Priceless

These last few weeks have seriously flown by. Robyn, Tim, Ryan, and Nathan are leaving today. The rest are soon to follow-- and it makes me very sad. But there have been some incredible memories made here, small and big, that have just made life that much more enjoyable.

Booboo bubble icecream cones and a walk around the harbour with Ryan, Katrina and James

Spending the last few nights on the roof stargazing- warm blankets, hot tea, great company

Tim Hortan's with Tamille, and "getting lost" in Ancaster

Three on two basketball in the pouring rain: Trine, Robyn and I against Tim and James

Picking up James' brother at the airport- with guitars, dancing, and bed sheets :)

Dance Party at dorm 34- Ryan, I'm glad you put that on. You and Moulan Rouge are a beautiful thing. ;)

Seeing Robyn fly down the redeemer driveway on her rollerblades, hit the grass, and do a barrel roll. aahahahaha

Rollerblading with Trine and Robyn to the meadowlands to pick up campfire supplies- and seeing Katrina almost have a heart attack when Robyn flew down the hill- again- and into the intersection.

The campfire at Angies

Midnight jogs around the block

Watching the boys go nuts in the Rec Centre during game 7 of the Canucks vs Dallas

Spending Sunday at Brian's place-

Studying in the sunshine, and burning the crap out of our faces

Katrina and "white lightning"

Photo shoot with Robyn, Trine and Tim

Seeing James ride a bike

Ringing the doorbell at 34, running like h***, tripping over the propane tank and cutting my knee.. just so Robyn could throw a gigantic bouncy ball at James

Singing at Church in the box

Squash with James.. ahahaha

Gotcha- and the look on Dan's face when he shot me- priceless

DQ with D37

Sunday lunches with the "friendship club"

--- oh man---- and now, packing things up and saying goodbye. I'm going to miss all of you very much. You have all made this year fantastic!!

contagious

Michael Jordan, R.C. Sproul, Steve Erwin, Bethoven, Craig Bartholomew, Anne of Green Gables, Ben Folds--- what do these people have in common? Passion. A love for basketball, crocodiles, music, or just "plain" life- passion emanates from their whole being and I find it very contagious.

For example, I am not the science type. Not really at all. I think my highschool experience with the subject damaged me for life. But, I was captivated for almost 2 hours by a man who came to redeemer for the science fair to show a few cool things about science. I couldn't peel my eyes off this guy! Not that he was much to look at ( I'm not being rude, bear with me) being 5 ft nothing, bit of a funny accent, thick rimmed glasses, passed the age of retirement...BUT man, it took about 3 seconds for anyone to see that this guy absolutely loved science- and about 4 seconds for the excitement to pass from him to the crowd. How does that happen? The guy was in his element- it was obvious to everyone, and that love has GOT to be contagious.

Ben Folds. There is another prime example. My friends and I went to his concert last night, which was INcredible. He is a musical genius in love with his piano. You can just see it- from the second he started pounding on those keys, that he was loving it. I've never seen fingers move so fast in my life-they were a blur. But what made it so great was the fact that HE was loving every single second of his music. To move from good to great you need talent + passion. People sense if, feel it, love it, and catch it. Again, my eyes were glued to Ben and his piano... ahhh fantastic.

Science and Music- I'm not great with either of them but the best part of that is I don' t have to be. I was able to share in the passions of both the crazy scientist and Ben Folds just by watching them do their thing: How sweet is that? I love when I meet people that are driven by their passions in life. Their excitement is contagious.

Accidents Happen

Yesterday was my first time playing squash. James plays a lot with his brother, and I guess he thought it would be fun to show me how the game works. We were doing allright... for about 10 minutes, until I wound up and hit the thing right into his eyeball.

James hit the floor- his eye turned a few colours- mostly red with hints of bluish bruising, and we safely concluded we should leave the squash courts: possibly for good.

Fortunately ice works magic- and his eye looks fairly normal today, but I just want to say this: Racket sports are dangerous- squash especially. Be safe. Wear goggles.

Good Friday

Ah, dearest Jesus, how hast thou offended? Johann Cruger- 1640
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus hath undone Thee.
Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee;
I crucified Thee.

Therefore, dear Jesus, since I cannot pay Thee
I do adore Thee, and will ever pray Thee
Think on Thy pity and Thy love unswerving
Not my deserving.

Alas, and did my Saviour Bleed - Hugh Wilson-1766
Was it for crimes that I have done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And Love beyond degree.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears;
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness
And melt mine eyes to tears

God is incredible- and I can't get over it. Time and time again, He shows his perfect timing and His perfect self. Yesterday was one crappy day. Sometimes it feels like God just takes off for a while~and as much as you try to mask how you are feeling around friends or whoever- there is this void; a sense that you are alone; the feeling that you are not right with the One Person who loves you the most. You can't shake the feeling, or the sadness that fills you as a result. It's terrible. But God sees you floundering.. and He hears your feeble voice.. and He gently pushes you to read His words, and listen. Today is Good Friday~ and it's been good timing..
To sit in church and be reminded of Christ crucified; what better way to put things in perspective? I see my constant failings, I feel the guilt and shame of my sins, I am exhausted by my attempts to deal with it on my own, and then I realize what Christ did. It doesn't get old-- He came here to be completely humiliated- beaten, ridiculed, spat on, whipped, stripped naked and nailed to a bloody cross, and for what? He was perfect. He is perfect. What crimes did He do??? It rips me up inside, trying to cope with the horror and the joy of Christ's death. But joy trumps the sadness, because Christ, out of sheer love for us would not let us die! In his death, I have life that I really don't deserve, and THAT is what "dissolves my heart in thankfulness and melts mine eyes to tears"
Halleluliah, what a Saviour!!!

Blaaaa

I don't know what's with me, but I feel extremely restless. I'm not sure what it is, because I am quite happy here at Redeemer, but sometimes I just feel very closed in. I can't quite explain it, but it makes me frustrated-- and I don't cope well with that emotion- it makes me restless. And that makes me frustrated-- oh boy. And those emotions form a nice blend of exhaustion, which is where I'm at right now.

You'd think the simple solution would be to just get some bloody sleep. Well, that was the game plan, but when your mind is restless, sleep isn't an option. For some reason, the brain kicks into overdrive to compensate for your body's inactivity or something-- making things worse. EW.
But sleep isn't the real solution anyways.

I think it's just a part of being me that gets me in these moods every once in a while. I over analyze, I brush things off- I miss travelling, I miss home-- I get torn between two things that are on opposite sides of the spectrum... I mess up. and the result is pure restlessness.. which is now finding an outlet in this blog. Unfortunately, I'm doing a lousy job. I know I'm being vague, but I really don't need to get specific. The bottom line is I JUST FEEL BLAA,