The insanity never ends

So much to do and so little time! :P I guess that's my own fault though. So we have 4.5 weeks of school left and tons of assignments coming up. Next week will be absolutely insane! I'm just praying that I'll have the discipline and energy to get through the week. I'm excited about a few of our assignments, but I think I have four things due, so it'll be pretty crazy.
Besides school life has been pretty good, minus a silly cold. Saba and I went for a bike ride today which I really enjoyed! Though painful, it felt very good to get using some muscles that haven't had much exercise over the winter. I get to go home this weekend for Easter!! It should be quite enjoyable, and Lucas is coming too. I need to make sure I get some homework done...though I'm not sure how likely that is to happen. :S
Anyhow, life has been good...confusing at times, exciting at times too, and always, always busy!
Lots of love to you all. :)

Hurray for the 80's!

1984...the greatest year of the 80's...because I was born. :D lol Actually, the 80's kind of scare me. It was probably the worst decade ever for fashion and music. I'm glad that I was born in it and therefore was too young to participate fully in the styles. Tonight we had our McFormal and it was a lot of fun! We all dressed up and went for dinner and dessert at McDonalds. I found this GREAT dress at Value Village. A better word to describe it would probably be hideous. It was soo much fun though. My makeup, jewelry, hair, dress...everything was 80's-ish. We watched The Incredibles too...such a good movie! Definitely one I would like to own in the near future. I've got a bunch of reading to do tonight, so I'm gonna run. Life is crazy busy right now, and it won't slow down any until school is over at the end of April. It'll will be a rough few weeks ahead, but God is faithful and with His strength I will be able to keep pressing on.

Keeping busy

So a lot has happened over the past few weeks. I was chosen to go to the East Coast as a part of the KLBC drama team over break. It was a great trip! Although it's not always fun being crammed into a 12-seater van for hours on end, we made the most of it and enjoyed the trip out and back. We did five different performances over the weekend and we got to meet with tons of youth! I had such a great time, and it was so encouraging to see the amount of youth that were there and to talk to them and encourage them in their plans for the future. God was faithful and gave us the energy we needed to get through the week with not enough sleep, and hours on the road. I hope to go back again next year...or maybe to make a trip out there sooner! I love the people out east. They're so much friendlier than Ontarionians. My mom said I couldn't move out there...it's too far away. Not because she cares to see me...she just doesn't want her future grandkids to live so far away. lol
When I was home over the break I was talking to my mom about evangelism (because we were taking that course) and my church. We came up with some great ideas and I'm so excited about this summer to try and put them into practice. It's going to take a lot of planning, and I'm going to need a lot of help from my church, but if we can put the time into it then it should go well. Now would be a good time for me to start praying about it.
We had our first and only overnight choir trip this weekend. It went quite well! On the Saturday night, Amy and I partnered up for billeting, and we had the craziest house ever!! I'm jealous of the boys...and the indoor pool at the place they stayed. :P Amy and I stayed in a farm house...with water stains and crumbling ceilings. They had a shed of geese, and a pet turkey somewhere around the yard. There were five children, all homeschooled. They were all in bed when we got there (including the 17 yr. old boy) and she basically sent Amy and I to bed too, telling us the kids would be excited we were there and would wake us up at 7 then next morning. :S We got a kick out of that one! We were quite glad to be out of there, even after a wonderful breakfast of porridge with flax seeds and these super healthy blueberry roll things (like cinnamon rolls...but with blueberries, and no sugar). They were very nice people though, and it was kind of them to open their house up to us, though I wouldn't want to live there.
So after 1 hour of sleep last night, and 5 hours this afternoon, I'm about ready for bed. I don't really want to do another sermon, but at least my next one won't be for a few weeks. I learned a lot after studying that passage in James though. It would be soo beneficial to study the whole Bible like that, but we always seem to be in some kind of rush and everything we do, we do half heartedly and don't put much effort into it. I'm off to bed now...just remember that in all temptations that arise, you have the choice in how you will deal with it. It can either lead to sin, or it can be used to strengthen you.

James 1: 13-15 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fullgrown, gives birth to death.

Just some thoughts

It's now 3:00 in the morning and I really should be sleeping. I've got classes at 8:25 and an exam at 1:20 tomorrow. I don't know why I'm not in bed, I've been taking my time cleaning my room for room check tomorrow, and I've been casually doing other little things. I think I'm just enjoying the quiet here...I finally have time to myself to think and not have to worry about other people being around to disturb me. Court (who's sleeping) has On Fire by Switchfoot playing over and over and it's kind of calming. (When she likes a song she puts it on repeat for days) I'm afraid to go to bed because I know tomorrow will be absolutely crazy. I haven't studied yet, and my paper isn't finished and I wanted to hand it in tomorrow. I'll be super tired and probably a little stiff, but I don't want to sleep. This semester has been so draining, and not because of the school work either. It's all the other problems that come up that I somehow end up in the middle of. I enjoy being there to be able to help, but sometimes it's just too hard. Residence life isn't easy. God puts us in these situations for reasons. I'm trying to learn through it, but sometimes it's hard to figure out what He's trying to teach me. One thing that has kept coming up is love. I know I'm not very loving towards people. I judge way to easily. I've been reading through 1 John and a lot of it is about love, and loving our brothers. Why is it so difficult to do? Why does our pride make us think that we're so much better than everyone else? I look at myself and I get so frusturated sometimes because I see so many faults that I need to fix. Yet, at the same time, I go around judging others for the faults that they have and for the little things that they do that annoy me. I can't do anything with out Christ; I am nothing without Him. I need His strength to love others the way He loves them and me. I want to be loving, and it's a goal I need to work towards. In class last week we did this assignment where we had to substitute our name in for "love" in 1 Corinthians 13. Well, I realized that I am definitely not loving...each one of those statements with my name in it was false. Yet, when I put Jesus' name in there, each one was true. I am failing at becoming more like Christ. I need to make it a daily goal to be more like Christ, to love and not judge, to be open to criticism in my life so I can honestly grow closer to Him and become like Him. I'm really glad to have this time to myself tonight...I've been getting really stressed out, and even though I know it's not "healthy" for me to stay up so late, it's been really good to be able to just work and think, and now to sit and think. I need to make a point of going out for walks every day so I can have some alone time. Just as a bit of a sidenote, I'm really glad for the friends that I have here at KLBC. They've been so encouraging, and I know they genuinely care about me. God is awesome, and He's really blessed me this year. Even though I know there are a lot of things going on around here right now, and they're not easy to deal with, I know He'll work in these situations and somehow He will be glorified.

1 John 3:16 - This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

So much has happened since I last posted! We had our first choir trip, well, first three now I suppose. They actually went decently well. There's still a lack of word memorization, but we have most of it downpat now. I was supposed to sing in the quartet part of one song, but my voice is still giving me a ton of trouble and I'm not able to. I'm not really sure what to do about it either...it's almost like it's more than a dietary thing. Perhaps it's time to see the doctor again...we'll see. Christian Worldview is now finished...besides and exam and a paper. I really enjoyed that class! I learned so much, and even though I didn't fully understand it, I felt so much smarter and more informed about the ways of the world today. As I sit here and think of all the things we've got due by the end of school, and all the reading I still have to finish, I become tempted to quit school! :P It's crazy how much stuff we've got to do, though this year is easier for us then it had been for past students. Well, I need to get to bed, I'll hopefully post more soon, all depending on assignments and such.

Rom. 5:11 - Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Time and time again...

I had a really happy day today...I'm not sure why, especially with some of the things that were going on, such as suicide threats from friends back home, room check cleaning, and being told I couldn't have a hug tomorrow from one of my dearest friends. I've been in a great mood! I mean I'm really tired right now, but such is life. I have to read three chapters for our class tomorrow...that's not going to be too fun. Man, I'm ruining myself day by day. So much for going to bed at eleven. It just doesn't work, no matter how many times I try. There's always so much going on! I need sleep so desperately, but I don't use my time well enough to get to bed early. I need to get my act in gear (as I keep on saying and not doing) and fix myself. It'll take a lot of prayer and hard work, but I know I can do it with God's help. He'll give me the discipline I need if that's what I sincerely desire! (No more cookies from Karen! :D)

I got a wonderful complement tonight. It was unexpected too. Apparently I've been an encouragement to a couple of the girls because when I was previously approached about a problem they noticed with me flirting I told them I would do what I could to fix the problem. And now, apparently it's fixed. I was told that I closed myself off to flirting and allowing others to flirt with me, which was awesome, and that I've allowed God to work through me in this situation. It was something I hadn't thought of in a little while so I was surprised when it came up. I personally thought I was just being myself before, and didn't really think I had changed much, but if they noticed a change, then I'm glad.

Well I'm off to do my reading and cleaning, b4n!

1 Corinthians 15:58 - Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

Love and pride...an almost impossible combination

I've had so much to think about this past week...a lot of stuff has been things I'm learning in class, but a lot has been from conversations I've had with people and things I've been noticing in my life. We've got a great teacher for two weeks teaching us Christian Worldview, or philosophy, and there are so many new concepts to look at. It's been extremely interesting though difficult in a sense to fully understand the reasoning of many of the past philosophers.

The more I think about it, the more I realize I'm just an awful person. No matter how much I want to be a good Christian, I'm not able to do it. There are many things I struggle with, like talking about people, and treating those more "unfortunate" ones with love, even when they annoy the heck out of you. God is love, and He expects us to be loving towards others, even when it can be extremely difficult. I think a lot of it is a pride thing. I have way too much pride in my life, and I tend to unintentionally put people on different levels of "importance" compared to myself and almost base that on how they should be treated. It's sad when you think about it, but it's something I'm trying to work on. We're all equal in God's eyes, so we should be treated equal. I guess we should treat others better than ourselves, because in reality we are nothing, it's just our pride that makes us think we are. Why does it have to be so difficult to do what's right?

So ya...lots of things I've got to think about this semester, many decisions I've gotta make in the next few months. It's going to be extremely busy, especially with all the drama and choir trips taking place, as well as StuCo stuff, and other activities that will most likely be taking place. It's been a good week and a half of the semester so far, though I've got a lot of reading and assignments ahead. I'm just praying that I'll be able to finish them in decent time, without a whole lot of stress. Anyhow, I'm off for the night....until next time!

Entry one of the new blogsite!

This is kind of exciting! I like some of these features much better than Xanga. So as things go right now, my dear buddy Lucas is the only one who knows this exists. It's quite funny actually...everyone will be expecting a post on my Xanga, but there won't be one! (Though I will tell them eventually) Anyhow...I can't make a long post, because I don't have time right now. We have room check tomorrow morning, and I have so much reading I need to get done in the next little while. Computers can be so frusturating! As much as I love technology and it has been a real benefit in society, it also causes a lot of problems. I can't even have a conversation over msn or this other program with my dad, using the mics, without some type of problem occuring. Oh well...such is life. Anyhow, I'll try and post sometime soon.
Bye for now!