The First Moments in Montreal

Well folks I'm here!!!!
I can't believe it is actually happening and I am here. I got here Sunday night and have been doing oodles of things to get settled in my place... (in case it wasn't a known thing moving is a lot of work) But I feel so at peace deep inside.

I went for a run yesterday and was praying/ thinking while I ran all around my new hood. And I had this moment when I thought I am in this place somewhere between comfort and the reckless unknown. Its a beautiful place to be in! I recently read a book called "Punk Monk", and it is about how we need to be practicing a rhythm of breathing in and out; meaning just as much as we are breathing out (giving to others) we need to be breathing in (and filling our self up). And I feel like my life is falling into that rhythm naturally. As some moments are filled with difficult things (IE sitting in on a 2 hour meeting entirely in french and scrambling desperately to understand a word, let alone what they are talking about) while some moments are great, (IE cooking and eating dinner with my 2 AWESOME roommates and just enjoying food together.

There is one thing I've noticed and want to share with you guys because 1) it's good to confess and share with each other 2) and to challenge and encourage you guys 3) and so you can be praying for me...

... It is the struggle I've been having in being "with" God. For the last few weeks I decided to commit to spend an hour or 2 a day with God prayerfully about all "this", as well as just being with God so I could KNOW Him. It is a basic concept, I know, but we really need to be with God if we want to KNOW Him. To be honest it has been really hard to do this. There are so many other things that get priorety in my life, especially in such a busy time of life with moving and such. Anyway, it is a struggle to keep my relationship with God at a place where I am WITH WITH Him, but we just need it to be there. It is especially difficult to not become legalistic about it. I don't ever want my relationship with God to become a chore, or obligation. Now, to some this may sound like I'm trying to be a super christian, or to some it may sound like I suck at being a christian (not sure how you guys may take this) but I just know God is God (think about that for a second, and what it really means that He is God. We know, for the most part that God is an super, awesome, wonderful, creator of everything!!) And the "Godness" of God should be enough to transform our lives into beautifully, awesome, and God loving things. It only takes a simple glimps of Him to transform our lives, and I guess God has been doing that in me. I don't want to forget, but I do...

This is why I write... so you guys can know where I'm at, so you can pray for me, and to challenge you to go and KNOW God more today then ever before!

"Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10)
or as it is beautifully put in The Message,
"Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God."

The Night Before Montreal... When All Through The House

Here I sit in my makeshift room for the night, reflecting on the past two years of my life spent in North Bay, and what God is about to take me through in moving to Montreal. You see I had to be out of my apartment by today, but I'm not leaving till tomorrow. So I'm a little lost in transition, but it is good because it is giving me time to reflect.

God has been on the move in my life. Last Summer He took me to Calgary, which I thought was just about making good money. However, it was there that I fell in love with God in a new/deeper/passionate way. Last Fall, when I returned home I felt a little scared that the passion would die, but it didn't. God took me through a beautifully intense LAST year at Nipissing. This year I pursued the arts with a deeper intensity and really found the rare beauty of creativity. Also, this year I found friendships that physically hurt my heart to leave. I experienced community, love, and God through these people. And lastly, through school I was exposed to the relentless ideology of my social welfare courses, which have forever ruined the way I see the world. (In a good way). All this and more has shaped this year into one of my greatest, but not because of these things alone. If it were up to great experience or happy moments the point would be lost. The greatness lies in the fact that I know God today more than I ever have before, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. Him and I are close, and Montreal is just simply a responce to the RELATIONSHIP I have with Him.

So here I go, please pray for me. I really need it!