Let is snow, Let is snow, Let it snow....

Well, I just got home from work and the drive was pretty crazy. This morning, I decided that it would be a good idea to take my mom's Toyota Matrix to work. My brother put her snow tires on her car this past weekend. It was a good decision since we are in the middle of a snow storm right now. I left work at 4:40 PM and the drive out of Guelph was fine, but things changed the closer and closer I got to home. I spent the last 30 minutes of my drive only going 40 km at the most. People need to learn how to drive in the snow!! I'm glad I made it home safely and I'm going to stay in for the rest of the night.

A great night in Toronto!

Last night, Kellen, Jake, Mike and I drove down to Toronto to the Ricoh Coliseum at the Exhibition Grounds. To attend Passion Toronto, which is put on by Passion Conferences which is an organization out of the States. We met up with Lynlee, Corey and Renee. It was an awesome night. It was a free event - 4500 people from the ages of 18 - 25 gathered to celebrate Jesus and to worship Him. The Speaker, Louie Giglio, talked about how small we are in comparison to how big God is. He showed us some pretty amazing pictures of the galaxy, showing us the incredible universe that God created. The best part of the night for me was the worship. Charlie Hall, Chris Tomlin and the David Crowder Band lead worship through out the night. I have a new favourite worship song, it's called How Great is our God. Chris Tomlin sings it. I first heard it at Aquire the Fire and have been listening to it ever since. It was a fantastic night.

Afterward, we (like all good Canadians) stopped at Tim Horton's to get a beverage (I say beverage because I don't actually drink coffee) to warm up and reflect on the evening. It ended up being a late night. I didn't get home until 1 AM. But it didn't matter. I'm so happy that I had a chance to be there.

It seems I missed all the drama..

Last night, we took 70+ teenagers to Laser Quest in Brampton. We took a bus and 3 cars. It's awesome that we had so many people come out. Laser Quest is always a popular Youth event. I remember the first time that I ever went to Laser Quest, I was one of the worst players. But age and practice make a difference. Last night, when I played, I placed 6th out of 28. Yippee!

But it seems that I missed all the Drama last night. I had to leave early so that I could make it to my soccer game. During the last game Pastor Jake tripped over his shoe lace and cracked open his head, check out the story and the picture on Jake's Blog (I'm glad you are okay, Jake). Tricia drove him to the hospital and Kellen was the only adult on the bus ride home. All I have to say is great job Kellen for managing all the teenagers on the bus. We are definetely going to book two buses for the mall rally in two weeks.

One a side note, we tied our soccer game last night. We scored 1 goal in the 1st half and 1 goal at the beginning of the second half, but the other team turned up their game and scored two goals in the last 2 minutes. Hopefully, next week we will pull it together and come up with a win.

Old Testament Foundations

I'm taking another course from the Canadian Theological Seminary (CTS) in Toronto. CTS Toronto is a satellite campus of CTS in Calgary which is all part of Alliance University College.
Courses in Toronto are all based on a part time model. Students go to class for 2 weekends (Thursday and Friday night from 7-10 PM and Saturday from 9 AM - 4 PM). The courses are pretty intense and a lot of material is covered in short amount of time. But most students are already working, so this format works really well.

On my friend Don's prompting, we decided to take Old Testament Foundations together. I would have chosen to take New Testament Foundation. But Don convinced me that starting in the Old Testament was the way to go. I'm glad I listened to him. The course has been really great. Both weekends of classes are finished and I've already handed in my first assignment. It was a timeline of the history of Isreal in the Old Testament. My presentation ended up being PowerPoint. I had wanted to make a Video and recruited my friend Mike to do the filming and the editing and the teenagers in my Youth Group to help with the acting. But in the end I didn't have enough time to pull off what I wanted to. So I reverted to PowerPoint. I'm getting ready to start my second assignment. It's a literature paper that worth 50 % of my final grade and has to be 15 pages in length (double spaced). The topic is the Theology of the Old Testament, which is pretty broad, so I'm trying to narrow it down right now to a specific theme. I have started my reading but I'm trying to get the outline of my paper roughed out so that I can start plugging information in when I come across it. Wish me luck, it's going to require discipline and persaverance for me to get this paper done.

My professor, Mark Boda did an excellent job teaching about the Old Testament. He teaches full time at MacMaster's Divinity School but teaches at least 1 course at CTS each semester. My understanding of the importance of the Old Testament has greatly increased. It's much easier to read the Old Testament when you have more extensive background knowledge about culture and the time period. Thanks Professor Boda for opening my eyes to how amazing the Old Testament is.

Wherever you are - Third Day

Third Day released their new album today. They also launched a brandnew website to go with the album. It's pretty cool.

There are 3 different album covers associated with the album. Two are limited additions. I bought 3 copies this morning at Blessings Christian Marketplace since it was spotlight priced for $12.86 + tax. What a great deal! I also got a bonus CD with 2 unreleased songs and interviews with the band.

So far my favourite song is "Cry out to Jesus". Here are the lyrics for the chorus:

There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus
Cry out to Jesus