Back to Normal...?

Well the time for peaceful reflections by the lake seem to be past, as are those firsdt easy days of class. Things havev all too rapidly approached and achieved their "normal" status of hectic and building towards crazy. I don't know how I ever get by without times like these!

Tommorrow marks the beginning of our College and Careers program here at Jarvis St. Baptist church. We will be spending the afternoon passing out tracts and trying to attract some attention for our first meeting which is to follow in the evening. On behalf of all of the leadership involved I would ask that you keep us in prayer as we seek the Lord's will for our direction this year. We hope, at least I hope (our leadership meeting is tommorrow!) that this will be a year to bring in new faces, tocontinue to seek growth for our members spiritualy, to outreach to the community, especially youth and young adults, and to take time to relax and have fun as well. Those who have gone from high school to college will learn all too soon that there is often not as much time outside of school life for fun and relaxation, which is not to say that it will not be there, but it may not come as often. As well, i know from experience that there is a great deal f stress and pressure when you are single and in school, whether at seminary or any other school, and sometimes it is important to take things slow once in a while. And so, while we will be trying to focus on a time of praise and teaching from scripture, we will also be making opportunities to "retreat" or just to have fun some nights as well.

We will be regularly meeting at Jarvis Street Baptist Chruch, at the corner of Jarvis St. and Gerrard St. East, at 7:30 pm every Saturday night. Anyone seeking more information can contact me at donaldvilneff@hotmail.com or our C&C contact person Karissa at kdarvin@gmail.com

Please feel free to invite anyone you know who may be interested.

Thoughts from the lake

I'm back at TBS again, and apparently I'm blogging again. I coul give an update of what's going on here at school, or I could say what happened over the summer. But right now I want to share a thought or three.

Last week I embarked as one of the many travellers on the TBS student/faculty retreat, held at beautiful Shalom by the Lake, about 1/2 an hour North of Minden, ON.
thursday, while stroling along the beach and admiring God's creation and contemplating His goodness to me, I looked down into the water and out on the lake and these things occurred to me.

While looking at the stones on the lake bottom in the shallow water, it occured to me that those rocks are very much like the problems and difficulties in our lives. We know they are there and sometimes whether we pay attention to them or worry about them or not, they cause us pain and we more often than not wish that they weren't there. But if those small rocks are the struggles in life, then God is the whole lake (don't read any more than I say in here. I know there are problems, but hey, it's a metaphor). The lake moves thos rocks and goes right over top of them as if they weren't there at all. More to the point, it also shapes those rocks. God, in far grander fashion, moves the rocks in our lives around. He puts them where they are for a reason, and He shapes them perfectly for His purposes. And when they seem so big to us, God goes right over them as if they weren't there.

While canoeing across the lake with my friend Philip I thought; the lake is kind of like life and the canoe like our progress through it. When you think that you've gone a long ways and it seems like you've been on the water forever, look around, and you will probably see that you really haven't gone that far. Or sometimes we like to take the motorboat, because fast seems ike so much fun. But in the end we only get to the other side and find out that the ride is over faster, and that we didn't take the time to appreciate the ride.

I could go on, I could explain all of the subtle nuances and take various tangents on these little thoughts of mine. I could, but then you're smart people and I'm sure you'll figure it out on your own!