This morning we had another Team Time with Loys. 6:30AM at New Song Church in Kitchener. Somebody showed up with Krispy Kreme's donuts and had coffee brewing. That made for good start.
Things started off with everyone commenting about Loys' bible. It's chock full of notes, post-it notes, and highlighter marks. Dave M. mentioned that Loys had taken it to a shoe repair man to add more leather in which to re-bind it since the original binding could no longer hold all his notes. After having a good laugh about that, Loys asked if there were any questions. Someone asked when Joshua made the pact with the Gibeonites and discovered it was a bad treaty, was he twice the fool for keeping it? (Joshua 9 has the story)
This got us started on a discussion of the choices we make and how they affect us. Loys told the story of a man he has met that is quite obviously got the annointing of God on his life. The man, after having worked with a church for a few years, was considering returning to the business worl
I've forgotten much of the event. Four hours has a way of doing that. Near the end Loys pulled open his bible and took us to Proverbs 25 and 26 which are all about good and bad governance, specifically pointing out 25:13 "Like the coolness of snow at harvest time/Is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him,/For he refreshes the soul of his masters." and contrasted it with 26:6 "He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence/who sends a message by the hand of a fool."
The consequences of our lives continue even after God has forgiven us of the actions. Pain teaches us how far we can go. If there was no pain, we would have no reason to stop doing what causes the pain.
To everyone who's been praying for me to get this job, or been asking if I've heard. I just got the email. They've offered the job to someone else who has accepted. Unless something really strange happens, I guess that job won't be mine. Time to nap now.
In the strange happenings today file: I had to photocopy something out of a book (no worries about copyright. the authors tell you to photocopy). So I went to Kinko's. They have these brand new photocopiers; in fact, I saw one of the old ones being wheeled out of the store. So I though, Okay, I'll turn it one way. Make one copy. (I needed 6) and hit copy. If it's turned wrong, that's one wasted sheet. It didn't copy right. So I turned the book and tried again, this time figuring I had it right. I tell it to make six copies. The first copy comes out turned sideways. I exclaimed, 'What's it doinng?' and a guy who works there came over. I explained my problem and he tried it too. Nope. he couldn't figure out what was going on either. He gets called away, and I look at the various settings. Finally, I realise what's happening. The machine looks at whatever you're copying and takes the longest edge that it can see as the longest edge on the page to output. This would work great, except when you're photocopying a page from a book. In that case, it'll always go sideways. Just as I was getting. So, I thought for a second and turned it the way I originally thought it should go and then stuck another page that I had in my backpack across the bottom of the book, covering the rest of the glass that the photocopier looks through. That was enough to convince it that the long way was the long way and it worked. So I did my copying. The guy only chareged me for the 12 (2 pages, 6 each) copies I actually wanted and not for the 14 that I didn't want. I'll know better next time.
It's been a good day. It started off not so good, but showing up to class and doing school type stuff seems to have brightened my day considerably.
This weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday, a friend called me at five to twelve and offered to buy my lunch at the Mongolian. That's an 'All you can eat' place. It's kinda sad I can only go up a couple of times now. I'm trying to remain healthy and not overeat. Saturday afternoon we hung out a bit, ran a few errands and the Wayne and Shuster was on in the afternoon. Whee! I miss them from when I was a child.
Sunday morning I was on Sunday School and we went over our time becuase the adults were done early and no one told me that they had finished. So I missed some of the after church socialising. But I got invited out to some newly-weds' apartment and we had a fun afternoon. Evening church felt rather like a celebration and was great fun. Afterward, I went over to a different friend's house and he introduced me to Dr. Who. I'm not quite sure what I think of Dr. Who, it's still too new of a concept to me.
In school today, I realised that I've got no midterms this term. All my classes either have weekly quizes or don't really having any testing until the end of the term. One class does have a couple of larger tests in late October/early November, but they're not really mid-terms like previous classes I've had.
It's kind of odd. Today, I've been a bit cross and upset all day. Admittedly, I did not get enough sleep last night. But that usually does not affect me so. I really should be quite happy, all things considered, but I'm not, and I'm not completely sure why. I feel like I've had the carpet pulled out from under my feet.
In the meantime while I sort that out, I have a boatload of homework to do. While I don't seem to have any midterms the term, I do have essays for a couple of courses. I hate essays, much more than midterms. Actually, I don't even hate midterms. They're relatively stress free compared to essays. *Sigh*
Friday has rolled around again and we have had another morning with Loys. The early discussion was about driving habits and talking about travelling from Milton to the west side of London in an hour fifteen, which could be considered a little excessive. We had some good laughs about that, and the roll of duct tape in hiding speedometers and Xian bumper stickers.
So then, someone asked a question about the time two weekends ago where we listened to Chris and Meryll. Loys started right from there and took us through Matthew 7:22-23. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Did we not ....?' and I will say to them 'I never knew you. Get away from me you workers of iniquity!'" Loys pointed out that the purpose of everything we do can not be to build our own churches. It must be to reach the lost. Counting how well a pastor is doing by how many people he has at church on Sunday morning is the wrong metric. A considerably better metric is to look to see what a man has built and how well what he has built has done after he left. Loys used the example of Chris. He built up a church in South Africa before moving to North America. That church is going very strong; it has grown considerably since he left. (Notice, that's not because he left. He's still maintaining ties with the people he worked with there.) He currently is building a church in California, and whenever a leader has arisen in that church, Chris has sent him off to another place to plant another church or build up another church, never trying to hold control of his own to build his own.
Chris and Meryll came two weeks ago, not to bless us, not to get paid, not to build themselves, but because they love Loys and Sharon, and through and because of them, those that Loys and Sharon lead. They desire to build up the body of believers and stretch them into building into others lives, and all this building for the extension of the kingdom.
That's all I have this morning. I wish I could copy what Loys says verbatim, but my memory is not that good.
Whatacritic asked me to give this to him a year ago or so. I'm so lazy, I'm just getting to it now.
Really this is a simple dish, takes under two hours to prepare, is well worth it and the last hour fifteen it's cooking in the oven with nothing for you to do.Peal up a few 'taters and slice 'em. You want enough to make two layers across the bottom of a casserole dish. Fry up some ground beef. (I assume other ground meats will work as well, but I like it as is too much to try messing with it.) You can spice the meat if you like, but salt, pepper and a chopped up onion are enough for me.Cook about a cup or a cup and a half of peas. (Actually I just use frozen peas, still frozen. It usually works just fine.)In the casserole dish lay down a layer of potato slices. (Thinner the slices are, the faster it cooks.)Then a layer of meat.Then a layer of peas.Then a layer of potatoes.A can of cream of chicken soup that completely covers the top layer of 'taters works well here. Stick it in the over at 350F for an hour fifteen or an hour thirty (whenever the 'taters are cooked) and you're done.
For the last few Fridays, I've been recording what Loys talked about at Team Time. I'm not going to really do that this week, because I internalised everything. I will tell you that we talked about Nehemiah's brother Hanani, and Loys pointed out the way Hanani was a good follower of Nehemiah all the way through. It's well worth reading.
Afterwards, we went down to Starbucks off Sportsworld Drive and hung out for a while. While there, Loys told us the story of a woman that had been witnessing to a man who wanted nothing to do with the good news. One time, Loys taught at her church and she got ahold of a tape (or CD) and gave it to this guy. The sermon went in one ear and out the other. The words of the sermon meant nothing to this guy, except two words where Loys referred to the congregation as 'My Precious'. It was Loys' love for these people that got the man's attention. We quote Jesus saying, 'They will know you are my disciples by your love' and sing that song 'They will know we are Christians by our love', but so often don't realise what we're saying. It's well worth the work of laying your life down in love of everyone around you. To live selfishly seems easier at first, but leaves nothing of value and brings back only sorrow.
I've been keeping myself busy lately. Catching up again for my courses, a bit of baking (Mmm, Pumpkin Pie), and various other things. Saturday night, I went to see Bruce Kuhn. It was a whole lot of fun watching him act out and recite the book of Luke. He left out various parts including the Temptation of Jesus and a few others, but as it was it took over an hour and a half. His take on some of the exchanges were well worth the $9 I paid. Sunday was a bit of fun with helping someone set up a computer, playing Crazy Taxi 3 (I got hooked on Crazy Taxi 2 a few years ago, and just can't seem to kick it. It's way too much fun.), and then watching Matrix Reloaded. I hadn't seen it before it was a lot of fun. I'll probably have to watch it again some time to get all the 'philosophical' stuff that they made up to go with it.
A week has gone by since I last posted. It's amazing how time flies. Late last week I was trying to catch up on sleep 'cause I wasn't sleeping well at night, so days were used. Saturday I went to a wedding and suprised a bunch of people, and Saturday evening was over at friends house to watch the Matrix (the original) It does end up with a slightly different tone after you've seen Reloaded. I feel like I'm horribly behind in classes but I can't seem to figure out what to do to catch up. It's quite frustrating.
In the news, the two "right-wing" parties are busy trying out a "civil union" according to Alliance leader Stephen Harper. I was reading some opinion piece yesterday how that comment shows just how uneducated he is, on politics and the gay rights movement. I find the merging of these two parties to actually be a little bit of a strange idea, considering the PCs have been for some time Socially Progressive, Financially Conservative, hence the name Progressive Conservatives. I can't be bothered to actually figure out how they could do that or if they were doing both. The Alliance is without a doubt Socially Conservative, and apparently financially inept. No, that's too harsh. Financially Don't Care would likely be better. It seems to me to be a match made for the sake of a match.
Consequences
by alan on Fri 3rd Oct 2003 6:38PM
This morning we had another Team Time with Loys. 6:30AM at New Song Church in Kitchener. Somebody showed up with Krispy Kreme's donuts and had coffee brewing. That made for good start.
Things started off with everyone commenting about Loys' bible. It's chock full of notes, post-it notes, and highlighter marks. Dave M. mentioned that Loys had taken it to a shoe repair man to add more leather in which to re-bind it since the original binding could no longer hold all his notes. After having a good laugh about that, Loys asked if there were any questions. Someone asked when Joshua made the pact with the Gibeonites and discovered it was a bad treaty, was he twice the fool for keeping it? (Joshua 9 has the story)
This got us started on a discussion of the choices we make and how they affect us. Loys told the story of a man he has met that is quite obviously got the annointing of God on his life. The man, after having worked with a church for a few years, was considering returning to the business worl
I've forgotten much of the event. Four hours has a way of doing that. Near the end Loys pulled open his bible and took us to Proverbs 25 and 26 which are all about good and bad governance, specifically pointing out 25:13 "Like the coolness of snow at harvest time/Is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him,/For he refreshes the soul of his masters." and contrasted it with 26:6 "He cuts off his own feet and drinks violence/who sends a message by the hand of a fool."
The consequences of our lives continue even after God has forgiven us of the actions. Pain teaches us how far we can go. If there was no pain, we would have no reason to stop doing what causes the pain.
No job.
by alan on Sat 4th Oct 2003 12:37AM
To everyone who's been praying for me to get this job, or been asking if I've heard. I just got the email. They've offered the job to someone else who has accepted. Unless something really strange happens, I guess that job won't be mine. Time to nap now.
In the strange happenings today file: I had to photocopy something out of a book (no worries about copyright. the authors tell you to photocopy). So I went to Kinko's. They have these brand new photocopiers; in fact, I saw one of the old ones being wheeled out of the store. So I though, Okay, I'll turn it one way. Make one copy. (I needed 6) and hit copy. If it's turned wrong, that's one wasted sheet. It didn't copy right. So I turned the book and tried again, this time figuring I had it right. I tell it to make six copies. The first copy comes out turned sideways. I exclaimed, 'What's it doinng?' and a guy who works there came over. I explained my problem and he tried it too. Nope. he couldn't figure out what was going on either. He gets called away, and I look at the various settings. Finally, I realise what's happening. The machine looks at whatever you're copying and takes the longest edge that it can see as the longest edge on the page to output. This would work great, except when you're photocopying a page from a book. In that case, it'll always go sideways. Just as I was getting. So, I thought for a second and turned it the way I originally thought it should go and then stuck another page that I had in my backpack across the bottom of the book, covering the rest of the glass that the photocopier looks through. That was enough to convince it that the long way was the long way and it worked. So I did my copying. The guy only chareged me for the 12 (2 pages, 6 each) copies I actually wanted and not for the 14 that I didn't want. I'll know better next time.
Good Day.
by alan on Tue 7th Oct 2003 12:41AM
It's been a good day. It started off not so good, but showing up to class and doing school type stuff seems to have brightened my day considerably.
This weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday, a friend called me at five to twelve and offered to buy my lunch at the Mongolian. That's an 'All you can eat' place. It's kinda sad I can only go up a couple of times now. I'm trying to remain healthy and not overeat. Saturday afternoon we hung out a bit, ran a few errands and the Wayne and Shuster was on in the afternoon. Whee! I miss them from when I was a child.
Sunday morning I was on Sunday School and we went over our time becuase the adults were done early and no one told me that they had finished. So I missed some of the after church socialising. But I got invited out to some newly-weds' apartment and we had a fun afternoon. Evening church felt rather like a celebration and was great fun. Afterward, I went over to a different friend's house and he introduced me to Dr. Who. I'm not quite sure what I think of Dr. Who, it's still too new of a concept to me.
In school today, I realised that I've got no midterms this term. All my classes either have weekly quizes or don't really having any testing until the end of the term. One class does have a couple of larger tests in late October/early November, but they're not really mid-terms like previous classes I've had.
Angry Day
by alan on Thu 9th Oct 2003 11:04PM
It's kind of odd. Today, I've been a bit cross and upset all day. Admittedly, I did not get enough sleep last night. But that usually does not affect me so. I really should be quite happy, all things considered, but I'm not, and I'm not completely sure why. I feel like I've had the carpet pulled out from under my feet.
In the meantime while I sort that out, I have a boatload of homework to do. While I don't seem to have any midterms the term, I do have essays for a couple of courses. I hate essays, much more than midterms. Actually, I don't even hate midterms. They're relatively stress free compared to essays. *Sigh*
Building out
by alan on Fri 10th Oct 2003 3:13PM
Friday has rolled around again and we have had another morning with Loys. The early discussion was about driving habits and talking about travelling from Milton to the west side of London in an hour fifteen, which could be considered a little excessive. We had some good laughs about that, and the roll of duct tape in hiding speedometers and Xian bumper stickers.
So then, someone asked a question about the time two weekends ago where we listened to Chris and Meryll. Loys started right from there and took us through Matthew 7:22-23. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Did we not ....?' and I will say to them 'I never knew you. Get away from me you workers of iniquity!'" Loys pointed out that the purpose of everything we do can not be to build our own churches. It must be to reach the lost. Counting how well a pastor is doing by how many people he has at church on Sunday morning is the wrong metric. A considerably better metric is to look to see what a man has built and how well what he has built has done after he left. Loys used the example of Chris. He built up a church in South Africa before moving to North America. That church is going very strong; it has grown considerably since he left. (Notice, that's not because he left. He's still maintaining ties with the people he worked with there.) He currently is building a church in California, and whenever a leader has arisen in that church, Chris has sent him off to another place to plant another church or build up another church, never trying to hold control of his own to build his own.
Chris and Meryll came two weeks ago, not to bless us, not to get paid, not to build themselves, but because they love Loys and Sharon, and through and because of them, those that Loys and Sharon lead. They desire to build up the body of believers and stretch them into building into others lives, and all this building for the extension of the kingdom.
That's all I have this morning. I wish I could copy what Loys says verbatim, but my memory is not that good.
My Casserole
by alan on Sun 12th Oct 2003 12:47AM
Whatacritic asked me to give this to him a year ago or so. I'm so lazy, I'm just getting to it now.
Really this is a simple dish, takes under two hours to prepare, is well worth it and the last hour fifteen it's cooking in the oven with nothing for you to do.Peal up a few 'taters and slice 'em. You want enough to make two layers across the bottom of a casserole dish. Fry up some ground beef. (I assume other ground meats will work as well, but I like it as is too much to try messing with it.) You can spice the meat if you like, but salt, pepper and a chopped up onion are enough for me.Cook about a cup or a cup and a half of peas. (Actually I just use frozen peas, still frozen. It usually works just fine.)In the casserole dish lay down a layer of potato slices. (Thinner the slices are, the faster it cooks.)Then a layer of meat.Then a layer of peas.Then a layer of potatoes.A can of cream of chicken soup that completely covers the top layer of 'taters works well here. Stick it in the over at 350F for an hour fifteen or an hour thirty (whenever the 'taters are cooked) and you're done.
Faith and Love
by alan on Fri 17th Oct 2003 5:50PM
For the last few Fridays, I've been recording what Loys talked about at Team Time. I'm not going to really do that this week, because I internalised everything. I will tell you that we talked about Nehemiah's brother Hanani, and Loys pointed out the way Hanani was a good follower of Nehemiah all the way through. It's well worth reading.
Afterwards, we went down to Starbucks off Sportsworld Drive and hung out for a while. While there, Loys told us the story of a woman that had been witnessing to a man who wanted nothing to do with the good news. One time, Loys taught at her church and she got ahold of a tape (or CD) and gave it to this guy. The sermon went in one ear and out the other. The words of the sermon meant nothing to this guy, except two words where Loys referred to the congregation as 'My Precious'. It was Loys' love for these people that got the man's attention. We quote Jesus saying, 'They will know you are my disciples by your love' and sing that song 'They will know we are Christians by our love', but so often don't realise what we're saying. It's well worth the work of laying your life down in love of everyone around you. To live selfishly seems easier at first, but leaves nothing of value and brings back only sorrow.
Busy Busy.
by alan on Tue 21st Oct 2003 7:48PM
I've been keeping myself busy lately. Catching up again for my courses, a bit of baking (Mmm, Pumpkin Pie), and various other things. Saturday night, I went to see Bruce Kuhn. It was a whole lot of fun watching him act out and recite the book of Luke. He left out various parts including the Temptation of Jesus and a few others, but as it was it took over an hour and a half. His take on some of the exchanges were well worth the $9 I paid. Sunday was a bit of fun with helping someone set up a computer, playing Crazy Taxi 3 (I got hooked on Crazy Taxi 2 a few years ago, and just can't seem to kick it. It's way too much fun.), and then watching Matrix Reloaded. I hadn't seen it before it was a lot of fun. I'll probably have to watch it again some time to get all the 'philosophical' stuff that they made up to go with it.
Triple busy
by alan on Tue 28th Oct 2003 8:13PM
A week has gone by since I last posted. It's amazing how time flies. Late last week I was trying to catch up on sleep 'cause I wasn't sleeping well at night, so days were used. Saturday I went to a wedding and suprised a bunch of people, and Saturday evening was over at friends house to watch the Matrix (the original) It does end up with a slightly different tone after you've seen Reloaded. I feel like I'm horribly behind in classes but I can't seem to figure out what to do to catch up. It's quite frustrating.
In the news, the two "right-wing" parties are busy trying out a "civil union" according to Alliance leader Stephen Harper. I was reading some opinion piece yesterday how that comment shows just how uneducated he is, on politics and the gay rights movement. I find the merging of these two parties to actually be a little bit of a strange idea, considering the PCs have been for some time Socially Progressive, Financially Conservative, hence the name Progressive Conservatives. I can't be bothered to actually figure out how they could do that or if they were doing both. The Alliance is without a doubt Socially Conservative, and apparently financially inept. No, that's too harsh. Financially Don't Care would likely be better. It seems to me to be a match made for the sake of a match.