True, its been awhile

Hey, I forewarned you, I have a tendency of not posting often and this is proof of it.

So what have been doing to keep myself so busy that I don't even have time to post something (and probably should be spending my time doing something more productive now)? Well two things.

The first of course being obvious, but WORK. It is now getting towards the end of October and that in the retail world means full out Christmas (especially in a store that doesn't believe in Halloween). So my store has been transformed into a Christmas decorations and toy shop (including a pirate ship front and centre). Its been fun putting it out and I have to say that I like the product a lot better this year than I did last year, so thats a good thing.

The one thing I miss though is the celebration of Thanksgiving. In the States, it falls at the end of November and unfortunately its so close to Christmas that it sometimes gets lost in the Christmas celebrations and busy-ness. In fact I think the Canadian had the right thinking when they moved Thanksgiving to the beginning of October. It gives us time to celebrate it and be thankful before everything with Christmas starts.

Anyways, the second reason for being too busy has been because of the Christmas Pageant and all the practises that go along with that. How many practises, do you ask? Well since Labour Day, we've been having dance practises on Mondays and Tuesdays and then choir on Wednesdays. We've also been having the occasional practises on Fridays and Saturdays also. I'm saying occasional now because in about two weeks that will be every weekend and another day in the week also. So the times that I'm not at practises, I'm at work.

Well as you can see above, I did make it into opening scene dancing so I'm quite happy (along with be tired too of course). So far I'm doing the waltz and part of the "grapevine" in White Christmas (I know for people who have never seen it, it can be kind of confusing understanding what I'm talking about).



If you look in the very back on the steps that is where I'm going to be in White Christmas so it give you a little bit of an idea, and I have to stay on my step, I don't get off of it. Sorry no waltz pictures turned out so I can't post one.

Other than those two things, I haven't had much time for anything else. They take up the most of my time and unfortunately for my parents, they hardly ever get to see me.

Well its late and I need to sleep. G'nite

Most Wonderful Place On Earth

Have you ever noticed that if you are feeling down or in a bad mood there is usually a thing you can do, a movie you can watch, or a place you can go that will just put you back in a good mood again.

Well I think I've found that place for me. Its been a long week at work and then I had to travel 230 miles to go to manager meetings for a couple of days, and I was missing the Lock-In at church so I wasn't happy. Oh and to make matters worse the traffic was terrible and took me over an hour just to travel 40 miles.

So instead of coming straight to Lakeland, I made an hour stop at the most Wonderful Place on Earth, yep thats right, Disney World. Since I didn't have that much time, only an hour like I said, I went to Downtown Disney. Just being in that atmosphere made it all the better. I got to talk to a family who was from England, and their girls told me about the dolphins they saw in Sanabel Island. I talked to another guy who's first day was today and was working in the Candy Shoppe and he was from China. I don't know there is just something about that place. It might also be the sweets I bought today too. I found shortbread cookies in a tin with Mickey in a kilt, four chocolate covered Marshmellows, chocolate mint fudge, and a mickey shaped rice crispy bar with chocolate ears. So you see a pattern here?

Wish I could have stayed longer but if I had I probably would have spent even more money, but it might have been on something that would have lasted.

Vitamin time

So its that time of year again. First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale's 24th Annual Christmas Pageant, and today was the first kick off day.

Now, last year I only participated in the choir concert and the second act (which is the Christmas story to the Resurrection) but I wanted to be more involved this year, so I had auditions today for Opening Scene (which is a lot of dancing). I was supposed to be in choir listening to the music but instead I danced.

Now, I haven't taken dance classes since I was really little and then the odd dance lesson in P.E. from Grades 7 through 10. So for me this is pretty much starting straight from scratch with no dance history to speak of. Too say that it was difficult would be a bit of an understatement. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't so hard that I could never learn the steps, thats not true. I just mean that it will take me some time to learn it. As long as I start off slow and then work myself up to a higher level/speed, I will be able to learn the steps.

So for todays auditions, I really only felt comfortable in part of the waltz steps, and strangely its the only steps I can remember after two hours of auditions. Like I said, if given more time I can get the other steps down so I'm not too worried. I won't know if I made it until end of next week, beginning of the next, so we shall see.

Apart from that I need to start working out more. I think this will have been the most of a work out I have done since my hike in Scotland last year and even that wasn't wasn't as much of a cardio that today was.

I'm looking forward to the challenge that will happen this year since I'll hopefully be more involved this year. It also means I'll probably be more tired also because of work going on also.

I better start taking my vitamins now.

Consumed

So I have just come back from an amazing week at camp and I can honestly say that it went better than I expected.

Let me explain why first. Recently my only experience with a High School/Middle School Camp has been with the Nazarene church up in Lake Placid, FL (and if someone from this group is reading it, then I do apologise). Any ways, it was two years ago and it was probably one of the most unplanned camps I've ever been too. There was way too much free time and they didn't motivate the students in any way. I honestly don't even remember anything about out speaker or our worship band. Is that bad? The last time I was a student in a High School Camp was when I was living in Canada and I CAN remember our speakers and our worship band.

So unfortunately I was going into this years camp with this memory fresh in my mind. Now I already realised, from helping out in the student centre since October and also being on the planning team that this camp was going to be better than the last one that I participated in. I've already seen the love these students have for Christ and its been a long time since I've seen this in students.

Thankfully our speaker John R. Evans was amazing and our worship band Six Days from Sunday was awesome and I don't see us forgetting about either of them anytime soon. Our messages were from Jeremiah and being so consumed by God that no matter what is going on, we can't stop praising God and telling others about him, and constantly seeking his will in our lives.

Now the one thing that I was worried about was my group. In my group of 8 students, I only knew 3 of them well, the other 5 I just knew by name. Now to be honest about myself, unless I know you well I'm not very talkative and can be shy. I would have to say that by Tuesday night I was beginning to feel discouraged. I didn't feel as though the group was opening too much to me or to each other and I didn't feel like I was leading the discussions well but I realised that I needed to just give it over to God. As it usually happens, the next day the group opened up and I got the encouragement that I needed from a couple of my students.

I think one of the most amazing things that happened was on the second to last night. We had a cross walk. It involved each person taking up the cross and walking a few steps carrying it. You don't realise just how much Jesus did for us when he died on the cross. He had been beaten near death and then forced to walk through Jerusalem carrying the cross that he was going to be killed on. Anyways it make for an amazing night.

I don't think this is going to be a camp that I'll forget in awhile, nor do I want to forget. I hope that the students don't ever forget it either. I can't wait to see what happens for the next camp.

I'm not sure how well this is going to read since I wrote it while I'm sick and exhausted but I hope you get the gist of it.

Apology in advance

I just need to say this now so that everyone will understand, but I do have a problem with being a regular poster. I can't keep up with it and at times I might go months without a single post. So forewarning you now, if you don't see me, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I've just gotten busy or just haven't felt like posting anything, so please don't worry about it.

On other news, I'm excited to be doing MS/HS camp next week up near Gainesville. It should be a lot of fun and I hope that the students enjoy it (since the whole camp was planned out by adults with no student involvement). In fact, all the students know about the camp is that the theme is "Consume." Well as long as nothing is said, I'll let you in on a little secret, the camp theme is going to focus on TV shows. Yep, how we are consumed by TV shows and tying that into how we are to be consumed by and with God.

I'll have to admit, I am consumed by shows, some of them very worthy of lots of involvement, such as 24 or Lost, others which are just stupid and I'm still trying to figure out why I'm watching it, such as Hannah Montana (can someone please try and explain this one to me).

Its amazing how there are people that are so consumed by the shows that are on TV right now and when we see what new shows are starting to pop up, we see a new generation of Game and Reality TV shows. Some of them are interesting, I have to admit, I'm not always smarter than a 5th Grader but give me a break I've been out of school for almost 4 years now and I didn't even take American History in school, but what is up with the new one about knowing song lyrics?

Anyways, camp looks like it should be fun, and I can't wait to get to know the students more, although I do wish I had gotten the devotionals earlier so that I could better prepare. I don't like reading it at the same time and then leading the discussion group because I never feel prepared (like today when I haven't read my lesson for tomorrow, oh well, I'll do it in the morning).

Post more later (hopefully after camp)

A new bowl

Well I've decided to start a new bowl, a new place to put all of my thoughts and the things that go on in my life and where I can come back and just connect the dots. I'm not sure how much in detail this may go or if it will be very shallow or even a mixture of both but only time will tell. Currently my life is good. I have a good job, great friends, and a family that loves me, what else do I need?

How about a brother that can be free from his depression, the alcohol that still seems to want to take hold and the cutting that allows him to feel in some small part in control. Yep, its difficult to deal with because I don't know how to deal with it. You hear about other people who have friends or family members that suffer with it, but it seems so distant because it doesn't involve you. But what if it really does? How does one deal with it? I really don't know. I've always been a quiet person, the one that everyone comes to just to unload their problems, a listening ear. I'm not expected to have the answers or give the advice that they might need, I'm just there to listen and to show that I care. So how do I show this to a brother who I hardly see because of scheduling differences, that even though I'm not saying it, I do still love him and that I do still pray for him? He'd been doing so well for so long, and now seems to be backsliding. I'm thankful for my friends from church who are able to talk to him and give him advice and be there for him when I'm not. Occasionally I do feel resentful about it, because I keep thinking 'What would my life be if my brother wasn't this way?' But I have to constantly remind myself that its not his fault. I love my brother and I wish I knew how best to help him but I don't and I know that the only thing that I can continue to do is pray for him everyday and pray that God will intercede and bring him out of a depression stage, keep him away from the alcohol, and stop him from cutting.