start the kettle

make yourself all cozy like, because I've got some time on my hand and you're getting the first installment!

So even as I was pulling into the queue of SUVs and Mini vans lugging their boats North my mind (the part that's in working order) was racing.... What did I forget, who did I forget to call, where did I put my multi-vitamins? But as I pulled around the first rock-cut and saw some red and orange maples sticking out of the tree line, my heart TOTALLY settled.. I love Joy camp... it's such a place of peace... even the trip up there does something for my soul. I spend most of the drive trying to decide how far I'd be willing to commute to work... I figure (if I loved my job) I'd be willing to drive at least an hour... that only puts me in Lakefield... maybe I could find something further North?

:: side note:: Tim C. From Kawartha YFC is here this week, maybe it's time to bite the bullet and start some serious talks about that home/shelter... enough of the day dreaming and scheming? Pray for wisdom. And discernment... how much of this is just the idea of the program, and how much is the passion that I've been given?

So, I'm driving along and I pop in that mixed worship Cd- you remember the one? The one that I've nearly driven off the road because of? I took it out of the car this winter... it was getting scary, but it made it back into the CD case somehow... Anyway, I turn it on, and put it on random... two fantastic songs came on and just sent me into a great time of worship- it helped the trip to go by so much faster, I didn't even mind the cottage country traffic.

trees of life are blooming
and Your word
plants the seed
I feel it growing yeah,
Kindness leading to repentance
and we feel traces of deliverance
thank You for mercy yeah,
oh can you feel it?
it's the song of the redeemed
the pursuit of passion
for the one who set us free
oh can you hear it
we're crying out for more
and listen to the song it's turning into a holy roar!
And we come rejoicing and singing...
and crying out to You
can You hear the holy roar?
And we come rejoicing and singing and crying out to you Lord!
Can You hear the Holy roar?
don't know who that's by.. it was on one of the Passion CDs awhile back.

Soft fields of clover
moon shining over the valley
joining the song of the river
to the Great Giver
of the Great Good
And as it enfolds me,
somehow it holds me together
and I realize I've been singing
still it comes ringing clearer than clear

Here by the water
I'll build an alter to praise Him
Out of the stones that I found here
I'll set them down here rough as they are
knowing You can make them Holy

I think all my yearning has kept on returning to move me
down roads I'd never have chosen
half the time frozen
la la la la?
I know it was stormy
I hope it was for me a learning
the blood on the road wasn't mine though
someone that I know
has walked here before

here by the alter I'll build an alter....
knowing you can make them holy
knowing you can make me holy

Don't know who wrote that one... Steve Bell likes to sing it a lot...

so that set the mood for the trip FOR SURE.

ok...super prayer to start the week off::
Lord, help us to make You famous here this week.

ok... this week we've got Chris speaking- I love this guy, he's so willing to wait on what God's got to say, and not afraid to say it. This week's topic is going to be : Redemption, being redeemed people, being redeeming people....
I think I might need to back up a step... anyone know of "the green book"? (anyone who'd ever been handed the green book will know what I mean) There's this book by Henri Nowen... I'm not totaly sure what the title is, but basically it's a collection of essays on the passage thru grief to healing... it's got some REALLY great stuff in it, I like to avoid it at all costs. Sarah gave it to me last week with a page bookmarked... I should have known that God would continue to work here....

Chris (aka Strongbad) gave us this quote to dwell on....
Take it in, I'll write more later.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, "who am I to be brilliant, talented gorgeous and fabulous?" Actually who are you not be! You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that others won't feel insecure around you. You were born to manifest the Glory Of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in all of us,and it is as we let our own light shine that we unconsciously give others the right to do the same."