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WHAT DID TROY SAY IN THE TEXT

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(Source: paralysedbeaver)

Lent… What’s the big deal?

I wanted to write a bit about Lent since today being Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and I feel like many people don’t really understand what Lent is and why it should be of any importance. I used to be in the same boat, growing up in a Baptist church I assumed Lent was a Catholic thing that was just another ritual and tradition that had no impact on my salvation and personal relationship with Christ therefore why should I care? 

Not really the best attitude looking back but I didn’t know any better and maybe you don’t either so I will try to explain it a bit based on what I have come to learn over the pas t4-5 years. Catholics observe a Christian calender (liturgical year) which includes the season of Advent leading up to Christmas and Lent leading up to Holy week and then Easter. The interesting thing is a lot of protestant denominations do not recognize following a christian calendar but we all celebrate Christmas and Easter so whether we realize it or not to an extent we are because those are always special days in a church. The season of Advent and Lent are basically just preparing yourself for these two monumental celebrations of Christ’s birth and Christ’s death/ Resurrection.  So I said I would focus this on Lent so here it goes…

Lent. It is a word deriving from ‘lencten’ which means spring and it is also know in Latin as quadragesima which is a Latin term meaning 40 days or literally the 40th day. It is the 40 days leading up to Easter it begins with Ash Wednesday. The practice is that something is given up or fasted from for 40 days excluding Sundays (which are used as weekly celebrations the Resurrection). Traditionally Catholics fasted from meat, fish eggs and milk, although there has been a lot of variation throughout history. Lent for Catholics is a time of penance and a time to focus more on religious practices. 

Why is it 40 days? Well that is biblical going back to Luke 4 when Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert and was tempted by Satan prior to the beginning of his ministry. Just as Jesus used these 40 days of fasting to prepare for his ministry so we use 40 days to fast and prepare for the celebration of the ultimate sacrifice and the the greatest gift of Christ dying on the cross for our sin and rising three days later. 

There are other references in the bible of the number 40. The Israelites wandered for 40 years in he desert before entering the promise land and it rained for 40 days and 40 nights when Noah was in the ark and God wanted to start over on the earth because of sin. 

So what does all of this mean to me? Why do I practice Lent? I believe it is important to have a time set aside for intentional spiritual introspection. A time of renewal. A refreshing break to really focus on Christ and get my heart and mind in the right place as I come into the Easter season and celebrate the event that is at the core of everything I believe and live for. I do this by giving up something that is important to me and focusing on Him who is most important. Jesus suffered more than we will ever fathom for us, shouldn’t we be able to suffer (even in this small way) for Him? 

So this year I am giving up coffee. Not an easy feat for a coffee addict who drinks 2-3 plus cups a day. But I should definitely be relying on God more than I do coffee for my energy anyways. I hope this helped clear a few things up, I am no expert but this is what I have come to know and why I believe that as a Christian whether you are Catholic or not Lent is an important practice of spiritual preparation.

Aurevoir coffee, we will meet again in 40 days!

I think about you all the time
I know you’ll be alright
But I can’t stop thinking what you’re thinking now
Are we still two of a kind?
Was everything we ever said to each other a lie
And every moment we spent
To discover the truth was in front of our eyes

I hold my breath and count to ten
I smile a little and hold it in
But I can’t stop breathing
My heart keeps beating on
As it will for a long time now

Merry Christmas here’s to many more

Well its that time of year again…

Its crazy how fast the year has gone by and now here we are back to Christmas. There is snow on the ground Christmas music in the air and a ridiculous amount of consumerism being shoved down everybody’s throat… yup its Christmas. Christmas is definitely my favourite holiday, but when I think back over Christmas’s as a kid I can’t really remember what presents I got, my all time favourite memories are the times spent with my family and friends and the traditions we created. Christmas is supposed to be more than the gifts you get, as a jr high leader I am pretty surprised when I hear 11 year olds saying they want iPod touches, cellphones and digital cameras for Christmas… yup things have definitely changed. 

One of my favourite Christmas specials is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charlie Brown is sick of how commercial Christmas has become and just wants to know what it is really all about. Without a doubt the best part is when Lionus gets up on stage and recites the Christmas story and reminds everyone that is what Christmas is really all about. I think a lot of us can get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas and forget who Christmas is actually about. 

This year I have been thinking a lot about Christmas and how hard this holiday is for so many people. The highest suicide rate comes and Christmas, such a beautiful holiday can be so depressing for so many people. So maybe when you are spending way too much money on gifts and everything else take a moment and think about the people who are hurting this Christmas, those in financial trouble and those who have lost a loved one. This may be the hardest week of someone’s life. So do something for someone in need this Christmas. Give a gift to someone who won’t get one this year and be there for those who are alone this Christmas. Make this Christmas mean more than a hole burnt in your pocket.

Maybe this Christmas will mean something more. 

Merry Christmas everybody

It’s empty in the valley of your heart the sun, it rises slowly as you walk away from all the fears and all the faults you’ve left behind

Concert Etiquette

I have loved going to concerts for quite a while now and have had a decent obsession for music for some time. I think I was 15 when I attended what I would consider my first “real” concert. It was Switchfoot at the Kool Haus and it was wonderful. It may have been from my older brothers or other people I considered wiser but I gathered from them a certain concert etiquette that for whatever reason I felt like posting. Here is the wisdom I have to pass on…

1. Do not be “that guy” or “that girl” - do not wear the band or artists shirt or whatever merch it may be to a show.

2. Do not listen to the band/artist prior to the show (mostly the drive there but I have always accepted it as the day of) - This will build an anticipation for the concert and hearing the songs.

3. Listen to the band/artist on the way home - fully appreciating and continuing the goodness of the night you just had.

4. Do not make out in the middle of a crowd - Nobody wants to see that….

5. Do not cheer for the roadies.. they are not the musician they are simply setting up for the next act.  

Anyways this is all I could think of for the time being… feel free to post more rules to your own list

The Good Morrow

I WONDER by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean’d till then ? 
But suck’d on country pleasures, childishly ? 
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den ?
‘Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies be ;
If ever any beauty I did see, 
Which I desired, and got, ‘twas but a dream of thee.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls, 
Which watch not one another out of fear ;
For love all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room an everywhere.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone ;
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown ;
Let us possess one world ; each hath one, and is one. 

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, 
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest ;
Where can we find two better hemispheres 
Without sharp north, without declining west ?
Whatever dies, was not mix’d equally ;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I 
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.

So hold on to what you believed in the light

Change… 

Fall has returned and the leaves are beginning to change. Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back  and the fall concert season has started! The weather has been fluctuating between warm and cool and I honestly can’t wait for the chilly sweater and jeans weather to be in full swing. With September coming to a close many things have changed for me. 

I have begun to get into a new routine… for me its work in a new town and starting at a new church, volunteering with youth and getting involved in some college age stuff… I am liking my new routine but new isn’t always easy. 

I am a fairly outgoing person but it doesn’t mean its always easy being the new person and feeling welcome. I think I am learning a lot through it and God is definitely teaching me. 

Be still and know that I am God. 

I cling to those words.. when life is kinda screwed up or when I feel hurt, worried or unsure of the future. 

This has been a hard spring/ summer and for me fall means change and leaving a lot of that behind . So I pray for the future… I pray for the pain in my family and I pray for wounds to heal and for love to be restored  

Build me a home 
inside your scars 
Build me a home 
Inside your song
Build me a home 
inside your open arms 
The only place I ever will belong

God is good and I excited for this year…. I am excited for change

briighter:

in my life be lifted high
in our world be lifted high
in our love be lifted high