A Violent Heaven and Beauty

Thought 23: Matthew 11:12 "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and violent people have been raiding it." (TNIV)

I read this Scripture and it immediately confused me. How could heaven be affected by violence and be raided? I though and prayed about how to interpret this and this is what came up.

Jesus must have been talking about the kingdom of heaven on earth. If heaven is to be a paradise, a place where no suffering or pain take place then there cannot be violence there which causes both suffering and pain. The only way violence could take place in heaven is the kingdom of heaven on earth. As believers we are to bring the Kingdom to earth and so this kingdom we are trying to build is being subjected to violence and raided. This interpretation is further shown because Jesus says "from the days of John the Baptist until now." John guided the way for Jesus who brought the kingdom of heaven to earth. Thus only from John the Baptists arrival on the scene was heaven able to be subjected to such violence because it was not on earth nor capable of coming to earth, where such violence could occur, until Jesus brought it down.

See Bible interpretation can be fun and make you sound smart.

Thought 24: I'm currently in Rwanda on Christmas eve and have been here a couple of weeks and Rwanda is an amazingly beautiful country. It is super green with breathtaking hills and colourful flowers everywhere. It is really the most beautiful place I've seen. And yet the Rwandans walk by it everyday like its nothing. They are far more interested in your pasty white skin than the blue skies and singing birds. We are the same way in British Columbia. Many people say that we have the most beautiful place on earth but since we see it everyday we ignore it and think its not that great. There are moments when I stop and look up at a hill in Kelowna where no buidings are and or up at the sky during a sunset unblocked by power lines and just am amazed at the beauty of creation. We really need more moments like these to fully be in wonder of God's power.

Full Mind and New Status

And after a seven month hiatus we are back!

Thought 21:

Psalm 10:4 "In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God"

Youth Pastor Joel brought up this passage today and it struck me. He said how our minds are so full of thoughts of other things that there is no room for God. We are not thinking of God and so we become empty and don't feel him anymore. This made me think of how during the winter months so many have a "spiritual depression" of sorts and feel far from God. Perhaps its because our mind is so full of the stresses of the winter. We need to winterize our vehicles, shovel our driveways, and not to mention the biggest stress of all: Christmas. We have to buy presents which puts us under financial stress, we have to prepare the house for all the festivities, whether it be decorating or preparing the Christmas turkey or ham dinner, maybe we are even travelling (such as myself) to visit family and that comes with its own stresses. The state of our Christmas is one of stress and materialism and this occupies our minds from the true reason we celebrate Christmas: the celebration of God intervening into our lives so we can have a personal relationship with Him. Our thoughts are occupied by all these other Christmas stresses that we don't take time to be still and allow God to fully occupy our mind and fill us up with his spirit.

Thought 22: Well the biggest difference in my life over these last seven months has been the change in relationship status as now being an engaged man. I have found however that the characteristics of my relationship with my fiancee have not changed since that day however. Perhaps it is because the wedding is a little while off that none of the stresses of planning have begun nor really the continual thoughts of "oh my gosh I am going to be married soon." I believe it hasn't changed because we've felt like we've been at this milestone of our relationship for awhile now. We really felt like we were engaged to be married before we officially got engage we just didn't have the hardware for it to be official. I think that is another reason why we got engaged and are waiting awhile to get married. We could have stayed unengaged until closer to a time when we could get married in the financial sense but we would feel trapped in a title that didn't really suit us. It is amazing that a title such as "fiance(e)" could be so liberating emotionally from the title "boyfriend/girlfriend" because they are just words. However I like the sound of fiancee better than girlfriend. Maybe it makes me feel more mature.

Bus ads and Necessity of the Spirit

Thought 19: So just recently it has been revealed to my attention that there are ads upon buses that say "There is probably no God so enjoy life." This revelation now made sense of why the Catholic church I pass everyday on Benvoulin said "There probably is a God so enjoy life." Now from what I have heard churches have made no big deal about this, rather than Willow Park mentioning it in the service briefly, which is for the best. These ads are not going to hurt the cause of God at all. It's like a video that has been circulating around the Willow Park community that says "trying to prove God is like defending a lion. It doesn't need your help. Just unlock the cage." Our God is not so weak that a simple ad will weaken him. The only way that damage would come about is if the church makes a big deal about it and attacks it. An attack like that would come from anger which would not be a fair representation of Christ and will harm his cause more that help it. This ad will fade but God's glory is forever.

Thought 20: If you weren't at GENnet on Monday then you really missed out on an amazing teaching by Joel Fedderson. At GENnet we are going through the topic of sharing the Gospel and this is definitely Joel's passion. To summarize what he said was that prayer is the most important and most powerful weapon we have. Without prayer we might as well just stop doing everything we are because no fruit will come from it. This is because without the Spirit God cannot be discerned. If there is no one praying for a person then the Spirit will never be with them and they will not understand anything of God. The Spirit is necessary for God to move on earth and we need to pray to bring the Spirit to those around us whom we love.

Doors and Trials

Back to the Thoughts rather than the events.

Today's thoughts come courtesy of the Willow Park Church staff retreat last week. We went to Gardom Lake for 24 hours to be able to take time away to rest and meditate on God (Mark 6:31).We were meditating on Revelation 2 and 3 which are the letters to the churches and so these two thoughts come from there.

Thought 17: Revelation 2:7 (NIV) "...What He opens no one can shut and what He shuts no on can open."

God opens doors for us that no force but Himself can shut. We can, however, stop ourselves from walking through those doors. We need to recognize opportunities God is giving us and walk into them. We also need to recognize areas God is closing and not to keep trying to knock on those doors. If we keep banging on the doors that cannot be open we could miss the door that leads to Him and His will.

Thought 18: Revelation 2:10 (Message) "...The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing - ten days. It won't last forever."

Whenever I read something that makes me stop and think I have a tendency to look up and into the distance. After I read "It won't last forever" I looked up and outside the window snow started to fall off the trees and then it stopped. Later I read it again and when I looked up again snow began to drop off the trees again. It lead me to write this poem. It hasn't been edited this is purely what I wrote in the moment:

Though the winter nights are long
and it's days are grey
It doesn't last forever.
The green pushes through
and the blue comes out
It doesn't last forever.

Though chains bind limbs
and rope cuts into flesh
It doesn't last forever
Chains rust and break
rope frays and snaps
It doesn't last forever

Through Eyes that are dry
We can truly see
This lasts forever
That upon a tree he died
melted death and broke chains
So we last forever

Mexico Day 7: Zitch Dog + Mexico Day 8: Coming Home...Delayed

Just going to finish up the Mexico Stuff now

Day 7:

The Ryder boys walked to Bucerias in the morning for some time away from the little boys. They've been following us everywhere and we needed a break by then. The first time we went to Bucerias on the Monday there was the carnival. Today the carnival was gone and it returned to a slum. There was one block of a flea market with more high pressure salesmen. Once back we played an hour of shuffleboard before lunch and then a few more hours of shuffleboard and table tennis. After all that time in the sun we had to get out of it so we returned to the room to read until dinner at the Thai restaurant. The show was a rock and roll show featuring dance numbers from footloose and Grease and finished with some 70s/80s rock that I recognized but couldn't name the songs. It was a good show

Day 8:

Our last day consisted of more table tennis. A.J and I also played beach volleyball with a nice family from the Sunshine Coast. Our shuttle left for the airport at 6 for the airport and upon arriving we found out our flight was delayed for an hour. We finally got off the ground at 11:30 and were on our way home

Mexico Day 6: You know your in Mexico when...

My eye felt much better allowing me to be outside the room. After breakfast we played a good hour and a half of table tennis until music trivia started. It was a lot of the same questions as before so I destroyed everyone at it. I won and the prize was a bottle of tequila. You know your in Mexico when prizes are tequila. People go crazy for it. It seems that as soon as a tourist lands in Mexico all they want is to harvest tequila.

After lunch we went to try our hand at tennis, legit tennis not table tennis. When we got there it wasn't open yet but we found 4 large iguanas and a baby iguana. After many pictures the tennis court was open and we played some very bad tennis.

When we returned to the pool there was a football game going on where you tried to guess how many times they would catch the ball while diving into the pool out of ten throws. I guessed 8 and they only caught 3. After that was soccer tennis which A.J. and I finally signed up for. We one the first game 11-8 putting us in the finals (there were only 4 teams) against the staff which we lost 15-9.

Our dinner reservation was a late one so we grabbed a snack and I read until dinner at the Italian restaurant. All the rowdies seem to have arrived today. Two people at the restaurant were so drunk that one spilt his wine, rubbed stranger's heads, and pretty much shouted as he talked. The ladies at the table were so embarrassed they left. As the men went to leave the second guy knocked over a glass shattering it all over the floor. When a server told him not to worry about it he couldn't responded and wavered on his feet. After dinner we tried to go to sleep but people kept yelling outside of our door until late into the night.

Mexico Day 5: What do you think Vodka is?

I was sidelined today with an eye infection. My eye would start to water and couldn't open when in bright light so I was stuck inside except for the meals. It made me miss out on the ping-pong tourney which A.J. took second place in. They all went to Bucerias after while Sean and I stayed back. They brought me some anti-bacterial eye cream (a weird experience putting on) which made my eye feel much better allowing me to leave the confines of my room. At pharmacies here you can buy prescription drugs right off the counter. I was free to move about after dinner and there was a Mexican festival. There was a mariachi band playing and games where you could win fake pesos to use at an action afterwards. We didn't win anything at the auction unfortunately. A.J and the boys went to see the ballet show but came back soon after. A.J. had a little too much to drink that night and made a mess of our bathroom.

Mexico Day 4: Puerto Vallerta

Now that I have a laptop again I can finally consistently post this...or so I say I will.

After breakfast, A.J, Shaun, Owen, and I played some shuffleboard (or at least our version of shuffleboard). Afterwards we all took the bus to Puerto Vallerta. The bus drivers let you step on but as soon as you do they are driving away leaving you no time to get ready. They even count your change as they are zipping in and out of traffic. There were no seats when we got on so we were standing and holding on tightly, barely being able to stay in an upright position. Right in front of us was a man casually leaning on a seat playing his guitar and singing as we are gripping on tightly and the bus driver is weaving through the streets. It was quite the scene to be a part of.

We wandered the flea markets of Puerto Vallerta for a few hours. If you pause for a second in front of their shop they are on you trying to sell you something. There is also a Senor Frogs on pretty much every block. Sometimes 2 or 3. We took the bus back to the resort at around 6.

After dinner we played some bingo over a few drinks. Every night they have a show at the theatre in the resort. We went to the battle of the sexes which took 4 men and 4 women onto the stage a pitted them against each other. The competions included beer chugging, spelling, drawing, and a scavenger hunt in which they had to find a pair of sunglasses, a black sock, and a cellphone. It was all tied up and the final object was whoever could get the biggest bra. The women won because in Mexico a D is apparently smaller than a C.

Mexico Day 3: Poppychulo

Tuesday we were woken up for breakfast so we could make the orientation. We were told that we weren't going to be woken up this morning but at 9 a knock came on the door waking us all up. It was Susan checking on the boys sunburns. Now that we were awake we went for breakfast. Afterwards I sat by the pool and finished "My Side of the Mountain." A.J. and I played some more table tennis until lunch. I am no longer keeping track of the win count as A.J. is well ahead after my horrible day of playing. I sat by the pool reading some more and drinking some more strawberry margaritas (free drinks are wonderful). At  4 was a soccer tennis tourney but A.J. was nowhere to be found. He had gone for a walk with everyone an hour ago but had not appeared until it started and it was too late to sign up. What a tool. Dinner took place at the Mexican restaurant where shrimp enchiladas topped with tomato were consumed by me. They were delicious. We made our way to the pool for music trivia. They would play part of a song and we had to guess what movie or T.V. show it was from. To answer you had to yell out "poppychulo" which means sexy boy in spanish. We didn't win. A.J ended with one point, me with two, and my dad with two.

Mexico Day 2: Let the Vacation Begin?

Sorry for the fail of consecutive days of posting but my laptop has been deciding not to start so I had to wait until today to get access to a computer. But that is another story.

We awoke at 9 for breakfast. There is a buffet for every meal or you can make a reservation at different restaurants for dinner. This morning I partook of pancakes, croissants, fresh fruit, and freshly squeezed juice. After breakfast we had to go to a 15 minute orientation led by Fernando. After this we were able to squeeze in 20 minutes of table tennis until we had to pack and move to another room. After waiting with the luggage for 40 minutes it was placed into a holding room because our room was not ready yet and would not be until 2.

At 11:30 vacation finally started with table tennis until lunch at 12:30. The table tennis win count was tied at 7 a piece between me and A.J. At 2 o'clock we finally moved into our new room in building 3 allowing A.J. and I access to our swimsuits. After A.J. and I found that the pool was freezing cold after about 10 minutes in it we laid in the sun drinking margaritas. I had to boot for A.J. since his wristband was taking but it was fairly easy. You just go up and ask for 2 drinks. Soon we decided to look at the ocean. We stood at the shore allowing the waves to wash over our feet. We soon found ourselves farther out trying to take on the massive waves but ended up being consistently knocked over by them. During this we left our sandals, hats, and sunglasses on the shore. Apparently the dry ground we placed them upon was not far enough up as a rather large wave stumbled its way upon our stuff and attempted to steal them. Luckily Owen was there and was able to save the sandals and the hats. My cheap aviators that A.J. was using and my 150 dollar prescription sunglasses however were washed away. After deciding that we had consumed enough salt we left the ocean.

We had dinner at the Brazilian restaurant. It started with a clam chowder appetizer and for the main courses they brought out different meat one skewer at a time. And I mean multiple courses of meat. It came out like this: chicken wing, sausage, chicken wrapped in bacon, pork, roast beef, ribs, and then some grilled pineapple. Now that we were quite full of protein we decided to walk to the town of Bucerias, about a 25 minute walk away, where there was a carnival going on. It was much like the carnivals in Kelowna, with rides and games, but it took place in the middle of the streets instead of in a field. I did not trust the rides so we just observed. We met a very friendly man who let us try on his luchador masks.

We got back to our rooms around 10ish exhausted for all the meat and the walk. My right shoulder was a little burnt and Sean and Owen's backs glow red.

Mexico Day 1: Travel to Mexico

Well I got back from a vacation with the family to Mexico for a week so I decided to post my experiences from each day on here everyday for a week. Starting with the Sunday we left.

We arrived at the airport at about 12 to check in for our 2:40 pm flight. Upon arrival we found out our flight was delayed and wouldn't leave until 3:40. After waiting for 4 hours in the airport we finally boarded for our 4 hour flight to Puerto Vallerta. After a fairly bumpy ride consisting of watching Ironman 2 and reading over half of "My Side of the Mountain," which Katelyn insisted that I read, we landed in Puerto Vallerta. We walked through a group of pushy Mexican cab drivers to the shuttle that would take us to Royal De Cameron Resort. On the way we passed over 10 Pemex gas stations which must be their version of ESSO and most of them had a Oxxo which is their 7-11. As we were waiting in the lobby of our resort we were greeted with virgin mango margaritas. As we were waiting for our wristbands which would grant us access to free food and drinks (alcoholic if you had a red adult bracelet but no alcohol for the blue kids bracelet) my brother A.J. who is 17 years old was desperately hoping to see a red bracelet placed upon his wrist. He was ecstatic when 2 red bracelets came tumbling out of the bag for our room. We took our stuff to our rooms in building 1 but my dad and Susan were not content. They had reserved 2 rooms in any building but 1 and 2 because they were the nosiest. They also wanted rooms side by side but they were on the third floor while we were on the first. They wanted to change rooms but there was nothing that could be done until the morning. While changing there was a knock upon the door. We opened it to an employee asking for A.J. He came to take A.J's adult bracelet and gave him a kids. He was visibly disappointed. By now it was midnight local time (they are 2 hours ahead) and the buffet was open for midnight snack which consisted of fried chicken, fries, beer, and cake. We wandered around for a bit before heading to bed at 1:00 am.

Horoscopes and When Denominations Get Together

Thought 15: I can't help but notice (mostly due to the status updates filling my news feed) that many people are in an uproar over horoscopes changing. Horoscopes were something many people would not have given a thought about the day before it changed but now that it has changed it feels like we have had some part of our identity stolen from us and told that we are now like this.

Now astrology is not like astronomy in one very important aspect: Astronomy is science; astrology is not. I was reading the horoscopes a couple weeks ago at work and they said "surprise" or "surprising" 12 times within the 12 signs. So really my summary on this is this: who cares what sign you are when your horoscope is made up in the paper and just try not to use the pick-up line "hey what's your sign?" cause it could just lead to confusion.

Thought 16: So I went to the week of prayer on Monday at the Bridge with our young adults group and everyone had an interesting experience. First off you could pick out the Mennonites in the crowd. One guy on the bottom floor burst out into a loud prayer and I saw another guy look back at him like "what the heck is going on?" at which I started to laugh. Now my girlfriend grew up Pentecostal so she was able to fill me in on somethings afterwards. Apparently when they get into groups to pray they are used to everyone just praying all at once out loud. Us Mennonites pray one person at a time. So our Mennonite young adults group mostly sat up on the balcony as we got there a little late and joined into a group with four other ladies from another church. We start to pray and one of our young adults goes to start the prayer but the other ladies are praying out loud at the same time so what does he do? He starts to pray louder until the ladies give up and we go one at a time. We forced mennoniteness on them. There was also a lady speaking in tongues which I have never heard before so that was pretty intense.

Now after the prayer we all went for coffee and a few people told me that they felt like they had to do things they usually don't to feel like they fit in. We don't have to do these things to fit in. A relationship with God is very personal and very communal at the same time. Everyone connects with God in different ways. Some through praying out loud with many, some with praying quietly by themselves. Some through any worship; me personally is through worship when many different members from different churches are together. Everyone has their own way of feeling close to God. None of them are the wrong way.

Year in review

Thought 13: Yes I steal ideas from people. This one being from my friend Sam Sawatzsky. 2010 started as the worst year I've ever had but turned it all around the second half.

January: My girlfriend being in Rwanda Skypes me and after being on different sides of the world for four months we break up. I try to use that time to seek God.

February: I take over the Alive young adults group. Our kickoff starts with a massive three people showing up. We would grow to 21 before dropping down to 9-12.

March: I buy a new truck. A white 1996 Chevy S10. It would later be known as Cranston

April: I finish my second and last year at Okanagan College and prepare for school with Briercrest College.

May: My then ex-girlfriend returns to Canada from Rwanda leading to a month of awkwardness and emotional agony for the both of us.

June: The years starts becoming great. Me and my girlfriend get back together a couple days before I leave to Watson Lake, Yukon for 2 weeks.

July: My fourth time up to Watson Lake and my first time co-running the camp. I spoke in the evening chapels and God taught me a lot. To trust in Him with the words to say cause when words are led by His Spirit things happen. About 6 kids committed themselves to Christ. We also travel to the Calgary Stampede in what was quite a fail of a trip as we continually got lost in Calgary.

August: Was warm. Not a lot happened. I worked a lot.

September: My girlfriend got baptized. I was accepted as an intern in the young adults program at Willow Park Church. After 3 months in charge of Alive we stopped and it never got off the ground. The new pastor took it over and I was going to be his intern. I await my school package to arrive after many calls to Saskatchewan because of form confusions.

October: I start working at the church as an intern and my school finally starts to arrive. We begin GENnet Young Adults.

November: We travel to Vancouver for the Passion Vancouver conference. We went early to go to the aquarium first and then ate at the old spaghetti factory. Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and David Crowder Band performed. Another slight fail of a trip as we continually got lost going to the aquarium and to Rogers arena.

December: Me and Katelyn celebrate our two years (cumulative) together. Also attend our first adult Christmas party (we were the youngest there) and my first ugly sweater Christmas Party.

Thought 14: My Facebook wall is full of people wishing Happy New Years and a few saying how much they hate New Years. Why do we celebrate New Years? I think because a New Year in our minds is a new start. New Years brings a hope of bettering ourselves and blessings to come our way in the next 365 days. Even if that hope never reaches realization and we stop going after our resolutions in a few days the hope of that night gives enough for many to celebrate.