See The Glory

So in this week to give thanks we had a shorter class week ending on Wednesday. We had Frank Cirone the director over at our sister school Ravencrest come and do an overview of the Minor prophets. When you think about sharing Jesus with someone, where would you turn?
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John? You would never think to start with the Minor prophets. Well guess what? You can. We went through all 12 of the Minor prophets and how all of them while not only telling many people and nations to repent of what they are doing so that destruction does not come upon them, they also have many great depictions of Christ coming. It was very fast paced this week since we didn't have much time before families would be here on Wednesday. When I saw that this was going to be the topic for the week I was very much encouraged, seeing that I will be teaching out of Jonah when our NYC trip rolls around. Which is only about 2 weeks away now. Just the fact that I saw how the book of Jonah is a great way to God's love and justness, now being confirmed by a man who has been teaching that same thought out of these prophets was  a great feeling. Something I had never noticed before is why God wanted to save Nineveh.

Jonah 4:11 - NET

Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!"

The term that is used when it refers to people not knowing right from wrong most likely is referencing children. So think about this, Jonah is so concerned with wanting those who have done wrong to get what is coming to them that he totally overlooks those who are young and do not know the difference. Yet God sees this and that's why he wanted Jonah to go. Not just so that those who were doing wrong could have a chance to repent but also to save the children of the nation. 
So I will ask this question, next time we want someone to get whats coming to them, we should ask ourselves is there someone that has had no understanding of whatever the sin may be that the outcome of the punishment will effect? I am not sure why I asked that question but I felt compelled to type it up. 

Please forgive me as with how busy we were this week I did not think to take a lot of photos. We had around 120 people for Thanksgiving at the lodge. So everywhere you turned there was people. Many of the students parents were out for a long weekend. I was blessed to be able to hang out with my buddy Luke and his family on Thanksgiving. It was nice to be with a big family as I am away from mine. As luck would have it the were a family of 8 so it was about as close as I could get without being home. I spent the day on the mountain, that's one I can check of the bucket list. Snowboarding on Thanksgiving, doesn't get much cooler than that, no pun intended.  Wait why not? Pun intended hahaha. 

Dinner was good but just not the same. I was missing my Gramma's Green bean casserole, my dad's Butternut Squash, my mamma's cheesy pineapple dish, and my Mimi's Apple pie. Just some of what I didn't have on my plate. But don't get me wrong I was thankful. 

We had the great privilege of being able to hear about Torchbearers from 3 generations of the Thomas family. We started with our own director Dan talking about future. Then we had his grandmother the wife of the founder talk to us about Torchbearers past. Finally we had his father talk to us about Torchbearers present. It was super cool to see how God has used this family to impact so many, and those who they impacted make an impact on so many more. 

This past Tuesday in preparation for the holiday and a bunch of visitors coming in, for my work day I spent 3 hours down in our shop painting railing for a deck project we are in the process of finishing. It was nice to be painting in a warm shop during a snowstorm.

It is only a few weeks now till I am home for Christmas break and believe me I am ready to be back for a bit. As I was boarding on the mountain again today I had my music on going down the run. As I was listening to my country music I began to miss home, family, and friends. But I began to think of how if I did not miss them for this short time I would have never had this awesome experience of going west, meeting new people, and trying new things. Least of all being able to go over 38mph down a snow covered mountain in Colorado!(Don't believe me? Check this pic out of my run stats.)  I would be at home doing the normal, and honestly probably okay with it. But not knowing what else is out there. So I challenge you don't be okay with the norm, get out and experience what God has created! Weather it be just going outside and getting off the couch or going across the country as I did. whatever it may be do it before your chance is gone. There is so much God has created that we can enjoy, don't get caught up with small stuff when you can see the big stuff he has made!

So I will leave you with this-

I never did like the word mediocre
I never wanted it to be said of me (Oh no)
Just point me to the top and I'd go over (over)
Looking for the very best that could be

So
What is this thing I see
Going on inside of me
When it comes to the Grace of God
Sometimes it's like

I'm playing GameBoy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon
I'm eating candy sitting at a gourmet feast
I'm wading in a puddle when I could be swimming in the ocean

Tell me what's the deal with me
Wake up and see the Glory

Every star in the sky tells His story
And every breeze is singing His song
All of creation is imploring (hey)
Come see this grand phenomenon
The wonder of His Grace
Should take my breath away
I miss so many things
When I'm content with
 
I'm playing GameBoy standing in the middle of the Grand Canyon
I'm eating candy sitting at a gourmet feast
I'm wading in a puddle when I could be swimming in the ocean


Till Next Time
Love Jared

A pic of the group from about a week ago

Walk with the wise

So this past week we hit the mountain a lot! I have been to the hill 4 times this week. I'm really getting it down. Loving my Never Summer Snow Trooper as well. This board is freaking awesome! As I am typing this section (Saturday night) snow is coming down. So we will be up early trying to get some of the fresh stuff over at the resort.

 This past Monday our class was at the mountain. We were familiarizing ourselves with the resort and going over how to teach the basics of Skiing and Snowboarding. Reason being the 2nd half of the year we will be helping lead groups on the mountain and working with them. It will mainly be youth groups coming in from what I understand. But seriously whats better for a class on Monday than Snowboarding?!

So this past week we had Brian Onken as our guest speaker. His topic was on the Trinity, it was a very good series this week in my opinion. We discussed how the Trinity is a vital part of our faith. The Godhead 3 in 1 with all parts being different and serving different purposes yet each entity can fill every position. I always love listening to a subject that I have a pretty good understanding of. I realize how blessed I am to have been raised on the truth, the facts and knowledge of the Bible. If you do not have a good foundation of the basics, it will be more difficult to grasp the more intricate aspects of God. I see this in some of the questions asked during class. Where as I may think "well this or that just doesn't line up with Gods character so why would it even apply here"? But I have a pretty good foundation to lean on when it comes to understanding how the Lord works. I credit that to my parents, grandparents, my 2nd set of parents (The Morgans) my pastor, and the other Godly people in my life.

1 big thing that stuck out to me this week in our discussion was how a lot Christians most of the time say a very generic prayer and don't really pay attention to who they are talking to. Whether it be the Father, Son, or Spirit. Think, have you ever started praying and said dear father, and then somewhere a little ways in said thank you for coming to earth and dieing for us? The problem there is that the Father didn't die for us. While it was God fully man, it was Jesus the Son not the Father. Think about that next time you pray, be diligent and specific in what you pray. We may know and understand that to be true but not aware of blurring the lines. We also talked about how no one really ever knows what to do about, or with the Spirit, how he, not it,(because the Spirit is a being of the Godhead not just a thing or """power""" we acquire) can become the strange cousin that we forget about. The Spirit is a vital part of our everyday as Christians. Because without the Spirit there would have been no one to offer up the sacrifice to the Father. Did you know that? I didn't, one of the cool things I have learned this week. Hebrews 9:14 says

 "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"

So we see right there how in one very big way how the Spirit is a vital  part of the Trinity and not just the estranged cousin of the Godhead. One other point to mention is that she same Spirit that was given at Pentecost to the disciples is the same Spirit we have today. We often forget about that, and think the time of miracles is over because they were the ones who did them. But it would stand to reason that since we have the same Spirit as the disciples had we can do those same miracles. The one thing we have to look at though is that even when the disciples were healing people and doing miracles, they were doing the will of the Lord. Jesus even did his work the same way, which was by the will of the Father. They did not heal everyone who needed to be. Which brings us back to prayer. When you pray do you ever take time after you are done to listen, or is it just amen and then on with your life? How will you know what you are to do if the conversation is one sided? Along with reading the Bible, when you pray take some time to listen, the Lord may just speak to you.

Eric^^ On The Left And Collin^^ On The Right

 

 This past Friday night we were again down at the coffee hour and then we had the treat of helping Horizons with their Thanksgiving night. We help setup and just sat, ate, and talked with people. About Jesus if the opportunity presented itself, if not just making friendships. Sadly I still have not seen my friend Muhammad so I pray he is doing well and is safe. However I was able to spend a good amount of time with Ivan again this week. I found out that he will be going home in a month to finish school back in Singapore. I am trying to coordinate a day on the mountain with him before he goes. So if you would please pray that we can get something worked out so we can meet up. One thing that I am glad about is that he plays some of the same PC games that I do. So even after he heads back home I will be able to keep in contact and be an influence on him through that outlet.

The Epitome Of Nick

So as I am finishing this up now after a full day on the Mountain a thought just popped into my mind. I had been wondering what song reference I was going to use this week. I like to not only link the lyrics to something I learned about in class but also to something I have been doing the past week. So I was thinking of  "Walk With The Wise" to use this week. It came to my mind because of 1 the subject this week and how because of my walk with people older and wiser than myself I have a somewhat good understanding of the Trinity. Also along with that, the crew I have been boarding with and watching and taking pointers from. Without them I would not be anywhere close to where my skill is right now. Especially my buddy Cody with the years of boarding under his belt has made things know to me I would have never thought of, or been very frustrated learning. So these words came to mind. Starting from verse 2.



I've learned to look for answers in those born before my time
As I listen to them tell me what they've learned in their lives
I talk to friends with understanding much deeper than my own
And gain wisdom beyond measure I could never find alone
       
If we walk with the wise we will grow wise woah woah
If we walk in the light then our path will be bright I know
There's someone who's already been where we must go In the light of what they've learned we find
That we will grow wise if we walk with the wise


Till Next Time
Love Jared

Me, Luke, And Cody In The Back, On Our Way To The Hill

Burn The Ships

Another week in the pages of history. We have been dumped on this week. We have about a foot to a foot and a half of snow on the ground. Which makes everyone very very very happy. Aside from being able to go down the little slope out behind the lodge there hasn't been to much snowboarding or skiing. But we have made due till this weekend. This weekend was the opener at the resort. I went out Sunday. I had prior obligations on Saturday watching Gator football. Plus it was going to be very very crowded opening day I decided it would be better for me to wait just a bit longer and not get run over.

So today all that was open at the ski resort right now is green runs, which was very good for me as they are not to difficult. I had some good runs and didn't get destroyed by the lift. So all in all a very productive day. I am picking snowboarding up very quickly. I will be a part of the Xgames team this next coming season....... okay I'm not that good yet but I am doing very well. Working on carving down the mountain is my next task. I have balance and my stopping down. Picked most of it up by myself but have had some friends give me some pointers which has helped a lot and kept me from learning the wrong way. #4ThisIGiveThanks.
To the right (Luke. Me. Cody.) Below left (Cody) And below right (Me. Cody. Luke. Naomi.)











 This past Tuesday we had our workday and the crew I was on had cutting and splitting duty. For about 3 hours. I helped toss and set rounds on the splitter the whole time. The weather was nice, sunny with the temp right around 18* for the day. That's right that is me in the T shirt representing good ole grace camp!

 To the left is my buddy and one of my small group leaders Daniel. He lead the cutting, splitting, and stacking for the day.







For our New York mission trip I will be leading a teaching for the group I am in. It will be for people we are working with up there. I have decided to teach out of Jonah. The reason I picked Jonah is because of how it can show the love of the God of the New Testament in the Old, and cross right over into the Gospel really easily with a great Old Testament story. I am to prepare a short 5-10 minute lesson. However I am preparing it in a way that my pastor (Mike Hughes) taught me. So when I started preparing I did not know my time frame I had to work within. Which in turn I had started on a 30 minute sermon haha. So I will have to cut it down just a bit.    
 
So this past week we had a guest speaker Jerry Benjamin. His teaching style was very fast and rather hard to follow for me. He spoke on trusting in the sufficiency of Christ. He went through many different passages in scripture. One point though that stuck out to me was a point he brought up about the Israelites in the desert. He pointed out that when the Lord spoke to his people and wanted them to do something that they hadn't done before and that required faith, it was very easy for them to do. However when they were told to do something a second time or something that was very similar to another command that they had been given, they would rely on their own understanding. Because they liked what they knew and didn't have to rely on God in those cases.

I had been wondering what I would point out for my main thought this week, as I had a harder time following our guest speaker. But on Thursday night we had a different guest speaker. A local Pastor (Doug Toller) he spoke on finishing strong. What I mean by that is, how we as Christians can start off so on fire for God and as time goes by we lose the passion. He talked about how the little things we may not think a big deal can in the end start to taint your life and weaken your faith. So then you end up going back to the ways you knew before Christ, because it is easier that way. I thought in the same way Israel did the same things over and over again especially in the desert. We can do the same thing if we aren't careful, not trusting in the one who brought us this far. So I pray that after this year me and the other students here do not let go of what we have learned. So these two verses come to mind.

 James 1:2
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

And

Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ.


So take heart when the going gets tough. Because when the going gets tough we don't have to get tough and do it alone. So this song comes to mind

Starting from verse 2 into the chorus 

n the spring of new beginnings a searching heart set sail
Looking for a new life and a love that would not fail
On the shores of grace and mercy we landed with great joy
But an enemy was waiting to steal, kill, and destroy

Quietly he whispers, "Go back to the life you know"
But the one who led us here is saying

"Burn the ships we're here to stay
There's no way we could go back
Now that we've come this far by faith
Burn the ships we've passed the point of no return
Our life is here so let the ships burn and burn"

Till Next Time 

Love Jared

Dancing With The Dinosaur

It's that time of the week again! I hope everyone is doing well. I myself am doing pretty well. This past week was pretty chill aside from the 10k that we ran on Monday in the snow, ice, and mud. My time was 01h:17m:17s. Which was only about 20 minutes off the fastest time. I finished strong in 17th out of 40 people. Not bad for my first 10k, not to mention in the elevation and weather conditions. I started to race with some pump up music on. After a strong start out of the gate I realized I would not even be able to hold my conservative pace. I started to fall back in place. So once the competitor inside me became okay with a finish outside the top 10 (which I already knew was a long shot) I settled down to a slower pace, turned on my Steven Curtis Chapman playlist and just enjoyed the race and being outside.

before

I find it weird that I can say that because I do not enjoy running just to run. I don't get it at all. Give me a ball to run with, or my Paintball gun and I could go all day. But just running for the sake of running especially when I know that my finish will not be a medal spot... no thanks. So instead of have a poor attitude about it, I kept thinking of 1st Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize". It is hard to keep that mindset when you know you will not win the prize. But we are called to, regardless of what the outcome of the race is going to be.
I love competition, especially in sports I love to play and for that matter life. But when it is something I don't necessarily enjoy doing or I see that I will not finish very well in. I can tend to do it halfheartedly. That is not often though because I do not usually compete in something  I do not like, But it will show when I have to do it. So that to say, I was very surprised to have such a positive outlook on it.

after

So what in turn happened was I basically had a worship session while running. Just thanking the Lord that I was able to run in the cold and nasty conditions. Strange huh? Well it happened. I think we often don't translate that attitude to our daily lives. Instead we live halfheartedly in what we do, when we should be thankful to just be able to do them and run the race as to win it!

We had another week of in house teachers for our classes. The majority of the classes this week were by Dan Thomas and he taught on mainly king Saul and the transition to king David. We focused on how at the start of Saul's kingship he did as he was commanded and followed the lords command. But as time went on Saul became more concerned with what and how things were being done, instead of why. Saul tried to justify his means with the end. But God is more concerned with obedience than sacrifice. The main story of Saul we can see this in is when  in 1st Samuel 13 starting in v5, he decides that he has waited long enough for Samuel and takes things into his own hands.
     
⁵ Then the Philistines gathered together to fight with Israel, thirty^[b] thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. And they came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven. ⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits. ⁷ And some of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead.
As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. ⁸ Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. ⁹ So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.
¹¹ And Samuel said, “What have you done?”
Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ¹² then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”
¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

When reading that you cold say "well he had no other choice". But the fact is Saul knew the rules, and that he was commanded to wait. We see also in chapter 15 where he is commanded to kill and destroy the Amalekites and all of their livestock. But they took some people alive and took the best of the animals for a sacrifice to God. Even though Saul's and the Israelite's intentions were good, they managed to forget one small detail. GOD SAID KILL EM ALL! That was to be the sacrifice. Yet instead of doing as instructed he chose to do it his own way and it cost him and his family the kingdom.

I will not go into to it to much but if you look at Gen 49:8-10.
 

⁸ “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
    your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father's sons shall bow down before you.
⁹ Judah is a lion's cub;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
    and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;^[a]
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

  
You can see where Abraham says that Judah will rule over his brothers. Yet we see God say that Saul's kingdom would have lasted forever.  I will let you think on that one and how the Lord could have worked through that.

We were down again at the coffee hour this past Friday.  Sadly I did not run into my friend Muhammad. Midterms for a lot of classes down there are going on right now so I believe that is why I did not see him. However I did get to chat for a bit with my friend Ivan. Who was raised in a Christian home but has now decided on Atheism. Just trying to build a friendship and show the love of Christ through being a friend and good influence. 

My weekend has been really good with the Gators trouncing Vandy yesterday and going for a sweet Longboard ride this afternoon with some friends and being able to play guitar a FVB tonight. It is supposed to snow pretty much all week, I am ready for it to come! I bought a pretty sick board so I'm ready to try it out and shred!


 Something I have been thinking a lot about this week is the attitude of some us students (myself included) towards some of the rules here. In our eyes some of them may seem kind of stupid and unnecessary but they have a purpose and we signed our names down that we would follow them. We may not like being addressed for one that we don't agree with or think is stupid. We may not like how it is handled. But the fact is we said we would abide by them. So along with that and just how we live our daily lives these words kept coming to mind.

Once upon a time not so long ago in a land not so far away
Right and wrong were not quite so hard to know
And black and white were not so gray
Times have changed and now it seems
Conscience has gone the way of the dinosaur
But I believe it's still alive and well today
In the hearts of those who will stand up and say

I'm dancing with the dinosaur
Living my life with conscience and conviction
I don't want to see the truth ignored
So I've gotta keep on dancing
I've gotta keep on dancing with the dinosaur

 I guess that comes to mind for me because when I signed my name. It was me saying I commit to this and what it is those above me will do when these rules are broken. I gave my word, and when I decide to spout my disagreement in a condescending way it is just as bad as me going back on my word. So I was a bit convicted of that and a bit discouraged when others around me did the same. Because we should live by our word, with conscious and conviction in the things we say and do. Weather it is with a rule we disagree with, or the way we respond when we've been wronged, or our actions to someone else. Also in thinking of how Saul was more concerned with going through the motions instead of making sure the heart was right.

It is about 5 weeks till I come home. I'll tell ya I am ready for a visit back. I miss my family, my friends, my job, my truck, and my country music. Not that I don't like it out here but there is no place like the South and no place like home.

Till Next Time
Love Jared

Signs Of Life!

Hey everybody! Another great week is in the books! On Monday we had our amazing race, that in all was about a 7 mile race over mountains and trough valleys. All while we had to complete challenges along the way. Oh and by the way there was about 8" of snow on the ground, it was crazy! We started about 10:30am and my group of 4 finished around 5:30pm. Needless to say we were exhausted. We started the race with charades to get our next objective. We then proceeded to fill a bucket with Nalgene dipping water from a lake while in a firemen line and our last teammate was pouring into the bucket while blindfolded. After we had completed that objective we obtained coordinates to a trail head. Once on the trail we then had a few mile hike to our next checkpoint. Once we made it to the next checkpoint on the 1st of 5 false summits. We had to then with teamwork manage to stand on a very small tarp and without stepping off manage to flip the tarp over completely. We then proceeded on our hike to the summit. Our next challenge was starting a fire with only what we can find on the summit and one match. The more matches we used we had to take a penalty. We had our fire going with only 5, thanks to some very snowy tender we couldn't get it going with just 1. Once we had our fire going we then had to put it out safely, which wasn't to hard with all the fresh snow laying around. We then continued our hike down the mountain to our next checkpoint. Our next to last objective which we then used our orienteering skills to find a few way-points on the side of the mountain, again thank you for 5th grade geography. See Mamma I was listening! Once completed, you guessed it we did some more hiking. The final task to complete we had to build a cross then carry it on our backs the final mile. We didn't win the race but we were competitive and had a blast!

Me and my buddy Jacob

FL JacobV BL JacobH BR NaomiK FR Me

Our Monday activities are set up so we have to think how the difficulties or joys we have during the activity would apply to instances in our everyday lives. Personally I don't like to have to rely on others to get things done. I like to do it my way, 1 because I like to think I usually can do it best, and 2 if I don't have too I don't want to burden others with what I could take care of myself. As my team started our race I defiantly began to see that this race I was not going to be able to do it alone. My team was comprised of me and 3 northerners 1 from Canada and 2 from Minnesota. Which without them and their words of snowy wisdom, I would probably be frozen on the mountain side right about now. As most of you know I do not have to much snow experience, well my friends made it known to me quick what not to do if you are going to be out in it all day. Throughout the day I realized through all of the objectives most of them I could have done by myself. However if I would have done them by myself by the end of the day I would have been extremely tired and most likely wouldn't have finished when I did. I was also able towards the end of the race push my team to finish strong. Thanks to them holding me back a bit on the way up the mountain. The same goes for life, there will always be trails we have to walk and different goals we have to complete in life. We won't always be able to do it alone, but that's why we have been blessed with other believers with different strengths and abilities to surround us so we do not have to go in it alone. We may not want to accept it as I don't a lot of the time, but the fact is that we all have been given different strengths and weaknesses because we are all different parts of the body. It was a great day with a great team!

We had the blessing of Wayne Weissman the father of our Dean of students (Joseph Weissman) come and speak to us on the feasts of Israel. I had never realized how much the feasts of Israel intertwine with the for telling, coming,  and returning of Christ. For example I knew how the passover feast was a remembering of the passover in Egypt and as a for telling of when Christ would be crucified. But I hadn't ever payed attention to the fact that the feast of trumpets was set in place to remind Israel that Christ would one day return. All of Leviticus chapter 23 basically says out how the story will play out. It was a sweet series this week on the feasts and a look into some Jewish culture.

 

We had a little bit of a Halloween party on Thursday night because were still going out to do our outreach's on Friday. I went as Gator nation. Which now after the 38-20 win over the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday my week has been even better!  Go Gators!

On Friday night we again were down at Colorado University for the international coffee hour. I had the pleasure of letting a few internationals know about Horizons and pointing them in that direction so they could get some help if they needed it. But the highlight of my night was talking to a guy I have been building a friendship with. His name is Muhammad, he is from Saudi Arabia,  and he is a Muslim. I had the privilege of talking for maybe 2 hours one on one with him straight out of the bible. It was only by the grace of God that he was as open to the words I had to say and the words the Spirit had to say through me. It was funny that our conversation about Christianity and Islam started all because he asked me how Halloween started. I was able to focus most of our conversation on the similarities between the two. We spent a good bit of time on Abraham and Issac or in his case Ishmael. After talking with him for a little bit I realized now more then ever just how closely Islam Mirrors Christianity. I find it amazing how it only takes a few changes of a name here or a date there and you are so close to the original story yet so far away from it. I was so bold to even bring up Jesus after I saw that he was more than okay with discussing the Bible. There was no push back to the topic, in fact he welcomed it and had much to say about Christ. But again the story of Jesus has been distorted through the teachings of the Koran. Yes Jesus was a good man but as we know he was so much more. I was relived and happy to hear that he was open to talking about the truths of the Bible. We talked till we were the last 2 people left. When we got up to leave I said that I enjoyed our topic of discussion very much. To which he said the same. Before we headed our separate ways I said that we should again talk next week and if he had any other questions about the Bible and Christianity for him to feel free to ask. To which he replied that he defiantly would.

The fields are ready for planting we are just called to cast the seed. So that is what we are doing. I have seen the soil for most there is ready to accept it, others need a bit more tilling. But I ask if you are reading this to pray that the seeds take hold in good soil.

We will be running a 10k tomorrow and it is supposed to snow, so that should be fun haha. I was able to play again tonight at Fraser Vally Baptist. I do tho miss very much being able to play with my team on Sundays at Riverside and the family that I have there. It is not the same. Hopefully when I am back for Christmas I might be able to lead. 

 I almost forgot we had 2 baptisms this past week. The lord is moving here people. Not only through us for others, but also among us. 

So a song that has been on my mind this week has been "Signs of life". From the teaching to the baptisms to my conversation Friday night I have not only seen the signs of life but also hope to see them and hope they are seen in me!

These are the signs, these are the signs of life
The love that proves there is a living faith inside
These are the signs, these are the signs of life
The compassion and concern
That's gonna make this world keep turning
These are the signs of life
A love that's flowing from the heart
Where the grace of God has left its mark
These are the signs of life
The reaching out of a servant's hand
The giving that makes no demands
These are the signs of life
This is loving proof of the faith inside
These are the signs of life 

Till Next Time

Love Jared