Lent 2014

I was reminded that lent is happening this week. A time where you pick something to fast for 40 days. I never really did the whole lent thing when I was a child because I didn’t really know about it. I remember I had a friend who asked me one day, “What are you giving up for lent?” Umm… say what? What’s that? “Well its when you give something up and until Easter.” Say what? I was really intrigued by it but I only thought that it was a Catholic thing because my friend went to a Catholic church and my family didn’t really do anything about lent because we went to the United church. It wasn’t really mentioned in the United church to “give up something” until Easter. Unless I wasn’t really listening…

I remember one year I decided to pick something that I was going to give up. I picked chocolate because that’s what my friend chose too. Funny thing was, I didn’t last long - no surprise there! Being a kid who loves chocolate I only lasted about a week - which I think is really good. The worst part was, whats going to happen to me if I was going to eat the chocolate and broke the fast? I honestly thought I was going to go to hell if God found out plus I also thought I was going to be in big trouble if my friend found out!

I laugh when I look back at it, but I was so confused and didn’t know any better. I just thought it was this deal that you made with God and if you messed up - you in trouble! But I understood it more when I did my first fast. I was going through a book called “A Call to Die” and it was a 40 day fasting journey. It was a very personal heart tugging book and I recommend it to every one!

This book showed me what it was like to be in a personal relationship with God and how to discipline yourself, for 40 days. It made me realize, once I was done, how much I have consumed myself into this world and how I am not consumed in with my relationship with God. I fasted Facebook for 40 days and I remember going back on, I didn’t understand what the point of Facebook was. It also felt wrong and that it was a huge waste of time. I realized that I had an addiction with a worldly pleasure and not an addiction with my Father from above.

I was reminded this weekend that lent was happening and it was a time to fast until Easter. I have been giving it some thought these past couple of days, whether I should do it or not, and I thought it was a great opportunity this year for many reasons, which I am not going to list. I then was thinking of what to fast. Something that I do on a daily basis that sucks away all my time *DING* FACEBOOK! It has been a toss up back and forth on to completely get off Facebook for those 40 days because I actually use Facebook for work and for ministry and to cut off that line for 40 days is a challenge for me.

But I came to a compromise. I have decided that being on Facebook for only 1 hour is efficient. When you think about it, 1 hour is a lot of time and enough. 1 hour is the same amount of time it takes to get from my house to Winnipeg. It feels long to drive to Winnipeg but when I am online it feels like 5 minutes.

This year, lent is going to be more different for me. I will have a lot of extra time to dive deeper in the Word, deeper in my relationship and deeper in prayer. I also feel my heart tugging towards my church. I feel as though this is a time to pray and focus on my church; to pray for the people, to pray for the ministries, to pray for my pastor and leaders and to pray for anything else that may come in its direction.

This year lent will be focused on self, God and church. I encourage you to fast something that distracts you, something that you go on everyday and see how that will change your life and how much more free time you have on your hands.

Are you willing to kill the thing that takes your time away from God?

#Verse2014

It’s been a long while since I posted something on my blog… Yeah, been a very long while but I haven’t really forgotten about my blog though. I have written some posts but they have been a challenge for me to complete and to finish writing… Well that's pretty much what most of my life is like - I can start projects but can never really finish them or it takes a very long while to finish. Yes folks, I am what you call a procrastinator but I digress.

I was inspired by a verse just yesterday and I wanted to share and hopefully encourage you in this new year of two-oh-four-teen ;)

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 
~ Matthew 7:7 (NLT)

I felt, after reading this verse, that God is giving me this verse for this year. He is giving me this verse for encouragement, for determination, to trust, to seek, and to never give up. Let me tell you that there are things in my life that I just don’t really know what to do about. I feel as though I am stuck in the middle of a four way stop with four different directions to chose from (maybe more or less) and I just don’t know where to go, what to do or how to go about it. I feel as though I am in a season where I just don’t really know what to do - like a 20-something mid-life crisis (just being a touch over dramatic if you can’t tell). But this 20-something doesn’t know what to do...

"I don’t know" is actually a line I use quite a lot in order to think things through a little more or just not wanting to deal with things. But there are times where I just don’t know. When I look back, I didn’t know that I was going to end up being in Bible College, I didn’t know what it was going to be like. I knew I was going to Thailand, but I didn’t know what it was going to be like there. I didn’t know that I was going to the Yukon and I didn’t know that I was going to live in Manitoba. I didn’t know these things and I didn’t know what to expect. But the funny thing is when I didn’t know where I was going, how I was going to get there or what to expect- I did it anyway. I felt if it is where God has wanted me to go, I was obedient and just did it.

The thing is this time is that I don’t know what to do now. There are many different directions in my life but I am in the “I don’t know” season and its a season that speaks for itself. But one thing that I am learning is that if you don’t know, seek God. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will open.

There are many different opportunities for me in this new year like there were in the previous years but one thing that I am trying to learn is seek God first and be obedient to what He wants you to do. Not what your family, relatives, friends or even (dare I go there) you want to do because we have to remind ourselves that He is the one who is in control.

So I encourage you in this new year to find a verse that is challenging or a verse that God has placed on your heart and have that as #Verse2014. A verse you will see 365 days this year, a verse that you will meditate once a week or once a month, a verse that is a reminder when you are going through difficult, dry, challenging seasons. Its a challenge I am trying to live out more than three days and more than one month, to see where God really will take me in 2014. He has taken me to great lengths years past and I am super excited, scared, nervous, stoked, and willing to do what He wants me to do.

Here’s to God’s word, God’s timing, God’s leading, and seeking God! #Verse2014