Project: Joy.

- The Pretty Industry

2012-02-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

Being a hairstylist, I work in the beauty industry, right? WRONG. I work in the pretty industry. Allow me to explain...

beauty - inside -> beauty industry is your youth group, young adults group, worship team, Bible reading at night, hanging out with your brother, talking to your dad

pretty - outside -> pretty industry is your new shoes, great makeup techniques, hair color/cut changes, cute top and favourite jeans

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING.

The pretty industry is a wonderful thing, and I'm not here to knock it, but I do want to make sure we don't go ahead and confuse being pretty with being beautiful. Allow me to help you out with this concept. The pretty industry helps you look "better." This is where we'll find our makeup and skin care products and hairspray and backcombing brushes and flattering dresses and whatever else you perceive to help you look your best. The beauty industry, however helps you be better. This is where you find loving friends, prayer, churches, hard work, kindness, and love for others.

You can have one without the other. Just because someone doesn't fit in to your ideal "look," doesn't mean you can't respect them. Or maybe you don't fit into your own ideal "look." Respect yourself and realize that your worth isn't summed up by how perfect your outward appearance is. The flip side is also true. If your outside looks great but your inside is about as appealing as a garbage dump, you need to check yourself. Pronto.

Oh, and one more tip:
Have confidence, I hear it's sexy.

April J

Quick! Fast!! How iPods are ruining our lives

2012-02-12T18:46:00.002-08:00

MULTIMEDIA IS TAKING OVER MY SUBCONSCIOUSNESS!!!

I realized this when I was trying to pray last night, but couldn't overpower the voice of Michael Scott and the song, "Cellophane" enough to focus on talking to God. ANYONE HEAR ME ON THIS?!

Sometimes it seems our generation's ability to hear and talk to God effectively and consistently is about as acute as the hearing of a 90 year old who left their hearing aids at home.

SAY WHAT??????

So for a week, (meaning Sunday to Sunday) I am going to shut off my iPod and my TV and have a go of being productive and sociable during transit times and time at home. Now, that's not to say that I'll never listen to music during that week - I'm sure I'll hear music here and there..like I obviously can't say,
"Hey, boss, can you shut off the music at work for a week so I can clear my mind a bit?"
not to mention the neighbours above me who REALLY like to "play" the electric guitar at around 11pm every Sunday night... out of patience and Christian love I will allow them to continue that tradition... ehem.

So, the rules for my fast are this:
-No TV ever.
-No iPod shoved in my ears blocking out the world.

Agh, I'm already considering erasing this entire post and scrapping the whole idea. I better publish it before I have a chance to make like I never thought about this. I could always just pretend I didn't hear God clearly enough, right? Err.... what?

April J

P.s. I just had a really depressing thought: The only reason that multimedia is flooding my brainwaves is because I turn it out and partake.
Good thing none of this is my fault...

- Pretty on the Outside

2012-01-29T21:35:00.003-08:00

You know, if I ever write a book, I think that's what I'll call it: "Pretty on the Outside." Our culture is wrought with meaningless quotes and phrases, air headed girls, fake profiles, and men with no substance.

It's OK though, 'cuz at least we look good.

Being in the "beauty" industry, I struggle with this one a lot. It's up to me to focus purely on the outward appearance of people and "improve" on the perceived "flaws." Well this business of coloring hair and shopping for new clothes and doing various other shallow things is all well and good in moderation, but I would like to issue a quick wake-up call to all .those people who think they're going to get by either on wearing Gucci or Toms or shampooing with Paul Mitchel Awapuhi or having a hot body. Insecure people, listen up too.

Newsflash: the outside doesn't really matter!

Ladies, gents, I'm going to tell you what I tell to my younger sisters: If you're going to be pretty on the outside, you'd better be even prettier on the inside, because otherwise it's all useless.

Guys, what goes on in your mind and your heart on a daily basis? Is it pretty or is it ugly? Do you think about your family positively, pray for favor over your friends, thank the Lord that you're alive?? Or are you pining for the next episode of Jersey Shore (which is such a corrupt show, by the way) or praying you don't bump into your dad on the way in the door? What would happen if God went ahead and measured your integrity levels lately? In Psalm 26:1-6, David writes, "Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross -examine me. Test my motives and my heart. For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth. I do not spend time with liars or go along with hypocrites. I hate the gatherings of those who do evil, and I refuse to join in with the wicked. I wash my hands to declare my innocence."

Could you say the same thing? Could you say to Jesus, "Hey, man, can you let me through the gates? I did everything within my physical, mental, and emotional power to stay clean by your standards and stay blameless. I have integrity."? Titus 2:7-8 says, "In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."
1 Corinthians 6 talks about all sorts of "wicked" people who will not inherit the kingdom of God (aka heaven). It talks about the sexually immoral, idol worshipers, adulterers, etc, but never once does it say, "He who does not wear American Eagle and has too much acne cannot come to heaven."

1 Peter 3:3, "your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes."

Need I say more?

Spend more time fixing your insides, guys, and quit worrying about the outside so much. Eventually we'll all have no teeth, saggy butts and droopy eyelids anyways.

Be pretty on the outside, but be prettier on the inside. That's the spot that matters.

April J

For more info on honesty and integrity: Fake 'n' Bake - Let's get REAL
For more info on security/insecurity issues: Camp Confident - I am Dauntless
For more info on having a better outlook: Change that 'tude, dude!

- Religion and my most confusing love/hate relationship.

2012-01-26T20:18:00.002-08:00

Well, I had this whole big thing set up and typed out to go ahead and knock religion, because I saw video #1, and got all emotionally passionate and stuff.

Video #1:

But then I saw video #2. So then I was like, "Shoot, I kind of agree with him on too many things to now say religion totally sucks." Obviously some points I completely disagree with, because he references the Old Testament's old laws which were more or less abolished after the resurrection of Jesus, and other things he says are easily disprovable (ex. reference to drinking wine. See My Stance on Alcohol) but he still raises some very interesting points and questions.

Video #2:

So THEN I saw video #3. I think this guy nails it the best. However, I'm still on a personal quest to figure out the meaning of all this mess that seems to have been stirred up by these videos. Maybe it's a good thing that all this is coming up, cuz who really needs a religion anyway? All we really need is a savior and a God to lead us. Whatever that "religion" or "faith" is called, I don't care. I just want to follow Jesus and God. So there, you fancy YouTube guys!! Anyhow, Video 3.

Video #3:

As you can see, I've developed quite the love/hate relationship here. (Ha, you thought I was gonna go and spill a bunch of dirt. GOTCHA! If you want that kinda drama go watch Jersey Shore or whatever. :P)

Anyhow, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
April J

- Week 1: on the job

2012-01-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I figure it's time for another blog post, as well as an update on my living/moving out/working situation. Hence, this post. I am giving you both things in one post. It's a buy one get one, two birds with one stone, full meal-deal kind of post. So put away those credit cards, re-holster the wallet and breathe easy. This one's on me.
Well, at the time of my last update, I believe I was jobless (see How to move out properly). Currently, I am not jobless. Let me tell you how this whole little operation went down.......

Long story very short: A couple weeks ago I moved out with no job, and was therefor commuting back and forth from my new place back home in order to work at Zellers so as to make enough money to make rent and stuff. Then, one weekend, just as I was getting off work at Zellers, a lady who owns a salon that I did a practicum at back in November (I think that's when it was?) called me and asked me if I'd like to come in for an interview, and as you've probably already guessed, I got the job. WOOT! Now, that's not the most interesting part of the story. The most interesting part of the story is that just the day before she called me, I'd finally remembered to ask the whole young adults leadership team to pray for me to find a job. So we did, obviously, and boom. God acts fast.

Then, a couple days later, I was praying for favor and protection over myself and my roomie. I was also praying that if she found she needed a job, that one would pop up. Well, I went out that day to pick up some stuff, and as I was standing at the bus stop, a lady walked up to me and asked if I or anyone else needed a job, because her company was opening a new branch for some financial services thingy, and they needed people for just about every position. I got her card from her, so who knows. Maybe another provision for the future? This whole moving out ordeal has really shown me to trust God. The only other time I can remember having to trust God this much in a way that was so foreign to me was the time I went to Mexico on a missions trip this last August. I went with hardly any money, and no hotels booked or anything, and ran into some serious hurdles along the way... haha! (If you want the trip in a nutshell, read it in The reason Christians are so pushy and Mexico: the precipice of destiny. Except now that I think about it, I'm going to write a whole new blog describing everything in detail... so stay tuned. I'll post the link here once it's done.)

Anyhow, with all the "religious" stuff out of the way (wink wink), I'm loving my new job/life. My boss is fantastic, my co-workers are super cool and so nice, and they're willing to teach and apprentice me a little bit. It's like my dream come true! My roomie is super great, which is a total blessing in itself, and I kinda like the neighborhood we're in. Commuting an hour to work each day isn't so bad, and my transfers are pretty strait forward. Plus I kinda like zoning out/sleeping with my eyes open for an hour. It gives me a chance to wake up fully, as opposed to what I normally do, which is wake up 25 minutes before I have to be somewhere, throw on some D.O. for my B.O. and hope no one pulls me over for speeding like 80km/hr above the limit... lol.

Anyhow, the sum-up is this: I love my life, I'm kinda starting to miss my family already and God is pretty rad.
Peace.

April J

- Psalm 139 - poetry by King David

2012-01-09T00:19:00.001-08:00

I was chatting earlier on Facebook with a friend, who recommended me to read this Psalm. So I did, and now I've posted it here for you, as well as bolded my favorite parts. I would like to point out that the last 4 lines (last 2 verses) are my very favorite. My friend pointed out that he really liked verses 15-16. Just take a gander through one of David's poems, I'm sure you'll feel inspired if you let the words soak in. And just in case you don't know, David was a king in the Bible. He made some mistakes, like all humans, but ultimately always appologized and God loved him. He was a warrior, husband (to many), poet, and musician. He wrote some of the Psalms (which are all songs and poems, essentially), and this is one of his beautiful pieces.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

April J

- Linking Marriage

2012-01-09T00:07:00.000-08:00

Allllrighty. Recently (and by recently, I mean earlier today) a friend of mine posted a link on FaceBook. I clicked on that link and found a really awesome article. So, I'm gonna put the link here: You Never Marry The Right Person

I would also like to include another note: Mark Driscoll recently wrote a book with his wife called "Real Marriage." CNN did an article about it, which you can find HERE, and I would encourage you to find this book and read it. I know I'm going to. If you want to order it from Amazon.com, you can do so HERE...

Just some food for thought!

April J

- Are you unworthy?

2012-01-07T21:36:00.001-08:00

This Friday to Saturday I went to a retreat for my Young Adults group. During one of the leadership prayer/learning sessions, I had this thought as we were praying the "A.W. Tozer prayer," and had to write it down. So, enjoy!

In our society, unworthiness is a totally foreign concept. In our North American, 1st world, big power society, everyone has rights, equal rights even. We are all "entitled" to our opinion, preferences, sexual orientation, or whatever else we so choose to want or be "deserving" of. "Unworthiness" is a completely unfathomable concept; and while some of have insecurities about social status, love levels from our parents, intelligence levels, etc, I believe that the vast majority of humans in Canada, the US, etc., no matter how many insecurities we may feel we struggle with, still have no real concept of being unworthy, let alone unworthiness to the point of not being allowed to look upon someone's face or even be in their presence. Because of this, how are we ever supposed to comprehend or even fathom the divine privilege that we have to be talking to Jesus Christ, let alone be in his presence during prayer or worship? I myself am definately a narcissistic product of the "me" generation of society and can't even begin to imagine what a privilege it is to be talking to God or even reading his word, and I kind-of morn the loss of our own humility. Instead of revering God and respecting him at least as much as the Prime Minister or a pop star or the Queen, I get irritated with his demand for my constant attention and servant hood and service, and try to kick him around for later - like a stupid dog who's gotten in my way. I morn this loss and I morn my own arrogance and stupidity. Sadly, I know I'll forget about it tomorrow.
God is greater, and we should respect him enough to ask for his time when he's not demanding ours, and give gladly when he is.
So the answer to the question that is the title of this post is as follows: yes, we are unworthy, and I wish I better understood that statement.

April J

- How to move out properly

2012-01-03T13:28:00.004-08:00

Last week I began the tiresome, stress-filled task of moving out of my parents' house and into my new apartment, which I will be sharing with my great friend and crafting accomplice, Buttercup*. Personally, I think I've scored myself a good deal. I have a nice clean apartment in a good city, and a trade which will easily help me find a job. I also have a wonderful roomie who has agreed to take on a second pet (me) and put up with me cheerfully. Lucky her... (here I pause for a good "gfaw." I've been anything but proactive in the process. Haha. Poor Buttercup.) Anyhow, this isn't about how much fun I'm going to have being free in the big wide world, it's about how you can take my perfect life and replicate it so that one day you too can move out hassle-free and earn a bajillion dollars while you're at it. (All I need is your credit card number and PIN - for security reasons, of course.)

I started out this journey with a prayer. The prayer went like this: "Dear Jesus, I want to move to Kamloops or Kelowna after hair school so that I can either continue my degree at TRU or get more involved with Teen Challenge." God's answer went like this: "No." As you can imagine, I was not very impressed with this answer, as I am a narcissistic product of the "me" generation, and I generally like to have things how I want them, and when I want them. So, I tried harder.
"Ok Jesus. I WANT to move to KELOWNA or KAMLOOPS so I can work with Teen Challenge or go to TRU. Please." (I didn't say the please very nicely. It was more of a formality than anything.)
And Jesus replied, "No, you stupid head. YOU WILL move to VANCOUVER and work with WOMEN'S MINISTRIES and CHURCH PLANTING."

So let's now skip past the year that I spent pouting about it and fast forward to when I finally handed over the keys to my life and made the decision to move to Vancouver and do what God told me to. Within a couple days I went to a concert and saw a promo for a church plant project in Vancouver, as well as hearing and seeing a hundred million things about women's ministries all over the place. Within the week I had offers from three different girlfriends to move in with them in the Vancouver area. Church plant stuff and womens' ministries kept slapping me in the face. They would just come up in conversation randomly with random people, or be in a bathroom stall, or I'd have a flier shoved in my face, or whatever. It was nuts. God was definitely confirming his command. So then I agreed to move in with Buttercup. After that, an apartment basically fell into our hands in New West, right by the sky-train station to make for simple commutes to and from Vancouver. And as if all that wasn't enough, just the other day my pastor announced that our church was going to be involved in a church plant in the Vancouver East Side. Go figure. It was all lining up perfectly, except for the fact that I've been a student for a year and have virtually no money. So with everything else perfectly handed to me, I said to God, "Ok Lord, I have no idea how I'm going to afford this. If you want me there, help me find extra work or win the lottery or something. I need help with this one."
And the Lord Jesus replied, "just wait."
So I waited. And waited. And waited. It's incredible how two or three months of uncertainty can seem like a millennium when you're an impatient Type A like myself who wants everything planned and perfected two years before it actually happens. Either way, I paid my damage deposit, and then panicked about my first month's rent. Apparently, my panicking was futile and pointless, because after praying extensively that my waiting was over and for financial support every day, God started showing his power and careful attention to detail. Turns out he actually has some brains up there.

When I decided to ask my family for only money for Christmas, I was showered with more generosity than I had expected. Also, I had to make a trip to the bank to take out $20, so right before walking in, I said a small prayer that God would give me peace about my financial situation and that he would help provide for me. I walked out of the bank with a $400 overdraft protection that I didn't have before, and the teller had essentially just looked and me and said, "Hey, do you want this?" I also randomly found $5 in my wallet (I never keep cash in my wallet so it was a welcome surprise) and an extra $10-ish dollars in my coin jar that I'd forgotten about. At work people started calling in sick or taking unexpected days off, and I managed to pick up about an extra 20 hours. My roomie managed to score us each a $100 pre-paid visa card by signing up with Shaw for her internet for her course. Half of my Christmas gifts were looked after as well, as I either won stuff or had people say, "Hey I've got this stuff that was never used. Do you want it?" I also found out that the government owed me about $120 dollars. (I just have to fill out like 80 forms to get it back lol....) Needless to say, God really, really came through.

So as I stood there in my disastrous bedroom, packing yet another box, I had the urge to write a post about this whole "moving out" ordeal. Apparently, when you follow what God wants for you, he doesn't abandon you, and he is more than willing to assist you in fulfilling his plan for your life.

So my answer to the "how do I successfully move out?" question is this: don't be retarded, and do whatever God tells you. I hope you realise too that this wisdom applies to every aspect of life, whichever avenue that may be.

April J

*Name has been changed for witness protection.

Disclaimer: God won't plan your life for you every time. Sometimes you just have to trust him and work hard through things, even when it seems like things are impossible.

- Results of the "10 Commandments" Poll

2012-01-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

A while ago I asked my readers to respond to a poll on the 10 commandments. The question was, "Which of the 10 Commandments do you most struggle with? (Exodus 20)"

Here are the results:

1-Hold Go as the most important thing in your life - 25%

2-Stay away from idols - 0%

3-Respect God`s name (don`t misuse it) - 0%

4-Take time out for God (keep the Sabath day) - 25%

5-Respect your parents - 0%

6-Respect the lives of others (don`t murder-includes hate) - 0%

7-Respect your spouse and others` spouses (no adultery-mentally/physically) - 12%

8-Pay for everything you take (no stealing) - 0%

9-Respect the reputation of others (no false testimony) - 12%

10-Be satisfied with what you have (coveting is really bad) - 25%

- The Definition of Joy

2011-12-29T15:08:00.001-08:00

To anyone about to read this post, I started it about a month ago and am now finally finishing it haha... Procrastination wins again! (but what P-nation doesn't know is that I'm sneaking up behind him with a battle ax about to finish him off like a frog who's stupid enough to hop into the middle of a highway. DON'T CROSS MY PATH, MAN! Pun intended.) Anyway.....

Several months ago I started reading "Surprised by Joy" by C.S. Lewis. Sadly, I am still struggling to finish it. I dunno what my problem is, but it is just taking me sooooo long to get through these last few chapters. It's like I'll try to read something, but end up having to go back over every sentence 65 times to get the meaning of it. The fact that I'm currently trying to write 7 exams and get a Christmas production out of the way really doesn't help. Anyways, this post isn't about how much time I don't have to finish this book, it's about something I read at the beginning of the book when I was still having an easy time reading it.

So Lewis defines joy as this: "Authentic 'Joy'... is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang, the inconsolable longing." (page 82).

When I read that line in his book, I just went, "oh yeah, that's totally what it is!" it makes sense though, when you think about it. Think about the most intense joy you've ever experienced. You feel like you're going to explode if you don't either start jumping up and down, screaming with excitement like a little kid, or flailing around like a retarded bird. You're welcome for the visual. Hahaha! Anyhow, I thought back over this feeling that I've had a few times in my short 20 years of living, and realized that in that moment of pure joy, your heart/mind/soul/whatever, has made a realization, which is that something that you didn't have a minute ago is now right in front of you. Either that new baby, the friend you haven't seen in years, the CD you've been looking for for ages, a realization from God, whatever it is, it's suddenly right in front of you, and you want it bad. You long for it so hard it aches. I think that feeling of wanting to just grab hold of this noun in front of you, mixed with the anticipation of having it, mixed with the excitement of when you actually grab hold of the object or realization, all play a part in that PANG! feeling we've all experienced once or twice, the one that makes you wanna burst.

I think though, that there's another element to joy. It's the part of joy that is constant, but subdued. It has more to do with an attitude than anything. I think that joy also comes in the form of looking at the world in a positive light, and allowing God to show you his purpose for everything. I think that for this to happen, you have to make active decisions to include God in your each and every thought process, and have a continuous trust that God will work it all out for a greater purpose. I think this constant attitude, as well as life's small spurts of intense excitement and happiness are what make up joy, at the very bare bones of it. Obviously joy is a concept, an emotion, and therefore is pretty difficult to define, but I think Lewis did a pretty darn good job of it, and I hope I helped to explain it for you!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one, too, because it's something that I think about and debate with myself over and over, so any input would be greatly valued! Feel free to comment or message me! Thanks guys!

April J

(Take that, Procrastination. You haven't foiled me yet!)

- the heart of an old guy

2011-12-28T21:39:00.002-08:00

The man gets so excited sometimes, it's really quite funny to see... If you saw it, you'd never believe your crowded little eyes. This man, when someone sings to him, will jump from where he sits- his beautiful, comfy chair (which seems to take up the entire area), and start jumping all over the place! He just gets SO excited! He'll start clapping and whooping and bouncing, completely undignified, until you stop singing and he flops down, exhausted, into this enormous chair of his.
Even funnier, and so adorable and joyous to watch, is what he does if you dance for him. If you simply just start boogying around- no particular form or fashion- just start moving around and enjoying yourself- he'll get up and dance with you! The best part, though, is that he's not just, "kind-of" dancing. He goes full on CRAZY! I'm talking like African tribal one minute, then classical ballet the next, then all of a sudden you'd think you were in a back-ally dance battle with all the crazy splits and spins on his head and whatnot! And again, if you stop, he looks all disappointed and plops himself back down in the huge plushy armchair.
But ok- the weird part is that this guy is OLD. Like he should've kicked the bucket ages ago. You'd think that just standing up would break all his bones, but yet he pulls out all these sick moves and only seems a little winded after.
I'm not really sure where he's from, either, somewhere in the middle east I think... I can't really tell, but I'm just guessing that's it by his darker skin... 'cuz his hair is completely white and really long, so that doesn't really help with the identification process... but he kind-of looks like Gandalf with more melanin and saretonin overload... all the time.
In fact, the only time you'll ever see him sad is when you tell him you have to leave. He'll erupt out of the chair, fling his cane aside and run like a madman, throwing his arms around you. He'll squeeze you so tight you think you're going to cry, and then - it's so sad - he'll start to weep, saying, "please stay just a little longer. Please stay, please stay." He'll make you promise to come back before he lets you go. He makes you promise to come back next day. You always feel bad for "forgetting," or "being too busy" to visit, because he looks so hurt, but overjoyed at the same time to see you again. It's just so moving, you know? Man, you gotta meet this guy. He's just so wild!
Oh! One more thing I gotta say about him. As you walk out the door of his house, after each and every visit, you'll hear him, still weeping, but whispering under his breath, "I miss you already. Please, please come back. You're my favorite creation. I love you."

April J

- Love and War (aka, discipline)

2011-12-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I believe it's been at least a few weeks since my last post due to my crazy schedule lately,what with graduating and all... between Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I did four written exams, one practical, and two projects start to finish. Needless to say, blogging hasn't been my first priority lately, haha.... ha.......ehem.
Anyways, with all this test writing and all-nighters and no sleep and stressing to the max, a few common themes between everything have popped up. The most common two being love, and discipline. I love cosmetology... but Lord knows that getting through this course alive takes a whole lot of discipline.

Jesus teaches love and discipline, and a lot of people will assume that the two of these are separate entities of life, separate pieces to a puzzle... or perhaps that, being separate, the two pieces oppose each other fiercely. (If you want to read more about opposition, read "10,000 Warriors & Various Other Judges"). Personally, I believe this viewpoint to be sorrily wrong. I believe that love and discipline go perfectly hand-in-hand. You simply cannot have one without the other... in fact, I believe that they are so closely related that in many circumstances, they may even pass for the same thing.

Think about it: if you love a sport, you don't just say, "I love soccer so much - I'm never going to do anything to work on it because my love will carry me through." or if your beloved dog pees on the carpet, you still smack the dog to teach it not to do that again. At the same time, you'll never fully commit to disciplining something unless you really love it - because disciplining takes self sacrifice... and so does love. Without discipline, love is useless. Without love, discipline is fruitless and ineffective. You need to be willing to sacrifice for either and both.

Now one last thing I have to say about this: sometimes, we are the beloved dog, and God is the frustrated owner because we've just gone and "peed on his carpet," if you know what I mean. Sometimes God sets boundaries and plans for us in order to protect us, because he loves us. He wouldn't be a very useful or effective God if he didn't have the backbone to discipline his creation, whom he loves, would he? So next time you feel like God, or anyone representing his purpose, is a big meany who's out to squash all your fun, consider the reasoning behind their painful discipline, their tough love. You may just find that they're not completely out to lunch, after all.

April J

- Robin Hood and Survivor's Guilt

2011-11-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

In socials 11 I learned about something called “survivors guilt.” It’s a type of depression/can become a psychological disorder in soldiers who survived a war or traumatic event, but who saw their comerades dying at the hands of the enemy. They often feel terribly guilty about surviving when someone else died or was horribly wounded or mutilated. Although I didn't know anything about this disorder as a child, I did feel it. I always felt kind of guilty that I had brothers and sisters to play with, while my friends down the street were essentially shoved in the corner by their siblings, or simply had none. I also remember feeling really sorry for my girlfriend down the street who's mom would rather paint her nails than cook dinner, or my friend down the other way who had hardly any idea that the term, "healthy food" even existed. I remember the little boy a few houses down who's father constantly drank, watched wrestling and got really angry about nothing....and I remember looking at my own living conditions after observing all of this, and thinking, "what the...?"

Several months ago I was chatting with a friend of mine about this topic. We were dicussing the confusion and guilt that so often befell us as children watching others grow up with less - less materially, emotionally, family-wise, etc, and wondering, "how does that happen? Why do I get to have all this, and they don't get to have anything?" And then the still further upset we experienced at being able to seemingly do nothing about it. I still have no answer to the "God, why do some people have lots and some people have little?" question... and I've honestly given up searching for an answer to it...because I think it's just something I'll have to ask God when I get to heaven. I think it's just one of those hard trust things where we have to kind-of go, "alright, Lord, I'm going to just hope you know what you're doing on this one, because I sure have no idea!"

I think the only thing I've managed to conclude is this: If you are blessed with much, you have an automatic responsibility to those who are in need. It's the classic Robin Hood thing... except this time the rich give willingly to the poor. I know someone in Spider Man says, "with great power comes great responsibility.." (it's probably been said before then but I didn't hear those guys so I'm not quoting them ;P ). Well, that's absolutely right. If you have the power to help someone, you have the responsibility to.

Also: If you count yourself as a "have-not" as opposed to a "have," just know that God can look after you, as well as many helpful Church bodies out there, all you have to do is ask. I'm not sure why your growing up - or maybe even your current situation - was/is so upsetting and/or terrible, but God does, and he would love to talk to you about it. Well actually, so would I. Let's have coffee or something. :D

Any thoughts on this one? Please find me on FB or Twitter at the addys in the above right collumn or leave a comment below.

Until next time (aka: until my exams and Christmas play are over)
April J

- Guest Writer Joel - Eyes on the Prize, guys.

2011-11-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all. So as exams are upon me as well as the Christmas season at work, practicums on Saturday and the pressure of attempting to script a pre-show and intermission comedy act for the Christmas play (which will be awesome, btw), I am kinda relying on my guest writers for blog posts right now, as I barely even have time to sleep these days... haha... it's upsetting that I'm not joking... :S Anyhow, I jacked this awesome post from my good friend Joel D and told him it was going up on my blog, whether he liked it or not, essentially. So sit back and enjoy his awesome insight into Heaven....

“Going to heaven” is a common reason for becoming a Christian. A Christian should often think about the paradise that is to come. It’s what I like to call, “keeping your eyes on the prize.” But the motivation for becoming a Christian is often overshadowed by the relief of not having to go to hell. People tend to think more vividly about the endlessly burning fire than the streets of gold. But this isn’t where our focus should be. If your goal as a Christian is to not go to hell then you’re giving the devil a victory. Maybe not over your soul, but of the souls you were meant to save1. You’ll always be toeing the line to the path of destruction2. But if you keep your eyes on the prize you’ll experience the fulfilling life God has in store for you.

Thinking about heaven keeps our focus where it should be: not on this world but on the next. When I first started driving, my dad’s main piece of advice would be to always look where I wanted to go. It was intimidating at first to have semi-trucks coming towards me on narrow stretches of road, and I’d find myself looking at the large grill of the truck as it raced towards me. And again my dad would remind me not to take my eyes off the road. To which I’d protest, “I was looking at it because I didn’t want to hit it.” And he’d say “If you don’t want to hit it, don’t look at it.” You see, I had been involuntarily inching closer to the semi every second I spent gazing at it. Whereas if I had kept my eyes on the prize, I would have stayed safely in the middle of my lane.
Another example goes back to when I first tried snowboarding. I had rented all my gear and still had 45 minutes to kill before my lesson so I thought I’d give the bunny hill a go. I had
been chatting with the rental guy and he had mentioned that all you needed to know about snowboarding was to look where you wanted to go. With this tidbit of information in hand I felt adequately equipped to tackle the bunny hill. In hindsight, it was amazing I didn’t kill anyone. It was true, I could steer wherever I wanted to, but I didn’t know how to stop. The only reason I didn’t hit anyone was because I looked where I wanted to go. That’s not to say there wasn’t any close calls but it prevented me from causing an injury. I finally made it to the bottom of the hill and collapsed in a spectacular heap of flying snow. It was a nerve-wracking but effective lesson in keeping my eyes on the prize.

Thinking about heaven sounds great, but some people will argue, “I don’t know what It will be like, what if it’s not that great? I mean, do they have extreme sports in heaven?” Well, there might not be snowboarding in heaven but I can assure you there’ll be something even better. Matthew 7:9-11 says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” God knows what makes us tick and he knows how to please us. But our enjoyment of this world can result in a lack of enthusiasm for the next one; a lack of creativity. If you think this world is great, just think of all the wonders and pleasures in store for you in the world to come. Still there are skeptics out there who quote Matthew 22:29-30, which says “Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” So if heaven is so great, why isn’t there marriage? As a human being I’m quite attached to my gender. It’s great being a boy! I don’t really want to end up like an angel, that
doesn’t sound like any fun! But the truth is earthly relationships are nothing but a shadow of the one to come. We can’t even fathom how great heaven will be. And we have God’s promises all throughout the bible about the nature of heaven. Rev7:16 says “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.”
John 14:2 says “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” And Isaiah 40:31 states “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” And finally, Hebrews 10:34 tells us how we should treat this world, “You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.” The best is yet to come, and knowing that can make any trial we go through in this life seem insignificant in comparison. Try and describe what you think heaven will be like. Get excited about all the cool things you are going to do when you get to heaven, and be encouraged that whatever you dream up heaven to be like, God is going to make it a hundred times better!

1(Ephesians 2:10) “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
2(James 2:14-17) “ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not

- A Scientific Argument for Christianity

2011-11-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

Ever find yourself stuck in a Science vs. Religion debate? Well, I've decided to provide you with my thoughts on the situation, in hopes that next time you find yourself in this situation, it'll be easier to croak out more than an, "uuuuhhhhh.........." ;) Enjoy.

The thing that I always bring up when people decide that "religion" is just a mass crowd controll ploy dreampt up by early dignitaries or is totally bogus, or really any other reason to debunk the faith is as follows: (and bear with me as I try to explain this whole thought thoroughly)...

So, essentially, there are two main streams of thought in this world: Science, or Religion, right? You either choose one or the other. You either stick with the "facts" or you choose to believe what you can't necessarily prove, yes?

Ok, so if you choose science, you believe, more or less, that some speck floating around up in space somewhere exploded, caused a lot of other things to explode, and, over time, gave us life. Is that fairly accurate?
If, however, you choose religion, you beleive that an inteligent being - or God - created the universe on purpose, because he/she desired to, for whatever reason. Correct?

The thing about this that I must bring up here is as follows: energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change forms. I believe most of us learned this simple universal law in grade school. So if it can't be created or destroyed, where did it come from? Obviously you need A LOT of energy for the Big Bang/life in general...so it had to start somewhere.... so, we now enter God into the equation, because regardless of whether or not the big bang is true (which I don't beleive it is, btw), someone or something had to be there to start everything in motion. Whether or not we came from the dust of the earth or the dust of space, someone or something had to create (create= to build from absolutely nothing) the all of the energy our universe now possesses. To me, the only logical explanation for this is the God of Christianity.

(I know you now ask the question, "so where did God come from?" and I answer, "I dont know. He's God. He can do whatever he wants...including start a universe.")

Hence, I believe in the God of Christianity (for this and many, many other reasons).

Yet another point is this: with science, nothing can truly be proven fact - which is another law of science which we were all supposed to learn. This became very apparent just a few weeks ago when scientists in Europe managed to fire a certain particle faster than the speed of light...light being the particle that was considered to travel the fastest in the universe, and which many of our current scientific theories are based on. (If you don't beleive me, google it). So if you believe science, you're still taking a giant leap of faith, for, as we've recently seen, even the "tried and true" scientific laws can be overturned. I also ask: were you in the lab to see the true test results? Were you there when the dinosaurs went extinct or when the first fish apparently grew legs? I didn't think so.
With religion, it's pretty obvious that not everything can be proven. Remains of things like Noah's ark and proof of the giant flood and confirmation of many other Biblical things HAVE been found. But, like science, you are relying on a certain level of faith to carry you through the belief process. Just to be fair, I will ask the Christians this (because I totally just attacked the atheists): were you there when Jesus rose from the dead or God parted the red sea? No, you weren't. But koodos for having faith anyways.

NOW, I ask you this: Which one would you rather decide to trust? Science, which states that once you're dead, that's it.. and there's no point to this life anyways because we're all just a big composition of atoms and grey matter; or Religion, that says that we each have a purpose and there is a being, or a God who cares and offers an increible after life?

Either way, you're putting faith in something about which you only know about 1/1,000,000th of the info.

Just food for thought.

April J

- Guest writer Brian - Triple Redemption

2011-10-31T10:51:00.002-07:00

A little while ago, my friend Brian did a sermon at Revolution Church, and it really, really touched me. So, I've asked him for permission to publish the sermon as a guest blog... and here it is! I hope y’all get as much out of it as I did! Enjoy!

So, I’ve decided to call this message …“triple redemption.” Totally sounds like something you would do in Mortal Kombat right?

Well it’s not.

The story we’re going to be talking about, which happens to be one of my favourites in all of the Gospels actually does contain just that, a sort of “triple redemption.” That’s right, you’re getting three redemptions in one sermon. If this were for sale, that’s a deal.

This is one of my favourite stories in the entire Bible because of what it shows about the character of Jesus, obviously, but also because of what it reveals about my own, and really all of our characters as people. But more on that later.

So the story we’re coming from tonight is found in the Gospel of John, and it starts right at the beginning of chapter four.
"Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria..." (John 4:1-4)

Let’s just stop here for a second and talk a little bit about what is happening. Something we’re going to know as we go further and further into this text is that the situation Jesus is in is VERY unusual, for a lot of different reasons, and that’s a detail that is going to be important to the redemption story we’re looking at.

So Jesus leaves town and then the text says that he has to pass through Samaria, which is very strange. It says that Jesus has to pass through Samaria. Now try to picture this with me an imaginary map. Right before our story, Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem which is down at the bottom, and he is now returning to Galilee which is up at the top. Now to any normal person it would make sense that he could just go from bottom to top in the straightest possible line. The problem is there is a place in between called Samaria.

Here it’s important to know that Jews and Samaritans DID NOT get along. Think of the deepest, purest hatred and racism you can possibly imagine. Culturally speaking it was greater than that. In fact, it was so intense that the strictest Jews believed passing THROUGH Samaria would make them unclean. Many simply made the choice to go AROUND Samaria to avoid this. Especially Rabbis and other teachers of the law.

So, why does this matter to us? Because it is the first bizarre thing that happens. Jesus is called Rabbi, so from a traditional Jewish standpoint it makes NO SENSE for him to pass through Samaria. And yet, here it is in the text. Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.” Jesus had a reason to be in Samaria, and he knew it.

Okay so now that we know the unusual circumstances of Jesus’ being in Samaria in the first place, we can keep going. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. "Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon." (5-6).

This makes enough sense right? Jesus is traveling along and come to the town of Sychar, and Jesus becomes tired so he stops to rest beside a well. Notice here that it is the sixth hour. On the Jewish clock this means it is noon. The dead middle of the day, in the middle of the desert. Not a pleasant time or place to be out and about. We’ll look into this a bit more in a second.

Now, the plot thickens, and gets even more bizarre.

"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)" (7-9)

Now I think it’s interesting that the woman spells out to us the first thing that is SUPER bizarre about this situation. Jesus asks the woman for a drink and she replies, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” There is here double confusion about the situation. She wants to know why Jesus who is male and a Jew would be asking for a drink from her, a Samaritan woman. You see, because Jews and Samaritans had such a deep, deep hatred for each other it makes no sense to her that this man would be talking to her. What’s more, he is a man and she is a woman and they are alone. Single Jewish men NEVER talked to woman in public. Especially not alone. Everything about this situation is so bizarre to her.

What’s more, this is in the middle of the day. You see, this is a very hot and arid place, and water was a rare thing. So, the women (who were the ones that would gather water) had to go to the well to draw water. Normally they would either go to the well first thing in the morning, maybe before the sun came up, or after the sun was beginning go down. There were two reasons for this. First, these were the times of day when water was needed. Either in the morning, to prepare food and wash, or in the evening, for the same reasons. But more, going during these times meant avoiding the heat of the desert.

The circumstances in which Jesus has met this woman are very bizarre. In fact, not only are they bizarre, but they’re the kind of situation that most would say shouldn’t be happening. Like the woman has said. He is a Jew, and a man. He shouldn’t be talking to her, especially since she is a woman AND a samaritan. And we don’t even know the whole story yet, we haven’t seen the whole picture.

What we can see is this: Jesus is meeting with this woman in the most unlikely of circumstances, in the most unexpected of places. Jesus has come to find this woman here and is talking to her. He is asking HER for water.

I don’t think any of this is an accident. Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria if he didn’t want to, he didn’t have to send ALL of his disciples away to get food, and he didn’t have to ask this woman for water. This woman’s circumstances meant that in reality, there is no reason why Jesus would be speaking to her. But he was. This woman has a deep need, deep brokenness in her heart, which we haven’t quite seen yet, but Jesus sees it. And he has come here specifically to speak right into her circumstances. That’s the first redemption in this story. Our circumstances.

Let’s read a little further.
"Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (10-15)

So here we have Jesus asking her for some water. And she is surprised by the fact that someone like him is even talking to her in the first place. What is Jesus’ response? Weirdly enough, he tells her that if she knew who was talking to her, she’d ask HIM for water. He tells her that he offers a water that is LIVING. He says he has a water for her that will never end, that will always provide for her thirst. And here’s the thing, she doesn’t get it. She says to him that he doesn’t have a BUCKET. And then she asks him where to get this water. Of course she doesn’t want to be thirsty. She doesn’t want to have to come to this well anymore. But she doesn’t understand what he’s really talking about.

Let’s stop for a second and talk about this. We come to this text, most of us, with a basic understanding that the woman doesn’t have. We know this man is Jesus and we can assume that when he talks to her about “living water” he’s not talking about something you drink, he’s talking to her about himself. He’s
talking to her about the salvation he offers, but she doesn’t see that. She doesn’t know Jesus and she doesn’t want his salvation. She thinks she’s fine. She just wants a drink. She just wants her needs to be satisfied.

Now before we go any further in this redemption story. I believe the key to understanding what this text is saying to us about Jesus and about who he is about the redemption he has for us, is for us to understand who it is in this story that we are supposed to identify with. Maybe this goes without saying, but regardless of how long we have been a Christian, how good we are, how well we tick the boxes of Christianity. We are not Jesus in this story. We are the woman. We are the Samaritan woman at the well, and Jesus has come to meet with us. This is the first point of redemption in this story. Jesus redeems situations, circumstances. You see, just like this woman, we are, at some point in our lives, in unusual places. All of us are at some point at a well, in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the day. And we’re all there looking to satisfy our thirsts. That is, we are all sometimes in places that no one wants to be, because we are thirsty for something that we keep having to come back for. And I’m not just talking about physical places and actual thirst.

So Jesus is redeeming this woman’s situation. He’s met her at a place she thought no one would be, and is talking to her, against all odds. But there’s more to her story. Jesus is after more. He’s not just talking about water. How do we know that? Let’s read further and see.

“He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied.
Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”(16-18)”

In the words of our generation, Jesus just dropped a truth bomb.

Why would Jesus go there? He has been talking to this woman about the redemption he has to offer her, and suddenly he goes and brings up the fact that she keeps going from relationship to relationship! Why would he do that? Is he trying to rub guilt and sin in her face?

Here’s why: “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.” (19)

Clearly, she gets it now. Jesus has shown her the deepest darkest part of who she is. He showed her that he knows who she is. He knows why she’s there in the middle of the day. He knows that she is here right now because she doesn’t WANT to be there when the other women are. She doesn’t want to hear them gossip about her, to feel their judging eyes, to be made aware of all the ways she’s failed. He knows the deepest hurts of her heart. He knows the failure after failure that she’s been going through. He’s shown her this, and now she knows that he knows. He’s telling her that he’s not just after meeting her physical needs. He’s showing her that he’s more than just a guy with some water.

The same is true about you and me. Jesus knows the deepest hurts of our hearts. He knows exactly what we need and what we’re looking for. He knows everything about us. He knows what we’re hiding from and he knows where we’re hiding.

Now the next part is really interesting and important. The woman makes it clear that she understands that he knows so much about her. And then she changes the subject!

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” (19-21)

Suddenly she’s talking about worship. She’s trying to talk about something big in the hopes of avoiding something more personal. And how many of us have done this before? How many times have we had a conversation with someone and as soon as it gets to something too personal, too real, we change the subject...But here’s the thing, and actually it’s the second redemption. Jesus is SET on redeeming her. He’s come to where she is, he’s redeemed her circumstances. And now, he’s about to redeem her character. He knows where she is and how she has failed and he doesn’t want her to stay that way. Let’s look at what he says.

“You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (22-24)

Okay, I know there’s A LOT happening here, and I wish I had time to talk about everything, but instead I wanna take a second to look at what exactly Jesus is doing here. So the woman has tried the classic diversion technique and started to talk theology with Jesus.

That’s totally my diversion move, by the way.

Anyway, As I said before, from the start of this encounter Jesus is here with a point, and he’s not going to let her side track him. And so, when she tries to take him to matters of theology and geography, “where do we worship” he goes straight to the point. He tells her a time is coming when where we are isn’t gonna matter, he tells her that “salvation comes from the Jews (because HE is a Jew and HE is salvation) and then he talks about worshipping in spirit and truth.

Now, this is a lot to get into, but let’s look at it like this. Jesus is telling her, in a sort of complicated way, that in the end, it won’t matter where, it’ll only matter if you believe in and worship HIM. Because he IS salvation. So, he says all this about the father and Spirit and truth, and it’s maybe a bit complicated, but I believe that is on purpose. How does the woman reply? Maybe she is a little confused about what he is saying, but she knows that he is talking about the Messiah (the Jews believed that a saviour, a Messiah would come to save them from their enemies and bring them prosperty and peace.) When he talks about how they will worship and so she says The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” (25) Now they’re getting somewhere, she wanted to change the subject, but Jesus wants her to see THE TRUTH.

And so he replies. (v. 26) “I who speak to you am he.”

Imagine the awkward silence in that moment. This woman has finally come to see that all the stuff he’s been saying is about the Messiah, is about salvation and eternal needs, eternal thirsts and finally he’s told her that HE is the promised Messiah.

Boom. Knowledge dropped.

Just then though, the disciples return. (4:27) See, they see the problems that we were talking about at the beginning, the disciples know this is a weird situation, but they don’t know what Jesus knows and I think they don’t know what to do with the situation. They aren’t out to redeem this woman. Of course,
this is the judgement the woman is always afraid of. So she leaves.

But here’s the hope in the situation. Here’s how we can see how Jesus has used this woman’s situation, and this woman’s character to bring her redemption. She goes away CHANGED by what has happened to her. She’s so amazed that she can’t help but talk about it. She’s so blown away that she doesn’t even remember to bring her water with her. (4:28) She’s not after satisfying her temporary thirst anymore. She has seen the Messiah. She has seen how he has come to her situation, that he knows who she is, and that he is the messiah that she has hoped for! He IS salvation. She can’t help but leave and go tell everyone else what happened to her! He has to come to here in her darkest shame and guilt, and offered her freedom.

“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers.
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” (39-41)

And there it is. The third redemption in this story. First, Jesus wants to step into our circumstances and redeem them. He is coming to you where are you, broken, and hurt and hiding. Even if you don’t know, or aren’t showing it. Then, he wants to redeem our situations, our character. He knows the darkest, most secret parts of our heart. He knows the sin and the hurt and fear we keep hidden and he has come to speak life into those situations. He has come to give us living water! Not so that we can HAVE the things we want, but so that we can have a constant source of satisfaction that will never dry up. Jesus has come into our situations, in our character and he wants to change that. He wants to give us a story, our own redemption story. So that like this woman, we can run yelling into “town” with reckless abandon and share with everyone we meet what he has done for us...And that is the final in our “triple redemption” trio. Jesus plans to redeem our communities. Through the stories in our lives, through the way he has stepped in, pursued and redeemed us relentless, he also plans to redeem our communities. This means the places we live, the people we work with, our families, our friends. Anywhere we go, Jesus wants to give us living water, he wants to give us a new life that we are so excited about we can’t help but tell everyone around us about it. He wants this for us because of when they see us, when they hear us say “he told me all that I ever did.” When we show with our lives, and our hearts and our words that Jesus sees past everything we hide behind and offers us living waters, eternal joy, then it is the hope, and the prayer and the intention that they too will listen. They too will hear Jesus and that he speaks into our deepest needs. And Believe that he is indeed the saviour of the world.

But here’s the thing. It’s not about something we do, it’s about listening to the voice of Jesus as he calls to us in our shame and guilt and ignorance and sin, and calls us out. The joy and story we share isn’t about what we do but about what Jesus gives us. Living water..

Everyone one of us has a desire in our heart that needs to be filled and we all come to the well to have those thirsts filled. We want satisfaction. We need it. Maybe for us this isn’t water. Maybe it’sfriendship, or to feel loved, or to have comfort or security or some sense of control in our lives. Maybe also, it’s not a well. Maybe it’s relationships. Relationship, after relationship, after relationship. Or maybe the security is money, and we’ll do anything we can. We’ll lie cheat and steal and hoard money, because we think it will give us some sense of security. Or maybe it’s drugs, or alcohol, or food. Or maybe it’s not something big like that. Maybe it’s something little. That just hides under our skin and distracts us from reality. Maybe it’s making believe that the problems in our lives aren’t really problems.

Either way, we, each and everyone one of us come to a well for something that we need. And each and every one of us, whether we’re Christian or not, is offered by Jesus a living water, one that will never end, that will bubble up forever. Jesus is offering us these things.

And we think he doesn’t have a bucket, and we think that he’s offering us more of those THINGS we want.
My appeal is that we would all see ourselves as the woman in this story. Obviously everyone here isn’t divorced five times and living with their boyfriend. But I know some of us here are probably divorced. One of us here definitely is. But for those of us that aren’t, we can all relate to this story. No one gets off by saying “that isn’t me.” To those of you here who feel like you’ve got it all figured out, like you’ve got your ducks in a row and you are really good at being Christian. Or aren’t a Christian and just feel like you’re a good person and you live a good life, Please, be honest with yourself tonight. Search your heart. Ask Jesus to come in and show you what is hidden beneath. Sometimes it’s things that we just don’t see it. Sometimes it’s thing we wanna avoid.

I think some of us have been “going to the well at noon” for a long time without realizing. Without realizing that we’re ignoring sin in our life. Maybe we let ourselves believe it’s not a big deal. That there are worse things we could be doing. Well it’s all a problem. I don’t say that to make you feel guilty either. I say this because I want you to be free. Notice Jesus isn’t afraid to get straight to the Samaritan woman’s heart. This isn’t because he wants her to be full of guilt over the things she has done. This is because he wants her to see that he DOES offer living water, and it is more than just a drink for thirst. It is a well. It is a constantly bubbling up spring that we can drink from WHENEVER we need and it will give us satisfaction. It is the kind of water that still satisfies even when we are all alone. When our friends have left us and our relationships are broken and we are lonely or afraid or have no control over our situations. The living water Jesus offers isn’t a quick fix, and it’s not easy, but it is eternal. We need to spend time tonight and search our hearts for these things because through them, in acknowledging them and in seeing that they are sin, we can ask for forgiveness, and through Jesus be given forgiven. And then we can be redeemed.

You’ll never have to come to this well again. You will never have to return to the well of social outcast, of serial marriages or serial relationships or serial sex. You will never have to return to the well of alcohol or drugs or money or sex or success or ambition. Ever.

I recognize that that is a big claim. And I know from my own life as much as I’m sure the Christians in here know in their own life, that it isn’t necessarily going to be quite as easy as that. But that’s the point of this story really. Regardless of what we walk through, Jesus is always there. We are never so far away that he won’t come find us. We are never so far away that he won’t see what we are doing. We are never so far away that he won’t offer forgiveness. We are never so far away that he will stop offering living water to us. That’s why it’s called living water. Living water is flowing. It is always fresh and always there.

But we have to recognize, regardless of who we are, that we are NOT Jesus. The point of this story is not that we are supposed to be like Jesus take opportunities to share our faith (though this is true) but that we are the woman. We need Jesus.

We are all like this woman, we are constantly running from the truth. We are hiding each time. And Jesus is, well he is Jesus. He knows the truth. He knows you have 5 husbands and that the man you are currently with is not your husband. He knows that you jump from relationship to relationship looking for satisfaction. He knows that you care WAY too much about money. He knows that you hate the people you consider your friends. Every little secret Jesus knows. He knows everything about you and the good news is that, just like with this woman, he will not stop pursuing you. Jesus can and WILL redeem our Situations. He WILL make the addictions and fears and dependencies of our life into new things, in to creative things. He WILL redeem our character.

And he WILL use these things to redeem our communities. He WILL use our own lives to help others. But we can’t stop coming to him. And if we don’t come to him already, we have to start. When we come to him and KNOW the deep satisfaction that his living water offers, THEN we will have something we want to share.

- Results of the Alcohol poll

2011-10-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

I asked my readers the question,"What is Your Personal Stance on Alcohol?"
Here are the results:

I'll never touch it - 16%
It's fine in moderation - 80%
Have as much as you want - 4%
I'm not sure what I think - 0%

So there are your results! Go ahead and feel about them however you will. :)

April J

- 10,000 warriors and various other Judges.

2011-10-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

Usually, I read the New Testament. Philippians, Galatians, Romans, John. Or I read fluffy Old Testament - Song of Songs, Genesis, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes (even though some of these books have sorta crummy messages sometimes, it's mostly theology. It's free to interpretation so I forget about it quickly). However, this Monday, as I lay in my bed feeling like a semi-truck had hit me going 100 km/h, sipping my third cup of herbal tea, I oppened up to Ruth. Then Judges (which is where you find Samson`s story, btw). Six verses into Judges, the Lord had already blessed a war, 10,000 "enemy warriors" from the town of Bezek had been killed, and King Adoni-bezek had been captured and had his thumbs and big toes cut off.

Fun stuff!

Personally, I got really excited about this. I'm still not even finished chapter 1, but I'm already mezmerized by this new God that has shown his face in my life. Why? Because I hate the notion that God is a pushover, because he's not. Our culture constantly preaches love and forgiveness and protection from the creator, which is fantastic, don't get me wrong. God is loving and kind and perfect and wants you to go to Heaven to be with him (John 3:16, Ps 40:17, 1 Tim 2:3-4). However, he will not be made a fool, either, and I think this fact gets glossed over all too often.

Recently at Young Adults we have been talking about Heaven and Hell and judgement day and things relating to the subject, and there's one thing that hits me every time: God has the final say, and he is willing to pass judgement. You see, the reason I got so excited when I read about God blessing battles and getting rid of the bad guys and even punishing his own people when they were disobedient is that I love justice. I love the feeling that everything is the way it`s supposed to be - even if maybe it doen`t make much sense to me at the time. And maybe it`s wierd, but I love knowing that God isn`t afraid to discipline me. It makes me respect him more and kind of gives him a purpose, you know? Like what`s the point in having a God and having the choice between Heaven and Hell if he doesn`t have the guts to punish people for the wrong they do? What is our purpose here on Earth then, anyways, if not to serve a God because we choose to, of our own free will? I beleive that God wouldn`t be respectable if he didn`t have the iron will that he has. Otherwise he`s just another doormat with no real power to do anything... and I don`t think I wanna follow a guy like that. Because if everyone ends up in the same place, regardless of the life they lived, where`s the justice in that?

Still having trouble with this concept? One of my instructors at school said it this way: "We all think we`re entitled to happiness. We think the world is supposed to revolve around us. We think we need - no, deserve a nice car and great spouse and fun kids and a job that pays well and all that. Well that`s crap. We`re all rotten and we don`t deserve any of that." And you know, she`s absolutely right. It says in the Bible, in Romans 3:23, that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And since the wages of sinning, a.k.a. being flawed, is eternal death (a.k.a. Hell - your interpretation of Hell is up to you), that really sucks for all of us. All we deserve is death, and certain Old Testament people had to find this out the hard way (refer to the book of Judges if you don`t beleive me).

We serve a just God, but we also serve a merciful God. Even though we all deserve to die and be miserable forever, our Lord provides a way out. If we truly and genuinely beleive that Jesus died and is the only way into Heaven, and obey what God says about how we should live our lives (James 2:20), we will have a second chance at eternal life (John 3:16).

God isn`t a pushover, but he does love us enough to forgive. Thank goodness for that. I`d like to keep my big toes for now.

April J

- Project Prayer - episode 2

2011-10-11T23:23:00.001-07:00

These are the notes from our last Praise and Prayer night at YA :)

Random thoughts:
- I (April) didn't know until this Sunday that the Lord's prayer is actually in the Bible. Check it out in Matthew 6!
- Jesus prays too! If God's son prays, we should be praying FO SHO. (See John 17 if you don't believe me. I dare you.)
- How is your prayer life doing?

Prayer for our WORLD!!
- Prayer for our leaders 1 Tim 2:1-5: "I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus..."
- Prayer for the Poland/Peru team
- Prayer for Teen Challenge
- Prayer for cancer patients
- Prayer for riots in New York
- Prayer for the pastor in Iran who is going to be executed essentially because he is a Christian, but the "official conviction" is rape. (at least that's what I understood from skimming a couple articles. Read the full story HERE)
- ANY OTHER THINGIES TO ADD?

Matt 18:20: "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Reminder: Don't be afraid to ask for prayer, and it's not our job to judge, it's God's job. (James 4:11-12, Matt 7:2) Also, if you're ever praying, and something hits you, make sure you write it down so you don't forget.

And last but not least: Good job on worship to the band that played! I beleive it was their first time leading our Young Adults group, and then did a fabulous job! Yay!!

April J

- Me and my own laziness

2011-10-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

I just had one of the most ehxillerating experiences of my life... For about the 5th time in my life. Today I came home from young adults where we had been talking about hell. Very uplifting. I had decided, upon my arrival home, to sit down at our kitchen table and read some Song of Songs. This, in and of it's self, held two strange phenomena. 1- while at home, I seem to never read my Bible anywhere other than in my bedroom, by myself, ignoring the world on purpose. And 2- of late, I never read my Bible. (Sad but true. Lately I tend to get in about 4 verses max before passing out and forgetting everything I just read). After reading about two whole chapters and making notes and highlighting the whole way along, I proceeded to my bedroom, where I planned on passing into a coma until tomorrow morning. Evidently, I did not do that.
Discipline, for me, is a strange thing. Once I decide to get one area of life in gear, such as actually sitting down to read my Bible, it seems the rest of my life quickly follows. Unfortunately, the flip side is also true. Once I neglect one thing, I totally forget about or don't bother with anything else... So maybe you have guessed were this is going... But probably not :p
After I got down to my room, I thought to myself, "man, that was a lot of turkey today. I better work out. Oh dang, there's stuff all over my floor." now lately, this train of thought would cause me to give up and go right to bed or fruit ninja. However, the little angel on my shoulder said to me, "you know, you already took the time to sit down to read the Bible, why not just clean a bit so you can do some crunches?" so I cleared away my boots and hoodie and did my crunches. And that felt so good that I did some more work out. Then that little voice said to me, "doesn't that feel great? Now wouldn't you like to top it off with a clean room?"

I learn the lesson that Nike turned into a slogan, over and over and over: Just Do It. Proverbs 13:4 says, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the dilligent are fully satisfied." Proverbs 20:13 states, "do not sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare." And I know I can't really talk here, because I'm pretty much a professional procrastinator, but I want to pose a challenge to my readers and myself. The challenge is to put one area of your life that really lacks discipline back into gear. It can be anything...such as reading your Bible more, getting decent excercise, cutting out junk food, taking more time to thank your family, whatever it is, get that one area of life back on track, and see what happens to the rest of your life. I guarantee that once you discipline yourself in one area, you'll find it much more appealing and maybe even easier to discipline yourself in other areas. What do you have to lose, anyways?

April J

- Results of the "time before dating" poll

2011-10-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

So, I asked my readers the question,

"How long is the minimum time the you ahould know someone before you date them?"

Here are the results!

There is love at first sight: 5%
1-2 weeks: 16%
Between 2 weeks and 1 month: 0%
1-2 months: 0%
More than 2 months: 5%
Just make sure you're friends first: 37%
It really doesn't matter: 37%

April J

- Jesus and Bhudda?! Tell me more!

2011-10-08T17:18:00.001-07:00

What do you picture when you hear the word, "Bhudda?" I know I picture a fat little man sitting on a fancy rug, wearing lots of jewelry, and probably meditating. Not many people really know a whole lot about Bhuddism, am I right? I kinda think this is unfortunate, since I believe you can learn a lot about respect and personal clearity from the Bhuddist faith. I know, controversial stuff right there. Let's all gossip about it!
Anyways, what about when you picture Jesus? Any time I ask people who aren't Christians or who aren't super familiar with the Bible to tell me what comes to mind when I say, "Jesus," I get answers such as, "Crosses, churches, a guy with a long face and lots of brown hair, virgin Mary, people coming to your door," etc. Not many people really know a whole lot about Christianity, am I right? I kinda think this is unfortunate, since I believe you can learn a lot about your eternal destiny, true love, respect and personal clearity, and many other things - like the fact that God is still alive - from the Christian faith. Ha! Gossip about THAT.

My point is this: if people don't know about God and who he is and what our faith is really about, how are they supposed to believe in him or love him? Wondering why more people don't pray to God for help or turn to the church or believe in Jesus' death is like wondering why more North Americans don't wear turbans or meditate - we have little to no knowledge of it or what it's for, so why involve ourselves with it?
My Scottish pastor says that Christians in Canada are lazy and afraid, in general. I had a client one time at the Hair School who was a pastor from South Africa (I believe?) who said the same thing. Honestly, I agree with them. I'm lazy and afraid. Or lazy because I'm afraid. How many times have I skirted the topic of church or religion because I was afraid of being rejected? Far too many. How many times have you done the same thing? Far too many. This is my call to arms against complacency in our lives. Ladies, Gents, it's time to get off our hineys and get our heads outta the sand. People need God! They need Jesus! For real!! It's time to prove to people that Jesus isn't just some guy with nice brown hair who had some wise things to say. If you have Jesus, spread him around.
After all, if you've got it, flaunt it, right?

April J

- Forgiveness and Flat Irons...

2011-10-01T12:27:00.001-07:00

Well, $90 later, I have the inspiration for a new blog post... (sigh).

So, for the last couple weeks, I have been doing practicums as part of my hairdressing course. This means that I go into a local salon and work for them for a day assisting senior stylists, sweeping hair, cleaning stations, folding towels, shampooing clients, etc., in order to gain work experience. Well, during one of these practicums, I had taken my flat iron out for something, and put it on my station counter, along with my blow dryer and a brush - which is normal procedure in a salon. Anyways, after carefully positioning the afore mentioned hair styling tools away from possible snags, flammables, and any other possible hazards, I went to give the salon owner a scalp massage in the shampoo room, as instructed. With the massage completed, the salon owner offered me the option to get a free feather extension, and I obviously accepted. What happened next, I can hardly describe as anything other than unfortunate.
After I had obtained a beautiful aqua blue feather extension, I was sent to the task of wiping down dusty shelves. At the same time that this was happening, a client came in with her two little girls to have their hair cut by one of the stylists at the salon. The woman's children were pretty high energy and needed a place to sit, so the stylist grabbed the chair from my station and began wiggling it over to her station, which was fairly close by. (Here you must picture a small woman trying to move a large, heavy salon chair that is meant to be immovable so that clients don't tip over and/or break the chair. The scene involved a lot of twisting and yanking of the chair in question). After a few twists and yanks, a terrible scene unfolded. Somehow, the stylist had managed to twist the chords of my flat iron and blow dryer around the foot pump of the chair. With one more yank, my professional, $100 flat iron went flying and crashed to the ground with the brush I had left on the station. My blow dryer, which is also professional quality got a good yank on the chord, but didn't fall because I had put it into one of those little cylindrical holders. Thank God - and I say that because I litterally thank the Lord that the blow dryer didn't also fall.
The poor stylist, and poor me stood gaping at each other for a few seconds - me with a rag and cleaning spray in my hand, aimed at nothing, and her crouched on the floor beside my grounded flat iron.
She busied herself picking up my belongings and I slowly turned back around, becoming very interested in wiping the counter - simply for the fact that I didn't know what to do about what had just unfolded.

Now fast forward two days to yesterday - which was Friday. Picture me, in the morning before school. I wake up, plug in my flat iron, and pray to God (again, literally) that it still works.
It didn't.
Now, you must understand something here. A flat iron is like scissors to a hair stylist. You simply cannot do your job without one. A flat iron is not like thinning shears or a curling iron which, if you find yourself without one, can be compensated for by way of using a different technique with another tool. Example: you don't need thinning shears to thin hair, you can do it with a razor or normal scissors, but no tool will do the job of a flat iron, it just doesn't work. Also, flat irons are not cheap. A bottom level flat iron that would drive a stylist mad and probably break after a couple years costs about $45-$60. If you want one that will last and do a good job, you're looking at about $80-$120. Now, knowing this, you may begin to understand my upset over the whole situation. I can't even describe to you the number and level of unholy curses that arose in my head right then. It was like an uprising of angry toddlers, all screaming and throwing macaroni and banging their spoons on their high chairs. That is the level of noise and anger that arose in my mind, but all that came out was, "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGUUUUUUHHH!!!!!!!!!" as I tossed my broken flat iron onto my bed and stormed into my sister's room to use hers.

So you are now thinking, "wow, that's really, really unfortunate." Well, yes it is. Thank you for attending my pity party. I'll be handing out party favors later. Anyhow, I came home that day after school, pondering my options. Sally Beauty Supply in Abbotsford has fairly reasonable prices on flat irons, I thought, and going back to the salon and demanding that the other stylist pay for my flat iron would be career suicide. Ugh. I suppose I will just have to go get a new one. (more grumbling) This is so frustrating!! (I grab my hairspray and fix a stray hair) I really can't afford this. She should have to pay for it, after all, she broke it! (I slip on my shoes to head to Sally) Friggin girl. Why would she do that.....?
And as I stood there in my room, grumbling in my head and feeling very sorry for myself, this thought finally dawned on me: Oh yeah, forgiveness. I literally straitened up from brushing something off of my shoe, stared at myself in the mirror, and sighed. I knew God was telling me something here, gently teaching me some softness of heart. For if Jesus can forgive those who crucified him (Luke 23:34), how much easier should it be for me to forgive someone who has simply cost me some money - and by pure accident at that? I quietly and soberly considered this as I got in the car and raced into Abby to pick up a new flat iron.

90 dollars later, I emerged from Sally Beauty Supply with a new flat iron in hand, and an extended warranty ready to be activated. Feeling defeated, I plopped back into the car and sighed, as had become a habit that day. Pulling out of the parking lot, I began expressing my feelings about the situation out loud to God.
"God," I moaned, "why did this happen? I've been working soooo hard to control my spending and be careful about my money. I worked so hard for that, and now it's just shot because of carelessness and a bad accident. I'm so upset, Lord, so upset. I'm just so frustrated."
And God, in his way, spoke quietly through a nudge. "Quiet, child. You need to forgive that stylist. How many more things have I forgiven you for? Grant her this service, and leave your anger behind." I sighed again, exhausted and irritated. Again, I heard, "Quiet, my child, listen to my words." At this point, I felt the urge to turn on Praise 106.5, so quietly, I turned it on. A song started playing that kept repeating the lyrics, "you're beautiful." I'm not sure why this comforted me so much, but it did.

So I guess the moral of the story is this: God forgives us daily, even hourly. How much more incentive, then, for us to forgive others? Just food for thought.

April J

- Heaven and Hell - What's the big deal?

2011-09-24T15:59:00.004-07:00

You know, I sometimes have debates and conversations with myself that go back and forth, back and forth for weeks, or even months, on end, and never get resolved or ended with much more of a conclusion than an exasperated sigh and a defeated flop down onto my bed. Well, I had recently put myself in danger of yet another endless mental circle, when my YA pastor made a relieving announcement: We were to be starting a Heaven and Hell series on Tuesday nights. I found this to be such a relief because the conversation that kept coming up in my mind was this:

"What would happen if Christians as a whole just suddenly decided to live like other people? And why don't we just give up on these stressful rules (I was primarily thinking of the no sex before marriage, no same-sex relationships, and serving others before yourself) and do what we want? What's the big deal anyhow? And why would a loving God punish us for doing any of that?"

To be honest, it's a little embarrassing to admit that I, once again, was seriously doubting the Lord's sanity... but there it is. I was honestly wondering, "What's the big deal about all of this anyways, and would God actually send someone to Hell for it?"

Well, I got my answer this last Tuesday. At YA, the message essentially was this:

-Hell exists, and people will end up there (Ps. 9:17).

-Sin definitely separates us from God and Heaven (Rom. 3:23).

-God's ideas about justice are far different from ours, so suck it up if you don't like the way he deals with things. (Is. 55:8-9).

Ouch. Talk about a smack in the face. I felt pretty stupid upon re-realizing that last point for about the 600th time.

Our pastor played a clip by Francis Chan (see it below), and what really hit me was his point,

"You can't really begin an argument with, 'Well, I wouldn't believe in a God who would....' Who would what? Who would do something that you wouldn't do? Did you ever even consider the possibility that maybe the creator's sense of justice is actually more developed than yours? And that maybe His love, and His mercy are perfect, and that you could be the one that is flawed?"

So my conclusion, in short, is this:

The ''Big Deal'' is that we fail, God wins,so we may as well listen to him. Unless, of course, you feel like being eternally separated from Him and chillin' out with Satan in Hell (please don't shoot the messenger... I'm just reporting what the Bible says... don't hate me!) and he is not a nice guy. He`s a thief and a liar and a murderer (John 10:10). Blehhh. Personally, I unfollowed and unfriended him a long, long time ago.

And just to clearify what Hell is, it has scored a flat ZERO on the Mercer Quality of Living Worldwide Survey every year running. There are no Psychiatrists or Dentists - "there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth," (Luke 13:28). Also, it is always way too hot. Picture the Sahara Desert in the middle of a one billion year long drought - like not a single drop of rain. No oasis to find, no clouds ever. In fact it's so hot that you find yourself in a continual state of burning....ew, right? (Luke 16:24, Mark 9)

Oh, by the way....if you don't want to go to hell, go to God. John 3:16-17 says, ''For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.''

Ask God to save you, and he will. Boom. There you go. He's like superman, but way better.

I think I'm gonna keep hanging onto this idea of an all powerful God for a little while longer.

April J