like Country (a lot of my friends don't), You may love Hip Hop (I don't).  I have a lot of Metal Head friends (I'm not one), You may not like Hard Rock (It's my favourite).  We all like different music, and as a musician I see it a lot.

Body Of One

If you see someone is having a hard time, go to them, help them. If they're in a low point in their life, go to them, lift them up. Do not wait until it is fixed and rejoice with them. But mourn with them as they are in the former, do not simply go with the latter. 1 Corinthians 12


We are one body unified in Christ, yet we live so much in opposition to this.  We hold grudges against each other in church for almost anything, jealousy runs rampant when someone receives something we don't, we hope others put forth a hand to those in need.  A body works as one, the church is a body, we should be one.


I was going through a difficult time for a while, I suffer from random stints of depression, that was coupled with being unemployed for 8 months.  Everything started going uphill when a young lady my age mentioned to me that it she was glad to see me happy because she knew I was going through all that stuff.  Now this isn't all about me, but it got me wondering, do we do that?  Do we see someone suffering, and hope someone else will fix it?  Psychologists call it a diffusion of responsibility. How it works: Group A (the larger the better) sees Person B in a crisis of some sort.  The larger group A is, the less likely someone is to help Person B during said crisis.  Studies have been done on this, an opposing idea has not yet come up.  Are we mingling into the crowd to not stick out?  


The bible calls us to something else.  We are called the light and salt of the Earth (Matthew 5), we are set apart and called to be different and to make a difference.  So I wish to issue this challenge, when you see someone going through a challenge, walk WITH them, not around them.  


1 Corinthians 12:26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

The Stale Male (The Attack on Manhood)

I was recently reading an article on a men's webiste (http://www.theartofmanliness.com)  and it went along the lines of men being afraid to step into a situation where a child or young person needed help; this had nothing to do with their abilities, but society, false accusation, and assumption about men wanting to help.  Here's the main story from the article.


"he [Lapolla] took his 6-year-old grandson to a local playground and was accosted by a mom who questioned whether Lapolla was really the boy’s grandfather. He told the woman she was out of line, but then four other moms gathered around him and also questioned him, implying that he was really a kidnapper or child molester. They called the police and told Lapolla he couldn’t leave until they got there. He complied, and it only took the police a short time after they arrived to clear things up. Needless to say, neither Mr. Lapolla nor his grandson were very happy about the incident"




There were also a few other stories where men, who intended well, did not step up for fear of this same issue.  This has definitely been the case with myself as well, I've been in a situation where either a kid needed help, or someone to talk to, and I've been worried of being falsely accused and done nothing. And I'm a church leader which opens a whole other can of worms, because you want to help, but there are protocols and mandates, and as this articles lays out assumptions. I've found as well with church leaders, people look extra carefully for screw ups. It's an unfortunate move in our society when we as men can not "man up" and be the leaders we were meant to be because of societal ramifications and homophobia, etc.  Have we really turned men into sniveling, sad, pathetic beings?  Did we bring this on ourselves, or is there something greater at work.  Men are meant to be leaders, in the home, and outside, (Not that women can't be, you totally can.), have we lost our spines, did our balls fall off (yeah, I said that), what on earth is going on?  


MEN! My grandfather was not afraid to give me a hug, sit me on his knee, embrace me, my father was the same way when I was growing up.  It lead me to  be able to socially interact with people and actually enabled me to reach an intimate level with people (platonically speaking).  It's hard for us to even connect any more as men as we've perverted our very manhood with homophobia and fear of looking weird, or sticking out.  I give my mom a hug, and in the same way I give my best friend (a fellow man, and close friend of over a decade) a hug.  At his wedding I was the best man, and in my speech I made sure to let him know I loved him (as a brother and a friend of course, I have to clear that up for modern connotations that it carries).  Even in explaining that it's very apparent what we've done to the very state of our relationships with other men.  WE'VE BECOME SISSIES!!  


I'd like to call each and every one of you to be the man God made you to be! 

You can read the Art Of Manliness article HERE

Updates and Such

So it's been a few weeks (oops), I was at another Youth Camp, this time at Whispering Pines just outside of Medicine Hat, AB.  It was a great week and I saw the kids grow so much over that week and even saw the redemptive work of Jesus Christ in their lives (Mad props to God).

So I get back from camp and find my life in a slight uproar, while I was gone my Employment Inusrance Benefits ran out, thus leaving me with absolutely no income.  Want a stressful situation? Go through that while having the bank, etc. calling you for money.  STREEESSSSS!!!

But anyways, I sit down with my pastor/good friend, to mull over things, plan, and so on.  We end up scoring me a car for $1.00 (yes, One dollar, you read that right).  Thus I score a job as a delivery driver (for no less my favourite pizza place).  Now, what would life be without a curve ball (or two?), for my job I require commerical insurance, an extra $500 a year (ouch, I know), I know people that pay not much more than that for their insurance, and that's how much extra I have to pay.  On top of that, for it to be road worthy it needed a decent chunk of work.  Now for those wondering what car it is, it was a 1996 Geo Metro , now if it looked like this I would be COMPLETELY fine with it, however it looks like this

The story does not end here!! I drop it off at my church, I get a call asking what all the issues are and get told to drop off the list.  (Excuse that fragmented, messed up sentence thing).  So after dropping off that list of needed repairs, I get another call, everything is fixed!  For a grand total cost of, ZERO DOLLARS!  Why? Because we sat, prayed, planned, and followed God.  


Moral of this story: Trust in God, He has a plan, and it's better than any silly little idea we may have.  It may not be the prettiest car, or the fastest car, but God will used a rusty old lemon easier than a pimped out Mercedez (not knocking on you Mercedez owners).  


Do I car that my car isn't super awesome? Not really.
Do I plan on upgrading some day? Yeah, when I can actually afford it.
Am I content with how things worked out in a period of like two days? Definitely.


Don't be afraid to email prayer requests to amarks@live.ca

Unleashing Your Inner Adventurer:Geocaching

Ever feel the desire to go on an adventure? Even more, ever feel the desire to go treasure hunting?  I recently came across a popular worldwide hobby called Geocaching (Gee-Oh-Cash-Ing), where normal people like you and I place what is referred to as a geocache (Geo-Cash) at a specific geographic location and the co-oridanates are posted by that person.  At this point all you need to do is bring it up on your GPS device (also available on Smartphones) and follow the map/compass that's available to find the location of the hidden treasure.

Today my adventure started at selecting the coordinates on my iPhone, I then grabbed a water bottle and jumped on my bike.  And yes, there's an app for that (I never get tired of saying that).  I spent probably three hours finding the exact location of the cache, was it worth it? Absolutely.  It's like a high tech game of Hide and Seek.

If you'd like to start geocaching check out this site
You can also find out more about it on the above site or in this wikipedia article

HAPPY ADVENTURES!!

Tranquility

It's been a few weeks since I last wrote something, I tend to get busy running around at different Youth Camps. Single, unemployed guys are great for minstry in the sense of nothing tying them down (haha), but besides the point. 

I'm sitting outside at 5am, what am I doing up at the hour?  I've barely slept all night, and I recalled my friend Melissa deciding to watch a sunrise today.  Seeing as I was up at 4;30am still, I decided to proceed outdoors.  So I'm sitting outside listening to the birds chirp, various small animals wake up for the day (not excluding my four year old Bijon Schitzu), as I watch the moon fade and the sun rise, the dew on the grass gently rolling of the blades; and enjoy the crisp, clean, cool air.

As I'm taking all this in I had a thought, we get very busy in our lives, and we seem to forget of an enjoyable thing, known as tranquility.  I found it so peaceful this morning sitting outside in sweats and a tee, my dog pouncing about the yard like a puppy, just taking in all the sounds, the sight of night slowly fading to day.  It brought to mind a piece from scripture;
Psalm 46:8-11

⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD,
         Who has made desolations in the earth.
 ⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
         He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; 
         He burns the chariot in the fire. 
 ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations, 
         I will be exalted in the earth! 
 ¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah


We can praise God easily in the good times, in our spare time.  Do we praise Him always?  He made the Earth, everything in the earth.  There is so secret formula to talking to God, it says very clearly here, BE STILL and KNOW, I AM GOD.  In everything going on in your life, it's not hard to find even five minutes, go into your prayer closet, a quiet room, free of distraction, and just bless His name for starters.
A simple way to understand the Lord's Prayer, and I'll finish with this.


Father God,
You are good, may Your name be blessed and holy.
It's Your will, not ours.  We want to see you glorified,
On earth and in heaven
God, you know my needs, even before I ask, and you are the provider.
I mess up, but you forgive me, grant me grace to forgives as well.
Keep me safe from attacks, clothe me in Your heavenly armour (Eph6)
All glory to You, it's all for Your name.
Forever and ever
Amen

Crisis

Life is not pain problem-free. As one of man said, “You’re either in a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or about to go into a crisis.”




Life is not all sunshine and lollipops (apologies if this is the first time you're hearing of this), it's true. Real life has it's ups and downs, low points, and high points. How we deal with them, can be directly influenced by our relationship with God. Sometimes we go through a trial to test our faith (1Peter1:7, 2 Corinthians 13:5, sometimes Satan wants to pull us away form God (John 10:10), and sometimes we just hit a speed bump so to speak, in our lives.




The thing with a struggle, crisis, dilemma, and the like, is that they build character when we persevere, (supposing we don't run off in the corner cowering). If we "man up" in a manner of speaking, push through, (as Paul says, run the race and fight the good fight for the faith), we will stand in the end stronger than we were in the beginning. The deciding factor in all of this, as aforementioned, is a relationship with God. Thus I am brought to my main point.




Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose"




Yes, this is from the bible. We KNOW, not we think, but it is for certain knowledgeability, that we say this. That ALL THINGS, that means everything! Work together for those who love God. See where our relationship with our Heavenly Father comes in? His love never fails, never gives up (1 Corinthians 13). God has a purpose for us (Jeremiah 1:5; 29:11,12).




So whatever your current situation is, remember that God cares about you and loves you. That He has a plan and a purpose for you.

Music

A fairly vague title, I could think of nothing better to title this as all my creative juices are currently being poured into writing, you guessed it, MUSIC. I was three songs away from my goal for writing my first album, currently however, I can't find the notebook in which I wrote four songs, so I'm sitting at half my songs. Tres sad (I don't really know french). I'm hoping I find that book soon.




A quick tidbit about the project:

I love writing music and I've always wanted to make an album so I started the endeavor a few months back. The album will consist of primarily original songs, the one cover I'm looking at doing more than likely (supposing I can get rights to do it) will be The Stand. It's a song that's meant a lot to me for some years and carries some memories and experiences no other song does. So look forward to that.




I think that's everything for this pointless entry.




Be blessed!

Circumstances

Two posts in one day, look at me go!

This writing is a result of a conversation I had with a really awesome lady.

We always seem to spend so much time and thought on our circumstances.  The who, what, how's of things.  And we let it draw us away from God.  We put our hope into our finances, instead of God.  We even put our hope in prayer and answered prayer and not God Himself.  A strange concept, but nonetheless true.  Here are a few verses to encourage;

"Cast your anxieties upon the Lord for He cares for you" 1Peter5:7
"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you" Matthew6:33
"Pray without ceasing"1Thesselonians5:17

iPhone

A few months ago I was lucky enough to score an iPhone. This brought me utter joy, then I attempted doing a mobile post to my blog, via said iPhone. Telus does not support this feature however, so it was rather disappointing. This is the least serious post I've ever done, but sometimes we need to be on the lighter side of things. As serious as the bible is, it quite often speaks of rejoicing, and being joyful, and praising. Today, I would like to encourage you all to just get off your buts on to your feet, and praise the Lord.

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD