Goal for 2006: Professional Coffee Drinker.....Amber

Amen.
Well it's 2006 and I have only spent 3 hours of it sleeping so far which I think is something to be very proud of! I think I'm turning nocturnal minus the sleeping during the day! But it's been a great last couple of days with some serious reflecting about this past year, and although I don't want to get into the extend of the amout of over analyzing i've been doing, I have a couple of things that have stuck out:

1) I wanted to copy Stef and write a list of all of the places that I would love to visit for this blog but after tonight at Jon Buller I realized how much of a home Winnipeg/Stonewall is to me. I stood at the top of the balcony (the 2nd one)in the Burton Cummings Theater and looked down into a packed house of Jesus worshipers. An imperfect bunch we were but we danced and sang like we were at home. It felt like this reunion that I shouldn't take for granted by wishing to be somewhere else! But I have to admit that that's a werid feeling for me.


2) So Youth For Christ eh? Looks like Lord willing I'll be officially starting soon! Thus begins the constant battle of falling into the entertainment trap and taking the easy route. As much as I would LOVE to just hang out with these kids ALL the time, I have no idea what God is up to specifically. To show God to a generation... To get away from the neutral mark and allow ourselves to take risks. I just can't help but remember in the story of Martin Luther when a massacre took place because of a misunderstanding of his teachings. And as he was being rebuked by his mentor, he stopped him and asked "did you really think this would come without a cost?". I'm NOT saying that the cost has to be the death of thousands of people, but we shy away from that so much. Can't we take a risk on God? Isn't that called faith? We back down from those risks just incase God doesn't do anything and then we look like idiots! That's so backwards!! But I'm just so not there yet; hopefully one day soon I'll be a lot closer.
I look forward to discovering what His plan for these kids is (getting away from the typical path), struggling with what God requires of us as staff and then enjoying the victory that we never thought we could have or dream of!
This picture is called "Freedom's song" and I don't know why I love it so much or why something so dark looking could be called something like "Freedom's song". Maybe because that is where we are; maybe it's because some days we can't lift up our hands even that much; maybe it is everything that we are free from. For some reason the struggle is beautiful.

“Redemption” by Common Children

Hey all you people out there
The sun is burning colder
Keep a light on if you’re scared
The night is almost over

There will be laughter when the morning falls on our face
We will be captured and these chains will melt away

So hey all you angels out there
Forgive me when I forget you
There’s a light of hope we share
There are moments when I feel you

I hope you listen to the songs the wounded sing
The sound of redemption, these broken offerings