Annoyances and triumphs

I had a highly annoying annoying day yesterday.  It rained, so we took the kids in at lunch to see a video in the gallery theatre.  Now, there are gallery rules that we're all expected to adhere to.  For example, not carrying backpacks, not wearing hats.  We review the rules everytime, and the kids usually remember them all and are really good at sticking to them.  Unfortunately, one of the counsellors that was with our group at lunch decided she didn't want to take her hat off (I have SO many other issues with this...i.e. she's SO girly-girl), I think probably because she didn't want everyone to see her hat-head.  Anyway, the kids are all like, "Your HAT IS ON!!!"  And I agreed with them and informed her it was an actual gallery rule.  She made some excuses and didn't take it off.  WHAT KIND OF STINKING EXAMPLE IS THAT TO THE KIDS?!  Grrrrrrr.  She's been driving me insane.  Like, WHO bothers to ultra-match when working at a grubby art camp??  She comes in MacMaster or Roots outfits.  She will NEVER mix Roots sweats with a MacMaster T-shirt.  And she wears lots of pink.  MATCHING pink, matching pink hat, matching belt.  PUKE PUKE PUKE.  Okay, so really, I'm just annoyed at this girl in so many ways.  Ahhh, what kind of example is she setting if SHE doesn't even follow the RULES?!?!?  Drives me insane.

On a brighter note, I had some good bonding time with my dad.  We went to go see the Jays game against the Yankees today.  GASP, we EVEN WON!  It was kinda intimidating because the Skydome was pretty full, but there were SO many Yanks fans everywhere!  But we kicked butt!  It was tied going into the 10th inning, and then we hit a homer.  Yaaaaay Blue Jays.  There's something about really close games that gets everyone going.  :)  It was awesome.  Who knew baseball could be so exciting!  There were these teenage kids behind us too, who kept shouting, "De-rek, Je-ter, De-rek, Je-ter, YOU SUCK!"  Ahahahahah, it was SOOOOOOOO funny!!!!  And then someone started chanting, "Let's go Yankees, let's go!"  So everytime they went to say "Yankees", these kids would shout "BLUE JAYS" super loud over them.  It was pretty hilarious.  Good Skydome times!

Smorgasbord

I rollerbladed almost 18K today.  I am tired.  I took a great fall at the VERY start of the day, as I wheeled towards Ava.  My upper body stopped as I grabbed onto her, but my legs kept going out from right under me.  I expect a bruised bum tomorrow.  I was also kicked fairly hard by someone trying to demonstrate their vertical, and also banged in the mouth with a pop bottle.  I also failed to win even 10 times out of a billion rounds of Signal.  Sigh.  I need my Signal partner back!  :)

So, it was a fun fun fun day!  I'm so sleepy and slightly sore.  I'm hoping I don't have a billion bruises everywhere tmw.

On a side note, I saw Honey, but didn't think it was that impressive.  The kid Raymond is the cutest kid in the universe though.  I also saw Jet Lag with Juliette Binoche.  I was watching the outtakes, and what I appreciate most about actors is when they're willing to laugh at themselves.  It's also just so great when you can tell they're just in a giddy mood and can't keep a straight face.  I really like people that laugh, apparently!  Anyway, Juliette Binoche was laughing a lot, so I really enjoyed the outtakes.  The actual movie, not so much.  I almost think it's what Lost in Translation might be in France.  Only I haven't seen Lost in Translation, so what do I really know!  Ahahaha.  At least I'm admitting I don't know anything.  I also saw School of Rock with Jack Black.  It was an okay movie, but Jack Black/his character just bothers the heck outta me.  He really does seem like a lazy, obnoxious fellow.  What is neat though, is that he knows all these clapping games and played with the kids.  Awesome.  :) 

This week of camp was slightly rough.  I had the 8-10 year olds who are definitely slightly harder to deal with than the youngsters.  More attitude and whining.  More talking back.  Worst of all is how they ask every 5 minutes whether they're done their work or not.  Ahahahaha.  "Am I done yet?"  Our response is always, "No, keep working on it."  Without fail, every camper always thinks they're done/wants to be done before they actually are.  The other counsellors and instructors and I were joking that we should put "No, you are NOT done yet" on a T-shirt and make it our staff uniform.  That way we won't actually have to tell them.

Tomorrow, I'm teaching a Sunday school lesson on helping others.  The lesson outline is sooooooooooo boring for this lesson.  I decided that instead of colouring a boring picture, we should make those gift coupons where you put something you'll do for the person.  You know, like, "This coupon is good for one __________".  Yeah, I figured we can brainstorm ways to help people, and they'll actually end up doing it when people turn in their coupons.  Yay!  I hate teaching boring lessons, so I hope this will be fun!

Toeing the line clarification

Just to clarify, when I challenged people to strive for righteousness, it was in no way meant to imply that you can earn your salvation by doing good works or being a good person.  It wasn't because I think that you can only be a Christian if you're a good person.  I was just pointing out that there are higher standards that we are called to, and frankly, Christian or non-Christian, I see nothing wrong with striving to be better. 

And I also wanted to say that I agree with Keith.  Yeah, we all do have standards or "laws" that we live by.  Mine are probably just different from other people's.  And as for ever knowing the absolute truth, I agree that we're too small to ever understand God completely.  That's why it's called faith, right?  "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)  I believe in God because I've looked at the evidence for Him not existing and the evidence for Him existing, and the evidence for His existence seems more convincing.  It's not just head-knowledge though, I have a personal relationship with Him.  I think it's actually a good thing that we can't understand Him completely though.  Because if we could, wouldn't that make us God?

I want spicy!!

My junior assistant Mike is soooooo funny.  He told me this story from last session, where his group was making nametags.  Thinking he'd try to be funny, he made a nametag that said "Spicy".  The kids didn't really get it, but did end up calling him Spicy for a little.  Anyway, he finally gave it up because the kids really didn't think it was all that amusing for any reason, and he put the nametag in his pocket.  Later on, one of the little girls goes up to him and decides she wants him to wear his "Spicy" name tag.  She then proceeds to try and reach into his pocket, all the while yelling, "I want spicy!"  Not exactly a great picture, but hilarious.  Oh man.  Kids.
 
On another fun note, today I bonded with 2 kids in my group as we sang Abba songs over lunch.  One kid had seen Mamma Mia! and really liked the songs, and the other has a mother who's a big fan.  Who would think I'd be sitting around with 8-yr-olds singing Abba?!

Thought of the day:  God doesn't send people to Heaven or Hell.  He just makes the rules.  We get to choose where we go.

Missions

Today was a hectic day.  We had a youth-led service at church, and there was a lot of last-minute stuff that was done.  The theme was missions, and it went really well.  The kids wrote a skit and put together funny Lego pictures illustrating some popular missions myths.  I semi-led the worship and then did a 15 minute message/testimony near the end.  I thought I'd post the gist of my message here, because it's something I really feel strongly about.
 
Missions:  Spreading the Gospel, sometimes via educational, medical, or humanitarian means; a missionary duty or work; bringing others into a worship of God.
 
I think I started off thinking about missions primarily as a duty.  It was something I did out of obedience.  After all, all Christians have a ministry.  Matthew 28:19 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."  Jesus commands his disciples to GO.  Not maybe, if they feel like it.  They're to GO.  And it says further in verse 20, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He's with them till the end of the age.  Well, seeing as it's still not the end of the age, you have to assume that this is still supposed to be going on.  All Christians are supposed to be GOing to the nations.  So, looking at this command and knowing how many other verses there are about GOing, I knew I should be doing it, so I did things like sharing the Gospel a lot out of duty.  I didn't quite enjoy it.  Granted, there were some good experiences, but it can be rough.  Doing things out of obedience soon gets quite tiring though, and I realized eventually that there were other aspects to missions.  I eventually realized that it had to be out of love for people.  This was fine, except that in this case, I was expected to love everyone.  That included strangers I had never met from the other side of the world.  THat included criminals and scummy people. 
 
Thus, I came to the further conclusion that I had to do missions out of love, but that this love had to be an overflow of my love for God.  If I loved God, I would love His creation, and the closer I got to God, the more passionate I would truly be about the things He is passionate about.  If I viewed Christianity as something that was a bunch of duties and didn't do things like missions out of worship for God, Christianity would eventually become a burden that I carry, instead of a faith that carries me. 
 
So, we get to the point in the present where as you may know, I am passionate about missions.  I think they can never be emphasized enough in a church.  It was so interesting then, to read this quote (This is one of my most favorite quotes ever!).  "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.  Worship is.  Missions exist because worship doesn't.  Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.  When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more.  It is a temporary necessity.  But worship abides forever." (Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper) 
 
So anyway, we're all at different stages in how we think about missions, but the bare bones is this:  We are ALL commanded to GO and make disciples.  We are all given a ministry of reconciliation!  How will they hear if people are not sent?  I think if at all possible, everyone should go on a missions trip at least once in their lives.  I can think of a million different excuses not to go.  I don't have money.  I don't have time.  I'm not holy enough.  I don't know enough.  It's too dangerous, etc. etc.  Well let me ask you a question.  Exactly WHO is it that is going?  Is it just you?  Nope.  We're empowered through His Spirit.  He's the one that watches over us.  Don't limit what God can do through someone who is willing to be used.
 
And so, here are some practical applications.  Ahahaha. 
1)  Pray - about the possibility of being SENT, to GO on a missions trip/do ministry somewhere local, international, anywhere!
2)  GO.  Just do it.
3) Support a missionary financially.  Send them on their trip, support them through prayer.
 
To conclude, my friend once said there are 3 types of people in this world.  It was quite convicting:
1) Zealous GOers.
2)  Zealous SENDers.
3)  Disobedient.
 
"How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
'Your God reigns!'" - Isaiah 52:7

Toeing the line

This is another one of my pet peeves that I've been thinking about.  I get into discussions with Christians a lot about controversial Christian topics like baptism of the Holy Spirit, sarcasm, what movies are okay to watch...etc.  Even within the Christian community, within groups of people who all read the same Bible, there are differing beliefs.  Thankfully, most of these aren't anything serious that affect one's salvation, but they are interesting.  A lot of the topics we discuss are sort of gray-area topics.  What I mean by these topics is that there's kind of a gray area between Totally Right, and Totally Wrong.  For example, sex before marriage.  The Totally Right thing here is no sex before marriage.  The Totally Wrong thing is having sex before marriage.  Then comes all this gray area inbetween.  What about everything up to sex?  Is that still okay?  Or even watching movies.  How bad is too bad to watch?  How much nudity/swearing/violence makes it too bad? 
 
Well, these discussions and debates can be helpful in flushing out the issues, but I think it always comes down to this:  Yes there is a line.  No, we should not cross it.  Does that mean we should go as close as we possibly can to it?  Nope.  God calls us to live lives of RIGHTEOUSNESS.  Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  It doesn't say, "Don't think about totally sleazy things."  That would leave too much open.  Instead, throughout the Bible, God calls us all to live righteous lives.  THAT is a high calling! 
 
So this is my hope.  Whenever you think about doing/thinking something and think to  yourself, 'I'm not completely sure this is a good thing to do', don't do it.  Why spend time debating?  Most of the time, we spend it debating how close to the line we can get without crossing it, when we should really be worrying about how far away from the line we can get.  Live righteous lives, and shine as lights!
 
"Be holy, because I am holy." - Leviticus 11:45

SSS = Super Soccer Skills

At lunch, we play games with our camp kids, and today was no different.  However, the kids decided they would play soccer in the pine tree grove today.  Good idea?  No, not at all.  Mike, one of the assistants, had a fantastic goal where he kicked the ball, it bounced off a kid's head, and then off a tree, and into the goal!  Yay Mike!  Ahahahaha.  The best play of the day was a kid that ran smack dab into a pine tree tho.  He was GUSHING blood from his nose.  Oh man.  We laugh and tease him, but it looked pretty rough.  Art camp has suddenly become a lot more hazardous!
 
So I realized that not everyone knows exactly what I'm doing this summer.  I'm working at the McMichael again at the art camp.  I'm doing 4 weeks of assisting classes, and then 4 weeks of instructing art!  Send your kids!  :)  I'm pretty excited.  We have access to some really neat and hardcore art materials, so these kids will be arting it up. 
 
Other than work, I'm really involved in my church at the moment.  I'm cheerleading our softball team on (YEAH, undefeated Judges!!!!!), working on the missions committee, and leading worship once in a while.  Yeah, I'm actually becoming okay with singing in front of a crowd, can you believe it?  Ahahaha.
 
I think that's about it.  There's my life for you in a nut shell.  I know, what an exciting summer!  Although, I have to tell you the most exciting news of the last week.  I started scrapbooking a little while ago, and lo and behold, 2 sweet ladies from my church bought me a whole fun scissors set!  There are 18 of them on a wooden stand that rotates!  How can I be this excited about scissors?  No idea.  I am in scrapbooking heaven though.  They have all these different edges!  Droooool.  I wish I could post a picture, but my digital camera is nowhere to be found.  But maybe it's better not to post it.  You might all get too jealous.  Yeah.

Annoyed

I really just wish that when people say they'll do something, that they would actually do it. There is a little situation that is now worse than it had to be, and it could have been prevented had someone just done what they said they would, right away. Sigh. I'm ticked off, and having trouble forgiving them. I know I should, because I am forgiven. Sigh. Forgiveness ain't the easiest thing in the world.

"You look like a hot dog!"

Funny story! There's a smart-aleck in my art camp class in the morning and one day, when we were sitting at the carpet he turned around and looked at the boy sitting behind him and said, "You look like a hot dog!" AHahahaha, okay, so name-calling is inappropriate, but it's so funny, because this kid DOES kind of look like a hot dog! His face is so skinny. Now everytime I look at him, I think about hot dogs. Oh dear.

Physical pain

So some of you know that I have a bruised bum and injured wrist. What from, you ask? From falling down my stairs. Is this a regular occurrence? Actually, yes. Unfortunately. Ahahaha. I was dead tired after camp one day and was napping when the phone rang. Of course no one answers it in this house except my sister and I if we're home, so I picked it up, and it was for my dad. So, I start making my way groggily down the stairs to give him the phone when, BAM. I just hit the deck. Hard. My bum is now slightly bruised, and I landed on my wrist so it hurts when I bend it. Sigh. The life of a klutz. I think it hurt so much that I couldn't even think about it for a second. On top of that, I was so groggy that I didn't really get what was happening. It's so funny that it's hard to feel pain if you don't know you're supposed to be IN pain. Ahahaha.

To add to this bum/wrist madness, I went for a long rollerblade yesterday. It was really really fun, but really, my first time rollerblading for longer than a block. I used to "rollerblade" (i.e. for maybe 5 minutes TOPS) but would give up from foot pain. I think my rollerblades were actually too small for me. Anyway, yesterday we did 8km, ahahaha, which is 8km more than I usually do, and I survived, surprisingly. It was a little touch-and-go at the beginning, I think, but by the end, it was fun! After sweating up a storm, we went to the pool (we WALKED there, craziness!) and cooled off. Then we walked home. This is pretty much more exercise than I've done in ...well, a long long time. Needless to say, I was utterly exhausted yesterday, but I'm feeling very few muscle pains today. I was expecting super-duper pain, considering I'm so out of shape. A friend of mine keeps trying to get me out to the gym, and I keep refusing. Ahahaha, thanks for trying though! ;)

So yes, the summer fitness begins...rollerblading, swimming, maybe a little tennis, and chasing after children. Which is most intense? The last one! :)

Let me be a woman, and will you JUST be a MAN??

Let me be perfectly honest from the beginning (as if I'm not honest on this blog!) and say that I think feminism is dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. I refer mostly to the equality issue. I definitely think men and women should have the same rights, but my issue is really with the fact that some women try to be men. We're just not men, and that's a biological fact. It's not about equality in some cases, it's about equity. The porblem is that in the workforce, for example, women are starting to compete with men at BEING men, and not just at the job. If a woman wants to be a pilot, awesome, but she should compete with men in being a pilot, not in being a male pilot! I think over the years, the gender roles have overlapped more and more, and I think it's hard for guys to be guys, and girls to be girls. Ahahaa, don't read anymore if you're going to be upset at my traditional gender role views. But I do welcome comments and feedback.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this lately because frankly, I've realized that I really appreciate gentlemen. I appreciate guys who initiate things, like plans, conversations, whatever. I appreciate it when guys hold open doors, when they do protective things like walking on the side of the street closer to the cars. I appreciate when guys are assured enough with themselves that they can do these things. Albeit, women haven't helped much to make gentlemen these days, as there's probably a fear about us biting men's heads off for treating us like helpless women. The truth is, I really don't think guys view us as really that helpless nowadays, and well, frankly, if you wanna carry my big heavy box for me, thanks! I have puny muscles. Maybe some guys do too, but probably not punier than me. Anyway, muscles are not my point. My point is that I think guys need to stop being afraid of being wimps. They need to initiate things.

Case in point: Relationships. I was reading a really ridiculous book on dating that we were thinking of lending to the HS kids at my church, and it got me thinking. Guys should initiate. Guys should initiate talking about boundaries in a relationship. Guys should initiate the relationship in the first place. I think what I've appreciated the past couple of years is men in my life who have initiated conversations with me about our relationship. Yes, the relationship-defining talk (the RDT, ahahah). We all know that tense point we all get to in friendships where suddenly, you're unsure whether you're just friends or not. The easy thing is to just let it go, for fear of causing weirdness. Sometimes, though, people will let it go because they're afraid of rejection, and frankly, it's easier to reap the benefits of a flirty friendship than to put your pride on the line to lay it all out. I'm so thankful that most of the men I know are willing to do it, willing to lay it on the line instead of stringing the girl along on some wild emotional ride (because that's what it becomes to girls...we're emotional!) where we debate whether he likes us or whether he doesn't, or how much he does, etc. Intimacy should match commitment, and I love it when a guy is willing not to be more intimate emotionally or physically with a girl until there is a definite commitment. Otherwise, you set yourself up for heartbreak. Flirting is bad bad bad! Anyway, I think nowadays, it's become the norm for guys to just sit back and let these women who have all this newly discovered power do the initiating, which is not such a good thing, in my opinion. I think the blame goes both ways though. The more manly the man, the easier it is for the woman to be a woman, and the more womanly a woman, the easier it is for men to be men.

I think it's important for us to figure out our roles as men and women, because I think there are Biblical roles for a man and woman in a marriage, and relationships before marriage are really like training grounds for it. In Ephesians 5, it talks about the roles of a husband and a wife. So many people take this verse out of context, and it drive me insane. I think it's the most romantic thing ever. It says, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything." I used to hate this verse, and I used to think submission to a man was horrible. I truly did. But if you read on, things become clearer.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."

First, what I discovered was that submission is not a weak thing. This verse doesn't mean, "Women, do whatever your husband tells you to do." Have you ever tried to submit to someone? It's tough. You really have to respect the person you're submitting to. And that's the wonderful thing. My friend once said something along the lines of, "I don't think my wife will have any problems submitting to me, because I hope to be the kind of husband that she respects and who honours her above myself." I don't think I'll have any problems at all submitting, if my husband loves me as Christ loved the church! That's really a sacrificial, honouring type of love. I mean, Christ loved the church (us!) so much, that He gave up His life for it! That's love! And that's the type of love husbands are called to have for their wives. Really and truly, I once hated the thought of submission to my husband, but now, I'm looking forward to it with all my heart. (note: submission to husbands is based on their wisdom in leading as God wills)

So that was a long one, but I get going when something gets me. So really, women, will you just let the guys initiate, and men, will you just initiate!?