hey, it's me

it's been way too long, i've honestly tried to blog in past weeks but nothing's come up everytime i open up the page. but this time, it'll be different. THIS TIME, i'll write something. anything. lots has happened/still happening, and i've really noticed it's a season of change. many things are changing and will be changing in the next few weeks as well, but how awesome is it that God is the everlasting, unchanging one. His faithfulness has been more than apparent lately, and ive realized his promises are really all we can cling to. i think ive also learned what it really means that faith hope and love are what remain - and in the end, only love remains.

in a completely unrelated sidebar, i think we all need side businesses. some hobby or way of making good spending money while not doing much. note: it doesnt need to be something illegal or shady, find something legit to do, that works too.

i was talking to a friend i met back in first year today, that was a long time ago. it was fun though, i remember going to uwccf and being a snob - my what little has changed. i also remember spending more time at uw than wlu that first year bahaha. that was awesome. again, change.

oh yeah, and i convocated. and i'll be working, soon.

i've finally started (my im late) listening to more united live, i must say they're pretty dang hot. very 'youthful' if you will. still listening to deathcab, that just doesnt get old. if you read shar's blog you'll see she went to go see thefray. ken got me the next best thing, a (legit) copy of their cd.

anyways, thanks. right, you. for you know what. it's appreciated. (Y)

All the way my Savior leads me

All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well

All of the way my Savior leads me
And He cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me strength for every trial
And He feeds me with the living bread
And though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a-thirst may be
Gushing from a rock before me
Though a spirit joy I see

And all the way my Savior leads me
Oh the fullness of His love
Perfect rest in me is promised
In my Father's house above
When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings it's flight through the realms of the day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

update

sorry for the lack of blogs lately, i guess its summer and blogging is more of a stress-reducing/work-procrastinating activity - since i have neither stress nor work i havent found time to blog lately. im still alive, taking it easy looking for work. other than that, running around doing this or that here or there (ambiguous, no), shady things, as shar calls it. ie meeting a guy in the parking lot of mcdonalds to sell him a bat for james. also trying to clear out junk from the house, so running around selling off useless things we dont use anymore. but such is the life of the unemployed - this summer has been different from the rest (maybe its the lack of work, or knowing theres no school to go back to in the fall). anyways now you can say you know what's going on with me. if you want to talk shoot me an email, im pretty good with replying these days.

good times

saying goodbye is hard

nice ending to a great 4 years, and a great last term. amy had her recital where she played beautifully, and lccf came through in full force with people dressed to impress. seriously even awkward dan looked presentable last night! it was good seeing everyone again, the community just doesnt stop. afterwards ppl came over and we cooked up the rest of my food, not to mention took apart my graffiti'd door, which will be turned into a coffee table for the frosh house next year. after moving some of my stuff to my van for departure today, i sit here on a mattress in the middle of my empty room. its a really odd feeling, having no door, desk, bed. i remember my first night in waterloo 4 years ago, it wasnt really too long ago.

so i've learned that saying goodbye is hard, but with my close friends here, it really isnt goodbye, so its much easier to just say see ya later. so to you guys, thanks, really. its been great, and there'll be much more to come. i know that its hard to keep in touch sometimes even when you want to, so if anything, at least we'll have our time here together - something that i wont soon forget. see ya.

and im done.

with the last stroke of the pen at 5pm i finished up my undergrad at wilfrid laurier university. how does it feel? bittersweet, i suppose. this past week has been amazing, spent so much time with these people that all the days started to blend into one, and it was impossible to keep track of time anymore. at any rate, im pretty sure that this is what living together in community is all about.

so im back in toronto now, but i'll be heading up to loo next week for a few recitals. not really sure what im going to do while everyone is up there studying, but im sure i'll find something :) til then, study hard kids.

what more can be said

this community here, it's absolutely one of a kind. grad night was absolutely phenomenal, and i was ready to go home right after the frosh did their song. what a great night, i didnt want it to end. in all, i realized how much im going to miss these people - not just the good times, but in a way im going to miss the odd quirks about them. and yet i also realized these are the memories that last forever, and its time to move on. so yeah, its not a goodbye, cuz we'll be around, and something stupid like graduation cant keep family apart.

how to prepare for sharing nights

so we had our lccf sharing night for the term, and after you've been to so many you kinda realize some patterns and key themes. allow me to present them to you here. the unwritten rules of sharing:

1. always go in thinking you're not going to share, but let God change your mind - its more dramatic that way.
2. share about how you decided to share.
3. dont go up to get food while someone is sharing.
4. dont pass the food to someone while they are sharing. either hold up the food, or pass around the sharer's back to the next person.
5. never start your sharing off with 'i dont know what im going to say'.
6. share early so what you want to say won't be said by someone else.
7. know the mood. if its serious don't start your sharing with a joke. if its light don't start yelling.
8. if you're one of the later ones, share about how no one shares except at sharing nights.
9. have kleenex ready for those people in your group. yes you know the ones.
10. when in doubt, share about: a) making this fellowship your own b) you only get what you put in c) potential in people.
11. when you finish, make sure people know you're done. avoid awkwardness as best you can.
12. if you're facilitating, say every round is the last round (even if its not).

in all seriousness, a great night last night. i thought i'd be more emotional when it was over, but really im not. i feel very fulfilled and satisfied, like my time here is complete. i shared about how God has a plan for my life and how he's been preparing me for each new step of this journey i'm on, something that was on my heart this week. i particularly enjoyed when, as an old committee, we lay hands on nevin and the new committee to pray for them, then he in turn prayed for those of us who were leaving. i dont know if theres anything more i'd want from a community than what i found at lccf. we have our problems, our issues, our struggles, but we work them out, one way or another. and really that's what community is about - it's not an answer to everyone's problems, and i don't think its meant to be. but we're there for one another, we support and love one another. and boy doesnt that make university so much more worthwhile.

restless

second night this week where sleep has been an issue.. woke up in the middle of the night and had a really tough time getting back to sleep, took a couple of hours. all the while im thinking, am I supposed to be listening to God if theres something he wants to tell me? Granted I did think about some things so maybe thats it, but still its hard to fight off the sickness going around when you cant get any rest. i think maybe im just antsy for lccf tonight as its my last one. i remember in hs, heck even university, i was always restless before the first day of school. theres just so much expectancy there, but once the day is under way it's gone just like that. sorta like university with all the anticipation and buildup, but it seems its just flown right by.

this week has been pretty packed but I'm through it okay, looking forward to finally getting outside and playing some sports. ive also been doing a ton of prep for our baseball keeper league draft on saturday night, ive done 2 other drafts already and i have 8 minutes before my third draft starts. anyways thats about it for now i guess. 2 more days of school, thats it. keep studying hard kids!

Today I learned (kk inspired)

Today I learned...

- what it's like to sleep in until 12
- 'studying' on 6 is more fun than studying on 4
- ntcs turned ghetto
- praying for us to be fed can mean different things
- yelling makes Bible studies fun
- chanting makes things more exciting
- calvinism and arminianism are at the root of many discussions
- Alex is a mormon
- peer pressure is awesome
- cajun wings suck
- honey garlic wings after 15 suck
- community comes together to help those in need
- i love this community
- im going to miss this community

superstar

can i just totally take a minute to pimp this right here? this is our boy james, hes so sick wit it.

5 days

thats all. just 5 more days of classes then im done my undergrad. yikes. i have a presentation each day lol. even 2 on one day. its a busy stretch coming up, presentations reports midterm. should be fun! its all about finishing strong at this point. everything lately has been 'so this is the last time...' which is a weird feeling. looking forward to ccf tonight, last bs of the term, talking about mentoring, something thats been happening both formally and informally all through my 4 years as i look back. jons right, its so key in a uni fellowship.
anyways on saturday during bible study we had 5 minutes of silent/reflection, and howie was eating a meatball sub, chewing ridiculously loud haha. it was hilarious. silence - then chew chew chew swallow. related, last week i had spudding potatoes expired eggs and old mayo in a hearty egg/potato salad, and it was so good. zero sickage. its like the oldness of many ingredients neutralized one another and made it safe. another fun meal was yesterday lunch when i had salmon and salad dressing over toast. hilarious times.
keep pressing forward kids, make the most of these days, every day.

could i

Could I just sit here awhile
know that there's nothing that I need to say
Safe in the knowledge that You know my ways
Love me completely, no need to hide a thing

Could I just stay here awhile
letting You melt away all of my fears
I feel Your comfort when You are so near
I'll hide myself in this shelter You've made for me

Could I just kneel here awhile
doing what I was created to do
Bowing in reverence I long to adore You
Willingly giving all that I can surrender

Could I just rest here awhile
letting You whisper my burdens away
In all of my journeys there’s no other place
Where I find refuge strength for my weary heart

gg wknd

heart me the bible study group, we made one meal last 3 meals. haha it started saturday night after bs when we realized we couldnt google bk. so sobeys it was where there was no more chicken. thus we ended up buying pork chops at midnight, and the girls cut so many onions that the boys in the other room started to cry. finally we ended up feasting on wangers home-style (store bought) secret-sauce (water) pork chops. and the man says he doesnt know how to cook, those were some succulent chops. we managed to stall the lesterites late enough that sunday late service was a must, and so sunday rolls around and after cfc we decide to do fajitas with leftovers except we go buy more food. the prepwork was mostly all done so it really didnt take too long but we had enough fajitas to kill someone. and some choco pudding that almost did kill someone. so we go off to study again and we decide to finish up the fajitas for dinner only this time we mexican it which was teh awesome. turns out howie cant take hot salsa as he looked like he was going to wheez. man only we can spend 5 bucks on wknd food lol well played.

next wknd? sushi + softball?

bleh

was messing around and decided to record something. its a jeremy camp cover. pretty powerful song if you know the history behind it..

thoughts

awesome ccf tonight, it was great to have chris write his first bs for lccf and lead it for us in our small group, solid. we were studying 1peter and talking about suffering for doing good, and it really struck me - what kind of suffering do we really go through, as chinese christians here in north america.. do we even really know what it means to suffer? our group thought a bit and the only thing we could think of was maybe being forced out of your comfort zone a bit, but definitely not persecution or anyhting liek that. and it was so sad to see how that to us was suffering, yet its nothing compared to what others go through. even worse? the fact that our comfortability is something that is so precious to us. dinnerplate also touched on this during her sharing which was so related, talked about how maybe sometimes we do too good a job of conforming ourselves to the world. such a blessing to hear a frosh share like that, its amazing what God's gonna do through these young'ns.

also been listening to lots of jeremy camp again. i still believe is seriously one of my favourite songs, just from the situation from which it was written and everything, so powerful. another good one is this man, pretty hot stuff too.

anyways thats about it for now, i encourage you to step out of your comfort zones and really see where you can impact someone's life. thats what its all about.

uhm, busy

why, cuz im a genius and i decided to not study for two weeks and leave this take home midterm til the last moment. smrt=me. presentations are teh wurst too, especially when you spend so much time prepping for something thats worth so little. im pretty ready for the weekend to hit so i can splounge around again. another thing, i played guitar on sunday at cornerstone and dang was i bad. this was the second poor showing in less than a week. this just goes to show that you DO need to practice, kids. and if you dont sound good, ppl notice. oh man do they notice hrhr! anyways back to this bloody exam. kens emoticons crashed my comp a couple times and it wouldnt load up on reboot. i was so scared i lost my work.

thought of the day? theres so much value in being real.

fraaaaaaaaaaay

so we werent able to make the show last monday cuz they hit the stage way too late, but great news, cuz the show got postponed! woot woot turns out someone was sick or something, so they're doing a makeup show on june 13 at phoenix instead. good stuff cuz a)everyones back in town b)still $10 c)all ages show as opposed to 19+.. im pretty stoked time for us to go. so take a listen, if you like em lets go, im def gonna try to be there. now to find someone whos selling death cab tickets.. hmm.

lent

How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of the season without even being aware of it? But how can I ever really celebrate Easter without observing Lent? How can I rejoice fully in your Resurrection when I have avoided participating in your death?

Yes, Lord, I have to die—with you, through you, and in you—and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your Resurrection. There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess.... I see clearly now how little I have died with you, really gone your way and been faithful to it. O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other ones. Let me find you again. Amen.

A Prayer for Lent, Henri Nouwen

reading week? huh?

who really reads during reading wk? pshaw. not me. so i did almost zero work all weeklong, apart from a trip to the liberry that didn't even involve much studying. what WAS fun was hitting the batting cages on friday, thanks to justin for setting that up. twas my first time going to playdium, and though there was a lot of waiting involved, it was good to get out there and take some cuts in the middle of winter. yahtzee! really was a good week though, despite the non-studying, tons of randomness and nonsense to go around. onwards to march! study hard kids, you're almost done your term! and for me, one month of school left *yowzas!*